ON THE CREED, DOCTRINES, AND RITUAL OF THE Book of Jon, THIS [From Mr. GOOD's Translation of this Poem.] HIS inquiry will be found of no small moment or importance. For if it have succeeded in fixing the date of the book of Job at a period antecedent to the Egyptian exody, and of course to the Mosaic institution, and in bringing home the composition to Moses himself-then does this book immediately become a depository of patriarchal religion, the best and fullest depository in the world, and drawn up by that very pen which was most competent to do justice to it. Then also do we obtain a clear and decisive answer to the question which has so often been proposed, -What is the ultimate intention of the book of Job? and for what purpóse is it introduced into the Hebrew and Christian canons? It will then appear, that it is for the purpose of making those canons complete, by uniting, as full an account as is necessary of the dispensation of the patriarchs, with the two dispensations by which it was progressively succeeded. It will then appear, that the chief doctrines of the patriarchal religion, as collected from different parts of the poem, were as follow: "" I. The creation of the world by one supreme and eternal Intelligence. v. An apostacy, or defection, in some rank or order of these powers of which Satan seems to have been one, and perhaps chief. VI. The good and evil powers or principles, equally formed by the Creator, and hence equally denominated Sons of God;' both of them employed by him, in the administration of his providence; and both amenable to him at stated courts, held for the purpose of receiving an account of their respective missions. VII. A day of future resurrection, judgment, and retribution, to all mankind. VIII. The propitiation of the Creator, in the case of human transgressions, by sacrifices, and the mediation and intercession of a righteous person. "Several of these doctrines are more clearly developed than others; yet I think there are sufficient grounds for deducing the whole of them. Some critics may perhaps conceive, that the different names by which the heavenly host are characterized, may be mere synonyms, and not designed to import any variety of rank or order. Yet the names themselves, in most instances, imply distinctions, though we are not informed of their natúre, p'non (Memitim) Destinies, or Destroyers, Ministers of Death, cannot possibly apply to all of them, and appear to be nearly synonymous with the Μόραι, Αἶσαι, οι Parca, of the Greek and Roman writers. The term itself, indeed, is obviously used in a limited and appropriate sense in chap. xxxiii.23, • As obedim, servants; malacim, angels; melezim, intercessors; memilim, destinies, or destroyers; alep, the chyliad or thousand; kedosim, SANCTI, the heavenly saints, or bosts generally. 11. Its regulation, by his perpetual and superintending providence. 11. The intentions of his providence carried into effect by the ministration of a heavenly hierarchy. IV. The heavenly hierarchy, composed of various ranks and orders, possessing different names, dignities. and offices.* and As his soul draweth near to the grave, "Our established lection, for destinies, gives destroyers, which is a good word, but less appropriate. In 2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17, the ministring spirit employed is exhibited under the character of the destroying angel, and in 1 Cor. x. 10. is OxofPEUTòs; which, in our common version, is still rendered THE DESTROYER: thongh the verb destroy, which immediately precedes it, is aπwλoνTO; Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the Destroyer.' "The general term for the whole of these different ranks appears to be pp (kedosim), sancti, or holy ones. D'ay (obedim) ́ministers or servants,' seems to con vey, in every instance in which it occurs, a subordinate idea, in office -nia) מלאכים as well as in name, to lacim) angels, thrones, or prince doms. (alep) the chiliad or thousand' distinctly imports a particular corps or class; and is probably denominated, by a rule common to most countries and languages, from the number of which it consisted, as militia, centurion, decemvir, heptarch, tithingman. "The same general belief has descended, in Arabia, to the present day; and forms a distinct and prominent doctrine of the Alcoran. The Memit, Destroying Angel or Destiny, of the poem before us, is there denominated Azrael; as the Angel of Resurrection,' or he who is to sound the trumpet at that solemn period, is called Israfil. Both these are supposed to belong to the most dignified order of the heavenly hierarchy, which is named Azazil, and of which Gabriel and Michael are also members. Satan (who is still thus denominated, as he is also Eblis or Perdition, from his present hopeless state) is conceived to have been of the same order, before his defection In a subordinate order, we meet with two angels of considerable celebrity in the