ju.-lgment, but its uttennORt eompla.int, gollded on by the eeverltl111 of acute Buffering. " 1 will not refrain my mouth." JY, THI: ORY OF DBIIPAIR SPRINGS FROM, AND AT THE SAMB TIHl!I PROMOTES, ERRONEOUI! vni:ws OF LIFE AND ITS 1ssUEs. Job is so far led astray that he ohooees "strangling and death rather the.a life." So completely is his judgment in abeyance that he knows no other alternittive. Possibly it is the aim of the poet to show that Job's knowledge of the future is insufficient to counteract the sorrows and evils of the present. V. 'l'HE ORT OF DESPAIR 1s DESERVING OF PITY, When the soul is driven by fierce affliction to such an extremity, it is a proper object for the most tender compassion and patient forbearance. As men are patient with the demented, so they have need to be with him who, by despair, is driven off from the be.lanced, calm judgment and just thought. VJ. IT IS NOT TO RE FORGOTTEN THAT THE ORY OF HUJUN DESPAIR PIERCES TO THE EAR oF THE ALIUGHTY, THE ALL-HELPFUL ONE. Even the sigh of a contrite heart is heard; so also the wail of despair. The human extremity is the Divine oppor- tunity. Job will ultima.tely prove that God has not forgotten him.-R. G. Ver. 17.-" W7iat is man 1" The answer to this question must come fr~m afa.r. No sudden or ha.sty conclusion must be made. The whole conditions under which life is held, the influence which life exerts, the final issue of life with all other con- siderations, must be regarded. Here frail, perishing man is seen to be magnified by God, who sets his heart upon him and visits him every moment. Why is so much made of life? "What must man be that thou takest such knowledge of him?" The answer is only to be found in a just view of the real greatness of huma.n life. The human greatness is seen- , I. IN THE CAPABILITIES OF THE HUMAN llrllND. All truth may be stored in it. It is exalted by its great capacities for knowledge, memory, reason, judgment, etc. II. IN THE Cil'ACITY OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT FOB RIGHTEOUSNESS, Every holy emotion may find a home in the human soul. Every lofty sentiment sweep across it as any strain across a lyre. All holy affections may be cherished. Man may know and love the highest objects of knowledge and affection. He may illustrate nobleness, patience, charity, faith, hope, gentleness--every grace. liL HUH.AN GREA.Th'EBS IS FURTHER SEEN IN THE WIDEBPBEAD INFLUENCE OF HIDIAN ACTION. To-day the world is living in the light of the deeds of Job_'s life. J'he impulses of the deeds of past millenniums are felt to-day. A wide illustration possible. IV. h, THE SlULFULNEBB OF THE BUMAN HAND, V. Ji- THE SUPREMACY OF JUN IN THE EARTH. _ VI. JN THE DESTINY OF JUN, Al,,> ESPECIALLY IN BIB ENDOWMENT OF IMHOBTALITY. Although of earth, he aspires to heaven; though a child of time, he rises to eternity; tho~h sinful, he can illustrate all holiness. VII. THE HIGHEST EVIDENCE OF THE GREATNESS OF THE BlJMAN LIFE SEEN IN THE !NcABNA.TION, wherein the Divine life could manifest itself through the medium of the human. When life is thus duly estimated, and when it is known that the sorrows of life are used for its chastening a1Jd perfecting, then the answer is found to the ques- tion-Why dost thou "try him every moment"? It is because life is so precious and so capable of culture and deserving of it, that he thus seeks to discipline, refine, instruct, and perfect it.-R. G.
Vere. 1-3.-.Tl.e days of a l.ireUng. Job compares himself to a mercenary in war and to a hired eervant at work. As these men have little interest in what they are doing, partly because the masters who hire them take little interest in them, Job feels his life but a weariness, and longs for the term of his service to expire. I. LLl"E lll.AY APPEAR LIKE TBE DAYS OF A HIRELING, I. It mvolves hard toil. The lot of most men is not easy ; but eome find life a grinding servitude. 2. Its labour ii ojk!n WWIT'1f and wurttraaiw. Many people have to work at uninteresting tas~s, and only rega.rd their labour u drudgery. There is neither pleasure in the work nor pride in the result of it. If men OGuld all choose their lots, many of the rnoet ll!ICOssary Olt, VU, 1-21.] THE BOOK OF JOB.
industriea would be entirely abandoned. 3. It i8 (}'fl,ly unkrtaken j<Yr the IKI,ke of itn rewards. Men work for wages, and, needing the wages, they endure the toil which they detest. 'rhla ia not only true of what is called the wage-earning portion of the oommunity. It applies also to many who seem to be their own masters, hut whose work is undertaken solely for the remuneration which it brings in. 4. The supreme Master is not seen to take interest in his servants. The laws of life are inexorable. 'l'here is no evnding the rules of God's great factory in which we are all set to work. Men fall and die at their tasks without visible signs of compa~sion from their Lord. Thus faith is severely tried, and some weakly ones eiok to low views of life and of man's relations to God. !I, IT 18 NEITHER HELPF'UL :NOR RIGHT TO REGARD LIFE AR THE DAYS OF A HIRE- LING, 1. It is not helpful. Hireling service is never of any ~reat value. The work that i~ only done for pay is apt to be done hastily if by the piece, and in a wastefully slow and slovenly fashion if by the hour. Until a man puts his heart into his task, he cannot put good work into it. No one can live a worthy life chiefly in. the hope of its rewards. The service of God which is only undertaken that good things may be obtainer\ from God is degrading and of little worth. The Christian who lives solely on the hope of heaven is spending a poor life on earth. We have to discover higher motives and to se.rve God joyfully and lovingly, because his service is delightful, and because we love him. 2. It is not right. The hireling idea of life is delusively sug~ested to us by a superficial view of facts and by a low tone in our own minds. But it is completely false, for God does not treat us as hirelings. He knows our frame, and remem bns that we are dust. He is our Father, and he pities us as his children. And therefore we owe to him more than a hired servant's drudgery-we owe filial obedience and the rich service of love. Now, when we have learnt to take right views of God and his service, the miserable, degrading idea of the hireling's lot drops off, and a much nobler and happier conception of life dawns upon UB. Then the most common task ceases to be a piece of drudgery and becomes a labour of love. By a gracious law of providence it seems to be ordered that any duty which is undertaken conscientiously and heartily becomes interesting and even a source of pleasure. So while the hireling longs for the shadow that tells of the declining day and of the end of his task, the faithful Christian makes the most of his day of service, knowing "that the night cometh, wherein no man can work."-W. F. A.