Ver. 7.-A small beginning and a great increase. With irritating admonitions- most galling in the cruel insinuation that Job's children had died on account of their eins-Bildad presumes to assure Job that if only he is pure God will be just, and will awake to deliver him, so that, though he has a small beginning, his end shall be very great. This was all based on a very false and unjust idea of Job, his past conduct, and his present duty. Nevertheless in itself it opened up a true view of the course of one who is restored to right relations with God. I. .TBE CHRISTIAN MUST RAVE A SMALL BEGINNING, 1. In penitence. He must first humble himself in the very dust. No boasting can be admitted into the kingdom of heaven. 2. ln childlikeness. We have to turn and become as little children if \Ve a.re to enter God's kingdom. This implies humility, simplicity of heart, and the utter self-abandonment of faith. 3, In spiritual experience. We can but begin the Christian life as babes in Christ. Our knowledge is small, our strength slight, our spiritual attainment most imperfect. 4. In enjoyment of blessings. We may begin in temporal adversity. There is no promise that the Christian shall be a rich and prosperous man in the world. But whatever the external conditioll may be, the enjoyment of the real fruits of Divine grace will be but small until the soul has grown into the capacity to receive more of the blessings they bring. II. TaE CHRISTIAN WILL BAVE A GREAT INCREASE, 1. On earth. The Christian life should be one of progress, and it will be if it is healthy. Growth is a law of life, and it is a law that applies to the Divine life in the soul. The healthy Christian will grow in grace; his kllowledge will expand; his spirituality will deepen; his capacity for service will widen; his enjoyment of the blessedness of the vision of God will become richer and more intense. 2. In heaven. The best comes last. The great increase is ill the "latter end." This is different from the experience of natural life, which reaches a climax: in middle life, and then turns towards the decrepitude of senile decay. But there is no such decline for the spiritual life so long as it is healthy. That life knows no old age; it partakes 'of the unfading glory of the Eternal. For the a 6ed Christian there shall be "light at eventido;" and when his sun has set Oil earth, it shall risti iu heaven in the larger glory of God's eternal day. III. Goo LEADS THE RACE FROM A SMALL DEGINNING TO A GREAT INCREASE. This is the case naturally in the population which has sprung from one pair of parents, until it has filled the earth with more than a thousand millioll souls, and which continues t~ 162 THE BOOK OF JOO. [oli, mr.1-22.
increB.Be at an unprecedented rate. The same is true of civilii,;a1,ion and human -progress. The lnw of human life on earth is one of advance and eul&rgement, 'l'hus we are encouragPd to look forward to the golden age. God is educating the l'ace by the proceBB of the centuries, and prepa1ing it for great increase at the latter end. There WQM a grand advance beyond these Old Testament times when Christ brought in his gospel; tho triumphs of the gospel speak of an enlarged increase. But the best is in store in tho full coming or the kingdom of Christ. Therefore let us press forward in hope and an cager desire to do our part towards hastening the happy advent of the promised future.-W. F. A.
Ver. S.-Lessonsfrom history. Bild&d invites Job to consult antiqnityand to attend to that which the fathllrs have searched out. Even this pedant may remind us that wholesome lessons are to be cullC'd from the gardens of the past-. • I. HxsTORT TEACHES JIT EXAMPLE. Here we can see truth in the concrete. The ide.as which we discuss in the abstract are embodied and at work in the livina facts of history. We can study republicanism in ancient Greece, and monarchy in the Roman empire; the consequences of heathenism in the pagan world, and the fr11its of Chris- tianity in the story of the ~ospel and its triumphs ; the power of the gospel in the romance of missions, and the weakness of man in the failure and ruin of ancient Churches. Here we see not lifeless arguments, but living men. Therefore much of the Bible is history; God's Word comes to us through man's life. We should pay more attention to men and facts. • TI. HISTORY REVEALS TnE OnIGIN OF INSTITUTIONS AND 'MOVEMENTS. Most of those which we have to do with took their rise in a more or less remote past. If we can trace them back to their source, we can better judge of their whole characters. Much attention is given to the childhood and youth of a great man by his biographer, for therein lies the secret of his after-life. It is well to trace back the Christian story; and sec how God has been shaping his Church through the ages. Our religion is emphati- cally historical. It springs from facts, things done in the past. In this respect it is unique among the religions of the world. All the doctrines of Christianity are lessons of history; they all take their rise in t.he story of Christ and his cross. Yet we are not bound by pedantic rules and frivolous precedents. We find the origin of our faith in certain facts. The interpretation of those facts mnst grow with our advancing knowledge, and the application of their lessons must vary with changing circum- stances. m HlsTORY HELPS TO MATURITY OF JUDGMENT. If we are weak and lack indepen- dence of mind, it may weigh us down with the incubus of its precedents. This is how it affected Bildad with his veneration for the fathers, and this is how it affects those good Christian people who make the Church Fathers absolute authorities, when they should dare to tl'USt a careful and devout interpretation of Scripture and the ultimate judgments of the Christian consciousness. Yet, on the other hand, there is a good use of the Fathers. The very variety of explanations of Christian doctrines in the past should teach us caution and a large wisdom in treating difficult subjects. The student of history will often know that some pretentious notion, flashed out on the world ae a magnificent discovery, is but a thrice-slain error of ancient controversies. Old truth will endure the test of time. But standing on the experience of the ages, we should be able to reach forth to higher trnth in the future, the more readily because we thus use the past.-W. F. A.