Mahommedan mythology, who are entitled Examiners, and whose names are Monkir and Nakir: the title of Examiners being given to them from their office of examining the dead, immediately on their decease, preparatory to their happiness or of those who fell with him, will misery. The doom, of Satan, and not take place till that of mankind, at the general resurrection; ti when, agreeably to the doctrine of the book of Job, they are permitted, under the superintendance of the Almighty, to roam about the world, and prove mankind by temptations and afflicuous; two guardian angels, however, being in the mean time assigned to every man for his and write down his actions; and protection, who impartially notice lieved daily. these angels are supposed to be re In addition to this regular and indeed the Mahommedans in hierarchy, the modern Arabians, general, believe in the existence of a still lower race of beings, tilling up the intermediate space between men and angels, whom they de nominate Jin, or Genii (), formed, like the angels, of fire, but of a grosser fabric, who eat and drink, propagate their kind, are both good and bad, are subject to death, and will, like mankind, be rewarded or punished at the resurrection: the whole of which is a pal a palpable appendage to the original tenets of Arabia, and of the patriarchs in general, as communicated in the poem before us; and was probably borrowed from the Persians. 66 The general doctrine, indeed, and under the form here supposed, of a series of ascending orders, has been common to almost all ages, countries, and religions, and was in all probability derived, in every instance, from patriarchal tradition. The ancient Persians,' observes Mr. Sale, firmly believe the ministry of angels, and their superintendence over the affairs of this world (as the Magians still do), and therefore assign them distinct charges and provinces, giving their names to their > months, and the days of their months.' Mr. Sale, however, appears to be in an error, in supposing that the Arabians derived this general doctrine from the Persian sages; since it is obvious, from the present poem, that it existed in Arabia before the earliest date that can be attributed to either of the Zoroasters, from whom the Persians derived their 'religion. "From the east the same system flowed successively into Greece and Rome, and is thus distinctly ap. pealed to by Hesiod, who calculates the whole number of heavenlyguards, or deputies, appointed to watch over the earth, at thirty thousand; Op. et Dies, I. 246. —Εγγὺς γὰρ ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἐόντες Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep. All these, with ceaseless praise, his works behold, Both day and night. How often, from the steep Of echoing hill or thicker, have we heard Sole or responsive to each other's note, With heavenly touch of instrumental In full harmonic number join'd; their songs Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven." "The source from which these lines are derived, is the Bible; and it is of far more consequence to us that the doctrine they develope pervades the Bible, than that it pervades any other work; and especially that it runs through the whole of the scriptures, both Jewish and Christian, from Genesis to the Revelations-there being scarcely a book which has not a reference to it, and without a single caution or hint that the language employed is merely figurative, or designed to convey any other than the obvious and popular idea which must necessarily have been attached to it by those to whom it was delivered. Thus especially Coloss. i. 16. in which we have, in few words, a description of invisible as well as visible "Milton has understood this passage of St. Paul in the sense in which Mr. Locke laments that all the different passages of the scriptures have not been uniformly understood. What you say, observes he, to his friend Mr. Bold, about critics and critical interpretations, particularly of the scriptures, is not only, in my opinion, true, but of great use to be observed in reading learned commentators, who, not seldom, make it their busiuess to show in what sense a word has been used by other authors: whereas the proper business of a commentator is to show in what sense it was used by the author himself in that place; which, in the scripture, we have reason to conclude, was most commonly in the ordinary vulgar sense of the word or phrase known at that time, because the books were written and adapted to the people.' Bishop Horsley, in the last sermon he ever composed, and which is full of that boldness of thought, and manliness of style, so peculiarly characteristic of his writings, (the text, Dan. iv. 17) seems, in various parts of it, open to Mr. Locke's animadversion; and especially, in contending that the term 'Michael, or Michael the archangel, wherever it occurs, is nothing more than a name for our Saviour; and that