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nomadic people; their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had ever been so; they were emphatically Bedouins, removing with their flocks and herds from place to place, as occasion might require. In Egypt they had ever been shepherds, their province of Goshen was adapted to pasturage, and not to tillage; and now, when they had come out into the deserts, with their flocks and herds, they were still the nomadic race they had ever been, a people resembling those by whom these desert plains, and valleys, and mountains are possessed to this day." It is not singular that the manners of Bedouins should have been in a measure retained by those Hebrews, who dwelt out of cities.

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It follows from the preceding consideration that the author of Job, having determined to make his characters Arabians, and to lay the scene of his work in Arabia, would find no difficulty in suiting the manners and sentiments of his characters, and his local allusions, to the scene which he had chosen ; so that his only difficulty would be to exclude from his work obvious references to the Jewish history, and religion. If, in addition to this, we suppose, what is perfectly reasonable, that the Hebrew philosopher had, like Plato, travelled into Egypt, and through Arabia, for the purpose of enriching his mind with all the knowledge of those countries, I think, we shall find no difficulty in the supposition, that a Hebrew of such genius and skill as are manifested in this work, might have been the author of it.

But this is not all. We maintain that, though Arabian manners and scenes are the superficial characteristics of the work, yet in its general spirit, and in many less obvious characteristics, the author has manifestly shown himself to be a Hebrew poet. The very subject of the work is just what might have been expected to arrest the attention of a Hebrew philosopher, educated in the religion of Moses. It is similar to that of other Hebrew compositions, as has been observed before. In fact, if we regard the spirit and scope of the work, the remark of De Wette appears not too strong, that it is Hebrew through and through.

There are also many particular sentiments, which we know to be appropriate to a Hebrew, possessing an acquaintance with the Hebrew literature and religion, which we do not

* See Biblical Repository, No. VIII. p. 787.

know to have been appropriate to an Arabian. Such are the following, which are more or less satisfactory, adduced by Rosenmüller and De Wette, which, as our article is a long one, we must trouble the reader to examine for himself. Ch. ix. 5-9; xii. 10; xv. 7; xxvi. 5, &c.; xxxviii. 4, &c. ; iv. 19; x. 9; xxvii. 3; iv. 17, &c.; viii. 9; ix. 2; xiii. 26; xiv. 4; xv. 14; xxv. 4, 6; iv. 18; v. 1; xv. 15; xxi. 22; xxxviii. 7; xxxi. 26, 27; vii. 7, &c.; x. 21, &c.; xiv. 10, &c.; xvi. 22; xxx. 23; xxxviii. 17. Add to these the use. of the name Jehovah in the introduction and conclusion of the work.

The following instances of resemblance to passages, in the Psalms and Proverbs, are also of weight with those, who do not believe in the high antiquity of the work. Ch. xxviii. 18, comp. Prov. viii. 11. Ch. xxviii. 18, comp. Prov. vii. 11. Ch. xxviii. 18, comp. Prov. viii. 11. Ch. xxviii. 28, comp. Prov. i. 7. Ch. xxvi. 6, comp. Prov. xv. 11. Ch. xv. 16, xxxiv, 7, comp. Prov. xxvi. 6. Ch. xiii. 5, comp. Prov. xvii. 28. Ch. xxvi. 5, comp. Prov. ii. 18, xxi. 16. Ch. xxvii. 16, &c., comp. Prov. xxviii. 8. Ch. xxii. 29, comp. Prov. xvi. 18, xviii. 12, xxix. 23. n Ch. v. 12, vi. 13, xi. 6, xii. 16, xxvi. 3, xxx. 22, comp. Prov. ii. 7, iii. 21, viii. 14, xviii. 1. Ch. vi. 2, xxx. 13, comp. Prov. xix. 13. nana xxxvii. 12, comp. Prov. i. 5, xi. 14, and often, Ch. xii. 21, 24, comp. Ps. cvii. 40. Ch. v. 16, xxii. 19, comp. Ps. cvii. 42.

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On the whole, it appears to us, that the internal evidence alone makes it more probable that the author was a Hebrew, than that he was a foreigner; and when to this we add the external evidence in favor of this opinion, there seems to be very little room for doubt.

It may seem remarkable, that the author of a work, which, for reach of thought, richness of imagination, depth and tenderness of feeling, and skill in its plan and execution, surpasses any production of Hebrew literature, which has come down to us, should yet be unknown. But when we consider the vicissitudes through which the Jewish nation has passed, the wonder is that we retain the work itself.

"But who," says the eloquent Herder, "shall answer our

inquiries respecting him, to whose meditations we are indebted for this ancient book, this justification of the ways of God to man, and sublime exaltation of humanity, who has exhibited them, too, in this silent picture, in the fortunes of an humble sufferer, clothed in sackcloth, and sitting in ashes, but fired with the sublime inspirations of his own wisdom? Who shall point us to the grave of him, whose soul kindled with these divine conceptions, to whom was vouchsafed such access to the counsels of God, to angels and the souls of men, who embraced in a single glance the heavens and the earth, and who could send forth his living spirit, his poetic fire, and his human affections to all that exists, from the land of the shadow of death to the starry firmament, and beyond the stars? No cypress, flourishing in unfading green, marks the place of his rest. With his unuttered name he has consigned to oblivion all that was earthly, and, leaving his book for a memorial below, is engaged in a yet nobler song in that world, where the voice of sorrow and mourning is unheard, and where the morning stars sing together.

