AWARD, The upright, einoere, but misunderstood ~ufferur leaves all to the final judg- ment. The "witness" and the" record" are "on high." To that tribunal which is also on high be appeals, and with the "scorn" of hie "friends" breaking hie already afflicted spirit he turns his tearful eyes "unto God." Self-assured intearlty may &!ways thus make its appeal to God, "the righteous Judge" to whose judgm:nt-seat it ill the higbeet wisdom of ASsailed innocence to appeal.-R. G.
Ver. 2.-Miserabk comfm·ters. Job is able to rise above his foolish, narrow-minded friends, and look down upon the_m with good-humoured, pitying irony, So little do they understand him I So proualy do they trust in their empty words I .And it is o.11 a dclusior;. Job is almost ready to forget their impertinence as he turns to the far more important question of God's dea.linii;s with him. But first he gives them their true character. They a.re all "miserable comforters." _ I. MISERABLE COMFORTERS FAIL FOR LACK OF SYMPATHY. This thouaht is con- tinually recurring in the co11rse of the dramatic dialogue, It is e.t the "root of the whole controversy. All the elaborn.te argumentation of the three wise men is so much empty wind, hecause they lack the first condition of consolation. We can never be reminded too often that sympathy is the first and absolute condition of all mutual helpfulness. But how is it that well-meaning frimds lack it? There can be but one answer. The enemy of sympathy is selfishness. While we think much of ourselves our own opinions, position, conduct, we must fail in sympathy, and our -attempts t~ help_others m_ust com.e to the ground "'.ithout any good r~sults.. In visiting the poor, nursmg the sick, ra1s1Dg the fallen, savmg the lost, teachrng children, sympathy is the primary requisite for success. Christ is the true Friend of the suffetj.ng, because Christ eympathizes profoundly with all sufferings. We make a mistake when, like Job's comforters, we try to console by offering advice. The sufferer wants not advice, but sympathy. Why should his misfortune give us a right to pose as his cpunsellors? He is more fitted to be our teacher, for he has been to the best of schools, the school of affliction. li. :M.isi:RABLE COMFORTERS ADD TO TBE GRIEFS WHICH THEY VAINLY TRY TO .A.SSUAGE. Thus Rousseau writes, "Consolation indiscreetly pressed upon, us, when we are suffering under affliction, only serves to increase our pain and to render our grief more poignant." The reasons for this are not difficult to discover. 1. Disappointment. We expect something better from a friend_ He should give us his sympathy, and if he fails to do so we feel ourselves to be unkindly treated, or at least we miss a comfort for which we were looking. 2. Weariness. The sufferer wants quiet. The lopk and tear of sympathy may console him, but many words are wearying to him. He is too full of his own sad thoughts to find room for the ill-judged observations of. untimely 'Mivisers. 3. InjUlltice. Yon cannot be just to a man without sympathy, because you oan»ot understand him till you enter into his deeper feelings. But nothing is more dis- tressing than unjust treatment. Much of Job's greatest trouble ea.me from this source. III. WE :NU:D Drvn.'E GB.A0,E 'l'O HELP VB TO BE TRUE OOMFORTERS. Perhaps we ahrink. from tbe task, seeing its difficulties. We would avoid the house of mourning lest our bungliDg attempts at consolation should add to its sorrows. Bnt this is not brotherly. 'Jhe Christian duty is to " weep with them that weep" (Rom. -xii. 15). To be true sympathizers we need to have self conquered by the grace of Christ. Perhaps one re&i!on why some of us have much trouble is that we may be able to understand t.he trouble of other people, and so may become true comforters.-W. F. .A.