"From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off" (ver.
29). The eye of a bird is a marvellous structure. It is a telescope and
microscope combined. It has the power of compressing the lens to adapt
it to varying distances; and is larger in proportion than the eye of
quadrupeds. The kestrel hawk, for instance, feeds on the common field
mouse; but this tiny creature is so like the colour of the soil, that a
human eye could scarcely detect it at the distance of a few yards. The
kestrel, however, has no such difficulty. Her telescopic eye sees it
from the sky overhead, and like a bolt from the blue, she swoops down
upon the helpless prey. No mistake is made as she nears the ground.
Swiftly and almost instantaneously the telescope is compressed into the
microscope, and the daring freebooter could pick up a pin.
The same power is possessed by the Griffon vulture or "eagle" of Holy
Scripture. "_Her eyes behold afar off_." A dozen eagles may be soaring
upwards in the sunlight, until they become mere specks against the blue
of heaven, but they are carefully watching each other in their wheeling
circles, and diligently scanning the desert below in the hope of
discovering some prey. The moment the object is sighted, and even one
bird has made a swoop downwards, the movement is detected by the one
nearest, which immediately follows; while the second is followed by a
third, and the third by a fourth, until in a few minutes, "wheresoever
the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." Their vast
power of wing and acuteness of sight have led them to the prey.
And the lesson is not far to seek. In the Carlyle use of the word it
emphasises the need of being able to _see_. "To the poet, as to every
other, we say first of all, _see_. If you cannot do that, it is of no
use stringing rhymes together and calling yourself a poet, there is no
hope for you." And in religion it is the pure in heart that see God.
If the inner eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light. The
aged _seer_ on Patmos saw into the heaven of heavens. Like Paul, he
heard words not lawful to be uttered; and thus in the symbolism of the
Christian Church, he is known as the New Testament _eagle_. He was the
one who "saw more and heard more, but spake less than all the other
disciples." But all the saints of God may soar and _see_ in some
measure as he did--
"On eagles' wings, they mount, they soar,
Their wings are faith and love,
Till past the cloudy regions here
They rise to heaven above."