A PARAPHRASE UPON JOB; Written in French by J. F. SENAULT, FATHER Of the ORATORY: AND Dedicated to the Cardinal of RICHLIEU. LONDON, Printed for Robert Bostock, dwelling at the sign of the King's head in Paul's Churchyard. 1648. Imprimatur, JAMES CRANFORD. blazons or coats of arms of Scotland, England and France THE TRANSLATOR TO The READER. SUre, it cannot be unsuitable to the condition of these Times to publish a Discourse of PATIENCE, nor hath the World ever afforded so incomparable an example of that Virtue as JOB, whose History seems to be written not so much for his Honour, as our Instruction, to show us that the highest point of Valour is to suffer bravely, and to be a standing rule to all Ages, how men should deport themselves in their misfortunes. The Author of this Work hath acquired so unquestionable a fame by this and other Pieces of his Pen, that it would be but a diminution to his Greatness for me to commend him. Yet it is not to be expected that here, where men can agree upon nothing, all men should agree in the Approbation of this Discourse. If it please those who have Civility and Judgement, it is enough. The PREFACE. THough all be Princely in the Person of Jesus Christ; though his Actions, as well as his sufferings deserve to be adored, and his greatness exacts from men as much respect, as his Humility; yet it seems that his Father hath taken delight to make his pains more glorious than his Miracles, and had more care to make known to all ages his Innocence, than his Power. Indeed Jesus Christ hath had more Figures of his Passion, then of his Glory; Abel watered the infant earth with his blood, Jacob was ill treated by Esau, Joseph was sold by his Brethren, and mounted not upon the Throne of Egypt, but by the stairs of Servitude and Prison; and without making a tedious Relation of all the just who have suffered, it is sufficient to say, that there hath been no age which hath not brought forth some Innocent unfortunate: but scarce can there be found three or four Princes as well amongst the Faithful, as Profane, who have been figures of Jesus Christ, Victorious or Triumphant; for if you except Josuah, who hath represented him to us in his battles, Cyrus in his Conquests, and Solomon in his Glory, you shall see nothing but marks of his weakness, and advices which Heaven gives the Earth of his future sufferings, He hath without doubt permitted it to be so, because the glory of men was not solid enough to represent that of the Son of God, and because their Miseries were real enough to express his sorrows: H● judged likewise that the scandal of th● Cr●sse had need of Precaution, and that if many Innocents' were not afflicted, the Punishments which Jesus Christ was to endure, would do injury to his Merit. Now amongst all those great men who have had the honour to bear the Character of a Man-God suffering, Heaven hath not sent into the world a more illustrious one then Job: for besides that his birth makes him recommendable, that the Gentiles amongst whom he lived give a lustre to his Piety, his incomparable Miseries have acquired him so much reputation in the world, that Moses found no better expedient to sweeten the Miseries of the captive Isralites in Egypt, then to make them the Relation of his misfortunes. So that with whatsoever affliction the Patience of a man hath been tried, he might always have observed in the History of Job matter of Consolation; for his life was traversed with all the misfortunes, which may be imagined, and his Virtue exercised by all the disgraces, which might render it more illustrious: his goods which consisted in flocks were carried away by strangers, or consumed by lightning, his houses were overthrown by the violence of the winds, his children were buried under their ruins, and the Devil, who stirred up all these tempests, made advice be given him of them the same day, to the end, that putting his soul in disorder, impatience or grief might wrest reproaches or Blasphemies from his Mouth. But his hopes proved as vain, as his attempts; he assaulted his Body with divers strange diseases, that it cannot be conceived how a man could resist so many sorrows; for their continuance did not sweeten their violence, their excess did not diminish their Number; & oftentimes the same part was affected with contrary Evils, which seemed not to aagree together, but to increase the sufferings of this unhappy Innocent. His wife used all the Artifices, which are ordinary with her sex, to bring him to despair; his Friends employed all their Eloquence to persuade him that he was guilty, and to take away the comfort which he had from the thought of his Innocence. As their reproaches and complaints are the principal design of this book, so are they the principal subject of this Preface; and I believe it is very hard to understand the History of Job, if one does not know the motives, which his Friends had to accuse him, and the reasons which he had to defend himself. Nothing brought more prejudice to this great man, than his Misery, and that which should have given lustre to his virtue, gave it but Obscurity: for his friends who thought that punishment was always an effect of the sin of him, which suffers, believed him faulty because they saw him Miserable, and not able to accord his Innocence's with divine justice, they had rather condemn a man, then accuse a God: the Principle upon which they founded their discourses was probable, the Consequences which they drew thence appeared to them infallible, the great care which Job took to defend himself passed in their thoughts for Obstinacy, his Answers seemed more obscure than riddles, and his Complaints as guilty as Blasphemies; so that they were not injurious to their Neighbour but because they were over zealous for God, and hurt not Charity, but because they defended Religion. As their Proceeding did not want excuse, so could they not exempt it from fault; for being Jobs neighbours, reputation which pardons nothing in Princes, and which makes their sins as public as their Virtues, had sufficiently informed them of his honesty, the Conferences which they had with him durring his good Fortune, aught to have assured them of the Sanctity of his life, and if they could not know the causes of his disgrace, they ought to have suspended their Judgements, and not condemned him whose Virtue was as known as his Misfortune. The Complaints of Job were well founded upon more just Motives; for his Conscience reproached him not with Crimes, the Holy Ghost which spoke to men by his Mouth, spoke inwardly to his Heart, and suffered him not to believe that he was punished for his sin: All these Reasons though had not excused his Complaints, if a stronger one had not obliged him to make them; but as he was the figure of Jesus Christ, who was to unite Innocence in his Person with the Punishment of sin, and who by a Decree of his Father's Justice, was to be the most afflisted as he was the most just of all Men, it was necessary that he defended himself, and that he employed all his Eloquence to persuade his friends, that if he were unhappy, he was not guilty. It was this potent Consideration without Doubt, which furnished his Mind with so many exc●llent reasons: He maintained his own Innocence, for fear Jesus Christ's should be interested; he spoke with heat, because he pleaded the cause of his Master, and as he was his Figure as well as his Advocate, he raised himself above the Condition of a Mortal man, be stood upon Terms with God, and demanded of him rather Justice, than Mercy; This Truth being well weighed, will make it evidently appear to all the world, that JOB was obliged to speak in powerful Terms, and that he could not use more humble, or modest ones, but he must betray the honour of Jesus Christ, and leave scruple in the minds of the Auditors, which would have wronged the cause he defended. Now as the eternal Father hath done nothing but by his Son, as he hath Created Angels to carry his orders into the World, Devils to execute his Vengeances, Men to obey his Laws, Princes to govern his People, Priests to make him sacrifices, the just to be his Figures, and Prophets to foretell his wonders, he would have the first Book in the World to be his apology, and the most ancient of Histories to be consecrated to his Innocence: for the Fathers of the Church agree, that this Discourse is the first which the Holy Ghost hath dictated, that he had often spoken before by the Mouth of Men, but that he had not written by their Hands, that his Oracles were not known but by Tradition, and that there was yet no holy Scripture which they could consult to learn his Pleasure; but they do not agree so absolutely concerning the Author of this work; the most common opinion though, and me thinks the most reasonable, is that JOB seeing himself reestablished in his former greatness, and entertaining himself with his past Miseries, had written the History of them himself, and that falling into the hands of Moses, that great Man put them into Verse for the Consolation of his people, and embellished them with the most rich Ornaments, and the most glittering Figures of Poetry. Indeed I am certain that there is no Book in the World, where the manner of speaking is more noble, the conceits more generous, the Descriptions more rich, and the comparisons more natural. Likewise it is easy to judge, that he who was the Author of it had great lights, and that Revelation or study had taught him all that a man can know: sometimes he reasons like an Excellent Philosopher, and serves himself with all the secrets of Rhetoric and Morality, to persuade or move; sometimes he Speaks like a sage Politician, and describes all the Maxims which States men hold for the conduct of the people: sometimes he treats like a curious Naturalist, and discovers the most hidden Beauties of Nature; oftentimes he discourseth like a profound Divine, and describes to us those adorable Perfections, which separate God so nobly from his works; but on what Subject soever he speaks he is always an Orator, and his Eloquence never leaves him; yet we must acknowledge that two things were to be wished in this discourse, not so much for its Perfection, as for our contentment: one is, that it were more intelligible, for it is certain there are some places so dark, that they seem rather Riddles than Truths, and the Earth will never have a perfect Understanding of them, if the Spirit, which dictated them, do not explain them. Nor do I give my interpretations to the Public, but as Conjectures, whereof the greatest Part being taken out of the Fathers, I have this comfort, that I have not failed alone, and that my faults have Authors, which render them excusable. The other thing, which were to be desired in this work for the satisfaction of the Reader, is the connexion of Reasons and conceits: but every one knows that it is the stile of the Holy Scripture, and that the connecting its passages, is the shame, and if I durst say it the despair of interpreters; for whether the History of the time when these Holy Authors wrote, be unknown to us, whether the secrets of their language be hidden from us, or lastly whether it be that the Spirit of God hath other laws in its discourses then ours; we must confess that their Contexture is so delicate, that it is imperceptible, and one must have a great deal of light, or a great deal of vanity, to promise one self to perceive it. Notwithstanding I have done what I could to tie together the most part of the Passages of this discourse by a connexion which may satisfy the Reader; but where I conceived that tying them together would do them Violence, I have left them in that Holy disorder, which obligeth us to adore the greatness of God, and to acknowledge our own weakness. A PARAPHRASE Upon JOB. CHAP. I. The Argument of the I. CHAPTER. THe Devil envying the greatness, and the virtue of Job obteins leave of God to carry away his Cattles, to to over throw his Houses, and to bury his Children under the ruins of them: But as this Prince made his Piety appear in his Prosperity, he makes his Constancy and Resignation admired in his Misfortune. BEtwixt the confines of Arabia deserta and the Banks of Jordan they discover a little Country called Hus, 1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. Famous heretofore for having brought forth Giants, but more happy for having been the divifion of the Tribe of Manassa. Here reigned a Prince named Job, descended of those great men, whom the Jews acknowledge for their Fathers, and who being no less illustrious for his Merit, than his birth, feared God, loved his subjects, & according a singular prudence with a rare simplicity followed virtue and shunned vice. 2 And there was born unto him seven sons and 3 daughters. Heaven, which blesseth Marriages, and makes Fathers live again in the persons of their children had given him seven sons and three daughters, whose virtues were so rare that he was esteemed happier for being their Father, then for being Sovereign of so many Subjects. Nothing was wanting to him of all those goods, 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, & three thousand Camels, and five hundred yoke of Oxen, and five hundred she-Asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the the men of the East. which are necessary for the entertainment, or pleasure of life; for his Shepherds drove into the field every day seven thousand sheep, his husbandmen cultivated the earth with five hundred yoke of Oxen, and to carry his servants and his baggage, there were seen wan●ing in the plains three thousand Camels, and five ●undred she-asses. These riches accompanied with all qualities that may make a Prince great, gave him the first rank amongst the Eastern people. He had not a neighbour but was his Ally, and he was held to be rash that durst be his enemy. His children passed their time innocently, 4 And his Sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day, & sent and called for their three sisters, to eat & to drink with them. and their most agreeable divertisements were feasts, and every one did it in his own house as it fell to his turn; and as dissolution was banished thence, he who entertained the rest, never falled to invite his three sisters. Although the peace which reigned amongst these brethren, 5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and risen up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all ● for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, & cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. and which tied the● souls more straight th● blood and nature did their Bodies, aught to have quietes the mind of Job; notwithstanding when this circle o● days and feasting was finishe● he sent to visit them, and recommended unto them not ● much the care of conserving amity amongst themselves, 〈◊〉 conserving the respect the owed to God. And because prayers are more profitable than counsel, he risen every morning before the Sun, and offered as many Holocausts, as he had children, to the end that if by weakness or ignorance they had offendded God, their fault might be expiated by his sacrifices. he was so exact in discharging these pious duties, that those impediments which business gives to Princes, could not divert him from them. But as a calm is the most assured presage of a tempest, 6 Now there was a day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. and the happiness of men cannot long endure, a furious storm risen against this Prince: for it happened that God held Council with those blessed Spirits, who carry his orders through the world, and that Satan the mortal enemy of man, and who derives his name from his crime was summoned thither. God who serves himself sometimes with criminals to execute his designs, 7 And the Lord said unto Satan: whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said from going to and fro in the earth, & from walking up & down in it. and who employs devils to make angels, demanded an account of him of his actions, and his voyages, not that he was ignorant of his designs, but that he would have from his own mouth what he had read in his heart. This subtle spirit who knows well enough that God knows all things, confessed to him that following his inclinations; he had run over all the earth, and that nothing comforted him so much, as to know he should have many companions in his misery, because he had many in his sin. God who disdains not to treat with Devils when the salvation of man is concerned in it, 8 And then Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, & escheweth evil? replies to him in these terms: Hast thou not considered the fidelity of my servant Job? have not thy eyes seen that excellent Piety, that amongst all men one cannot find his equal? The Devil who hath no greater pleasure then to exaggerate our faults, 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? and beat down our good works, replies: the piety of Job deserves not those praises which you give him, he is well paid for his services; and that slave would be very wicked who did not love so liberal a Master. And besides you have so covered him, that one cannot touch him: 10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. your Angels watch about his house, and their care extends itself over all his estate, that it is sufficient to belong to him, for to be safe. The sun hath no influences but for him. Heaven hath no dew but to enrich his lands; and his flocks exempt from those diseases which spoil others, are so grown that the most fertile fields can hardly feed them. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. You should try his virtue to know it, and though I read not the hearts of men, I assure myself that if your hand which punisheth us, had lively touched him, he would change his praises into blasphemies, and make you see that he loves you not but out of interest. 12 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. God who knew the strength of Job, and would make his virtue shine by his misfortune, condescending in appearance to the desires of the Devil, said to him, I make over to thee the House of my servant, and reserving nothing but his person, I give thee power to exercise thy cruelty upon all that belongs unto him. Scarce had he ended these words, when the Devil like lightning descended upon the earth to search occasions to ruin Job, 13 And there was a day when his sons & his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brothers house and to triumph over his patience. The hatred which he hath conceived against men permitted him not long to defer his design, and his ingenuous malice furnished him with means enough to make it quickly succeed. For as the children of Job were in the house of their eldest brother who entertained them, 14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The Oxen were ploughing, and the Asses feeding beside the. and as their father who knew of this meeting seemed to be less prepared against this misfortune. A messenger comes and tells him, 15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away, yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, & I only am escaped alone to tell thee. that while his Oxen were ploughing, and his Asses passing quietly by them in the field, the Sabeans arrived upon a sudden had carried them away, that his servants who would put themselves on their defence had been cruelly assassined, and that he only was escaped from their hands to bring him the news. This sad messenger had not finished his discourse, 16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, & said, the fire of God is fallen from heaven, & hath burned up the sheep, & the servants, and consumed them, & I only am escaped alone to tell thee. when there came in another, who advertised him that lightning was fallen from heaven, that ravaging the plain it had devoured all his sheep, with the shepherds which kept them, and that it seemed that God had not preserved him from this disaster, but that he might give him notice of it. Scarce had he shut his mouth, 17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, & said, The Chaldeans made out 3 bands, & fell upon the Camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only an escaped alone to el● thee. but in came a third with astonishment in his Countenance, and sadness in his heart, who told him, that the Chaldeans divided into three bands had lead away all his camels, that in cold blood they had killed the men that kept them, and that he having placed his safety in his flight was alone remaining to come and make him a relation of it. This news was scarce spread over the Palace, 18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, & said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brothers house. but a fourth messenger more tragical than the rest, came and told him, that as his children were at dinner in their eldest brothers house, where they were drowning their cares in wine, and thought of nothing but to divert themselves, 19 And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, & smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, & they are dead, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. there arose from the coast of Arabia a furious wind, whose redoubled blasts had shaken the four corners of the house, which at last yielding to the violence of the assaults, fell to the ground, and unhappily buried his children in its ruins, and that his bad fortune had reserved him to be the messenger of so fatal news. At the relation of so many disasters, 20 Then Job arose and rend his mantle, and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. Job seized with a mortal sorrow tore his garments, condemned his head to wear mourning, shaved his hair, then prostrate upon the earth for to adore the hand which struck him, 21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, & naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. said with sentiments of respect: I came naked out of the womb of my mother, and shall enter naked into the bosom of the earth; the bounty of God gave me riches, and his justice takes them from me the loss though it be sensible is welcome to me, since it is he that ordains it, & by whatsoever misfortune he tries my patience his name shall always receive praises from my mouth. In all these cross Accidents capable to shake the constancy of the most virtuous man in the world, 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Job uttered not an insolent word, and his complaints were accompanied with so much moderation, that he obliged heaven to bless him and the earth to admire him. CHAP. II. CHAP. II. The Argument. GOd commends the patience of Job, and permitts the Devil to afflict him with sickness, and to render him the scorn of all the world; which he executes with so much rigour, that his wife adviseth him to kill himself, and his friends astonished at his misfortune dare not undertake to comfort him. THese disasters were not yet published, 1 Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord, when the Angels assembled themselves before God to give him account of their commissions, or to receive new ones: The Devil puffed up with so great success, and proud of so many crimes, failed not to be there, 2 And the Lord said unto Satan; From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, & said, from going to and fro in the earth, & from walking up and down in it. whether it were his pride that brought him thither, or the order of his sovereign had obliged him to be present, when every one had taken his place, & the ranks were distributed according to merit. God willing to extort truth from the mouth of Satan, asked him from whence he came, what sins he had committed, and by what artifices he had seduced men? the Devil who in his misery reteins his vanity, answered, that being lord of the world he came from visiting his estate, 3 And the Lord said unto Satan hast thou considered my servant Job, & that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him to destroy him without a cause and that nothing rendered him more glorious than the great number of subjects which depended upon his will. God who pleaseth, himself in humbling the pride of Devils, and to make them feel their weaknesses in their enterprises, enquired of him, if he had not seen his faithful servant Job, if his constancy had not astonished him, if he had not proved that all his attempts were unprofitable, and that in vain he had obtained power to persecute him, since after he had lost his children with his goods he had yet conserved his innocence. The Devil to whom these praises were as so many reproaches and punishments, 4 And Satan answered the Lord, and said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. replied; did the patience of Job seem so admirable to him? that there needed but a common virtue to support the loss of children; that that man was rich enough who was well, and that there was none who to preserve his body would not willingly abandon his goods. But if he would receive his counsel, and know, 5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, & he will curse thee to thy face what that servant whose fidelity he praised so much, carried in his soul, he must smite his body with some violent disease, take away his health, which he preferred before all his goods, & that he assured himself that then losing all respect, and adding insolence to his impiety, he would blaspheme his name before all the world. God who knew well that Misery served but to elevate the virtue of Job, 6 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life. and confound the malice of the Devil, abandoned his body to him, and death excepted, gave him permission to try him by all miserable diseases which may exercise the patience of men. This cruel executioner of God's justice, 7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot, unto his crown. had no sooner received power to torment Job in his person, but he descended upon earth, and although he doubted that his enterprise would succeed to his shame, and that the pain of Job would be his own punishment, he covered his body with an odious Ulcer, whose sharp and pricking humour penetrated the very bone, and left no part of him without grief. This innocent Prince, 8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he fate down among the ashes. who heretofore spoke not to his subjects but in his Throne, was then seated upon a dunghill, and his hands accustomed to bear the Sceptre were employed to wipe the matter which distilled from his sores. His wise whom the Devil spared not but to employ in his design, 9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. seeing him in this pitiful condition, mocked at his simplicity, and without considering that there is nothing more glorious then to suffer, advised him to blaspheme heaven, and to finish his miseries by a generous death. But this great man, 10 But he said onto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh; What shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In allthis did not Job sin with his lips. who understood well the respect that a Subject owes to his Sovereign, even then when he is provoked, condemned the indiscretion of his wife; and by reasons, which he could not learn but from Angels, represented to her, that all that comes from the hand of God ought to be equally esteemed, that it is not more amiable when it imparts favours then when it lanceth forth thunder. In fine the rigour of his torments, the attempts of a devil, nor the reproaches of a wife, could never draw from him a guilty word. When the noise of his misfortunes was spread over the neighbouring provinces, 11 Now when Jobs 3 friends heard of all this evil that was come up on him, they came every one from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildod the Shuhite, & Zophar the Naamathite; for they had appointed together to come to mouth with him, and to comfort him. and the Princes his Allies knew the history of his miseries, three of them departed from their estates to comfort him, and arrived the same day as they had appointed it, to the end that the grief of his mind might let itself be overcome by all their reasons joined together. Although they were come with this intention, and that prepared against this misfortune they ought to have resented it the less, 12 And when they lift up their eyes a far off, and knew him not, they lift up their voice, & wept, and they rend every ●one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. yet when they perceived him a fare off, and saw his disgrace had so changed him that he was not to be known, the tears fell from their eyes, and their mouths not being able to form words pushed forth confused voices the assured marks of a true grief: then tearing their garments they covered their heads with ashes, and seized with horror lifted their eyes to heaven, from whence this misfortune came. 13 So they sat down with him upon the ground, seven days, and seven nights, and none spoke a word unto him; for they saw that his grief was very great. Seven days and seven nights passed away whilst they sat with him upon the ground, All this while not one durst undertake to comfort him, for they saw that his grief was too violent to be sweetened, and that so great an evil was not capable of remedy, and that there needed time to prepare his soul to receive their consolations. CHAP. III. CHAP. III. The Argument. job being forsaken of God, makes imprecations against the day of his birth, wisheth death, and entertains himself with the sweets that accompany it, and the repose which is to be found in the grave. 1 After this opened Job his mouth and cursed his day. After these rude Conflicts where Job made his piety appear as well as courage, 2 And Job spoke, & said. he broke silence to assuage his grief, and made complaint to his friends to oblige them to give him comfort; he cursed the day of his birth; and grief which rendered him eloquent, furnished him with words to complain. May the day wherein I was born perish; 3 Let the day perish wherein I was borne, & the night in which it was said, There is a manchild conceived. may it be defaced out of the world, may men lose the remembrance of it, or if they retain it, may it be but to be afraid of it; may the night wherein I was conceived be buried in oblivion as well as darkness, and may it be as unhappy amongst nights, as I am miserable amongst men. This unfortunate day should be obscured with darkness, 4 Let that day be darkness, let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. and though the Sun cannot stay his course, he should at least hid his light: God himself who makes the days and nights, 5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it let a cloud dshell upon it, let the blackness of the day terrify it. and by their agreeable variety makes rest to succeed travail, aught to have annihilated it, and joined two nights to gether for to suppress a day which was to be the cause of all my evils; did not the darknesses of the night and the shadows of death meet together to make this day as horrid, as it hath been fatal to me? and hath it not been accompanied with all the accidents which may make a day happy? Though wishes cannot change the condition of things past, 6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it, let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. I would that shameful night had been great with storms, & that silence which makes the night so agreeable had been chased away by tempests, and that separated from the day which preceded it, and that which followed it, it neither made a part of our months nor our years. Would to heaven it were always solitary, 7 Lo let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein. that men during its course might never make assemblies nor accords, and that being fatal to all sorts of persons it might receive no praise, but be blamed by all the world. May those themselves who prefer the nights before the days curse it, 8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning. and those who to serve the designs of the Devil seek them and love them, because they are favourable to their unjust desires, be afraid of this which was the beginning of my life, and my misfortune. May the stars which make all the beauty of the night be obscured by the thickness of its darkness; 9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark, let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the dawning of the day. may those lights, which wake when we sleep suspend their influences, and their light till it have finished its course, and if it may be may it languish eternally after the day and never see the morning rise which brings it to us. It was too blame that it did not make the womb which brought me forth, barren; and that letting me enter into the world it seemed to conspire with heaven to render me unhappy. 10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why did not death precede my birth? why was not the womb of my mother m● Tomb? or if it were decre● I should be borne, should no● the same day which saw m● borne, have seen me die? a● though my life had been composed but of some hours, ha● it not been too long for 〈◊〉 wretch? 11 Why died I not from the womb? why did not I give up the ghost when I came out of the belly. If the midwives had no● been of intelligence with my had fortune, had they not l● me fall when I came out o● the womb of my mother 〈◊〉 if heaven had not treated m● as an enemy, had not my nurses refused me the dug; and had not hunger which had killed me done me a favour? 13 For now should I have lain still, and been quiet, I should have slept, then had I been at rest. I should then enjoy a profound rest; and as I should be insensible of all the evils which afflict me, I should keep silence with the dead, and grief should force no complaints from my mouth: 14 With kings & counselsers of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves: I should sleep with Kings, who knowing well that they must die, have made themselves proud Sepulchers; but not considering that their bodies can take up but seven foot of earth, have built themselves rather Solitudes than Tombs. 15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver. The riches wherewith they have filled them, deserved no difference betwixt their condition and mine, because death makes all things equal; and as it takes from the poor man the sense of his miseries, it takes from the rich the use of his riches. Or more happy than those Princes, 16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light should I have been as an Abortive, who being an imperfect work of nature, hath no sense of our miseries, or resembled those who are conceived and not borne, and who have found death where they received life. How happy is this condition, 17 There the wicked cease from troubling: and there the weary be at rest. and how different from that wherein we now live; for those turbulent spirits which filled all with tumult, and troubled the peace of the world with their pernicious Artifices, have changed their humour, and breathe nothing but repose. And those valiant Warriors, who promised themselves the conquest of the Universe, have forgotten their glorious designs; and as if they were wearied with their past travailés, abandon themselves to the shadow of death. There the people which groaned under Oppression, 18 There the prisoners rest together, they hear not the voice of the oppressor. are happily delivered from Tyranny; and these poor men, which trembled as oft as they heard the name of Subsidies, are cured of all their fears. The same earth covers the great and small; 19 The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master. and that common mother, which shuts up her children in her bosom, teaches them, that they are of the same condition; and those deceitful qualities which put a difference betwixt men, endure no longer than life; There by a strange wonder the slave no more fears his Master, and death which hath taken from him his life, hath given him his liberty. O God, 20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul? since death is so sweet to the miserable, why do you condemn them to live? what pleasure do you take to combat their desires, and to prolong their miseries? 21 Which long for death, but it cometh not, & dig for it more than for hid treasures? For you know that they sigh incessantly after death, and that a covetous man who discovers a treasure hath no● so much contentment, 22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave? as a miserable man who finds a Grave. Why do you force th●● to live, especially when th●● want light to lead them, 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? and that it seems you environss them with darkness for fear they should amend, and 〈◊〉 turn to the good way whi●● they have left? Wonder not if I take th● part of the miserable, 24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roar are poured out like the water. since am one of their number; 〈◊〉 repasts are intetrupted wi●● my sighs, and I drink no water but what is mingled 〈◊〉 my tears: the Torrents which ravage the fields, 25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of, is come unto me. and the ●●vers which overflow make not a noise like my cries: and certainly, I ought to be pardoned these excesses, for the evil I apprehended is come upon me, and fear hath not left me but to abandon me to grief. 26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet: yet trouble came. That which vexeth me the most is, that my conscience cannot reproach me with any crime, and that I am ignorant for what sin heaven punisheth me; for I have dissembled the injuries which I have received, and which is difficult enough for miserable men, I have been silent in my sufferings, and amidst the tumult of my enemies, I have conserved the tranquillity of my soul. Notwithstanding God, from whom I expected my reward, persecutes me, and he who ought to protect me, is on my enemy's side. CHAP. IU. THE ARGUMENT. ELiphas, a neighbour Prince and friend of Job's, resting upon exterior appearances, would persuade him that he is guilty because he is afflicted, and relating to him a vision which he had had, endeavours to prove that no creature is innocent before God. 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, AFter Job had expressed his griefs with so much resentment, 2 If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can with hold himself from speaking? Eliphaz the most ancient of his friends judging that his complaints offended the Divine Justice, spoke in its defence, and began his discourse in this manner I know not if in the grief which afflicts you, you are capable of hearing us; and whether our reasons will not exasperate your evils, instead of sweetening them. But who can hinder a discourse from coming forth, which is already conceived? who would conceal from his friend those sentiments which are profitable to his soul, and which coming from a good intention, aught in reason to produce a good effect? 3 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weakhands. And for to propose to you no other examples than your own, remember that when heaven blest your labours, and favoured your designs, you gave instructions to all the world, and there was not a man who had more address than you, in comforting the afflicted, and raising up the courage of them in whom grief had beaten it down. Your discourses animated the feeble, 4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, & thou hast strengthened the seeble knees. if the assault of temptations did shake them, you assured them by your reasons; and if the apprehension of evils to come astonished them, you prepared them for them so well, that they were never less touched with them than when they saw them arrived. 5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest, it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled Notwithstanding when the tempest fell upon yourself, and that the evils of which you had cured others, assaulted you, your prudence left you in your need, and the affliction which hath put your soul in disorder, hath made you lose your courage. 6 Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, the uprightness of thy ways, and ●hy hope? Where is that fear and that constancy which tendered you admirable, and whose just temperature made you that you were neither cowardly in fight, nor insolent in victory? where is that patience gone which seemed to be proof against all evils, and which could find none but what were easy to conquer? what is become of that integrity which accompanied all your actions; and which in a corrupt age made you have the name of Just? 7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever petished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? But because you take a vanity in the virtues which you have lost, I pray you remember that God never abandoned the innocent; that he hath always taken the part of the just, and never suffered them to perish. Indeed we have seen that those men, 8 Even as I have seen, they that plough iniquiry, and sow wickedness, reap the same. who make themselves illustrious but by their crimes, who do evil with pleasure, to whom others miseries are more sweet than a plentiful harvest is agreeable to the Husbandman, 9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. have not been able to avoid his justice; and that as those great Trees which are planted upon the Mountains, they have been made the sport of the winds and tempests. Hath not experience taught you, 10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken. that men who reigned like Lions, that their children who equalled them in cruelty, that their wives who surpassed them in insolence, have ended their lives tragically, and that heaven hath made seen in their persons, that it never leaves sinners without chastisement? Know you not that those great ones, 11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stont lions whelps are scattered abroad. who under the face of men carry the hearts of Tigers, and those who not being of the same birth, are notwithstanding of the same humour, receive the punishments which their sins deserve; and that as there are no innocent ones abandoned, there are no culpable ones unpunished? But because you doubt of these truths, 12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. and your afflictions themselves cannot persuade you that you are guilty, I shall tell you a secret which was revealed to me, and trust you with some words, which though they dropped softly into my ear, are imprinted strongly in my heart. Imagine then that during the horrors of the night, 13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men. when sleep sliding into the eyes of men, makes itself master of all their senses, and leaves no freedom to the mind but to treat with God, and receive his inspirations. A strange fear, 14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bence to shake. the cause of which was hidden from me, seized upon my soul, and as strong agitations of the mind make powerful impressions upon the body, there was not a part of me but was moved at it; the bones themselves which esteem to be the foundations of this living Edifice, felt astonishment. A furious wind which arose in my Chamber, 15 Then a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. redoubled my fear, and my hair being sensible of this accident stood an end and taught me, that of all fears those which surprise us do most astonish us. This tempest calmed by the presence of a man, 16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, whose face was unknown to me, and whose features notwithstanding remain so livelily imprinted in my imagination, that me thinks I have his portraiture yet before my eyes. He opened his munch, and spoke to me in a voice, whose sweetness equalled that of the western wends. May men be found who pretend to justify themselves before God, 17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker? and must not that creature have lost his judgement, who will contest with his Creator, and dispute with him his innocence? Those noble spirits disengaged from the body, 18 Behold he putteth no trust in his servants, and his angels he tharged with folly: those quick intelligences, which have no commerce with flesh and blood, and for increase of their happiness, have the glory to be his Domestiques, could not subsist in nature, nor persevere in grace, if they were not aided by his bounty: So all they who have despised him, are become guilty, and the purity of their being hath not hindered God from finding in their person disorders to reform, and crimes to punish. If it be true that these noble creatures cannot justify themselves before him, 19 How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? how much less ought men to hope it, who are condemned to carry bodies, which may well be called houses of earth, since the habitation is so contagious, and the Vestments of their souls, since they shall be consumed with worms. Indeed with whatsoever vain hope the proud flatter themselves, 20 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. and whatsoever Artifice they use to cloak their miserable conditions, they know that their life is so short, that the same day may see the beginning and the end of it; but because they think not upon these truths, and to give themselves liberty to sin, they persuade themselves that they are immortal, God will punish them eternally. And if their children which survive them be not exempt from their crimes, 21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom. they shall not be exempt from their punishments; and death which will come and surprise them, shall be a just chastilement of their foolish rashness. CHAP. V. THE ARGUMENT. ELiphaz pursueth his discourse, and describing the chastisements of the wicked, and the recompense of the just makes Job hope, that his miseries shall end if he repent him of his sins, and that he shall be reestablished in his former fortune. IF truth be suspected by you, 1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee, and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn? for being pronounced by the mouth of a mortal man; and if revelations find no credit in your mind, 2 For wrath killeth thefoolish man, & envy slayeth the silly one. confer with God himself, and see if by the assiduity of your prayers you can oblige him to answer you; or if you have not credit enough to hope this grace from his bounty, address yourself to the Angels or to the Saints, and demand by their favour what you cannot obtain by your own merit: Or if you will believe me, give me leave to tell you that your complaints are unjust, and that the motions of your anger which transport you, are misbecoming a wise man: There are none but fools who suffer themselves to be conquered by this passion, as there are none but weak men, and cowards, which suffer themselves to be gnawed by envy, and who make themselves misfortunes of the felicity of others. The prosperity of the wicked ought not to trouble you in your affliction, 3 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation. for it is not of continuance; and for my part, I have seen none whose fortune howsoever it seemed established, has been able to subsist long; whatever glittering it hath had, I have always mocked at it, and presaged its end, whilst others admired its greatness. 