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an opportunity so favourable, that they must have been noticed had they taken place before that time. It is also observable, that all these men, though coming from dif ferent parts of Arabia, spoke the same language, the ori ginal Hebrew; from which it would appear, that they conversed together on this memorable occasion, before it was corrupted into different dialects by the posterity of Abraham.

It is well known, that of all the various forms by which the true religion was debased, amongst the most ancient was the worship of the sun and moon; and to this alone is there any allusion in the book of Job.

From these, and yet other arguments, the high antiquity of this incomparable book is completely proved. A late writer* of great erudition, collecting them all-concludes the time of Job to have been eight hundred and eighteen years after the deluge, and one hundred and eighty-four before the birth of Abraham, which would carry it back some ages beyond the date in our common bibles. But it is a nicer point to determine by whom this interesting story was written. It may have been the work of Job himself, but the thirty-second chapter affords a strong presumption that Elihu was the author. Moses having found it during his long exile in Midian, might deliver it to his rebellious people in the desert, as a corrective of their unthankful temper, and an encouragement to submission by the rewards that are there held out to quiet suffering.

CATHERINE, It would, then, appear that this is the oldest book in the world, even more ancient than the pentateuch. I should now be glad to have some account of

* Horne,

the argument, which is beyond my present comprehension. I hope it will not be always so, but that I may hereafter obtain a better knowledge, both of this and every other part of sacred writ.'

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MRS. M. I am only able to give you a general view of a composition so magnificent: although it contains instruction the most obvious, it is yet veiled to the most illustrious scholars, by our imperfect knowledge of the eastern idioms, and by the transcendent nature of the subject. The God of nature is discovered in his works, we see-we feel-we admire and adore! much is given to exercise the intellectual faculties of man, but much more is exalted beyond his best attainments. Of his justice and his mercy we see the effects in his moral government, but we are often lost in conjecture when we attempt to scan the reason of his dispensations. These high matters were the chief subject of debate between Job and his disputetious friends. Guided only by the light of nature and tradition, and destitute of the revelation with which we are favoured, although they often "spoke amiss," it is yet surprising that they were in general so correct.

Job was a man of great eminence, a prince, perhaps, or a magistrate in the land of Uz. Endowed with wisdom, wealth and virtue, he was reverenced by every class of soeiety. His children had grown to maturity, and misfortune had not violated his dwelling: encompassed by all the blessings of domestic and social life, he seemed almost beyond her reach. But suddenly he is bereft of all! Neighbouring bands of roving Chaldeans overrun his fields-his flocks and herds are swept away, and the shepherds and ploughmen put to the sword! Scarcely had these disasters reached his ears, when the blow is finished by ano

ther messenger. All his children, assembled at a feast in their elder brother's house, are crushed to death in its fall, by a fierce whirlwind! Such a tide of accumulated evils might well have burst the heart of a father and a man! But in the midst of prosperity, Job had prepared his heart for a reverse. Whilst his sons and daughters had gone from house to house at some festive season, the pious patriarch had "risen early in the morning, and offered burnt. offerings, according to the number of them all." "It may be," said he, " that my sons have sinned in a moment of intemperance, and blasphemed their Creator." "Thus he stood, ready to submit to the divine will, in that beautiful ascription to his unquestionable sovereignty, which fell without a murmur from his lips." "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away-Blessed be the name of the Lord." But this was not all-the saint was to be yet further proved. He is smitten with "sore boils, from the sole of his foot to his crown!" His wife, who seems not to have borne affliction with the same placid temper, was astonished that he should yet confide in Jehovah-but he silenced her : 66 What," said he, "shall we receive good at the hand of God, and not evil?" "In all this," adds the historian," Job sinned not with his lips." Happy would it be for you and me, who have the assured hope of rejoining our pious friends after death, could we give them up with the same obedient will.

FANNY. Was he altogether without that consoling hope?

MRS M. By some it has been supposed that he was. By others, his belief in a future state of glory through the intercession of a Redeemer, is supposed to be clearly marked in some sentences, which he afterwards uttered.

Be this as it may, his subdued disposition is entitled to the highest praise. And in this happy state of mind, it is probable he would have remained, had he been left to himself. But that serenity, which the heavy hand of God had never moved, was disturbed by man, less merciful-and less just. Such unparalleled calamity was soon spread far and wide throughout Arabia, and three men, his particular friends, Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz, all men of rank in Idumea, came together to condole with him. They had heard of the loss of his immense property-the death of all his children—and of his own agonizing disease-but when they approached him, whom they had seen seated in the gate, dispensing the law-the most honourable in all the land-" before whom the princes refrained talking, and the nobles held their peace-in whose presence the aged arose, and the young men shrunk away," when they now saw him stretched upon the earth, a loathsome spectacle, from which his own domestics turned away—amazement, grief, and horror, struck them dumb-they sat down by him on the ground, and for days and nights no one broke the solemn silence of unutterable woe! In this interval of meditation, the kindly sympathy of pitying friendship gave way to the cooler dictates of erroneous reason. They were themselves virtuous, and had flourished in uninterrupted joy-they were not overwhelmed by misery, in every torturing shape like the wretched Job-piety in them had found a rich reward-whence then the uncommon weight of woe that had befallen him! Surely, they concluded, his religion was but a vain pretence, and the hypocrite is now exposed by the just judgment of a righteous Ruler. When therefore the sufferer at length broke out into a pas

sionate lamentation, even execrating the day he first beheld the light---they advised him to confess his secret sins, and thus conciliate an offended God! Conscious of the integrity of a well-spent life, he firmly pleads his innocence. This they refused to admit, his unsullied reputation notwithstanding. A dialogue then ensues, in which the comforters contend, that the wicked only are punished, whilst the upright are protected and crowned with temporal blessings. "Remember," they say, "who ever perished, being innocent; or where were the righteous cut off? They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same." They even cruelly intimate, that his children had sinned, and were cut off for their transgressions. They magnify the divine attributes; they contend that God is just. Happy is the man," says Eliphaz, "" whom God correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty." He accuses Job, whose wisdom and benevolence had heretofore supported sinking under his own calamity. structed many, and thou hast knees; but now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest." So hard is it to judge of that which experience has not made us feel! But the sufferer answers-" To him that is afflicted pity should be shown from his friends"---he desires only death---“ even that it would please God to destroy him--to be hidden in the grave, where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. Where the prisoners rest together, and hear not the voice of the oppressor.". He confesses his own unworthiness, and the absolute power of Jehovah, but inasmuch as he is nothing in His hands, he expostulates with him on his excessive

others, of weakness in "Behold, thou hast instrengthened the feeble

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