man, part of t.a.e oommon fate of nature. How m!lny blossoms of spring fall to the ground frost-hitoon and fruitlellB I How many hopes of men are hut "castles in Spain" I If all we bad dN>amed of nttaining had become ours, .earth would uot be the world we know, but some rare p!W'adise. II. DISAPPOINTMENT AGGRAVATES TROUllLE. Its inevitability doGS not draw its sting. To be eKpecting good and yet to meet 11vith ill is doubly distressing. It gives a sl1ook like that wLich is ei.:perienced in coming upon a desoending step where one was preparing to take an Ascending step. All sense of secu1ity is lost, and a painful surprise is felt, Feeling is just experienced in the transition from one condition to another, and the vi"lcnce of the transition intensifies the sensation. When the eye is adjusted to see a bright liirbt, the gloom of a dark place is all the deeper. The sanguine suffer from pangs of distress which duller natures are not prepared to experience. l l I. DISAPPOINTMENT SPRINGS FROM IGNORANCE. There must have been an error somewhere. Eit-her we judged by mere appearances, or we trusted too. much to the ~ei;ires of our own hearts. God can never be disappointed, for God knows aH and seell the end from tl1e beginning. Hence bis patience and long-suffering. It is well .to sell that God who thus knows everything is supremely blessed. No disillusions can dispel his perfect joy. Therefore not evil and pain, but good and gladness, must be ultimatel;r 1:1ufreme .in tbe universe. V. DISAPPOTh'TMENT IS A WHOLESOME DISCIPLINE. God suffers US to be disa.~ pointed that we may profit by the painful experience. Sometimes we have been trust• ing to an unworthy hope ; then it is best that the idol should be shat~i-ed. , I( any earthly hope has been idolized, th.e loss of it ma,y be good, driving us to our true 9od. It itJ possible, however, to be the worse for disappointment, which mRy embitter the soul and lead to misanthropy and despair. We need a stout faith to stand. up against the blows of unexpected trouble. . , .. , V. DISAPPOINTMENT WILi, NEVER DESTROY THE TBUE CHRISTIAN HOPE. ' Earthly hopes may vanish in smoke, but t)le hDpe in Christ is sure. Even this may_ be, lost sight of a.s the beacon-light is obscured by the driving storm; but it is q.ot .flXtin.~ guished. For our Christian hope rests on the eternal con~tancy of Goq, a.n..d it ,cop.~ eerns not fading and fragile earthly things, . but the ever lasting verities of , h!:!a.ven. Browning describes the ma.n whose heart and life are strong against disappointm~nt--, ·" One who·never turned his back, but marched bi'ee.efl'orwatd: Never dMibted clouds wonld break; .. • ·1 , ~ • Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph: Held welfaJJI tJome,ue baffled to.fight better, • .,,, ., , Sleep to wake."
Ver. SL-The 1uJnp tum11cl to moo,ming. This is disappointirtg and in.congr,uoue. The harp is not like the pipes used e.t Oriental funerals .for lamentation.. It. is an. instrumeet for joyoDI music. Yet Job's harp is turned to mourning. L MAN B.A.B A NATURAL FACULTY OF JOY. Job had his harp, or that in him.of which the harp was symbolical. Some people are of a more melancholy disposition than others, but nobody is so constituted as to be incapable of experiencing gladness. We rightly regard settled melancholy as a form of insanity. Joy. is not only our heritage ; it is a needful thing. The joy of the Lord is our strength (Neb .. viii. 10). :, ,: IL Tu SAD WERE ONCE JoYous. Job's harp is twrnecl .to .mourning. , Theil its use had to be perverted before it could be thought of as an instrument of lamentation. It was then put to a new, unwonted employment. This. implies .that• it bad, been familiarly known as a joyous instrument. In sorrow we do not ,sufficiently. consider how much gladness we have had in life, or, if we look back on the brighter,soenes of the past, too often tbis is simply in order to contrast them with the present, and so to deepen our feeling of distress. But it would be more fair aod grateful for ua: t.o ,view our lives in .their entirety, a.nd to recognize how much gladness they,.b&v:e.contaiaed as a ground for thank.fulne11 to ·God. . . ;, · . < ;i III. LIFE IS JU.BK.ED BY .Al/l'ERNATIVE EXPERIENCES. Few lives are without' & gleam of surulhine, and no livea are without some shadow of .sorrow; /fh11 one ,flfrrn of experienoe pu- over t.o the other-often with a shock:of surprille,;. We.are. alttoo OH, XXXI, 1-40,] THE DOOK OF JOB. 499
eMlly accustomed to setUo down in the present form of experience, a.e thou"h it were destined to be permRnent. But the wisest course is to take the vicissitudes ~f life not !Ml unnatural convulsions, as revolutions against the order of nature; but, lik; the chnnging•seasons, ns occurring in the ordered and regular course of event~. ' IV, IT IB POSSIBLE To HAVE MUBIO IN BADNESS. Job does not describe himself as liko thoee captives of Babylon who hung their harps upon the willows (Ps. cxxxvii. 2). His harp· ls sounding still, but the music must agree with the feelings of the time, e.nd gaiety must give pince to plaintive notes. Therefore the tune is in a minor key. Still there is melody. The Ilook of Job, which deals largely with sorrow, is a poem- it is composed in musical language. Sorrow is a great inspiration of poetry. How muoh ,music ,w9uld be lost if all the harmonies that have come from sad subjects were struck out I If, then, sorrow can inspire song and music, it is natural to conclude -that suitable song and m11sic should console sorrow. Feeble souls wail in discordant despair, but strong souls harmonize their griefs with their whole nature ; and though they may not perceive it at the time, when they reflect in after-days they hear the echo of a solemn music in the memory of their p~inful experience. When the angel of sorrow takes up the harp and sweeps the strings, strange, awful, thrilling notes sound forth, far richer and deeper than any that leap and dance at the touch of gladness. The Divine mystery of sorrow that gathers about the cross of Christ is not harsh, but musical with the sweetness of eternal love,-W. F. A.