afflicts, or in eque.l mercy takes up the evils and ills of life, 11.Dd, using them ae his own instrument,s, transmutes them into means of grace and blessing, will, after he has ·tried bis servants by their exposure to the storms and pains of )ife, give them •• a desired end." Sooner or !at.er they s.ee •• the end of the Lord "-the end the Lord Lad in view, In these verses the happiest oonsequences are declared to follow those chastisements which the Lord bestowed during the process of suffering and· exposure. I. CONTENTMENT A]ID PEACE SHALL REIGN IN THE HOME. God quiets the hearts of his children, and though heavy trials assail then>, he prepares rest and peacll for them. In bow many instances is this daily seen l Th evil exhausts itself. God puts his hand up11n it and ~rrests, it. His exiJt?sed 01;1es he leads b!lck: to safety and repose, and, as was fulfilled m .Jobs case, of which Ehphaz unconsciously predicts, he blesses them at last. Like worn veterans, they return at last to receive honour, e.cknowledg~ ment, and rest. Precious a.re the final days of the truly tried; the life is matured; "the cbaract.er chastened and perfected, the experience of life is enlarged. - • II. BLESSING SHALL &BIDE UPON THE OFFSPRING. "Thy ·seed shall be great : •. a11 tbe grass of the earth ; "yea, even thou_gh half the sorrow were caused by that very seed·. The Lord will lead the wanderers back, will punish and correct and reclaim. Many a one out of his stony griefs raises a Bethel. The testimony of godly fidelity on the part of the parent !'peaks in its silence to the offspring, and in the end produces its good results. Every godly man has the best ground for hoping that the blessina of the Lord will be also upon his offspring. 'f' III. IN THE FUI.l\"ESS OF AGE •AND THE. Rll'ENESS OF CHARACTER; LIFE BB'.ALL CLOSE. So the tried one receives into himself, at last, the whole result of the Divine discipline. The history is comp1ete, the work of the day finished, the journey,ended; the character formed. .All the history of life is written in the cultured, matured life; in the character gained; in the honour won. Faithful unto death, the struggling one receives the crown of liFe. In ripeness of judgment and attainment all the fruit of the patiently endured tribulation is found. The man is made. His pains, his perils, his watching and prayer, his diligence in duty and patience in 11u1fering, all go to make up the perfected life which is his own to inherit. The exposed grain has grown through all dangers, has grown by all changes-in the heat and cold, the light and the darkness, the rain and the shine. "Thou sha.lt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of cifril cometh in in his season."· Let every one search this out, hear: it and know it for his good.-R. G. •
Ver. 3.-" The foolish taking root." L IT m POSBJllLE FOR THE FOOLISH TO ·TAKE BOOT. "The foolish," in biblical phraseology, are worse than people of weak intellect; they are always regarded AS morally degenerate. Their folly is the opposite to the wisdom of which the beginning is "the fear of the Lord." Though lacking in moral fibre as well a.s in mental stamina, such people still often contrive to achieve an astonishing amount of success in life. 1. They may be favoured by circumstances. In this world men are not wholly dependent upon their own character and conduct. There is e. general tide of proFperity that sweeps strong on its flood many who have·had .no hand in originating it. There is good fortune as well as misfortune, and the one is often as little deserved as the other. 2. They may be helped by Providen~. _ God's grace is always greater than our deserts. He would win us by his goodness. The foolish man should see that this goodness of God is designed to lead him to repentance (Rom. ii. 4). Sometimes, however, tLe Divine temporal favour is in reality a method of judgment, a sunshine that ripens the effects of folly, so that they may appear in their fulness at the hastening harvegt-time. 3. 1'hey may assi&t themselves. There is e. kind of prosperity which good and wise men scorn, not being able to stoop to the degradation which leads to it. Then bad and foolish men step in, and, though grovelling in the dust, succeed in grasping some of the so-called good things of life. Much outward prosperity is not directly dependent on moral qualities. A mau may be 1kilful in money-making without beiug either a aaiut or e. philosopher. II. A.LTBOUGB THE FOOLIBH :MAY TAKE BOOT, THEY WILL NOT BEAll GOOD FBOlT. We may be surpriaed at their temporal prosperity, but it is only tempoi-al. For a while they live and grow, not simply flourishing a moment like a plucked fl.owor that muat aoon fade, but actually striking root.II into the ground, and thllll 1trengthen- CH, V, 1-27.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 99