of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazaroth in his season? Or canst thou
guide Arcturus with his sons?"_

To this, fallen and arraigned man, using his best jargon, responds that
"the answer is in the negative. I never pretended to _do_ these things,
only to guess, in my small way, how they are done."

Nor is there any real irreverence in answering thus: for of course it is
not the Almighty who puts the questions, but someone audaciously
personating Him. And some of us find this pretension irritating; as
Douglas Jerrold meeting a pompous stranger on the pavement was moved to
accost him with, "I beg your pardon, Sir, but would you mind informing
me--Are you anybody in particular?"

Again, in the sixth chapter of the Second Book of Esdras, someone
usurping the voice of the Almighty and using (be it said to his credit)
excellent prose, declares:

_"In the beginning, when the earth was made, before the waters of
the world stood, or ever the wind blew,

Before it thundered or lightened, or ever the foundations of
paradise were laid,

Before the fair flowers were seen, or ever_ _the moveable powers
were established; before the innumerable multitude of angels were
gathered together,

Or ever the heights of the air were lifted up, before the measures
of the firmament were named, or ever the chimneys of Zion were hot._