bursting to tell forth all that experience and reflection have taught him concerning the tru the of life. " Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak.a." Let 118 harvest the inetrudiou of time, lay up a good store of heart-memories, that we me.y over he.ve a good and useful word to speak in sea.son. Let us te.ke ea.re of thoee strong impulses tho.t they are true and pure before we speak; but never hesitate to speak when wo are conscious that God is inspiring us. To be led by the Spirit, we must walk in the Spirit. 3. His fearless sincerity. He has no respect of persons when truth ie concerned, reverential as he otherwise is in the presence of his elders. He will not flatter; he does not understand the base art. The fear of God is before hie eyes. "Flatterers are the worst kind of traitors," says Sir Walter Raleigh. He who is true to God and to himself will never distil this poison from his tongue. In Elihu, then, we have the picture of what a. man should be, of what we all should desire in a. friend- faimess, honour, candour; sympathy and affection based upon the only sure foundation, love of truth, piety toward God. IV. ELIRU18 BPEOIAL APPEAL TO JoB FOR A PATIBNT HEARING. (Ch. xxxiii. 1-7.) Here we see the following traits: 1. Intense earnesi,ness. (Vera. 1, 2.) For these opening words, which might seem to our Western ears like a" beating about the bush," a.re in fact Oriental phrases by which the speaker calls the most solemn attention to, and lays the greatest weight upon, what he is about to speak. Such opening formulie may be found in Matt. v. 2; Acts x. 34; 2 Cor. vi. 11. Let it be clear in one way or another to those who listen that we mean what we say, that we are not talking to fill up time, or using words to conceal the void of thought. 2. Perfect sincerity. (Ver. 3.) His sayings are the straightforward utterances of his heart, very different from the stale and secondhand common places of the three friends. True eloquence, like the substance of every virtue and every art, is in the heart. The bullet finds its way to the mark, according to the old legend, that has been first dipped in the marksman's blood. Words that come from the heart will reach to the heart. 3. The sense of dependence wpon God (ver. 4), for all light and wisdom, which, while it makes a man humble, makes him truly confident and strong. God's Spirit has made him. He appeals to no specia.l inspiration, however, but simply to that genuine human wisdom, that common sense which he recoguizes to be a Divine endowment. It is a mark of true piety to own the presence' of the Divine Spirit in all the ordinary as well as the extraordinary gifts of intelligence. It is this that chastens, sweetens, and sanctifies the use of every bright talent of the mind and heart. 4. Fellow-feeling. (Vers. 6, 7.) He does not pretend to stand nearer to God than the fellow-man he has arisen to comfort and instruct. He is made of the same clay, moulded by the hand of the Divine Potter. Therefore Job has not to fear an unequal struggle with Elihu as he has with God. Would that all teachers would remember this! The artificial distinctions of life, as prince or peasant, lettered or unlettered, mean but little; those of talent, character, and attainment have a certain value; but the common constitution God has given us is the great ground of appeal, the great source of authority•. Those are the best teachers who most deeply read and interpret this common nature ; and every truth must at last be certified, not by the ipse dia;it of a dogmatiziug teacher, but by the utterance of the universal heart and conscience.-J. Vere. 1-22,-T/ie wice of juvenile self-confidence. We now approach the solution of the mystery, the untying of the knot, the end of the controversy. Job's three friends have failed to convince Job that he is suffering the well-merited consequences of evil-doing; and he has failed to convince them of his integrity. Now a younger friend speaks with kindled wrath because the three friends "had found no answer." He speaks with the undue confidence of youth; but he weaves mauy words of truth and wisdom into hie speech, from which we may gather some for our guidance. 'With some hesitation, and a complimentary refereuce to the claims of age, Elihu nevertheless reveals the impatirnt self-confidence of youth. Even though truth may be on its side, youthful self-confiaence is an error. 'rhe error manifests itself here as so often elsewhere- I. IN AN UNDUE ABBUIIH'TION OF EQUALITY WITH AGB. The "spirit" that is "in man II and" the inspiration of the Almighty," is assumed to give them "understanding• equ;lly. At le11st Elihu puts himself on their level, though he afterwards affirms theu inferiority, ~~ 2• 630 THE BOOK OF J"Ol3. [cH. xnn. 1-22.
II. IN A DERPTSAL OF THE TEAOHINGB OF AGE. So the young lips &re ready to "flirm, "Gre11t men are not always wise: neither do the aged Understand judgment." III. IN AN u:i,.-wARRANTED SELF-OONl"IDENOE. How ready is youth to give its judgment I "I also will show mine opinion." 1 V. IN Ai,; EAGERNE~S TO GIVE EXPRESSION TO OP'.11HONS. "I &m full of '.m&tter, the spirit wi I liin me constmineth me," et-0. V. ]!( A PRESUMrTION-oF FREEDOM FRO)( PR'E.TUDIOE. "I know not to give fl.a.ttering title,." Thus speaks yonth in e. confidence which is so often the effect of ignorance end inexperience. '£he true attitude for youth is (1) lowliness and humility; (2) wacliableness; (3) patience; (4) reverent regard for &ge and for the co'Ullsels of expcrience.-R. G.