4 His children are fare from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them; His children survive him not often, they accompany him in his punishment, as they have followed him in his sin; God permits justice to take cognizance of their actions, 5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, & the robber swalloweth up their substance and to find Advocates to accuse them, and there are none found for to defend them; And as if all their goods were abandoned to pillage, the hungry take away their coin, the Soldiers carry away their moveables, and the covetous seize upon their riches which they had unjustly acquired. 6 Although affliction cometh out forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground: But besides this consideration, that which ought to comfort, you, is, that nothing befalls man, but by the permission of God: For it is an abuse to believe that the afflictions which oppress us, draw their being from the earth; God ordains them in heaven, and men, which we believe the Authors of them, are but the instruments of his Justice. If this reason, 7 Yet man is borne unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. for being too elevated, should not satisfy your mind, nature ought to comfort you, who teaches you that flying is not more natural to the birds, than travail is to man; who hath no more mortal enemy than repose; wherefore whatsoever disaster befalls me, I should always bless God, and judging favourably of his intentions, believe that he afflicted me to try me; and that punishments being but the seeds of glory, I might lawfully hope for a rich harvest. Or considering well his greatness, 8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: I should submit myself humbly to his Ordinances, for it is he who doth all that is great in the Universe; It is he who produceth all those effects, 9 Which doth great things and unsearchable; marves●ous things without number. of which we cannot discover the causes; It is he who works all those wonders which ravish us; and as his power is not bounded, the number of his miracles also is not limited. 'Tis he who raiseth up the vapours, 10 Who giveth rain upon the earth and sendeth waters upon the fields: who thickeneth them into clouds, and maketh them distil in reins for to render the earth fertile; 'Tis he himself who waters it, as well by those waters which fall from heaven, as by those which he hath hidden in its entrails; And whose secret reins produce in a thousand places sources and rivers. But that which ought principally to invite you to bless him, is, 11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. that he takes pleasure to elevate the humble, and to raise slaves upon the throne of their Masters; 12 He disappointeth the devises of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise that he changeth thorns into flowers; that he comforteth the afflicted, and banisheth sadness from their hearts, to make joy grow there? Also it is he who makes the designs of the wicked fustrate, who hinders the effects of their pernicious counsels, and who to confound their foolish wisdom suffers not their hands to execute what their minds had projected. 13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. But we must confess, that his providence never appears more than when he surpriseth the wise of the age in their craft, and giving their designs a contrary success to what they promised themselves, they receive confusion where they hoped for glory, and acknowledge by experience that there is no Maxim of State so certain, which may not be overturned by his divine wisdom. Is it not pleasant to observe their blindness in the most clear affairs, 14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noon day as in the night. to see them trip at midday, and to make halts which are not pardonable but in those that walks by night? Also it often comes to pass that when they have a design to ruin a miserable man, 15 But he saved the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. God protects him by his power; and as if it were not enough to have preserved his body from their violence, he defends his reputation from their calumny, and by the same miracle delivers him from their hands and their tongues. 16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. After so many visible marks of his bounty, the afflicted have cause to be satisfied, their misery itself ought to entertain their hope, and the wicked seeing that their calumny is serviceable to the innocent, are forced to shut their mouths and to keep silence. 17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: Since God then takes the miserable into his protection, are not you bound to believe that they are happy, and that without being unreasonable, they cannot complain of an evil, which ought to be as glorious to them, as it is profitable? He afflicts them but he comforts them; 18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. he causeth their evils, but he finds them remedies; he hurts them, but he heals them; and his hands are so delicate in touching their wounds, that there is no one but would willingly be hurt to have the pleasure of being so gently cured. Be assured then if you suffer patiently the evils which oppress you, 19 He shall deliver thee in fix troubles: yea, in seven toere shall no evil touch thee. God who abandoneth not his, will deliver you one day, and after this season there will come another, where evils, as if they were struck with respect, shall not dare to approach you. When famine shall render the earth barren, 20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war, from the power of the sword and the obstinate labour of the husbandman cannot overcome its ingratitude, God shall defend you from death, and when in day of battle the enemy's Soldiers shall assault you on all sides, he shall preserve you from their fury. Detractors shall spare your reputation; 21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. in the unbridled licence which they take to blot the innocent, you shall be covered from their calumnies, and in the public calamity when all the world is in alarm, you shall be without hurt, and without fear. Whether your enemies besiege your places, 22 At destrnction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the enrth. or make incursions upon your Frontiers, you shall mock at their successelesse attempts, and your Troops shall chase them away without danger. The respect to your person shall extend even to the Beasts, and when famine shall force them from their dens, the encountering them, which is so dangerous, shall not be fatal to you. Certainly they may well reverence you, 23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. since the stones which are insensible shall remove themselves with respect out of your way, or by another miracle they shall soften under your feet: But so good an Office shall not remain without recompense; for those which mark your inheritance, and serve it for bounds, shall be respected of all the world, and as if they were sacred, your neighbours shall not dare to touch them. You shall not be of the number of those who are not unhappy; 24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace, and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin but because they are ignorant of their happiness, yours shall be known to you, you shall enjoy a profound peace in your house; 25 Thou shalt know also that thy feed shall be great, & thine offspring as the grass of the earth. and as riches shall not puff up your heart with vanity, you shall taste the pleasure of them without offence. Experience which shall verify my predictions, shall teach you that it is God who gives heirs to Fathers, 26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. for yours shall be as remarkable for their number as their merit, and your house shall be as fruitful in children, as the meadows in flowers, and the fields in sheaves. Poverty, which old age so much fears, shall not afflict the last years of your life; you shall die with abundance, as you have lived with it; and as they carry corn into the Barn when it is ripe, they shall carry you to the grave, when you are weary of living. Moreover doubt not of the 27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is, hear it, and know thou it for thy good. event of these things, they shall come to pass as I have foretold them; and if you think of them sometimes, they will sweeten your displeasures, and of a happiness which is to come, you shall make a present felicity. CHAP. VI THE ARGUMENT. JOB replies, and makes it appear that his punishments surpass his crimes; That their extreme rigour hath made his friends disperse; That his courage would not permit him to implore their assistance; And that heaven will punish their ingratitude. JOB observing by his friend's discourse, 1 But Job answered and said. that his Reasons had made no impression in his mind; and that he neither knew the design of God in his afflictions, nor his own in his complaints, replied to him in these terms: I would the sins which I have committed, 2 Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balance together! and which have provoked the anger of God against me, were put in balance with the pains which I suffer. I am assured that these would weigh more than all the sand of the sea, 3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea, therefore my words are swallowed up. and that there is no constancy but would be overwhelmed under so weighty a burden: wherefore, having nothing but displeasures in my heart, it is no wonder if I have nothing but complaints in my mouth. It seems God will discharge upon my body all the arrows of his fury, 4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. he draws not a shot but hurts me; and as if he would join skill with his force, his envenomed shafts sprinkle in my veins a mortal poison, which drinks my blood, and dries up all my strength: and as if this kind of punishment were not cruel enough he adds fear to my grief, and serves himself both with present and future evils to render me unhappy. It is not hard for you in the happiness which you enjoy to make a truce with complaints, but this patience, 5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? from which you think to draw a reputation, is common with the beasts as well wild as tame, for whilst either of them finds grass, they never importune Heaven with their cries. But he may complain with reason, 6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg? who to appease the hunger, which devours his entrails is constrained to eat ashes and to swallow poison. For my part though I am not yet reduced to this misery, Heaven is my witness, 7 The things that my soul refusth to touch, are as my sorrowful meat. Heaven is my witness, that those meats which heretofore made me afraid, are now my delight, and that without having liberty of choosing; Necessity enforces me to eat indifferently of all that I can find. Shall my vows never be heard? 8 O that I might have my request! & that God would grant me the thing that I long for! shall I find no favour with God for to obtain of his bounty what my heart desires, and what my mouth demands of him? My prayers are neither injust for insolent, 9 Even that it would please God to destroy me, that he would let lose his hand● n● cut me off. for I conjure him only to finish what he hath so well begun, to end by a shameful death the miserable life which I lead, and to withdraw his hand which supports me but to make me languish, to the end that I may return into nothing. He would much oblige me if he did not spare me, 10 Then should I yet have comfort, yea I would harden myself in sorrow; let him not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the holy one. and I should comfort myself, if by a surcharge of sorrow he would suddenly take from me my life. That care which he takes to preserve it for me, is the most cruel effect of his anger: that which you call favour ought to be called rigour, and death is so much the object of my desires, that you need not fear my appealing from it; when he who is most excellently holy shall condemn me to it: neither have I vigour enough to sustain the assault of his power. The match is unequal, 11 What is my strength, that I should hope? & what is mine end, that I should sprolong my ●ife? where man enters into the lists with God, and for to have so much patience as you desire from me, it were necessary to be assured that my death approached and that heaven advanced forwards that happy Term, when all my miseries should end. Nature hath done no miracles in my person. 12 Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? My body hath its weaknesses as well as others, and being neither composed of Marble nor of Brass, you must not wonder if it yield to the assault of sorrow. In this deplorable condition I see nothing which may charm my displeasures, 13 Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me? my languishing spirit hath no more that vigour, which made it triumph over all disasters, and my faithless friends have no more that tenderness which made them sensible of all my miseries; Yet they had best take heed, 14 To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. it is no less their own interest than mine, for he, who assists not his friend, fears not his God, and who wants pity for the one, will want reverence for the other. Lastly they which boasted that they loved me as their brother, 15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away: have basely left me assoon as they understood of my misfortunes, and if at any time they meet me they pass away more swiftly than the torrents in the valleys, 16 Which areblackish by reason of the ye, & wherein the snow is hid: I know they think that my evil is contagious and that the fear of catching it makes them retire from me, but I know also, that humane prudence is blind, and that it engages itself upon great hazards to avoid little dangers, like those, who to keep themselves from the dew, unwisely expose themselves to the snow. They shall undergo the Punishment of so base a treachery, 17 What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed our of their place. and though it seem that to ruin them whole years be not long enough they shall perish in a moment; and soft wax shall longer resist the fire, than these treacherous men shall resist the anger of God. Their proceeding deserves well this chastisement, 18 The path, of their way are tu●ned aside; they go to nothing, & perish, for they have no fincerity in their actions, whatsoever they promise you, their words never answer their thoughts: they shift like beasts, who make faults for the Huntsmen, but if they abuse men by their turn, they more dangerously deceive themselves, because these devious ways will lead them to death. And lest you should think I accuse them without cause, 19 The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. or complain without reason, observe the neighbouring provinces, where I thought I had as many friends as there are noble persons, and have patience to consider what they have done to comfort me. Indeed they came to see me and I believe that affection brought them rather than curiosity: 20 They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed. but when they saw the deplorable condition of my fortune they could not comprehend how amongst so many misfortunes there should remain any hope, and at the same time their heart was seized with pity, and their countenance covered with shame. You have taken the pains too to come hither, 21 For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid. and the reputation which my disaster gives me, hath begotten a desire in you of speaking with me; but when your eyes had made you see that, which your ears had informed you, your compassion turned into horror, and you had more fear of catching my evil, than desire of curing it. And it must needs be this consideration, 22 Did I say, Bring unto me? or give a reward for me of your substance. that hath separated you from me, and not my importunity; for you know that my tongue never betrayed my courage, and that necessity cannot compel me to ask any of your estate, though I am not ignorant that amongst true friends all things are common. 23 Ordeliver me from the enemy's hand? or redeem me from the hand of the mighty. Did I ever entreat you to join your forces with mine to deliver me from the fury of my enemies? and when the great ones of the age, better known by their injustice, than their birth, had cruelly assaulted me, do not you remember, that without imploring your succours I resolved to conquer them by my patience? But lest you should believe that my misery makes me insolent, 14 Teachme, & I will hold my tongue: and cause me tosunderstand wherein I have erred. teach me, I am ready to hear: and if you judge that in my discourses I am mistaken either through pride, or ignorance, I will have you for my masters, and become your scholar. Observe only that nothing ought to be further from the Spirit of a master than lies, 25 How forrible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? and yet nothing hath more offended you in my discourses than their truth, and to accuse my innocence you have fought against reason. Suffer me likewise to tell you that you prepare studied discourses, 26 Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? for to blot the most holy actions, and that you use not your eloquence but to acquire esteem. If a child losing his Father hath lost all his support with him, 27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, & you dig● a pit for your friend. he hath no more cruel enemies than you: and as your interests are the motives of all your actions, you spare not your very friends, you employ all your artifices to ruin them, and their loss is welcome to you, provided it be profitable. Although you have all these bad qualities, 28 Now therefore be content, look upon me, for it is evident unto you if I lie. yet I refuse not the combat, end the dispute, which you have begun, examine my disocourses and condemn them, if you find them lies I ask but one favour of you, 29 Return I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again: my righteousness is in it. when you would answer me, use not pricking terms, injuries make not reasons valid, and when you would pronounce my sentence, consult your conscience, and take heed lest your mouth utter any thing which is belied by your heart. And on my part I promise you that impiety shall be banished from my discourse, 30 Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perversse things? that the words which compose it shallbe as pure as mythoughts, and that indiscretion shall make me utter nothing which may hurt your ears. CHAP. VII. THE ARGUMENT. JOb not knowing how to finish a discourse which pleased him, relates the miseries of life, and wisheth that a ready death were the remedy of them: but considering on the other side, that one cannot get out of the grave when one is once in, he changeth this desire into prayer, and conjures God to pardon him his offences. T That which hath crossed you most in my complaints is the passion which I have for death: 1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hiteling? but certainly you would find it reasonable if you would remember, that the life of man is a war, which hath neither truce nor peace, and that his condition is no better than those poor mercenaries whose travels have no repose. Also as slaves covered with sweat and dust wish nothing more passionately than the shade for to refresh them, 2 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his works: and rest to repair them, and as workmen desire nothing so ardently, as the end of their work and the recompense of their travail: So I have wished nothing more than the end of this unhappy life, 3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, & wearisome nights are appointed to me. whose days are and so fruitful in displeasures, and I number the tedious nights which have not so many moments in them as they give me troubles. If I lie down, 4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of toss to and fro unto the dauning of the day. I wish that the day star were up that I might rise with it, and when it hath appeared upon our Horizon, its light, which dissipates the vexations of others augments mine, and as if night were to be the remedy of them, I expect it with impatience; and when it is come I find that it is unprofitable to my pain. If my desires seem extravagant, 5 My flesh is clothed with worms & clods of dust, my skin is broken, and become loathsome. you must accuse the cruelty of the evils which I suffer, for my body is covered with a thousand Ulcers; and my skin glued, shriviled upon my bones, and blacked with the Sun, and the dust makes those who see me take me rather for an apparition, than a man. Why then should I love my life, 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, & are spent without hope. since besides the evils. which make it odious, it's fragility makes it contemptible? for a thread is not so easily broken as the web of our days and when it is once broken no hand is skilful enough to piece it. Remember Lord, 7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good. when you arm so many creatures to punish me, that my life is like the wind which passeth away and never returneth, for when I once enter into ihe grave you shall never bring me again to make me taste the delights of life. The world shall see me no more, 8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me and I am and death, which shall separate me from the company of men, shall deface me out of their memory, and when your eyes which see all things shall reckon the number of your creatures, they shall find me here no more neither to reompence me, nor punish me. As a cloud appears no more when the sun which form it hath dissipated it, 9 As the cloud is consumed, and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. so are men seen no more when death hath destroyed them, and they appear no more upon the earth, when they are once gone into the grave. They come no more into their families to govern them, 10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. nor into their states to command them: and the condition of the living is so different from that of the dead, that if they should return hither, their domestics would not know them, and they themselves, that made much of them, would not be able to endure them. Since the condition of the dead hath its misfortunes as well as that of the living, 11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. I will permit my mouth to speak, and my heart to sigh, I will vent my miseries in my complaints and giving liberty to my grief, I am resolved to speak to God, whatever it shall suggest. 12 Am I a sea, or a whale that thou settest a watch over me? Doth my pride equal the seas that you should keep me in prison, as you do it in captivity? and am I as furious as those monsters which you shut up in the Abyss, that you treat me with the like Rigour? This restraint gives me a thousand pains a day, 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint. and if I say, when the night is come, my Bed shall be my comfort; I shall find ease in relating it my displeasures, and sleep shall give some intermission to my Torments; All these hopes are false, 14 Then thou skarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions. for you make Apparitions pass before my eyes which frighten me, and you command dreams to put on hideous forms to trouble me during my repose. Wherefore my soul yielding to the assault of sorrow, 15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, & death rather than my life. wisheth nothing but a gibbit, and death which is the Terror of the guilty is the desire and hope of the most unhappy and most innocent of all men. And certainly I may well be pardoned if I have the sentiments 16 I loathe it, I would not live always: let me alone, for my days are vanity: of one that is desperate, for in the force of my evils, and in the weakness of my body, it is necessary that I die: if notwithstanding my conjectures are not true, and after so many sorrows I must yet live, treat me more gnetly Lord, and search no other motive of your mercy than the shortness of my days, and the misery of my life. What is man that you should undertake his ruin with so much indignation, 17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? you make him insolent in declaring yourself his enemy, whatsoever misfortune befalls him in this combat he will have the advantage & esteem himself too glorious in having been the object of your anger. As if it were very difficult to conquer him, 18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? you employ at once sweetness & severity, for one while you flatter him as a child, and presently after you threaten him as a slave. How long will ye defer the pardon which an innocent man asks of you? 19 How long wilt thou not departed from me, nor let me alone till I swallowed down my spittle. and when will the hour come that, my tongue being no longer fastened to my palate, I may form words at liberty? O divine protector of men I will betray my innocence, 20 I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? and confess that I have sinned; but what shall I do to appease you, since all my cares have been hitherto unprofitable, and notwithstanding all I can do, I can neither please you, nor endure myself, nor be well with myself being ill with you. Rather of a guilty man make an innocent, 21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust, and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. deface my fin by your grace, and defer no longer to accord me this favour: for considering the evils that I feel, the grave will presently be my dwelling: and if you retard your favours till the morning, I shall be no longer capiable to receive them. CHAP. VIII. THE ARGUMENT. BIldad, one of- the Princes who had left his state to come comfort Job, speaks: and after he had reproached him with his injustice dilates himself upon the miseries of the wicked; and makes him hope that if he change his life he shall change his fortune. WHen Job had finished this discourse, 1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said. which he had not begun but to defend his innocence, Bildad who held the second rank amongst his friends spoke, and following the example of Eliphaz, said to him with some heat. How long will you talk indiscreetly? 2 How long wilt thouspeak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? how long will ye wander in these extravagant discourses? and accuse Heaven of injustice and your friends of infidelity? Do you think that God who is the supreme justice pronounceth unjust decrees; 3 Doth God pervert judgement? or doth the Almighty pervert justice? and that when he useth his power to punish men, he proportions not the punishments to their sins? Though your children have offended him, 4 If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression: and that the sudden and unthought of death which they have suffered be the just punishment of their crimes, You may profit by their misfortune, 5 If thou wouldst seek unto God betimes, & make thy supplication to the Almighty: and be made wise at their expense. In a word, if in your misery you implore the succours of heaven, and if in the morning when the season is calm, and your mind clear, you present it your prayers: 6 If thou wert pure and up right, surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. If you are sincere in your intentions and modest in your words, God who at present seems to be asleep, will awake for to think upon you, and after he hath restored peace to your soul he will restore its former lustre to your house, 7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. he will recompense your losses with interest, and the felicity which he prepares for you shall be greater than that, whose loss you regrett. But since, 8 For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. this being no good security, my promises may be suspected of you, consult the times of our fathers read the histories of our Granfathers, and consider what they have written in favour of the truth which I declare, For we ourselves are too 9 For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow. young to be believed, our life being not very long, our experience cannot be great, and we may be ignorant of many things, since we know not that our days disperse themselves like a shadow, which vanisheth at the light of the Sun. Those sage old men who have had the Angels for their masters shall resolve you in your doubts, 10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart? and their discourses more eloquent than mine shall persuade you that the happiness of the wicked cannot long endure, and that the misery of the just must presently end. But if nature herself be the mistress of men and if we may draw instructions from all the cre●tures, 11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water? do not you see that these fair flowers which the rushes of the Marshes bear cannot live without humidity, 12 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cur down, it withereth before any other h●th. and that to remove them from the water is to condemn them to death, that when they do but blossom; before the hand of men hath defiled their beauty, if only humidity be wanting, there is no herb which dies so soon, and the same day which saw them borne sees them die. It is just so with the prosperity of the wicked; 13 So are the paths of all that forget God, & the hypocrites hope shall perish. for though all things succeed according to their desices, if the grace of God be wanting, it is necessary that they perish; 14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web. and when to deceive m●● they shall seem pious in appearance, God who seethe the bottom of the heart, shall nor sail to punish them. The design which they have to cover their sins under the cloak of piety, shall not succeed; and the vain hopes wherewith they flatter themselves, shall resemble the spider's webs, which have never so much artifice, but they have as much weakness. They shall rely upon the greatness of their house, 15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. but it shall fall like them; They shall endeavour to support it by their Alliances, but whatsoever cunning they use, they shall have the displeasure of seeing it overthrown, but shall not have the power to raise it up. Finally, to keep to the terms of our first comparison, we must confess that the fortune of the wicked is like to the beauty of the reeds, for to see them in the morning, in those moist places where they have their birth, you would judge that the spring which sees all the flowers borne and die, would never see them have an end. Notwithstanding when the sun is in his Meridian, 16 He is green before the sun, & his branch shooteth forth in his garden. and beats perpendicularly upon their heads, he doth not only deface all their beauty, but dries up their roots, 17 His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seethe the place of stones and depriving them of that moisture which nourished them, he makes them more arrid than the rocks. Finally, he so consumes them by his heat, that there remains no rest of them, and if the earth which bore them could speak, it would say that it had lost the remembrance of them. 'Tis one of the recreations of this beautiful star to ruin his works for to produce new ones, 18 If he destroy him from his place, than it shall deny him, saying I have not seen thee. and to keep up the beauty of the world by the variety of his effects: 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow. And 'tis one of the employments of divine Justice to chastise the wicked, and to ruin their fortune, and to stifle their glory in the birth. Divine bounty, 20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers: its dear companion, treats not the simple so, for it takes care of preserving them, it embraceth their interests, and refusing its assistance to the wicked, it tacitly consents to their ruin. This general rule shall have no exception for you, 21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. and if you are faithful to God, your bad fortune shall change into a better; joy shall appear again upon your countenance, and laughter recovering its place upon your lips, shall banish sadness and grief. And as the punishment of the wicked is a part of the happiness of the just, 22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought. they who have made war against you, shall be rigorously punished, and you shall have the contentment of seeing shame upon their faces, and misery in their houses. CHAP. IX. THE ARGUMENT. JOB avows that there is none just before God; and after he had established this maxim by an ample description of the sovereignty of God, he again defends his innocence, and shows that in the terms of Justice he ought rather to be rewarded than punished. JOB, 1 Then Job answered, and said, who saw well that his intentions were sinisterly interpreted, and that they suspected him to accuse heaven of injustice; to purge himself of this crime, and reclaim his enemy from this error, said to him: I agree with you that there is none innocent before God, 2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? that our perfections compared with his, are real faults, as our Being compared with his is nothing. I know that a man being so rash as to dispute with him, 3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. can carry nothing away in the conflict but shame and loss, and that of a thousand things whereof God may accuse him he shall hardly purge himself of one. If they make war against him with open force, 4 He is wise in heart, & mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered. he is Almighty; and if they think to surpriae him by Artifice, he is Wisdom itself; he laughs at our attempts and our subtleties, and whosoever opposeth his Will, it is necessary he resolve upon an eternal war. He looseneth the Mountains from their roots, 5 Which 50veth the mountains, and ●●ey know not which overturneth them in his anger. he fills the Valleys with their breaches, and he causeth this destruction so suddenly, that those who should resent it can neither foresee nor avoid it. He makes the earth tremble when he pleaseth, 6 Which shaketh the earth our of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble: and though it be the centre of the world, he makes it change its place when he will, and those columns which serve it for a foundation, cease to be unmoveable when he speaketh. It was he who without being aided of men or Angels, 7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not: and sealeth up the stars: stretched forth the heavens, and rolled them in a circle; and whilst he might have been wholly taken up in so great a design, 8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea: he walked upon the sea, and taught that perfidious and proud element obedience and fidelity. And it is not to be wonderred at, 9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleyades, and the chambers of the south. since those constellations so known to the Mariners, and which either presage tempests, or excite them, be the works of his hands: and that they have no influence nor virtue, but what they have borrowed from his power. Finally, 10 Which doth great things past finding our, yea and wonders without number. to paint him in his most lively colours, and design him by those qualities which belong to none but him; he does things so great, as for not being to be comprised, they ought to be admired; and the greatness of them does not diminish the number, because they are infinite. As he is powerful in his deeds, 11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not. he is so secret in his designs, that he can come upon me and I not see him, and by the same reason he can retire himself, and I not perceive him. His power is so absolute, 12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, what dost thou? that when he examines the guilty, he is not bound to observe all the formalities of our Judges; his interrogations are so prompt, that it is impossible to answer to them; and his discussions are so rigorous, that they cannot defend themselves from them; and though he deal in this manner, there is no one dares ask the reason of it. When our crimes have provoked him, 13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him. and to punish them he hath taken thunder in his hand, one must be without judgement for to think to resist him; The Angels themselves, who move the heavens, and the Kings which govern the earth, find no better means to appease his anger, than to humble themselves before him. Being then but a man by my birth, 14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him. and a miserable man by my condition, how should I be able to reply to him in his fury? and with what andacity must I be animated to accost him myself, and to speak to him without Interpreter, and without Advocate? But though my birth were more illustrious, 15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would not answer, but I would make supplication to my Judge. and my condition more happy, I should not dare to defend myself against him; and knowing that he is my Judge and my Sovereign; I should use rather prayers than Reasons. And though I did know that he would hear them, 16 If I had called, and he had answered me, yet would I not believe that he had harkened unto my voice. his greatness and my misery would persuade me that he would not listen to them; and I should believe that he had done his Majesty wrong, if he had daigned to entertain himself with one that is miserable. His proceeding agrees with my beliese, 17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth: my wounds without cause. for he is always angry, and never appears but in clouds, great with thunder and lightning; when I pray him to cure my wounds, he makes me new ones; and to increase the grief of them, he does not discover me the cause, He doth not permit my mind to take a little rest. 18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness. The end of one evil is the birth of another; and oftentimes to overwhelm me, he ordains them to assault me in company, and to fall upon me all together. Wonder not if he treat me thus, 19 If I speak of strength; lo, he is strong: and if of judgement, who shall set me a time to plead? Power and Justice are on his side, and as innocent as I am, when he accuses me, or condemns me, there is not a witness who will depose in my favour, nor advocate who dare defend my cause. If I undertook to justify myself, 20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. my mouth and my heart taking his part, would condemn me; and if I had proved by my reasons that I am innocent, he would make me confess by his, that I am guilty. 21 Though I were perfect yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life Finally, were I the most just of men, and did the earth give me a public testimony of it, he could make me lose the credit of it, and hid from me the purity of my soul, for to make my life wearisome. Wherefore I persist in my first opinion, 22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. and maintain that God, using the power which his Sovereignty gives him, he involves the innocent with the guilty, and dispensing with our Laws, he proportions not always the punishment to the sin, nor recompenses to virtues. If he hold this Maxim, 23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. and will not spare the just when he punisheth the guilty, let him content himself to kill them once, and not mock at their torments to make them despair. 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, & who is he? You would say that he governs the earth like a Tyrant, and that he takes pleasure to blind the Princes that govern it under him, and to make their depraved wills pass for very reasonable laws, for they cannot deny that he authorises those disorders since he distributes crowns, and gives them to Tyrants as well as to legitimate Princes. During these disorders, 25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. my days are passed away more swiftly than a Post who brings good news; and during their flight, my eyes have seen nothing which may give content to my soul. They have fled away as those Vessels which carrying fruits, 26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. of which the Mariners apprehend the corruption, go with displayed Sails; or as those Eagles who search their prey, and whose natural lightness is also assisted by the famine which devours them. When I resolve to hold my peace, 27 If I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, & comfort myself: and that I forbidden my eyes tears, and my mouth sighs, my face betrays me, and they observe there all that passeth in my soul. Wherefore without any longer keeping of silence, 28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. which prejudiceth me, I will complain to you, oh my God, and tell you that I have always lived in your fear; That I have been scrupulous rather than a Libertine; and knowing well that you spared not those who offended you, I have always walked in innocence. But if after all my cares, 29 If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? you make me pass for guilty, and if you pay my services as offences, have not I lost my time? and are not my labours, being so ill acknowledged, unprofitable? Though I were washed in the waters, 30 If I wash myself with snow-water, & make my hands never so clean. and my whiteness equalled that of the snow; though my hands were clean, and the purity of my heart surpassed that of my body, You would observe faults in my person, 31 Yet shalt thou plurge me in the ditch, & mine own clothes shall abhor me your holiness would discover impurities in my soul, your justice would find disorders in my body, and my clothes for to accommodate themselves to your inclination, and serve your Justice, would be afraid, and would not be able to endure me. For when I contest with you, 32 For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgement. I see that my adversary is not a man, and that there is no Tribunal on earth where I may hope, that your right and mine may be equally discussed. There is no person which can determine our differences, 33 Neither is there any daies-man betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. since you are a party, I have no more Judge; and in this contestation where I oppose my innocence to your Justice, I find no Arbiter who can bring us to accord. If notwithstanding you sweeten a little the pains which I suffer, 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me. if you disarm those hands which carry thunder, and if you temper that Majesty which begets my fear I would speak with liberty, 35 Then would I speak, and not fear him, but it is not so with me. my innocence should furnish me with reasons to defend myself: but in the astonishment that I am, I have neither words nor thoughts, and my silence, which is but an effect of my fear, passeth for an effect of my sin. CHAP. X. THE ARGUMENT. JOB oppressed with the extreme griefs which he suffers, gives himself up to complaints; represents to God that he is his workmanship, to oblige him to do him favour; and passing from reasons to prayers, conjures him to end his miseries before he enter into the grave. I Am weary of living, 1 My soul is weary of my life, I will leave my complaint upon myself, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. and to see the end of my miseries; I wish for the end of my days; in the grief which presses me, I cannot keep silence; and because I knew not to whom to betake me, 2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me, show me wherefore thou cotendest with me. I must speak against myself, and give way to my complaints, to give ease to my pains: Whatever then come of it, I will say to God, Condemn me not without hearing me, or if you are resolved upon it, grant to me if you please one favour, which they refuse not to the most culpable, and declare to me for what sins you punish me. What advantage can you draw from my losses, 3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, & shine upon the counsel of the wicked? and what profit will come to you if calumny triumph over my innocence, if my enemies ruin the work of your hands, and if to facilitate the execution of their pernicious designs, you assist them with your power? Are you ignorant of the estate of my life? 4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seethe? Are your eyes like ours, which see but the appearance of things, and cannot penetrate the bottom of them? Is your knowledge propped upon feeble conjectures, like ours, and can ignorance serve you for an excuse (as it does us) in your judgements? Are your days numbered like ours? 5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days? and are your years composed of those moments which follow one another, and which are the cause that we possess but the least part of our life? If your knowledge be infallible, 6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin? and your durance eternal, what need you search into my sins with so much earnestness, and corture me to make my mouth speak a thing which you may read in my heart? What necessity is there of so carefully clearing to you my innocence, 7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked, and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand. since wheresoever I am, I am always in your power, and there is no one in the world which can take me out of your hands? Change the your design, 8 Thine hands have made me, and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. remember that I am your work, and that there is no part of my body which is not an effect of your power: Notwithstanding as if you were but equal, if seems that you have resolved to ruin me, and that you seek for glory in my overthrow. Remember that dirt is the matter of which you have composed me, 9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay, & wilt thou bring me into dust again? and as of so weak beginnings, you cannot hope for great progresses, it is necessary that I perish presently, and that having been earth before my birth, I become dust after my death. Consider if you please that you have given me my being, 10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, & curdled me like cheese? and as shepherds prepare milk and make it curdle into cheese, so have you disposed of the blood of my mother, and thickening it by the natural heat you have form my body of it. 11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones & sinews. Of the same matter (Divine workman) you have made a hundred different parts, for the bone which sustains us, the Nerves which give us motion, and the skin which serves us for covering and Ornament, are in their first original but the same blood which you have thus diversified. As your divine wisdom leaves nothing imperfect in nature, 12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. you animated this work with the breath of your mouth, and as your providence abandons not your creatures, you conserved that by your care, which you have produced by your mercy. Although it seem you agree not with me in all this discourse, 13 And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee. and that to conceal your sentiments from me you treat me rather as your enemy then as your creature, I know that you retain the memory of the favours which you have done me, and that you cannot resolve to ruin a man, whom you have so much obliged, But if these conjectures are true, 14 If I sin, than thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. why then do you punish me? the sins of my youth cannot be the cause, for I have repent of them, and you have pardoned them, why then am I not exempt from the punishment, if I am absolved from the offence? Whatsoever it be, 15 If I be wicked, wounto me, and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head: I am full of confusion, therefore see thou mine affliction: you ought not to punish me with so much rigour, for if I am guilty, I shall be unhappy enough, my sin shall serve me for punishment; and if I am just, my innocence shall not cause in me any vanity, for, alas, whence should he have it, whom you make drunk with tears, and whom you surfeit with miseries. Notwithstanding as if I were the proudest of men, 16 For it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce Lion: and again, thou showest thyself marvellous upon me. you treat me like a savage beast: The huntsmen exercise not more cruelties upon a furious Lioness, than you exercise upon me; and when I believe that my miseries are about to end, you return more animated then ever, and make me suffer new ones, which beget astonishment and horror in the minds of those who behold them. 17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me. All your creatures serve for your anger; your Angels and your Devils are witnesses which depose against me; and the diseases which assault me, are the soldiers which defend your quarrel. Since you did reserve me for so many miseries, 18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb: Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me. why did you take me out of the womb of my mother? and since you have concluded that I should be the Fable of the world, and that my misery should be as shameful as it is unjust, why did you not oblige death to take away my life, 19 I should have been, as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. for to conserve my honour? I should be now as if I had not been, and without passing through those different degrees of a long & miserable life, I should have been carried from the Cradle to the Grave, and from the womb of my proper Mother into the bosom of my common one. 20 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little. Shall my desires never be heard? shall the years which seem so short to contented men, and so long to the unhappy, never end with me? & will you (Lord) never give me any truce to sigh forth my griefs with freedom? 