Ver. 25,-The power of right words; or, complaining stayed by instruction. Job has hitherto met with no comfort from those who came "to mourn with him, and to comfort him." From the inutility of their powerless words he turns a.side with the bitter reflection on his lips, "How forcible are right words!" Words charged with truth, with great views of thingg, with tenner sympathy, heal and guide and comfort the perplexed and saddened soul; while the words of false friends pierce as goads. Truth at all times is worthy of trust. The spirit, worn and weary, may rest in it and find peace. Consider the powm· of truth-the force of right words- I. IN RESOLVING THE ENTANGLEMENTS OF ERROR. Truth is the right, the straight, line which reveals and thereby condemns the crooked departures. Its own clear, calm utterance resolves the confusion of tortuous commingled error. It is by the simple statement of truth that the wrong of error is discovered and rebuked. Loudness of denunciation cannot contradict error, o_r unravel it, or expose it. Nor will mere logical demonstration ; noise will not destroy darkness ; nor will the gloom be illuminated by proving it to be darkness. But the quiet shining of the lamp will scatter the shades of black night. So truth in its own simplicity and realness effectually and alone disperses the gloom and guides the feet of the wanderer through the tangled path of error. Such words Job bad not yet found. But the good Teacher was not far away; and finally Job was led to the open plain and the olear light and the straight wny. II. RIGHT WORDS ARE FORCIBLE IN THE PRESENCE OF DEEP SORROW. So Job thought. It was for such words he pined. He longed for the teaching that would bring him comfort, and not for the accusations that would make his burden heavier and his heart sadder. '!'here is a deep truth relating to all human affliction. Looked at only as a. derangement of human happiness, it is devoid of that completeness of view that would constitute it a truthful one. But looked at as a Di vine correction, a. 116 THE BOOK OF JOB. [on. vr. 1-30.
discipline, a slrn.rp warning or departure from law, nnd a j11St punishment for euch departure; nnd looked at RS under the control of the Almighty Father, it is seen to be invested with a momentous che.racter, and to be inflicted for the wi~est and beat purposes. Right words on it bring the mind to peace, They are forcible to counsel and to comfort; to we.rn of danger, to guide to safety, to console in suffering. HRppy tbe 11ufferer who hllS an interpretor et hand, who with right words can unveil the mystery, and make clear the ways of God to man I III. HIGHT WORDS ARE FORCIBLE IN 'I'HE ADJUSTMENT OF DISTURBED RELATIONS OF LIFE. They are wise words aud kind, Even enemies are overcome by them. The right word is a word in harmony with the truth. Spoken with lips that speak truth habitually, and from a heart where truth finds its home, they carry conviction. They win the ear Rud the confidence of the listener. They he.ve a force peculiar to them- selves. They command. They are strong and cannot be shaken. They pierce, as doth an arrow, when they are words of condemnation founded on truth; and they comfort, and heal, and restore, and readjust, when they are spoken in kindness. The ,vise rna.n searches for right words, and, having found them, speaks them in all simplicity, And the seeker after truth, or rest, or comfort welcomes them. They bear help on their wings, and are as reviving as the beams of the morning.-R. G.
Ver. 2.-&al.es for misery. At length Job has an opportunity to reply to his friend's harangue, and he at once touches on its weak point by implication. Eliphaz has: not been sufficient!_\' sympathetic; he has not duly appreciated Job's" abysmal and bound- less misery." His wise precepts may apply to some extent to the afflictions of ordinary men, but they are vitiated by his failure to enter into the abnormal distresses of Job. The cursing of his day, which ha.a been wrung out of Job by very anguish of soul, is misjudged by his censor, because the awful depth of that anguish is not apprecia~. Therefore Job longs for some scales by which his misery may be weighed, that the lack of appreciation by Eliphaz may be corrected. L THE SUFFERER NATURALLY DESIBEB AN APPRECIATION OF ms SUFFERINGS. 1. Thal Ii.£ may be understood. You cannot understand a man till you know how he feel". Vi ords a.re more than descriptions of bare facts; they may be utterances of the heart, 7
To comprehend their import we must enter into tl!.e feelings of the speaker. We should study the needs and troubles of those whom we desire_to understand in order to help them. 2. That he may be fairly judged. Eliphazhad made the most galling charges against Job, partly because he was utterly below understanding the afflicted man's overwhelming griet: W-e are unjust with those who are incomprehensible to us. Christ's executioners did not know him, and he prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke :a.iii. 34). The mob that yelled at him and hounded him to death had not the least conception of his Gethsemane agony, 3. That lie may receive sympathy. Sympathy helps us to understand one another. But with- out some preliminary knowledge we can have no kind of sympathy. Ignorant, well- meant attempts at sympathy hurt rather than heal, and chafe the very wounds they are intended to soothe. II. 1T 16 NOT EASY TO FIND BOALEII IN wmoH SUFll'EBING CAN BE WEIGHED, Where shall we look for a standard of measurement? We cannot judge by outside tokens of grief; for some are reserved and self-restrained, while others are demonstrative in their abandonment to grief. We cannot judge by the measure of the events that have caused the suffering; for some feel the same calamity much more keenly than it would be felt by others. Each sufferer is tempted to think that his troubles surpass all others. We can only understand a man in so far as we can succeed in putting our selves in his place. But only Christ can do this perfectly, His incarnation ie guarantee of his complete comprehension of human sin and sorrow; so tha_t the sufferer who is misapprehended by his most intimate earthly friends may be assured of the perfect sympathy of his Saviour. Moreover, with his own thoughts the sufferer might measure his grief in a way which would help him to apprize it more justly .thon by wild conjectures. Suppose he measured it against his blessings : is it ~o va11tly greater'? Or suppose he weighed it with his deserts: is it so immensely heavier? Or sup- pose he compared it with what Christ suffered for him : is there really any comparison between the Christian's rougbesi cross atid the awful cross of his 8-viour ?-W, F, A, Ott. vt. 1-30.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 1li