The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern TimesBiese, Alfred
History
The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times
Biese, Alfred
Nature; Nature in literature
'The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their
voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier
than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the
sea.'--_Psalm_ 93.
'The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains
skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.'--_Psalm_ 114.
'The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid:
the depths also were troubled.'--_Psalm_ 77.
All these lofty personifications of inanimate Nature only
characterise her in her relation to another, and that not man but
God. Nothing had significance by itself, Nature was but a book in
which to read of Jehovah; and for this reason the Hebrew could not be
wrapt in her, could not seek her for her own sake, she was only a
revelation of the Deity.
'Lord, how great are thy works, in wisdom hast thou made them all:
the earth is full of thy goodness.'
Yet there is a fiery glow of enthusiasm in the songs in praise of
Jehovah's wonders in creation.
'0 Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and
majesty.
'Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest
out the heavens like a curtain.
'Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the
clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind.
'Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire; who
laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for
ever.
'Thou coveredst the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above
the mountains.
'At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted
away.
'They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the
place which thou hast founded for them.
'Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn
not again to cover the earth.
'He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
'They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench
their thirst.
'By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which
sing among the branches ...
'He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the
service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth.
'And wine that maketh glad the heart of man ...
'The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which
he hath planted.
'Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees
are her house.
'The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for
the conies.
'He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
'Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the
forest do creep forth.
'The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
'The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down
in their dens.
'Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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