Jam. v. 11. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord ; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
ONE of the most singular ideas that can be sug- gested to a carnal mind, is that which occurs in the words immediately preceding the text ; " We count them happy that endure." An ungodly man sees, that it is better to bear afflictions patiently than to sink under them ; but he can scarcely conceive how afflictions, under any circumstances, can become a ground of congratulation. This difficulty, however, is solved by taking into the account " the end " of those afflictions : and it admits of easy illustration from the case of Job.
In prosecuting the Apostle's view of this subject, we shall consider,
I. The patience of Job under his afflictions —
Great and unparalleled were the afflictions of Job—
2376.] TnE PATIENCE OF JOB. 11.3
[The destruction of all his property, and all his servants, by bands of robbers, and by lightning, announced to him as it was in three different accounts, by different messengers in speedy succession, would of itself have been sufficient to over- whelm his mind, if he had not been endued with uncommon fortitude; since by this he was reduced in a moment from the height of opulence and grandeur to the lowest indigence and wanta.
But, distressing as these events were, what an inconceivable aggravation must they have received from the tidings delivered by a fourth messenger, the sudden death of all his children ! Had he heard of only one child dying, and that by any natural disorder, it would, to such a parent, have been a fearful addition to all his other burdens : but to hear of seven sons, and three daughters, all crushed in a moment by the falling of his house b, if it did not bereave him of his senses, we might well expect, that it should, at least, draw forth some murmur- ing, and unadvised expressions.
To all these calamities were added yet others, that affected more immediately his own person ; and which, in such a conjuncture, must be beyond measure afflictive. Satan, having permission to try him to the uttermost, smote him from head to foot with the most lothesome ulcers, insomuch that he was constrained to sit down among the ashes, and to scrape himself with a potsherd0.
In the midst of all this trouble one might hope that he would have some comfort in the kind offices of neighbours, the compassion of friends, and the tender assiduities of his wife. But, alas! his servants turned their backs upon himd: the children in the streets despised and mocked hime: the very friends who came to comfort him, loaded him with the most unfounded accusations, and asserted, that his sufferings were indications of peculiar wickedness, which God was now disclosing and punishing f. His wife also derided his affiance in God, and counselled him to renounce it utterly, yea, to " curse God, and dieg."
Take any one of these trials separately, and it was great : but view them collectively, and they exceeded all that ever were endured by mortal man.]
They served however to call forth his most un- rivalled patience —
[Mark his conduct when informed of all his accumulated misfortunes, and especially the loss of all his children : " Then
a Job i. 13—17. b Job i. 18, 19. c Job ii. 7, 8.
d Job xix. 15, 16. e Job xix. 18. f Passim.
s Job ii. 9. VOL. XX. I
Ill JAMES, V. II. [237G.
Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped; and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord'1.*'
Behold him yet again alter his body was so smitten, and when his wile gave him that desperate, that atheistical, advice : all was meekness still : his very reproof was mild, though firm: " He said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"