21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death. Grant me this favour before I leave the world, and that to obey the decree which you have pronounced against all men, 22 A land of darknessen, as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness. I return to the bosom of the earth, where the light never dissipates the darkness, where happiness never succeeds misery, where Death never suffers life, where order reigns no more, and where Confusion hath established her empire. CHAP. XI. The Argument. ZOphar Job's third friend upbraids him with the insolence of his words, and to take down the pride of which he accuseth him, he represents to him divers perfections of God; and to raise his courage also which he conceived depressed with grief, he promiseth him a happy change in his fortune, if in this disaster he hath recourse to prayer. CHAP. XI WHen grief had shut up the mouth of Job, 1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Zophar his third friend, who took all his words for blasphemies, said to him with more passion than charity, 2 Sold not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified? You must needs be barren in reasons, since you are so fruitful in injuries: and we may well infer that prudence hath little part in your actions, since after having spoken so long, you yet make difficulty of hearing us. 3 Should thy lies make men hold their peaces, and when tho ●mockdst, should no man make thee ashamed? You have too much vanity if you believe that men be obliged to approve your discourses, and to suffer you to be insolent, because you are miserable; your scurrilities would well deserve censures, and 'tis to treat you with too much sweetness, to confute them by our reasons, and to give you good advice for injuries. 4 For thou hast said, my doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. You have said with a high insolence, that your words and actions were pure, and that God himself in his tribunal where he examines all things with rigour, could condemn nothing in your person. You would change your language if he had conversed with you: 5 But oh that God would speak and open his lips against thee! and if doing you an honour whereof you are unworthy, he had opened his mouth to declare to you his secrets. You would see that one must be very just to observe all his laws, 6 And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! know therefore, that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth. and whatsoever good opinion you have of your innocence, you would acknowledge that the pains which you suffer, are much less than your sins, and that God never had so much rigour but that he hath more bounty. Your pride is the cause of your destruction, 7 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? and without considering that you cannot conceive the least works of God, you would comprehend his perfections, and know why his providence permitts the just to be unhappy. How rash are your thoughts and how presumptuous is your ignorance! 8 It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know? God is more elevated than the heavens, and you think to know him; he is more profound than the Abysses, and you think to sound him. And if it be permitted to use terms wherewith we describe Bodies, 9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. for to describe the greatest of spirits, he is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea; and you think to comprehend him? The earth is very great, and the fields which it contains are sensible proofs of its greatness. The sea is very large, and those plains of which our eyes cannot see the extremities, give us good testimonies of it: Both of them though have their bounds, and the being of God being infinite can have no limits. His power which is no less than his immensity, 10 If he cut off, and shut up or gather together, than who can hinder him? finds nothing which resists it, and if he would ruin his works, or reduce them to that first confusion which he so wisely untangled at the birth of the world, 11 For he knoweth va●●● men; he seethe wickedness also; will he not consider it? there is none who can oppose himself to his designs. But that which ought most to astonish us, is, that as he knows the weakness of men, he is not ignorant of their malice, and if he be good enough to execute the one, he is just enough to punish the other. It is injuriously then that vain Man boasts himself; 12 For vain man would be wise, though man be horn like a wild ass' colt. and like a young Colt which hath never been backed, he esteems himself born free, and that without doing him violence they cannot prescribe him Laws. 13 If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards him. You please yourself in these sentiments, since you accuse the justice which punisheth you, and your obstinate heart provokes the wrath of God, when your hands lifted up to heaven implore his mercy. But if reforming your actions and your words you banish Sin out of your Soul, 14 If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. and if swearing an eternal divorce with impiety, you never receive it in your house: Then you may lift up your eyes without confusion; 15 For than shast thou lift up thy face without spot, yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear. and as there shall be no disorder in your soul, there shall be no shame seen upon your face; your happiness shall be so perfect, that you shall have no more evils to fear, nor good things to desire. You shall be so content, 16 Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away. that the pleasure which you shall taste, shall deface the remembrance of your past miseries, and it shall be as hard to call them again as the waters of a river which are glided away. Your glory which seems now to be darkened, 17 And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning. shall clear up like the Sun in its Meridian; and when you think yourself to be in your setting, you shall rise with as much lustre, as the star which brings us back the day. 18 And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope, yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. And if it happen that any misfortune threaten you, hope shall never abandon you in danger, you shall sltepe with as much security as if you were in a town of war, shut up with ditches, 19 Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid, yea many shall make suit unto thee. and defended with Bulwarks. You shall enjoy a profound repose which your enemies shall not be able to trouble; those who despise your bad fortune, shall implore your favour, and changing their reproaches into prayers, they shall, beg your succour in their need. But the wicked shall lift their eyes to heaven in vain, 20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost. and shall not get assistance thence: the earth shall be no longer favourable to them; for in their dangers they shall not find a sanctuary to retire to, and in their necessities, they shall be constrained to wish what others are afraid of. CHAP. XII. The Argument. job complaining of the ill dealing which he had received from his friends, prous in a few words, that in afflictions God hath no regard to merit, and making a magnificent description of the absolute power of God in the world he constrains those who hear him, to avow that he is a good Divine, as well as a great Prince. AS our unfortunate Prince had perceived that his sweetness wronged his innocence, 1 And Job answered, and said; he replies with a just indignation to his friends, and skies to them, 2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shalls die with you. Your Vanity then hath persuaded you that there are no men in the world but you, that reason hath left us to give itself wholly to you, and that wisdom is so tied to your persons, that her conservation and her ruin depends upon yours. I pray you believe, 3 But I have understanding as well as you, I am. not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these? that she is familiar with us, as well as you; that when they shall examine the qualities of our minds, they shall find that mine is not less than yours; and that all which you have said of Divine providence, is so common, that not to know it, one must be absolutely ignorant. 4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn. I know well enough that my fortune makes my person despised, and since my misery they have judged evilly of it: but I am not ignorant also, that God favours those who call upon him, that he assists the just who are forsaken by their friends, and that nothing obligeth him so much to secure them, as the little esteem that is made of their innocence. They are like torches whose brightness, 5 He that is ready to slip with his feet, is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease. rich men dazzled with the lustre of worldly things, consider not; but as every thing hath its revolution, their contempt shall change into esteem, and they shall seek one day to be illuminated with their light. Notwithstanding Abundance conspires with peace to enrich the houses of the wicked, 6 The Tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. and though they hold all their goods from the liberality of God, their ingratitude makes them forget it, and their insolence transports them to provoke his anger. 7 But ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee. It is certain then that the favours which heaven heaps upon men are not always a good proof of their innocence, nor the afflictions which he sends them an assured testimony of their wickedness: he is Master of his creatures, he disposeth of them as he pleaseth: and his truth is so well known, that if you ask the birds of the air, or the beasts of the earth, they will both make you know by their answers, that they are not ignorant of it. Speak to the earth itself, 8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare umto thee. its fruitfulness which is never weary of bringing forth, will teach you the same thing? and the fishes of the sea as dumb as they are, will give give you new assurances of it. Also one must be very stupid to be ignorant that all the creatures are the works of God's hands, 9 Who knoweth not all these that the hand of the Lord bathe wrought this? and as their different qualities are effects of his power, and their different motions are marks of his providence. Who knows not at last that their being depends upon his will, 10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind that as he hath produced them he can annihilate them, and that the nobility in which man glories doth not exempt him from this necessity? The mind of man may as easily conceive of these 11 Doth not the ear try words, and the mouth taste his meat? truths, as the ear judgeth certainly of the variety of sounds, and the tongue of the diversity of tastes. But though nature should have denied us this knowledge, 12 With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding it were easy to gather it from those venerable old men, to whom time being a master hath discovered secrets which young ones are ignorant of. But if it be permitted me to make trial of my abilities, 13 With him is wisdom and strength, he●● hath counsel and understanding. and strive for victory over the weak praises which you have given to God, I shall tell you that wisdom and force which are divided betwixt the old & the young are united in him; and as by his supreme intelligence he knows general things, by his incomparable providence he governs particular ones, and conducts them happily to their end. This power of which you speak, is so absolute, 14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. that if he ruin towns, it is in vain to undertake to raise them again; and if he confine a malefactor to prison, they strive to no purpose to deliver him. If he shut up the heavens & hinder the clouds from dissolving into rain, 15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. the earth shall be barren, or if it produceth some ●ruits, the drought shall not permit them to come to perfect maturity; if he open the sluices to the waters of heaven, they will overflow all the earth, and making a second deluge they will again overthrow its buildings. It is true then that he hath Power, 16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his. & if you doubt that he hath wisdom, know that he understands the artifices of those who deceive others, and the simplicity of those who let themselves be deceived. He mocks at Statesmen, 17 He leadeth counsellors away spoilt, & maketh the Judge's fools. and causeth that their wisest counsels are followed but with bad events; 18 He looseth the bond of Kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. he blindeth those who make laws, and makes Judges stupid, who are appointed over the people to govern them; but his power never shines forth more, than when he assaulteth Monarches, when he taketh the Crown from their heads, and treating them like slaves, he despoyles them of their belts, leadeth them with chains, and makes their backs bend under the weight of their Irons. Or when he changeth the glory of priests into contempt, 19 He leadeth Princes away spoilt, & overthroweth the mighty. and to confound their pride, he permits his temples to be violated, and his altars profaned; or when he ruins those men, whom birth, or favour of Princes hath elevated to the highest degree of honours. 20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. And do not think that the qualities of the mind are less subject to his power, than those of the body or of fortune; he can take credit from those who speak the truth; he takes away the power of persuading from the most eloquent, and makes old men lose that knowledge, which time and travail hath acquired them. When he will chastise Princes, 21 He poureth contempt upon Princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty. he takes from them that esteem, which maintains their reign, he casts confusion upon their faces, or renders them despicable to their subjects, and producing at the same time a contrary effect, he takes the the miserable out of oppression, and makes them mount upon the throne of Kings. He discovers the most hidden crimes, 22 He discovereth the deep things out of darkness, and bringeth to light the shadow of death. he makes public those pernicious designs which are conceived in the dark, and which have no other witnesses then the night; he does wonders upon all occasions, he brigns day into the Abysses of our heart and makes evident their most secret thoughts. Be doth he not appear very absolute, 23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, & straightneth them again. when to increase the number of people, he makes women fruitful, and for to diminish it he makes lands barren; or when touched with their tears, or conquered with their prayers, he delivers them from their miseries, and reestablishes them in their former greatness? Is not this an admirable point of wisdom and justice when he changes the heart of Princes, 24 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness, where there is no way. which he holds in his hands, when for to deceive them, he makes them leave their good resolutions, which they had taken in their counsel, and engageth them in designs, where they cannot get off but with dishonour. To see then their imprudent 25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. conduct, you would take them for men who walk in the dark, and to consider their actions, you would think that they are drunk, and that wine hath made them lose their judgement. CHAP. XIII. The Argument. Pain constrains Job to reproach his friends, & his charity obligeth him to give them good council which he terminates by a violent desire, which he shows, to enter into dispute with God for the defence of his cause, in which he promiseth himself the better, if certain conditions be accorded him. CHAP. XIII YOu may judge by my discourses that I have well comprehended yours, 1 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard & understood it. and that you have spoken nothing which my ear hath not well heard, and my mind better conceived. You see that our knowledge is equal; 2 What ye know, the same do I know also, I am not inferior unto you. That I am not ignorant of what you know, and that it was without vanity that my science gave not place to yours. Wherefore I will henceforth address my words to the Almighty, 3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. and without losing more time in conferring unprofitably with you, I will dispute boldly with him. But I desire first to make you see, 4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all Physicians of no value. that you take pleasure in inventing lies, and that one of your most ordinary exercises is to teach pernicious maxims, and to defend them by worse reasons. Would to God you had learned to hold your peace, 5 O that you would altogether hold your peace, and it should be your wisdom. and that instead of making bad discourses, you had been able to keep silence, at least you would have had the appearance of wise men, although you had not had the sentiments, and those which did not know you by your face would judge well of your mind. 6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the plead of my lips. But since you have not followed so good counsels, harken at least, to my reprehensions, and profiting by the good advice, which my mouth shall give you, suffer yourselves to be persuaded by my reasons. Do you think that God hath need of lies for the defence of the truth, 7 Will you speak wickedly for God? & talk deceitfully for him? and that to win his cause, and get the better of me, your artifices be necessary to him? 8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? Do you think that his right is so bad, that he hath need of your favour, and do you think to oblige his Majesty when you pronouce a decree which shall wound his justice. Do you remember that no wicked thing can please him, 9 It is good that you should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him? who knows all things, and that with whatsoever fair pretext you cover your bad designs, he will easily discover them, and not suffer himself to be deceived by your artifices, like men who not able to penetrate your sentiments, are obliged to rest upon your words. He will blame you publicly for having taken his part against mine, 10 He will surely reprove you, if you do secretly accept persons. and for having desired to gain his favour at the expense of my innocence. Assoon as he shall appear to punish you, 11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you? the first motion of his anger shall put you in disorder, and the brightness of his offended Majesty, shall strike your spirits with astonishment. After your punishment, 12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay. which memory of your name shall disperse itself like ashes, which they cast into the River: and that glory which makes you so insolent, shall become more despicable than dirt. Hold your peace then, and without interesting yourself further in my misfortunes, 13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will. my heart shall suggest to it. Why must I be reduced to tear my body with my teeth, 14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? and my miserable life be exposed to more dangers, then if I carried it in my hands, and that it were given up to the fury of my enemies? These without doubt are effects of God's anger, 15 Though he slay me, yet will, I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. and if he were not provoked he would not punish me so cruelly; but though his justice condemn me to death, I will ever hope that his goodness will repeal the Decree, and that acquiescing in the reasons which I shall produce, it will absolve me from all the crimes that they impose upon me. So then the God which you judge to be the author of my ruin, 16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him. shall be the author of my salvation, and the boldness wherewith I shall go to him shall not be a small testimony of my innocence, since they knew that hypocrites dare not approach him nor appear before his throne. Harken then to my discourses, 17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears. and to learn of me that one may be innocent and miserable; understand the explication of a Riddle, which Heaven hath proposed to you in my person, and which you have not yet been able to explain. 18 Behold now. I have ordered my cause know that I shall be justified. If I be judged according to the ordinary forms, and if God renouncing the rights of Sovereignty, keep himself to the terms of justice, my innocence shall be acknowledged, and all the world shall see that though I am afflicted, I am not guilty. I hold this truth so constantly, 19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost. that there is no one but I hope to persuade to it, and whosoever it be that contests with me, I make account to convince him, and make him avow, that to hold my peace in so just an occasion of speaking, were to increase my sorrow, and betray my innocence. But O God who art my principal adversary and with whom my misfortune will have me to have difference, 20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hid myself from thee. if you accord me only two conditions, I will not fly the combat, I will defend my cause in your presence and make it appear that thou art just, and that I am courageous. Make my pains cease; 21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. for a man that suffers hath not liberty to speak, and give me the assurance which your Majesty hath taken from me; for fear puts a man in disorder, and permits him not well to duce h●s reasons. Upon these conditions I am assured of the gaining of my cause, 22 Then call thou, and I will answer; or let me speak, and answer thou me. that without troubling myself, whither the first that discourseth hath the advantage, I put it to your choice to oppose me, or defend yourself, to speak or to hear, to begin or to end the dispute. And since your silence inviteth me to speak, 23 How mano are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin. tell me what are my sins, and if you will have me have sorrow for them as I have pain, declare to me their qualities and number. Why do you hid your face from me, 24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? testifying by this action, that you can neither answer me, nor endure me, and as often as you see me, you think you see one of your most mortal enemies. What honour will you carry away by employing your power against a leaf, 25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? which serves as pastime for the winds? and what glory can you get by persecuting a miserable man who like dry straw hath no force nor vigour to resist you? You know that I complain with Reason, 26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. since after your mouth had pronounced the sentence of my death, you writ it with your hand, and go to ground it upon the follies of my youth, for to give it some colour. Finally as if I were some signal malefactor, 27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou sectest a print upon the heels of my feet. you put irons upon my feet, you overlook all my actions, and to find proofs against an innocent you observe all my words and my thoughts. When you come with all this diligence to ruin me, 28 And he as a rotten thing consumeth, as a garment that is motheaten. you have without doubt forgotten that I am but rottenness, and that my body being of no better condition than my clothes, it must one day be the nourishment of worms. CHAP. XIIII. The Argument. IOb makes an ample description of the misery of man, which he gins by his birth, and finisheth with his death: then by a dexterity, which grief more ingenious than eloquence had taught him, he draws reasons from his misfortunes to oblige the Divine mercy to treat him more gently. MAn is borne of woman, 1 Man that is borne of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. and as he hath received being from her, he hath derived weakness; he lives here few years, 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not but in so short a term he suffers many miseries. He is borne like a flower, and passeth away like it; he is like the shadow of our Quadrants in a perpetual motion, and change is so far passed into his nature, that notwithstanding all his endeavours he cannot remain one sole moment in the same condition. Notwithstanding, 3 And dost thou open ●hine eyes up●on such a one and bringest me into judgement with thee? Lord, you esteem him worthy of your anger, you have your eyes open upon him to examine all his actions, and you cite him before your Tribunal, that he may give you an account of them. 4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? nor one. His birth might serve him for an excuse in his sin; for who can make an innocent of a man conceived in crimes? and who can make, but you only to whom miracles are easy, the progress of his life to be pure, the entering of it being so shameful and guilty? And though the sin of his father should not diminish his own, 5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. at least you ought to pardon the shortness of his days, and consider that you keep an account of his years, and that you have given him bounds beyond which his life cannot extend. Withdraw yourself then from him, 6 Turn from him that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his his day. and let him expect in patience till the day of his death: content yourself with the evils that he suffers without procuring him new ones, and permit him to comfort himself like a poor mercenary in hope of the happy day, which must end his travail, and begin his rest. So will you be sufficiently revenged by his death, 7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. which puts him in a worse condition than trees; for after they are cut they leave some hope to their Masters, and the sap which animates them makes them recover their verdure, and thrust forth new Branches. 8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; When time hath made their roots old, and age taken from them their vigour, and their Trunk being planted in a bad soil, draws up no more nourishment. 9 Yet through the sent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. At the very smell of the waters they recover their former force, and moisture giving them life, they cover their heads with a new peruke, and as at the day of their birth they crown it with boughs. But when man is dead all hope dies with him, 10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? for after the soul is despoiled of the body, and the body is reduced into dust, neither the endeavours of nature, nor the addresses of art can restore him to life. 11 As the waters fail from the sea, & the flood decayeth and drieth up: As it would be impossible to gather together the waters of the sea if they were dispersed, or to keep together those of a river if the source were dry. So cannot they bring a man back from the grave when he is once gone down thither; 12 So man lieth down, and riseth not, till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake nor be raised, out of their fleepe. and the sleep of death is so profound that he shall not awake till heaven worn away with age and wearied with its long travails shall stop its motions, and suspend its influences. This fatal condition which frightens all the world, 13 O that thou wouldst hid me in the grave, and that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that tiou wouldst appoint mea a fet time, and remember me. rejoyceth me when I think on it, and I should esteem myself very happy, if during the misfortunes which make war upon me, the grave might serve me for a sanctuary, and if heaven woold oblige itself to bring me thence when my miseries shall be finished, and its anger passed over. But as these wishes are unprofitable, 14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of mine appointed time will I wait, till my change come. and as man cannot live again to die any more, since I am at war with sorrow, I sigh after that blessed day where my soul united to its body, shall give it part of its glory. You shall call me by the voice of that horrid trumpet which must raise again all the dead; 15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. to obey your orders I will answer you from the grave, and to draw me out of that obscure prison, you shall give me your hand, whereof I have the honour to be the workmanship. I do not lose this hope, 16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sins? although I know that you count all my steps, consider the least actions of my life, for I persuade myself that your mercy will triumph over your Justice, and that my prayers will oblige you to pardon me my sins. 17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou lowest up mine iniquity. I know you weigh their quality, as you count their number; but I believe also that my pains have defaced them, and that there is no sickness so troublesome but may be cured by so violent a remedy. 18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought: and the rock is removed out of his place. There was no need though to treat a man with so much rigour; for if the assaults of the winds, and the flashes of the lightning beat down the pride of the mountains, and if the rocks by the violence of the rivers are unfastened from their places: If the waters which have no consistence, 19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth, & zhou destroyest the hope of man. and which fall drop by drop hollow the stones which are so hard, and if the sea unsensibly undermine its banks, it will not be hard for your Omnipotence to ruin man, which hath neither the steadiness of mountains, nor the hardness of rocks. Yet one would judge that he hath not received his strength from your hand, 20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, & he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. but to support all the changes which happen in his person during the course of his life; for after sadness and years have altered his countenance you give him his discharge & send him into another world neur to return again. He is ignorant in that of all which passeth in this, 21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not, and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. and having no more commerce with men, he hath no part in the glory nor in the contempt of his children. But as long as he is living his body is afflicted with a thousand evils, 22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn. and though his soul by the condition of her creation be exempt from them, yet she bears a part in them, and becomes miserable with it. The Fifteenth CHAP. The Argument. Reason's failing Eliphaz he hath recourse to injuries, and anger making him lose his memory as well as judgement he reproacheth Job with crimes, which he pence had never committed, and represents him under the person of a Tyrant which he describes with much eloquence, and very little charity. ELiphaz, 1 Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said, who could not suffer the just reproaches Job of replies in choler. If you were as wise as you think you are, 2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the East-wind? you would not speak with so much vanity, but you would command anger which transports you, and you would not cast so many unprofitable words into the air for to exaggerate your griefs. But with a high insolence you assault your Sovereign, 3 Should he reason with unprofirable talk? or with speeches wherein he can do no and with a notable indiscretion you fly on discourses, which ca●not be followed but with punishment and repentance. You have done all your endeavours, 4 Yea, tho●costest off sear, and restrainest prayer before God. to banish out of the world the fear of God and after these impudent words, which offend heaven and earth, you will not have recourse to prayer, which though is the sole means that remains to appease God, and the only remedy which you have to sweeten your miseries. For whereas your misery ought to have put regrets and fighs in your mouth; 5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou chooest the tongue of the crafty. your iniquity hath put injuries there and in hearing you speak one may see that you use the language of blasphemers, and that you have a design to imitate them. But without putting myself to the trouble to reply to you, 6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee. your own mouth shall condemn you, and disavowing all the maxims which you have indiscreetly uttered, and you shall prevent our answers, and change your opinion. Do you think yourself the first of men either in birth or merit? 7 Art thou the first man that was born? os wast thou made before the hills? And would your folly have persuaded you that at your age, you were form before the mountains, and that being as ancient as the world there hath nothing past in all ages, whereof you have not had a perfect knowledge? Have you entered into the Counsel of God for to give him advice? 8 Hast thou hea●d the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? have you contested concerning any business with him? have you found that his wisdom was inferior to yours, and that he had need of your instructions, for the conduct of the universe? But without flattering your vanity with such high comparisons, 9 What koowest thou that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us. what do you know that we are ignorant of? and what truth do you understand which are hidden from us? If you think to prevail with the conferences which you have had with the ancients of your state, 10 With us are both the gray-headed, and very aged men, much elder than thy father. you must know that we treat every day with men who are more ancien tanned more wise than your masters. You complain of your losses, 11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee? and as if your evil were without remedy, you speak to God without respect: Certainly if you had ever so little of your senses left you, you would judge that nothing were more easy with him, then to re-establish you in your former fortune; and it may be he would already have done it, is the insolence of your words had not hindered him. Why does your pride raise you above your condition? 12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what doth thine eyes wink at. why do they read in your eyes that you have thoughts of vanity in your heart, and that you conceive designs that surpass your power? Why does your mind revolt against God? 13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? why does your rash tongue accuse his Providence? and why do you utter words which offend his Justice? I know you often allege your innocence; 14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous? but can one be form of earth, and not sullied with sin? and can one call himself the son of a woman, and boast of being just? Amongst those great men who by their piety have acquired the name of Saints, 15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his Saints, yea, the heavens are not clear in his sight. there have been found some unfaithful: and amongst the angels, which are the principal Ornaments of Heaven, there have been found apostates. How much more light and less faithful will man be, 16 How much more abominable & filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? whom his birth makes abominable, whom his weakness makes unprofitable, whom his inclination carries to evils, and by a strange blindness persuades himself that to drink water, and to commit sin, are two actions equally indifferent? If you will hear me I will impart to you some of my light, 17 I will show thee, hear me: and that which I have seen I will declare. and to draw you from the error wherein you live, I will relate to you what I have seen. I will tell you nothing which wise men believe not as well as I, 18 Which wise men have told me from their fatheas, and have not hid it. and since truths themselves are suspected, when we know not the authors of them, I will name you those from whom I learned them, as well to honour their merit, as to satisfy your mind. And for fear you should take them for persons of mean condition, 19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. I would have you know that their birth and their wisdom had advanced them to the administration of state, and that during their governments, our enemies never overran our land, nor won any advantage over us. 20 The wicked man travellech with pain all his days, & the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. Behold the Oracles which they have declared to man, and which I entreat you to hear with respect; The wicked Prince hath no more cruel executioner than his own ambition, or more sensible displeasure then to know that he is mortal, and to be ignorant when his tyranny must end. He thinks every hour that he hears the noise of Trumpets; 21 A dreadful sound is in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon when he enjoys peace he apprehends warre, and fears surprises from his enemies, or treasons from his friends. When night obliges him to lie down, 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. he never hopes to see the day, and his guilt representing to him on all sides nothing but naked swords, He believes, that they will assassin him in his bed. 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at hand. When he sirs at the Table to take his repast, he imagines that his meats are poison, and that he shall find death, where he seeks for the conservation of his life. He is always in the same inquietude as a King who is going to give battle, 24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a King ready to battle. and his state in the hands of fortune and of his Soldiers. Although these punishments be rigorous, he deserved more cruel ones, 25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, & strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. for he made war against God, and by an insupportable insolence, he had gathered forces for to fight with him. He marched against him without fear, 26 He runneth upon him even on his neck, upon the the thick bosses of his bucklers. and as if God might have easily been overcome, he believed that the pride of his Troops, and the pomp of his Arms were sufficient to defeat him. Having conceived this contempt of God, 27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, & maketh collops of fat on his flank s. he had given himself to debaushes, where the fat had so swollen up his cheeks and his belly, that he had neither the stature, nor the visage of a man. For punishment of so many crimes, 28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. he shall see his estate ruined, and 10 secure his life he shall be constrained to retire himself into forsaken Cities, and to hid himself in the ruins, more proper to serve for a sepuichre for the dead, than a retreat for the living. His extortions shall not enrich him, 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue; neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. for whatsoever care he takes to transport his treasures, he shall not preserve them, and his fortune shall resemble those trees, which not having taken strong root in the ground cannot resist the violence of the winds. Fear and shame shall make him hid himself in darkness, 30 He shall not departed out of darkness, the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth he shall go away. where after he hath seen his children die, and the accomplices of his crimes, he shall die himself of displeasure, and by a just judgement of God, the same fire which shall burn the trunk of the tree, shall consume all its branches. When they shall foretell him these misfortunes, 31 Let not him that is deceived, trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense. the blindness wherein he lives, shall not suffer him to believe them, and he shall not trouble himself to divert them by his prayers, nor redeem them by his alms. 32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. Finally he shall die before his time; and he shall not attain that age, which nature hath made all honest men hope for, and his hands which exercised so many crueltyes shall whither before his death, as the most guilty parts of his body. His loss shall be without resource, 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, & shall east off his flower as the Olive. and one must expect nothing from his fortune, no more then from the Olive-trees, or Vines which have been beaten down by the hail, or stricken by the frost, 34 For the Congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. when they thrust forth their first blossoms. Neither must one hope that his riches will defend him from these disasters; for all the provisions which he had made, shall be wholly unprofitable, and Divine Justice shall consume the proud houses which he had built at the expense of the poor who could not acquire his favours but by buying them with presents. 35 They conceive mischief, & bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. And surely he deserved all these punishments since the designs which he conceived, tended to nothing but the ruin of his subjects, since he sought nothing but occasions to execute them, and that he employed his mind but to find artifices to deceive the innocent. CHAP. XVI. The Argument. JOB teacheth his Friends how to comfort the afflicted, and after he had mixed his advice with some reproaches, he describes his miseries; And though he avow God to be the principal cause of them, he promiseth himself that he will be the principal witness of his innocence. When the discourse of Eliphaz was ended Job replied in this manner. 