tend to aubjeotive feelings rather than to worship-the contemplation and the service of God. Now, the chief end of revelation is to make God known to u&,and the higheat occupation for our minds is to rise to the thought of God. The character of God should mo.ke thiB clear to us. 1. His greatnus. Knowledge should seek a worthy object. We should dellire to know what is greatest, rather than petty details. 2. His holmeu. Teachings about God are teachings about 7,oodness. Here we come to the source of true ethics. We cannot study" the good 'till we know God. 3. His love. That is supreme in God, and it iB supreme in the universe. To know the love of God is to know what is highest and best of all thing&. II. PnAOTICAL TEACHINGS. It may be urged that we canuot afford to spend onr time in contemplation, that we want to know how to live our present life, and that therefore earthly and human knowledge is the most important knowledge. But this is a. mistake. For God is not separated from this world and the affairs of daily life. The kuowledge of God is not abstract theology. God is our Father, our Master, our Guide. To know God is to know how to live; it is to know what character and conduct a.re in harmony with the mind of our supreme King. We cannot live aright without knowing him. Moreover, it is a matter of profound interest to know how God is disposed towards us. Is he gracious and forgiving? how may we best please him? These are practical questions. But apart from the ends of knowledge, the knowledge of God is itself a source of blessedness. To know God is eternal life (John xvii. 3). III. DIFFICULT TEACHINGS. Experience shows how grievously men have erred in their teachings about God. Not only has heathenism gone astray in its manifold and monstrous perversions of Divinity, but Chri8tians have set forth the most erroneous conceptions of God. With some he has been regarded as a stem despot, an arbitrary autocrat; with others he has been represented as a mere personification of amiable and compliant good will, without regard to moral considerations. It is not wonderful that the teachings are difficult, considering: 1. The greatness of God. One can know but a very little of so awful a Being. We see but "parts of his ways;" "but the thunder of his power who can understand?" 2. The blindness of men. Sin blinds us; prejudice perverts our notions of God iustead of allowing us to see the truth about him. IV. P,ossmLE TEACHINGS. 1. From revelation. God has not hidden himself in the thick darkness. He has made himself known in bis works, by the inspiration of prophecy, and above all in the Person of Christ. Agnosticism is only defensible if all revelation is discarded, and agnosticism cannot account for Christ. 2. By spiritual grare. The 'knowledge of God is an inward revelation. We can only read nature, tho Bible, and Christ aright when the Spirit of God is in our hearts. By the gift of his Spirit God opens our eyes to the knowledge of himself.-W. F. A. Vers. 13-23.-The portion of a 'I.Dicked man. Job seems to be echoing the teaching of his friends which he has previously repudiated. Now he urges that the wicked man does meet with trouble as the wages of his misdeeds. But Job looks further than his friends. He does not associate particular and immediate troubles with guilt as they do; he takes a large view of life; he embraces the whole career; and from that he draws his conclusions. The striking thing about this picture is that success is converted into disappointment. The wicked man prospers. He is not poor and miserable, as the old. conventional, orthodox creed assumed. But his very wealth and success are turned tc failure and wretchedness. I. FAMILY DIBAPPOINTMENTB. (Vers. 13-15.) The wicked man is not childless. He has children who are to be regarded as "a heritage from the Lord." His family grows up about him. But wait for the end. Clouds gather and break over the home. Brave sous are slain by the sword. Fa.mine visits the land, or business failure impoverishes the store, and then many children only mean many mouths to feed. If the calamity does not always come in this visible way, in some way or other the bad man must miss the true blessings of family life, for he has not the pure and generous spirit out of which they are produced. II. USELESS WEALTH. (Vers.16, 17.) He may heap up silver as the dust, but he will not be able to onjoy it. Mere money is not happiness. Money may be married to misel'y, while peace may dwell with poverty. Thu wealth may not be forfeited; yet the life of its owner is but brief. After he has gone another will enjoy the product THB BOOK, 01' JOBI
of hil! labou.ni. Thua, whilil he hftll it, it will not satisfy his deepest w.anta1 and. at beaO bla tenUN of it ill temporary 1tnd hazardous. • m. DANGER m THE MIDST OF BEOURITY. (Vere. 18, 19.) He h1111 built him 11 hom1e. But in the day of trial this will prove :6im11y as a Bilken cocoon spun by n moth, frail as a booth of green boughs. 'l'hue he deceives hillll!elf. If he bad not been prosperou~ he would have been more ready to oonfese hie helplessness. But his very B11Coe86 ha,; blinded him, end lull849. htm to sleep in a false eense of ea:se and ~afety. Yet hu: ruiu is preparing for bitn, &nd. it will bunit over him when he leut expects it. Such a sudden and startling surprise must be overwhelming. The miserable man will be crushed bv it. . - IT. 'l'EBRO!lli A.ND IR11E6IBTIBLB DBSTB.UCrION. (Vers. 20, 21.) When the day of reckoning comes there will be no possibility of mistaking it. All signs of prosperity now disappear. Ther:e is only an awakening to terror and tempest. The fierce east wind sweeps the wicked man away. . No one can resist the judgment of God. lt iii 11udden, swift, complete, like the desolating hurricane. . V. RBPBOBATION INSTEAD OF POPULARITY. (Vere. 22, 23.) In his prosperity the "icked man was fawned upon by flatterers. Then he had 80Ciety and admirers.. Now he has lost all, and is desolate. God is against him. Men mock at him. A miserabl~ hunted creature, he has no hopi, and no refuge. Around and: before him are only foes and dangers. He can bnt despair. • , : -' This awful fate is set forth as a warning. It is possible for the wicked man to repent and find deliverance in the grace of Christ.-W. F. A. • •- ,