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 Length of days is in her (Wisdom's) right hand, in her left riches and honour (iii. 16).

And yet there is evidence, even in Prov. i.-ix., of a nascent scepticism on this point, originating probably in some recent event, such as the captivity of the Ten Tribes. In words which remind us of Psalms xxxvii. and lxxiii. the writer exclaims—

Envy thou not the man of violence, and have thou pleasure in none of his ways The curse of Jehovah is in the house of the ungodly, but the habitation of the righteous he blesses (iii. 31, 33);

and to furnish his disciples with an answer to the sceptic—

Truly, whom Jehovah loves, he corrects, and as a father the son in whom he delights (iii. 12; comp. Job v. 17).

With this sweet saying I take leave for the present of this beautiful work. How true it is that the doubts of a believer are the stepping-stones to higher attainments of faith!