taken, we shall find. Job speaking of the wicked man, says: He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail*-GOD layeth up iniquity for his children.† And in the course of the dispute, and in the heat of altercation, this peculiar dispensation is touched upon yet more precisely. Job, in support of his doctrine, paints at large the happy condition of prosperous wicked men; a principal circumstance of whose felicity is, that they spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave,‡ i. e. without sickness, or the terrors of slow-approaching death. The lot which prosperous libertines of all times, who believe no future reckoning, most ardently wish for. Now in the declining times of the Jewish Economy, pious men had always their answer ready. The prosperous wicked man (say they) shall be punished in his Posterity, and the afflicted good man rewarded in them. To the first part of the solution concerning the wicked, Job answers thus, God layeth up his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. As much as to say, the evil man sees and knows nothing of the punishment; in the mean time, he feels and enjoys his own felicity, as a reward. To the second part, concerning the good, he answers thus, His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty: For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst ?|| i. e. The virtuous man sees and feels nothing but his own miseries; for what pleasure can the good things reserved for his posterity afford to him who is to taste and enjoy none of it; being not only extinct long before, but cut off untimely ?

In another place, Job says, That idolatry was an iniquity to be punished by the judge. Now both this and the former species of punishment were, as we have shewn, peculiar to the Mosaic Dispensation. But a Jew might naturally mistake them for a part of the general Law of God and nature: and so, while he was really describing the Economy under which he lived, suppose himself to be representing the notions of more ancient times: which that it was his design to do, in the last instance at least, appears from his mentioning only the most early species of idolatry, the worship of the Sun and Moon.** Again, the language of Job with regard to a future state is the very same with the Jewish Writers. He that goeth down to the grave (says this writer) shall come up no more :—they shall not awake or be raised out of their sleep. Thus the Psalmist,-In death there is no remembrance of thee.-Shall the dead ARISE and praise thee! And thus the author of Ecclesiastes,-The dead know not any

Job xvii. 5.

1 Job xxi. 13.

† Job xxi. 19. And see note M, at the end of this book. § Verse 19. || Verses 20, 21. Job xxxi. 28. And see note N, at the end of this book.

Verse 26.

thing, neither have they any more a REWARD.*

And we know what

it was that hindered the Jews from entertaining any expectations of a future state of rewards and punishments, which was a popular doctrine amongst all their Pagan neighbours.

But there is, besides this of Customs and Opinions, another circumstance that will always betray a feigned Composition, made in an age remote from the subject: and that is, the use of later phrases. These are more easily discovered in the modern, and even in what we call the learned languages: but less certainly, in the very ancient ones; especially in the Hebrew, of which there is only one, and that no very large Volume, remaining. And yet even here, we may detect an author of a later age. For, besides the phrases of common growth, there are others, in every language, interwoven alike into the current style, which owe their rise to some singular circumstance of time and place; and so may be easily traced up to their original: though, being long used in common speech in a general acceptation, they may well escape even an attentive Writer. Thus Zophar, speaking of the wicked man, says: He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the BROOKS OF HONEY AND BUTTER. This in ordinary speech only conveyed the idea of plenty in the abstract; but seems to have been first made a proverbial saying from the descriptions of the holy Land. Again, Eliphaz says, Receive, I pray thee, THE LAW FROM HIS MOUTH, and lay up his words in thine heart.§ That is, be obedient but the phrase was taken from the verbal delivery of the Jewish Law from Mount Sinai. The Rabbins were so sensible of the expressive peculiarity of this phrase, that they say the LAW OF MOSES is here spoken of by a kind of prophetic anticipation. Again, Job cries out: O that I were as I was in the days of my youth, when the SECRET OF GOD WAS UPON MY TABERNACLE, that is, in full security: Evidently taken from the residence of the Divine Presence or SHEKINAH, in a visible form, on the ark, or on the tent where the ark was placed. And again-O that one would hear me ! Behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine Adversary had written a book. Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a CROWN to me. e. A phrase apparently taken from the use of their PHYLACTERIES; which at least were as ancient as their return from Captivity, and coeval with their scrupulous adherence to the Law.

A third circumstance, which will betray one of these feigned compositions, is the Author's being drawn, by the vigour of his imagination, from the seat of Action and from the manners of the

See the preceding book, p. 14.

Job xx. 17.

xiii. 5; xxxiii. 3; Deut. xxxi. 20; 2 Kings xviii. 32. Job xxxi, 35, 36.

xxix. 4.

1 See Exod. iii. 8; § Job xxii. 22. Job

Scene, to one very different; especially, if it be one of great fame and celebrity. So here, though the Scene be the deserts of Arabia, amongst family-heads of independent Tribes, and in the simplicity of primitive Manners, yet we are carried by a poetic fancy, into the midst of EGYPT, the best policied, and the most magnificent Empire then existing in the world.-Why died I not from the womb (says the chief Speaker) for now I should have lien still and been quiet, I should have slept; then had I been at rest; with KINGS and COUNSELLORS OF THE EARTH, which build DESOLATE PLACES for themselves; * i. e. magnificent buildings, in desolate places, meaning plainly the PYRAMIDS raised in the midst of barren sands, for the burying places of the kings of Egypt-Kings and counsellors of the earthwas, by way of eminence, the designation of the Egyptian Governors. So Isaiah-the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish. How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings.† But it may be observed in general, that though the Scene confined the Author to scattered Tribes in the midst of Deserts, yet his images and his ideas are, by an insensible allure, taken throughout, from crouded Cities and a civil policied People. Thus he speaks of the Children of the wicked being crushed in the gate, alluding to a City taken by storm, and to the destruction of the flying inhabitants pressing one another to death in the narrow passage of the City-gates.-Again, of the good man it is said, that he shall be hid from the scourge of tongues; § that pestilent mischief which rages chiefly in rich and licentious Communities. But there would be no end of giving instances of this kind, where they are so

numerous.

