Infect, rife; "Look from thy duft, furvey yon lofty skies; "Or to thy virtue must he owe his peace? Thy fins, vain worm, a fellow worm may wound; CHA P. XXXVI. SCOTT. AS JOB STILL OBSERVED A PROFOUND SILENCE, ELIHU PROCEEDS TO REPROVE HIM FOR SUCH RASH EXPRESSIONS AS HE HIMSELF WOULD NEVER JUSTIFY, AND COMES CLOSER THAN EVER TO THE POINT IN DEBATE. IN THE PROSECUTION OF HIS DISCOURSE, HE ENDEAVOURS TO SHEW, FROM THE NATURE OF THE DIVINE BEING, AND THE VARIOUS METHODS OF HIS OVER-RULING PROVIDENCE, THAT, IN CASE JOB HAD HUMBLY SUBMITTED HIMSELF TO GOD'S CHASTISEMENTS, AND BORE THEM WITH PATIENCE AND RESIGNATION, INSTEAD OF INSISTING SO PRESUMPTUOUSLY ON HIS INNOCENCE AND INTEGRITY, HE WOULD MOST ASSUREDLY HAVE RESTORED HIM TO HIS FORMER STATE OF HEALTH AND PROSPERITY; FOR HE CAN EXALT, OR HUMBLE MANKIND AT HIS PLEASURE. IN THE CONCLUSION HE TELLS HIM, THAT HE SHOULD HAVE ACQUIESCED, NOTWITHSTANDING HE COULD NOT ACCOUNT FOR THE SEVERITY OF HIS AFFLICTIONS, WHICH WAS THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF HIS COMPLAINT; SINCE WE ARE INCAPABLE OF COMPREHENDING EVEN THOSE WORKS OF GOD WHICH ARE OBVIOUS TO OUR EYES ALMOST EVERY MOMENT. H ERE ELIHU paufed again; and fince Job never offered to open his mouth in his own defence, proceeded thus in his difcourfe. "I will now, with your permiffion, explain my mind more fully than I have done hitherto, and offer fresh arguments on "God's behalf. I will vindicate his divine juftice, and put an "end to this intricate and perplexed debate. I fhall not, how ever, 6 "ever, aim at entangling you by making use of any artful and equivocal terms, but at convincing your mind by plain and folid "reasons. 66 "Be affured then, that God, whofe throne is at an infinite dif"tance from the fkies, will not neglect or contemn the meanest, "moft abject perfon breathing: the Almighty is too good, too great, too wife, to injure or opprefs any of his creatures. When "men are exceffively wicked, and ripe for his vengeance, he will "cut them off; but the poor fhall have justice done them at laft, "and be freed from the troubles that overwhelm them. For "notwithstanding the righteous for fome wife ends are often "afflicted, yet God's providential care is always over them; and: "fometimes they are exalted from the lowest ftate of life to posts "of the highest dignity and truft; wherein they are established fo firmly, for the remainder of their days, that they are above the "reach of their most implacable enemies or in case they should happen to be overwhelmed with troubles, and their afflictions "should confine them as close to their beds, as if they were "fastened thereto with chains of iron; it is with no other view,, "than to make them seriously reflect on their past lives, and sen"fible of their tranfgreffions, left they should grow upon them, "and in time prevail over them. By fuch a retrospection, God' difpofes them to listen to instruction, and kindly exhorts them "to a thorough reformation: and if the forrows which they thus "meet with produced but this happy effect; if they thus amend "and correct the follies that formerly they were guilty of; if for "the future they maintain a zeal for God's honour and glory; "then shall they be bleft by heaven, and restored to their former "state of affluence and eafe: if, however, they fhall perfevere in “their obstinacy and impenitence, then shall they be entirely cut “off, and die in their folly. All fuch as are falfe-hearted, and "hypocritical, only lay up wrath in ftore by their affumed and. 66 "affectedi "affected piety, against the day of wrath. Deftruction fhall fall "on their heads in an inftant, before they can have time to call "out for mercy. They fhall be cut down, like a flower; in their "bloom their ruin fhall come upon them, all on a fudden, and "unexpected: whereas, on the other hand, he fhall deliver him "who is patient and refigned under his misfortunes, and make "thofe very misfortunes, which feem fo grievous to him, con"tribute in a great measure towards the inftruction of his mind, "and his future amendment. And thus Job, had you not mur"mured at your correction, he would not only have removed your pains, and discharged your long train of sorrows, but "refcued you from thofe ftraits and difficulties to which for fome "time you have been reduced; he would have spread your table "with a thousand dainties, and reftored you to your former state "" of peace and plenty but fince your rafh and impious difcourfes "too plainly fhew, that your thoughts of heaven are no better than thofe of the profligate, God will vindicate his honour, and pro"nounce fentence of condemnation according to the badness of your caufe: and fince it is evident, that God Almighty is difpleased with your conduct, be very cautious how you give him. any farther provocation, left he should cut you off at one avenging ftroke. 