. II. PnIDE PREPARES FOR CONTEMPT. 'l'here is e. note of pride in ver. 1, "Whose fathers I would have disdained to ha.ve set with the dogs of my flock." A relic of e.ristocr!l,tic hauteur creeps out in this utterance of the humiliated patriarch. If we treat II1en like dogs, we may expect that, when they get the chance to do so, they will turn onus like doga. They may cower and cringe when we a.re strong, but they will be eager to snap at us when our time of wee.knees comes. !If. MEAN NATURES JUDGE SUPERFICIALLY. As Job describes them, the miserable creatures who turned upon him were the very dregs of the populace. They were out- laws and thieves and. worthless people who had been driven to mountain-caves-idler 3 and degraded beings;who grubbed up weed11 to live on. Plainly these men are to be distingnished from. t~e poor whose only defect is their want of means. Yet among them may have,been some of those who in his more pro,perous days blessed Job for helping them when they were ready to perish (see eh. xx.ix. 13). Ingratitude is only too common a,mong all ,men,. and we canr;iot be surprised at finding it in persons of low and b~utal hf!,bi~. . . IV. IT IS PAmFUL TO BUFFER FROM CONTEMPT. In his prosperity Job would have despised the opinion of those who now vex him with their insults. Yet he could never have been complacent,under cpntempt. It has been well said that the greatest man in the world would receive some discomfort if he came to know that the meanest creature on, e11,r,th despised him from the bottom of his heart. The pride that is quite indifferent to the .goo<l. or ill opinion _of _otl;iers. is not _a_ .virtue. Humility will set some value on the favour of the lowest. If we have a spmt or brotherliness we cannot but desire to live on gqod t_erms with ajl ,our neighbours. V. IT 18 PQSSIJILE TO ,TURN.FROM THE CON'.rE.MPT OF MAN TO THE APPROVAL OF Goo. The ,Cbristian;should learn to bear contempt, since Christ bore it. He was" despised and rejected of men" (ISl!,, !iii. 3). Like Job, be was insulted and spat upon. Yet we feel t\:iat all the insults with which he w~ loaded did not really humiliate him. On tl;i.e cont,ary, h,\li~e.ver .appears to us so dignified as when" he opened not his mouth" in the midst of cont1,1mely,and outrage. In that awful scene of the night before the cruci- fixion, it is the enemies of Christ who appear to us as lowered and degraded. Now we l!:.now that the cross was the ground of Christ's highest glory. " Wherefore God also bath.highly exalted him" (Phil. ii.· 9). The Church crowned the memories of her martyrs with honour. Despised, suffering Christians may learn to possess their souls i)l patience ifJhey are .walking in,tbe light of God's countenance.-W. F. A. • Ver.16.,--Tlie thraldom,of ajftiction; Job is not only passing through the waters of affliction; be feels that he is laid hold of aud overpowered by his troubles. Let us see what this condition involves-the stale of thraldom and its effects. I. THE STATE OF THRALDOM. • This simply results from the fact that the affliction has mounted to such a height that it has overpowered the sufferer. 1. The trouble cannot be thrown off. There are troubles from which we can escape. Often we can beat down our adverse circumstances. We Cl!,Il face our enemy and defeat him. But other troµl;>les pannot be driven back. When: the enemy comes in like a flood, no human effort can stem the torrent. 2. The distress cannot be calmly endured. Milder troubles may be simply borne in patience. We cannot drive them away, but we can learn to treat them as inevitable. There is a strength that is born of adversity. The oak grows sturdy in contending with the storm. The muscles of the wrestler am strong as iron. But distress may reach a point beyond which it caanot be mastereu. Patience is broken down. 3. The affiiction absorbs the whole life. The pain rises to such a height that it dominates consciousness and excludes all other thoughts. The IJJan is simply possessed by his agony. Huge waves of anguish roll over bis whole boing nnd clrowg every other feeling. The sufferer is then nothing but a victi• {96 THE BOOK OF JOB. [ OJI, XXX, 1--31,
Action is lost in ful\rful pain. The martyr is etrerohed on the rack, His torturer ha, deprived him of all energy 11nd freedom. TI. THE EFFECTS OF THIS OONDITION. Such a etate of thraldom mU.st be an evil, It is destructive of pel"8on11l effort. It excludes 1111 service of love and submission of patience. And yet it may be a m81\ns to a good end. 1. B should be a whol"8ome olwstisement. For the time being it is grievous. In its acutest stage it may not allow Ull to le11rn its lessons. But when it begins to abate its fury, and we have some calm- ness with which to look back upon it, we may see that the storm has cleared the air and swept 11way a ma.ss of unwholesome rubbish. 2. It should be a tnoti116 to drive us to God. Such a tremendous affliction requires the only porfcct refuge fol' the distressed. So long 1\6 we can bear our troubles we are tempted to trust to our own strength, but the miserable collapse, the utter break-down, the humiliating thraldom, prove our help-· lcssncss and our need of One who is mightier than we are. Now, the very possibility of such overwhelming troubles is a reason why we should seek the refuge of God's grace. It is hard to find the haven when the tempest is raving around us. We need to be fortified beforehand by the indwelling strength of God. 3, It should make us gympathetic with others. If we have escaped from the thraldom, it is our part to help those who are in it. We know its terrors and its despair. 4. It should lead us to make the best use of prosperous times. Then we can learn the way of Divine strenatb, Martyrs have triumphed where weaker men have been in bondage. The lif; of unselfish service, loyalty, and faith is a life of freedom. God will not permit such a liCe to be utterly enthralled by affliction. That awful fate is the doom of the lost.- W. F. A.