'Ver. 1.-Bildad tM pedant. Job's second friend appears ae a pedant, quoting the authority of antiquity, and relying on the tradition of the ancients. His character is not extinct, and the mischil'f of his blunders is with us to-day. I. THE POWER OF THE PEDANT. This man bases .his influence on certain good qualities. 1. Expe1·ience. It is to be supposed that this is of some value. The garnered. wealth of experience should be a great test of truth. The rule that has stood the strain of time appears to be confirmed in value. Ideas may be very captivating when they first fiRsh out in their novelty, but some hidden flaw may make them utterly worthless. But the mellow maxim, ripened by years, and enriched with the juices or manifold experiences, comes to us with great claims on our confidence. 2. .H,vmiliey. It seems to he more humble to trust to those who are older than ourselves. than to set ~p our o~ wisdom as a rival of theirs. Who are we that we should pretend to ques- tion the wisdom of the ages? 3. Reverence. On the other hand, the associations of antiquity command our reverence. We show respect to grey hairs, and we are moved to similar feelings in view of all signs of age. Coming out of a dim past, hoary·with the years, ancient things acquire a certain sanctity. The grand minstei, the ruined castle, the worm-eaten cabinet, the rare old book,-these things stifle our impertinent modern prernmptions by the silent weight of their years. "I love everythina- that's old," says Goldsmith; "old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wite." H. 'l'JIE FOLLY OF THE PEDANT. This reverence for antiquity may be abused, and it is abused by the pedant, who a.o;sumes that all modern requirements are to be settled by some musty rule of the ancients. There are many errors in such a position. 1. Lack qf discrimination. Pope writes- " With sha.rpen'd eight pale antiquaries pore: Th' inscriptions value, but the rust ndore: This the blue varnish, that the green endeo.rs- Tbe sa.ored rust of twice ten hundred years." Time has brought down loads of rabbish on its stream as well as some precious cargoes of ancient experience. Pedants mistake scnm for cream. 2. Misinterpretati011, of the 'f}Cl,lue of antiquity. The earlier times, as Bacon tells us, were really the childhood of our race, and we are the true ancients. It is absurd to bind the practice of the adult age by tLc tentative ideas of infancy. Wbat has been tried through the centuries, and being in frequent use has stood the test of time, bas thereby acquired a certain value. But mere antiquity only means an origin in more primitive and less advanced times. 3. The superstition of forms. The pedant delights in forms and rules and exact precedents. llut there are no true precedents for scores of things. Indeed, ilo two occasions are exactly alike. Therefore no human maxims can be large enough to embrace all circumstances. Life cannot be bound by formal rules. We must learn to look facts in the face, end dare to discard ancient maxims when they are proved to be false. Antiquity is venerable, but truth is more venerable. God has given us conscienceg, and he has prDmised us the help of his Spirit. Our best guide is not $I1 ancient rule, but the living Christ, who is ever in the midst of bis people.-W. F. A. Ver. 3.-Thejustice of God. Bildad asks if it can be right for Job to complain as he does. Such conduct is an arraignment of the Divine justice. Human judges have -been known to twist jwitice to suit their own purposes; this conduct was nnd is only too common in the East. But is it to be thought that God would act in this way? Surely the Judge of all the earth must do right (Gen. xviii. 25). I. Gon's JUSTICE 1B GOOD AND DEsmADLE. It is the mistake of narrow, one-sided views to confine the idea of God's justice to hie relations with sin and punishment, and to regard it solely as that which provokes his wrath. This mistake leads people to have a horror of the very notion of God's justice. They would be profoundly thaDkful if it could be blotted out of tLe list of his attributes. They regard it ae solely inimical to them. Their supreme desire is to escape from its clutches. It is to them a most dreadful thing. How contrary is all this to the scriptural ide& of the justice of God I In the Bible God's justice is welcomed with delight in contrast to the terrible injustice of man. It is God's righteousness, God's fairness, God's equal dealing. Thie must bo good a11d desirable. oH, vur. 1-22.] 'l'HE BOOK OF JOB. l'il
II. Tf!E JIJBTIOE OF Goo 18 NOT ALWAYS APPARENT. Sometimes he seems to shQw himself in the so.me light o.s the unjust judges of imperfect human society. We cannot, sco the equity of his dealings. He even seems to be perverting judgment. Good men suffer, and evil men prosper. This is the common complaint of the Old Testament saints ill their trouble (e.g. Ps. lxxiii. 3), But how is it possible if God is just? There is not only all apparent negligence that lets wrong be done among mell unchecked. God himself appears to pervert justice in his owll providential dealings, sending cai:J.mi- ties to the innocent, and heaping favours on the guilty. This obvious fact was forced on the notice of men, and it raised most perplexing doubts at a time when temporal good was assumed to be the right reward of moral good. III. WE BAVE GOOD REASON TO TRUST TBE JUSTICE o:r Goo. 1. He ill almighty. He ho.snot the inducement to act unjustly that tempts the weak. Deceit and injustice are the refuges of feebleness. Cowards are unjust. Strength can afford to be mag- nanimous. 2. He is perfectly wise. He will not blullder into injustice, as the most immaculate human judge may do. 3. He is absolutely good. Our revelations of God's character should assure us that his justice must be without a flaw, even though all appearallces are ago.inst it. The faith that will not bear a strain is worthless. If we cannot trust God whell he seems to be acting hardly and unfairly, it is little that we trust him when we can see.that all is going well. The goodness of God is our security; we must judge of events by what we know of God in Christ, not of God by what we appear to discover in events. 4. Justice is not always what we should expect. The principle must be simple and intelligible. We must believe that justice in God must be what we know as justice-only .infinitely exalted. But the application 01· this justice may be beyond our conceptions. It may be just for God to do.what looks to Ull now as unfair. Here we must trust and wait for the end.-W. F. A.