The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 306

the difference between this man and the good man. There are snares about the path of the man of God; but a Divine light revenls them, and a Divine hand draws him back from hie gre&t peril. It ie otherwise with the godless man. Note the reasons why his feet go ~treight for the snare. 1. Da1·kness. His light is put out (ver. 5). If he started with a lantern, the foul atmosphere throngh which he hae travellad has extin- guished it. Now that he needs it in the place of peril, it is but a useless iropcdimont. 2. Desertion of God. We are too blind to see all the snares that are set for our' feet but we may have the help of an nnerring Guide. Tbe sinner rejects the heavenly G~ide, In yiroud independence he prefers to go alone. 3. Protienl'.lls to evil. The sinner sees a f&s"Cination in the region of the snare. Perhaps it is est in a bed of flowers or in an orchard of fruit. It may he that some plel\Sllllt shady dell conceals it, or pos;ibly it is hidden by a mossy conC".h that invite., repose. At all eV13nte, it is most deceptive and powerfu_l where sin most abounds. 4. Destiny. A sort of fatality dogs the footsteps of the emner. Start how he may, he is sure t.o direct his feet at last stra.iaht for the 111are. He is like one mesmerized. He can but walk into the net. The hideous explanation of his faecination for ruin is that he is no longer his own master. He has made himself the slave of Satan. Yet even he may fi.nd safety in the mighty deliverance of the Christ who ea.me to destroy the works of the devil.-W. F. A. Ver. 14.-The king of terrors. Men regard death as the king of terrors, Let ua consider first the grounds of this notion, and then how it may be dispelled. I. LET U8 CONSIDBB WHY DEATH IS REGARDED AS THE KING OF TEBBOBS, Men Instinctively think of death as "the grisly terror." " I 11ed, and cried out, • Death I ' Bell trembled e.t the hideous name, and sighed From all her oa ves, s.nd ~ resounded, ' Death I ' " 1. It ,, opposed to the natural love of life. "All that a man hath will he give for hie life." Therefore death appears as his enemy. Every living creature shuns:!it. The fear of it makes a tmgedy of the chase. 2. It is irresistible. A veritable monarch. We may maintain a state of siege for a time, but we know we must all capitulate at last. When death storms the citadel in real earnest, no power can keep it out. 3. Its terri- tury iJ; unknoum. The mystery of death adds to its terrors. If we saw more we might fear less. We launch our vessel on a dark sea, not knowing·what surges beat on the further shore. 4. It come,s in pain. We often say that the worst is over with the poor sufferer before the end has come. The bitiemess of death has passed before death itself ha.s been reached. Still there is suffering at the end of most lives, and we instinctively shrink from tbis. We cannot bring ourselves to face the thought of the death-struggle. 5. It takes us from all the light ~nd joy ef earth. The natural love of life is confirmed by experience. To die is " to lie in cold -obstruction.n All the sunshine and flowers of this fair world are gone, all the sweetness of companionship with the loved on ~arth. The soul is severed from its earthly delight.s. 6. lt comes to e,ach aingly. Each soul must venture alone iuto the dread unknown. 7. It mhers us into future ;'udgment. "After death the judgment." The sinner who dares not give an account of himself before God dreads to hear the summons from the messenger of the unseen. 11 '!'he stiog of death is sin." II. LET us SEK HOW DEATH CAN BE BOBBED OF ITS TERRORS. Christ dethrones the king of terrors~ and wrests his dark kingdom away, flooding it with the light of his grace. The Christian can do more than the Roman hero and the Stoic philosopher who had learnt to meet death" "'ith an equal mind." He can say, "To' me ... to die is gain." l. Ohrist rem~ the cauus of the fear of death. He does not lull the fear as with an opiate. He dissipates it by abolishing its source, as one dissipates a. malarioua fog by draining the marsh from which it rises. He goes to the root by conquering 11in, which is the most fundamental cause of the terror of de11th. Bringiug pardon for past sin, he dispels the alarm of future judgment; and bringiag purification of soul, he removes the indwelling sin that always shrinks from death as the foe of man. Then Christ helps us to face the pain, the darkness, and the mystery of death, by assuring us of his own supporting presence : "It is I; be not afraid." 2, Ohrist tlirow, l{gltt on the region beyond clerJeh. Re would not have us fix our attention on death. That is but a 4"1, XVIll, 1-21.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 319