No more remembered shall their mem'ries be,
Their wickedness is broken like a tree.

They evil treat the barren, bearing not,
Nor yet amel'orate the widow's lot.

They draw the mighty with their cruel power,
They rise in wrath, and none are safe an hour.
Although this safety God to them doth give,
Wherein they rest while here on earth they live;
Yet still His watchful eyes observe their days,
And mark the wickedness of all their ways.

A little while are they exalted so,

But soon are gone, and brought completely low.
They die at last and disappear from earth,
Like all the others of a human birth;

Removed as stumbling-blocks from out the way,
Of others rising to succeed their day;
Cut off like tops, that tall and thin adorn,
But shade, and sap the ears of ripening corn.
If this 's not so, then who will now reply?
And prove my speech a base and empty lie?

CHAPTER XVII.

BILDAD'S THIRD REPLY TO JOB.

THIS reply of Bildad is very short. Zophar does not attempt to answer. Eliphaz is silent. This last speech of Job has confounded them. Bildad's speech is amusing. He who had, in his former addresses, been so positive; so full of trite, proverbial maxims of ancient wisdom; so censorious, vehement, and cruel; now is completely overthrown. He thinks he must say something; that his honor and character as a wise, and learned man, are at stake; and yet he does not seem to know what to say, or how to extricate himself from the tremendous humiliation of his unex

pected and total defeat. He does not reply to Job's facts at all; says nothing in answer to his arguments; he does not even censure Job; but as his maxims appear to be nearly exhausted, he strings together the few that remain, about the greatness and power of God, and then pauses. He is not convinced, but silenced. The controversy had been concerning the dealings of God with His creatures in this world. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had maintained that God punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous in this life; that suffering here is the measure of one's sins; and that hence Job was a very wicked man, because he was a very great sufferer. Job, on the other hand, argued that God does not treat His creatures here according to their real characters; that the righteous are often sorely afflicted; that the wicked are frequently prospered; live to a very old age; die in peace, and pass away without any tokens of the divine indignation; and hence that his dreadful sufferings did not necessarily prove him to be a wicked man. The triumphant demonstration of these truths, in the speeches of Job, is a rich and glorious legacy bequeathed, as a comfort, to all those who are stricken and afflicted in this life. and sufferings do not prove guilt. They are not necessarily chastisements for sins. They are rather the divinely ordained means of enlarged experience; spiritual growth and development; of greater degrees of divine knowledge; of the purification and sublimation of the soul from earth; and of producing a more intense longing after a glorious immortality.

Thus Job replied: when Bildad rose instead,

And speechless wonder held them while he said:

Trials

Dominion vast, and fear with God obtain,
He maketh peace in all high places reign.
Doth any number count His armies o'er?
On whom doth not His light supernal pour?
Then how can man be justified with God?
Whose mortal form is but a senseless clod?
Or how can he be clean and pure within,
That is of woman always born in sin?
Behold the moon; it shineth pale and dim,

When, crowned with glory, we but think of Him.
And, yea, the stars, that stud the brow of night,
Are never pure, and spotless in His sight;
How much less man that is a worm of earth?

Or son of man that is of kindred birth?

9

CHAPTER XVIII.

JOB'S FINAL REPLY TO HIS THREE FRIENDS.

