of Heaven to suffering mortals. It is "the aeason of e.11 natures," e.e She.ke&peu.ro beautifully says. It ia the preservation of sanity. Connected with this, the le880n f)f moderate ea:t1rtion Is one needed by many in these busy, striving days; and no less the fault of over-anxiety, and the duty of ca.➔ting care upon God, on which the gosp<JI Insists so strongly. It is the life according to our true nature, and according to simple piety, which brings sound sleep by night, and healthy thought by day. II. REFLECTION ON THE BREVITY 01!' LIFE, AND PRAYER. (Vers. 6---10.) The moo<l of solf-pity continues. Then follows a lament on the shortness of life. It is cornpa.red to a weaver's shuttle, to smoke, to the vanishing of a cloud, a.a it is elsewhere compared (oh. ix. 26) to the hasty passnge of & courier, or, in the well-known old story of English history, to the flight of a bird through a hall and out into the darkness again. We may compare the following plaintive passage from the Greek poet lEschylue : - "Ah I friend. behold and see What's all the beu.uty of humanity? Can it be fair? What's all the strength? can it be strong? And what hope co.n they bear, These dying livers-living one day long? Ah I aeeat thou not, my frfond, How feeble and slow And like a dream doth go This poor blind manhood. drifted from its end? n (Mrs. E. B. Browning's translation.) We may draw from this passage the following lessons: 1. There is a constant sense of infirmity in human nature, and of the inexorable law of death. 2. The mind cannot submit patiently to this doom. Dear earthly affections (ver. 8) cry out against it, and unconsciously witness for the immortality of the soul. 3. The thought of utter extinction cannot be endured by an awakened and elevated spirit (ver. 10). These impotences and reluctances in the presence of decay and death $re really tokens of immortality. We see them to be so in this instance, in an age when life and immor- tality were not brought to light. 4. The natural relief from all such sorrows and perplexities is in prayer (ver. 7). The cry, "Oh, remember I" is not unheard by him who knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. There may be the clear consciousness of God where there is not the definite assurance of immortality. Bnt a firm faith in him, when cherished and educated, leads ultimately to the conviction that the soul cannot perish.-J. Vere. 11-16.-Fresh recourse to the relief of words. The prayer seems, in this dark state of despondency, in vain; and Job's despair overflows all bounds and pours itself forth in a dark stream: of thoughts and words. I. SUFFERINGS MISUNDERSTOOD. One might suppose, he argues, from these intense oppressions, that he was some dangerous creature, who could not be chained down too closely nor be watched too narrowly (ver. 12)--one to whom not a moment's rest must be given, that he may not in his freed.om commit some terrible injury. But is he such a being? is he a sea, or a living monster of the deep, to be so sharply tormented and guarded by God? Just so, he says (eh. xiii. 27), "Thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and watchest narrowly all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet." Not even in sleep can he find rest-weakest and least dangerous of creatures though he be (vers. 13, 14). n. RABB RESOLVES OF DESPAIR. (Vars. 15, 16.) He will rather be stifled, or in any way court death, than longer carry nbout this living skeleton, this wretched body whioh consists only of bones (comp. eh. xix. 20). He has e. disgust for life, will not live for ever, for he has already lived too long. III. APPEAL TO THE JUSTICE OF Goo. (Vere. 17-21.) After a renewed and passione.te demand (ver. 16) that God may give him at least e. moment's rest, since his life is e.lready as good as vanished, and cannot abide, his language becomes somewhat more tranquil and contemplative. 1. Questio11i11gs: the inngn·iftcanc11 of man as an object of Divine regard,. (Vera. 17-19.) We may compare the question of the 131! TKE BOOK 'OF Jt)B.
pe&lmiet (Ps. viii. 4). It is there 1uggest.ed by the mil.g:niftoence of the mighty heavens: whe.t is me.n in oompe.rison v.•ith that ve.st and brilliant aggregate of constellations? Here the question is suggested by the greatneBB of the sufferer's misery. Whe.t worth can he possess either for good or for evil, the.t he should be me.de the objeot of this inc8118Snt Divine attention? The answer to these obstinate questionings is found in the gospel. There man learns that it is the greatness and the value of tho soul which me.kos him the object of the Divine pursuit; and then he learns, above all, that that pursuit is not inspired by the vengeanoe of an irritated adversary, or the caprice of an unjust tormentor, but by the love of an eternal Father, who chastises men for their profit, that they me.y be partakers of his holiness. 2. Oonsciousness of guilt. (Verij. 20, 21.) For the first time there is a reference on the pa.rt of Job to the concealed cause of sutrering---t!in. But it is only a general consciousness of infirmity, and. an admission the.t possibly there may have been unwitting error on his part. He cannot. confess a special sin of which his friends suppose him guilty, but of which his con- science is free. The words are rendered by some, "If I failed in that which I do unto thee, Preserver of men, why," etc.? Thus deeper than the sense of sin, deepest conviction of all in his heart, is : 8. Instinctive trust in the goodness of God. His reasoning is as follows: Jt may be neoessary that God should punish man for guilt; but is this to hold so strictl_v that every slightest omission is severely scrutinized and sorely punished by God? Surely man is neither so strong for resistance to error, nor so dangerous, that he should be treated so harshly and jealously? Why, if there has been some fault in the conduct of Job, a.s seen by those all-penetrating eyes, does God loose all his arrows against him like a hunter aiming at a fixed mark (comp. eh. vi. 4; xvi. 12), shooting at him the poisonous darts of disease and suffering till he can no longer endure himself? Why does not God rather pardon him before it is too late, as, alas! according to all appearance, it now is, as Job sees nothing before him but -the grave? This is no conflict of an infidel or rebellious spirit against its Maker. It .is the plea!1mg of a true child with its Father in heaven. It is the struggle of the soul against the iron pressure of tha.t which we have learned to call natural law. 'l'he individual suffers, is sometimes era.shed by natural law, while the mass are benefited. But above law is God. And out of this long picture of troubled thought the truth will presently flash into splendour, that in that loving and holy will of a Father the soul, emancipated from the troubles of time, shall find its eteroal rest.-J.