"Or, if he, the patient sufferer, was here the recorder of his own sufferings, and of his own triumph, of his own wisdom, first victorious in conflict, and then humbled in the dust, how blest have been his afflictions, how amply rewarded his pains! Here, in this book, full of imperishable thought, he still lives, gives utterance to the sorrows of his heart, and extends his triumph over centuries and continents. Not only, according to his wish, did he die in his nest, but a phoenix has sprung forth from his ashes, and from his odorous nest is diffused an incense, which gives, and will for ever give, reviving energy to the faint, and strength to the powerless. He has drawn down the heavens to the earth, encamped their hosts invisibly around the bed of languishing, and made the afflictions of the sufferer a spectacle to angels, has taught that God, too, looks with a watchful eye upon his creatures, and exposes them to the trial of their integrity for the maintenance of his own. truth, and the promotion of his own glory. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, (the happy end which the Lord appointed for him,) that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.'"*

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*Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, Marsh's Translation, Vol. I. p. 120.

In regard to the use of this book, it is hardly necessary, after what has been said of its character and design, to remind the reader, that the instruction which it contains is to be derived from its general spirit and design, as a whole, and not from particular verses or passages. Job was censured by the Deity for the rashness of his language, and his friends were condemned by the same unerring judge, as not having spoken that which was right. If we regard independent sentences or speeches, those uttered by the friends of Job must be regarded as more consistent with divine revelation, and more respectful to God, than much of the language of Job. It was in the application of their general maxims, that they were wrong; in endeavoring to prove by them, that Job was a bad man, because he was miserable; or, in general, that misery was a proof of guilt.

G. R. N.

ART. III.—1. A Discussion of the Question, Is the Roman Catholic Religion, in any or in all its Principles or Doctrines, opposed to Civil or Religious Liberty? And of the Question, Is the Presbyterian Religion, in any or in all its Principles or Doctrines, opposed to Civil or Religious Liberty? By the Rev. JOHN HUGHES, of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Rev. JOHN BRECKINRIDGE, of the Presbyterian Church. Philadelphia. Carey, Lea, & Blanchard. 1836.

2. A Debate on the Roman Catholic Religion: Held in the Sycamore Street Meeting House, Cincinnati, from the 13th to the 21st of January, 1837. Between ALEXANDER CAMPBELL of Bethany, Virginia, and the Rt. Rev. JOHN B. PURCELL, Bishop of Cincinnati. Taken down by Reporters, and revised by the Parties. Cincinnati. Stereotyped and Published by J. A. James & Co. 1837.

THE first of these controversies originated in one of the ordinary discussions before the Union Literary and Debating Institute of Philadelphia. The question at first was, Is the Roman Catholic Religion in any or all its principles or doctrines, inimical to civil or religious liberty? This question proved so in

teresting and exciting, that after the debate had continued three evenings, during which the Rev. Messrs. Hughes, McCalla, and Breckinridge, Honorary Members of the Society, were the principal speakers, arrangements were made for a continuance of the discussion between the Rev. Messrs. Hughes and Breckinridge for six evenings. It was further agreed, that at the expiration of the six evenings, the word "Presbyterian should be substituted for the words "Roman Catholic," and an equal portion of time should be devoted to the new question.

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The debate between Messrs Campbell and Purcell sprang from some remarks on the Protestant Reformation, which Mr. Campbell made in a lecture delivered before the "Western College of Teachers," an institution like the American Institute of Instruction. Mr. Campbell said, that the Protestant Reformation was the era at which the maxim, that man is a thinking being, was consecrated into a rule of action, and that all the happy changes in modern society are to be attributed to the prevalence of this maxim, and that the glory of them belongs to Martin Luther more than to any other man. This statement, of course, did not strike the ears of the Catholic Bishop of Cincinnati very agreeably, nor seem true or well timed. At the close of the lecture, Bishop Purcell asked leave to comment upon the offensive remark, and on the afternoon of the next day, a discussion ensued between him and Mr. Campbell upon the effects of the Protestant Reformation. Night came before the parties were satisfied with talking, and the College wisely resolved, as they should have done before, that the debate was out of place and irrelevant to the purposes of the meeting, and that they, therefore, would have no more of it. But the parties were not satisfied, and prolonged their controversy a few evenings, after the College of Teachers had adjourned, and about three months afterwards they met by agreement to debate in full the points at issue between Catholics and Protestants.

We might well expect that the Philadelphia Discussion would be the most interesting and exemplary, since there was but a single point at issue between the parties, and moreover they had liberty to write out their speeches at leisure, and make such corrections and additions as they chose. But the book before us does not justify the expectation. The Reverend gentlemen, Messrs. Hughes and Breckinridge, have said

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