ment for the immortality or the eoul. Hod that idea come within the horizon of Job'e vision, hie analogy would have afforded him profound comfort. 2. Gontraet between the careful production and preservation, and the seeming reckless destruction of tM creature. (Vera. 10-17.) On the one hand we see (vers. 10, 11) the marvellous pro- duction and development of the bodily life from the embryo to the distinct and fully developed form, arranged with all the apparatus a1id mechanism of nulrition and of movement. What dazzling evidences of the thought which God has lavished upon his chief work do all the discoveries of physiology unfold I We may read side by side with this passage Pa. cxxxix., and Addison's noble hymn," When all thy mercies, 0 my God." 'l'hen there is the endowment of this marvellous framework with the great gift of life, and manifold rich enjoyments, and its preservation through all the dangers of youth to the present moment (ver. 12). But how dread the other side of the contrast! Behind this elaborate design there was concealed from the first, as it seems to Job's gloomy reflection, a deliberate purpose of destruction-the reckless annihilation of this splendid work of Divine art (ver. 13). Rather, if we do but rectify these perverted reasonings of a morbid and distressed mood, what noble and irresistible arguments do we derive from experience and from the science of our physical life for God's eternal interest in that which is here contained in it-the soul which partakes of him, and cannot perish l 'l'hen follows a terrible picture of the relation in which the patriarch, in his misery, supposes himself to stand to God. He is in a "tetralemma," or net, from which he can see no escape. (1) If l::e commits the emallest error (ver. 14), those all-searching eyes follow him with their ceaseless watch, and will exact the penalty of every fault. (2) If he should commit iniquity (ver. 5)-that he has done so, however, before these sufferings, he must most solemnly deny-then he will be justly chastened. (3) But even if he were in the right, he must appear as a guilty one ; cannot dare, freely and proudly, to raise his head-because full of ignominy, and with his own eyes beholding his humiliation (ver. 15). (4) And should this innocent and insulted head, unable longer to endure the ignominy, rise in freedom and in pride-as Job is now doing, in fact, by the tone of his speech-then God, wroth with his resistance, will send afresh the severest sufferings upon him; will hunt him like a lion; will reveal himself in fresh marvels of woe and judgment (ver. 16); will produce fresh witnesses, in the shape of new pains, as accuser~ against him. Like hosts pouring one after another against one beleaguered city, so will these troubles thickly come on (ver. 17). III. RENEWED BURST OF DESPONDENCY, IMPRECATIONS ON LIFE, CRAVING FOB BEST. (Vers. 18-22.) Once more he wishes that he had never been (vers. 18, 19, repeated from eh. iii. 11, etc.). Once more he urges his strong petition that he may enjoy one brief respite during these few short days that remain, free from the unceasing torment (ver. 20), before he sinks for ever into the lower world. IV. l-'IcTURE OF HADES, OR THE LOWER WORLD. 1. It is the "land of darkness and of gloom, like to midnight" (vers. 21, 22). 2. Therefore it is the land of disorder and of confusion, where none who is accustomed to light and order can feel himself at home. 3. Though there be even there a slight change of day and night, yet even if it be bright there, it is as gloomy as midnight upon earth. We may compare those impressive pictures of the lower world and the state of the departed which we find in the •Odyssey' (xi.)- " Never the sun, that giveth light to man, Looks down upon them with his golden eye, Or when he climbs the starry arch, or when Slope toward the euth, he wheels adown the sky; . But sad night weighs upon them wearily." .. In bondage through fear of death." The knowledge of another and a better life- denied to Job-is evidently the one thing needed to satisfy an honest mind, cast down in extreme suffering, overwhelmed in mystery, yet unable to renounce its faith in the justice and goodness of God. Christianity, by bringing life and i=ortality to light, spreads a great radiance over the world. It is the firm grasp of this Divine idea which enables man to support suffering with calmness and patience. Let this idea be taken away, and-as we see from the painful tone of thuse in our day who seriously put the question, "Is life worth living I "-eveu ordinary suffering may be resenttd a.a intolerable. 186 THE BOOK OF J"OB.
LESSONS, 1. Oonfldenoe founded on our rell\tion to God as a" faithful Cre11.t.or.'' He c1tnnot desert the _work of his own hl\nds. 2. His g~"?nese in the past is an argument for trust for the l!m~ ~o come._ 3. Insol_uble perplex1~1es llre due to our own ignorance of the ~omplete conditions of J,~e. God 1s the _most ~ISlmderstood of beings. 4, .Every revelation 1s to be eagerly recr,1,·ed, every habit of mind encoumged1 which induces ue t-0 look on life as a good, death M a gain, and the scene beyond as one of eternal brightness for all faithful ~ouls.-J.