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suffering which is in no sense whatever the consequence of the sufferer's sin either of sin actual or of sin latent, of sin committed or of sin germinal, of sin recognized by the doer or of sinful tendencies whereof he is not conscious. Moreover, if the Rabbis and Professor Budde be right, then God must have been wrong or deceiving when he emphatically affirmed the spotless integrity of Job. 'How,' it may be urged in reply to my argument,' could Job say impious words about God unless he had in his heart the seeds of sin? He must, unknown to himself, have been proud of his own virtue. Self-righteousness was the secret, germinating sin which the pangs of affliction brought to the light of day.' The rejoinder seems to be that we must not press the author's psychology or analysis of human character too hard or far. Job, the individual, stands for the awakening conscience of humanity. his mouth had to be put all the doubts which hitherto had been half or dumbly felt. By him they had to be fully and fearlessly expressed. It is true that Job's words are sometimes impious, and they are meant to seem so, for the author desires to teach that all discontent with God's rule is wrong. But it is wrong not because there is one particular reason for suffering which the story of Job may teach us (namely, purification), but, on the contrary, because, though there is no perceivable reason for us, there is a reason for God. The divine rule is always reasonable and righteous, though man may frequently be unable to understand it. We may also observe that Job in the very midst of his complaints constantly falls back upon an overmastering belief in the righteousness of God. Behind the unjust God of his undeserved sufferings there is the just God who will ultimately assert his innocence. We must remember, too, that Job has never been taught any other cause for sore and sudden calamity than the grievous sin of the sufferer. Yet is he rightly convinced of his own freedom from any iniquity which could possibly be conceived as adequate cause for the immensity of his affliction. A mere sinful tendency would not, on the old theory, have sufficed. If then his suffering be the will of God (which was assumed on all hands), and if there be no moral reason for suffering other than sin, then God is powerful but not good. Such seems to be the inevitable deduction, and Job is scarcely to be regarded as a sinner for drawing it, even though his words are wild.'

§ 7. The speech of God and the epilogue.-At the close of Job's last long soliloquy there comes, in the Hebrew text as we now have it, a long speech by a fourth speaker who had not hitherto been mentioned. This speech is probably an interpolation. Omitting

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any notice of it here, I pass to that which originally followed at the end of Job's soliloquy. God himself-the real good God to whom Job had so constantly appealed to brush away the mocking semblance of the unjust and careless God whom his woes impliedthis real and good God suddenly appears and speaks.

But he does not clear up the mystery. He does not explain the reason of 'undeserved misery.' His main argument seems to be this: Does not 'nature' show that I am no careless or thoughtless God? Does not 'nature' show that I am infinite in wisdom as well as in power? And yet are not the processes of 'nature' full of mystery? If then I am wise as the Ruler of nature, am I not wise as the Ruler of man? If the phenomena of man and of human society are mysterious, no less so are the phenomena of nature; but if divine wisdom is immanent in the one, it is also immanent, in spite of appearances, in the other. If then God be wise, then is he righteous, for divine wisdom and divine righteousness are one and the same. The glories of nature quicken faith.

Job admits the correctness of the divine reasoning, and consequently reverts to his attitude in the introduction-pious resignation to the will of God without adequate comprehension of its meaning.

Then follows the epilogue, which, like the prologue, is also in prose. God solemnly declares his disapprobation of the three friends. In other words, he proclaims the falsity of the old doctrine that suffering implies sin. This divine disapproval is one of the most important utterances of the book, but it is in harmony with the author's artistic spirit that, in relation to the drama as a whole, it is a mere incident, and might easily be overlooked. Then, in accordance with the old traditional story, the illness of Job is healed and his prosperity is restored. Some people object strongly to the epilogue. They think the author relapsed into the old point of view, and that Job's misery should only have ended by death. But it was not absolutely necessary that the author should have departed from the current story. He had shown that suffering is not always the sequel of sin, and therefore it was not unreasonable that the feelings of the reader should be quieted, and that the book should end in happiness and repose. The end which the critics to whom I have alluded suggest as the true and right one would hardly, to the readers of our author's day, have seemed an end at all.

