III. TBE tuB'l'IOE OP AN EVEN BALANCE IB l!'OUl'ID WITH Goo. 1. Pwre e2u.ity. He nllowe no prejudice to warp hie judgment, no eelf-interest to pervert his verdict. God is perfectly just in hie own character. Therefore he can judge men j11etly. Being righteous himeelf, he is never prompted to act otherwise than righteously. 2. Know- ledge. God makee none of the unintentional mistakes that are so common with men. 'l'he whole tangled mRsB of events is unravelled by his perfectly penetrating gaze. When we despair of having a case truly seen by our fellow-men, we can lift up our eyes to the great Judgo of all the earth and be assured that he knows all. Surely, then, it is moet necessary to etand right with the justice of God, that this may vin- dicate and not condemn us. But only the God-given righteousness in Christ can make this possible to us.-W. F. A. Ver. 11.-.A heinous crime. Job justly regards adultery as a heinous crime which is deserving of punishment. I. THE GREAT EVIL OF Tms CRIME. It contains within it a combination of various dreadful kinds of wickedness. 1. Unfaithfulness. Husband and wire have vowed to be true to one another, Adultery is a breach of marriage vows. Even if purity were not originally binding, the voluntary assumption of the yoke of matrimony would have made it so. The sin of unfaithfulness to the marriage tie is one of breaking a most solemn promise. 2. Oru.elty. This is not a sin that can be committed wholly on one's own account. A grievous and irreparable wrong is done to another. For the sake of selfish pleasure, a home, which might have been a centre of love and joy, is torn to pieces by outraged jealousy and made miserable with the total wreck of the hopes of youth. 3. Impurity. Some have thought that, as happiness does not always accompany marriage, " free love" would be more desirable. It is forgotten that the very term is a misnomer. No true love can exist without constancy and fidelity. When those virtues are removed, what is called love is at best a passing fancy ; at worst it is a foul passion. The soul of the adulterer is stained and corrupted. 4. Godlessness. This great sin darkens the vision of God. It involves a violation of a Divine institution, and is thus unfaithfulness to God as well as to a human companion. '.l.'he soul of the adulterer is lost to the life of holiness and the true service of God. II. TBE JUBT TREATMENT OF TfilB ORIME. 1. Not by the abolition of marriage. This is but the refuge of despair. It is said in some quarters that marriage i; a failure. But wherever it is a failure some of its necessary ingredients have been neglected. If there is no true love, if sympathy is wanting, if mutual forbearance is not practised, the close union of husband and wife must lead to perpetual quarrelling. But what we want is to raise the standard of marriage. The abolition of lifelong marriage is virtually the abolition of that most sacred Christian institution-the family. It must open the floodgates of vice by allowing suggestions of licence that are now, at least to some extent, kept in check by the social conscience that respects the marriage tie. 2. By the most effectual form of reprobation. Joh considered it to be an iniquity to be punished by the judges. This was the old Jewish method, and the Puritans of New England attempted to revive it. But great difficulties stand in the way of criminal prosecutions for adultery. Moreover, it is not the function of the state to punish vice, but to prevent direct or indirect injuries. Now, though adultery is an injury, the course for a legal treatment of it as such is not clear. But this does not mean that the vice should go unchecked. It deserves the severest social stigma. It lies under the wrath of God. It should be prevented as far as possible by a wise and pure bringing up of the young and the inculcation of principles of social pnrity.-W. F. A.
Ver. 24.-The hope of gold. Job here reminds us of the Egyptian 'Book of the Dead,' in which the soul, summoned before its judges, recites a long list of sins, and declares itself innocent of them all. In this chapter the patriarch runs over many kinds of wickedness, and invokes just punishment if he has been guilty of any of them. His self-vindication has been forced from him by the repeated false accusations of his friends. We know that Job was not without the consciousness of sin; but he 'M.S not guilty of the crimes and of the great deeds of wickedness which had been charged against him. Among other evil things, he honestly repudiates resting hia hope and GOntidenoe in gold, SIA