Vers. 1-6.-fie teacher tested. Throughout the words of Job's friends uiany truths are to be found both accurately stated and beautifully illustrated; but in many case- almost generally-a wrong application of them is made. The friends designing· to be comforters do, through imperfect views of the mystery of human suffering, indee_d become accusers, and make the burden heavier which they proposed· to lighten. • But the words now under consideration are perfectly true. He who bad formerly been the instructor of many, and the strengthener of them of feeble knees; is now himself smitten, and he faints; he is touched and troubled. The lesson is therefore to ·the teacher who can pour out words of instruction to others, and to the comforter ·who aims at consoling the sorrowful. His principles will one day be tested in his own experience, and be will in his own life prove their truthfulness or their falsity.· Eliphaz insinuat-is, if he does not actually affirm, Job's failare. "To be forewarned is to be forearmed·;"' and the wise teacher will become a learner in presence of these·words. We may, then, say- I. 'l'llDTB MAKES ITS GREATEST DElliNDS ON ITS EXPOSITORS. They ally themselves with it. They proclaim it. They declare their faith in it. They vouch for it. The more really a man is a teacher the more is he a disciple. It is the perfect alliance of the teacher with the truth he teaches t.hat gives him power over others in _its exposition. upon him, then, the greatest demand is made that the truth he has affirmed should find its highest illustration in his own life--that his life should not give the lie to his lips. It is thus that- • JT. THE TEACHER OF TRUTH HAS THE BEST OPPORTUNITY OF BECOMING ITS HOST EFFECTL'.AL EXPOSITOR. Elipbaz could not yet see how Job, holding fast his integrity, would present a brilliant example of the truthfulness of hie doctrine: To expound truth with the lips is possible to the simulator and hypocrite. He may say, and do not. He may declare the authority of a truth, and contradict that authority and his own saying by disobedience. Such were the Pharisees of onr Lord's time. From them truth received the highest homage by verbal acknowledgment, but they proved them- selves untrne and unfaithful disciples of truth by the discredit they threw upon it by their diaohedience to its re.quirements. The teacher of truth, makio~ the truth his own by a thorough embrace of it, and a real and anfeigned sympathy with it, teaches _more by his life than by his lips; for the one men discredit, but the other is undeniable. Fidelity in the teacher is the highest proof of his faith in his doctrine, and by it he pavs the utmost tribute to the doctrine that he is able to pay. III. THE BUPBEHE DUTY OF THE TE.A.CHER 1s FIDELITY TO BIB DOOTRINF:. By his faithfulness his scholars are confirmed in their belief and steadfastness. It is a black crime for a man to proclaim a truth or a teaching that affects the life and hope of his fellow-men, and yet prove a traitor to it by unfaithfulness. The foundations of the hope of many have been shaken and even uprooted by such conduct. By how- much the truth a man proclaims is important, by so much is the responsibility of his own treat- OH, IV, 1-21.] 'fHE llOOK'. 01!' JOB. 79
ment of that truth great, Job was a bright example or fidelity, though severely tried. IV. THE HONOURABLENESS OF A FAITHFUL ADHl!:BION TO A GREAT TRUT";l, He who links himself with great truths is exalted by them. They honour him who honours them. They bring him to glory and true renown.-R. G. Vers, 7-11.-The consequences of evil-doing. The New Testament teaching is, "Whatsoever e. man soweth, that shall he also reap." It is precisely &11 the present verses. "'rhey that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." So does the testimony of the ages warn evil-doers. This rule is inevitable; it is just; it is natural; it is admonitory. I. THIS ORDER IS INEVITABLE. He who has ordained the laws of nature, fixed, calm, indestructible, has also ordained that the doer of evil shall reap the fruit of his ill-doing. An inevitable Nemesis follows the steps of every offender against Divine laws. Sooner or later judgment is passed. No skilfulness can evade the omnipotent rule. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked she.II not go unpunished." Minutely did our Lord lay down the same teaching: "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of jud~ment." One may as well try to throw off the law of gravitation. It holds us all fast in its firm grip. So does this Divine law framed by the same hand. II. Tms LAW IS JUST, The wise and holy Ruler of all-" the Creator of all worlds, the Judge of all men "-will do right, does do right in the adminiMtrations of his holy laws. He is not vindictive. Bis anger is holy anger; his wrath is as truly just as his love is tender. He has laid the foundations of hume.n life in righteousness. He is just; for he rendereth to every man according to his deeds. Without doubt he takes note of all the circumstances in which every one i8 placed, and neither accuses the guiltless nor excuses' the ·guilty. Men find in their own acts the cause of their suffer- ings, and the justification of the righteous judgment of God. In every breast the most painful ·conviction will be the assurance of the perfect righteousness of the Divine ways, and the justice of every Divine infliction. The inward reflection of the Divine jud11:ment of condenrnation is the most painful of all judgments. III, raE OPERATION OF THIS LAW IS PERFECTLY NATURAL. Consequences follow causes with the same regularity of law in the moral as in the material world, A wrong thought ~ives e. wrong bias to the mind, and leaves it so much the more liable to be influenced in e. wrong direction; so of every word or deed of evil. Each wrong act is a seed cast into the ground, and it bee.re its fruit after its own kind to him who sows it. Of evil, good cannot spring up. ' So every man by his wrong-doing treasures up for himself wrath against the day of wrath. He receives his reward in bis character, in the condition of miml e.nd life to which he is reduced by evil or elevated by goodness. IV. THIS LAW IS ADMONITORY TO ALL. There is no escape by mere law from the ill consequences of Rny bad act. The inevitable consequences which follow all wrong- doing should wam men off from forbidden paths. " By the blast of God they perish n is the warning threat against the sowers of wickedness and them that" plough iniquity." Though men rage as the fierce lions, their roaring is broken ; they perish, and their seed is scattered abroad.-R. G.