§ 8. Solutions of the problem.-From the foregoing outline of the 'plot,' it will be seen that we are not to expect from our author any clear-cut solutions to the problem he has raised. No adequate

explanation of the sufferings of the righteous is offered to us, and the duty of man as he recognizes that the world is full of mysteries, strange, unapproachable, overpowering mysteries which he cannot read,' is to trust, trust in the power and in the wisdom and in the goodness of him, the Almighty One, who rules it.' Yet great truths have been elicited by the discussion, even although these truths are mainly cast in a negative form.

(1) First and foremost, suffering is not always the evidence or the consequence of the sufferer's sin.

(2) There is such a thing as pure and disinterested goodness. (3) Suffering is a discipline and a purification, which tends to lead men away from sin or to crush the seeds of sin before they blossom.

(4) Suffering educates. It gives righteousness a special opportunity. It develops goodness and intensifies it.

Of this last truth Dean Bradley, in his admirable Lectures on Job, which I would most earnestly recommend to all my readers, if they know them not already, says most truly: "The highest, the divinest life may be compatible with sorrow, may rest on pain and self-sacrifice. To how many sufferers has the lesson come like spring airs to a frozen soil-taught them that the truest use of pain, yea sometimes of spiritual pain, and racking doubts and disturbing questions, is not to paralyze but to strengthen the soul, to brace us to do good work for God and man.'

§ 9. The character of the present translation.-Although the Book of Job is long, I have thought it inadvisable to omit any part of it. In spite of its interpolations (two of which are in themselves of very high interest), it is a work of art and should be judged as a whole. It seemed to me, therefore, that the worth of it and the worth of my own book would be impaired if I only presented it to my readers in selections. I must now specially call attention to the character of my translation. It is based upon the Authorized Version, but my changes are more numerous than in any other part of the Bible. The reasons for these changes are that the Hebrew is frequently very difficult and sometimes very corrupt. Changes have therefore to be made where the less accurate scholarship of the translators under King James can be corrected by the riper knowledge prevailing at the close of the nineteenth century. It is often necessary to correct the existing Hebrew text, either by following the rendering of one of the ancient versions (which sometimes had a better Hebrew text before them), or occasionally by some critical emendation. But when modern scholarship has done its best, many passages remain doubtful,

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and many others, to my thinking at any rate, unintelligible. Some of the former passages I have indicated by queries (?) placed after the obscure sentence in question. The query (?) has also been placed after many emendations, which make good sense, but are of very doubtful certainty. The latter passages I have indicated by dots. For example, four lines of dots in succession mean that there are in the Hebrew four lines out of which, to my mind, without violence to Hebrew grammar, style, or thought, no intelligible meaning can be elicited. A few lines here and there, which are probably interpolations or glosses, have been silently omitted without dots. I would also urge the reader to remember the limitations of the English language as to pronouns. If the meaning be doubtful to him, let him always ask himself, Does this 'he' or 'his' refer to Job or to God or to some other subject? It will often be found that a 'he,' an 'it,' or a 'they' may refer to totally different subjects in two successive lines, or even in one and the same line. The reader should also remember that Hebrew has no subjunctive or potential mood, and no auxiliary verbs. The Hebrew poet often says, God does this and there happens that, and this mode of speech is maintained in the translation. But we should possibly say, If God were to do this, there would happen that. And there are many other examples of a similar kind.

§ 10. The tying of the knot.-We start then with the prose introduction or prologue.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and 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 men of the east. And his sons were wont to hold a feast, each one on his day; and they would send and bid their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and he rose 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, and denied God in their hearts.' Thus did Job continually.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to

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present themselves before the Lord, and the Adversary came also among them. And the Lord said unto the Adversary, "Whence comest thou?' Then the Adversary answered the Lord, and said, 'From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.' And the Lord said unto the Adversary, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?' Then the Adversary answered the Lord, and said, 'Doth Job fear God for nought? 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. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath; surely he will curse thee to thy face.' And the Lord said unto the Adversary, 'Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.' So the Adversary went forth from the presence of the Lord.

And it came to pass on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: that there came a messenger unto Job, and said, 'The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.'

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, 'Fire of God fell from heaven, and burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.'

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, 'The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and carried them away, yea, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.'

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, 'Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: and, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.'

Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped.