The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-01-06
;isOs5.

Concerning Edom, TINS saith the Lord of
lists; Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is coun-
sci persisted from the prudent: Is their
wisdom vanished ?--Jer. Ilix:7.
Fallen and despised as now it is, Edom,
did not the prescription of many ages abro-
gate its right, might lay claim to the title of
having been the first seat of learning, as well
as the centre Of commerce. Sir Isaac New
ton considers Edom to have been the nur-
evidence to that effect from profane as
well as from sacred history. THE Egypt
ians," he remarks, ''having learned the
skill of the Edomitcs began now to observe
the position of the stars, and the length Of
the solar year, for enabling them TO know
the position of the stars at any time, and
to sail by them at times without sight of
the shore, and this gave beginning to as
tronomy and navigation 1t seems that
letters, and astronomy, and the trade of
carpenters were invented by the merchants
of the Red Sea, and that they were propa-
gated from Arabia, Petrpa into Egypt,
Chaldea Syria, Asia Minor and Europe"
While the philosopher may thus think of
Edom with respect, neither the admirer of
| genius, the man of feeling, nor the child Of
devotion will, even 10 this day, seek from
any land richer treasure Of plaiEtive poe
| try, of imprisoned cloquence, and Of fer
vid picty, than Edom has bequeathed to the
world in tho Book cf Job. 1t exhibits to
us, in language the most pathetic and sub
lime, all that man could feel, in the out
| ward panes of his body and the inner
writings of his mind, of the frailities of
| his frame, and of the dissolution of his
earthly comforts and cndearments; all that
mortal can discern, by meditating on the
ways and contemplating the works OF God,
Of the inscrutablc dispcnsations of his prov
dence; all that knowledge which could
first tell, in written words, of Arcturus
and Orion, and the Pleiades; and all that
deyotedncss of soul, and Immortality OF
hope, which, with patience that fatered
not even when the heart was bruised and
almost broken, and the body covered over
| with distress, could say Though he Stag me,
| net ariJ trust IN linn. But if the question
now be asked Is understanding persisted
ont of Edom the answer, like every re-
Spouse of the prophetic word, may be briefly
given: His. The minds OF the Bedouins
are as uneultivated as the deserts they
| traverse. Practical wisdom is, in general,
the first that man learns, and the last that
he retains. And the simple but signiti-
cant fact already alluded to, that the
clearing away of little rubbish, merely
.to allow the water to flow" into an an
ciept cisiern in order to render it useful to
themselves. sis an undertaking far beyond
the views of the wandering Arabs, shows
| that understanding IS, indeed, pefashea
| from among them They view the indie
structiblc works of former ages not only
| with wonder but with superstitious regard,
and consider them as the work OF Sehii'
They look upon European traveller as
magician and believe that, having seen any
spot where they imagine that treasures
are deposited, she can afterward command
tho guardian of the treasure TO set the
whole before him." In Teman, which yet
maintains n precarious existence. the III
habitants possess the desire without the
means of knowledge The Koran is their
only study, and contains the sum OF theit
wisdom. And, although he has but ms
cradle comforter, =" and was oyermastered
in argument by kinsman stricken wan
anlietion, yet no Temanitc can now diS'
course with either the wisdom or the pa
,hos of Eliphaz Of old. Wisdom IS no more
:, ys,on and understanding has persisted
| cut of The Mount Of Esdu. -Eeidt from Prop"