2. On the supposed Chang(r 



like wool ; he scattereth the hoar frost like ashes.. He- 

 casteth forth his ice like morsels ; who can stand before 

 his cold ? The face of the deep wasfrozen," &c. 



The passages in Job which mention snow, hail, ice 

 and frost, are numerous. Dr, Williams supposes, with 

 many others, that the book of Job was written by Moses; 

 and that the descriptions refer to the land of Midian or 

 Palestine, about the latitude of 30 oi; 31° north. He 

 supposes also, that to produce solid ice on rivers, to an- 

 swer to the descriptions, a degree of cold is necessary, 

 corresponding with 25° by Farenheit. This he con^ 

 eludes to have been the extremity of cold, in the land of 

 Midian, in the age of Moses. 



The writings of David mention ice In the form of 

 " morsels," or crystals, which Dt. Williams has observ- 

 ed to be congealed in a temperature of about 31° by Fa- 

 renheit. On the strength of this single circumstance, he 

 concludes that the climate, in about 400 years, between 

 Moses and David, had become warmer by six degrees. 

 I am really surprised to observe on Mdiat a slight 

 foundation, a divine and philosopher has erected this 

 theory. In the first place, we have no evidence that 

 Moses wrote the book of Job ; on the contrary, there is 

 strong evidence that he was not the author- 

 Critics are not all agreed whether that book describes 

 a series of facts, or is a species of dd:'amatic composition, 

 intended to represent the vicissitudes of life, and the hu- 

 man passions. Respectable and pious men are found on 

 both sides of this question. 



But it is not very material as to- the present argument. 

 It is sufficient for my purpose, tiiat the scene of that book 

 is expressly laid in the land of Uz, near Chaldea, which 

 is in that part of Arabia, called the Desert, extending 

 from Syria and Judea, to Chaldea on the east, and the 

 Euphrates on the north.* Now, we have strong evi- 

 dence that Moses was never in that country. He was 

 born in Egypt ; he afterwards fled to Midian, then re- 

 turned to Egypt to deliver his countrymen from their 



* Sir V/illiam Jones has remarked, that the book of Job, from the 

 ianguage, must have been written by a man of Arabian extract. — 

 Jsiatic Ressarches. Bcchai t, from Hieronynms, observes that Job 

 must have been well versed in Arabic. — Geog, Sac. cap. xv. 



