o?i the Atmosphere. 323 



to, for matters either of pleasure, profit, or necessity, depends 

 singly upon the good-will and bounty of tli? first mover; so that 

 it is to him alone that we are to render all honour and thanks- 

 giving, without assuming any thing to ourselves." — L'Estrange's 

 Josephus, chap. viii. 



The i^ook of Job is a fair specimen of Sahian theology before 

 the less refined sentiments of what is now denominated Sabian 

 worship were introduced, — The beautiful poem, with the argu- 

 mentative narratives contained in the Book of .lob, is of great an- 

 tiquity; — no internal evidence assists us in determining the age 

 in which it was written, nor the author to whom we are indebted 

 for a composition which has merited, and will ever merit, the ad- 

 miration of mankind. The personification of the agent of evil 

 is a specimen of poetical licence, but the subsequent matter is 

 simple in its theology and correct in its ethics. The sublimity 

 of thought and the pure morality contained in this work are 

 admitted to be superior to the productions of Homer. 



Although many allusions are made to the customs of patri- 

 archal ages, or rather of the early stages of civilization, it may 

 iiot be without hesitation inferred that the Book of Job Vv-as fa- 

 bricated beyond the precincts of improved civilization and highly 

 cultivated talent. — The arguments of the friends of Job are 

 founded on principles similar to those which have in several 

 periods of the world formed tlie bases of academic questions. 



I have no wish, sir, to fill your pages with tlieological or 

 ethical discussions, nor to involve your readers with investiga- 

 tions concerning the probable writer of that excellent composi- 

 tion, — whether Enoch, or any of his predecessors or cotempo- 

 raries, is of no moment, — the state of astronomical, and, if the 

 distinction must be observed, of astrological science, at the aera 

 in which the poem was written, is deducible from tiie mention 

 of Mazarvth, ylrcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades, more espe- 

 cially from the mention made of the sweet ivjiaences of the 

 Pleiades; whence we must infer that the writer was no stranger 

 to the prevalent opinion of sidereal influence. 



What the writer of the Book of Job appears to have credited, 

 — what A!)raham from the statements in Josephus appears to 

 have corroborated, — may, I beg leave to jiresume, be considered 

 as having constituted a part of that knowledge which Moses 

 acquired amongst the Egyptians, and in which Daniel and his 

 associates became prolicients in the court of Babylon. 



Impelled by a desire of attaining the knowledge of trutii, and 

 with that view dcsiions of divesting myself of all prejudice, I must 

 avow that I see Jiol/ii/i^ in a creed considering the starry host 

 as the agents of Deity l)y their mutual attractions and repulsions, 

 at the : ame time liiniting to the Divine Being all the reverence 



X2 of 



