he will not avert. 6. That God f,(,ok no acoolfflt qf Job's phi1.atl.thropies. Job had wept for him that was in trouble or whose day was hard, and his Boul had been 1trieved for the needy (eh. xxix. 12, 13). Yet God was to all appearance indifferent. 'l'his, however, was only another mieconception on the pa.rt of _Job. The Almighty notes with loving eye every kind deed performed by his servants on earth, and will reWRrd even e cruet of brelld or a cup of cold water given in his naµie to a. poor one, Only tbe time of recompense will be hereafter. Hence no one is entitled to expect, like Job, that his good actions shall be rewarded here, "Do good, hopinp: for nothing again," is the maxim prescribed to Christ's followers. Acted upon, it will save them from the disappointment which almost crushed the soul of Joh (ver~ 26). Learn: 1. 'l'he absolute impossibility of avoiding days of suffering. 2. The ease with which God can remove happiness from the lot of man. 8. The inability of any one to sustain the burden of affliction without Divine help. 4. The foolishness of gloryinir in either strength or beauty, since both can at a word be transformed into dust an<l ashes. 5. The extreme danger of allowing affliction to pervert the mind's views of God. 6. The error of supposing that God can regard any creature, much less any child of his own, with hate. 7. Tbe propriety of frequently considering where life's journey terminates. 8. The certainty that death cannot be turned aside by either piety or prayers. 9. The evil case of him who can find no enjoyment in Heaven's mercies. 10. The sinfulness of giving free course to one's complaint, especilllly against God, in the time of affliction. 11. The inevitable tendency of trouble to deteriorate and debase those whom it does not exalt and refine. 12. The possibility of one who thinks himself a brother of jackals and companion of ostriches becoming a son of God and fellow of the angels. 13. The cert.a.inty that for all saints mourning will yet be turned int.o joy. • -
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers.1-31.-.Tlie troubles of the present. In contrast to the happy,past of honour and respect on which be bas been so wistfully dweHing in the previous chapter, Job sees himself now exposed to the scorn and contempt of the meanest of m11,nkind; while a flood of miseries from the hand of God passes over him. From this Inst chapter we have leamed the honour and authority with which it sometimes pleases God to crown the pious and the faithful. From the present we see how at other times he crucifies and puts them to the proof. They must be tried on "the right hand _and on the left" (2 Cor. vi. 7; comp. Phil. iv. 12). We are reminded, too, of the transiency of all worldly good. The heavens and the earth shall perish; how much more the glory, power, and happiness of the flesh (Isa. xl.)I L THE OONTElll'T OF MEN. (Vers. 1-10.) The young men, who were wont to rise in his presence, laugh him to scorn; youths whose fathers, the lowest of mankind- thievish, faithless, and worthless-----were of less value than the watch-dogs of his flock (ver. 1). Themselves, the young men had been of no service to him; they had failed of the full stren~th of manhood; dried up with want a.nd hunger, they had derived their scanty subsistence from the desolate and barren steppe (vers. 2, 3); plucking up the salt herbs and bushes and juniper roots for food (ver. 4). These wretches led the life of pariahs; driven forth from the society of men, the hunt-cry was raised after them ~ after thieves. Their place of dwelling was in horrid ravines and caves and rocks (vers. 5, 6). Their wild shouts were heard in the bush; they lay and formed their plots of robbery among the nettles (ver. 7). Sons of fools and base men, they were scourged out of the land (ver. 8). A fearful picture of the dregs of human life I Perhaps those Troglodytes (comp. eh. :u:iv. 4) were the Horites, the original inhabitants of the mountainous country of Seir, conquered by the Edomites (~en. :uxvi. 6-8; Dent. ii. 12, 22). Of these degraded beings Job has now become the scoffing-song, the deruive byword (vcr. 9). They show towards him every mark of abhorrence, retreating from him, or only drawing near to spit in hie face with the silent coarse language of contumely and di&glll!t (ver. 10; comp. Matt. xxvi. 67; uvii. 30). Had Job in any way brought this treatment upon himself from the vilest of mankind? Certainly there is DOthing in the story which leads us to cast the blame of haughty or 'lH, XXX, 1-81.) THE BOOK OF JOB. 493