a liar -The firft verfe fhews that the point he difputes with them is the constancy, and even the frequency, of the public judgments of God on wicked men. "He produceth a catalogue of outrageous immoralities, which are fatal to the peace "of society and threaten its diffolution. He inftanceth invafion of property, cruel "oppreffion of the poor, adultery, murder, and tyranny: yet the governor of the "world feems to connive at these enormities, by forbearing to punish the authors "of them. Toleration of fuch evils is by no means reconcileable to our notions of "wisdom and juftice, and is utterly repugnant to the fyftem of Providence maintain"ed by his three antagonists. A fpirit of vehemence and indignation runs through "the whole difcourfe. He could not speak of the lenity of God to the worst of men, "and at the fame time think of his own sufferings, without a confiderable deal of warmth." SCOTT.

CHAP. XXV.

JOB'S DISCOURSE, IN THE PRECEDING CHAPTER, WAS SO INCONTESTABLE, THAT BILDAD, WHOSE TURN IT IS TO SPEAK IN THIS, BEGINS TO WAVE THE DEBATE. FOR HERE HE TAKES NO NOTICE OF IT, AND ONLY EXHORTS HIM, IN A FRIENDLY MANNER, TO SPEAK IN FUTURE OF THE DIVINE MAJESTY WITH MORE AWE AND REVERENCE THAN HE HAD DONE IN HIS LAST APPEAL.

HEN BILDAD the Shuhite, anfwered in the following

TH

terms:

Why fhould you, Job, prefume thus to reflect on infinite wif"dom? Will you charge the Almighty's providence with injustice, as if the Lord neglected the righteous, and indulged the ungod"ly? His awful majesty ought to make you afraid; you ought to

pay him the tribute of divine adoration with the utmost reve"rence; fince his empire is of an unconfined extent; fince he is in "the celestial manfions, where there is an univerfal harmony pre"ferved; where the inhabitants of those realms of blifs acknowledge the depths of his providence, and fubmit with the utmost refignation to his divine will. Are not his armies numberless? "And where is the man who is out of the verge of his protection? "How then durft man, who is fuch a worthlefs creature, to boast

"of

"of his innocence and fincerity before the divine majefty? He, "who pretends to purity in his fight, must doubtless forget that he "is of human extraction. If we take a furvey of those glorious luminaries that adorn the fky, we fhall find that the fun, the "moon, and all her ftarry train, reveal their spots to God's allsearching eye and if fo, what foul stains must that infinitely perfect Being discover in miferable man? In man, who is a "worthless worm, who is but putrefaction whilft he lives, and "when he is dead, returns to the duft from whence he was original"ly extracted?"

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS on CHAP. XXV.

VERSE I.

THEN ANSWERED BILDAD THE SHUHITE, &c.

"BILDAD once more replies: to dictate law

High on a throne fupreme, to hold in awe "Superior worlds, and order to maintain

"Through boundlefs regions of ethereal reign,

6

Belongs to God. What numbers can define
"His winged armies, which around him shine?
"Does not his glory fill those realms of day,
"And each bright feraph glitter with his ray?
"To this grand being shall a mortal's tongue
"Audacious fay,-thy providence is wrong,
"My ways are equal ?—Shall a thing of duft
"Affume the lofty attribute of just ?
"Before his blaze the moon, abafh'd, retires;
"Before his blaze fade all the ftarry fires:
"Yet fhall pollution's worm his beam endure?
"The child of woman in his fight be pure?

"This fhort reply of Bildad reprefents, in a very lofty ftrain, the terrible majesty, fupreme dominion, and infinite perfection of the Deity. Thence he infers the infufferable arrogance of a creature fo frail and impure as man, to juftify himself to "God and impeach the rectitude of his government. He infinuates that Job had "thus done; and probably intended to imprefs the ftanders by with a perfuafion that the fole point in difpute between Job and his opponents was, who was in the 66 wrong,

66

હા wrong, he, or God?-This fpeech is no fort of answer to the facts adduced in the foregoing chapter. They were indeed undeniable, and on the principles of thefe "antagonists infolveable. I therefore incline to think, that the poet put Bildad on making this last feeble effort; merely to give occafion to the triumph of Job in the "fubfequent chapter." SCOTT.

VERSE II.

DOMINION AND FEAR ARE WITH HIM; HE MAKETH PEACE IN HIS HIGH PLACES.

THOUGH God is not mentioned here by Bildad, yet his meaning is, God is omnipotent; and for that reafon all mankind fhould ftand in awe of him, and teftify their reverential fear of his refiftlefs power.-He maketh peace in his high places. Though these words are a continued defcription of God's irrefiftible power; yet his making peace in high places will bear various conftructions.-Some understand thefe high places to be the heavens, where the fun, moon and ftars, which in Scripture are called the host of heaven, are in perpetual motion, and that with the utmost velocity, and yet keep, with the utmost regularity, within their respective spheres.—Others, by these high places, understand those lower regions of the air, where thunder, lightnings, ftorms and tempefts, are, according to our naturalifts, particularly form'd; yet God maketh peace even in thofe high places. If he does but command the tem. peftuous winds to ceafe, they are hufh; if he checks the thunder, its awful found is heard no more. Fire and hail, fays the Pfalmift, fnow and vapour, ftormy wind and tempeft, fulfil his word. When the waves rolled high, and the ship which our bleffed Saviour was in feemed in danger of being loft, no fooner did he say to them, Peace, be ftill; but there was a perfect calm.-Others again imagine those high. places to be the proper habitations of the angels, who live in perfect peace and harmony with each other, and not one of them dares contend with God.-Others again understand it thus in general, that God is eternally in himself, and incapable of the least molestation or disturbance. He orders matters fo, that there are no murmurings or difcontents, much lefs any rebellion, or open wars in heaven.

