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The Little Gleaner.

JOB IN HIS PROSPERITY.

OB is supposed to have lived in the time of Abraham. His name means "the afflicted one." He had great possessions in Uz, so called from being peopled originally by the descendants of Huz, the eldest son of Nahor. Uz was situated in Idumea, a country often called Edom. It is situated south of Canaan and extends into the rocky Arabia and to the borders of the Red Sea. The descendants of Esau inhabited it afterwards. Job had seven sons and three daughters, was a truly gracious upright man, and had great wealth. Our frontispiece represents him in the days of his prosperity, when he was "the greatest of all the men of the east." He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 she asses, and many servants.

Satan hated him and got permission from God to tempt him. And messenger after messenger soon came to tell Job that all his wealth was swept away and all his servants were killed, excepting those who brought him the sad tidings. And to make his misery complete the last messenger told him that a wind from the wilderness had blown down the house in which his sons were feasting, and killed them. In addition to all this misery, his body was smitten with the most painful boils that the ingenuity and malice of Satan could produce. His wife wished him to curse God and die, and his three bosom friends told him that all this had come upon him because he had been a

wicked man under the garb of religion. Most strikingly depicted are his misery and his losses in the following lines by Dale:—

"Of all my race there breathes not one
To comfort or deplore me;
Pain wakes a pulse in every bone,
And death is closing o'er me.
Still doth his lifted stroke delay,
Protracted tortures dooming;
I feel, ere life has passed away,
His very worm consuming.

Night spreads her mantle o'er the sky,
And all around are sleeping;
While I, in tears of agony,

My restless couch am steeping.
I sigh for morn- -the rising day

Awakes the earth to gladness,
I turn with sick'ning soul away,
It smiles upon my sadness.

A crown of glory graced my brow,
While nations bent before me;
Princes and hoary sires would bow
To flatter and adore me.

To me the widow turned for aid

And ne'er in vain address'd me;
For me the grateful orphan prayed,
The soul of misery bless'd me.

I raised the drooping wretch that pined
In lowly anguish lying;

Was balm unto the wounded mind,
And solace to the dying.

Till one stern stroke of all my state
Of all my bliss bereft me,
And I was worse than desolate ;
For God Himself had left me.

All hope on earth for ever fled,
A higher hope remaineth,

-1.

E'en while His wrath is o'er me shed,
I know my Saviour reigneth.

The worm may write this with my clay,
When flesh and spirit sever,

My soul shall see eternal day

And dwell with God for ever."

May we never, like Job's friends, judge others rashly; but, like Job, abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes. True repentance and living faith are blessings that all must feel before they die, or perish after death for their sins. ED.

HISTORY OF THE JEWS.

FROM NEHEMIAH TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

CHAPTER X.

WE concluded our last chapter with an observation of the character of Alexander the Syrian king, viz., of his neglecting the affairs of his kingdom, and spending his days in luxury. This course of life, as might be expected, soon brought trouble upon the nation, and Alexander bad to forsake his pleasures to head his army against Demetrius, the eldest son of the late king, who was seeking the throne from the usurper; but the arrival of Ptolemy Philometer, son-in-law to Alexander, with a large army, checked the progress of Demetrius, until a conspiracy, formed by Ammonius against the life of Ptolemy, in which it was alleged that Alexander was accessory, so changed the aspect of affairs, that the people declared against their king, and opened their gates to Ptolemy, offering him the kingdom, which he declined accepting, assuring them that he was content with his own dominions, but recommended

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