e of the _servant_,
the language is without meaning, and perfectly unwarranted; while such a
_relation_ as that of _involuntary_ and _hereditary_ servitude, where
the master had _unlimited power_ over his servant, and in an age when
cruelty was common, there is the greatest propriety in making the
servant or slave, a _companion with himself, in affliction_, as well as
the oppressed and afflicted, in every class where _death alone_
dissolved the _state_ or _condition_, out of which their afflictions
grew. Beyond all doubt, this language refers to a state of _hereditary
bondage_, from the afflictions of which, _ordinarily_, nothing in that
day brought relief but _death_.

Again, in chapter 7th, he goes on to defend himself in his eager desire
for death, in an address to God. He says, it is natural for a servant to
desire the shadow, and a hireling his wages: "As the servant earnestly
desireth the shadow, and as the hireling looketh for the reward of his
work," so it is with me, should be supplied.--Job vii: 2. Now, with the
previous light shed upon the use and meaning of these terms in the
_patriarchal Scriptures_, can any man of candor bring himself to believe
that two states or conditions are not here referred to, in one of which,
the highest reward after toil is mere rest; in the other of which, the
reward was wages? And how appropriate is the language in reference to
these two states.

The _slave_ is represented as earnestly desiring the _shadow_, because
his condition allowed him no prospect of any thing more desirable; but
the _hireling_ as looking for the _reward of his work_, because _that_
will be an equivalent for his fatigue.

So Job looked at _death_, as being to his _body_ as the servant's
_shade_, therefore he desired it; and like the _hireling's wages_,
because _beyond the grave_, he hoped to reap the fruit of his doings.
Again, Job (xxxi:) finding himself the subject of suspicion (see from
verse 1 to 30) as to the rectitude of his past life, clears himself of
various sins, in the most solemn manner, as unchastity, injustice in his
dealings, adultery, contempt of his servants, unkindness to the poor,
covetousness, the pride of wealth, etc. And in the 13th, 14th, and 15th
verses he thus expresses himself: "If I did despise the cause of my
man-servant, or my maid-servant, when they contended with me, what then
shall I do when God rises up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer
him? Did not he that made