wa.ndering in apite of 1111 our care. Therefore we ha.ve t.o find safety in obeying a lleCOnd oommand, "My son, give me thy heart" (Prov. xxiii 26).-W. F. A. Vere. U-16.-God's boUness and man's 11in. Elipha.z takes up Job's words (eh. xiv. 1-4), but turns them &gRinst their author. Job had spoken of inherited frailty as a ground for pity; Eliphaz seizes on it as an accusation of guilt. How dare this puny, imperfect creature, man, boast of his innocence in the sight of the holy God? I. GoD'i; HOLrNESS 1s IN0OMPARABLL This is an idea whicb. we take for granted. Yet it was not found in most heathen religions. Monotheism is commonly reckoned Ill< the great peculin.rity of the Hebrew faiLh; but a more striking peculiarity is holiness, The neighbouring divinities were just representations of ma.gnifil!d human passions, often m,,re degraded and immoral than men. The revelation of the true God shows that he is not only above all human passion; he is perfect in holiness. We can find no image with which to compare his purity. The mountain is high above the plain, but mount.a.in and plain are equally low when we think of the stare. Our goodness may mean something among men, but it does not extend to God (Ps. xvi. 2). Even the very angels veil their faces before him, awed by the majesty of absolute goodness. Yet God's goodness in being absolute is not so because he is infinite. If it were, it would be unfair to complain that we could not a11proach it. An inch of snow may be as pure as a.n acre of snow. II. Gon's HOLTh"ESS REVEALS MAN'S SIN. We do not know our sin till we see it in the light of God. There are in the farmyard fowls black and white. But when the snow has fallen the white fowls look so no longer, because by the side of the Heaven- Rent purity of the snow their plumage is seen. to be of a very impure colour. There are men of various character, and some are accounted white-souled sai::i.ts. But when placed by the side of God's holiness these are the first to confess that their righteous- ness is as filthy rags. Christ revealed the sin of his age in contrast to his own holiness, We do not own our sinfulness because we do not know God's goodness. It is not the Law, but God's goodness in Christ, that most makes us feel our sin, III. Gon's HOLINESS CANNOT ENDURE SIN. Sin may stand unrebuked and unchecked in the world, because all are "tarred with the same brush." Thus there is a dangerous condoning of conventional evil But this is not possible with God. Holiness and sin are opposed as light and darkness. The thought of God's holiuess alone ~kes. men tremble. • Eternal Light, Eternal Light I How pure the soul must be When, placed within thy searching sight, It shrinks not, but with calm delight Can live and look on thee I•• Therefore God must deal with sin, to banish and destroy it. If the sinner cleaves to his sin he cannot but share in its doom. If, however, he will detach himself from it, it will be destroyed, while he is saved. God hates the sin, not the sinner. Now, God's holy hatred of sin should be regarded by us a.s a reason for great thankfulness. For the sin he hates is just our most deadly enemy. If he destroys our sin, he saves our soul from its fatal foe, On the other hand, only God can give the _purity which is needed for his presence. We may make ourselves seem fair before man. Only God can purify us so that we are fit for hill presence, only the blood of Christ can cleanse from all sin (1 John i. 7).-W. F. A. Ver. 31.-Trustir,g in wnity. I. TEE HABIT OF TRUSTING IN VA?-.'ITY. The vanity spoken of is any empty ground of trust, like an island of floating weeds on which care- less people build their homes, but which will be shattered, with all that is on it, in the first storm. L A delusion. We may be persuaded to accept what is not true. Our belief does not gi '"e any reality to the delusion; we a.re then trusting in vanity, 2. Bdf. We are all too rea<ly to think our own resources greater than they are. Yet every m.'ln who trw;ts to himself supremely is trusting in vanity, for all a.re sinful, frail, and prone to err. 3. Man. The psalmist warns us against putting our trust in man (Ps. cxviii. 8). (1) A£. a friend. 'l'he best friends cannot help us ip our greatest lle6da-in the guilt of sin, in the sorrow of a terrible loss, in the hour of death. (2) A1 (lR, XVI, 1-22,] THE BOOK OF JOB. 279
a priest, Some trust to the pries~ to do their religious duUes for them, althongh they would not express themselves thus boldly. But the pnest is a man, a sinner, needing himself the Saviour to whom every one or us can go directly for himself. 4. A cre,,d. 'l'he creed may be true, yet if we trust to that, and not to Christ, we trust in vanity. Faith which saves le not the mental consent to a string of propositions; it is living- confidence in a personal Saviour. 5. A Church. We are members ofa Church, prO: fessing the Christian faith and in communion with the brotharhood of Christians. YeL if our confidence is In the Church rather than in Christ our hope is vain. The Church is the body of those who are being saved; it is not the Saviour. II. THE FATE OF TRUSTING m v ANITY. "Vanity shall be hisrecon1pense." Here, as elsewhere, "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Let us consider the nature and course of this fate. 1. A postponed result. The vanity tempts with a plausible appearance of substantiality. It is not discovered the moment it is trusted. A man may so blind himself RB to trust in vanity all bis life, and at last die in his delusions. How great and fearful must be the final awakening of such a self-deceiver! There will be enough punishment for some men in the very discovery of the utter vanity of their hopes. 2. A sure result. Every man's future is moulded according to what he relies upon. His fate is determined by his God. If he worships mammon, self, or sin, his condition in the future will be the direct outcome of the present devotion of his heart. This is just a case of natural causation running into the spiritual life. 3. A miserable result. The vanity does not appear to be a very dreadful thing when it is first seen. Yet to possess it for ever as an inheritance is the punishment of its dupe. For when it is found out it must be loathed. Though we may trust in what is unsubstantial, we cannot live upon it. The soul that tries to support itself on lies and pretences will starve as Sl).rely as the body which is fed on nothing but air. 4. A merited result. The trust was not in evil, only in vanity. There was no choice of a positively bad or hurtful thing. The worst is vacancy and nega.tion. Yet vaca.ncy and negation are justly recompensed after tbeir kind. The empty soul goes deservedly to outer darkness. We need a positive ground of faith. The only sure ground, the one Foundation, is Jesus Christ. He who truata the Rock of Ages will not be recom- pensed with vanity.-W. F. A.