the WATCHERS and HOLY ONES of his text import no other than the different persons of the Trinity. He warmly inveighs against the doctrine that ' God's government of this lower world is carried on by the administration of the holy angels (and those, continues he, who broached this doctrine could tell us and how many angels in each or exactly how many orders there are, der) that the different orders bave their different departments in government assigned to them; some, constantly attending in the presence of God, form his cabinet council; others are his provincial governors; every kingdom in the world having its appointed guardian angel, to whose management it is intrusted: others again are supposed to have the charge and custody of individuals. This system is in truth nothing better than pagan polytheism, somewhat disguised and qualified; for, in the pagan system, every nation had its tutelar deity, all subordinate to Jupiter, the sire of gods and men. Some of these prodigies of ignorance and folly, the rabbin of the Jews, who lived since the dispersion of the nation, thought all would be well, if, for tutelar deities, they substituted tutelar angels. From this substitution the system which I have described arose; and from the Jews, the christians, with other fooleries, adopted it.' "The order of transmission is here strangely confused: for, instead of christian dotards having obtained this doctrine from rabbinical dotards, and these again from pagan dotards, the plain and common sense of the terins referred to in the very ancient poem before us-those of a synonymous kind employed in other books books of the Old and New Testa ments the unequivocal tradition concurrent in all the highest ages of all the most ancient nations in every part of the world-seem to establish, as clearly as any thing of the kind can be established, that such a doctrine was of patriarchal belief, that it existed among mankind alinost, or perhaps altogether, from their first creation,-and that it has descended with them, in every ramification and direction. "The whole that can be objected upon the subject is, that it has been, at various times and in various modes, abused; and this, in truth, after all his apparent opposition, is the whole that appears intended by Dr. Horsley; since, immediately afterwards, he asserts as follows: That the holy angels are often employed by God in his government of this sublunary world, is indeed clearly to be proved by holy writ: that they have powers over the matter of the universe analogous to the powers over it which men possess, greater in extent, but still limited, is a thing which might reasonably be supposed, if it were not declared: but it seems to be confirmed by many passages of holy writ, from which it seems also evident that they are occasionally, for certain specific purposes, commissioned to exercise those powers to a prescribed extent. That the evil angels possessed, before the fall, the like powers, which they are still occasionally permitted to exercise for the punishment of wicked nations, seems also evident. That they have a power over the human sensory (which is part of the material universe), which they are occasionally permitted to exercise, by means of which they may inflict diseases, suggest evil thoughts, and be the instruments of temptations, must also be admitted.' "And, all this being admitted, there seems no great difficulty in conceiving that a God of order would arrange the hosts of the invisible as he has those of the visible world, into gradations of various kinds, endowed with various powers; that one of these morning stars may differ, at present, from another star in glory, as we are told the beatified spirits of mankind will differ, hereafter: and with this admission there does not appear to be any necessity for wandering, as Dr. Horsley (and before him Mr. Parkhurst) has done, from the common and obvious sense of his text, into a recondite and hypothetical explanation. "One of the chief arguments urged by the learned prelate, in support of his interpretation, that the terms watchers' and holy ones' import the Three Persons in the Godhead, is, that his text affirms that this matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand of the word of the holy ones;' indicating an authority which none but the Godhead could possess, since no other being, however exalted, can decree, although he may execute. This, however, is to give the text a Hebrew rather than a Chaldaic bearing, in which last language the English reader should be informed that it is written. More strictly rendered, and in the direct order of the words, it is as follows: 'To the division of the Ourin (7)}) watchers, or those that keep watchi) is the decree; and to the charge of the Kedosin (wp heavenly host) the introspection; i. e. looking into it,' to see that the decree is carried into effect. It is, in truth, the common clause with which the imperial |