rigour---and complains that vice and virtue are not distinguished in his administration. Zophar reproves him harshly for attempting to know the mind of the Omnipotent, and for vindicating himself: again accuses him of unknown crimes, and beseeches him to repent. Exasperated, at length, by the unfeeling acrimony of his accusers, while yet they lay no specific sin to his charge, Job ridicules their affected wisdom, as if he were ignorant who had been their teacher!" Miserable comforters," cried he, "are ye all!" He pathetically laments his altered state, and intreats their compassion. "Have pity upon me-have pity upon me, O ye my friends! for the hand of God has touched me!" But in vain he asks their pity, and in vain he contrasts his fallen state with the days when the light of God shined on his tabernacle. "When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me-when the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me it gave witness to ine. 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; the cause which I knew not I searched out." In vain he calls upon them to attest the active usefulness and integrity of his whole life, recounting eloquently his deeds of justice and of charity. In vain he contends, "that the wicked are often prosperous all their days;" that they are reserved to the day of destruction ;" and confidently invokes the wrath of the Omniscient Judge, if he had gloried in his wealth, or had perverted his power or his possessions to the purposes of pride or oppression --- or if he had been betrayed into idolatry, when he "beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;" and ardently desires that the Almighty would appear, and permit him to plead his cause in His presence! Argument and asseveration were alike lost on his hardhearted accusers. Unmoved by the pathetic appeal of their suffering friend, and still persuaded that he had enjoyed an unmerited reputation, yet unable to name the turpitude they suspected, and disgusted that they could not drive him to a voluntary confession of his guilt, they were at length silent. Elihu, then, who seems to have joined the company while they were engaged in conversatiou, and who had not yet spoken, now arose; and, after apologizing for his interference, because he "was young and they were very old," he declares that he listened attentively to the debate, and had discovered that "great men are not always wise, neither do the aged always judge correctly," evidently reproving the pretended friends for the severity with which they irritated the virtuous patriarch. He then turns to Job, and tells him that he had erred in justifying himself rather than God; that by affirming himself to be altogether perfect, he had arraigned the wisdom and the justice of the Sovereign! that virtue could not entitle a creature to exemption from calamity, because it could not profit the self-sufficient Creator; that the counsels of God are not to be developed to finite man; but his chastisements are to be received with humility; that the righteous and the prosperous are afflicted to remind them of their dependence on the Great Supreme. "If they obey and serve him," he adds, "they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure." He speaks in glowing terms of the magnificence of the Creator's works, and admonishes Job to reverence the Deity. From the phraseology of Elihu, he would seem to be the author of the whole narrative. In the introduction to his speech, he says "When I had waited," (for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more,)" I said, I will answer my part, I will also show mine opinion," thus speaking in the first person, whereas the cther speakers are always quoted in the third. When Elihu had ceased speaking, then comes the most majestic part of the poem, a conclusion that cannot be surpassed in grandeur. "The Lord, answered Job out of a whirlwind." This is mysterious language to us, nor do we pretend to know how the Invisible Spirit spoke to man. A voice, probably, was heard in the whirlwind, and words were pronounced becoming a Deity to utter. Job is reproved, for presuming to scan the moral government of God, the meanest of whose works he cannot understand. He is called upon to contemplate the works of creation, and see if he is able to imitate the least of them. Where wast thou (it is asked) when the foundations of the pondrous earth were laid: "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy-when the bars and the doors of the unfathomable deep were set," and the raging floods were restrained by the high command"Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." He asks if man can control the paths of light or darkness: can he direct the stars in their annual round, or set limits to their dominion? Thunders, and lightnings, and clouds, and rain, and hail, and ice, and snow, are all arrayed in grand succession, to show the astonished auditors their comparative impotence. Descending from the firmament, the august speaker continues to display his transcendent attributes in a few specimens, though but very few indeed of animated matter—the eagle, who mounts on high at His command-the peacock, who proudly spreads his glittering plumes, and the young raven, who cries to God for food"-the wild goat, that leaps fearlessly from the craggy rock, and the lion, who prowls the forest for his prey-the warlike horse, “whose neck is clothed with thunder," and the stupendous whale,* "before whom the mighty are afraid.”—All, all, are the work of His hands:-" who then," He asks," is able to stand before me?" This appalling address produces the intended effect-Job is humbled, and confesses," Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth." "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee-wherefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." As a testimony that his penitence was accepted, and that his sin had been less offensive than that of his companions, he is now commanded to offer a sacrifice in their behalf, because "they had not spoken of the Lord the thing that was right;" and is graciously assured that his prayers for them would be answered. Job is afterwards restored to health, and his friends and relations visit him with presents and congratulations. Sons and daughters again bless his dwelling-prosperity, even more affluent than he had enjoyed before his trial, is again bestowed * Leviathan. وت |