Ungenerol/,/J, While words of uprigbt?ess, i.e. honest spe~h, plain del\ling, even reproof when nec,•si,ary, had a force which Job could not resist, a pertinency he oould not challen~e, and a punirency be could not fail to feel and acknowledge, their )l\nguago had been "'holly mean and contemptible, fastcnin~ as it did on the de~pairing utter- ances of a poor wretch half-crazed with grief, which common n.onsent allows should be re~nrdeci as wind, or given to the wind, as idle, meaningless, shifting, atd therefore nc>t to be too closely criticized, far less made the basis of a charge of gnilt. And Job's contention was substantially correct. Words thrown off in a hasty moment, under the influence of strong passion, arc not always a perfectly safe and reliable index: to the character of the soul, at le11st when judged by man. God alone is competent to estimate man's moral and spirit11al condition by his words (Matt. xii. 37), All others sho11ld be guided by charity in interpreting the speech of agonized men (1 Cor. xiii. 5). 3. Heartless. The men who could so make him an offender for a word were in Job's estimation capable of any ba.seness, such pitiless and inhuman ruffians as would "enslave an orphan for his father's debt, and then cast lots whose he Bhould be" (Cox), or barter their dearest friend for pelf. Probably Job overstrained the case against Eliphaz and his companions; but men have perpetrated the villainies described, as e.g. the brethren of Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 28) and Judas (Matt. x:xvi. 15). 4. untrue. Job requests bis friends to look into his face and say whether he did not carry the refutation of their slanders in his countenance (ver. 28). 'l'he face is coUJmonly a mirror to the soul. The glory of a pure soul shines throngh the face, illuminating, refining, etherealizing it; just as the moral gloom that enshrouds a wicked soul leaves its impress on the countenance, rendering its fel!,tures coarse, brutal, sor<lid, revolting. There are faces that proclaim the depravity of the soul within as certainly as there are noble countenances that bear their own certificate of truth, sincerity, -moral honesty, and spiritual refinement. 5. Unfair. The friends bad started with a prejudice against Job, and, as a consequence, their decision had not been impartial. Accordingly, he invites them to renew their investigation, but on other principles and presuppositions: "Return, I pray you; let there be no unfairness, and my righteousness will he found to stand" (ver. 29). 6. insulting. Their insinuation practically charged Job with being a moral imbecile, who had no capacity to discriminate between right and wrong-an assumption he resented with the utmost vigour (ver. 30), maintaining that, as surely as his palate could distinguish meats, his moral sense could discern right and wrong in the matter of his sufferings, and generally in the providential government of the world of which he next proceeds to speak. The capacity to distinguish between right and wrong is the highest function of intelligence, and is as certainly capable of perversion and obscuration through wilful ignorance and sin as sUBceptible of education and refinement through Christian instruction and practica.l holiness. Learn: 1. The duty of sympathizing with the suffering and sorrowful Nature prompts to it ; religion enjoins it; humanity claims it; the afflicted expect it; • 2. The danger of putting stumbling-blocks in the way, to either keep men or withdraw men from the fear of God. 3. The foll,f of trnsting in either princes or men's sons, seeing that man's goodness is commonly (except where grace intervenes) as transient as his greatness. 4. The painfulness of being deceived by any, but especially by those we trust. 5. The certain disappointment of those who look to failing brooks for the water of eternal life. 6. The wickedness of censuring for sins that have been neither proved nor admitted. 7. The liability of man to error, and the only sure and certain pathway to truth, viz. a spirit of humble docility. 8. Truth is less dependent on argumentation than men are apt to suppose, being generally its own best witness.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-13.-The BV,fferel", sdf-ju,stification. (Ch. vi., vii.) We have seen that Eliphaz's counsels, though well-meant, were ill-timed. They were right words, but not filly ipoken 8.6 to person, time, and place. Tbey cause the poor su1ferer to wince afresh instead of soothing his pain. The tumult of his spirit is now aggravated into a ,ery tempest of woe. The human apirit ha thing of moods. We have watched the OH, VI, 1-80.] T~E BOOK OF JOB. Ill