Vere. 7-10.-Sad views of life. If the tree be cut down, it springs again; but if man dieth, he wasteth away. Certainly, then, man's hope is not in this life. The disr;nal views given in these few verses demand the full assurance of the resurrection. This, is a feature of the Book of Job. It presents a negative view of human life. There is always a dem:md to be met. Only the fuller teachings of the New Testament meet it. :Consider this aspect of human life with its demand for supplementary views in order to completeness and satisfaction. The complementary character of subsequent revelations, I. THE PRESENT LIFE OF MAN PRESENTS OHARAcn'EBISTICS OF IMPERFECTNESS WHICH INDICATE THAT THIS CANNOT BE THE COMPLETE VIEW OF LIFE. IJ. THE MORAL, SPIRITUAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CAPABILITIES WHICH ABE OBVIOwSLY BUT PARTIALLY CALLED INTO PLAY DEMAND OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES FOB THEIR FULL DEVELOPMENT, AND INDICATE THE INCOMPLETENESS OF THE VIEW OF LIFE WHEN CONFINED TO THE PRESENT ONLY. Ill. THE ASPIRATIONS OF MEN TOWARDS CONDITIONS THAT CANNOT BE ATTAINED IN. THIS LIFE ABE A TESTIMONY TO ITS INCOMPLETENESS. IV. THE IDEALS OF LIFE ABE so FAR SUPERIOR TO THE REALIZATIONS, THAT THEY BECOME, A CONSTANT PROPHECY OF SOMETHING BETTER AND HIGHER THA...'l THE PRESE.i.'IT LIFE . .V. THE HOPE OF HIGHER CONDITIONS THAN THE PRESENT IS STRONGEST IN THE BEST AND PUREST SOULS. VI. THE PAINFULNESS OF THE PRESENT WITH THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF CAPACITY FOB GREAT AND PURE ENJOYMENT A FURTHER EVIDENCE OF THE INCOMPLETENESS OF LIFE IF THE VIEW BE RESTRICTED TO THE PRESENT. Vlf. ALL IS 'SATISFIED IN THE SUBSEQUENT REVELATIONS, AND IN THE CALM ASSURANCE THEY GIVE OF THE BESUBBECTION OF THE DE.AD AND THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME,-R. G.
' Ver. 14.-Thefuture life. "If a man die, shall he live again?" The true answer to this solemn question is the only sufficient response to the sad wail of the previous verses, "There.is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, ... but man dieth, and wasteth away." The answer cometh from afar. It is difficult to determine t4e measure of light that Job had on the question of the future life. Read in the light of our New 'l'estament teaching, some of his phrases are full of hope; but we may have put the hope there. Generally it is t.he langnage of inquiry, and often of inquiry unsatisfied. Sometimes faith bursts through all doubt and gloom, and the confidence of a strong and assured hope takes the place of tremulous fear, Still the question rings in every breast; still the longing for a fuller life in which the ideals of the present may be reached prevails; still mon go to the side of the dark river and look into the gloom, and hoping and half fearing ask, " If a man die, shall he live again ? " 'l'he only satis- factory answer to this. comes to us from the lips of the Redeemer, and that is wholly and entirely satisfactory. We mark- 256 THE BOOK O'F JOB. [OR, XIV. l-22.