1 Then Job answered, and said, You entertain me with such common things, 2 I have heard many such ●hings: miserable comfor●ors are ye all. that you tire my patience, and oblige me to tell you, that if you have a will to cure my evils, you have not the dexterity, and that your consolations are remedies more hard to support, than my own griefs. Will you never end such vain and picquant discourses, 3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? and learning the sweetness of an afflicted man, which never used any injurious words, will you not seek out some more civil ones to sweeten my displeasures? If I had not rather follow my own inclination than your example, 4 I also could speak as you do: if your soul were in my souls stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. I might well use the same language; and if heaven had permitted that we might change conditions, it would be very easy to me to make you see, that the unhappy are more sensible of nothing then reproaches. But as this proceeding is fare from my sweetness, 5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth: and & the moving of my lips should assuage your grief. I fare from my sweetness, I would endeavour to find words which might comfort you, and to do actions which might witness to the world how sensible I should be of your Displeasures. I should employ all my Eloquence for to fortify you against sorrow; I should not open my mouth, but to assuage your evils, and I should serve myself with all the Address I had for to cure you without hurting you. But since the order of things cannot be changed, 6 Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged: and ●hough I forbear, I am not cased. and that Heaven which will have you to be happy, will have me to be miserable, what can I do to assuage my Grief? for whither I speak or hold my Peace, it will be always equal, and my complaints nor my silence will not be able to sweeten it. Now as you hear me it oppresseth me so sensibly, 7 But now he hath made me weary, thou hast made desolate all my company. that me thinks all my forces fail me, and I am at the Vigil of returning into nothing. When I would conceal it, 8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me, and my leanness rising up in me, beareth witness to my face. the wrinkles which appear upon my face discover it but too much: but their reproaches trouble me not so much, as the calumnies of detractours who would take away my Honour with my life. They have displayed all their rage against me, 9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me; he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. and passion so much masters their senses, that it appears in the terrible Casts of their eyes, in the grinning of their teeth, and those other Gestures, which men make, when their anger turns into fury. They have opened their Mouth to caluminate my in nocence, 10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth, they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully, they have gathered themselves together against me. and passing from injuries to violences, they have given me Boxes on the Ear, whose number cannot be counted, because they cease not till they were tired with striking, and weary of making me so long suffer. But nothing hath more afflicted me then when God to try me Patience hath made me their Captive, 11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. and to content their cruelty hath delivered me into their hands. I can scarce know myself at last, 12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder, he hath also taken me by the neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark when I compare the present with the past; for from an high and Eminent fortune I am fallen into a profound misery: and God who will take from me the hope of rising again, hath broken me with Blows, and chosen me for the Mark of all his thunders. It seems that he is a Huntsman, 13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. and that I am a furious Beast; for where ever I go I find myself environed with his Arms, he tears my sides and rents out my Bowels, and scatters them upon the earth to serve as Meat for the Dogs. I have not part of my Body, 14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a Giant. but is covered with wounds; he stays not till the old ones are closed, to make new ones, and both of them are so strange to look upon, that you would judge it the hand of a Giant which hath made them. To appease his fury I have done all the actions of a Penitent; 15 I have sowed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. I have clothed my Body with hair, I have changed the pomp of my habit into the austerity of sackcloth, and instead of that Crown which served as an Ornament for my Head, I have covered it with ashes. 16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death: I have shed so many tears that my face is puffed up with it, that my eyes enfeebled have lost all their vigour, and can no more discern the Objects which present themselves. But I can say with assurance, 17 Not for any injustice in my hands: also my prayer is pure. that I have suffered all these evils without deserving them, and that they are come most commonly upon me, when to discharge my Duty I offered my prayers to God, which might have been agreeable to him, since they were accompanied with purity. If I disguise the truth, 18 O earth ' cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. may the Earth deny my body Sepulture, and may men more insensible than Rocks never lend an ear to my compsaint. 19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. But without having need of making Imprecations, I have a faithful witness in the Heavens who knowing all my thoughts will not suffer my Innocence to be oppressed. Likewise I must confess to you, 20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. when the injurious words of my treacherous Friends renew my Griefs, I implore his mercy, and employ my Tears to make him favourable to me. As I am affored of his Justice, 21 O that men might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbout! and the goodness of my cause, there nothing remains to wish, but that it were permitted me to treat with God as they treat with men, and to defend myself before him as they defend themselves before a mortal Judge. But I am afraid lest Death prevent the Accomplishment of my Desires, 22 When a few years are come, than I shall go the way whence I shall not return. and lest my life end, before his justice absolve me; for I have passed the best part of my years, and find myself engaged in a Career where one can run but once, CHAP. XVII. The Argument. IOb complains of the Rigour of God, and the infidelity of his Friends, who oblige him with their continual invectives to wish for death, and to look upon it as the end of all his miseries, and the beginning of all his happiness. THe force of my mind grows weak, 1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. The number of my days diminishes, and in the midst of so many misfortunes which encompass me, nothing is left me to hope for but the Grave. My conscience assures me that I am more unhappy than guilty, 2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? and notwithstanding my eyes are drowned with Tears, and it seems by the use I make of them, that nature hath not given me them but to weep. Lord, 3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? put an end to so many miseries, or if it be your will that they yet endure, take me into your protection, and by the favour of so good a sanctuary I permit mine enemies to denounce war against me. The ignorance wherein they live, 4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shall thou not exal●● them. and the little care which they take to observe your Laws, makes me hope that you will take my part, and that they shall have no advantage over me. They regard me (though) as a prey which cannot escape them, 5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. and they promise their Allies, that they shall enrich themselves at my expense; But their Hopes shall be vain, and their eyes shall never see the success of their unjust desires. They make me the Fable of all Companies, 6 He hath made me also a byword of the people and aforetime I was as a tabret. and they never speak of the pubishment of the wicked but they allege me for Example. The just resentment which I have of their calumny, 7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow darkens mine eyes that they cannot lead me, and all the parts of my body being enfeebled cannot serve me. Finally, 8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. the persecution which I suffer is so furious that good men cannot think on it but their mind is struck with amazement, and their Heart seized with indignation against th●se Traitors who were the cause of it. But this is so far from hindering them to persevere in virtue, 9 The right●o a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and, stronger. that on the contrary animated by my example they will add Courage to their Piety, and do with pleasure what they did before with pain. Change then your opinions, 10 But as for you all, do you return, and come now; for I cannot find one wife man among you. you that think that I am punished for my crimes; or if you will persist in that error, take it not ●ll that I condemn your thoughts, and that I publish abroad that passion hath made you lose your Judgement. But I have entertained you long enough, 11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. it is time to lend words to my sorrow, and to begin my complaints again; but my life passeth away, and my death approacheth; my mind is disquieted, and if it wander sometime in its Thoughts, it is not to divert but to afflict itself. All things displease it equally; 12 They change the night into day: the light is short, because of darkness. it would have night day, and when the day is come it yet wishes Night and imagines that it will sweeten its displeasures. But as it sees that both of them afflict it, it sighs after that night which hath no end, 13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness; and promiseth itself that it shall find rest in that bed, from which they never rise again. In these thoughts I make alliance with death, 14 I have said to corruption, thou art my father: to the worm, thou art my mother, and my sister. and to testify to Rottenness and the worms, how I love them, I employ the sweetest names which nature teaches us, and call them my Father, my Mother, and my sisters. And how would you have me place my hope elsewhere, 15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? since there is no one to be found who considers my miseries, and who gives my Patience the Praises it deserves? 16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the grave. But if I could once die, all my miseries should die with me, and having no more fear nor hope, I should enjoy the felicity which I search for, & which with all my diligence I could never find. CHAP. XVIII. The Argument. BIldad offended at the free replies of Job accuseth him of impiety, and making comparison betwixt his miseries, and those of sinners, he concludes that there is much similitude in their opinions, there is so much resemblance in their punishments. BIldad then spoke for his Friends, and said to Job; 1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, & said. Will you never give over speaking with so much peevishness, 2 How long will it be ere thou make an end of thy words? mark, and afterwards we will speak. and will you never hear our reasens to engage us to hear yours? It is injustice to treat men like beasts, 3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight? and to despise discourses, which for wanting politeness and ornament, do not want reasons, nor truth. But this fault ought to be pardoned you, 4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for the●? and shall the rock be removed out of his place? since letting yourself be carried away by the fury which possesseth you, you imagine that the earth shall be forsaken when you die, and that the mountains shall change their place, if you change your condition. Do not you know that the prosperity of the wicked disperseth itself as soon as it appears, 5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. and that if fortune have l●st●●e, she hath no continuance? The glory ●f his house shall ●e darkened, 6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him. and if any conjectures abuse me not, his pomp shall become mournful, and the lamps which glisteren over his head during the pride of his feasts, shall give no more light, or if they give any it shall be but to shine upon his tomb. 7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own council shall cast him down. He shall lose his courage in the midst of his enterprises, and his counsel shall serve but to advance his overthrow, and precipitate him into misery. His indiscretion, 8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snate. and Divine justice shall make him fall into snares which he had prepared for the innocent, and when he shall labour to get out, he shall entangle himself further in. His feet shall be stopped in the net, 9 The grin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. and the pains which he shall take to disengage himself, shall cause an unsupportable thirst, whose hair shall no less torment him, than the loss of his liberty. But nothing shall afflict him so much as to have been surprised in encounters, 10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. where he apprehended nothing, and that he could not tell how with his wisdom to avoid the misfortune which was prepared for him. 11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet. A thousand Panic fears shall astonish him, and having no more judgement, he shall engage himself so forward in danger, that as if his feet were useless to him, he shall not be able to retire. Hunger that horrid Monster, 12 His strength shall be hunger bitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side. which feeds upon our miseries, and which is never more vigorous than when we are languishing, shall possess itself of his Heart, and devouring his entrails shall take from him that Vigour which made him subsist. At the first Assault the freshness of his skin shall fade, 13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the first borne of death shall devour his strength. and after long languishing, he shall end his life by a strange Death which shall be famed amongst the most violent. His Family shall run the same fortune as his person; 14 His confidence shall be rooted our of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the King of terrors. his children which were the best part of his hopes shall perish with him. Death shall make itself a Trophy of their bodies, and like a Victorious King take pleasure to trample them under his feet. The Accomplices of his crimes shall be Companions of his punishment, 15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. and he who is exempted, shall be drowned in a shower of Sulphur, and Flames. Finally it shall be with his fortune, 16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. as with those treees, whom the thunder hath beaten down on all sides, and whose roots it hath burnt, whose branches it hath broken, and whose Trunk it hath reduced to powder. His memory shall be defaced from the earth, 17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. and they shall never speak of his name in Assemblies nor public places. God himself to contribute to his misery shall make him pass from brightness to obscurity, 18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. from esteem to contempt, and his reputation as well as his person shall be banished the earth. 19 He shall neither have son or nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. He shall leave no children to succeed him in his estate, and his posterity perishing with him, there shall be no one to make him live after his Death. In the day of his misfortune the astonishment shall be general, 20 They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before were affrighted. and the great as well as the small finding wherewithal to be astonished, shall be equally seized with Horror. Since these misfortunes are the inheritance of the wicked, 21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knows not God. and that those who forget God are punished in this manner, take heed lest the pains which you suffer be not proofs of your crimes, and that you be not unhappy because you are guilty. CHAP. XIX. The Argument. IOb accuseth the rigour of his friends, who for consolations give him nothing but reproaches: he complains of the infidelity of his domestics and his kindred which have left him, and comforts himself in the hope which he hath that God will raise him out of the Grave, for to make him eternally happy. IOb wearied with so many calumnies, 1 Then Job answered and said. wherewith his unfaithful friends would discolour his innocence, answered them, Will you never give over afflicting my mind, 2 How long will you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? and exercising my patience by words which are more insupportable to me, than the torments which I endure. They are so insolent, that they have made me blush a hundred times; 3 These ten times have ye reproached me: you are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange to me. and th● which anger's me most is that they continue, and that th● shame of oppressing one th● is innocent hath not had th● power to make you leave them of. If I have failed out of ignorance, 4 And be it indeed, that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. the cause of my s●● shall be my excuse; if I have failed out of malice, I only will undergo the punishment of my offence; & Divine justice which can well discern the guilty from the innocent, shall not punish you with me. Notwithstanding as if I were the cause of all your misfortunes, 5 If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach: I am the subject of all your calumnies: you oppose my misery to my virtue, and you will persuade all the world that I am guilty, because I am miserable. Learn now at least that God doth not an action of a Judge when he afflicts me, 6 Know now, that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. and that when he persecutes me, he hath more desire to make his sovereignty appear then his justice. Who will not be of this opinion, 7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgement. if he consider that I suffer without a cause, that I complain with reason, and that I cannot find a friend to comfort me, an Advocate to defend me, nor a Judge to absolve me? It seems God delights in engaging me in evils, f8 He hath ended up my way, that I cannot pass●, & he hath set darkness in my paths. of which I can find no end, and that he hath a design to overcast my mind with darkness, to the end that I may suffer sorrow and that I may not find a remedy. He has despoiled me of that lustre which environs Kings, 8 He hath stripped me of myglory and taken the crown from my head. he hath taken the Crown from my head, and giving the guilty an innocent man for example; of a puissant Prince, he hath made a miserable Slave. He hath so ruined my fortune, 10 He hath destroyed me on every side and I am gone and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. that there is none can re-establish it, and treating me like those trees which the violence of the winds pulls up by the roots, he hath not left me so much as Hope which is the last comfort of the afflicted. Anger, 11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him; as one of his enemies. which animated him against me, hath made him forget that I was the work of his hands, and my misfortune hath persuaded him that I was his enemy. In these thoughts he hath commanded his Soldiers to assault me, 12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my rabernacle. and as his Orders are always followed, they have entered upon my Lands, where after having done a thousand spoils, they have besieged my house, and made themselves masters of it. I thought that in this disaster my neighbours would comfort me; 13 He hath put my brethren far from me, & mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. but whether the greatness of my evil hath astonished them, or the justice of God scattered them, they have kept fare from me, as if they had been strangers. Those with whom nature had tied me, 14 My kinsfolk have vailed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. have most basely abandoned me, and those with whom amity, more strong than nature, had straight united me, have most unjustly forgotten me. My Domestiques themselves have lost the respect which they owed me, 15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight. and when since my misfortune they appeared before me, they seemed to speak as if they had never known me. When I called the slaves which owed me their liberty, 16 I called my servant, & he gave me no answer: I entreated him with my mouth they would not deign to answer me, and they themselves, who heretofore knew not my intentions but by the mouth of another, have despised the prayers which came out of mine own. It is no wonder if that sort of people who love not but for interest have forgotten me, 17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children's sake of mine own body. when mine own wife cannot endure me, but the stinking of my breath drives her away; and when my prayers, mixed with tears and sighs, cannot stay the children which my other wives have given me. Finally, my misery is arrived to this point, 18 Yea, young children despised me, I arose, and they spoke against me. that fools which make men sport mock at me; present and absent I am the subject of their laughter, and they never are found more pleasant than when they play the Buffoons at my expense. I pardon their folly this insolence, 19 All my inward friends abhorred me● and they whom I loved, are turned against me. but I cannot endure that those wise men, of whom heretofore I took counsel, and who received my advice as Oracles, should be afraid of my person; and that he who amongst them was most obliged to me, is now the most ingrateful. These evils, 20 My bones cleaveth to my skin, and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. as rigorous as they are, would seem supportable to me, if I felt no other in my body, which are so much the more sensible to me, as they are more true: But the Fever which devours me hath consumed my flesh; the skin which covered it, is fastened to my bones, and the fury of that evil which disfigures all my face, hath left me nothing but the lips about the teeth to form words and complaints. At the sight of so many evils be touched with pity; 21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me. and you who make profession of loving me, have compassion of my griefs, because their excess makes you see that it is an incensed God which is the Author of them. Why do you agree with him to persecute me, 22 Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? and why imitating the cruelty of Savage Beasts which live upon man's flesh, do you feed yourselves with my miseries? Where is the man that will lend me his hand to write the Regrets of my mouth; 23 Oh that my words were now written, Oh that they were printed in a book! and who will be the Engravor to carve them upon lead, or engrave them in marble to inform Posterity? 24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead, in the rock for ever! These wishes do no injury to my hopes, for with whatsoever terms I serve my grief, 25 For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. I know that he from whom I expect my salvation, is living, and that after he hath tried my patience, he will bring me out of that miserable condition to which I am reduced. And I may well believe it, 26 And though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. since faith persuades me that I must rise again after my death, that my bones shall once again be clothed with flesh, that in my own body I shall see the God which I adore, and hear from his mouth a sentence favourable to my innocence, With what reasons soever they combat my belief, 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, shove my reins be consumed within me. I hold assuredly that his goodness having obliged him to make himself man, my eyes shall find their happiness in his body, that in spite of death, which shall have destroyed me, I shall live again, that changed in condition only, and not in nature, I shall see my God in his glory: And this hope which I conserve in my soul, is the only consolation which I receive in my displeasures. If you are of the same opinion why do you prosecute me? 28 But ye should say, Why persecute ye him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? and if you believe that heaven will one day crown my patience, why do you forge calumnies to oppress my innocence? Change your design then, 29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know that there is a judgement. profit by the advice which I give you, fly that revenging sword, which leaves not sins unpunished: and to entertain yourself in this good resolution, remember that God will be our Common Judge, and that our differences shall be determined in his presence. CHAP. XX. THE ARGUMENT. SOphar following the opiniont of those who had spoken before him, concludes, that punishment is a proof of sin, and that with whatsoever Reasont Job endeavours to defend his innocence, he is bound to confess that he is guilty, because he is afflicted. SOphar, 1 Then answered Zophar the Naama●hite, and said, who would take advantage of the last words of Job, said to him: The conclusion of your discourse hath given me a thousand thoughts, 2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. and my soul troubled with their number knows not which to choose. The reproaches which you use to me, 3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. will furnish me with an ample subject of discourse; but as in this conference I seek nothing but to draw you from your error, I will not reply to the injuries which my conscience and reason assure me are not true. I will only tell you then that in your disgrace there is nothing extraordinary: 4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth that every one knows that the glory of a wicked man is not of continuance, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? and that moments are not shorter than the prosperity of a sinner. Though his pride should mount up to heaven, 6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds. though he should bear his head in the clouds, and that men, to content his vanity, should accord him divine honours. Yet all his glory shall turn into smoke, that deceit●u●● lustre, which dazzled eyes, 7 Yet he shall perish for ever, like his own dung; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? shall disperse like dust which the wind carries away: those who admired his greatness, shall be amazed at his fall, and not able to believe it after they have seen it, shall ask what is become of him. It shall be with his happiness, 8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be sound: yea he shall be chased away as a vision of the night as with dreams, which when we awake, we cannot remember; and his prosperity shall pass by like Ghosts, which go away with the night, and of which there remains in the morning but a confused remembrance. Those who looked upon him with envy, 9 The eye also which saw him, shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. shall no more look upon him but with pity, and his Domestiques, the eye-witnesses of his vanity, shall see him no more but with contempt. And because a father is more sensible in the person of his children, 10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. than in his own, they whom he hath brought into the world shall be reduced to extremity, and Divine Justice shall ruin them to revenge the Orphans which their Fathers had oppressed. But the most rigorous of his punishments is, 11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. that he shall retain his bad inclinations till death, that he shall not lose the desire of doing evil, when he shall have lost the power, and that he shall carry away his bad habitudes with him into the grave. For as those who eat any thing that is agreeable, 12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hid it under his tongue retain it a long time in their mouth, for to taste it with more pleasure. So he shall keep his sin as long as he can, 13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth: and if sometimes he let it go in appearance, he shall retain the desire of it in his heart, Notwithstanding he considers not, that that which hath given him joy, shall cause his sorrow, and that if sin flatter our senses, it poisoneth out souls, But in as much as sinners fear not much what they do not believe, 14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. and that hell enters not into their minds but as a fable, God will make him feel the pains of it, for his goods shall be taken from him, and they shall compel him to restore with sorrow, what he had taken with pleasure. He shall find that the venom of asps is not so mortal to those whom they hurt, 15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly as the goods of the poor to those who take them away; and that the tongue of Vipers is not so dangerous a poison as riches ill gotten. 16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. With what hope soever he flatters himself, he shall enjoy none of his goods; for after that he shall have made great purchases, 17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. that his flocks shall be increased, either by his husbandry, or by his usury, that his Kine shall give him streams of milk, and his Bees shall give him rivers of honey, he shall have but the trouble of it, and another shall receive the profit: He shall bear the chastisement of all the evil which he hath committed, and though his griefs teach him that he is mortal, yet he shall not be able to die: Heaven shall prolong his years, that he may suffer all the miseries which his injurious malice hath made the innocent endure. Because he hath ruined the poor, pillaged their houses, 18 That which he laboured for, shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restirution be, and he shall not rejoice therein. and hath not taken the pains to build them again after he hath pulled them down. Because his unjust desires have had no bounds, and because his heart, after so many pillages, hath not been satisfied; God, who proportions punishments to our crimes, 19 Because he hath oppressed, & hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not. will not permit him peaceably to possess what he hath so unhappily acquired. And since in his good fortune he hath not given to the poor what was superfluous with him, he shall not have in his disgrace what is necessary. But by a more strange kind of punishment he shall find poverty in abundance, 20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. for whether his avarice oblige him to form new desires; or to wish more wealth, or that it permits him not to employ that which he hath in his coffers, he shall prove that of all kinds of poverty the most troublesome is that which surpriseth us in the midst of riches. And seeing that he cannot avoid being miserable in felicity itself, 21 There shall none of his meat be left, therefore shall no man look for his goods. there shall be no sorrow wherewith his mind is not afflicted. Since his good fortune must be so fatal to him, 22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. and that he shall be never nearer his ruin, than when he is mounted on the top of his happiness, I would he were happy, that he might be presently miserable, and that heaven might discharge upon him its anger, and stick him with all its thunders. I know well that he will do all his endeavours to avoid his misfortunes, 23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. and that he will employ all his tricks to divert the disaster which hangs over his head; But his endeavours and his tricks shall be equally unprofitable, and they shall prepare him so many evils, that if he escape some, 24 He shall flee from the iron weapon; and the bow of steel shall strike him through. he shall not warrant himself from others; for he shall see on one fide the sword drawn out of the scabbard, and glittering like lightning, which shall menace him with death; and on the other, he shall see the Devils (whom Divine Justice employs to revenge itself upon our injuries) who shall wait with impatience for to conduct him to punishment. In so pressing a misfortune he shall look for some retreat, 25 It is drawn and cometh out of the body: yea, the glistering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. but shall find none, and those hidden places, which serve as Sanctuaries to the unhappy, being shut against him, he shall be constrained to precipitate himself into hell, 26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him: it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. where that fire which hath no need of wind to light it, nor of matter to feed it, shall burn eternally; and for the accomplishment of his misery, the children which he shall leave in his house shall undergo the punishment of his sin. Then all the Creatures which are subject to the vanity of men, 27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity: and the earth shall rise up against him. and which against their inclination served their iniquities, shall make War upon him; heaven shall make his crimes public, and the earth which hath seen them shall depose against him. When these faithful witnesses shall have made seen to all the world by what ways this impious man had acquired his riches, 28 The increase of his house shall departed, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. God shall pronounce his sentence upon their depostions, and giving up his house to pillage, shall permit his enemies to enrich themselves with his goods. So all men shall learn from his fall, 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. that a bad life cannot have a good end; that hell is the portion of the wicked; and that as virtue promiseth itself recompense, sin must expect punishments. CHAP. XXI. THE ARGUMENT. JOB useth divers reasons to persuade his friend, that prosperity is not a proof of our innocence, nor adversity a mark of our sin, since it often happens, that a sinner is happy, and an innocent man miserable. JOB perceived well that Sophaz had represented him under the person of a sinner, 1 But Job answered and said, and that his friends approved his opinion, wherefore he replied to them in these terms. With whatsoever reasons you endeavour to support your discourse, 2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations. I persuade myself that if you will but hearken to mine, you will change your Opinion, and that at last you will be sorry that you have accused an Innocent. I know that every thing displeaseth you in my person, 3 Suffer me that I may speak, and after that I have spoken, mock on. and that heaven which would make me odious, hath also made my discourse insupportable; But make a trial upon your mind to hear me, and when I have deduced my reasons, if they please you not, I give you leave to laugh at me. Observe then, 4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled? that it is not with you so much as with God, that I dispute, and that I complain more of his rigour than of yours; for if you have an ill opinion of mine innocence, my afflictions serve as an excuse for your suspicions: But God who reads my heart, cannot be ignorant of it; and when I think that he doth not take the pains to make you know it, methinks I have cause to complain of it. Since he will not give me this satisfaction, 5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth and that he hath resolved that my evils should be public and my innocence hidden, look upon me at least, but without engaging yourselves to comfort or to bemoan me; put your finger upon your mouth, and testify your trouble and your love, but by your astonishment and your silence. For my part, 6 Even when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. I cannot entertain myself with my misfortunes but I tremble, and though they say that the memory of past evils is agreeable, mine are so violent, that I cannot think of them without extreme sorrow: And all the while that my mind entertains itself with this fatal subject, all the parts of my body shake with horror. 7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Yet so miserable a condition ought not prejudice my innocence, for if my disgrace were a cause of my sin, the prosperity of the wicked would be a mark of their virtue, and we should be obliged to believe that all those who are happy are innocent; yet we see that sinners live long, and that honours are not wanting to their ambition, nor riches to their avarice. Their family is always numerous, 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. and heaven which gives them children, takes the care of preserving them, that they may enjoy them long, inasmuch as in few years they make many alliances, and see issue from their daughters a long train of children. Their houses enjoy a profound rest, 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. there is no accident that may trouble them, and with what sin soever they offend the goodness of God, 10 Their bull gendereth & faileth not, their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. his justice never punishes them; the cares of his providence extend themselves even over their flocks, for their Kine never miscarry when they are happily delivered: there arrives no misfortunes to their young ones, and heaven gives them milk in abundance to nourish them. But without standing to describe so ordinary a thing. 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance I will represent you the fruitfulness of their wives, which is so great, that their children equal their flocks in number, and skip about their houses like young lambs in the fields. They can scarce go but they set them to dance, 12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. their tongue is not yet untied when they teach them to sing, and as if their life were a perpetual Revels, Vials, and Lutes, are heard every day in their houses. They pass away their years so pleasantly, 13 They spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave. and when the time of dying is come, and that sickness takes them out of the world, they languish not long in a bed, but descend quietly and suddenly into the grave. Notwithstanding one cannot say it is their piety that brought these blessings upon them, 14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. for as long as they lived with us they boldly professed that they would have no part with God, and that his Laws being indifferent to them, they were not resolved to take the pains to keep them. They made a show of being ignorant that there was a God, 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him? that they might not be obliged to serve him; and to dispense with themselves from praying to him, they persuaded themselves that he did not watch over our actions, and that he had abandoned to an imaginary Destiny the conduct of the Universe. Think not though that I am of their party if I describe their happiness, 16 Lo, their good is not in their hand, the counsel of the wicked is fare from me. for I know that that of the wicked though it be durable is not eternal, and whatsoever assurance they show, they are not Masters of their fortunes; wherefore their sentiments have been always contrary to mine, and our manner of living hath not been less different than our opinions. I am of accord with you, 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? and how oft cometh their destruction upon them? God distributeth sorrows in his anger. that their prosperity hath no lustre, which is not deceitful; that the sorrows which succeed their pleasures shall make no less spoil in their souls than the Torrents in the fields. And that they shall not be forgotten in that fatal day, 18 They are as stubble before the wind, & as chaff that the storm carrieth away. when the hand of God, which cannot commit injustice, shall distribute punishment according to desert. In the presence of that terrible Judge whom they can neither frighten nor corrupt, 19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. it shall be with those wicked men, as with the straw which the wind plays with, or as the dust which the whirlwind carries not into the Air but to disperse and scatter it. Finally, 20 His eyes shall fee his destruction, & he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. their punishment shall not stop in them, but shall pass even to their Children, who shall be unhappy for having had guilty fathers, and when they shall see their sin punished in their successors, they shall prove to their cost, that God takes notice of all that passes in the world, and if he dissemble our offences he is not ignorant of them. Besides this punishment, 21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? they shall suffer extreme torments in their persons, death shall be always present before their eyes, and although they try its cruelties they shall not feel its favours, and shall drink great draughts in this cup of bitterness and fury which God prepares for his enemies. One must confess that their punishment would be too gentle if they were punished but in their successors; 22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high. for when men are dead, the condition of their house gives them but little trouble; and 'tis not their greatest pain to know that Divine Justice hath contracted the life of their children, and taken them out of the world in the midst of their years. Out of all this discourse it is easy for me to conclude, 23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. that there are no certain marks to discern the good from the bad, since it happens sometimes, that two guilty men are treated differently, and that two just men who are equal in merit, are not so in fortune. Therefore we must adore that conduct, 24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. & without murmuring submit ourselves to the Ordinance of God, for men were insolent if they would instruct him who teaches the Angels. Let's reverence then his providence, 25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. when we see that a sinner hath no disgrace whiles he is in the world, that his happiness is constant, that riches and health accompany him to the grave, that his body is of a strong constitution, and that that vigour which makes youth acceptable, leaves him not in his very age. But let us adore his Justice, 26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them. when we see another man who is not it may be so guilty, pass his years in sorrows, count his days by his afflictions, and die as poor as he was borne. Finally, 27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. let us not murmur, when we see that two lives different shall have the same end, that the rich and the poor shall be both covered with earth, and that the worms who have no regard to our conditions, shall spare a happy man no more than a miserable. I have not so little wit, 28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked? but I read in your face the thoughts which you revolve in your heart; I know that you accuse me whilst I plead for God, and that you condemn mine innocence whilst I defend his Justice. For drawing a bad conclusion from a bad principle, 29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do not ye know their tokens? you say it is necessary that I should be guilty, because I am so unhappy, and that God had never suffered my flocks to be taken away, my palaces to be overthrown, and my children to be buried under their ruins, if by some notable impiety I had not engaged his justice to punish me. But you argue so ill in this occasion that there is no one but condemns you, 30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. and if without making choice of a Judge you will ask the first Passenger which you find; I assure myself that his answers will make you see that upon the subject of which we dispute, he hath no other sentiments than mine. And certainly they are very just, 31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done? and 'tis with much reason that I maintain, that sinners are not always punished for their crimes, for the earth hath no punishments rigorous enough to chastise them; and heaven does well to reserve them for the day of its fury, and to defer their punishment to render it eternal. The instruments which he useth here, 32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. are too feeble for to tame them; for if he had a desire to chastise they sins, there could no man be found hardy enough to undertake it; and if he had a design to ruin them, there could none be found puissant enough to execute it. Do not you see that they reverence them after their death, 33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him that they oblige nature to wear mourning for them, that they condemn the Elements to weep for them, that they carry them with pomp to the grave, that they embalm their bodies to preserve them a long time, and that in spite of death they defend them from corruption? Those who flatter them during their life, continuing it after their death, endeavour to persuade men that the earth respects their bodies, that the graves are proud of possessing them, and that that fabulous hell of profane men is happy to lodge their Ghosts, and that all those that go before or follow them into those sad places, come not there but to have the honour to be with them. Since it is certain then that the wicked are not always miserable, 34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remainetb falsehood. and that experience contradicts the reasons wherewith you defend your opinion, do not you take a wrong course to comfort me, when you would persuade me that I am guilty because I am afflicted: And might not you rather conclude that all the unfortunate are not wicked, because all the wicked are not unfortunate? CHAP. XXII. THE ARGUMENT. ELiphaz would persuade those who hear him, that when God punisheth men, he is not bound to declare his motives, and that those which obliged him to punish Job are not secret, since his sins are so public. AS they could not reply to such good reasons, 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, Eliphaz, who disputed not so much for truth as for glory, had recourse to invectives, and without any more palliating his design, undertook openly to make Job confess that he was a famous Malefactor. We know, saith he, that a man were insolent, who would be equal with God, and who serving himself with the light which he could not have borrowed but from him, would reform his Providence, and oblige him by his reasons to use another kind of conduct over men. But certainly you are no less rash to persuade yourself, 2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? that he is interested in your innocence, and that to make it public, he is obliged to do a miracle; what profit can he hope from your virtue, who possesseth all in himself, and what honour can he expect thence, whose glory is infinite? Think not that he is like those Judges, 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? 〈…〉 gain 〈…〉 that 〈…〉 makest thy wayers perfect. whom fear makes to change their resolution, and who da●e not condemn one that inguilty, for fear of incurring his disfavour: Persuade not your sest that he enters into judgement with you, and that to appease your complaints, he declares to you the motives which oblige him to punish you. Sovereigns, which are men, render no account of their actions to their Subjects, and when they make an Edict, or pronounce a Decree, they often conceal the causes of it, and allege no other reasons than their wills. Believe then that God punisheth you for your crimes, 4 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgement? and that all these afflictions which overwhelm you, are the just chastisements which your impiety deserves. Nor can you deny but that you have reigned like a Tyrant, 5 Is not thy wickedness great? & thine iniquities infinite? that against the fundamental Laws of State you have treated your Subject's a●● Slaves, that taking pawns 〈◊〉 those who were insolvable, you have made as many poor as you had Debtors, and that by a violence which deserves not pardon, you have taken from them their clothes, and have enriched yourself with their spoils. I pass under silence, 6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. as not being your greatest crime, how that you have refused the necessitous the use of the water, which you have turned aside for to water your gardens, 7 Thou hast nor given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. and denying the bread which you owed to the miserable in their need, you have taken from them that which you would not give them. As long as heaven favoured you, as your Subjects feared you, you invaded the Lands of your neighbours, and without acknowledging any right but that of Arms, you kept with injustice what you acquired with violence. 