66 "Can you imagine, he will have any regard to your large pof"feffions? Or do you think, that your power can delay your "punishment? No! though you were a fovereign lord, and poffeffed "of all the treasures in the Eaft, never flatter yourself, that they "can be of any fervice to you; never amufe yourself with fuch "vain hopes, whilft you repofe yourself on your pillow in the filent night; for God frequently deftroys whole nations with "fudden vengeance: but let your afflictions make you wife, and "ftand upon your guard; let them make you cautious how you "incenfe offended juftice. This prefumption you have been guilty " of of too much already; you have fhewn already too much of your "fins as well as of your follies, when you rather chofe to accufe "the Divine Providence, than to bear your misfortunes with patience and refignation. "Confider God's power is infinite. He can exalt and debase "mankind at pleasure. Where is there fuch an abfolute lord ways excite your admiration and fovereign as he? Or who fhall prefume to direct him in the "government of his affairs? Who is qualified to be his inspector? "Who fhall examine, and take an account of his actions? Where "is the cenfor, that fhall dare to tell him here you have done well, " and there amifs? Start no more objections, Job, against your "God, but let meditation on his your and applaufe. Do you adore the wonders of his Providence, as "much as others ftand aftonished at thofe marks of his power and "wisdom, which are confpicuous in the ftupendous fabrick of the "world. All who view it must allow the skill of the mighty architect to be divine: there are none fo fenfelefs, fo void of thought; not even the most illiterate Barbarians, if they will but eyes, can avoid difcerning the bright impreffions of their open "the Supreme Being: they cannot but acknowledge, that their reason, at its utmost stretch, is incapable of comprehending his "infinite power and wifdom. They are loft at once, when they "attempt to make refearches into his immensity. "Who can pretend to number his days, which knew no beginning? It is he who fuftains the clouds that hang high in the "air, and makes them gradually melt, and fall down on the earth "in dew or rain; and by that means not only refresh it, but difpofe it to be fruitful. By that means he restores to the carth "her vapours, and makes the clouds diftil fuch repeated fhowers, "as ftrike the eye of the curious obferver with admiration at his furprising contrivance. Where is the man, who has wisdom or "understanding fufficient to fay what measures he takes to make 66 "those "those clouds, when they are full of water, hang faft in the air? "Who is he, that can account for thofe tremendous founds ; "those awful murmurs that proceed from thence, and intimate to us, that the Deity has fixed his habitation in those celestial regions? Obferve, moreover, how he spreads the diffufive rays of the fun upon the furface of the fea, and covers it with light; "obferve how thofe beams create new vapours, in the room of those that are exhaufted; which he makes use of for quite dif"ferent purposes: fometimes he punishes mankind by ftorms, "tempefts, and inundations; and fometimes again, by repeated "fhowers, he makes for them a very plentiful provifion. At one "time, by virtue of those clouds he prevents the fun from refreshing and ripening the fruits of the earth; and at another, he only intercepts its rays thereby for a fhort time, that those fruits may not be burnt up, through exceffive heat. The very cattle, "in fhort, who are wife by instinct only, can tell, by the gathering of the clouds, what the Almighty proposes to do with them, "whether to turn turn them into deftructive storms, or fruitful "fhowers." MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS on CHAP. XXXVI. VER. V. VI. VII. BEHOLD GOD IS MIGHTY, AND DESPISETH NOT ANY; HE IS MIGHTY IN STRENGTH AND WISDOM. HE PRESERVETH NOT THE LIFE OF THE WICKED; BUT GIVETH RIGHT TO THE POOR. HE WITHDRAWETH NOT HIS EYES FROM THE RIGHTEOUS: BUT WITH KINGS ARE THEY ON THE THRONE, YEA HE DOTH ESTABLISH THEM FOREVER, AND THEY ARE EXALTED. "THE Almighty mind, in all perfeЯions great, "Above low envy and capricious hate, "An equal judge, no Saviour of th' unjust, "Upraifes weeping virtue from its duft. "He marks the righteous whom the shade conceals, Inthrones with kings, as blazing noon reveals "Their |