Vers. 31, 82,-.Lessons of ajfl:icf:ion. Affliction is a school, and its echolars are put:to learn valuable lessons. Let us consider some of them. ' : •.• I. PRAYER. The whole passage is concerned with· prayer, with _what ·it is meet to say unto God. Affliction does not teach all men to pray; some only learn despair and hardness of heart. But the design of affliction is to lead us to God. It makes us feel our helplessness; it reveals to us the action of an unseen hana, and so reminds us of she presence of God; it shows us that earthly things will not satisfy;: it gives us BD' opportunity to use and enjoy the Divine blessing of that peace which the wor1d cali. neither give nor take away. IL PATIENCE. "l have borne chastisement." Here is a refleotion:2gathered. from the contemplation of experience. It is a thought that comes from a soul enriched by what it has passed through. We have to let "patience bave her •perfect .work.". A visitor to the Royal Hospital for Incurables is struck with the spirit of peace, that pervades it. What is outwardly a palace of pain is found to be in fact a home of peace; The sufferers have been drilled by suffering into patience; into more than patience, indeed, for s cheerfWDP,ss is seen among the hopeless sufferers. , Long endurance·· has brought forth wonderfol fruits which we scarcely see among the happy.and hee<lle~s. IIL HulllLITY. The prayer reveals in every clause a spirit of humility. Pride-is broken down completely. Prosperity was self-contained and self-satisfied, , lb! favours were too much accepted as rights and even as rewards. But affliotion ·has dispeUed the illuak>n. It may be that the trouble is not the punishment of sin; but still it proves' the weakness and littleness of man, and it makes liim see that he has no· claim on the good things that he had been enjoying. • IV. CoN'l'RlrlOlf. All men who suffer greatly are not great sinners; often the best men suffer most. This iB made clear to us by the Book of Job, and Elihu is not -so blind toit u the three friends. Still. evei'Y man sins, and therefore every man, needs to learn contrition. Now, the school of affliction i.o3 designed to lead us into this wholesome condition. Without comparing one person with another, without venturing to charge our neighbours with 5in because they suffer, without supposiug1 that'there is any proportion between the guilt of sin and the amount of suffering, we may Y.~,t, caob !ll(, XXXIV, 1-37.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 568
for himself, search our own he11rts and make confession of our Own sins in the sti 11 hour or sorrow. .V. AMENDMENT. The sufferer is to seek for guidance for the future. Where he is wrong and does not see it, he prays that God may reveal his error to him. Then he will abandon the mistakes and sins of the past. He resolves not to do iniqnity any more. It is not every sufferer who so nets. Purgatory does not always purge. But the good man will try to turn his affliction to advantage, not only by heart-searchings into the past, but also by earnest resolves to live better for the future.-W. F. A. I