Giving, resuming, he is still the Lord,
Still be the glories of his name ador❜d.

SEC. 4.-His Patience and Submission.

AGAIN affliction's wound, he felt all o'er,
Smitten with boils and stung at ev'ry pore.
Down in the dust he sat in humble sign
Of sorrow passive to the will divine,
'Twas then, the frail companion of his care
Wounded his soul with words of wild despair:
What, still a saint ? go on, and cringing low,
Praise him once more, and feel his mortal blow.
Dost thou, (he said, and cast a tender look
While zeal deliver'd its severe rebuke,)
E'en thou thus rashly speak? in such a style,
Let a blind paganess her Gods revile.
Jehovah's hand divides our portion still :
Shall we embrace his good and not his ill?

CHAP. II.

SEC. 1.-Job's friends visit him.

LAMENTING fame now hasten'd from his place,
Temanian Eliphaz, of Shuah's race,

Bildad and Zophar, of Naamah's line,
These, guided by the voice of friendship, join ;
Then speedy to their suff'ring friend they go,
To mingle tears and mollify his woe.
His form now opens to their distant view,

But O how alien from the form they knew!
They sprinkled dust upon their heads, they rent
Their flowing vesture, and aloud lament.
Then seated near him on the ground, amaze
Fetter'd their tongues. For seven succeeding days,

With mourning rite, their visit they renew'd, But silent still. They saw, his grief withstood All lenient counsel; for his looks exprest Fortune, and huge affliction in his breast.

SEC. 2.-In the extremity of his anguish, Job laments that ever he was born, and regrets the day of his birth.

AT length the suffering man opprest with pain,
Pour'd forth his anguish in lamenting strain:
Regardless be that day my years began!
That night forget which hail'd the new born man
Dark, total darkness, be that day; nor eye
Of God, all viewing from his throne on high,
Its revolution heed: nor orient beam
Revisit, gladd'ning with its golden stream.
Let death possess it with its dreary shade,
Let storm and thund'ring cloud its heav'n invade ;
Let boding signs, from all the quarter'd sphere,
Trouble its brow and terrify the year.

That night let darkness in his realm replace,
Erase it from the rolls of time, erase.

All through that lonesome time may silence reign,
Nor joy intrude, nor joy-awak'ning strain.
The guilty night that caus'd my mother's throe,
And gave me being but to give me woe.
Ah! why not bury'd in the womb ? or why.
Not favor'd, recent from the womb, to die?
Why did the midwife-knee the birth receive?
Or the full pap its fatal nurture give?
Else I had lain, at ease, in sleep profound,
In peaceful chambers of the cavern'd ground,
And sweetly rested; with a princely train,
Whose burial mansions load the desert plain.
Vain works of kings! and fill'd with wealth as vain!

Or like the abortive, I had ne'er begun :
Or, not less happy, ne'er beheld the sun.
The still born infant's lot had been my own,
A nameless being, and a grave unknown.

O land desir'd! where tyrants scourge no more,
Where chiefs repose, and statesmen's toils are o'er :
The captive's home, who slumb'ring on his clod,
Hears not the eruel voice nor sounding rod.
There great and small are undistinguish'd mould,
And there the slaves among the free enroll❜d.
Why o'er the wretched must the day-star roll,
Who nauseate life in bitterness of soul?
Who wait the coming of the king of fears;
Who seek the ruthless dart his hand uprears,
Impatient seek; as greedy misers toil

For treasures bury'd in the rocky soil ?

And when the grave appears, with sparkling eyes,
Spring and in rapture seize the blissful prize.
Why must I breathe, who see no gleam of light
Whom God environs with despair's black night?
My daily meal but deepens all my groans,
And like the bursting sluice I pour my moans.
Ah boding fears! I suffer'd what I fear'd!
Soon as divin'd, the dreaded ill appear'd :
Still trembling, suffering, I'm allow'd to know
No ease from terror, nor one pause in woe,

SEC. 3.-Speech of Eliphaz occasioned in consequence of Job's complaint-that, instead of murmuring, to submit his case to God, which in the end would turn to his advantage.

THE Temanite observ'd: To speak our sense
Shall we presume, and hazard the offence ?
But whom can silence hold, or doubt suspend
To truth unfaithful or displease a friend?

Not such the strain, when grief attentive hung
On the wise lessons of thy powerful tongue :
Affliction's palsied arm was stung by thee.
The tott'ring step confirm'd and feeble knee :
What numbers, in the conflict, half subdu'd,
Arous'd to courage, strong in patience stood!
Now touch thyself, and thine the suff'ring part,
Maz'd and unmann'd thou faintest with the smart.
Should not thy piety, beneath the rod,
Inspire a noble confidence in God?

And conscious virtue, by its glorious power,
Fill thee with prospect of salvation's hour ?
A just man perish? innocence o'erthrown ?
Name the strange instance; in what climate known?
But sinners thus, if I these eyes believe,
Fit harvest of the crimes they sow receive.
A furious storm, the Almighty's angry breath,
Rush'd down and smote them with enormous death.
But hear the word divine, to me convey'd,

Than pearls more precious, in the midnight shade:
Amidst the emotions which from visions rise,
When more than nature's sleep seals human eyes,
Fear seiz'd my soul, the hand of horror strook
My shudd'ring flesh and every member shook,
For a strong wind with rushing fury pass'd
So near, so loud, blast whirling after blast,
That my hair started at each stiff'ning pore,
And stood erect. At once the wild uproar
Was hush'd; a presence burst upon my sight
(I saw no shape) in majesty of light:
Voice follow'd, and celestial accents broke,
Which in these terms their awful dictates spoke :
"Is God arraign'd? absolv'd man's sinful dust?
"Less pure his Maker ? or his Judge less just ?
"Lo he discerns, discern'd by him alone,
"Spots in the sanctities around the throne :

"Nor trusts his noble ministers of flame, "To yield him service unalloy'd with blame. 66 Yet, innocent of blame, shall man be found, "Tenants of clay and reptiles of the ground? "Crush'd like the moth, these beings of a day "With unregarded waste are swept away: "Their honors perish and themselves descend "Fools to the grave and thoughtless of their end." Be now complainant, the defendant see, Which angel will espouse thy daring plea ? Learn, learn that misery is the mulct of sin, In men's own bosoms all their woes begin: Revenge or envy hurries fools along, Pursu'd by death, to cruelty and wrong. Think not those changes from the dust arise, Nor seek their origin below the skies: Man is to sorrow born, if man offend, As surely as the spiry flames ascend. Instead of murmur, with repenting tear I'd leave my cause in God's all-gracious ear: Whose acts are great, stupendous, and renown'd, Which no thought fathoms and no numbers bound: Who pouring on the fields his genial rain, Turns a burnt desart into foodful plain : Who lifts the lowly, from their dust, on high, And changes into song the mourner's cry.

O scorn not thou; the same kind wounding hand
Its balm infuses and applies its band.

Then ills on ills about thy path may swell;
In vain! his arm will every ill repel.

In famine, fulness shall thy table cheer,
And war, wide wasting, shake his harmless spear.
Rages the tongue of slander ? undismay'd,

Walk thou in covert of Almighty shade,