descended with OccidentBl glory, pRssing Rt the end of dRy into R dark world, which its golden beams could not illumino, and emerging at the <Rll of morn into the clear briaht realm of light. Passing by the misconception ae to tbo sun's movemer,te and funct~n, which science better enables us to understand, the truth remains thai the boun<lnriee of old ocean have been as firmly fixed (Prov, viii. 29), and the alternations of day and night as securely determined (Gen i, 14), by the power of the omnipotent Creator, ae have been the habitations and the times of man (Acts xvii. 26). (4) In producing the phenomena connected with storms upon land, sea, and sky (vers. 11-13). Such a storm depicted by the poet in three different stages. At its commencemen~, "the pillars of the heavens," i.e. the mountains towering to the sky, appear to tremble, to sway back- wards and forwards as if struck by some sudden impact, by the violent agitation~ of the wind, or by the crashing blow of a fiery thunderbolt. Personified, they are pictured as filkd with consternation at the token of J ehovah's anger displayed in the commotion of the elements (Ps. xxix. 3-8; civ. 32; Nab. i. 5; Hab. iii.10). During its continu• ance, "he divideth the sea with his power," The fierce hurricane let loose among the mountains sweeping down upon the calm, still ocean, cleaves it to its inmost depths, " The flre, and cracka 11 Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Y011, his dread trident shake." ('Tempest,' a.et i. ec. ~-J The spirit of evil (Rahab), a.wakened by the hurly-burly, bellows forth its indignant rage, "lifting up its voice on high, and thundering back to the thundering mountains," but is again wounded to the quick by the stroke of the tempest ; for "by his under- standing he breaketh Rahab in pieces "-words which are understood by many to point rather to the power of God in calming the troubled waters of the sea. At the close of the storm, he once more brightens up the sky with his breath (ver. 13), dispersing the storm-clouds with his wind, and fixing the fugitive Dragon. This may perhaps be understood of the constellation of that name which seems to wind itself in like a sinuous serpent between the Greater and Lesser Bears, as if endeavouring to make its escape from its appointed orbit, where, however, God fixes it, wounding it or slaying it, so that its flight is arr6ited-a poetical representation of the sublime truth tbat it is God's hand that bath beautified the evening sky with stars, and that keeps all the stellar world moving on in harmony and order, Or the idea may be, in accordance with ancient mythology, that this gliding serpent, winding itself round the sun, seeks to eclipse its light; but that God wounds it, and so liberates the sun to renew his shining on the earth. So viewed, the poet's language suggests the thought which reappears in other parts of Scripture (Matt. xiii. 39 ; Ro:n. viii. 19-23; Rev. xii. 4)-that, in the great conflict which is continually going on between the powers of light and darkness, victory will eventually, through God's help, incline to the side of the former. Ill. THE LESSON FBOIII THE SERMON; OR, THE TRUTH IT CONTAINS APPLIED. Job concludes his lofty anthem ih celebration of the majesty of God by two remarks. 1. That man's knowledge of the power of God is infinitesimally small. The magnificent pictures which bad been given of the mysterious operation of the Almighty's hand were only as the edges, fringes, or extremest end-points of the glorious garment in which the incomparable Worker was arrayed, as the faintest whisper of a voice which in the fulness of its tones is as the roaring of the thunder or the grand diapason of the sea. What Job asserts about his own representations of the transcendent greatne~s of God is equally correct about the richest and most impressive that bave ever yet been given, Man's understanding of God's power in nature is at best fragmentary nncl imperfect (1 Cor, xiii. 9), 2. That the wonder-working power of God is infinitely great. So great, in fact, that it passes human comprehension. If these stupendous phenomena be only the whispers of his almighty voice, what must be the thunder-roar of its fully uttered tones? If these be occasioned, as it were, by tbe mere flutterings of the extreme end of bis garment, what must be power residing in hi11 Almighty arm? If the phe- nomena of nature, as witnessed in this lower sphere, are sufficient to impress the human mind with exalted conceptions of the greatness of God, how much more sublime should our ideas be of the incomparable glory of him who presides over, and works in, ,JOJ, 2 ll 4M TBlE BOOK. OF IOB.
a univen10, in which this globe on whioh man dwells is but as the small dUBt of the balanoe to the huge forms of the mountains, a.a a drop of wat.er to the ocean as a spark of fire to the hie.zing sun! • Learn: 1. Jt is the duty of all men to seek, entertain, and, as opportunity offers set forth, lofty conceptions of the supreme God. 2. If God's power extends to th; underworld of spirits, it oannot be withdrawn from the upper world of men. 3. If the eye oft.he Omni~cient elUI explore the caverns of hell and the caves of the sea, it must also be sble tn st•arch the chambers of the heart. 4. The Almighty's hand that can hold up a world, yee., " universe, will not surely fail in sustaining one who is at best but. a worm. 5. He who prepares and distributes the clouds of rain for the earth can al~0 provide and di~peuse clouds of spiritual blessing for the souls of men. 6. When God draw~ a cloud before his throne, it is partly for his glory and partly for man's good. 7. He who hath set a bound to the sea is able also to restrain the wrath of man. 8. If God hu divided light from darkness in the physical world, much more will he do~ in the intellectual and spiritual. 9. If things inanimate, as well as blood- less spirit~, tremble at God's reproof, men possessed of reason should not be callous or indifferC'nt to the same. 10. Those who are proud God is able to abase. 11. The power of God in nature is only an emblem and shadow of a higher power which God wields in the realm of grace. 12. The fullest knowledge of God which a saint attains to on earth is small and insignificant when compared with that which awaits him in heaven.