We will sing praises, because we cannot fathom; For greater is He than all His works. Terrible is Jehovah exceedingly, And wonderful are His mighty acts. Ye that magnify Jehovah, lift up your voice As much as ye can, for there is still more! Ye that exalt Him, renew your strength, And weary not, for ye cannot fathom Him! Who hath seen Him, that he may tell thereof? And who shall magnify Him as He is? The number of things mysterious is greater even than these, And I have seen but few of His works (xliii. 28-32). The conception of God which is revealed in these two passages does certainly seem to be a higher one even than is anywhere to be found in the Old Testament. In Tobit much the same general conception is found as in the Old Testament; but one passage may be quoted as showing a universalistic spirit which is found only in some of the most exalted utterances of the prophets; in xiv. 6 it is said that “all the nations which are in the whole earth, all shall turn and fear God truly; and all shall leave their idols, who err after their false error.” Fully in accordance with the belief that Jehovah is the God of all men is the way in which the writer of this book never tires of speaking of Him under various titles expressive of the sincerest praise and faith; no book of the Apocrypha has such a variety of names for God as this one. Another important point is that God hears the prayers of men through angelic mediation. In great contrast to this high conception of God is that found in Judith; for while the power of God to help His chosen ones in face of the most adverse circumstances is strongly insisted upon, the idea that God’s favour is only accorded to those who keep the Law, and that He is only the God of the Jews, which is implied throughout even if not definitely stated, is a very inadequate one and takes us back to some of the least exalted passages of the Old Testament which deal with the doctrine of God. A special note, though in no sense new in itself, is sounded in the Prayer of Manasses, where great stress is laid upon the divine compassion; the opening verses form a beautiful hymn of praise to God. In turning to the secondary text of Ecclesiasticus, which comes next in order, we have in the addition to xxiv. 23 (= 24 in the A.V.) a striking instance of the Pharisaic doctrine of God, both as regards the divine Personality as well as the relationship between Him and His true worshippers: Faint not, but be strong in the Lord, And cleave unto Him that He may strengthen you. Cleave unto Him; the Lord, the Almighty, is the One and only God; And beside Him there is no Saviour.