la misjudged, but in heaven there is One who Rees all, and can witness both bis woe and his Integrity, More than this; he turns from God as the source of his cali!.mity to God as bis Saviour, Dr, S. Cox has pointed out that Job has here made a great discovery, He bas found a higher God, a God of love, above the God who torments. Or mther, he hlls seen the true God above the false, conventional idea of God. To this Goo. he appeals as his Witness in heaven. I. '!'HERE 19 A WITNESS IN HEAVEN, 1. He is far above us. " In heaven." Go<l is not to be confined to the narrow range of earthly experiences. He sits above the dust and din of the battle, above all the clouds and storms of earth. He is free from the passion, the limited vision, the personal prejudice of the immediate actors in the earthly scene. Though intimately associated with all we are and do, he is yet so great as to enjoy that detachment of mind which allows of fair and impartial ju<lgment. He looks with other eyes than ours; from his high station be sees all thing8 in their right proport.ion, and he takes in the whole panorama of existence. 2. He takes note of earthly things. A "Witness." God is not uninterested in earth, like an Epicurean divinity. He looks into all human affairs, and they are a.II open to him. Every human deed is done under the eye of God; even the darkest and most secret crimes are perfectly open to his all-penetrating scrutiny. He too sees things truly, as they are; and the greatest wrong and injustice is quite clear to him. God never misunder- stands any of his children. 3. He can be appealed to. Job even calls God " my Witness." He feels that God is on his side, and he believes that he may call upon God to testify against the enormous wrong that is being done to him. God does not reserve his knowledge uselessly, like a student who is always learning, but never employing what he acquires. We may appeal to God to come and speak and act for our deliver- ance, pouring out tears unto him. II. THE WITNESS IN HEAVEN IS TRUE AND GOOD. It is useless to appeal to a false witness, or to one who will give an unfavourable version of what he sees. Satan was a witness of Job's life; but Satan's testimony was one-sided, suspicious, an<l as damaging as the facts could allow. Job appeals without fear to the supreme Witness, knowing that bis testimony can be relied upon. Goodness and truth are supreme. The lower earthly experiences of God are contradictory and confusing. What we see in this world of nature and providence perplexes us with hard thoughts of apparent indifference, injustice, cruelty. Some have even supposed that the Creator of a world with so much evil could not be good. Browning's Caliban imagined, in his poor, dim, low-minded speculation, that his god Setebos made the world "out of spite." This was a common belief with the Gnostic sects. But Caliban, like the Gnostics, saw that there wa.s a Supreme who did justly. The notion appears in modern times. Dr. J essopp relates a conversation in which an old countryman said that Pro,idence was always against him. This year it was the potato-disease, and last year the oats were blighted. But looking up, he added, "I reckon there's One above that will call him to account." The delusion is in separating the two divinities. We have to see that the one God appears in lower scenes of darkness and mystery, and also in the heights above as perfect love. Clouds and darkness are round his footstool But his countenance is gracious.-W. F. A. Ver, 21.-Pleading with God. Job still maintains the higher strain of thought which he took up when he appealed to his Witness in heaven. 'l'he one desire of his heart is to be right with God, and he is persuaded that only God himself can make him so. I. OUR GREATEST NEED JS TO BE RIGHT WITH GoD. What is the USO of the :flattery of man if God, the one supreme Judge with whom we have to do, condemns us ? But, then, where is the mischief of man's censure when our Judge acquits us? Far too much is made of the opinion of the world, and far too little of the verdict of Hee.ven. We need to rise above the little hopes and fears of human favour to the great thought of God's approval. When we think first of that, all else becomes insignificant. The reasons for doing so should be overwhelming. 1. God knows all. 2. He is ..d.lmighty- ablo to bless us or to cast us off. 3. He is our Father. And it is better for the child to stanrl well with his parent than with all the world. II. "\VE HAVE TO OWN THAT WE ARE NOT RIGHT WITH GoD. 1. This is apparent 20( THE BOOK UF JOB. [OH, XVII, 1-18,
,,,, the ea,perimce of life, Job felt there was something wrong between him nnd Goo, though the foolieb error of bis friends had confused bis mind, so th&t be could not aee where the wrong lay. The dark shadows that creep between us an1\ God, and hide from m the joy of heaven, are felt in ,·xperic1100. Th~y certainly bear witness to some c1in,lition of error or evil. 2. This is also oonjirmed by tht testimony ef conscience. A voice within interprets the dark scene without. We learn from Job's distresses that calamities ere not n<>eessarily indicative of sin, But we must all own that nothing puts us so wrong with God as our own misconduct. III. WE NEED AN ADVOCATE TO SET us RIGHT WITH Goo. We cannot nipresent our own ca!>e aright. for we do not understand ourselves, and our "he.'\rbi are deceitful above all things." We cntainly do not know the mind and will of God. How, then, oan we find our way back to him? A trackless desert lies between, and the night is dark and stormy. E,·en if we were before him we oould not answer him" one of a thousand." 'l'hus there is a general feeling among men tha.t some mediator, intercessor, advocate, priest, is required. , , IY. Goo IN Can1sT IS THE ADVOCATE WITB Goo THE FATHER. Job could not see as far as this ; but he AAW the essential truth, i.e. that God must provide the way of reconciliation. Only God can plead with God for man. Therefore we flee" from God to God." We escape from the low& experiences of the Divine in life which strike us as harsh, and even as unjust, to the higher vision of God which renals him as all truth and g-oodness. We call upon God in his Jove to reconcile us with himself. This,. the New Testament teaches, he does in Christ, who is the Revelation of God's love. "We have an Advocate with the Father," ere. (1 John ii. 1). We want no human priest to plead our cause, for we have a great High Priest who "ever liveth to make intercession for us." When we truly pray in Christ's Name we have a righttotrost that he will plead for us. By all the merits of his cr-OBS and Passion his pleading is mighty to prevail for the sinner's salvation.-W. F . .A.
EXPOSITION. continue fn their provocation t i.e. " He.ve J CHAPTER XVIl. Rnything else t.o look upon? Are not tli.e Vers. 1-16.-The general character of mockers e.lwe.y,s abput me, ~w~ys provoking me?" . . .l, ,- • • • ·•