not live again on the earth; that a tree, cut down, will spring up again, but not so with man. He desires God to hide him in the grave, until his anger is past, and then to call him forth that he may speak, and vindicate himself. He implies that now he is so weak, and despondent, that he cannot answer God, and that, under sore trials, man is wasted away, as the waters wash away the stones, and the mountains. He feels that he is friendless, that God and man have both forsaken him; and under this impression he indulges in complaints, doubts, fears, despondency, and remonstrance; and manifests the deepest perplexity concerning his present condition, and future prospects.

Thus Zophar ceased upbraiding words to find,
And Job, in answer, freed his lab'ring mind:
No doubt but ye're the only people true!
And wisdom surely all will die with you!
But understanding also I possess,

I fall no lower than yourselves confess;
Because your speeches are, with maxims, fraught,
And proverbs also, from the ancients brought;
You think they're deep, and will my reason please,
But who don't know such common things as these?
From all this boastful, and upbraiding talk,
I'm now as one whose neighbors basely mock ;
Who calls on God, inspired by holy fear,
And God, in answers, doth his pleadings hear.
The man that's just, upright, and inward born,
By wicked men, is surely laughed to scorn.
And he that's ready with his feet to slip,
Is then the victim of the sland'rer's lip;

Or like a torch despised, and cast away,
By one rejoicing in meridian day.

The tents of robbers prosper safe, and sure,
To God-provokers always are secure;

To their rapacious hand we also see,
That God Almighty brings abundantly.
The lower world of animated things,
The same conclusion, in concurrence, brings;
That in his dealings with his creatures here,
Rewards, and punishments do not appear.
But ask the beasts that roam the planet free,
And they shall teach this mighty truth to thee.
He gives no safety to the tame, and mild,
Nor punishes the cruel, fierce, and wild;
For lions, wolves, and panthers fierce, and fell,
Devour the lamb, and innocent gazelle.
Consult the fowls, of ev'ry tribe and air,
And they shall also one and all declare :
The tender, beautiful, and harmless bird,
Whose morning carol, in the tree, is heard;
Has no protection, by his power decreed,
From soaring eagle, or the vulture's greed.
The gentle, useful, tender, mild, and tame,
Are oftener chosen than the fiercer game.
Address the earth, with ev'ry shoot, and tree,
And it shall teach this mighty truth to thee;
The pois'nous herbs, and noxious weeds do spoil,
The useful plants that cleave the cumbered soil.

The thistle, brier, and the bramble thorn,
Arise, and choke the fairest crops of corn.
The giant trees of ev'ry wooded land,

Consume the food the smaller growths demand;

The countless fish that swim the briny sea,

Declare again, this wondrous truth, to thee.
The scaly monsters, on the lesser breed,

of finny beauties, greedily do feed;

The beasts, the fowls, the fish, and noxious blades,
Assert the truth the universe pervades ;

The large and strong, the noxious, fierce, and wild,
Oppose the weak, the innocent, and mild.
But God for this, no punishment doth bring,

On beast, or bird, or fish, or noxious thing;

And in his dealings with his creatures here,
Their real characters do not appear.
Who cannot see that all these wondrous things,
Have been the labor of the King of kings?
Within whose hand, is ev'ry grade of life,

And flesh of man, engaged in mortal strife.
Doth not the ear decide what words are sweet?
And taste the mouth the savor'ness of meat?
The aged walk in wisdom's hoary ways,
And understanding lies in length of days.
The voice of wisdom doth from God resound,
And strength, unbounded, in his arm, is found.
Unerring counsel, to his mind, pertains,
And understanding, in his spirit, reigns.
Behold, He breaketh down the works of men,
And they can never be built up again.
He shuts a man, in straits, and hedges round,
And then, for him, no opening can be found.

Behold, the floods He holdeth in the sky,
And, on the earth, the waters quickly dry.
He also sendeth them, in fury, forth,
And then they throughly overturn the earth.
Inscrutable, in wisdom and in might,
Deceivers and deceived are in his sight.
He leadeth counselors destroyed away,
And maketh fools of judges, day by day.
The power of kings He looseth, by His might,
And girds their loins, with iron girdles, tight.
And princes plundered, oft, He leads away,
And overthrows the mighty, in his day,
The trusty's wisdom surely He forsakes,
Discernment also, from the old, He takes.
He pours contempt on princes, throughly broke,
And weakens down the strength of mighty folk;
Revealeth myst'ries in the midst of night,

And bringeth forth the shades of death to light ;
Increaseth nations, during cycles slow,
And then destroys them by a single blow;
Enlargeth nations, with unnumbered men,
And straightway brings them into straits again.
He clouds the wisdom of the people's chief,
Distracts his counsels, oft without relief;
He maketh rulers wander forth, and stray,
In wildernesses where there is no way.
They grope in darkness, without light, or plan,
And reel, and stagger like a drunken man.

Perplexed, unstable, and confused, at length,
Distracted counsels take away their strength.
Behold, mine eye hath seen the things I tell,
Mine ear hath heard, and understood them well.
And what ye know, the same I also knew,
I'm not infer'or therefore unto you.

But O, to God I surely now would speak,
And words of wisdom, fitly chosen, seek;
Afflicted sorely by his smiting rod,

I now desire to reason with my God;

To plead my cause before His righteous eyes,
And hear His just, and merciful replies.

To cruel speeches He will not resort,

Nor once my words, nor arguments distort.
But ye are forgers of sophistic lies,

And all physicians whom I now despise.

Oh! now that all of you would hold your peace,
Your wisdom thus, in vastness, would increase.
Receive my reasonings, and your words refrain,
And let the pleadings of my lips complain.
For God Almighty will ye falsely speak?
And words sophistical adroitly seek?
To vindicate his righteous dealings here,
Will ye, by falsehoods, make the right appear?
To clear his government from every charge,
Of partial dealing with mankind, at large;
Will ye fallaciously invent and talk,
Deceitful sophistries, and reason mock?