8 But as 〈◊〉 the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelled in it. And to be no better your Subjects than to strangers, you ravished the estate of the widows, and added the misfortune of poverty to that of their condition. Orphans, who thought to find a second father in you, 9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. had no more cruel enemy, and their riches making their crimes, you did not judge them innocent, but when you had made them miserable. The miseries which now besiege you are the punishments of these sins, 10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee. and without searching any more whence these sanique terrors come which affright you, and these invisible chains which take away your liberty, you must believe that your injustice is the true cause of it. But that which astonisheth me the most, 11 Or darkness that thou canst not see, and abundance of wares cover thee. is, that amongst so many violences you lived without fear, for when you made any reflection upon the condition of your fortune, you imagined that it had so much lustre, that disgraces could not obscure it, and that it had so much steadfastness, that all misfortunes could not overthrow it. When you entertain yourself with these false hopes, 12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold, the height of the stars, how high they are. you believe without doubt, that because God lodgeth in the heavens, because he walketh upon the stars, and his glory separates him from his creatures, he doth not watch over their actions, or if he take any notice of them, 'tis with so much confusion, that as one must not hope for recompense, one need not be afraid of punishment. Your superstition form itself a God, 13 And thou sayest, how doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? who could neither know nor punish crimes, and to entertain yourself in this foolish belief, you were persuaded, that the thicknese of the clouds stole from him the sight of them, 14 Thick clouds are a coveriog to him that he seethe not, and he walketh in the circuit of heaven: and that being only busied about the motions of the heavens, he neglected the conduct of the earth. Oh! will you never leave following the errors of past ages, 15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? which in thus much aught to be suspected of you, as that they who invented them have undergone the pumshment of them? 16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood. that their death was hastened to stop the course of their perverse Doctrine, and that famous Deluge which drowed the Universe, was a chastisement which God found to punish them. They also said impudently, 17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? that they would not serve him, since he could not protect them, and that a God who had not power, deserved no honour: Finally, they spoke with contempt of him whom Angels adore, and made a vain Idol of him who gives the heaven's motion and the earth repose. I know not how these impious men, 18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. whose sentiments are so fare from my belief, could vomit out these blasphemies against God; for whilst they condemned his providence, it filled their houses with riches, and whilst they despised his power, it made their Lands fruitful. Moreover these errors are so visible, 19 The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn. that the just shall mock at them one day, and the simple, whose mind hath nothing elevated, shall laugh at these wise men of the world, who boasted themselves to be the Authors of them. Their vanity shall then be humbled, 20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth. for besides the displeasure of seeing their opinions despised, they shall have the regrett of seeing their disciples serve as a prey to the flames, for having been willing to maintain their pernicious Doctrine. Do not you then bear any part in their opinions, 21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. if you would not have any in their punishments; but follow better advice, reconcile yourself with God, make peace with that puissant enemy which makes war with you, and that will produce you more happiness than this hath caused you misery. Receive the Law of his mouth since he is victorious, 22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. submit yourself to his Ordinances since he is your Sovereign, and for fear his words should escape you, writ them not in marble, but engrave them in your heart. This advice will not be unprofitable to you, 23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put awa● miquity far from thy tabernacles. for if you appease God by your prayers, he will make your condition more glorious than it is contemptible, and if to satisfy him, you banish sin from yourself, to recompense you he will banish misery from your house. Then shall you acquit yourself of all your losses, 24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophit as the stones of the brooks. and you shall recover with usury what was taken from you, for for barren Lands, which could bring forth nothing, you shall have such as in their entrails shall produce Porphyry; and in stead of those unprofitable Rocks which made a part of your Estate, you shall have fertile Mines, from whence shall issue rivers of gold. God who seems to be against you, 25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, & thou shalt have plenty of silver. shall turn on your side, your enemies shall be his, and because they make war with silver as well as iron, you shall have them both in abundance, the one to pay your Soldiers, and the other to arm them. In this happy condition God shall be all your delight; 26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up th● face unto God. and because he shall be the Author of it, you shall find it more solid than those which you have heretofore tasted. Finally, you shall converse familiarly with him, and in the same manner that your sin made you humble your eyes towards the earth, your innocence shall make you lift them towards heaven. You shall ask nothing o● God which he doth not gran● you, 27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. his gifts shall be proo●● to you of his love, and the vows which you shall ma●● him shall be testimonies o● your fidelity. You shall make no wishe● in vain, 28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. things shall happe● as you have projected them● their success shall never deceive your hopes, and all your conjectures shall have so much certitude, that it shall be very easy to judge that your light comes from heaven. So by an agreeable exchange, 29 When men are cast down, than thou shalt say, There is lifting up: and he shall save the humble person. he who was in contempt shall be in esteem; That sinner which durst not look up to Heaven, shall see the stars under his feet, and enjoying a true happiness, he shall have no more fears which disquiet him, nor hopes which deceive him. But to arrive to this felicity, 30 He shall deliver the Island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands. it is necessary to be innocent, and to acquire this glorious Title, good words must be accompanied with good works, and the sanctity of our souls be made known by the purity of our actions. CHAP. XXIII. THE ARGUMENT. ALL the words of Job declare the trouble of his mind, for he desires to one far with God; complains of the difficulty which then is to find him; and on the other side considering his greatness, he is afeard to a● cost him. WHen these discourses, 1 Then Job answered and said, which contained reproaches rather than consolations, were ended, Job neglected to answer them, and knowing that God is the support of the miserable, he entertained himself with him it these terms: My friends persecute me, the remedies which they apply to my evil are so violent, 2 Even 10 day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heaviour than my groaning. that in stead of sweetening them, they exasperated them; wherefore my mouth is always open to complaints, notwithstanding whatsoever indeavou I use, it cannot express the grief which I endure; as it is not so eloquent as the hand which struck me is heavy, my evils are always greater than my complaints, and those who see me, and hear me, are bound to acknowledge, that I am more unhappy than I am eloquent. But with whatsoever punishment he afflicts me, 3 O that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat; I would treat with him as they do with the Kings of the earth, and find an Angel who would be my guide to conduct me before the throne, where he absolves the innocent, and condemns the guilty. Though he be my enemy, I would take him for my Judge, and I would accompany my discourses with so many fight and just complaints, that I would oblige him to speak with me, and judging of his designs by his Answers, I would understand what I am ignorant of, and know why I am unhappy being innocent. I would not in truth in this contestation, 4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. that he should use his absolute power, that he should dazzle me with the Rays of his Majesty, or that he should overwhelm me under the weight of his greatness. But I would have him submit himself to the Laws of his ordinary Justice, 5 I would know the words which he would answer me, & understand what he would say unto me. and that by a favour which they deny not to the guilty, my sentence might bear my crime as well as my punishment: Upon these conditions I should promise myself the better in my cause, and hope that my Judge would pronounce in my favour. But what diligence soever I use, 6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. I cannot meet with him, though he animate all with his presence, and his immensity leave no vacuity in the world, his retreat is unknown to me: 7 There the righteoos might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my Judge. whether I search him where the daystar riseth, or search him where it sets, all my cares are equally unprofitable, and I can learn no news of him. If I east my eyes towards those parts of the world where summer makes all the seasons, 8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, & backward, but cannot perceive him. or towards those unhappy Countries whose winters are eternal, I cannot discover him. But for him, 9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the ●ight hand, that I cannot see him. wheresoever I go, he knows how to find me, and his knowledge not being bounded as mine, he seethe as well my heart, as my face, and hath no need of my words to understand my thoughts: Notwithstanding as if so many lights were not sufficient, he tryeth me like gold, and will have afflictions be to my soul, what the flame is to the mettle, and that to purify me they consume me. If this trial give me much trouble, 10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. it give, me also much glory, so he sees that nothing can take me off from his service, and that in all conditions which he pleaseth to reduce me to, I obey his will, and submit myself to his Ordinances. Indeed I never wandered from his Laws, 11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have ● kept, and not decsined. and not judging that marble was worthy to receive the words of his mouth, I have ingraved them in my soul, and never lost the remembrance of them. So must we confess that he well deserves this honour, 12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips, I have esteemed the words of his mouth, more than my necessary food for he is transcendently singular, and hath no equals as the Kings of the earth; his knowledge is not mixed with darkness, nor his power accompanied with weaknesses; and as nothing can change what he foresaw, 13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doth. so nothing can hinder what he desires. His power furnishes him wi●h so many means to execute his will, that those which he hath employed are always less in number than those which remain; 14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. The misery of my condition is an excellent proof of this high truth, for with what punishment soever he hath exercised my patience, if his goodness appease not his justice, he may find yet a thousand more rigorous ones. If I give way to these fatal opinions, 15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am asraid of him. they ought not accuse me of being timorous, for 'tis not the greatness of a man which astonishes me, but the Majesty of a God which affrights me: And I have always imagined, that as it were weakness to fear a man, it were madness not to be afraid of a God. Also I protest to you, 16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: that nothing hath so much humbled me as this consideration, and if God had not been of the party, 17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. I should have courage enough to overcome all the misfortunes which torment me, and to drive away all the tempests which environ me. CHAP. XXIV. THE ARGUMENT. JOB teacheth us by this discourse, that all crimes shall not be punished on earth, but for fear his friend, should accuse him of favouring the party of the wicked, after he had described their impieties, he conjures Divine Justice to punish them. ANd because you accuse me to be of the number of those wicked men, 1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him, not see his days. who ●o give themselves more licence in their crimes, will not acknowledge Divine Providence, I shall be glad to declare you my opinion, to pro●ect me from your calumnies: Know then that I believe it so perfect in its light, that it knows all the differences of sin, and that things future and past to us, are always present to it, but know also that I hold it so secret in its designs, that they themselves who adore it, know not the moment which it hath designed for the punishment of the wicked. Some abusing their power, 2 Some remove the land marks they violently take away flocks, & feed thereof. and violating the Laws of Justice, advance the bounds of their possessions, to invade the Lands of their neighbours: By the same Licence they carry away the flocks of strangers, and as if right consisted but in force, they drive them into their meadows, and keep them there with as much insolence as injustice. If Orphans have but an Ass, 3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. wherewith they serve themselves, their insatiable avarice doth not spare him: but because they are ingenious, and search pretences to colour their bad designs, they feign that the widows are their debtors, and take the Kine which feed them, for security of their debt. Sometimes they give themselves more licence, 4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hid themselves together. and add force to injustice, for th●y wait for passengers upon the great roads, and rob the poor people who have no Arms, and who place all their safety in the Authority of the Prince. We know well that Divine Providence sees all these crimes, but we know not when it will punish them. Others, 5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert go they forth to their work, rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children. who would have necessity serve as an excuse for their sin, go out of the Cities, and retire themselves into the Forests, where putting on the nature of wild beasts, they feed on nothing but prey, thest is their exercise, and pillage the trade wherewith they maintain their families. When hunger presses them, 6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. and constrains them to come out of the woods, they make incursions into the plains, and according to the occasion of the season, they either carry away the corn which is not yet cut, or pillage the vines which are not yet vintaged. As these crimes are but for a taste, 7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing: that they have no covering in the cold they afterwards denounce war against men, they despoil them of their habits to themselves with them, and taking counsel but of the fury which animates them, they spare neither poor nor rich. Thus it often happens, 8 They are were with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. that those miserable men who have nothing left to cover them, are exposed to the injuries of the weather, that the cold freezeth them, that the rain molesteth them, and that to avoid these incommodities, 9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. they are constrained to hid themselves in the rocks, and like wild beasts to retire into Caverns: Divine Providence which permits these impieties, cannot be ignorant of them, but to know when it will revenge them, is a secret which it hath reserved to itself. Others more dangerous than these, 10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungty. do as many outrages to their neighbours, as thiefs do violence to passengers, for they pillage the goods of the Orphans; misery, which should beget pity in them, begets but audacity, and invites them to ruin the poor, and fill their houses with their spoils. When these miserable men are reduced to this pitiful condition, 11 Which make oylwithin their walls, and tread their wine presses, & suffer thirst. and that having no more Lands of their own, they are forced to leaze in those of others: These wicked men snatch the ears of corn out of their hands, and condemn them to a death which is so much the more cruel as it is tedious and languishing. Whilst they commit these excesses, and that they make as many poor as they have neighbours, they sleep under the shadow of the sheaves, to defend themselves from the heat of the sun, and being no better to their Domestiques than their neighbours, they constrain them to work during the time which nature hath destined to repose, and by an extreme injustice make those dye with hunger and thirst, who tread the grapes and reap the corn. Finally, 12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them. their violence is so great, that it makes whole City's groan, and constrains the most generous to complain, their sighs mount up to heaven, and God who glories in being the Protector of the afflicted, mediates the ruin of those who persecute them. Certainly, 13 They are of those that rebel against the light, they know not the ways thereof, not abide in the paths thereof. if this consideration should not be strong enough to induce him to it, he would be obliged to it out of interest, for these are Subjects, Rebels to his Decrees, who would beignorant of his Laws, that they might not be bound to keep them, and to have a pretence to persevere in their crimes, persuade themselves that repentance is a weakness of mind. Others whose inclinations are more guilty, 14 The murderer rising with the light, killeth 〈◊〉 the poof and needy, and in the night is as a th●●●. rise every morning before the Sun, and upon the great Rhodes, or in public places assassin those poor workmen who begin their labour with the day; when night hath covered the earth with darkness, they slip by its favour into houses, and end with theft the day, which they begun with murder. 15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. If at any time an unlawful love possesseth them, and its unchaste flames consume their hearts, they take a time convenient for their designs, and choose the most dark nights to satisfy their passions, and guilt which is never in safety, obligeth them to cover their faces, that they may not be known. 16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the day time: they know not the ●ight. When they judge that me● rest, and that charmed by sleep, they have lost the use of their senses, they betake themselves to the assignations which were given them in the day, they enter into houses by tricks or force, and glu● their unclean desires by the favour of the darkness. If at any time they awake a little late, 17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. and the morning surprise them, they imagine in the passion which blinds them, that she that comes to bring day to men, did not rise but to bring death to them, and remaining in opinions contrary to the worlds, they make day of night, and of its most thick darknesses their most agreeable lights. But whatsoever precaution they bring, 18 He is swift as the waters, their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. that they may not be discovered, Divine Providence shall know how to find them for to punish them, and if it be permitted me to prevent their chastisements by my desires, I wish that their prosperity were more inconstant than the waters, that their Lands were more barren than the sands of the deserts, and that their Meadows and their Vineyards may never increase the number of their possessions. 19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. May the heat agree with the cold to make them barren, may the winters be so violent and so moist, as to rot all the Corn which they shall sow, and if there remain any which shall thrust forth ears, may the burning heats of the summer devour them, and may this misfortune without ever being interrupted, accompany them to the grave. May mercy, 20 The womb shall forget him, the worm shall feed sweetly on him, he shall be no more remembered, and wickedness shall be broken as a tree. which hath no greater cares than to secure the miserable, never think of assisting them, may death be their only hope, may it tear them from the earth, like those unprofitable trees which bring forth no fruit, may it set upon their reputation as well as their life, and may it deface them out of the memory of men. 21 He evil enrreateth the barren that beareth not, and doth not good to the widow. But we must acknowledge that this punishment is too gentle for their sin; for they respected not that Sex whom weakness serves for a privilege, and assasinating the children and the husband of the same woman, they took from her her support and her hopes. Then, 22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. having made practice upon those weak persons, and without defence, they assaulted the more mighty, and as if the ruin of great ones had been the establishing of their own fortune, they employed all their force to overthrow them, and notwithstanding after all these violent precautions, they were not secure of their life. 23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon 〈◊〉 their ways. Heaven hath deferred their punishment to give them time of repentance, but its goodness which should have overcome their malice, hath served but to make them more obstinate in their designs, and more insolent in their happiness. It is true, that his Providence which watcheth always over men carefully, considered their actions, and waited but for the moment which it had decreed to punish them. In a word, 24 They are exalted for a little while, but ere gone and brought low, they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. their happiness hath not been of long continuance, the same Sun which advanced them hath dissipated them, their end hath not been more glorious than that of the least things of the earth; and in the same manner as there needs but a little wind to beat down the fairest ears of corn, there hath needed but a little disgrace for to overthrow all their fortune. 25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth? But if in all these discourses my opinions have not been conformable to truth, I would have them accuse me before the Throne of God, and examine all my words there; but if it be true, that the just are sometimes oppressed, and that the wicked are not always punished, I would have you make a better construction of my Innocence, and allege my miseries no more as assured proofs of my sin. CHAP. XXV. THE ARGUMENT. Whether Baldad would divert Job from the design which he had to contest with God, or whether he had no reasons which he could oppose to his, he leaves off his Invectives, and makes a Panegyric of the Majesty of God. 1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said: BAldad disinherited his forces, and judged rightly, that a bad cause could not eafily be defended; but as he would not yield to the good reasons of Job, he undertook with a bad design an excellent Panegyric of the power of God, which he begun in these terms. 2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places. It is to have too good an opinion of yourself, and not to make esteem enough of God, when you wish that he were your Judge; he hath glorious qualities, which ought to beget in you modest sentiments, and more humble desires; His Majesty is accompanied with so much Power, that he strikes astonishment and fear in the minds of all the Greatures; He appeaseth the differences of the elements, and obligeth them to force their ' own inclinations, to preserve the quiet of the world; He shakes all the Heavens with so much evenness, that in the contrariety of their Motions they never disorder themselves. Finally, maintains peace amongst the Angels, and tempering his Justice with his Goodness, he makes himself equally loved and feared of those blessed Spirits. Though in this absolute power God hath no need of any one to execute his designs, 3 Is there any number of his armies and upon whom doth not his light arise? notwithstanding he hath Armies whose Soldiers cannot be counted. The Angels adore him in heaven, men serve him upon earth, the Devils are afeard of him in hell. This prodigious number of Subjects makes no confusion in his mind, and their different qualities do not hinder him, but he knows their worth, and knows their names. After so much pomp and glory, 4 How then can men be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? which makes the Majesty of God so adorable, should not that man be insolent who would justify himself before him, and must he not have forgotten the condition of his mother, and the shame of his birth, if he pretended any thing to the quality of an Innocent. That beautiful Star, 5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not: yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. which in the obscurity of the night makes us see again the brightness of the day, hath no lustre in his presence, and the Stars who are the honour of the Firmament, and give it advantage above the other Heavens, compared with him, are not without impurities, and without stains. What then can man promise himself, 6 How much less man, that is a worm: and the son of man which is a worm? whose birth is so shameful, whose death is so miserable, and who being but corruption during his life, can be nothing but rottenness after his death? CHAP. XXVI. THE ARGUMENT. JOB descants upon the praises which Baldad had given God, and with nohler terms and higher thoughts exalts the greatness of his Power, and makes seen that his will serveth as Law to all his creatures. WHen Baldad had ended this Enlogivus, 1 But Job answered, and said, which he had rather made for the patience of Job than to praise the greatness of God, he received from him this Answer: What design can you have in your discourse, 2 How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the ann that hath no strength? which is not injurious to God? do you believe that his Power hath need of your succour? and when you defend his cause with so much heat, do you persuade yourself that he is one of those oppressed persons, whose weakness obligeth the great ones to undertake his protection? When you give him advice and instructions to ruin me, 3 How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully decleared the thing, as it is? do you think he hath need of your counsel? and when you make these great discourses, do you imagine that his Divine Wisdom hath need of your prudence? Do not you know that he whom you undertake to instruct, 4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee? is the source of all our knowledge, and that our mind being but the breath of his mouth, we have no light but what we have derived from his? His Power is so known, 5 Dead things are form from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. that one must have lost his Judgement, to imagine that yours is necessary to him; and to give you some proofs of it which may oblige you to treat him with more respect, I will represent to you but the effects which he produceth in nature. Know then that it is he who makes the Monster's groan under the waters, who keeps captives in the sea those heavy Whales, whose greatness justly deserves the name of Giants. His knowledge is not less than his Power, 6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. he sees the dead in their graves, and the earth which steals them from our eyes, cannot steal them from his, since the Abysses are open to him, and hell itself hath not darkness enough to hid the Devils from him. He hath stretched over out heads those parts of Heaven whence the North winds rise, 7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. and hath given them no foundation but vacuity; He hath form the earth like a bowl, and though so weighty a mass required strong Pillars, he hath left it no support but nothing. It is he who hath found the secret of keeping the waters in the air, 8 He hindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rend under them. and of thickening them into vapours, that they may distil drop by drop, and water the fields, which might apprehend a second deluge, if they discharged themselves all at once. But is it not wonderful, 9 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. that he hides from us with the clouds that beautiful Star which serves him for a Throne, and that doing us a little hurt to procure us much good, 10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. he deprives us of its beauty to enrich our Lands with the rain? The elements bear him so much respect, 11 The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof. that they have no other motion than his will, the sea never passeth the bounds which he hath prescribed to its fury, 12 He divided the sea with his power, & by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. and when it seems that its float are about to ingulfe all the earth, they have no sooner touched the bank, but their fiercenelk slackens, and their rage converts itself into foam: this obedience shall not be less faith full than it is prompt, for as long as the days and nights do mutually succeed one another, the Billows shall break themselves upon the Land, and the Sea shall not pass its limits. Those high mountains which seem to be the pillars of heaven are touched with the same sentiment, 13 By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath form the crooked serpent. and though nothing be more proper to them than repose, they tremble when he speaks, and to obey his will, they either shake their heads, or unfasten their feet from the earth. But is it not a prodigious 14 Lo, these Effect of his power, when he appeaseth the Tempests, that he calms the fury of the Sea, and triumphs over that pride which is no less natural to it then inconstancy? Finally, 13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath form the crooked serpent. it is his puissant hand which hath adorned the heavens with all these different beauties which make it so agreeable, ['tis it which fills the air with meteors, which forms the cloud, and which to deliver them of those thunders of which they are great, opens their bosom and makes them happily bring forth the lightnings, which as furious Dragons fly in the air, and fill it with flames. 14 Lo, these are parts of this ways; but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand? Although these things be admirable, yet they are but the ordinary effects of his Power, and if it be true that we have so much trouble to relate them, how can we describe those great miracles whose brightness dazzeleth the eye, and whose noise astonisheth the ear? CHAP. XXVII. The Argument. IOb assuageth his grief in blaming the infidelity of his friends, and defending his innocence; then to prevent their calumnies, and testify to all the world that he approves not of the designs of the wicked, he makes an ample description of the punishments, which God provides for them. AS Job saw that his enemies had no reply, 1 Moreover job continued his parable, and said, he continued his discourse, which he fortified with new reasons, and appeared more eloquent than ever. I swear by the living God, 2 As God liveth who hath taken away my judgement, and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; who that he might not be obliged to absolve me, would not pronounce my sentence: I swear by the Omnipotent, who makes me suffer so many miseries, who deprives me of all consolations which may sweeten them, and who condemns me to pass my life in perpetual languishment. I swear I say, 3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils. that as long as my heart shall beat in my breast, and my lungs shall breathe the Air, and my spirit animate my sad body, my mouth which I have consecrated to truth, shall never serve for lies, & that my tongue which is the faithful interpreter of my heart, shall never speak a word which is contrary to my thoughts. 4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. Wherefore you ought not hope that I take your part, or that I approve of the unjust just opinions which you have of my person: for were I to die, I would persist in my opinion, and with whatsoever reasons you endeavour to oppose it, I will never betray my innocence. I know very well that it is dangerous to be Judge in ones own cause, 5 God forbidden that I should justify you; zill I die, I will not remove my integrity from me. and that one is easily deceived where his interest is concerned; but for my part I fear not mistaking myself, and I think that in defending my side, I defend truth's: for conscience which is worth a thousand witnesses doth not accuse me of committing any sin, which deserves so rigorous a punishment. Sinners have never had commerce with me, 5 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. and as the honour of God regulated all my interests, his enemies have always been mine, and all those who stood ill with him, never stood fair with me. Also I doubted that the hope of the wicked was ill founded, 7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, & he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous. that they could not find in riches the contentment which they promised themselves, that the most great if heaven did not bless them, were ofttimes the most unprofitable, and if they did deliver them from poverty, they did not warrant them from death. Do you think that God will assist them, 8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God takes away his soul? when they shall implore his goodness in their misfortunes, and that he hears prayers which having no other motive but interest, deserve rather punishment than recompenses, and are rather sins then good works? Finally do you think that in the engagements, 9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? which thep have to the goods of the earth, 10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God? they can find their rest in God, and that in the happy successes which make them insolent, they invoke the name of God with as much fervour as in their disgraces? 11 I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty, will I not conceal. Do not accuse me then of imitating them, since the difference of our actions justifies me, and if you accord me this favour I will discover to you the admirable secrets of divine Providence, and make you see the chastisements which it provides for the impious, whose crimes it seems to have forgotten. But why do I call them secrets, 12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it, why are ye then thus altogether vain? since so many memorable examples which have made them public will not suffer you to be ignorant o● them? But if you know them why do you oppose my innocence with so many vain reasons, and confounding th● crime with the punishment would you make an unhappy Man pass for a guilty? Now that you may not accuse me of taking the part of sinners, 13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors. I will speak to you of the punishments which God reserves for them, and make you see the inheritance which this just Father provides for his rebellious children. Be assured then that if they have many Heirs, 14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring sha● not be satisfied with bread. their number shall serve but to make them miserable; for they shall see them fall before them, as sad victim, upon whom the incensed people shall discharge their just fury; and those who shall escape, shall be so cruelly persecuted by hunger, that they shall envy the fortune of their brethren, and esteem themselves unhappy to have escaped from the hands of a popular mutiny. If there remain any of them who survive so many 15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death; and his widows shall not weep. misfortunes, and whom war and famine had not put to Death, they shall be stricken with that contagious sickness which deserves as well the name of death as that of the Plague, since it keeps intelligence with it to ruin Cities, and dispeople States. In so fatal a mortality their wives shall not lament them, and whither their affection be too weak, or their sorrow too violent, they shall shed no tears upon their graves. 16 Though he heap up silvet and dust, and repair raiment as the clay; If the unfortunate father of these unhappy children had gathered together Mountains of Gold; if silver had been as common with him as Earth, if his houses had been adorned with proud moveables, of which the world had admired the beauty, if the number of them had not diminished the Price: 17 He may prepare it, but the just shall shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. He shall have but the trouble of gathering them, and another shall have the pleasure of using them: for he who can absolutely dispose of our Goods, shall make them fall into the hands of the just, who being a better Oeconomist than the covetous, shall distribute them liberally to the poor, and make more men happy with them then, the other hath made miserable. 18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh. So experience shall make known to all the world, that he hath done like worms, which gnaw the wood to which they cleave, and ruin their houses when they seem to build them: or that he hath imitated the shepherds, who make Cabins in the Summer to tend their flocks, 19 The rich man shall lie down, and he shall not be gathered ●he openeth his eves, and he is not. and who leave them to any one that will take them when winter comes. But though he had longer possessed these Goods, yet he had still lost them at his death: for when the rich man leaves the world he carries away nothing with him, and when shutting the eyes of his body, he shall open those of his mind, he shall not see so much as the shadow of his past felicity. 20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night. Then misery and poverty like overflowing Rivers shall besiege him on all sides: unforeseen miseries shall surprise him, as it happens in the horror of the night when unthought of tempest, surprise the sleeping Mariners. 21 The east-wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and a storm hurleth him out of his place. And that nothing may be wanting to his just punishment, aviolent death like a surious wind shall carry him from the earth, where his disordered affection held him so fast tied; and then he shall be no less tossed, then if he were carried away by a whirlwind, or served as Pastimes for tempests. God himself who shall not spare him in this encounter shall pour upon him all sorts of miseries, 22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare; he would fain fly out of his hand. and when these faithful Ministers shall assault him on all sides, he shall make vain attempts to get himself out of their hands, and unprofitable wishes to meet with a sanctuary, where he may be in security. All those who shall be witnesses of his misfortune shall clap their hands in token of rejoicing, 23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hisse him out of his place. and when the Just shall see the place which his siane shall give him in hell, they shall hisse at him with pleasure, and his miseries shall be a part of their happiness. CHAP. XXVIII The Argument IOb teacheth his friends that the Treasures of Nature are not so hidden, but men by their curiosity discover them, but that wisdom is so secret, that they cannot find it without the assistance of God. WHen this discourse was ended, and Job saw that his friends did not speak, he began again warily to entertain them in conference, and engaged himself to let them see by a long deduction of the wonders of Nature, that all things are goverued by a supreme providence and since that they have their centre and their ends, man may reasonably hope that he shall have his, and that his sins shall be punished, and his virtues recompensed. That metal (saith he) which maintains commerce amongst Men, 1 Surely there is a vein for the filver, and a place for gold where they fine it. and which finds remedies for all their needs, hath secret veins where it is hidden: and Gold the most noble of metals, which hath no price itself, and yet gives it to all things, is shut up in mines where Natureworks whole ages to form it. Iron which they employ to so many divers uses, 2 Iron is taken out of the the earth, and brass is melted out of the stone. which serves in war and Peace, and without which the courage of soldiers, and the industry of artisans would be unprofitable, is drawn from the entrails of the earth; and brass, which serves as a recompense to the virtue of Illustrius men, and which affords matter of which they make them statues, is drawn from stones which melted by the heat of the fire turn into Metal. Though nature hath taken pleasure to hid all these Metals, 3 He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness and the shadow of death. industry provides man with certain marks for to discover them, and infallible conjectures to know the time when they must be drawn out of their Darkness: and though the shadow of Death forbids the entry into these caves, avarice and curiosity give him courage enough to go down thither; and every himself with their spoils. There are torrents found which divide certain people from all others, 4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men. and where waters are so profound and rapid, that shutting the passage from travellers, they make the Provinces inaccessible which they water, and put them in the Rank of those things which were never seen. There are lands seen which brought forth corn, 5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and under it is turned up as it were fire. and which by their fertility contributed to the Noutriture of men, which are become barren, and which burned by the Sun which shined upon them, and dried with the sulphur which heated them, have lost their first fertility. 