ELIPHAZ, Bildad, and Zophar have been silenced by Job's last speech. Job now closes the controversy by a most beautiful, powerful, and overwhelming answer to them all. He first pours forth withering sarcasm on Bildad for his short and irrelevant speech. He describes the power and majesty of God, with great eloquence and sublimity; displaying a great trial of skill; painting the majesty and glory of the Almighty in the most vivid colors; and showing that his views about His government are due to no mean conceptions of His attributes. Job now pauses for Zophar to reply. Eliphaz and Bildad had each spoken three times, and Zophar but twice. It was now his turn to answer. But he is silent. Job therefore continues. He declares that while he lived his lips should not speak wickedness, nor his tongue utter deceit. He asserts his innocence, and says that he cannot agree with his friends, nor renounce his sense of uprightness, nor believe that his afflictions prove his guilt. He expresses his abhorrence of the hypocrite and the wicked man, and alleges that they will be punished. He denies their position that it is a universal principle that the wicked are invariably punished as they deserve in this life; but admits that sometimes they are; that nothing definite in relation to character can be unmistakably known from what a person suffers. From the 13th to the 23d verse of the 27th chapter there seems to be a rehearsal by Job of Zophar's description of the portion of a wicked man. Job reproves it as "vain." By this he means that it is not true as a universal principle, although it may be in special cases. This must be the view to be taken of those verses; if not, we have Job giving up his main position that the wicked are not fully punished in this life. The fierce, and vehement style is that of Zophar; and, as he had not replied the third time, Job here apparently replies for him, by reciting the substance of his views, as previously expressed. This hypothesis relieves the difficulty, and makes Job consistent in this speech with his former argument. He now shows that true wisdom consists in the fear of the Lord; that though man has made profound investigations and discoveries into the arcana of nature; has shown great skill in the art of mining and refining gold, silver, iron, copper, and other metals; has carried his examinations, and searches far down into the bowels of the earth; has tilled the ground, and produced food from it, and discovered the localities of the precious metals; has surpassed the intelligence and wisdom of the lower animals, and gone where

the vulture's eye has not penetrated, and where the lion's whelp has not trodden; has displayed extraordinary powers of engineering, and physical strength; removing rocks, overturning mountains, cutting canals, confining boisterous floods, and repressing the angry elements; yet he has failed to find out the secrets of true wisdom, or the place where they may be found. The revelations of science and nature; the depths of the sea; and the intellect of man are incapable of revealing divine wisdom. He declares that it cannot be gotten for gold and silver; nor valued with the gold of Ophir, precious onyx, or the sapphire; nor equaled by the crystal; nor exchanged for jewels; nor mentioned with corals and pearls; that it is above rubies; unequaled by the topaz of Ethiopia; and incomparable with pure gold. He says it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. Destruction and death say they have only heard of the fame of it with their ears. But Job says God understands the way thereof, and knows the place where it is found. He declares He looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heavens; He weigheth the winds, and waters by measure; and that when He made a decree for the lightning of thunder, He saw it, declared it, and searched it out; and said unto man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. Job now adverts to his own case, further to show the mystery of God, and reply to his friends. He refers to his former prosperity; contrasts it with his present condition; relates a few of the transactions of his life; declares he had been faithful in his duties to God and man; and re-asserts his integrity. He draws a beautiful picture of his condition, when God smiled on him; when his children were with him; when young men retired before him in public places; princes and nobles put their hands on their mouths; when all the eyes that saw him, and all the ears that heard him, blessed him for his kindness, and benevolence to the fatherless, and to him that was ready to perish; when he put on righteousness as a robe and diadem; and was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. He then speaks of his present condition. He complains that the young, whose fathers he would disdain to set with the dogs of his flock, have him in derision; that children of fools, base men, and viler than the earth, make him their song, and byword. He refers to his bodily sufferings, and to the loathsomeness of his disease. He declares that he cries in vain to God, and that he believes He designs to bring him down to death. He says that although he has blessed others, yet he is a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. He then draws an inimitable and beautiful picture of his private life. His friends had accused him of great wickedness, unmercifulness to the poor, the widow, and the orphan, and other crying sins. He declares that his life had been chaste; that he had made a covenant with his eyes; that he did not allow himself to look upon a maid; that sincerity and solemnity always marked his life; that no injustice stained his hands; that he had been faithful and true to his marriage vows; faithful and kind to his servants; benevolent to the poor, the orphan, and widow; free from idolatry, trusting not in gold, nor worshiping the sun and moon; that he had not cursed his enemies; that he was free from secret sins, cloaked or hidden in his bosom; that innocence in all things had been maintained in heart