Hitherto the Author seems unwarily to have betrayed his Times and Country. But we shall now see that he has made numerous allusions to the miraculous History of his Ancestors with serious purpose and design. For this poem being written, as will appear, for the comfort and solace of his Countrymen, he reasonably supposed it would advance his principal end, to refresh their memories with some of the more signal deliverances of their Forefathers. In the mean time, decorum, of which we find him a careful observer, required him to preserve the image of very different and distant times. This was

a difficulty: and would have been so to the ablest Writer. Both these were matters of importance; and neither one nor the other could be omitted, without neglecting his Purpose, or deforming his Composition. How then can we conceive a skilful Artist would act if not in this manner; he would touch those stories, but with so slight

Job iii. 11, 13, 14.

Isai. xix. 11.

Job v. 4. The Septuagint renders § See note O, at the end

it very expressively κολαβρισθείησαν ἐπὶ θύραις ἡσσόνων. of this book.

an outline and such airy colouring, as to make them pass unheeded by a careless observer; yet be visible enough to those who studied the Work with care and attention. Now this artful temper our divine Writer, we say, hath observed. The conduct was fine and noble : and the cloud in which he was forced to wrap his studied allusions, will be so far from bringing them into question, that it will confirm their meaning; as it now appears, that if an able Writer would, in such a work, make allusions to his own Times, Religion, and People, it must be done in this covert manner. Thus Job, speaking of the Omnipotence of GOD,-which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars,* plainly enough alludes to the miraculous history of the people of GOD, in the Egyptian Darkness, and the stopping of the Sun's course by Joshua. This appeared so evident to a very learned Commentator, though in the other opinion of the book's being of Job's own writing, that he was forced to suppose that his author spoke proleptically, as knowing by the gift of Prophesy, what GOD in a future age would do. So where Job says, God divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud, he evidently refers to the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red-sea. Again, in the following words, He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way,§ who can doubt but that they allude to the wandering of the Israelites forty years in the wilderness, as a punishment for their cowardice, and diffidence in God's promises; Eliphaz, speaking of the wonderful works of GOD, declares how he came to the knowledge of them, I will shew thee; hear me; and what I have seen I will declare; which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it : || the very way in which Moses directs the Israelites to preserve the memory of the miraculous works of GOD. And who are these wise men? They are so particularly marked out as not to be mistaken : Unto whom alone the earth was given, and NO STRANGER PASSED AMONGST THEM. A circumstance agreeing to no People whatsoever but to the Israelites settled in Canaan. The same Eliphaz, telling Job to his face, that his misfortunes came in punishment for his Crimes, says: Thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of his cloathing.** And Job, speaking of the most profligate of men, describes them, amongst other marks of their iniquity, by this, that they caused the naked to lodge without cloathing, that they have no covering in the cold; †† that they take a pledge

• Job ix. 7. "Hoc videtur respicere historiam Josuæ vel Ezechiæ, quanquam ante illos Job extiterit. Sed hæc potuerunt per anticipationem dici, quod Jobum non lateret penes Deum esse id efficere quandocunque luberet."-CODURCUS in locum. 1 Job xxvi. 12.

Job xxii. 6.

§ Job xii. 24.

tt Job xxiv. 7.

Job xv. 17, 18.

¶ Verse 19.

of the poor, and cause him to go naked without cloathing.* Who that sees this ranked amongst the greatest enormities, but will reflect that it must have been written by one well studied in the LAW OF MOSES, which says: If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down; for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: Wherein shall he sleep? And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear, for I am gracious. Which Law, as the learned Spencer observes, was peculiar to this institution.† Elihu, speaking of GOD's dealing with his servants, says: "That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man, he keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain. His soul draweth nigh unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one amongst a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness, then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's, he shall return to the days of his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him, and he shall see his face with joy; for he will render unto man his righteousness." This is the most circumstantial account of God's dealing with HEZEKIAH, as it is told in the books of Chronicles and Kings. GOD had delivered him from perishing by the sword of Sennacherib: "In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign. But Hezekiah rendered not again, according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up."§ But the story is told more at large in the book of Kings:-" In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death; and the Prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord.— And it came to pass afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: Behold I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs, and they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered."—The following words as plainly refer to the destruction of the first-born in Egypt, and Sennacherib's army ravaging Judea: In a moment shall

• Job xxiv. 9, 10; Exod. xxii. 26, 27. See also Deut. xxiv. 12, 17. + "Leges ille in Dei tantum Pandectis inveniendæ sunt, nempe, de vestibus pignori datis, quibus de pecunia concredita cavebant debitores, ante solis occasum, restituendis."-- De Legibus Hebr. Rit. vol. i. p. 263. ↑ Job xxxiii. 17, et seq. § 2 Chron. xxxii.

24, 25.

12 Kings xx. 1,

et

seq.