Thus " in all this he never once charged God foolishly, or sinned in the least respect1."
It is true that, after this, we find him " cursing the clay of his birth," and uttering some unwarranted expressions against God: nor would it become us either to conceal, or to exte- nuate, his guilt in these respects. Our blessed Lord alone was absolute/// without sin. But though Job betrayed his infirmity in some hasty words, yet, on the whole, his argu- ment was right in opposition to that of his friends: and God himself, as the arbiter of the dispute, declared, that " they had not spoken the thing that was right as his servant Job hadk." Moreover, the deep humility with which he acknowledged his offence, proved his title to the character which God had given him in the beginning, that he was the most perfect and upright of the sons of men1.]
Having taken this view of Job's afflictions, and of his patience under them, let us consider,
II. The design which God had in them —
We, who behold every part of this mysterious dispensation in one view, are enabled, from its catastrophe, to mark the design of God in every intermediate step of the plot : we see what God in- tended, by what he actually effected.
1. He confounded Satan —
[Satan had accused Job as a hypocrite, who, if he were brought into trying circumstances, would even curse God to his face : and he undertook to prove him such a character, if God would only suffer him to make the trial. God gave him this permission"1, and thereby afforded Satan an occasion to prove himself a liar, and to demonstrate that integrity, the existence of which he was so forward to deny.
h Job i. 20, 21. I Job i. 22. and ii. 10.
k Job xlii. 7. ' Job i. 8. and ii. 3.
m Job i. 9 — 12. and ii. 4 — 6.
.»