The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 30

no object of pity In any time when men are obeying the lawe of God in their social lifo. U ie the solitary, and those who are doomed to lead a too self-centred existence who need our pity. 2. HiB property. It consisted, we are told, in ample herds of cattle-sheep, c11mels, oxen, asses, and in a proportionate number of servants. All man's wealth is derived from the earth and its products in plants and animals. And it is a good thing to be reminded of this. We whose wealth is represented by mere symbols and figures for tho most part have not the sense of our dependence brought homo to us so vividly as he who leads the simple pastoral life of Job. 1'here is health and blessing in the calling of the husbnndman and the shepherd, living so near to ;Mother Earth, constantly reminded of their dependence upon her, of their power by dilicrence to extract comfort from her bosom. We all were once tillers and herdsmen ~nd°hunters; these are man's primeval occupations, and he must return to them a'._'.nin 'and again if he is to continue to prosper. Let us take the lesson that all sources of profit which are connected with the improvement of the earth are the healthiest that we can draw upon. To develop the earth and the mind of man-natural and spiritual cultiva- tion-these are noble works and worthy pursuits. Let the emigration of the young and :vigorous into the vast untilled tracts of the world be encouraged. There let them wed toil with nature, and build up scenes of comfort and happiness like that in which the patriarch dwelt. IV. PIETY AMIDST THE TEMPTATIONS OF PROSPERITY. It was an ancient saying that a good man struggling with adversity was a sight for the gods. But how much more so a good man struggling with prosperity. For while adversity menaces our physical well-being, not less does prosperity endanger our spiritual health. It does not openly attack, it softens, it relaxes, it undermines. For ten men who can bear poverty is there one who can bear riches? What lovely spiritual blossoms spring out of the scant soil of outward misery,' like the p1isoner's flower between the stone8 of his dungeon I What moral emaciation, what leanness of soul, may attend the full purse, cower in the splendid mansion, lurk beneath the fine raiment of the worldly great! Even with true men, who are not. to be easily overcome by outward temptations, it holds good, and they will owe, in the beautiful words of Milton, that riches "slacken Virtue and abate her edge." We are not, indeed, to infer, because so much is said in the Gospel on the dangers of riches to the soul, that there are no dangers in po-erty. But the truth is that the dangers of riches are more subtle, less obvious, heing associated with pleasure, not with pain. Poverty stings, riches lull the soul. Misery may pervert the cqnscience; but llL'ltuy seems to put it to sleep. Our life is a. struggle of the outward with the inward. The outwnrd, in one form or other, threatens to g:et the better of us. On this grent contest and agony the real interest of life, all its tragedy and poetry, depend. And if it kindles admiration, enthusiasm, awakens the sense of the sublime to see the victory o{ the soul 'over adversity, poverty, contempt, should it not equally delight our best feeling to see the victory oft.he soul over riches and prosperity? In the case of many, take away their surroundings, and they are nothing. The picture 'is worthless apart from the frame. Others are great in any circumstances. They do .not make the man. It is the man who makes them interesting. They may change, 'they may be reversed; the man remains the same. It is such a moral hero of the tr?,nquil scenes of peace that we are to qontemplate in Job. His piety is well brought out in the contrast between the thoughtlessness of his children and his own seriousness '(vers. 4, 5). They, in the heyday of youth and health and spirits, were wont on boll• 'days or birthdays to meet and hold high festival in one another's houses. They give tq1: !ype oftho tboughtles~ cultivators of pleasure. Nor is it hinted that there.was 'anything vicious in their pleasures. 1'hey loved the joyous pastimes of their sea.son of -life, and they took pleas1,1re in one another's company-that was all. No hint is given that in the su~sequent calamity they fell victims to the judgment of God upon their -sins. They pass, 'with this brief mention, out of sight, and all the interest centres upon Job. What he felt a1id knew was that pleasure, however innocent, dulls, like riches, the soul towl\rds. God, Young people have been seen to remove the family Bible from its place in making preparations for a dance, as if conscious that there was something in the free indulgence of the instincts of pleasure inconsistent with the presence of the solemn 'ren,inders of religioi;i. Bµt, pleasure has.already travelled beyond the limits of modcra~ tion, and entered the r'egion of lawlessness, licence, and excess. "".he_n there can be. o  20 THE BOOK OF JOB. (c:,11, I, 1-2Z,