'tis true that this loss sometimes is advantageous to them; 6 The stones of it are the place of Saphires: and it hath dust of Gold. for it oftens happens that for corn they yield precious stones and their Rocks turn into Sapphires, and their turfs into wedges of Gold. But as on the other side, 7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the Vulture's eye hath not seen. they are separated from the world, and lodged under climates too hot; the Birds never fly thither, and Vultures whose penetrating sight can observe the prey so far, could never yet discover them. 8 The Lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce Lion passed by it. Those wild Beasts whose savage humour searcheth out the most Solitary places, could never yet find them, and the Lionesses which run when they have lost their little ones, have never approached them. Yet man discovers them by his Industry, 9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. as by the Obstinacy of his labour he pierceth Rocks, throws down Mountains, and carries away the Treasure which they hid within their entrails. His hands animated by his Curiosity, 10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks, and his eye seethe every precious thing. divert the Course of Rivers, break the Rocks which serve them for banks, and his Eyes enjoying the labour of his hands, discover all that's rare and beautiful in the World. Finally his mind which can not be overcome by difficulties, 11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing, and the thing that is hid, bringeth he forth to light. and which to surmount them employs both force and skill, sees the wonders which the Rivers Cover with their waters, and contrary to the design of Nature reveals her secrets, and discovers all that she hides. What soever good success he hath in these searches, 12 But where shall wisdom be sound? and where is the place of understanding? he is not so happy, nor so dextrous in that of Divine wisdom; for he knows not where she dwells, and what diligence soever he use to penetrate her designs, he is obliged to confess that she surpasseth his understanding, and that he ought rather to adore then search after them. He knows not what she is worth, 13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. and the esteem which he makes of things of the world, sufficiently testifies that he is ignorant of the price of her; he abuseth himself grossly when he persuades himself that he shall find her in the Place of them, who place all their Happiness in Pleasures. What diligence soever he use, 14 The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. he shall have much ado to hear any news of her; for the Abysses which shut up so many Treasures, confess that they possess her not, and the Sea which enticheth itself with our losses, and which makes us pay use for the Commodities which it lends us, acknowledgeth that she grows not with the Pearls, nor with the Coral: Though all things obey Gold, 15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. and there is nothing which one may not buy with Silver: * notwithstaning as Wisdom hath no Price, she gives and doth not sell herself, no treasure can buy her, and Experience teacheth us that the most rich are not the most wise. Finally her merit surpasseth all that India hath of Rarity; 16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious Onyx, or the Saphire. and it would injure her to compare her with those stuffs, whose matter being so rich the tincture is more beautiful: or with those precious stones whose lustre is so glittering, and greatness so monstrous. That excellent Gold whose Purity the fire cannot increase; 17 The Gold and the Crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold: the Crystal which seems to be the last attempt of Nature, and makes us find Heaven on Earth; those great Vessels of Gold whose workmanship is yet more precious than the matter, are not exquisite enough to be given in exchange of wisdom. Those stars with which the firmament adorns itself, 18 No mention shall be made of Coral, or of Pearls: for the Price of wisdom is above Rubies. when night drives away the day; that Sun whose Beauty makes so marry Idolaters, and all those other lights which oblige us to prefer Heaven before Earth, cannot be compared with her; but if her beauty beget a desire in us of searching her, her dwelling more unknown than the Rocks, out of which they fetch the Diamonds, makes us lose the hope of finding her. This Difficulty which enhanceth her price is the cause that the Topazes of Ethiopis, 19 The Topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. which seem to have the lustre of Gold, and the Purity of Crystal, and those agreeable mixtures of colours, which make the Purple of Kings, are not rich enough to purchase her. 20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Yet must we learn her dwelling, and permit our curiosity to search the place where she makes her residence. I know she is hidden from the eyes of men, 21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. that her Purity cannot abide their looks, and that she hath chosen a Dwelling so elevated, that the Birds which make their nests upon the tallest Trees, and which see the proudest Montaines below them, have not yet discovered her. Those Angurs themselves who boast of knowing the most secret things by the flight and language of Birds, are obliged to confess that their knowledge is pure ignorance, and that to discover wisdom all their conjectures are false. Those profound Abysses, 22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. which are consecrated to Death, and those places separated from the noise of the World, which seem to be dedicated to silence, know her by the high reputation which her merit gives her: but they are ignorant of her dwelling, and know not her face. 23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. God alone who knows her Price knows her retreat; and it is from him only that we may learn where she keeps her residence, and where leaving of that veil which hides her from us, she discovers all her beauty. Nor is he like men who see at once but one part of the Universe: 24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seethe under the whole heaven. he sees all the extremities of it together, and with one look he observes distinctly that prodigious confufion of creatures which heaven encompasseth within its Circle. And his knowledge is not new: 25 To make the weight for the winds, and he weigheth the waters by measure. for when he weighed the winds, when he limited their courses, & prescribed the seasons which they were to govern, when he measured the waters, when he reduced them into their Beds, and forbade them to pour themselves upon the Earth. When he gave laws to the rain, 26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: when he marked it out Places to thicken into clouds, or designed it times to dissolve into water, when he form the tempests, and made them flash with lightning and when he traced them out the way, which they were to keep for to fall upon the head of the Guilty: Then he saw wisdom in his works, 27 Then did he see it, and declare it, he prepared it, yea, and searched it out. he related her Beauties to the Angels, to beget a desire of her in them, he prepared the hearts of men to receive her, and sought means to make her visible, for to make her loved of all the world. And to fortify those feeble minds, 28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to departed from evil is understanding. from whom the difficulty of finding so fair a treasure had taken away the desire of seeking it, he taught them that the fear of the Lord was true wisdom, that the highest prudence was separating from sin, and that amongst men they ought to pass for the most wise who were the most innocent. CHAP. XXIX. The Argument. JOb entertains his friends with his past felicity, and his Grief helping his memory represents to it the blessings wherewith Heaven filled his house, and the honours where, with the great ones of the age honoured his Virtue. THe friends of Job continued their silence, 1 Moreover, Job continued his parable, and said: to give him occasion of continuing his discourse, and to make comparison of his past happinesses with his present miseries, which he did in these terms. Since God hath jest me nothing in my misfortune but desires, 2 Oh, that I were as in moneth● past, as in the days when God preserved me. shall I find no on● who will turn them into effects, and reestablishing me in that happy condition, where God took so much care of me, that it seemed that I was the only object of his providence. Why doth he not revive that former condition, 3 When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness. where ●is grace shining upon me like a Sun filled me with new favours? I lived without fear amongst dangers, and walked without stumbling amongst the obscurities of the night. Why doth he not call back that agreeable season, 4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle. of which I tasted the sweetness, and resented not the troubles, where in a vigorous body I had no violent Passions, and where God treated so familiarly with me that it seemed, being no more my Sovereign, he was become my Equal? 5 When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me: Or Why doth he not make that more advanced Age return, where I saw myself environed with a multitude of children and Domestics, who having in the difference of their conditions but the same design thought of nothing but to serve me and to please me? Why is not my happiness equal to that which I tasted, 6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of Oil: when my flocks were so fruitful that I washed my feet in Milk, and my lands so fertile that the Rocks themselves brought forth Olives, 7 When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street. which gave me Rivers of Oil? when followed by my subjects I shown myself in the Places designed to do justice, and when to execute the charge of a Judge myself, I heard the complaints of the poor parties, or when they prepared me a Throne in some public place, and without serving myself with an interpreter I declared my pleasure to my People; I did no sooner appear in this pompous equipage but the young men seized with respect, 8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. bowed their eyes as dazzled with the lustre of my Countenance, and durst not look upon me; The old men, whom Age makes so venerable, had no sooner perceived me, but without making use of the privilege of their years, they risen up and stood in my presence. Princes whose birth gives them Liberty to speak, 9 The Princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. ceased their discourses when they saw me, and the desire which they had to hear me, made them put their finger upon their Mouth and condemn it to silence. The Generals of Armies, 10 The Nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. whose words are received as Oracles in the counsels of war, left speaking when I would tell my advice, and passing from respect to astonishment, their tongues remained tied to their P●la●e, and their soul was wholly shut up in their eyes & their ears, to look upon me & to hear me. Those who heard me, 11 When the care heard me, than it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. found not words enough to praise my eloquence, & those which saw the Grace, which accompanied me in all my actions gave me such advantageous Testimonies, that any other mind then mine would have been proud of. 12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. When I had delivered the poor, who in his oppression implored my assistance, and that I had protected the Orphan which had no support, The unfortunate who owed me his goods and his life charged me with a thousand benedictions, 13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widoows heart to sing for joy. and the widow who owed to my care the conservation of her children, banished sadness from her Heart, & made her mouth publish my praises. Though Kings adorn themselves with purple, 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgement was as a robe and a diadem. & to make their Majesty more Princely, they employ all that Nature produceth of rarety, my principal Ornament was Justice, and this virtue, which served me for all things, was my Diadem and my Crown. 15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. But because it is too severe if it be not tempered with Mercy, I mixed the quality of a father with that of a Judge, and because I know well that what is profitable to the people is always glorious to Princes, I lent my eyes to the blind, and my feet to the lame, and my cares extended themselves even to the least subject of my state. Of all those qualities wherewith they flatter the ears of Princes, 16 I was a father to the poor; and the cause which I knew not, I 〈◊〉 searched out. there was none more agreeable to me then that of father of the poor, and their interests were so dear to me, that as often as they pleaded against them in my presence, I pronounced not any sentence before I had studied their cause, and every one observed, that I was oftener their Advocate then their judge. I never used my power so freely as when it was necessary to tame the pride of those who would oppress them, 17 And I broke the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. and as they were more cruel than Lions, I took pleasure to hunt them, and when I had overtaken them, I broke their teeth, I tore the pray out of their throat, and did at once two Actions of Justice, punishing a criminal, and delivering a● Innocent. At the fight of so many virtuous Actions, 18 Then I said, I shall die in my nest, & I shall mulciply my days as the sand. which m● thoughts deserved some recompense, I promised my 〈◊〉 to die peaceably in mine ow● house, and to end my 〈◊〉 sweetly as I had begun i●; I h●ped that my birth & my de●● would be distant an Age, and that as the Palm amongst Trees lives again in its branches, and the Phoenix amongst Birds is born again out of his Ashes, I should be young in my Age, and begin again to live, when others begin to die. I thought it would be with me, 19 My root was spread 〈◊〉 by the waters, and the dew lay all nighs upon my branch. as with those Trees which being planted near the streams never whither, and always push forth new branches: Or that like to those Fruits, which are never so easily cut, as when they are watered with the dew, I should die without sorrow, and be gently carried into the Grave. I let myself be persuaded by my vain hopes that the good opinions which they had conceived of me, 20 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. should triumph over Calumny, and that the strength wherewith Heaven had provided me should never change, but to augment itself, and give me a plain advantage over all mine enemies. That which helped me to deceive myself was the esteem which my eloquence had acquired me, 21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my council. for as often as I opened my mouth, they that heard me imagined that all my words were Oracles, & when I gave any advice, it was so generally approved, that it passed rather for a sentence, than the particular opinion of a man. They were so religious that they durst neither add, 22 After my words they speak no again, and my speech dropped upon them. nor take away any thing from my words and as waters which fall drop by drop hollow insensibly the hardest Rocks, the sweetness of my words made impression upon the most stubborn hearts, and my eloquence never found Rebels. They expected my discourses with more impatience than Husbandmen expect rain in a time of drought, 23 And they waited for me, as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide, as for the later rain. and pressed by their desires, they opened their mouth, as the angry Earth opens her breasts to receive those tardy rains which she hath a long time wished for. If at any time I lived privately with them, 24 If I laughed on them, they believed it not, and the light of my countenance they cast not down. & made escapes into any innocent mirth, they held this favour so dear, that in seeing it they could scarce beleevei; they made so much esteem of all that came from me, that a glance obliged them; and believing that mine eyes were the interpreters of my heart, they thought they had as much part in my affections, as they had in my looks. If I were in the assembly of Princes my Alyes, 25 I chose out their way, and sare chief, and dwelled as a King in the army; as one that comforeth the mourner's. I was never troubled to keep my place, for they acknowledged me for their superior, although I was but their equal, & gave me the first place; but when they encompassed me on all sides, & that I was seated amongst them as a Prince in the midst of his Army, my, these extraordinary Honours did not so strongly possess my mind, but I thought of the afflicted, & the desire of comforting them was always the strongest of my passions. CHAP. XXX. The Argument. AS the remembrance of past Goods, makes present evils more sensible, after job hath entertained himself with his happiness, he complains of his misery, which he aggravates with that eloquence, as is natural to grief. BUt at present that the Order of things is inverted, 1 But now they that are younger than I, have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the degs of my stock. and that heaven is more rigorous to me, than it was favourable, the young me● mock at me, and their children whom I did not deign to lo●g with the dogs which kept my flocks, are the first which despise me. I made so little esteem of them heretofore, 2 Yea, where to might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished. that I would not give them the least employment in my house, their services were unprofitable to me, and their persons were so inconsiderable, that they who judged without passion esteemed them unworthy to live: 3 For want & famine they were soli●●ry: flying into 〈◊〉 wilderness in former time desolate and waste? Hunger and poverty persecuted them every where, shame chased them into the deserts, where burdened with a thousand incommodities, they eat all that was set before them. They chewed grass like beasts, 4 Who cut 〈◊〉 Mallows by the bushes, and Juniper roots for their meat. they tote off the bark from the trees to appease the cruel hunger which devoured them, & the root of Juniper, which surpasseth all other in bitterness was their ordinary food. When these unhappy men whom necessity constrained to live in the valleys, 5 They were driven 〈◊〉 from among men (they ●●ed after 〈◊〉 as after thief.) saw from far these sad meats, they ran with great cries of joy, gathered them with care, and eat them with pleasure. Their dwelling was not more agreeable than their nourishment, 6 To dwell ●n the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. for they retired themselves into deserts whose silence was troubled by the noise of Torrents, and to avoid the heat of the sun which burned them, they buried themselves in caves, or rolled themselves upon the sands of the streams: 7 Among the bushes they brayed, under the nettles they were gathered together. misfortune had so well accustomed them to this fatal kind of life, that they esteemed themselves very happy to be thus lodged & fed, & making their delights of these miseries, they thought to sleep upon Roses, when they lay upon thorns. The nobility of their houses could not comfort them in these distasters, 8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. for as if all things had contributed to render them contemptible, their fathers were of the dregs of the people, and they counted none amongst their Ancestors, but persons whose minds were no more elevated than their births. Notwithstanding my misery furnisheth them with matter for their entertainments, 9 And now am I their song, yea I am their byword. I am the subject of all their jeers, and as insolence is natural to them, they make songs of my misfortunes & to make my disgraces pass into a Proverb, they call all miserable men by my name. They have conceived so furious an Avertion from me, 10 They abhor me, they fly fare from me, and spare not to spit in my face. that they can no longer endure me: the plague seems not more contagious to them, than my person, and if at any time they approach it, it is to do me new outrages, and oblige their mouth, which hath blotted my reputation, to defile my face. 11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let lose the bridle upon me. That which gives this liberty to these Insolents, is that they see that Heaven is a party, that God who was my Creator is become my enemy, that he who had no arrows but to defend me, hath none now but to hurt me, & that to take from me the liberty of complaining, which is so sweet to the Miserable, he hath put a bridle in my mouth and condemned me to be silent. He had not so soon pronounced my sentence, 12 Upon my right hand rise the youth, they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. but my enemies, as the Ministers of his vengeance, assaulted me on all sides: they imitated the cruelty of Hangmen, who seize upon a Malefactor, they threw me upon the ground, they trumpled me under foot, and they followed one another like the waves of the sea without giving me any respite. Since this Moment they surprise me in all places, 13 They ma● my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. and as if my ruin were profitable to them, they prepare ambushes for me upon the way, and take their aim so well, that there being no one to secure me, they have the better, and they always find themselves the stronger. The Torrents run not with so much fury when they break their Banks and overflow the fields, 14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. as they poured upon me, when God took away the Bound, which kept them in, and gave them permission to assault me. At these rude assaults I saw myself reduced to nothing, 15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soulas the wind: & my welfare passeth away as a cloud. my hopes which I esteemed so much more just, as they were founded upon the Integrity of my Actions and the Truth of the promises of God, lost themselves like the wind, and the happiness which I tasted dispersed like a cloud, which the Sun raiseth and dissipateth the same day. With my hopes my strength abandoned me, 16 And now my soul is poured our upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. for I feel no more that vigour which promised me a long life, my soul is grown feeble with my body, and my best days being past, there remain none but mournful ones, where pleasures never succeed afflictions. The night itself destined for repose gvies me no truce, 17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season; and my sinews take no rest. for when I think to shut my eyes, I am assaulted with those mortal pains which the miserable feel when they are broken upon the wheel: and if at any time sleep would sweeten them, there issues out of my sores a swarm of wormet, which devour me, and as my fl●sh cannot satisfy them, all my Arts cannot charm them. Their number is so prodigious, 18 By the great force of my disease, is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the colour of my coat. that when they cannot find wherewithal to feed themselves in my entrails, they gnaw my garments, and as it were to repair the damage which they have made, they cover me all over, and serve me themselves for . In this deplorable Condition, 19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. which may beget pity in the hearts of my enemies, I am so changed, that it seems that my miseries preventing the cruelty of death, have already reduced me into dust and ashes. As I well know so great an evil can find no remedy upon earth, 20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me, I stand up, & thou regardest me not. I lift my voice to heaven, and address my complaints to you the only support of the afflicted: but either you do not hear them, or else you despise them: I present myself before you, Protector of the miserable, but you regard me not, or else you disdain me. Of a faithful friend who bore a part in my interest, 21 Thou art become cruel to me, with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. you are changed into a cruel enemy, who laughs at my sorrows: and that hand wherewith you afflict me is no more the hand of a good Father, which corrects his children; but the hand of an incensed Prince, who revengeth himself of his Subjects. You have not raised me, 22 Thou liftest me up to the wind: thou causest me to ride upon it, & dissolvest my substance. but that my fall might be heavier: In the birth of my greatness you meditated the design of my ruin; and you have not made me walk upon the winds, but to dash my head against the Rocks when you shall throw me down. Finally, 23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. I know that you will deliver me to Death, and that your anger will give me no truce, till it hath sent me into those lad places where Nature hath taken up quarters for all men. Yet it is not your custom to persecute them to death; 24 Howbeit, he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. you raise them up, when you have cast them down, and you appear more powerful to save them than to ruin them: wherefore I promise myself that your persecution will end sooner than my life, and that if I have lived in your discountenance, I shall die in your favour. The care which I have had of the miserable keeps me in this hope; 25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? for I mixed my weeping with their tears; their miseries made mine, and my soul was so sensible of their sorrows, that to see us together, it would have been hard to judge which had been more afflicted. But alas! 26 When I looked for good, than evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. Heaven hath deceived my hopes; for when I expected nothing but good, there is come nothing but evil; when I promised myself an happy fortune, there is nothing come to me but disgrace: those fair days which I hoped for have produced but obscure nights, and Divine Providence hath made us know, that if our expectations are false, our conjectures are not more true. This unexpected misfortune hath put all my Passions into so furions a disorder, 27 My bowels boiled and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. that the war which they make with me can have no truce; my mind cannot calm their fury, because the affliction which surprised it, gave it no leisure to defend itself; and it perceived itself engaged to fight, when it thought on nothing but peace. So do I all the actions of a man whom Passion masters; 28 I went mourning without the Sun; I stood up, and I cried in the Congregation. for as I know well that my death is inevitable, I wear mourning for myself, I never walk in public, but the tears of my eyes discover the displeasures of my heart; my mouth is always open for sighs, and grief making me lose respect, I cry out in company, as well as in the Deserts. But all my complaints are unprofitable: 29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. for it seems my nearest neighbours have left their sweetness to put on the nature of Dragons, and my friends have despoiled themselves of their senses, to habit themselves with the disposition of Ostriches, which they say, have so little love, that they have none for their young ones. Notwithstanding, 30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burnt with heat. one need but look upon me to have compassion of my miseries, and without alleging their Reasons, the sight of my countenance might touch them with pity; for my skin is more tanned than the people which inhabit Ethiopia, and my bones destitute of their vigour, are dryer, then if the fire had burnt them. Finally, to comprehend in a few words all the History of my miseries: 31 My harp also is turned to mourning, & my organ into the voice of them that weep. It is sufficient to tell you, that my pleasures are changed into pains, that my condition is more miserable than it was happy, that my Lute is no longer fit but for melancholy Airs, and that all those instruments which served for to divert me are condemned either to sigh or to be silent. CHAP. XXXI. The Argument. IOb not able to endure that his Innocence should remain in Oppression, represents to his friends all the sins which he had avoided, and all the virtues which he had practised during his Prosperity. AS there is nothing more sweet to the afflicted then complaints, there is nothing more agreeable to oppressed Innocents', than the thought of their Innocence: wherefore I will entertain you with mine, and make you an ample relation of the virtues which I have practised during my good fortune. 1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? I had made an agreement with my eyes that their Glances should no● seduce my soul, and not only that they should not consider those lost women, whose allurements engage men in sin but that they should not stay upon those innocent face whose beauty hath neither paint, nor design of Malice. For I considered that if I give myself up to impurity God who cannot endure it would withdraw himself from me, 2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? and that my bod● being infected with this 〈◊〉 my soul should never be honoured with his grace. I was not ignorant also th●● the Ruin of impure souls 〈◊〉 inevitable, 3 Is not destruction to the wicked? & a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? that Heaven declares war to those who persecute Chastity, and if it ha● aversion from all other si● ners, it hath hatred and ho● rour for the unchaste; A● although this sort of people search for darkness and that they can hardly discover them, yet I pretend not to abuse the God whom I serve, for I know well that he sees my thoughts, that he counts my steps, and that I do nothing which he knows not better than myself. So is it no trouble to me to discover to him the condition of my soul, 5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit. nor to appear before his Tribunal to hear my Sentence: wherefore if my words have been double, if my mouth have not been the faithful interpreter of my heart, and if I have not dealt sacerely with men. I am content that he examine me according to rigour, 6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity to the end that if he find me guilty he may make me serve for an example, and if he find me just, he may publish my innocence's, and give it the crown which it deserves. If wand'ring from my duty I have neglected his commands, 7 If my step hath turned out of the way, & mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to my hands: if my heart hath followed mine eyes, if its motions have been regulated by their glances, if I have desired the goods which I have seen, and in my actions or in my thoughts they have observed injustice. I will have the trouble of sowing, 8 Then let me sow, and let another ear, yea let my offspring be rooted out. and let another have the pleasure of reaping, I will work and let another gather the fruits of my labour; and I consent that all the trees which my hands have planted be torn up by the hands of my enemies. If my heart have let itself be caught with those attractions wherewith women delude us, 9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door. if their beauty hath got into my eyes, if their friendship hath served as a covering for my passion, and if I have entered into the house of my friend for to defile his bed, and deceive his wife. I will receive the same affront, 10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. and may mine as many times as she hath sworn to me, let herself be corrupted by those who shall solicit her; and may my sin which hath served her for example, serve her also for excuse. There needs no less a punishment for so great a crime, 11 For this is an heinous crime, yea it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. and the disorders which it causes in families, joined with the scandal which it gives to all husbands, deserves well to be punished with the loss of honour. 'Tis a fire which burns hearts, 12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all my increase. and which consumes houses, Heaven which proportions the punishments to the sin, employs its thunders to chastise it, and suffers the children descended from those unlawful loves to perish miserably. If I have refused to hear the complaints of my slaves, 13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me. if I have not permitted them to allege me reasons to justify them in their faults, If I have not treated them rather like a Father than a Master, I submit myself to all the pains wherewith Heaven punishes Tyrants. But in the sentiments which God hath given me, 14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him. I did not care for chastizing them with rigour, for I knew well enough that for being a Master, I did not leave to be a Subject, and that I had a Sovereign whom I should be much troubled to answer, when he should demand an account of my actions, and enter into judgement with me. I considered also that if our condition were different, 15 Did not he that made me in the womb, make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? out birth was alike, and that the honour of being form by the hand of God, was common to me with the least of my slaves. If I have neglected the necessities of the poor, 16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to sail; If I have sent them back with a shameful deny all, or if they have not received from me all that they have desired; If I have made the poor widows languish, and not given to the importunity of their prayers, what I own to the misery of their condition. If out of avarice or pride, 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof. I have eaten alone at my Table, and if I have not given part to the Orphans of the meat which they served me up, may Heaven which feeds our Lands with its influences, leave mine unfruitful. But this cruelty is far from my humour, 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, & I have guided her from my mother's womb. for mercy is so natural to me, that me thinks we tumble in the same belly, that we were born together, and that like two twins we sucked the same milk. Finally, 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering. I consent that God punish me, if judging of men by their habits, I have despised the poor who were not well covered, or if I have made any difficulty to assist with my favour those who were commendable but for their misery. But every one knows that the wool of my flocks hath defended them from the rigour of winter, 20 If his ●oins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with he fleece of my sheep. and that for having charitably clothed their bodies, I have received a thousand benedictions from their mouths. If while I presided in the Assemblies where my words were Decrees, 21 If I have lift up my hand against the fathersesse when I faw my help in the gate. and where the Sovereign Authority which I exercised permitted not that I had Arbiters or Correctors; 22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. If (I say) in this supreme power I have ill treated the Orphans, or lifted up my hands to strike them, I would that guilty part may be torn from my body, that the arm which hath been an accomplice in its sin, may partake in its punishments; and that to strike terror in all Judges that abuse their power, it may be broken by the infamous hands of the hangman. But though my inclination had not kept me far from this crime, 23 For destruction from God was a tertor to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. the fear which I have of God would easily have diverted me from it, for I have always apprehended the weight of his arm, and Sea men fear not so much the tempests of the Sea, as I stand in awe of his anger. I will suffer that he abandon me, 24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence and refuse me his assistance in my misfortune, if I have put my confidence in my silver, if I have persuaded myself that gold was the strength of my state, 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much. and if I have thought that I was more puissant than my neighbours, because I was more rich. I oblige myself to the same punishment, 26 If I beheld the Sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness: if the estate which my Predecessors have left me, or that which mine own cares have acquired me, have given me any vanity, and if when Heaven hath blessed my lands, and augmented my flocks, they have seen me more joyful or more insolent, if I have superftitiously looked upon the Sun when at his rising he discovers all his beauty, and when the people of the earth prostrate themselves to adore him, or if with Idolatrous eyes I have looked upon the Moon, when she is in the full, and marcheth over our heads with so much pomp and light. If the sight of those two slarres have given me sentiments either of respect or joy, 27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand. if their beauty have persuaded me that they were the Gods of the world, and if lowing my head, or kissing my hand, I have reverenced their greatness, and implored their assistance. 28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge: for I should have denied the God that is above. If I have committed this crime which surpasseth all others, and which endeavours to drive God from his Throne, to deface his Name out of the minds of men, and to render his creatures an honour which is due only to Him, I would that Heaven might chastise this sin with an eternity of miseries. If the ruin of mine enemies hath rejoiced me, 29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, for l●●t up myself when evil found him. and if by a notorious baseness, which cannot fall upon a great conrage, their miseries have begotten my pleasures, and the ill success of their affairs, hath given me contentment, I will perish with them. I make this imprecation so much the more boldly, 30 (Neither have I snffered my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse to his soul.) as I know that my tongue was never given to detraction, and that my heart hath never form any wishes which were prejudicial to the safety of my enemies. Notwithstanding I wanted neither power nor occasion to revenge myself, 31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. for I had not any about my house but would have cut them in pieces if I had desired it, and who to repair my honour, on content my passion, would no● have devoured them. If I have kindly treated mine enemies, 32 The flranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller. I have no less courteously received strangers, for I never suffered them to pass the nights in the fields, and without enquiring of their condition or their birth, it was sufficient that they were Travellers to oblige me to open them the gates of my house. If I have concealed any sin, 33 If I have covered my transgression as Adam: by hiding my iniquity in my bosom. like that unhappy man, whose children we are, and if I have preferred a little honour before the repose of my conscience, and if I have hidden my faults and would pass for innocent, though I were guilty. If I have been afraid of the people, 34 Did I sear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me: that I kept silence, & went not out of the door? and if their tumults have made me change my good designs, if the contempt which they have had of mine Allies hath given me resentment, or if rather keeping filence and staying at home, I have not let their differences be determined by disinterested Judges, I condemn myself to the punishment which this injustice may deserve. But I read in your countenances 35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book that these true discourses find no belief in your mind, so that your incredulity makes me wish, that God would give me more reasonable Auditors, or that he himself who ought to judge me, would write down my complaints and make a book of them, 36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. to the end that I might tie it upon my shoulders, and that it might serve me for ornament, or that I might put it upon my head, and that it might serve me for a crown, that it might publish mine innocence and protect me from your calumnies. Wheresoever I go it shall be mine only comfort, and to give it the more credit I will present it to some Prince which shall cause it to be read in his Dominion, and make mine innocence as known, as it is hidden. But because you accuse me of tyranny, 38 If my sand cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain: and that your discourses are all full of reproaches, know, that if the Lands are desert long of me, and if the abandoned furrows complain of my violence, 39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: if I have deprived the husbandmen of their hopes, or if making the labours of their hands unprofitable, I have afflicted their minds, and drawn tears from their eyes, 40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle in stead of barley. The words of Job are ended. I am content that heaven curse my lands, that their sterility may not be conquered by those that cultivate them, that for wheat they may give me but thistles, and that for the barley which I shall sow, they may bring but thorns. CHAP. XXXII. THE ARGUMENT. ELihu, a young man by condition, who had assisted in the dispute which Job had with his friends, demands that they would hear him, and promiseth that his mind will provide him reasons for to defend the cause of God, and to oppose the obstinacy of Job. THose three persons broke up the conference, 1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. and replied no more to Job, whether persuaded by his reasons they believed that he was innocent, or whether, as it is more probable, they lost all hope of making him confess that he was guilty. A young man, 2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. the son of Barachel, of the Country of Buz, and of the family of R●●, who had been present at all this dispute, grew angry at Job, and was principally offended that he persisted in his first belief, which persuaded him that he was just, and that God himself could not condemn him for his sin. He was angry likewise at Jobs friends, 3 Also against bis three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. that they were not able to find good reasons to oppose him, and that passing the bounds of a conference where every one fairly defends his opinion, they meddled with condemning him, and took no pains to convince him. Yet he patiently heard the discourses of the one, 4 Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. and the answer of the other, because being the youngest, he believed that he owed this respect to their age, and was obliged to hear them whilst they spoke. 5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, than his wrath was kindled. But when he saw that the eloquence of Job triumphed over their wisdom, and that their filence accompanied with confusion was a and knowledgement of their defeat, he grew more angry than before, and transported with his passion, he says to them very briskely: As I am younger than you, 6 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old, wherefore I was afraid; and durst not show you mine opinion. your age hath made me reverence your discourses, and mine hath made me contemn my own thoughts, wherefore with my head bowed, and a soul filled with a respective fear, I did not dare to tell you my opinion of the subject upon which you dispute. 7 I said Days should speak, & multitude of years should teach wisdom. For I hoped that your wisdom would furnish you with reasons for to convince this obstinacy, and that the number of years which give you so much advantage over young men, would instruct you some way of happily determining your conference, and would discover to you arts from which this unhappy man could not defend himself. But for aught I can learn, 8 But there is a spirit in man: and ●he inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. it is the Spirit of God which furnisheth us with good things, and that it is its motion rather than our reason which gives us overtures to win the hearts of men, which hear us. Prudence is not always ti●d to age, 9 Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgement. and though knowledge be the daughter of time, 〈◊〉 doth not always happen, that the most aged are the most learned, and experience reaches us, that as we see old fools, we see likewise ●oung wise men. 10 Therefore I said, Harken to me, I also will show mine opinion. Wherefore leaving that ●ashfull respect which hindered me from speaking in so notable an occasion, I will invite you to hear me, and a● I know God gives nothing but to communicate it to ou● friends, I desire you to take part of that light which I have received from his bounty▪ The long filence which 〈◊〉 afforded you, 11 Behold, I waited for your words; I gave cat to your reasons, whilst you searched out what to say. obligeth you to hear me, for you know tha● during your contestations, 〈◊〉 did not interrupt you, and my patience hath endured a● long as your entertainments. 12 Yea, I attended unto you: and behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words: I gave you my attention a● long as I believed that you had any reasons left to defend the cause of God; but fo● ought I know there is not on● of you can answer the Discourses of Job, nor allege good proofs to persuade him that he is guilty. And do not say to excuse your silence, 13 Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man. that you have sufficiently convinced him 〈◊〉 since you have made him confess that his disaster is an effect of God's Justice, which cannot be mistaken, and not of the anger of men who may be abused. 14 Now he hath not directed his words against me●neither will I answer him with your speeches. I know that he hath not meddled with me in his discourses, and that all the reproaches which he hath used to you, do not touch my honour, nor is it my interest but Gods which makes me speak; and because your reasons could gain nothing upon his mind, I will allege you some others, and assault him with new weapons. For if he hath been hitherto victorious, 15 They were amazed, they answered no more, they left off speaking. it is rather through your cowardice than his own courage; his answers have amazed you, 16 When I had waited, (for they spoke not, but stood still & answered no more. because he hath replied upon you more boldly than a Malefactor ought, and this thought hath shut your mouths, and made your discourses cease. Since than I have vainly expected, and you have not spoke, since you have basely abandoned Gods side● and by your silence yielded the victory to his enemy. I will speak for to supply your default, 17 I said, I will answer also my part, I also will show mine opinion. and treat with Job in my turn, that by the force of my eloquence I may oblige him to confess, that if he hath had the better, i● is because you knew not how to assault him, nor defend you● selves. I have so many reasons to convince him, 18 For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me. that I do not so much apprehend the event of the fight, as the flight of my enemy: The subject which I must treat on furnisheth me with so many thoughts, that my mind hath no trouble but to marshal them, and my mouth hath so many words for to express them, that I must strive to keep them in. In the violent desire which 〈◊〉 have to speak, 19 Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent, it is ready to burst like new bottles. methinks my ●eart is like those new wines which have been tunned up, ●nd which having no vent ●o evaporate their steames, ●oyle with fury and burst the ●essels, which take away their uberty. I will then open my mouth ●o discharge my heart a little, 20 I will speak that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips, and answer. 〈◊〉 will give way to my words, that I may breathe more free●y, and I desire you to take ●●rt of my thoughts to assist you in your needs, and to ease me in my abundance. I first protest to you, 21 Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. that inspect and shame shall not ●inder me from speaking truth, and without having regard to the condition of those who hear me, I will speak freely, and not give to men in my discourse those glorious gualities which belong only to God. 22 For I know not to give flattering titles, in so doing my Maker would soon take me away. Though reason did not oblige me to have these thoughts, the fear of the future would cause them in me; for I know not how long I must live, the day of my death is as hidden as it is certain, and without conferring with my Creator, I cannot foresee when he will take me out of the world. CHAP. XXXIII. THE ARGUMENT. ELiku addresseeh his discourse to Job, and after he had gently insinuated into his mind, he sharply reproves him for the liberty of his words, which he qualifies with the name of blasphemies, and represents to him divers means wherewith God serves himself to reduce sinners to their duty. ELihu, 1 Wherefore Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to all my words. who judged that his Auditors were disposed to hear him, and that there remained not any thing more to prepare the mind of Job, said to him: As you are most interested in the cause, you are most obiged to hear me; lend your ear then to my discourses, and despise not reasons which as well regard the good of your soul, as the honour of God. 2 Behold, now I have opened my mouth, my tongue hath spoken in my mouth. Behold than I open my mouth to speak to you with liberty, and I oblige my tongue to furnish me with words, which ought to be so much the less suspected as they are mine, and as I shall employ them for truth only, and not for the passion of your enemies. 