I. lnREPREBBIDLE SPEEOH SPRINGS FBOM VARIOUS INFLUENCES, Sometimes it ia difficult to find words. What, then, are the things that break open the fountains of speech? 1. Natural temperament. Some are naturally loquacious, others as natnrally taciturn. No man is responsible for his original constitution; his responsibility begins with his uee of it. 2. Wealth of ideas, Jt is not only verhal fluency that runs into a volume of speech. One who thinks much will have the materials for talking much. Coleridge meditated deeply; Macaulay read enormously, and remembered all he read; and both were great talkers. 3. Depth of feeling. Passion i(ives eloquence to the least gifted person. Sympathy will seek for words. So the long contemplation of Job's sufferings urged Eliphaz to speak. 4. Provocation. Eliphaz was shocked at Job's cursing the day of his birth. Unable to enter into the tragic deptrui of the sufferer's grief, he could easily perceive the highly improper tone of the language used. Contro- versy rouses the least beautiful, but often the most vigorous, kind or eloquence. 5. Vanity. To many people there is a strange charm in the sound of their own voices. II. IRREPRESSIBLE SPEECH MAY BE ASOURCE OF GREAT EVIL. The talker rarely seems to consider how keen a weapon he is wielding. He does not appear to remember that his words are like arrows, and that the bow drawn at a venture may inflict a mortal wound; that they are as seeds which may spring up and bear bitter fruit long after the sower has forgotten when and where he threw them broadcast over the earth. Certain points in particular need to be noticed. 1. Irrepressible speech lacks due reflection. H is hasty and ill-judged. 'lhus it may say far more than the speaker intended, and it may even convey a very false impression. Spoken without due thought, the hurried word may make a suggestion which mature consideration would utterly repudiate. Words lead to deeds, and thus irrepressible speech becomes an unalterable act. "Volatility of words," says Lavater, "is carelessness in actions; words are the wings of actions." 2. Irrepressible speech is likely to be inconsiderate of the feel.ings of others. Surely.Job's three comforters could not have known what cruel barbs their wor4s.were, or they would scarcely have tormented the sufferer as they did. It is so easy to wound. with the tongue, that if we talk hastily and without thought, it is most likely that we shall do so even without intending it. 3. Irrepressible speech is a alight on the mission of silence. Those seven days of silence served as a healing ministry, or at least they were days of unadulterated sympathy on the part of the three friends. Why, then, should the good men change their tactics? Evidently they had not enough faith in silence. 4. Irrepressible speech needs the preservation of Divine grace. Great ialkers should especially look for help from above, that their speech may be "seasoned with salt." He who spake as never man spake is a model of wise, laconic utterance. To be safe in the use of the tongue we need to be much in company with Christ, often in converse with Heaven.-W. l!'. A. Vere. 3-5.-The teacher at fault. After one brief word of apology for breaking the seemly silence of mourning, Eliphaz plunges in medias res, and at once commences to reproach Job by reminding him of his former conduct, and contrasting his present state with it as an evidence of glaring inconsistency. Job could teach others how to conduct themselves, but no sooner is the test brought home to himself than he fails. 'The teacher cannot pass the examination for which he has been preparing his pupils. J. THE MISSION OF INSTRUCTING OTHERS IS ONE OF HONOUR AND USEi'ULNESS, No greater work can be conceived than that of forming character. Thomas Carlyle pointed out the absurdity of heaping honours on the soldier which we deny to the schoolmaster. He thought the oane was a token of greater dignity than the sword. There is no happier result of a life's work than to see those one has influenced growing in wisdoID. and goodness and strength of character. It was well, indeed, that Job was one who strengthened tbe weak. This was wholly good, whatever might be his subsequent character. JI. liE WHO INSTRUCTS OTHERS IS EXPECTED TO FOLLOW HIS OWN PRECEPTS, The eyes of the- world are upon him; his own soholars watoh him narrowly. 'Teaching which is not backed up by example soon becomes quite ineffective. The Christian minister can oft1m do more good by his exemplary life than by his most excellent ~ermons. If his walk and ronversation among men do not adom the gospel he pro- claims, they will ~ar ancl m,utiMe i~ 'l'he world refuses to separ11te the preacher from ,JOB, It 82 THE BOOK OF JOB. [c!J. IV. 1---21.
the man. It declines to believe that clerical vestments transform a slovenly, shifty, l!lllf-indukent ywrson, whom no one can respect, int,o a herald from heaven. The Sunday school teacher whose business reputation is low has no right t,o expect that hia loft~, words will train up a noble life in the young people whom he instructs. Ill. IT rs POSSIBLE TO BE AN INSTRUCTOR OJI' OTHERS AND YltT FAIL ONE'S BELJI'. The cha r~e of Elipbaz W8S 11nfair, for it took no aocount of the unparalleled troubles of J0b-ncme harl been tried like tbis man--or rather it assumed that he must have been an exceptfonelly bad man or he would not have suffered such a tremendous reverse of fortune. Thus it sugge~ted that the venerated leader and teacher had been a hypocrite all i,.long. This was doubly unfair. It is possible t,o have been in earnest while teach- ing, and yet i<fterwards t,o fall before unexpected temptations without having been a hypocrite; for good men are fallible, and no one knows how wea.k he is till he has been tried. Moreover, in the present case the teacher hnd not fallen as his censor supposed. Still, there is great force in bis warning. Unfortunately, the world is not wanting in men to whom it is only too applicable. There is a great danger of delusion in the faculty of teaching. All of us who instruct others are tempted to confuse our know- ledge wit.h our atta.inmeuts, and our language with our experience. Thus intellectual and prolessional familiarit.y with holy thing8 may be mistaken for that vital communion with them which perhaps is not to be found accompanying it. There has only been one perfect Teacher whose conduct was as lofty as his instructions. All others may- well: learn to walk humbly while teaching the most exalted lessons.-W. F. A. •·