shall endure for ever. Prosperity and adversity, life and death, poverty and riches, come of the Lord. Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the Law, are of the Lord: love, and the way of good works, are from him. Error and darkness had their beginning together with sinners; and evil shall wax old with them that glory therein. The gift of the Lord remaineth with the godly, and his favour bringeth prosperity for ever. Job. Knoweth thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Tho' his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever. They which have seen him shall say, Where is he?` He shall fly away as a dream, and not be found; yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The also which saw him shall see him no eye more, neither shall his place any more behold From the same. Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers. He accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of his hands. He will not lay upon man more than right. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore, they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have if we pray unto him? By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand. For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. From the same. Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any : he is mighty in strength and wisdom. He preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor. He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted. The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, terrors shall make him afraid on every side. A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall pre vail against him, as a king ready to the battle. For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out, and how oft cometh their destruction upon them. God distributeth sorrows in his anger. He knoweth their works, and he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed. He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others; because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways: so that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted. From the same.. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out he is excellent in power, and in judg ment, and in plenty of justice, he will not af flict. Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: to set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor hath hope, and ini quity stoppeth her mouth. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence. It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. His hope shall be cut off, and his trust shall be a spider's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before were affrighted. Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water? Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God: and the hypocrite's |