VERSE III.

IS THERE ANY NUMBER OF HIS ARMIES? AND UPON WHOM DOTH NOT HIS LIGHT ARISE?

THE interrogatory, in the former part of the verfe, is a strong and pofitive affertion that his armies are not only countlefs, but invincible. It may be asked however* who they are? To which we anfwer. Firft, his holy angels. Secondly, the fun, moon, and stars, wind, thunder, hail, &c. And lastly, all created beings of what denomination foever from the leviathan to the worm: And thefe, if he thinks proper,. can execute his divine command as effectually as the angels themselves.-AND UPON

WHOM.

WHOM DOTH NOT HIS LIGHT ARISE. That is, firft the light of the fun, which is God's light, fhines on the juft and on the unjust all mankind partake, without dif tinction of that ineftimable bleffing. Or fecondly, this light may be taken in a stricter fense for God's goodness to mankind. All the peace and comfort which they enjoy in this life proceeds from his inexhaustible bounty. Or thirdly, it may be taken for the light of divine wifdom, that orders and directs all things for the good of his creaOr laftly, for the light of that knowledge, by which God is omniscient. The fecond expofition, however, we conceive to be the true fenfe of the text.

tures.

CHAP. XXVI.

JOB, IN THIS CHAPTER, PERCEIVING THAT BILDAD HAD DEVIATED FROM THE SUBJECT IN DEBATE, REFLECTS ON HIS GRAVE AFFECTATION; AND TELLS HIM, THAT NOTWITH. STANDING HE TALKED IN SUCH TERMS AS IF HE IMAGINED HIMSELF TO BE A WONDERFUL ADVOCATE FOR THE ALMIGHTY, YET HIS DISCOURSE WAS NOT ONLY WIDE OF THE MARK, BUT PERFECTLY INSIPID, IN COMPARISON TO WHAT HE HAD TO OFFER IN FAVOUR OF THE INFINITE WISDOM OF THE ALMIGHTY, WHICH HE DELINEATES INDEED IN FAR LIVELIER COLOURS.

OB in answer to Bildad's laft difcourfe, which he looked upon as foreign to the purpose, replied with a fneer.

JOB

"You have a masterly addrefs, a very happy way, truly, of adminiftring comfort and confolation to the afflicted! How perti"nent is your discourse, and with how much art have your pleaded his caufe, who stands in need of none of your aid or affistance! "can you vainly imagine, that fuch an empty discourse as yours "should be of any service to the Almighty? Upon the supposition " that he would admit you to be his privy counsellor, what excel"lent advice would you give him, who think no one fo wife as yourself, in regard to his regulations of affairs here below? Why "fhould not I know as much of these things as yourfelf? Or can

you pretend to have any particular inspiration in relation to "them? Am I fo weak, think you, that I want to be taught the "common theme of the Almighty's power, which is displayed, not

"only

"only in the heavens, but in the lowest parts of the earth, where "numberless creatures, and many of a gigantic fize are formed in "the unfathomable ocean. I well know likewife, that he is Omnifcient as well as Almighty. He penetrates into the deepest re"cefies the dead themfelves, though removed out of human fight, are obvious to his view; the night and the day are the fame to "him. It is he that expands the northern fky over the empty

σε

fpace; it is he that hangs this globe of earth in air; and his "wondrous power and wisdom are the only pillars that fupport it. "It is he that commands the fluid clouds to fufpend the rain; and though they hang low through the waters that are put up in them, yet they are not burst asunder all at once, but at his direc❝tion, one drop distils from them after another, in order to refresh "the earth. And left the glory of the fun should dazzle our weak eyes too much, in order to break the force of it, he draws his "clouds, as a curtain between him and us. He raises boundaries "around the ocean, and keeps the foaming billows, as it were, in prifon; for fear they fhould create a deluge, and overflow the "the land. The highest mountains, which feem at least to be the props and pillars of the heavens, tremble with fear, and fhake "when his awful thunder rolls above them. He, by his almighty

power, makes furrrows in the fea; at his command the angry "billows mingle their waters with the clouds; but then at plea"fure he checks their pride, and in a moment they fubfide. All

uproar ceases, and a dead calm enfues. He, by his wisdom, has "adorned the celestial spheres with cluftring conftellations, which "are the juft objects of our admiration: these, however, are but a "fmall portion of his handy-works: we know but very little of "his numerous wonders. Who can comprehend his boundless wif-. "dom? Who can declare the utmoft fphere of his almighty: "power?"

VOL. III.

A a a

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