Job, Chapter 1

In Hus, a Land which neare the Suns uprise,
And Northern confines of Sabaea lies,
A great Example of Perfection reign'd:
His Name was Iob; his Soul with guilt unstaind,
None with more zeale the Deitie ador'd;
Affected Vertue more, Vice more abhorr'd.
Three beauteous Daughters, and seven hopefull Boyes,
Renew'd his youth, and crown'd his Nuptiall Ioyes.
Lord of much Riches, which the use renownes:
Seven thousand broad-taild Sheepe gras'd on his Downes;
Three thousand Camels his ranke Pastures fed;
Arabia's wandring Ships, for traffick bred:
His gratefull Fields a thousand Oxen till'd;
They with their rich increase the hungry fill'd:
Five hundred Asses yearely tooke the Horse;
Producing Mules of greater speed and force;
The Master of a mighty Family;
Well ord'red, and directed by his Eye.
None was more opulent in all the East,
Of greater Power; yet such as still increast.
By daily turnes the Brothers entertaine
Each other: with the weeke begin againe.
This constant custome held: Not to excite
And pamper the voluptuous Appetite;
But to preserve the Vnion of their Blood
With sober Banquets, and unpurchas'd Food.
Th'invited Sisters with their graces blest
Their festivals; and were themselves a Feast.
Their turnes accomplisht, Iobs religious care
His Sonnes assembles; whose united praier
Like sweet perfumes from golden Censors rise:
Then with divine Lustrations sanctifies.
And when the Rosy-finger'd Morne arose;
From bleating Flocks unblemisht fatlings chose;
Proportion'd to their number: these he slew,
And bleeding on the flaming Altar threw
Perhaps, said he, my Children in the heat
Of wine and mirth, their Maker may forget;
And give accesse to Sinne. Thus they the Round
Of Concord Keepe; by his Devotions crownd.
Iehova from the summit of the skie,
Environ'd with his winged Hierarchie,
The world survaid. When lo, the Prince of Hell,
Who whilome from that envy'd Glory fell,
Like an infectious Exhalation
Shot through the Spheares; and stood before his Throne.
False Spirit said, th' Almighty, that all shapes
Do'st counterfeit to perpetrate thy Rapes;
Whence com'st thou? He reply'd; I with the Sun
Have circl'd the round World: much People won
From thy strict Rule, to my indulgent Raigne:
Taught that no pleasure can result from paine.
Hast thou, said God, observ'd my servant Iob?
Is their a Mortall treading on the Globe
Of Earth so perfect? can thy wicked Arts
Corrupt his goodnesse? all thy fiery Darts
The Armour of his fortitude repels;
In Iustice he, as thou in fraud, excels:
Our power adores, with sacrifices feasts;
Loves what thou hat'st; and all thy works detests.
Hath Iob serv'd God for nothing? Satan said:
Or unrewarded at thy Altar paid
His frequent vowes? Hast thou not him, and all
Which he cals his, inclosed with a wall
Of strength impregnable? his labours blest?
And almost with prosperitie opprest?
Left nothing to desire? yet should'st thou lay
Thy hand upon him; or but take away
What thy Indulgence gave; in foule disgrace
He would blaspheme, and curse thee to thy face.
Iehova said; his Children, all he hath,
Are subject to the venome of thy wrath:
Alone his Person spare. The tempter then
Shrunke from his presence to th'aboads of Men.
As at their elder Brother's all the rest
Of that faire off-spring celebrate is feast
With liberall joy; and coole th'inflaming blood
Of generous grapes, with christall of the flood:
A Messenger arriv'd, halfe out of breath,
Yet pale with horror of escaped Death,
And cry'd; Oh Iob, as thy strong Oxen till'd
The stubborne fallowes; while thy Asses fill'd
Themselves with Herbage; all became a prey
To arm'd Sabaeans, who in ambush lay:
Thy Servants by their cursed fury slaine;
And I the only Messenger remaine.
Another entred, ere his tale was told,
With singed haire; and said; I must unfold
A dreadfull Accident: At Noone, a Night
Of clouds arose, that Day depriv'd of Light:
Whose roaring conflicts from their breaches threw
Darts of inevitable flames, which slew
Thy Sheepe and Shepheards: I, of all alone
Escap'd, to make the sad Disaster knowne.
This hardly said; a third, with blood imbrew'd,
Brake through the Presse, and thus his griefe pursu'd:
The fierce Chaldaeans in three Troopes assaild
Our Guards; till they their Soules through wounds exhal'd:
Then drave away thy Camels, only I
Thus wounded, live to tell thy losse, and Die.
As thronging Billowes one another drive
To murmuring shores; so thicke and fast arrive
These Messengers of Death: The fourth and last,
With staring haire, wild lookes, and breathlesse haste,
Rusht in and said: Oh Iob! prepare to heare
The saddest newes that ever pierc'd an eare.
Loe, as thy Children on soft Couches lay,
And with discourses entertain'd the Day,
A sodain Tempest from the Desert flew
With horrid wings, and thundered as it blew.
Then whirling round, the Quoines together strooke;
And to the ground that lofty fabrick shooke:
Thy Sonnes and Daughters buryed in the fall;
Who, ah! deserv'd a nobler Funerall.
And I alone am living to relate
Their Tragedies, that was deni'd their Fate.
He, who the assaults of Fortune, like a rock
So long withstood; could not sustaine this shock;
But rising, forthwith from his shoulders tare
His purple robe, and, and shav'd his dangling haire
Then on the Earth his Body prostrate laid;
And thus with humble adoration, said:
Naked I was, at my first houre of Birth;
And naked must returne unto the Earth.
God gives; God takes away: Oh be his Name
For ever blest! thus free from touch of blame
Iob firmely stood: and with a patient mind
His Crosses bare; nor at his God repin'd.