Hieronymus," giving, however, no
reference to the passage in Jerome. Ps. civ. 4 and Heb. i. 7 afford
some helpful clues to the operations of Nature in this connection. Man
is treated by our author as the interpreter of Nature, with a right, as
made in the image of God, to call upon it to glorify its Maker. He
offers vocal praise on its hehalf as well as on his own; though things
without life praise God silently, by fulfilling the parts for which He
made them. A somewhat similar idea of the elevating influence exerted by
natural beings may be discerned in the second of the _New sayings of
Jesus_ as restored by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt (Lond. 1904, p. 15). And
Addison fitly writes (_Spect._ No. 393), "The cheerfulness of heart
which springs up in us from the survey of Nature's works, is an
admirable preparation for gratitude "(_cf._ 'Early Christian Literature
and Art,' _s.v._ 'Hippolytus').
Azarias desires that the rescue of the party may redound to the
knowledge among all men of the sole deity of Jehovah (22)--a petition
for the conversion of the Gentiles.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84