The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 354

for. they are not in trouble. They see n,o reason for prayer, for they have all they )v11nt without it. 2. Rejecting God. (Ver. 15.) These prosperous wicked people go further than to live without God. They actually rebel against him. Being self- sufficient, they decline to admit that they are under any obligation to serve God. Thu8 their very prosperity inoreases their sin. III. 'l'HE GREAT MYSTERY OF THESE FAOTB. This is inexplicable from the standpoint of Job's friends, If suffering is only the punishment of sin, the wicked must suffer, or there is no just Judge over all. By pointing to the plain facts of life Job is able to refute the pedantic dogmas of his critics. Theology that will not stand the test of life is worthless, But graver questions are at issue than those that merely concern the correctness of orthodox: notions. Where is the justice of fa.cts as Job sets them forth? To him 1111 is 3i profound mystery. Now, it is something to be brought to this point. There is a mystery in the course of life which we cannot fathom. Then let us not attempt to judge, but confess our ignorance. Still, if there is to be an outlook towards the light, we must seek it in two directions. 1. In the prospect of a future life. There God will rectify the inequalities of this life. 2. In attaching less weight to outward circumstances. Prosperity is not the greatest good. On both sides, among the dis- appointed good as ,well as among the fortunate wicked, too much is made of external th;ing9-: True prosperity is soul-prosperity, "The life is more than meat," etc.-W. F. A. Ver. ·22.~Teaching God. Job has already warned his friends that their advocacy of a cruel cre!Jd was speaking wickedly for God (eh. xiii. 7). The presumption of the foolish advocates of an effete orthodoxy now reaches a greater height, and they virtually assume. to teach God. Their dogma is above Divine revelation. If the two differ, so much the worse for the revelation. Let us see how this same error ma.y be found in other branches of life and thought. ' L IN AUTHORITATIVE ORTHOD.OXY. It cannot be said that the mere act of calling in the aid of authority to establish and support what we believe to be the truth implies II disposition to assume to be the te.achers of God. But there is a tendency in absolute reliance on authority to move towards that absurdity which reaches its climax in the folly that Job ascribes to his friends. The tendency is to think the settled opinion of our party or section of the Church a certain and infallible truth. Thus people are urged to submit to such settled opinion without inquiry. Though God may have given ,teaching available to all in nature and in the Scriptures, though he may be speaking in the hearts of his children by tlie voice of his Spirit, all these Divine com- munications are set aside in favour of the one human authoritative utterance. Instead of this being subject to the test of nature, Scripture, and conscience, God's voice in those three channels is translated and often distorted into accordance with the dogma. of authority. II. IN PBIV.ATE JUDGMENT. The same error may be seen in the opposite direction, in ii. sort of 'ultra-Protestant employment of the right of freedom of thought. The individual man asserts his opinion as infallible, regardless of the ideas of all other people. He poses as "Athanasius contra mundum," without posses::iing the title to independence which was earned by .the hero of Nicrea. The mischief is not that he is independent-sur~ly everybody should think for himself; k is that he rejects all external aids to knowledge, lind" sets up his own reason, or often his own prejudice, as the standard of tiuth. He rejects the Pope of Rome that he may be his own pope. Even the Divine revelation in the Bible must be interpreted so a.s to a);tee with his opinions. _Instead of going to the Scriptures as a humble learner seeking light, he approaches them as one who has made up his mind, and who must now get the Bible to echo his notions. Th~ same mistake is made by those who presume to judge nature or providence, thinking they would have done better if they had been in God's place. III. IN PRAYER. Is it not very common for people to pray as though they were instructing God? They inform him of what he already knows far better than they know it themselves. God invites our confidence and coufession; but this is that. we may put ourselves into right relati\)ns with him, not that we may tell him anything of which he would be ignorant but for our prayer. Or people go further, and offer instructions to God as to the way in which ho should act. Prayer, instead of being a. supplication, becomes a dictating to God. intreaty is virtually converted into a demand. We 368 THE 'BOOK 'OF .TOB. toit. ttr. 1-1:14:,