Vers. 25, 26.-Fears confirmed by facts. Job complained thil.t he was not foolishly confident in his prosperity, and so courting a reverse of fortune by pride and presump- tion. On the contrary, he was anticipating the possibility of evil and walking in fenr. Eis action, as it appears. in the opening verses of the book, shows us a man of an anxious :"mperament (eh. i. 5). He thinks it hard that trouble should come to him who ha i ,en red it. This may be unreasonable in Job; but it is quite natural, and not at all i11c~licanle. Inconsistent as it may seem, our vety anticipation of evil is unconsciously ta.ken as a ·sort of insumnce against it. Because we are prepared to expect it we aomehow come t-0 t.hi.nk that we should not receive it. Our humility, foresight. and apprehension are unconsciously treated as ma.king up a sort of compensa- tion which shall buy off the impending eril.. When they turn out to be nothing of the kind. we are sadly disappointed. • . . • L OuR WORST FEARS MAY BE REALIZED. 1. On earth. .Anxious people· are not ipso facto saved from trouble. The world does contain great evils. The ills of life are not confined to the imagination of the despondent. 'l'hey e.r:e 'seen in plain prosaic facts. 2 . .After death,. The fear of death will not save from'death, nor will the fear of hell save from hell. A person may have very dark views of his impending fate, and, if be deserves it, he may find that it is quite equal to his fears. Nothing can be more disastrous than the notion that the expect.ation of future punishment is only the dream of a scared conscience. " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap " is a great fundamental law of nature. u. THE BIGHT WAY TO DISPl!:L FEABB IB TO REMOVE THEm GBOUNDII. To· soothe fears without touching the fe.cts which justify them is the height of folly. • The facts remain, however much we may be hoodwinked into disregarding them. Salvation is not to be got by means of any manipulation of the sinner's fears. Sin Is the funda- mental cause of all ruin, and the justification of men's worst fears. The one ncoessity is to remove the sin ; then the fears will vanish of their own accord. The sick6Ding letters from condemned criminals, who are quite sure that they are going straight from the gallows t.o heaven, although they give no sign of genul.11e penitence for sin, reveal a very unwholesome style of religi_oWI inatructic.n. · Surely the chief blllliness of a <lB, IV, 1-21.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 67
Chri~ti&n teacher is aot to lull the fears of an alarmed conscieace, aad induce 11. conditfon of placid resignation. Hypnotism wonld do this more effectively; but to be C.) pnotized into placidity is not to be s1wed. If, however, men learn to confeRs their sins, ancl. to loatho themselves on account of those sins, then indeed the gospel of Christ assnrP,s perfect redomption for nil who turn to him in faith. When this is the soul's expcrieuce feat' may ho banished. Trouble, indce<l, n,ay come. But it is useless to nnticipnto it. It is betlor to take our Lord's aJvice, and "be not anxious for th~ morrow,n-W, F. A.
EXPOSITION.