3 My words shall be of the uprightesse of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly. You shall see by the sincerity of my discourse that my design is not to confound you, but to instruct you: with this right intention, I shall deduce my reasons so clearly, that it shall be no trouble to you to comprehend them. 4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. Those promises which I make you must not seem impossible to you, since it is the Spirit of God which makes me speak, and my tongue being but the interpreter of his thoughts, my eloquence is more divine than human. 5 If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up. But do not believe that in the lists where we enter I would have all the advantage be on my side, I desire that our weapons may be equal, that you may fight with all your forces, that you turn not away your face, and that it be permitted you as well to assault me, as to defend yourself. 6 Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am form out of the clay. And certainly the match is very equal, for if God be your. Father he is also mine, if we are his Children we are Brothers, and if he hath moulded my body of dirt, he hath not form yours of a more noble matter. 7 Behold, my tertour shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee. I beseech you only that the wonders which I shall tell you, may not astonish you, that that heat which accompanies the discourses of young men may give you no alarm, and that the eloquence wherewith heaven hath favoured me, may not render suspected the truth which I shall declare. But for fear you should believe that I would make monsters to destroy them, 8 Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, and put false opinions upon you to oppose them, I shall faithfully relate them in the same words, which you served yourself with to make us comprehend them. You have said with more insolence than truth, 9 I am clean without transgression, I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me. that your heart was pure, that sin had never sullied it that all your intentions had been good, and that you● actions had not been less innocent; that heaven ha● sought cccasions to hurt you that without having found real sins which it might justly punish, it had feigned imaginary ones, and that making your complaints pass for crimes, it had treated you as rigorously, as if you had been its enemy. That to secure itself of you as they do of Malefactors, 10 Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy. it was not content to put irons upon your legs, but it had put salve to spy all your actions, 11 He putteth my feetin the stocks, he marketh all my paths. and set Guards upon you to relate unto it all your words. These discourses are blasphemies, 12 Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. but lest you should think that I will sense myself rather with authority than reason, I shall tell you that the Majesty of God obligeth us to reverence all his designs, and that his greatness forbids us for to condemn his judgements. You pretend that he doth wrong, 13 Why dost thoustrive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters. and that his proceeding is unjust, because he despiseth your words, and answers not to all the reproaches which you use in the resentment of your griefs. But besides that these injurious complaints oblige not him to reply to you, 14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. know that his greatness dispenseth with him for speaking so often, and that when he hath once made us to understand his will, nothing obligeth him to inform us of it anew, and when he hath given us any advice, we ought to follow it, and not to demand any other. Sometimes he advertiseth men in the night, 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed: and when Ghosts fly through the Air, and that all is filled with darkness and dreams, and that rest charms the senses, and that men plunged in sleep, are neither in the number of the living nor the dead. He speaks secretly to the ears of their heart, 16 Then he openeth the ears of men, & sealeth their destruction. whilst those of their body are shut up, and in a condition where it seems they are uncapable of apprehending any thing he declares to them his will, and by imaginations which he paints in their fancies he afflicts or comforts them. As he labours for their salvation as well as for his own honour, 17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hid pride from man. he gives them this advice but to make them better, for whether it be to withdraw them from their fin, or for to deliver them from the pride which tyrannises over them, and make them free in making them become humble. Or whether it be to advertise them of the misfortune which threatens them, 18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. inform them of the bad design of their enemies, discover to them the treasons which they plot against them, and preserve them from a violent and sudden death. He speaks to them also sometimes by griefs, 19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain. and serves himself with diseases to instruct them, he takes from them the power of doing evil, so that he may take from them the desire of it, and commands a languishing Fever to burn their entrails, and to consume that moisture which nourisheth the bones, and conserveth life. You shall see them then in bed dejected and distasted, 20 So that his life abhorteth bread, and his soul dainty meart. the best meats displease them, Bread which is the most innocent of Elements, and which changeth itself most easily into our substance ●auseth aversion in them, and those delicate meats which they sought so passionately, are no less horrid to them then poison. When the Malady contitues, their colour changes, 21 His flesh is consumed away that it cannot beseen, and his bones that were not seen, stick out. their favour vanishes, they become so lean that the bones piercing the skim, they seem rather Skeletons than men: Physicians give them over, those which see the loathsome symptoms which accompany their disease, judge it mortal, and believe that without a Miracle they cannot escape. But whilst every one despairs of their life, 23 If there be a messenget with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness: that Angel which hath been chosen out of a thousand to be their Tutelar, undertakes to convert them, and to defend them. The Majesty of God which takes pleasure in being overcome by the prayers of hi● people will give him charge to cure them, 24 Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. and his Mercy which is ingenious in obliging them will find something in their persons wherewith to satisfy his Justice, 25 His flesh shall befresher then a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth. it will ordain that their body which hath been consumed by sickness be established in its former vigour, and that by secrets which Physic and Nature do not know, it be restored to that beauty which it possessed in its prime. Then their Sicknesses, 26 He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him, and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness. joining their prayers with those of their good Angels shall make heaven propitious to them, and not to be ingrateful for so rare a favour, they shall thank God in his Temple with a thousand testimonies of joy, which shall be followed with a perfect cure of their body and of their soul. As a true repentance is always accompanied with a humble confession, 27 He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not: they shall publish aloud the goodness of God, and the excess of their offence; they shall say every where we have sinned against heaven, and with whatsoever punishment we have been chastised we protest that it hath been less than our crime. So by an innocent cunning they deliver themselves from the misfortune which threatened them, 28 He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. preserve their body and their soul from a double death, and procure themselves by their repentance a double life. See the order which God observes for to convert sinners, 29 Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man. and the divers means which he uses to reduce them to their duty, 30 To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. but their malice must not entertain itself in a rash confidence, for when he hath touched them twice or thrice without effect, they must fear lest his bounty grow weary, and that the contempt which they make of his favours oblige him not to refuse them. Learn then these secrets afflicted Prince, 31 Mark well, O Job, harken unto me, hold thy peace, and I will speak. harken peaceably to him, which discovers them to you, and since all this discourse is so profitable to your Soul, rouse up your attention, and continue your silence. If notwithstanding you have any good reply to make me, 32 If thou hast any thing 20 say, answer me: speak, for I desire to ju●●fie thee. I am ready to hear it, and obliging myself to the same Laws which I have prescribed you, I will patienly hear all your Reasons, for passion possesseth not my soul, and you cannot do me a greater pleasure, then to persuade me that you are innocent. But if you cannot do it, 33 If not, harken unto me: hold thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom. and if you want colours to palliate so bad a cause as yours I am content to speak in your favour, and to teach you true wisdom, provided that on your part you also persever in the design of harkening to me. CHAP. XXXIV. THE ARGUMENT. ELihu gives liberty to his eloquence, imputeth new erimes to Job, and by experience of the punishment wherewith Heaven punisheth bad Princes, endeavours to persuade him that he is of the number of them, and that his misfortune is the chastisement of his tyranny. ELihu continued his discourse, 1 Furthermore Elihu answered and said, and accompanied it with all the exterior graces which make an Orator agreeable, and which charm the senses of the Auditors, to make his reasons pass with more delight into their minds. Wise men saith he, 2 Hear my words, O ye wise men, and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. who have intelligence of all divine and humane things, observe exactly my thoughts, and you learned men, whose mind knowledge and travail polisheth, harken carefully what I have to tell you. For as the taste discerns meats, approves the good, 3 For the eat ●●eth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. and condemns the bad, so the ear judges of words, rejects he false, and receives the true. Call then your mind to the succour of your senses, 4 Let us choose to us judgement: let us know among ourselves what is good. for to make a judgement which is not passionate, and despoiled of your in terest choose that which shall seem to you the best, and the most just. Remember that Job hath bragged of being innocent, 5 For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgement. and that by a blasphemy, which his vanity hath drawn from his mouth, he hath said that God would not do him Justice, 6 Should I lie against my right? my wound is incurable without transgression. and that he had searched pretences, that he might not give him audience, that being overcome by his importunities he had at last pronounced his Sentence, but that it was conceived in terms which made apparent the injustice of it, and that he suffered punishments which made known the rigour of it. Remember also the quality of the Personage, 7 What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water? which makes these unreasonable complaints, and see how he hath not his equal in impudence, and how having lost all sense of honour, he drinks affronts, and blushes not at it. How without shame he walks publicly with lost men, 8 Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men. and priding in his sin, he is very glad that it is known that he frequents not their companies, but because he approves their opinions. Lastly, 9 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing, that he should delight himself with God. remember that he hath said, that the God whom you adore is too hard to be served; that a man, whatever pains he takes, cannot oblige him, that he is their enemy who obey him, and persecutes them as well as those who offend him. Wherefore (wise and generous Personages) I conjure you by the interests of God, 10 Therefore harken unto me ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. which are so dear to you, to weigh the reasons wherewith I pretend to clear him from these calumnies, and to make you plainly see, that injustice and impiety cannot lodge in his person. He treats men according to their merits, 11 For the work of a man shall he render unto him: and cause every man to find according to his ways. and whether he recompense, or punish them, he regulates himself by their actions, and never pronounceth sentence, but he consults his Justice. As he is good, 12 Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almightypervert judgement. he chastiseeth no man without cause, and resembles not those Sovereigns who feign crimes that they may punish them: as he is powerful, he walks upright in his Judgements, and imitates not those evil Judges, who let themselves be overcome by threats, or corrupted by presents. If then he hath punished you, 13 Who hath given him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world? you ought to believe that you are guilty, and you cannot cast the cause of your misfortune upon any other, since the same, who made the world, governs it, and reposeth none of his conduct neither in men, nor in Angels. And we must confess that he governs it by his Justice tempered with his sweetness, 14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit & his breath; for if he used his Power only, or had a desire to overthrowmen, it would not be hard for him to take away the life, which he hath given them, nor in his fury to ruin a work which he hath made but for his pleasure. In this case all nature would perish, 15 All flesh shall perishtogether, & man shall turn again unto dust and the body of man destitute of that spirit which animates it, would return into its first condition, and become either earth, or ashes. If then you have any wit left you, 16 If now thou haste understanding, harken to the veyce of my words. comprehend what I tell you: for to profit by my thoughts, harken diligently to my words, and do it so, that my eloquence may be glorious to me, and profitable to you. How can you hope for your Cure since not loving Justice, 17 Shall even he that hareth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just? you hate your remedy? How dare you pretend that God should be favourable to you, since being Justice itself he Condemns you, and by an execrable attempt you would ruin his Honour to establish your own innocence? Notwithstanding you know that he is so just, 18 Is it fit to say to a King, Thou art wicked? & to a Prince, Ye are ungodly? that he pardons not Monarches themselves, that without respecting their condition, he reproacheth them either with the unbridled licence which they give themselves in their states, or with the worship of Idols which they entertain amongst their subjects. You are not ignorant that he hath no regard in his Judgements to the quality of persons, 19 How much less to him that accepteth nor the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they are all the work of his hands. and when great ones have any thing to do with mean ones, he considers not the eminence of their condition, but the goodness of their cause, for as he knows well that they are the works of his hand, he treats them equally, and doth them no more favour than his Justice permits him. Thus it often happens that Princes receive their death, 20 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, & pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand. when they least fear it, that people revolt against their Sovereigns, that by the favour of the night they make meetings, that they enter into their Palaces, surprise them without their Guards, and take away their lives to recover their liberty. For whatsoever impunity the wicked promise themselves, 21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seethe all his go. God hath always his eyes open upon their actions, and when he seems to be most busy in the conduct of the Universe, 22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hid themselves. he fails not to mark all their steps, and to consider all their thoughts: the night hath not darkness thick enough, nor the Region of Death shadows black enough to hid them, and steal from his eyes the impieties which they commit. 23 For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgement with God. Besides his Decrees are so constant, that they cannot make them change, for as he who pronounceth them is Sovereign, they cannot appeal from him to another Judge; and as he is always equal they cannot hope that he will revoke them. He produceth every day examples to establish this truth: 24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their stead. for he breaks the heads of Tyrants, he gives them strangers, or enemies for their successors, and makes them see that he is absolute over all Monarches, since he disposeth as he pleaseth, of their estates. It is not though without knowledge of the cause, 25 Therefore he knoweth their works, and he over● turneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed. that he makes all these changes, for he punisheth not bad Princes, but after he hath weighed their Crimes, or if he overthrew their fortune, 26 He striketh them as wicked menin the open fight of others: or cover their face with confustion, 'tis but to punish their impieties, and satisfy his Justice, if he make an example of them to the world, and if he chastise them in the fight of all their subjects, 'tis but to proportion their punishment to their sin, and to expiate notorious crimes by public chastisements. In a word, 27 Because they turned back from him and would not consider any of his ways. if he have punished any of them in our Age, it was well known that they had lost all sense of Religion, that it was not out of weakness but malice, 28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted. that they had gone astray from him, that it was not out of ignorance, but design that they had violated his Commandments, that they had not feigned themselves to be ignorant of them, but to have the more liberty to persecute the poor, and to constrain the miserable to wash the earth with their tears, and importune heaven with their complaints. Out of all this discourse it is easy to conclude, 29 When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hide-eth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only: that the life and death of Kings depends upon the will of God, that when he permits them to reign peaceably, there are no enemies which dare assault them; and on the contrary, when he abandons them, and hides his face from them, which he showeth but to his Favourites, there are no subjects which deign to regard them, nor which will defend them. At the sight of these truths all the world must confess, that the cares of God extend over States, and Families, and that he watches over men in particular, and over people in general. He gives good proof of this, 30 That the hypoerite reign not, lest the people be ensnared. when to punish the sins of a Kingdom, he makes an Hypocrite reign, who seeketh in appearance the profit of his subjects, but in deed seeketh but their ruin and damage. Now after I have maintained the Cause of God, 31 Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I won't offend any more. and deduced all the Reasons which my wit could furnish me with for the defence of his interests, I leave you the liberty of speaking in your turn, and am not just but in refusing you a favour which you have granted me. If treating on so high a subject, I have been mistaken, 32 That which I see not, teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more. you will oblige me to advertice me of it, and if transgressing from the respect which we own that supreme Majesty, I have uttered any word which is unworthy of his Greatness; I will endeavour to expiate it by my silence. It is true that you ought to to pardon this fault, 33 Should it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose, and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest. since God himself whom you have offended doth not exact satisfaction for all yours; and besides, you know that I have not continued this discourse, but because you have began it, and so as you have served me for an example, you ought to serve me for an excuse, if notwithstanding you have any thing that's good to say, for to repair both your faults and mine, speak and I will hear you. In confess to you though, 34 Let men of understanding tell me, & let a wise man hearken unto me. if it were in my choice, I should desire to treat with intelligent men, and I would that those who hear me and those, who answer me were equally reasonable. For to speak to you my thoughts with freedom, 35 Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom. you have none of these qualities, you speak without discretion, and without respect, and all your discourses witness nothing but ignorance, and obstinacy. Wherefore I conjure you O common Father of all men, 36 My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end, because of his answers for wicked men. to tame the pride of Job by afflictions, to treat him like a slave, and not like a son, and to continue in your putishrments, since he perseve●es in is blasphemies. On our part we shall employ all the advantages which we have received from your goodness to defend your Justice: 37 For he addeth rebellion unto his fin, he clappeth his hands amongst us, and multiplieth his words against God. but if this man be incorrigible, and resist our reasons, we will leave him as a desperate sick-man, and we will suffer, not without much sorrow, that he provoke you to fight, and declare war against your divine Providence. CHAP. XXXV. THE ARGUMENT. ELihu useth many reasons to persuade Job, that the resentments of injuries induces not God to punish men, since in the happiness which he possesseth, our offences cannot hurt him, nor our services oblige him. ELihu, 1 Elihu spoke moreover, and said: who knew well how to begin a discourse, but who knew not how to end it, continued his in this manner: Do you think that your Propositions are maintaineable, 2 Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than Gods. that you have reason, when you will establish your innocence at the expense of God's Justice, and by a pride which cannot enter but into the spirit of a Devil, you insolently say, that you are more just than he? For you cannot deny but your impudence hath drawn these blasphemies from your mouth: 3 For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee, and what profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin? good and evil are equally indifferent to God, and as he is not obliged by respects, he is not offended by contempts. As for me, 4 I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee. who cannot endure that so pernicious a discourse remain without reply, I will confute all the words of it, and condemn your friends, who approve it by their silence. Lift up your eyes, 5 Look unto the heavens, and see & behold the clouds which are high than thou. look upon Heaven, and consider that it is so high, that they cannot assault it, that the distance which separates it from us, warrants it from all our attempts, that the Arrows which they draw against it are not fatal, but to those which draw them, and that it is as secure against our outrages, as it is elevated above our heads. If you offend him whose Throne it is, 6 If thou sinnest, what dost thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what dost thou unto him? if you multiply your crimes for to satisfy the desire which you have to displease him, what injury will you do his Glory, which depends not upon your opinion? what wrong will you do his State, the peace or confusion whereof depends not but upon his own will? Or if out of a better design you serve him faithfully, 7 If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? what advantage shall he draw from your duty? If you load his Altars with Sacrifices, and if you every the Temples, which they have erected to his honour, what profit shall he receive thence, who accepts not our presents, but to return them us bacl with interest? It is to man who is your equal that your injustice may be prejudicial, 8 Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the son of man. and not to God who is your Sovereign: it is to man I say, who hath nothing, and not to God who possesseth all things, that your bounty can be profitable. There need no other proofs to confirm this truth, 9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions, they make the oppressed to cry they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. than the complaints of the miserable, whose reputation the calumny of detractors takes away, and the tears of those poor slaves, from whom the injustice and violence of Tyrant's force their liberty. If Heaven sometime permit this oppression they ought not blame it, 10 But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night? since they who have suffered it have well deserved it, for they had forgotten God, 11 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, & makeeth us wiser than the fowls of heaven. and thought no more on him who in their first afflictions had made them taste of delicacies more agreeable than those of Poetry and Music, and who denying them none of those favours wherewith he obligeth men, had given them a thousand advantages over all the visible Creatures, for though Nature hath so well instructed living Creatures to seek what is profitable for them, and taught the Birds to build their Nests with so much Art and symmetry, we must confess, that men excel them in address, and know a thousand secrets whereof Beasts are ignorant. If he heed not then all our vows, 12 There they cry, (but none giveth answer) because of the pride of evil men. we must not infer that it is in vain that he hears them, but we must rather conclude, that being just, 13 Surely God will nor hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it. he examines the merit of those who make them, and refuseth their sins what he would grant to their prayers, so that if it seems that he neglect the pains of the afflicted, 14 Although thou sayest thou shast not see him, yet judgement is before him, therefore trust thou in him. or dissemble the offences of the wicked, you ought not murmur, but submit yourself to his judgement, and expect with patience till he deliver the one, and punish the other. For at present as he reigns more like a Father than a Judge, 15 But now because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger, yet h● knoweth it not in great extremity. he dischargeth not his anger upon all those who provoke him, he equals not the punishment to the sins, and chastiseth not a crime so soon as it is committed; 16 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain: he multiplieth words without knowledge. which makes me conclude, that Job complains without reason, that he doth ill to accuse divine Providence, and that he is unjust to use so many insolent words to blame a conduct, which all the world reverenceth. CHAP. XXXVI. THE ARGUMENT. ELihu makes it appear that God hath no regard to the conditions of persons, but to their merits, that the great and the small are equally dear to him if they are equally just, and concludes all this discourse with some advice which he gives Job, for to conduct himself in his state when he shall be reestablished. ELihu, 1 Elihu also proceeded, and said: who saw well that his tediousness might make him troublesome, and that the most part of his Auditors languished, awakened them by an artificial excuse, and become more eloquent than he had been yet, returns to his discourse in this manner: If the interests of God are dear to you, 2 Suffer me a little, and I will show thee, that I have yet to speak on God's behalf. and if you are as jealous of his Glory, as he is careful of your salvation, I conjure you to continue me yet a little that favourable silence, wherewith you have hitherto obliged me, for there are some reasons behind, which I cannot omit without doing injury to the cause of him, of whom I have the honour to be the Advocate. Permit me then to handle this subject as it deserves, 3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. and to deduce you the principles, whereof you have yet seen but the conclusions, I hope that your patience will not be unprofitable to you, and that your mind convinced by my reasons will acknowledge, that the God which we adore is not unjust. I will search for no Artifices in my discourses, 4 For truly, my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee. they shall have no other ornament than those of truth, they shall be simple and solid: with all these conditions I persuade myself that they will be agreeable to you, and that you will approve what you have hitherto condemned. You imagine that God loves not the great, 5 Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom. because they are oftentimes unhappy, and that the highest fortunes are odious to him, because they are most frequently set upon; but if it be true that every one loves his like, you ought to believe that he hates not the great, since he is their Sovereign, and that he hath no aversion from Kings, since they have the honour to be his Images. It is true, 6 He preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor. as he prefers Piety before greatness, and makes more esteem of virtue than of birth, he abandons Princes when they despise his Laws, and takes the part of the poor when in their oppression they implore his assistance. Yet of what condition soever the just are, 7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne, yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted. he hath always his eyes open to look upon them: if Kings add innocence to their Power he establishes their Thrones, supports their Crowns, and procures them as much glory, as they render him obedience and submission. If at any time they fall from their fortune, 8 And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction: if by the insurrection of their Subjects, or by the usurpation of their Neighbours they are despoiled of their Estates, and loaded with chains as heavy, as shameful. Their injustice is the cause of their disaster, 9 Then he showeth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. their crimes pal thunder from heaven upon their heads, and they are not punished but for the extortions which they have used in their Kingdoms, or for the violence which they have exercirsed over their enemies. And God is so fare from taking pleasure to make them miserable, 10 He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they remine from iniquity. that he employs all his favours to reduce them to their duty; for he speaks secretly to the ear of their hearts to convert them, and serves himself with good motions and inspirations to divert them from their sins. If they profit by his advice, 11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. if they prudently use his counsels, they shall come out of Prison happily, they shall mount again upon their Throne, they shall reign there with pleasure, and pass the rest of their years in that glorious Pomp, which accompanies Kings in their Triumphs. But if they neglect or reject them, 12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, & they shall die withoutknowledge they shall take them out of Prison but to carry them to the Scaffold: and all the world shall confess, that their death is the just punishment of their imprudence, and that they have lost their honour with their life for having contemned God in their misfortune. Dissembling Princes shall receive the same usage, 13 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them. those who cover their pernicious designs under fair appearances, and who never fail of pretences to oppress their Subjects, shall likewise feel the just punishments which they deserve; for when they shall be laid in irons and of Kings as they were become slaves, their hardened hearts shall conceive no sorrow for their sins, and their guilty mouth shall ask no pardon for them. God wearied with their Crimes shall raise a Tempest which shall cause their death, 14 They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean. or if he defend them from it, it shall be but to condemn them to a life more shameful than death itself; for being reduced to a condition where they shall be no longer men, their Masters shall employ them for the Guard and service of their Concubines. If the poor likewise fall into any new misfortune, 15 He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression. he will not despise them by reason of their condition, but by the same favour which he hath done the great ones, he will deliver them out of their misery, and beget a desire in them of praying to him, to the end that he may be obliged to help them. Wherefore you must believe, 16 Even so would he have removed thee out of the straight into a broad place where there is no straightness, & that which should be set on thy table, should be full of fatness. unfortunate Prince, that if you imitate their Piety, you shall share in their happiness, that God will take you out of this extreme calamity, which like a vast sea hath neither banks nor bottom: then all your miseries shall end, you shall see your Table full of exquisite meats, and that nothing may be wanting to your felicity, you shall eat them in quiet, and with pleasure. That which hath prejudiced you hitherto is, 17 But thou hast fulfilled the judgement of the wicked: judgement and justice take hold on thee. that you have favoured the wicked, and that you have made their Cause your own, wherefore you are treated as you deserve, and the Judgements which you have received, have been form by those which you have heretofore given. To avoid then this misfortune, I am of opinion, 18 Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. that when Heaven hath restored you to your Honours, and that when you shall be again the Sovereign and Judge of your Subjects, that you should resist anger, and that you should not suffer this violent passion to make you oppress the innocent. Take heed also that Presents do not shake your constancy, and that Money have not more power over your mind than reason. Be not troubled to leave of that haughty Greatness, 19 Will he esteem thy riches? no not gold, nor all the forces of strength. which is fit to make one feared than loved; take no part with the Great against the small, and when you walk in public be not accompanied with those guards which commit a thousand insolences, and which hinder Subjects from approaching their Sovereigns. Else it will happen, 20 Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place. that your people being no longer able to endure their extremities, and taking advantage of your sleep, will go and fall upon them in your Palace, and make them serve as an example to all servants who abuse the authority of their Masters. Take heed likewise above all things, 21 Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this thou hast chosen rather than affliction. that you decline not to injustice; for since your misfortune this sin is become familiar with you, and it seems that Poverty hath taught you to be unjust. Though your interest should not oblige you to take this resolution, 22 Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him? the Greatness and Majesty of God should invite you to it; for his Power elevates him above all his Creatures: our Conquerors which master all by their Arms, and our Sages who govern all by their Laws, are not worthy to enter into comparison with him. 23 Who hath enjoined him his way? or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity? Who is he that would take the liberty to examine his Judgements? and who would be so rash as to dare to reproach him with committing any injustice? Remember I beseech you, 24 Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold. that all the wonders which his hands work daily are hidden from you; and that all which the Poets and Philosophers have spoken of them, can neither make you know the greatness of his Power, nor the merit of his Works. I know that as all the Creatures are but prints and shadows of his Being, 25 Every man may see it, man may behold it afar off. men cannot be ignorant of him, and that there is no one so unhappy but hath some proofs or conjectures of his Divinity. Yet we must confess, 26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out. that his Greatness surpasseth our knowledge, and that the endeavours of our minds are too feeble to reckon the number of his years, and to comprehend the wonders of his Eternity. 'Tis true, 27 For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof. that his Works give us instructions, and that the effects which he produceeth manifest to us his Power, for who knows not it, and adores not him, when to give us a fair day he disperseth the Clouds, 28 Which the clouds do drop, and distil upon man abundantly. dries up the drops of water, wherewith they were full; or when to make our Lands fruitful he gathers together Vapours, and converts them into Torrents of Rain? Or when he thickens them so that the Air becomes obscure with them, 29 Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle? and that Nature finds herself buried in darkness, and when at full day he makes a gloomy night, which the light of the Sun cannot dissipate. But doth he not appear admirable when he stretcheth out the Clouds like a Pavilion, 30 Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea. and when to give sensible tokens of his Presence he dazzles our eyes with his Lightning, and astonishes us with his Thunder, the flame and smoke of which being confounded together cover the tops of those proud Mountains, which serve as bounds to the fury of the Sea. For as he serves himself with the same thing for contrary uses, 31 For by them judgeth he the people, he giveth meat in abundance. he employs Tempests and Rain sometimes to punish his enemies, sometimes to favour his servants; and oftentimes the same storm which drowns the Lands of the wicked, waters and fattens those of the just. His Power extends not only over the Meteors, 32 With clouds he covereth the light, and commandeth it not to shine, by the cloud that cometh betwixt. but also over the most beautiful of all the Stars which follows his orders so exactly, that it seems its light is in his hands, that it hath no other motion but that of his Will, and that it riseth not, and sets not but to render him obedience. When it mounts upon our Horizon, 33 The noise thereof showeth concerning it, the cattles also concerning the vapour. all Nature testifies its joy; and because its light is a common good which makes none jealous, men advertise their friends of its return, and possess it without envy. CHAP. XXXVII. THE ARGUMENT. ELihu hath no other design then to prove to Job, that since the works of God are unknown to him, his designs are more hidden from him, and that therefore be aught humbly to reverence them, and not curiously to examine them. IF these wonders ravish you, 1 At this also my heart trembleth, & is moved out of his place. those which are left me will ravish you much more, and I myself am so surprised, that to judge by the extraordinary palpitation of my heart, it seems as if it would go out of my breast, and testify its astonishment by its death. Harken then with respect to this omnipotent God, 2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the found that goeth out of his mouth. who explains himself in the voice of Thunder, and who to reduce his rebellious Subjects to their duty shoots forth lightning. From the highest Heavens be sees all that passeth upon earth, 3 He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. and when our crimes offend him, he commands the lightning to cleave the Clouds, and to scatter its flames through the world. After them comes the Thunder, 4 After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the excellency, and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. whose noise more horrid than the roaring of lion's intimidates all men, and although it advertises them of the disaster with which it threatens them, yet it doth not teach them to avoid it; for though they hear it, they do not know in what part it will light, and its fall is as deceitful, as its voice is true. He who thunders so horridly, 5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice, great things doth he, which we cannot comprehend. and who serves himself with storms and tempests, and makes himself feared when he cannot make himself loved, is the same who does all those other wonders in the Air, 6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth, likewise to the small rain, & to the great rain of his strength. which oblige us to reverence his Power, and adore his greatness. 