111\ve to 1et1.rn to tmbmit to the higher knowledge as well as the higher authority of God. Prayer needs to be more simply the trustmg or ourselves to God fut him to do with ne jUBt what he knows to be best.-W. F. A. Ve!'II. 23-26.-The common fate. Job has pointed out t11at the wicked are notalways punished in this life with external trouble; on the contrary, they often flourish to the end in unbroken prospe1ity (ver. 7, etc.). He next proceeds to sho.w that the end of the happy and the sorrowful is the same. The pros1,crous bad man does not meet with a reverse of fortune at 111st, nor docs the afflicted righteous man find an earthly reward in his lat~r days. Both go down to death without a sign of the reversal of their condition which justice would seem to demand. : I. DEATil HAPPENS ALIKE TO ALL, As Shakespeare puts it, this may be said of all ofus- "Nothing 011.n we oall our own, but death; And that small model of the bnrren earth, That serves as pnste and cover to our bones." The "great leveller" should not only humble pride, but also teach us more human brotherhood. If we are brothers in death, should we not be brothers also in life? The deepest facts of life arc common to all men. Our differences of state and rank only affect what is superficial. n. DEATH IS NOT FELT TO BE THE SAME BY .ALL. Our feolings are affected by' contrasts and changes, not by our absolute condition at any moment. The candle-light that looks brilliant to the prisoner in a dungeon, is most gloomy to a man who has just come from the sunsbine. Death is all loss and darkness to one who is suddenly snatched away from earthly enjoyment, but it is a haven of rest to the storm-tossed soul. The same death has very different meanings according to our spiritual conditio11, In sin and worldliness and heathenish ignorance, death is a going out into the. darkness: To the Christian it is falling asleep in Christ. III. THERE IS NO EARTHLY ADJUSTMENT OF LOTS. Job is quite right. It is vain to expect it. If it has not come yet, we have no reason to believe that it will come later on, even at the last. There is nothing in experience to warrant us in the hope that it will come :rt all In many respects, no doubt, moral causes work out visible effects on earth. Dut this is by no means universal, nor are the effects always adequate to the requirements of justice. - IV. THERE MOST BE A FUTURE LIFE. The story is not complete on earth, It breaks off suddenly withont any kind of finish. This abruptness of the visible ending; of life points to a continue.nee beyond the grave. Justice r~uires that the unfinished life should have its appropriate conclusion. Not from necessity of nature, hut from moral considerations, we conclude that the broken threads must be picked up and drawn together again to make the perfect pattern. V. THE SPIRITUAL LIFE IS IN1'Th'ITELY BUPEBIOB TO THE MATERIAL. It looks ae though the differences of external fortune could be treatert with contempt. The good have misfortune, the bad have prosperity. These are slight matters in the eyes of Providence, because real prosperity, is spiritual prosperity, and that ie ·only possible to those who live a right life.-W. F. A. Ver. 34.-Vain comfort. The three bungling comforters are wasting their efforts, because they are not speaking the truth. Their misapprehension and misrepresentation vitiate all their good intentions. I. WE MUST UNDEBBTAND THOSE WHOM WE WOULD HELP. 1. By mwing with them. Job's friends took the first step. They travelled from their remote homes across the desert and came to see him. We can only help the miserable if we first go among them and see them with our own eyes. Much philanthropy fails by reason of di.stance and separation. We cannot know people till we are with them. Christ came down from heaven and lived among men. 2. By /ree<kJm from prejudi~. Job's friends came with fixed notions. They only looked. at Joh through their coloured spectacles, We ca.n never understand people till we throw aside all our preconceived notions about them and look at them as they are. 3. Bv 81/mpathy. Thie must be insisted on over and c:n. :um. 1-30.J THE BOOK OF JOB. 369
over RgRin. The lack of it WRB the chief cauee of the failure of Job's friends. The presonce of it is the first rssential for understanding people. I[, TnUTII 1B A PRIMARY OONDITION OF CONSOLATION, 1. In regard to the sufferer. It Is uscloss to ignore his sufferings, or to try to reason him into the belief that they do not exist. The attempt to help will be spoilt if we argue that what be knows to be undeserved is really his due. Any view that does not regard him a..~ he is spoils all efforts to console. 2. In regard to the remedy. It is worse than useless to offer wrong remedies. The trite commonplaces of consolation are only irritants. Some of them a.re known to be false in fact. Others have not the ring of sincerity about them when repeated by the comforting friend. However true they have been once, they ha,e ceasen to bear any meaning that people believe in. llI. SrrnITUAL CONSOLATION IS CONDITIONED BY SPIRITUAL TRUTIT, 1. In thought. We cannot console others with dogmas that we do not believe in ourselve~. If we have no faith in Christ we cannot use the Name of Christ to heal the wounds of others. Unless we look forward to a future life it is vain fur us to talk about the "many mansions" when we are trying to console others. There is a foolish notion that we should talk up to the maximum of orthodoxy, even though we do not live and think up to H. But this notion is only an excuse for cant, and nothing is more vexing to the sufferer than to be treated with cant. Let us say only what we believe. 2. In fact. Diilusions canoot afford permanent consolations. They may soothe pain and alarm for the moment; but they cannot endure, and when the mistake of them is discovered the result will be a deeper despair than ever. If, however, we could succeed in lulling all distress on earth by means of a false hope, the consolation itself would be a most terrible calamity. The soul needs truth more than comfort. It is better to hear the painful truth now than at the great judgment. But there is nnother troth, one which gives real consolation-the truth of the gospel of Christ.-W. F . .A..
5EOTION IV, TBmD COLLOQUY OF JOB WITH BIS FRIENDS.