Ven1. 17-22.-Self-defence before God: 4. Relapse into despondenttmagina4ions. I. HE ~TILL AB0ll!WS WITH VARIED FIGUIIES, THE VERY ELOQUENOE OF COMPLAINT, God has taken his sins and placed them as in a.bag, sealed for safety of deposit, that they may be reproduced against him. He appears like an accuser who heaps up scandals and olfooces against the unhappy object of his wrath (ver. 17). II. 1N THIS LIGHT OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE HE FURTHER CONTEMPLATES THE OON• DITION OF MANKIND. 1. The impossibility of resistance to their doom. (Vers. 18, 19.) Mountains and rocks a.re dissolved, hard stones are gradually dislocated, by the con- tinuous action of water; their fragments a.re carried away by the flood. Much more must the feeble body of man give way at last. And so his mind must surrender the kindled light of God, which God destroys l 2. The overmastering power of Goel. (Vers. 20-22.) The mighty warrior overcomes the feeble resistauce of bis foe, and releases him only when he has set hiw before his face and given him a proof of hjs .pre- vailing force. So God only releases man in death when all his beauty has passed away, and there remains but the hideous corpse. In the lower world consciousness fails him; he knows nothing of the things of earth, joyous or sad; can render no help to the dear ones who survive him. In the lower world the dead me.n, without activity or energy, endures his bodily and mental pain in dreary solitude and stillness.. So ends again this adJ.ress with the gloomiest, most despondent outlook as to the other '\YOrld, relieved only for a moment by the fugitive hope of the life to come. . . . LESSONS. 1. The heart has an instinct for immortality, derived_from its revolt from extreme pain. Something within us tells us that we_ were not made to be eternally, irrecoverably miserable. 2. The truth of a futnre Hfe coqi_~s in flashes. upoJ:!dhe mind; for its retention we need the support of positive revelation. 3. 'l'he natural weakness e.nd frailty of man is complemented by his spiritual power 11,~d .g~el).tI1ess 118 partaker of an endless life.-J.
Vers. 1, 2.-Lessons from the brevity of human life. These words are !)onsecrated: to a supreme moment. Chosen to be the words spoken at the side of the gra.v!l, ".while the corpse is made ready to be laid in the earth,'' they bear a solemn l!,nd overwhelming testimony to a truth men a.re apt, in the heat of the day, to _forget•. , So __many are the duties and toils of men that the hurry of a short life is hardly noticed, save when, by enforced attention, the thoughts recur to it. The truth is established-m11n's l_ife is short, it is sorrowful, its early promise is destroyed, it hurriedly passeth away, it jacks permanence and stability. What, then, is the proper course of conduct to. pu1·sue in web circumstances ? L IT IS WISE TO BE DILIGENT IN THE FULFILMENT _OF DUTY. Days lost cannot '!,le recovered. The duty omitted cannot be afterwards attended to without intrenching upon some other. A watchfulness over the moments saves the hours. • Diligence prevents waste, and the days are numbered. Diligence is imperati>te if life's 1arge work is to be done in its little time. He learns the vah,ie of time who diligenUy applies himself to his work. .And no one has any ti~e to lose. _ , II. Th.e brevity of life is AN ENOOUBAGEMENT T0°PATIENCE UNDER TROUBLE. 'l'he way is not long. '.l'he strength is .taxed, but not for long. The life of "few days" is "full of trouble." Happily it is but for a "few days." Life is not stretched out beyond endure.nee. And the vision of immortality rqay gild the horizQn as the light of a setting sun. All the future to the humble and obedie11t is bright, and the preeent weary march is not longer than can be borne, even by feeble human strength. Ill The brerity of hl,I.Dl&n life may ;properly act as A SALUTARY 0HE0K AGAINST ENTEBTilli'lNG TOO HIGH AN ;ESTµ[ATE -OF EABTHLY THINGS, The things ,of time have their iwport!l,nce-their very great and solemn_ importance, And be who has o just 08, XIV, 1-22.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 266
view of the future will be the more likely to placo a just estimate on the i:resent. But he will" sit loose" to things of time, He will remember be is but a sojourner. That the goods and possessions he now calls his own wHI soon be held by other hands. He will therefore see that he must not put so high a price upon the present as to barter away the future and more durable possessions for it, Life opens to him like a flower in its he1mty; it "cometh forth like a flower" in its promise, but it " is cut down." It is vain to build too confidently on such a hope. It is unwise to live wholly for so ,uncertain a tenure, that fleeth as a shadow and continueth not. IV. 'l'he brevity of human life MAKES IT NEEDFUL THAT MEN SHOULD LOSF. NO OPPORTDNITY OF LAYING HOLD ON THE LIFE IMMORTAL. The true preparation for the life to come-the permanent and enduring life-is to occupy this present one with careful and diligent fidelity. Great issues depend upou it. The condition of the foture; the attainment of character; the recorded history; the everlasting approval Oi' disap- proval of the manner in which life has been held, which the eternal Judge will pass upon it, and which will be reflected in the solitudes of the individual conscience. -R.G.