'Tis he who commands the Snow to whiten the earth, and (as cold as it is) to serve for a cover for to preserve its heat: 'tis he himself who disposeth of winter Raines, which swell the rivers, and ravage the fields. Lastly, 7 He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work. it is he who during the rigour of this season ties up the hands of men, hinders them from being at leisure for Husbandry, and obligeth them to think either on their domestic affairs, or to admire the works of his power. The Beasts themselves, 8 Then the beasts go into dens: and remain in their places. who fear the injury of the season, make no more incursions into the Plains, but shut up in the Forests they hid themselves in their Dens, and expect that the Spring deliver them from this prison. Then the Tempests come out of the places where they were imprisoned, 9 Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. the Cold which the heat had banished into the Countries of the North, returns more glorious than before, and established in its Empire, it makes its rigour felt by all the people of the world. The Winds which march always in its train cause a thousand ravages upon Land, 10 By the breath of God frost is given: & the breadth of the waters is straitened. and a thousand shipwracks at Sea: when the Northwind blows, and its piercing cold locks up all things, the Waters glaze themselves and change into Crystal, but when the South-winds blow in their turn, the Ice melts, and its crystal resolves into water. God who provides for all our necessities does these wonders ordinarily, 11 Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud. when the Corn hath need of rain, for than he covers the Heaven with Clouds great with Lightning and Thunder, which make the earth hope, that she shall soon be watered. These vapours which carry fertility in their bosoms, 12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. have no other motion than that which God gives them, he is the Governor who conducts them, and these inanimate subjects are always ready to do his commands. They are not tied to any one part of the World, 13 He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy. they water as well strange Lands as those which brought them forth, and the Will of God being all their inclinations, they stay upon the Fields, which he will oblige, and fly from those which he will punish. Consider these wonders a little, unhappy Prince, 14 Harken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. and since my reasons have no power over your mind, learn from the respect which insensible Creatures bear to God, the obedience which you own him, and meddle no more in judging his designs, since his most common works are unknown to you. For to confound your pride once more without digressing from my subject, 15 Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine? do you know the time when God commands the Clouds to mix their darkness with the brightness of the Sun, and to make by that pretty confusion that incomparable Meteor, which is compounded but of water and light, and which shows us colours as beautiful as they are false, which naturally presageth nothing but rain, and yet assures us that the earth shall never be drowned by a universal deluge, and which lastly represents the form of a Bow, and yet never shoots any man unless it be with astonishment and love? But without standing any longer to describe so public a wonder, 16 Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge? do you know the motion of the Clouds, the way which they observe in the Heavens when they fly over our heads, the battles which they give when carried by contrary winds they shock one another in the midst of the Air: Lastly, do you know all the secrets which they hid from us, and which require profound study, and perfect science to be plainly understood? Have you never observed, 17 How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind? that the seasons change with the winds, and that when those of the South blow upon the earth, your grow hot, and your strength grows feeble? But when you shall know the causes of these extraordinary effects, 18 Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass? and by a long experience you shall have carefully observed all these changes, will you dare to boast that you know how he hath built these proud frames, which role continually over our heads, and which though they are more solid than Brass, are more transparent than Crystal? If you know all these woners, 19 Teach us what we shall say unto him: for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. as you would persuade us you do, teach us some words to answer God with: for I confess, that my light compared with his is darkness, and the more I think of the greatness of his works, the less I can find words to describe them. Though the terms which I use now be very modest, 20 Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up. yet I would find some one who could relate them to him, for I am persuaded that one cannot speak to him without danger, that the lustre of his Majesty dazleth men, and that they cannot purchase the honour of doing it but with the loss of their lives. His presence may well work this Miracle, 21 And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth and cleanseth them. since his Power produceth every day the like: for it takes from us the light when it pleaseth, it darkens the Air with Clouds, and makes a night in the midst of day, then commanding the winds to scatter them, it restores us the brightness which it had taken from us. Then as if the Air were cleansed by the North winds, 22 Fair weather cometh out of he north: with God is terrible majesty. the Heaven appears as pure as gold, and this calm which succeeds the Tempest, and teaches us that all things obey God, obliges us to adore him with respect, and to mix sentiments of fear amongst all the praises which we give him. So that we must confess, 23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgement, & in plenty of justice: he will not afflict. that whatsoever endeavour we can use, we cannot attain to the least of his perfections: for he is great in his Works as in his Judgements, and that man doth not know him yet, who thinks to find words to relate his wonders. Wherefore the most advised men are content to adore him with humility, 24 Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise in heart. without desiring to know him with pride, and the most judicious honour him in his works without examining his defignes, for fear lest so guilty a curiosity should be followed with confusion and repentance. CHAP. XXXVIII. THE ARGUMENT. GOd speaks out of the midst of a cloud, and joins in appearance with the friends of Job, to let him see, that since the wonders of Nature are unknown to him, the secrets of his providence cannot be evident. WHen this long discourse, 1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, & said: which wanted neither truth, nor cunning was ended, God who would himself try the patience of Job, and exercise him once again before he crowned him, appeared in a Cloud worthy of his Majesty, and spoke to him in this manner: Who is that rash man, 2 Who is this that darkneth counsel by words without knowledge? who after having expressed his thoughts in a confusion of words, comes impudently to cross my designs, and reduce the laws of my Providence to the feeble reach of his own mind? If he have as much courage as insolence, 3 Gird up now thy loins like a man: for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. let him prepare himself for the Combat, let him take Arms to defend himself, and since he hath desired to try his force against mine, and to enter into the list with me, let him answer to my demands, and learn by this dispute, that the wisdom of men is but folly before me. Where were you, 4 Where wast thou, when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding when taking counsel of none but mine own Power and Goodness, I laid the foundation of the earth, and made it unmoveable in the midst of the Air, where it hath no other support but its own weight? declare to me this secret if you know it, and make it appear in this occasion that you have more knowledge than vanity. Tell me who hath taken the measure of this Universe, 5 Who hath laid the measure thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? and compassed the Mountains and Valleys of the earth, and form so perfect a Globe of it, 6 whereupon are the soundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof? that it serves the Universe for a Centre, and is the unmoveable Point where all its Lines meet? Who hath founded all this great work upon such firm Columns? and who is that sage Architect who hath laid the first stone of so magnificent a Palace? Where were you, 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. when at the birth of the World all the Stars praised me, and all the Creatures which are my productions and my Children, by an harmonions consent, which the course of time was never able to interrupt, published so loud my Divine perfections? Who shut up that proud Element, 8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? which acknowledgeth no other power than mine within the bounds, which it dares not pass? Who prescribed it Laws when it came out of that confused Mass, 9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it. which seemed to be the Womb of the Universe, and treating it like a Child who is new borne, I covered it with Clouds as with Swadling-clouts, and laid it in its Bed as in a Cradle, and commanded the Vapours which environ it to serve it for ? For you are not ignorant that it was I who gave it its being, 10 And broke up for it my decreed place, and set bats and doors, who marked it out its bounds, and who to stay its violence opposed Banks which it often toucheth, but never overthrows. You know it may be too, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. that I used that imperious discourse to it, which taught it that it was my slave, and that I said to it, Thou shalt come hither, and pass no further, there thou shalt dash thy waves, and turn all their fury into foam. But if you were not in the world when my hand did these Miracles, 12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days? and caused the dayspring to know his place, since your birth have you assisted me with your power, or with your counsel? have you commanded the Morning to rise before the Sun, and have you appointed it the place where it must go out, when it appears upon the Horizon? When lastly to punish the sins of men, 13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth that the wicked might be shaken out of it? I have at any time shaken the earth, did you take it by the ends to toss it with me, and discharge it of those impious men who profaned it with their crimes? Yet do not think that so violent a motion ruins my work, 14 It is turned as clay to the seal, and they stand as a garment. I re-establish it with as much facility as by the impression ●f a Seal they give soft wax the print which it had lost; and as when they beat the dust out of a suit of clothes they do not wear it but make it clean, so by these agitations I do not ruin the world, but purge it. My Wisdom discerned the innocent from the guilty, 15 And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken. and my Justice takes away but their lives whose pride would cross my greatness. But if it be true that you know all things, 16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? as your vanity hath made your mouth say it; did you ever go down under the waters of the Sea? have you seen all the Monsters which it breeds in its bosom? and did you ever descend into the depth of the Abysses for to contemplate the wonders which I have hidden there? Have those dark Caverns which the earth shuts up in her entrails, 17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? and those gloomy Palaces where Death holds his Empire opened you their Gates to let you in, and to let you out again? But how should you know the depth of the earth, 18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? Declare if thou knowest it all. since the breadth of it is unknown to you, and your compass is too little to take the measure of so great a Globe? yet tell us what you have learned of it, and satisfy my demands to content your own vanity. Do you know where the Light makes its retreat, 19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof? when Night comes to take its place? and where Darkness goes to hid itself, when the Sun brings bacl the Day? and by what secret ways and imperceptable to your eyes both of them retire into the house which I have designed them? But to search no further proofs of your ignorance than your own Person, 20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, & that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof. did you know at that time that you should be borne in this? and understanding then the things which you are ignorant of at present, 21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then borne? or because the number of thy days is great? did you know what would be the number of your days, and how many years you were to pass in the world? And to the end I may convince your ignorance by as many Creatures as there are in the Universe, 22 Hast thou entered into the the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, did you ever go into those Storehouses where I keep the Snow and the Hail to serve myself withal in the day of Battle, 23 Which I have reserve against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and wa●? and to teach all the world that nothing is impossible to my infinite Power, since with such poor Arms I get such glorious Victories over my enemies. Do you know by what ways I dispense light and heat to the world, 24 By what way is the light patted, which scattereth the east-wind upon the earth? and how for to accommodate myself to the necessities of my Creatures, I distribute Rain, and fair weather, and make the calm succeed the Tempest? Are you ignorant in what manner I raise the Vapours into the Air, 25 Who hath divided a water course for the overflowing of waters? or a way for the lightning of thunder, and draw out of their bosom Reins mixed with Thunders, which falling into the Deserts, and covering them with greenness testify as well my liberality as my Power, and make it appear that the profit of men is not the only morive of my Actions, since I every places which are inaccessible to them, and feed in the Woods savage Beasts which are unprofitable to them? There is nothing more ordinary than those Waters which fall from Heaven to water the thirsty fields, 26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is: on the wilderness, wherein there is no man? and there is nothing more common or more pleasant than the Dew which nourisheth the Flowers: 27 To satisfy the desolate & waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. yet you know not who is the father of them, and though these effects are evident to you, yet the cause of them is hidden. You know as little out of whose bosom the Hail comes, 28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begorten the drops of dew? which would abate the value of the Pearls of the Sea, if it could longer retain its whiteness, 29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? and its hardness; you know not neither the original of the Ice, which makes the Rivers unmoveable, and of their very water raiseth bridges of Crystal. But if you believe that your power surpasseth your knowledge, 30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. can you gather together those glittering Stars which we call the Pleyades, 31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? or lose the bands of Orion? and make one constellation of them? Can you divide in an equal distance those other Stars about Vrsa Major, and which presage as well changes in States as Tempests in the Air? 32 Canst thou bring forth Mazaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Can you make rise over men's heads that beautiful Star to which you give several names, according to its several uses, which precedeth the day, and goes before the night; which riseth first of the Stars, and which sets last? Do you know the admirable order which I have established in the Heavens, 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? the regular motion of their Globes, the certain conjunction of their Planets, the secret influences of their Stars, and that Empire which they have over all the things of the world? Is Nature engaged to follow your inclinations? 34 Canst thou lift up thy voiee to the clouds, that abvudance of waters may cover thee? Do your desires serve for Laws to the Elements? When you command the Clouds to give water, do they obey your Commands? and when you have spoken, doth the Rain to obey your orders fall over your head? Is the Lightnings subjected to your power, 35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? which would have no bounds if it were as great as your pride? doth it fly through the Air to execute your designs? doth it spare your friends? doth it hit your enemies? doth it come to know your Will, and when it hath accomplished it doth it return to give you an account of it? If you cannot do these things, 36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart? can you so much as tell us who was that great Architect, who form Man, and put wisdom in his heart, and who having made him the weakest would also make him the wisest of all the Creatures? or if you know not his perfections, do you know those of Birds, and can you teach us who is that Divine Workman who hath given the Cock an inclination to salute the Sun, to awake men, and to announce day? But without questioning you any further, 37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven, who is he amongst men who can tell me all the Wonders of the Heavens, the sweetness and the force of their influences, the order and the number of their Stars, the differences and the agreements of their Motions: and who can make the harmony of those Globes cease which always roll, or lay them asleep by any Artifice, and impose upon them silence? Notwithstanding the Praises which they give me are as ancient as the World, 38 When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together? for ever since I mixed the sand with the water to give consistence to the earth, and that my hands were employed to kneade the Mould of which it is form, the Heavens published my greatness, and the perfections of my Essence were the only subject of their consort. But since you confess by your filence that these Miracles surpass your power, 39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, dare you brag of having directed the Lionesses in the Chase, and taught them to search for Prey for the nourishing of their young ones, 40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? who not daring yet to declare an open war against the other Beasts of the Forests, lay imbushes for them in their Dens, or wait for them upon a passage to surprise and d●●our ●●em? Do you take care of providing for the necessity of the Ravens? 41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat. do you take charge of feeding their little ones, when by their doleful cries they accuse the cruelty of their Parents who have left them, and implore the aid of God who is the common Parent of all his Creatures? CHAP. XXXIX. THE ARGUMENT. GOd continues his discourse, in which he describes the properties of some living Creatures: and Job touched with so many Wonders adores Divine Providence, and condemns his own rashness. SInce the height of the Heavens excuseth you from knowing the Wonders of them, 1 Kuowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth, or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve? and the little commerce which you have with the Birds doth not permit you to know their properties, you ought not to be ignorant of those of the Creatures which converse with you: tell me then if you have observed the time when the wild Goats retire into the Rocks to deliver themselves of their young, or if you have considered the Hinds when they struggle with pain, and when to give life to their Calves they are in danger of losing it? Have you so exactly counted the Months which are passed since the moment that they conceived, 2 Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth? that you can judge of that in which they are to bring forth? They stoop to the earth by an instinct of Nature, 3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their forrows. whether it be the pain they suffer which compels them to it, or the fear of hurting their Calves which obligeth them to it: amongst the griefs which torment them they cast forth cries, which are as terrible as the roaring of Lionesses. A little time after these young ones are borne they leave their Dams to come to them no more, 4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn: they go forth, and turn not unto them. and by an inclination which Nature hath given them they search in the fields for the Herbs which are necessary for the entertainment of their life. 5 Who hath caused the wild Ass to be borne in so great liberty? 5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? who hath excused him from the servitude to which domestic Asses are subject? who hath broken his bonds, and delivered him from the reign and the bridle, which force the most generous Creatures to do the will of men? 6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. I have accommodated my self to his disposition, which is an enemy to constraint; I have given him solitude for his retreat, and assigned him his dwelling in the Deserts, where without being disquieted by the noise of Cities, 7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, regardeth he the crying of the driver. he hears not the importunate voice of those people who are destined for the driving of Beasts to burden, and who to draw service out of them forbear neither injuries nor blows. With his liberty he hath this further advantage, 8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing. that he chooseth the places where is the best forage, and goes upon the Mountains, where the goodness of Grass doth not only appease his hunger, but excite his appetite. Can you oblige by your industry, 9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee? or abide by thy crib? or by your force the Rhinoceros to serve you, and to triumph over the courage of that fierce Beast, can you compel him to stand in your Stable, and to eat of your Hay and Oats like your Horses? Can you promise yourself to make him bow his head under your yoke, 10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? to tie him to the Plough, and condemn him to the open earth with the Ploughshares, though his force equal or surpass that of the Ox, 11 Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? can you draw any service thence in your Husbandry? will you feed him with your sheaves, and as he hath borne a share in your labours, will you give him a share in your Harvest? Will you employ him during the Harvest-time to gather you Corn in the field, 12 Wilt thou believe him that he will bring home thy seed? and gather it into thy bame? and making him make a hundred journeys a day will you condemn him to carry it into your Barns? 13 Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? when the Ostrich, whose feathers are like to those of Hawks and Hearnes, and to whom I have given wings rather to adorn her than to carry her, when, I say, 14 Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust, this brutish Bird leaves her Eggs in the sand, and without troubling herself at the accidents which may befall them, she looseth the care and the remembrance of them, 15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. will you heat them to make them hatch? and will you temper the heat of the Sun for to give life to her young ones? 16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear. Do you serve them for a Father, in the absence of that Mother who is as cruel to them as if they had no relation to her, and who would bring them forth in vain without my assistance, 17 Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding. since she hath no passion to preserve them, nor fear to lose them? It is true, that she ought not to be accused of it, because her stupidity makes my Providence appear, and because I took not from her the care of her young ones, but to take care of them myself. And it is not so, 18 What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider. when she is threatened with any danger, fear makes her advised, and when they pursue her in the field, she serves herself with her feet and with her wings, and at once laughs at the fleetness of the Horses, and the dexterity of the Huntsmen But last of all, 19 Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? if your power equal your wisdom, can you give strength and agility to the Horse, with whatsoever ornaments you trick him up to content his pride and your own? 20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. can you guide his head, turn his neck gently about, make his mane float upon his shoulders, and swell his throat with that generous neighing which assures the Cavalier who rides him of his courage? you can train him to the great saddle, and teach him to obey your hand and your spur; but you can neither give him dexterity, nor vigour: if he always be in action under the Rider, if he bond in the Air, if he cannot stay in a place, it is an effect of my Power, and not of your industry. When he is angry he champs his Bit, he grows white with foam, he pricks up his ears, he darts a flame out of his eyes and his nostrils, and snoring with rage and despite strikes terror in all those who behold him. If he must go upon any occasion where his Master hath need of his courage, 21 He paweth on the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. he stamps upon the ground with his foot, he marches proudly, he lifts up his head, he seeketh out the enemy, and when he hath discovered him he casts himself amongst his Squadrons, and brings every where where he passeth horror and disorder. When he is engaged in fight, 22 He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted: neither turneth he back from the sword. nothing can astonish him, the points of Pikes, and the glittering of Swords cannot make him to requoyle; danger increaseth his courage, he knows not fear, and is never more furious than when he sees himself covered with his blood. 23 The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. The noise of Arms astonisheth him not, and whether the Cavalier who rides him shoots his Arrows, or darts his Javelin, or wards with his Buckler the blows which are made at him, he is always equally assured. If in the fury which animater him his Master pulls back the Bridle, 24 He swalloweth the ground with fierceness audrage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. and hinders him from advancing, he foams with rage, he gnaws his Bit, and to see him bend his neck, and open his mouth, you would think that he would by't the earth: he always hath his ear open to listen to the sound of the Trumpet, and in passion which he hath to fight he imagines that it will never sound the charge. But when he hears it, 26 He saith among the trumpets, Ha', ha'; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. and the Tantaras hath filled his ears, he witnesseth by his neighing the pleasure which he receives in it, they judge by his action that he smells the war, that he presages the Battle, and that become reasonable he is animated by the speeches of the Captains, and excited by the acclamations of the Soldiers. 26 Doth the Hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south? It is by your counsel or your address that the Hawk leaveth off his old feathers to take new ones, that by the favour of certain winds he despoyles himself to himself again, that he prevents the rigour of Winter, and furnisheth himself with a second plumage more thick than the former? Is it by your order that the Eagle takes her flight on high, 27 Doth the Eagle mount up at thy command? and make her nest on high? that she raiseth herself up in the Air, and that she goes to make her Nest upon the heads of the highest Mountains, or upon the top of the tallest Ceders? Have you taught her to place herself upon the points of these inaccessible Rocks, 28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. which are counter-skarsed and encompased with Proecipices, 29 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold asar off. thence for to cast her eyes on all sides, and discover afar off the Prey which she seeks for the nourishing of her young ones, who not as yet able to tear it with their Talons, suck its blood with their Beak, and accustom themselves to slaughter? Lastly, 30 Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she. have you given her that subtle scent, which discovers to her that which her eyes cannot see, and which makes her smell so fare the fatal relics of any bloody Battle? God who read in the heart of Job that this discourse touched him, 1 Moreover, the Lord answered Job, and said, and that the astonishment which seized him took away his speech, continued on in this manner: What now? 2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. doth that man who would contest with God suffer himself so easily to be overcome? hath that man, who promised himself so much the better if they would permit him to defend himself, already lost his courage? surely if the goodness of his mind hath not furnished him with reasons to maintain his innocence, the goodness of his will might have furnished him at least with words to reply to me, As the fear of Job had made him hold his peace, 3 Then Job answered the Lord, and said. the regret for his sin made him speak in these terms: Since my discourses condemn me, 4 Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. my silence must justify me; since I have spoken with too much lightness, it is necessary that I hold my peace with discretion: but what can he answer who confesseth his fault, and what should he do, who is guilty but for having spoken too much, but put his finger upon his mouth, and oblige himself to silence? I confess to you, 5 Once have I spoken, but I will not answer? yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. that grief hath forced indiscreet words from my mouth, and that I have escaped into discourses which to defend my innocence crossed your mercy; but I protest to you, that I will be so rash no more, and though your Justice should make my miseries endure whole Ages, I will cease my complaints to sing nothing but your praises. CHAP. LX. THE ARGUMENT. GOD once more provokes Job to the Combat, and to entertain him in an opinion of his greatness, he makes him an ample description of the Elephant, with a sleight draught of the Whale. GOd answereth out of the midst of that cloud, 6 Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, & said: from whence he had already pronounced so many Oracles, and said to Job: Resume new strength, 7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. prepare yourself to suffer a second Assault, and since you have gloried in having such high knowledge, finde out replies to all the demands which I desire to make to you. Do you think to oblige me by your discourses to change my Judgement? 8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgement? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? do you think your complaints make me revoke my Decrees? do you think to ruin my Justice to establish your own innocence, and to persuade men, that in condemning you I have rather followed passion than reason? If your force equal mine, 9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? if nothing be impossible to your power, and if to overthrow those who oppose your will, you dispose of the thunder as I do, I will pardon your rashness of these thoughts. But for to give us proofs of your power, 10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency, and array thyself with glory & beauty. set off your natural beauty by borrowed beauties, adorn yourself as in the day of triumph, cover yourself with sumptuous , and march with a Majesty which may strike respect in all your subjects. In this glorious Equipage, 11 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. make your just indignation felt by all the rebels of the world, compose your eyes in that manner that their looks may astonish the arrogant, and teach the proud humility. Beat down Kings under your feet, 12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low: and tread down the wicked in their place. use not your power but to tame their insolence, and when they shall have oppressed your Subjects, make the same place which was fouled by their Crime, be washed with their blood, and their death give an example, where their life hath given scandal. Bruise their Sceptres, 13 Hid them in the dust together, and bind their faces in secret. hid the lustre their Crowns, hid the lustre of their glory under obscurity, pursue them after their death, and teach them that the Grave is not a sanctuary which can protect them from your anger. When you have done these Miracles, 14 Then will I also confess unto thee, that thine own right hand can save thee. I shall confess that in the miseries which encompass you, my succour is unprofitable to you, and that your forces being equal to mine, one cannot assault you so well, but you can better defend yourself. But as all these effects surpass your power, 15 Behold now Behemoth, which I made with thee, he eateth grass as an ox. and you despise not mine but because it is not sufficiently known to you, I will give you new proofs of it. Consider then the Elephant which I have produced like you, and which I have fed as an Ox with the grass of the fields. His force which hath no equal resides particularly in his loins, 16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. which are so strong that in the Battle he carries Towers filled with Soldiers, and his vigour is enclosed in his Navel, which is as the centre to which all the members of his body answer. 17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped rogether. This advantage is the recompense of his purity, for he is so chaste that he is never seen to do undecent actions, and Nature which accommodates herself to his inclination, hath hidden all those parts which seem for the conservation of his species as the Bark covers the wood of Cedars and of Cypresses. His bones, 18 His bones are as strong pieces of bras: his bones are like bars of iron. and principally his teeth, which were given him for defence, are as hard as plates of Brass, and his trunk which seems to be composed of gristles, is equal in its strength to bars of Iron, and in its dexterity to the hand of man. Amongst the Creatures which conduct themselves by instinct he is the Masterpiece of my power, 19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him, can make his sword to approach unto him. and if I had not given horns to the Rhinoceros, and poison to the Dragon, who are his most mortal enemies, there were no beasts to be found which could have the better of him. Although he be so strong, 20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food: where all the beasts of the field play. he is so gentle, that content with the Grass which the Mountains bring forth, he seeketh not for prey; and the other Beasts which know his humour feed quietly in his company. When he would repose himself he seeks out moist places, 21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed and fens. where he sleeps under the freshness of the shade which the Groves afford him, or the Willows, which so pleasantly bound the streams. When he drinks, 23 He drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw Jordan into his mouth. it is such great draughts, that it seems to those who see him that he would dry up Rivers, and when he enters into Jordan to appease his thirst, you would say that he hath a design to drain it. With all his strength he hath so little cunning, 24 He takeeth it with his eyes: his nose pierceth thorough snares. that he sees the snares of the Huntsmen and doth not avoid them; he is so simple that he lets himself be taken like Fish with the Hook, and so gentle that he lets his nostrils be pierced, and himself be led by the nose. But that your weakness and my Power may appear as well upon the Water as the Land, 1 Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? make trial of your strength against the Whale, see if you can take him with a Hook, or with a Line, 2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw thorough with a thorn? and if after having tied his tongue with a Cord, and thrust a Buckle of Iron through his nostrils, or his cheeks, you can draw him from his Fortress, and lead him where you please. Do you think to oblige him to say his prayers to you? 3 Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? do you believe that astonished at your power, or surprised with your Artifices, he will ask his liberty of you with words of sweetness and respect? Do you think to reduce him to make an agreement with you, 4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? and to protest to you publicly, that he honours you as his Master, and will serve you as your slave, and that the term of his life shall be no longer than that of his servitude? Will you play with him as with those poor Birds, 5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? which serve as pastime for little Children? Shall your Daughters tie him with a thread, which lengthening or shortening at their discretion, shall make his prison either larger or straighter? Do you think it easy for a band of armed men to catch him in Nets, 6 Shall the companions make banquet him? shall they part him among the merchants? to cut him in pieces, to load vessels with his spoils, and to divide his Body amongst the Merchants, who have contributed to his taking? If it be not a thing impossible it is dangerous at the least; 7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish-spears? for when you assault him, remember that you must prepare yourself for so furious a fight, that after you have tried him you will lose the desire of meddling any more. And though the design should not be dangerous, 8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle: do no more. it is always very difficult, for this monster will deceive your hopes, and when you think to hold him fast he will vanish from your eyes, 9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down, even at the sight of him? and quit theshores of the sea to plunge himself into his Abysses. CHAP. XLI. THE ARGUMENT. GOd goes on in the description of the Wbale, and by the greatness of that terrible Monster raiseth the mind of of Job to comprehend his Power, and reverence his Providence. THough this terrible Prodigy, 10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me? which seems to be the Tyrant of the Sea, be the work of my hands, yet men ought not to accuse me of being cruel, for if my inclination carried me to cruelty, there is no Creature which could resist my fury But I am fare from treating them so, 11 Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven, is mine. since my liberality prevents their services, and my bounty which created them, taketh care of preserving them. As then the Whale is rather a proof of my Power than of my Rigour, 12 I will not conceal his parts, not his power, nor his comely proportion. I will continue in describing him, and representing in choice terms, and proper to persuade, the disposition and the greatness of his body. Neither is there any one who can relate his properties, 13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? who dare lift up his terrible eyebrows, which hang over his eyes and make him blind, or attempt to enter into his throat, 14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. and to count his monstrous teeth, where it seems that terror is lodged to affright all those who behold them. His body is armed with such strong scales, 15 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. that they seem to be so many bucklers of Brass wherewith Nature hath covered him to defend him: 16 One is so near to another, that no air can come betwixt them. they are so close that neither the wind which passeth through all places, nor Arms which penetrate all things can find the defect of them, 17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. and they are so fast together that no Art nor violence can divide them. When this dreadful Monster sneezeth, 18 By his sneezing a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. there are seen twinkle a thousand sparks of fire, and when he opens his eyes he darts forth looks, which have no less brightness than the first rays of the morning. If he open his throat, 19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. there issue forth burning Torches, which disperse every where light and fear. When he breathes, 20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or cauldron. his Nostrils cast forth a thick smoke like to that of a boiling Cauldron, his breath is so violent that it would make the Coals red, 21 His breath kindleth coals and a flame goeth out of his mouth. save the Forger his pains, and light the fire of his Furnace. Though all the parts of his body be vigorous, 22 In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. his force is particularly confined to his neck, he makes such spoil wheresoever he passeth, that it seems Famine goes before him, and Poverty follows him. He is of so strong a constitution that nothing can offend him, 23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves, they cannot be moved. the parts of his body are so solid, and so well fastened, that the Lightning which destroys the pride of the Mountains can neither break nor divide them. The heart which animates his body is as hard as Marble, 24 His heart is as firm as a stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the neither millstone. and surpasseth in firmness the Forgers Anvil, which the redoubled blows of the Hammer have hardened. When he lifts his head above the Floods, 25 When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of break they purify themselves. or when he walks upon that element which is fall'n to his division, the most assured Pilots are seized with fear, and knowing how fatal his presence is to their Vessels, they employ all their industry to get away, but if the tempest render it useless they are constrained to make vows to heaven, and endeavour to appease its anger by their prayers. If they think to assault him, 26 The sword of him that layeth at him, cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. or to defend themselves against him, all their weapons prove equally feeble, for as there is no Sword nor Pike but his skin blunts, so there is no Armour which he doth not bow with his teeth: 27 He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. he breaks Iron like Straw, and Brass resists him less than wood worn with age, and eaten with rottenness. The Archers who do such great execution in a Battle cannot chase him away with the showers of their Arrows; 28 The arrows cannot make him flee: sling-stones are turned with him into stubble. and those Stones which the Sling casts with so much force make as little impression upon his body, as a feastraw would which the hand of a child should push. Those heavy clubs, 29 Darts are counted as stubble, he laugheth at the shaking of the spear. whose blows are so weighty cannot hurt him; and as he knows well enough that his skin is proof against all weapons, he laughs at the javelins which they dart at him, and at the thrusts which they make at him with their Pikes. If this Monster hath so much force, 30 Sharp stones are under him, he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire he hath no less pride; for he despiseth all that is beautiful in Nature, he disdains the light, he makes litter of Gold, and tumbles himself with scorn upon Pearls and Diamonds. When he snorts under the Waters he raiseth Tempests, 31 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the Sea like a pot of ointment. and the breath of his Longs as impetuous as that of the Winds, overtu●nes the Sea, and makes it boil. When he walks he leaves behind him a long track covered with foam: 32 He maketh a path to shine after him, one would think the deep to be boary. he changeth the colour of the Element, he whitens its Waves, covers its face with wrinkles and furrows, and treats it like an old Man, from whom Age hath taken away his vigour. Although the Earth brings forth many Monsters whom their enormous greatness makes feared, 33 Upon earth there is not his like: who is made without fear. there is none of them to compare with this which seems not to have come into the World but to fear nothing, and to despise all things. Lastly, 34 He beholdeth all high things; he is a king over all the children of pride. he is so great that when he lifts his head above the Waves he sees under him the proudest Mountains; and his strength added to his Pride makes all the Monsters of the Sea reverence him as their Tyrant. CHAP. XLII. The Argument. THe Patience of Job triumphs over the Justice of God, who pardons his Friends for his sake, reestablisheth him in all his Estate with advantage, bestows as many Children upon him as Death had taken from him, and after a long Life gives him a happy Death. THe greatness of God had imposed silence upon Job, 1 Then Job answered the Lord, and said. his goodness made him speak, and the regret which he had for having complained, put these Excuses in his Mouth. I know my God, 2 I know that thou canst do every thing; and that no thought can be withheld from thee. that as nothing is impossible to your Power, nothing is hidden from your knowledge, you can do all that you will, weakness hinders not the Execution of your Designs, and Darkness covers not the Sentiments of our hearts. A Man must be very indiscreet, 3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. or very ignorant, if he think to conceal his thoughts from you; for my part, I discover you mine, and confess to you, that I spoke rashly when I complained of your Justice, and that by Discourses which surpassed the reach of my understanding, I censured your Providence. Now that my Reproaches are turned into Satisfactions, 4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. and my Complaints changed into Prayers, give me leave to speak to you, and do me the favour to hear me. The admirable Discourses which you have made me, 5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seethe thee. have defaced all Doubts out of my Soul; those divine Lights wherewith you have illuminated me, have dissipated all the Darkness of my Heart; I read your Providence, I see your Designs, and I adore them; I understand the cause of my Misfortunes, and I reverence it, I know for what reason the innocent are afflicted, and I am comforted at it. So that I blame all my past opinions, 6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. I oblige my Heart to be sorry for them, I command mine Eyes to weep for them, I ordain my hands to punish them, and condemn my whole Body to do penance for them with Ashes and Sack cloth. 7 And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temani●e, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my Servant Job. hath. After God had testified that the satisfactions of Job were not unacceptable to him, he discoursed thus with Eliphas; Your Crimes have irritated my Justice, and she would take a memorable revenge upon you, if my Mercy did not detain her; for in all your Invectives my honour hath served you but for a pretence to accuse Innocence; you have confounded the Crime with the Punishment; and the inclination which you have to interpret sinisterly the Actions of your Neighbour, hath made you judge that my Servant was guilty because he was miserable: but his Complaints are more acceptable to me than your Praises, and I can more easily pardon the Regrets which sorrow hath drawn from his Mouth, than I do the Reproaches which Malice hath drawn from yours. 8 Therefore take unto you now seven Bullocks, & seven Rams, & go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my Servant Job. Wherefore I command you to choose seven Bulls and as many Rams out of your Flocks to make a Holocaust of them which may expiate your Crimes, and repair my honour; but because the sacrifices of the wicked are not acceptable to me, I will have you engage my Servant to join his Prayers with yours, and to demand of my bounty the pardon of your offences: he is charitable enough to do you that good office, and I am merciful enough to pardon you for his sake. These three Princes touched with sorrow, 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did according as the Lord commanded them: the Lord also accepted Job. and seized with fear, exactly followed the Orders of God, who let himself be overcome by the humble Prayers of Job, accorded him the favour which he begged for his Friends, and reestablished him in his greatness with so much advantage, that all things were restored him double, that it seemed God had not made him poor but to enrich him, nor taken away his goods but to given them him again with interest. As the adversity of Job had scattered his Friends, 10 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. his prosperity brought them again together; for at the noise of the Wonders which Heaven had wrought in his favour, they who were united to him by the Bonds of Nature or of Amity, came to visit him, and after they had mingled their Tears with his at the memory of his past Miseries, 11 Then came there unto him all his brethren and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, & every one an ear-ring of gold. they treated him magnificently, to testify to him the joy which the establishment of his Fortune brought them, and when they returned every one of them left him a Sheep as a Gage of his Affection, and an Ear Pendant of Gold in assurance of his fidelity. His loss was as profitable to him as it was glorious; for Heaven took care of his Flocks, and multiplied them in that manner, that for seven thousand Sheep which passed about his Plains, he counted fourteen thousand; for three thousand Camels which carried Burdens he saw six thousand in his Stables, 12 So the Lord blessed the later end o● Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand Camels, and a thousand yoke of Oxen, and a thousand she-asses. for five hundred yoke of Oxen which tilled the Ground, he had a thousand which bore the yoke, and for five hundred she Asses which served for divers uses, he saw as many more in his fields. His Wife becoming fruitful at an Age well advanced, brought him seven Sons, whose perfections sweetened the sorrow which the loss of the other had caused him; 13 He had also seven sons & three daughters. and that in so great a happiness he might have nothing to lament, he had three Daughters which equalled or surpassed in virtue those whom Death had taken from him. The first whose beauty glisteren like the Sun, 14 And he called the name of the first Jemima, and the name of the second Kezia, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. derived her name from light; the second whose breath was sweeter than Roses, borrowed hers from a most excellent Perfume; and the third whose cheeks Nature had painted with a most pleasing Vermilion, took her name from the colour of her tincture. Amongst so many Perfections which made them remarkable amongst the Women of that Age; 15 And in all the land were no Women found so fair as tha● daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. they had this further advantage, that they surpassed them all in beauty; though they were married, they were not put to the trouble of leaving their Brothers, with whom they lived always, and peaceably enjoyed the Inheritance which their father had left them. The felicity of Job was so long that an Age could not bound it; 16 After this lived job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his son's sons, even four generations. for after he had happily accomplished that, he lived yet forty years; during so long a term he had the pleasure of seeing his children's children even to the fourth Generation. But as there is no life so long which hath not its end, his was terminated by so gentle a Death, 17 So job died being old, and full of days. that those who saw it wished one like it, and desired that they might be happy to live and die like him. FINIS.