an acknowledgement of these truths, and he replies to celebrate in a sublime manner the almighty power of God, as he saw it manifested in the earth, and the heavens, The elements around him, the constellations above him, teach him a lesson of unmistakeable import, and he makes use of it to sustain the position he assumes. With Him alone who "spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number,"-even with such a one would I plead my cause.

Zophar, the last of the three, can no longer restrain himself, but instead of applying balm to the wounds his friends had made, he probes still deeper, and becomes his most inveterate accuser.

He addresses himself to one who is already overburdened with grief, and says, "O that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;" then wouldst thou "know that he exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth;"--a prayer that shows little of feeling or charity, and quite as little humanity.

Wert thou only righteous, he says, or if thou wilt become so, then shall thy prosperity arise bright as the "morning," and clear as the "noonday."

To this Job replies in language of strong irony, "No doubt ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you,”—as if to say, human wisdom may be concentrated in you, and when you die, it may not be found on the face of the earth.

He protracts his discourse, in which he again strongly rebukes the harsh and uncharitable judgment of his friends, appeals to the Lord for encouragement and hope, and argues the misery and sinfulness of man's life; giving an idea of its shortness by many happily chosen images, like the following: "Man cometh forth like a flower, and is soon cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. His days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle;-swifter than a frost; they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships; as an eagle that hasteth to the prey."

Once and again after this, the three friends of Job go through with their round of argument, to the same purpose, and in each instance are met with a response from him, showing his adherence to his former position.

In all Job seems to have the advantage, while the speeches of his friends show but little besides a tissue of borrowed wise sayings, and ancient proverbs and maxims, relative to God, and his moral government of the world; from the seemingly inexhaustible treasures of his own mind, he seems to draw at ease, every desirable material for the expression of his thoughts and feelings.

What more beautiful than his exaltation of heavenly wisdom, the beauty and excellency of which he faintly shadows forth by "costly rubies;" and his use of the majestic appearances of nature, to speak the power and glory of the Omnipotent.

Nothing is brought to issue, and weary at last with their own repetitions, his friends give up the contest, and Elihu, a bystander, perceiving this, comes forward and takes a part, and though he speaks well, he is incapable of closing the controversy, and God himself appears at last and decides the case.

In the speech of Elihu every thing appears to be original; he speaks from a deep and comprehensive mind, that had profoundly studied the subjects on which he discoursed. His descriptions of the Divine attributes, and of the wonderful works of God, are correct, splendid, impressive and inimitable. Having come nearly to a close, and knowing that the Almighty would appear and speak for himself, he judiciously prepares for and announces his coming by thunder and lightning, of which he gives a terrific and majestic description. The evidences of the Divine presence throng on his eyes and mind; the incomprehensible glory and excellency of God confound all his powers of reasoning and description; he can not arrange his words by reason of darkness, and he concludes with stating, that to poor weak man God must for ever remain incomprehensible, and a subject of deep religious fear and reverence.

Just then the terrible majesty of the Lord appears! Elihu is silent.

The rushing mighty wind, for which the description of the thunder and lightning had prepared poor, confounded, astonished Job, proclaims the presence of Jehovah: and out of this whirlwind God answers for and proclaims himself.

Such new and wonderful disclosures of the Infinite, humbled Job to the earth, and brought him to the very point heaven designed he should be brought.

While his three friends were standing in need of sacrifice to insure favor, the fullness of the Divine blessing descended upon the penitent man, and he was at once reinstated in his former dignity, with more than his former wealth and prosperity. The whole is, indeed, a powerfully wrought picture, with harmony of design and most exquisite shading.

The book is evidently a poem, and one too, of the highest order, dealing in subjects the most grand and sublime; using imagery the most chaste and appropriate, described by language the most happy and energetic; conveying instruction both in Divine and human things, the most ennobling and useful; abounding in precepts the most pure and exalted, which are enforced by arguments the most strong and conclusive, and illustrated by examples the most natural and striking.

It is genuine poetry, which has been compared to "a mountain flood, pouring down, resistless in its might, bursting all bounds, wearing its own channel, carrying woods and rocks before it, and spreading itself abroad, both deep and wide, over all the plain."

Whatever may be said of it, it is on all hands accounted a work that contains "the purest morality, the sublimest philosophy, the simplest ritual, and a most majestic creed."

CHAPTER XII.

Isaiah.

PROBABLE TIME OF APPOINTMENT TO THE SACRED OFFICE; LENGTH OF TIME THEREIN; TRADITIONS OF HIS FAMILY AND HIS OWN DEATH.

F ISAIAH very little is known. He is supposed to have been of the tribe of Judah, and of the royal family of David. Himself says that he was the son of Amoz; and others tell us that this Amoz was the son of Joash, and brother of Amaziah, king of Judah. "Of his family and tribe we know nothing," says R. D. Krinchi, "only our rabbins of blessed memory have received the tradition that Amoz and Amaziah were brothers;" and it is on this ground that he has been called the royal prophet. Several commentators have thought that his prophesies afford presumptive evidence of his high descent and elegant education:

1. Because his style is more correct and majestic than any of the other prophets.

2. That his frequent use of images taken from royalty is a proof that this state was familiar to him, being much at court, as he must have been, had he been the brother of the king.

These things are spoken by many with much confidence; but the circumstance that he drew directly from the fount of Divine inspiration, gives a surer basis for the correctness of his style, and the dignity of his sentiments, than those inferior helps. On the other hypothesis, nothing is left to the Divine Spirit, except the mere matter of the prophecies. Suppositions of this kind are not creditable to Divine revelation.

That Isaiah obtained a solemn designation to the prophetic office, is sure.

The vision in the sixth chapter of his prophecy, which contains the particulars of this, is thought by most interpreters

to be the first in order of his prophecies, but as many things tend to show they were not placed in exact order of time, this may be considered a new designation, to introduce more solemnly a general dedication of the whole course of God's dispensations in regard to his people and the destiny of the nation.

In this vision the ideas are taken in general from royal majesty, as displayed by the monarchs of the East; for the prophet could not represent the ineffable presence of God by any other than sensible and earthly images. The particular scenery of it seems to be taken from the temple.

The special mission of Isaiah was to the Jews. He was a faithful messenger, declaring the "whole counsel of God," on all occasions exhorting the people to regard the Divine communication as a matter of personal concern and highest interest. From the time the heavenly vision had constrained him to a self-pronounced "wo," he had seemed to perform his duties with an abiding sense of the responsibility of a heavencommissioned prophet. We see him showing the same earnestness whether proclaiming the solemn denunciations of God's wrath against the sins of his people, or bearing messages of mercy and promises of deliverance to the chosen ones.

His sublime annunciations with regard to the Redeemer of the world have long since received a complete and glorious fulfillment, while others relative to the Jewish nation are still depending, and will not be fully accomplished till the final restoration of Israel.

That he exercised the prophetical office during a long period of time, is evident, if he lived to the reign of Manassch; for the lowest computation, beginning from the year in which Uzziah died, when some suppose him to have received his first appointment to that office, brings it to sixty-one years. Yet circumstances exist which render it more probable that he died before Hezekiah.

It is, however, certain that he lived at least to the fifteenth or sixteenth year of this king; thus making the least possible term of the duration of his prophetical office about fortyeight years.