DIALOGUE XXVIII.

THE FAMILY OF THE WORTHYS, MR. LOVEGOOD, And the LOVELYS.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE BOOK OF JOB.

N the morrow, Mr. Lovegood attended on his customary visit. Mr. Worthy having introduced his guests to each other, it was observable, that Mr. Lovely received the address of Mr. Lovegood, with a degree of coldness and formality, very contrary to that which belonged to the natural sweetness of his disposition. And after dinner the following conversation took place. [Mrs. Lovely appears rather faint and weak.]

Lov. I told you, my dear, that going to Church yesterday afternoon, would be too much for you. [To Mr. Lovegood.] And, Sir, I must be free to tell you, that your doctrine is too severe and harsh for my delicate and tender wife; though I am sure, Sir, you mean it for the best, and I should be glad, if all the clergy followed your good example.

Loveg. Indeed, Sir, it was not my design to have advanced any thing that was improperly harsh and severe; and if I have been guilty of such a mistake, I wish to be open to conviction, and shall be quite ready to retract it.

Lov. Why, Sir, you must allow me the liberty to say, (I hope Mr. Worthy will pardon me,) that I never heard any body but yourself make so free with the character of Job as you did in your morning sermon; certainly he was a very holy man.

Loveg. Dear Sir, did I in any wise deny it? though for a while, he had very strange apprehensions and misconceptions of God.

*

Lov. Sir, Dr. Nescience, the minister of our parish,

*Learned men should have learned names. No wonder then that Dr. Nescience has his name from a Latin derivation, though in plain English Dr. Know-nothing; I believe my readers can pretty well comprehend all my other names, without understanding Latin. A facetious old clergyman, Dr. Burton, Vice Provost of Eton, when I was at that school, passed some neat sarcasms upon a person of a very ignorant and pedantic character, recommending him to an uncle of mine, as being a gentleman of great Nescience. The person began bowing and scraping, supposing the Doctor had passed upon him some very high compliment; the Doctor, therefore heightened the compliment, by observing, that he could not say too much of him on that subject; for that he knew him to be a man of great Nescience, of very great Nescience indeed; and nothing further was discovered by the pedant, than that all was designed as a high encomium on his wisdom; and, it is probable, our present Doctor was one of the same family.

Dr. Nescience, it seems, procured his Doctor's degree, not from his own University at Cambridge, where, had he made such an attempt, his knowledge had been well sifted, or his ignorance thoroughly exposed: from thence, therefore, he received no higher honour, than that of the first degree of a Bachelor of Arts; but he came at his Doctorship by a much shorter cut, from one of the famous Universities in the north of Scotland; and in order that he might obtain this high literary honour, a testimonial of his learning being needed, this he procured to be signed by three reverend gen tlemen of the same redoubtable order of Doctors; Dr. Numscull Dr. Papscull, and Dr. Loggerhead.

This information, however, as it respects Dr. Nescience, and by what means he obtained the high honour of being called the Doctor, reflects not the least discredit on Dissenters, nor yet on some others of real erudition, where there are unhappy barriers in their way, to procure such degrees in a more creditable line; but Dr. Nescience, and the rest of his fraternity of the same order, have found out this, as the ready way to look big, with a little, or even no learning. Before he procured his degree, he was denominated the little Rector; but now he found himself upon the pedestal of this Scotch Diploma, he had the satisfaction of being called the little

gave us a very different character of the life of Job, when he preached upon that text, "My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me, as long as I live." The Doctor told us, that it was his own righteousness which was his confidence, and that thereby he obtained the reward of heaven.

Mrs. Lov. But you know, my dear, neither you nor I have any great opinion of the little Doctor, or his curate, Mr. Flimsey; we have both observed, while they seem to be aiming at something, they cannot make out any thing. But do you not think you have a little misunderstood Mr. Lovegood? [To Mr. Lovegood,] Sir, it might be much to the satisfaction of myself and my husband, if you would explain yourself still further on that subject.

Loveg. Dear Sir, there is no doubt of the integrity and uprightness of Job: but while he was righteous, he was also self-righteous—in that lay his crime; and this rendered him proud and angry before God.

Lov. Proud and angry-Why, was not he the most patient man upon earth?

Loveg. Yes, Sir, and this was abundantly exemplified by his holy patience before God for seven long days and nights, when even after he had been hurled from the pin

Doctor; and the satisfaction also, of several sharp curtain lectures from his wife; this famous honour having cost him not less than 10. she oftentimes reminding him, of his extravagance in giving so much money for a dunce's cap to cover his ignorance, and of the old proverb, A fool and his money are soon parted. However he contrived, in a measure, to quiet her mind, under the idea that the loss of the money would soon be recovered, as he was going to turn author, by re-publishing three famous novels; Tom Thumb, Jack the Giant Killer, and Old Mother Goose's Tales. These he meant to enrich with certain annotations, lucubrations, and remarks of his own composing; and he had no doubt that his Doctor's degree, would wonderfully quicken the sale of their publication.

nacle of the highest prosperity, into the gulf of the deepest adversity, he could meekly say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord;" nor was his patience less conspicuous, when cruelly tempted to curse God, he could submissively reply, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" But after this, his great patience awfully failed him. If hitherto it might have been said, "In all this did not Job sin with his lips," neither did he "charge God foolishly," yet afterwards, what must be said of him when his patience perfectly failed him, and when, in the most daring language, as in the third chapter, he could even curse the day in which he was born? I think, Sir, you will be as much struck with his rebellion at one time, as with his patience at another.

Lov. But if he did wrong in this, yet doubtless in other respects, he was a very righteous man.

Loveg. Certainly, Sir; and before man, no one had a greater right to vindicate himself against the accusations of his three friends, who certainly mistook his case; they concluded him very unjustly, to be an arrant hypocrite, and that God had detected him, and that therefore he was severely punishing him for his crimes. As far as human righteousness went, he might venture to say, "he would hold it fast, and would not let it go ;" and no doubt, but that with the greatest justice he could further add, as it respected the great and upright character he sustained; "When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him; the Blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I pu on righteousness, and it clothed me, my judgment was as a robe and a diadem: I was eyes to the blind, and

feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not, I searched out."

Lov. Why, Sir, was it possible for any one to do more, to deserve the character of a righteous man, than he did? Could he be a good and a bad man at the same time? Sir, I cannot think we are called to renounce our integrity.

Wor. Really, Sir, you and I have been stumbling upon the very same "stone of stumbling and rock of offence;" I was as proud of my righteousness, as ever Job was of his, when I only looked at the surface of my character, as it appeared before man; and I thought Mr. Lovegood brought strange things to my ears, when I heard him assert from the Bible, that "there was none righteous, no not one."

Mrs. Wor. Indeed, Sir, Mr. Worthy and myself were at first equally offended with Mr. Lovegood, when he brought us all down to the same level, though he only took us upon our own words, which we all adopt at church, "enter not into judgment with thy servants, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified.” But somehow, while he disarmed us of our self-righteousness, he contrived at the same time to disarm us of our prejudices, that we were both forced to submit.

Loveg. Yes, and agreeably to Mr. and Mrs. Worthy's remark, it may further be observed respecting Job, that he did not know how much he had of the latent Pharisee in his heart, whereby he was led to "trust in him* self, that he was righteous," like the Pharisees of old, though in other respects, he was by no means of their hypocritical cast.

Lov. Why, how can another be righteous for us? Lovey. Dear Sir, you do not understand me. He was rather led to applaud the goodness of his own heart, on account of these things, while, he forgot to give glory to him, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and