innocence and right, the fear which the thought of the dread presence of the Divine must ever impress. LEssoNS. 1. Ho who is most confident in the BSSurance of his innocence before man will be the most humble and timid in the presence of God. 2. Faith must finally evercome fear in every true heart.-J.
Vers. 23-28.-&Z/-de/ence before God: 1. TM weak against the Strong. L TBlll cR'f oF INJURED INNOCENCE. (Ver. 23.) He asks that he may have his sins enume- rated and brought home to him, and that he may not thus ever be punished without the knowledge of the nature of his guilt. II. SENSE oF THE SILENCE A1''D WITHDRAWAL oF GoD. (Ver. 24.) God does not answer his challenge, and still his suffering continues, as if he were a foe to whom tha Almight~ deigns not to utter a word. The silence, the seeming deafness and dumb,. ness of God before his creatures' pitiful cries, is more awful than all his thunder. Oh that he would but tpf,<Jk, in whatever accents I Man can never cease to agonize, to pray, to wrestle with the Unseen, until he extorts some response to the cry and craving of his heart. Ill. l'LAD-'T OF THE WEAKNESS OF SELF IN THE PRESENCE OF O111NIPOTENOE, (Ver. 25.) He has two Yivid figures to represent this weakness: (1) that of the leaf, driven to and fro by the wind, so feeble and vanishing a thing has his life become; (2) that of the dry nnd worthless stubble; and yet God is against him as if he would drive and purge away every vestige of his existence. His fan is in his hand, and he is winnowing his floor from this useless chaff I IV. SENSE OF THE AGGRAVATION OF nrs BIN. (Ver. 26.) In addition to his natural pains, he is loaded with the memories of long-past sins, which he had thought forgiven. The record of the sins of youth still seems to stand in the Divine book. Remembrance turns the past to pain. Men look indulgently on the "sins of youth," both in them- selves and others. But here is a warning against these light views of transgression. The sowing of " wild oats " is certain, sooner or later, to be followed by a- bitter harvest (comp. Ps. xxv. 7). V. THE SENSE OF BEING FETTERED AND WATCHED. (Ver.27.) He is like a cri.minlll with his feet fastened in a block of wood, which he must carry with him wherever he goes. And all this power.and violence, this watching and restraint, is put forth'on one who is u helpless a.nd broken as a worm-eaten, moth-gnawed garment (ver. 28).-J. Ver. 15.-Faitk in God, bringing resignation. "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Thus doth Job declare his unshaken affiance in God. He lifts his thouo-hts from the reasonings of his friends ; he rises superior, at least for the time, to th: oppreBBion of his sufferings, and with a boldness that does him honour, and a confidence warranted by his belief in the Divine Name, he gives utterance to an expression of faith which has passed from lip to lip all through the ages, and has been a classical formula of faith for the saddest aod most deeply afilicted amongst the children of men. How is the world indebted to them who, with a true heroism, declare their faith in the wisdom and goodness of the Lord! l. F AITB IS !<""EEDED IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE MANY BEA VY TRIALS OF THE HUMAN HEART. External sources of help are often cut off. They altogether fail. '!'here is no band of strength, no word of power, no sufficient consolation. In bodily afil.iction the skill of the wisest may be set at nought. In the trials of life all help from outward sources may fail. The sorrow is too deep for an unaided heart to bear up under. Where shall the afflicted soul hide? There is help only in spiritual sources. God is the final goal of the afflicted spirit. "Fatber, into thy hands I commend my spirit," is the ultimate utterance of the soul when all resources of help are cut off. But for this faith is needed-faith that apprehends the unseen and spiritual. The soul at such times is home up only by faith, and the faith that is needed is a supreme, lowly, unhesitating faith. Happy be who has it. II. FAITH u w.A ll.B.A.N'l'ED BY THE CHARAOTEB OF Gon. This ia the one unfailing refuge. This, of all, is most worthy of trust. We cannot al ways trust the words of human kindnees, even friendship. The good resolves may fail from inability to fulfil eH, xm. 1-28.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 23,7