The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 654

of the "blood of Chriet;" and the higheet act of worehip ie the presenting ourselves, body, eoul, and spirit, to God through Christ 1md his Bl\orifice I that is, with hla tipiritual sacrifice present to the eye of the spirit, as the ancient animal saorilice was preHent to the bodily eye of the early worshipper. 'l'hen, on the other bana, sacri• fice as divinely ordained is a language from God to us, as well as one on our part to God. It bespeaks the willingness of God to enter into relations of peace with man. lt therefore announoes the poesibility of repentance and of forgiveness conditional upon repentance; and so calls man to turn, to be converted and healed. Thus regarded and us~d, t,he great Christian AAcrament is a powerful means of grace, and is most appro- pnately rC'sort,ed to at such great epochs of spiritual history as that here set before us. Again, the paBMge brings to notice the privilege of intercession. "Pray for one another, that ye may be healed." As the intercession of Abraham for A.bimelech is honoured, so now is Job appointed a mediator and interoessor for those who have forfeited a m~sure of DiYioe grace, and thus the prophecy of Eliphaz (eh. xxii. 30) is realized. "e are encouraged in the New 'l'estament to pray for one another. 'l'he great law of mediation runs through life (comp. Butler's 'Analogy'), and this is one of its illustra- tions. A value is justly attached to good men's prayers. How far this privilege extends, and what are its limits, we do not know. It belongs to spirit.ual laws, the operation of which cannot be fully verified in the field of experience. It is a truth revealed in tbe heart and for the h~art; aud the heart has reasons, as Pascal says, which reason knows not. Let us sacredly guard the oracles of the heart, and thankfully recei,·e every ray of confirmatory light that actual experience affords. The song of a. tinJ bird by the wayside which brings us comfort, may be a messenger of God to the soul; and the prayer of our feebleness for those whom we know not otherwise how to ILSl!i~t may effect a far-working good, as may theirs for us. But what a beautiful touch is this in the narrative, "Jehovah turned the captivity of Job while he .was praying for his friends" ! For it points to the fact that amongst the best moments of our life are those in which we lose sight of self in thought for others ; when we can forgive_ and forget the injuries we have received from others, and seek their good in deeds of kindness, in words of r,rayer. TI. REsTo.aAnoN oF OUTWARD PBOSPEBITY. (Vers.11-17.) "Twice as m:u~h. as he had before." God takes away only to enrich, never to ruin and destroy, the faithful heart. Be knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation; and as we have seen throughout the b0uk the powers by which he leads souls to himself more nearly, so here we sec his" end" (Jas. v. 7-11; 1 Cor. x. 13). The swallow-like friendship of men, vanishing as the winter of trouble draws on, returning when the sun of prosperity gains power once more, is contrasted with the enduring, never-changing friendship of the eternal, one God. The life, then, the sufferings, the triumph and happy end of Job, are .a type for all ages of the lot of the Christian, of the child of God. A harmony o! the inward spirit with the outward surroundings is necessary to the completeness of life. Th.is restored possession of wealth and honour is a happier state than his life's beginning, because it is a state more truly in relation to God. All that he bas and enjoys he now possea.es for God's sake. God is revealed in his gifts, and from his presence and love they derive their savour. Deus meu.s et omnial "My God and my all(" is.the motto of the heart purified and huwhled by affliction. The darkness and the mystery pass awa.y frow the life when the great secret is discovered that in all outward cha.nges "God is God to me." Here is a type of him who was humbled to the d~ath of the cross, and who, because he, though a Son, learned obedience by the things,he suffered, received.a n.e.n,e above every name. What, then, have we to do, as followers of him, but Lo commit. ourselves to God as to a faithful Creator; to receive what he assigns us humbly, and enjoy it thankfully, knowing that hy denying us many things on which our heart!I are set, be is doing us the greatest kindness in the world, which is to" keep us from temptation," and by keeping us from temptation, to "deliver us from evil," and by delivering UB from evil, to prepare and fit us for all the good that can be desired, and for himself, the endless inexhaustible Fountain of it," in whose presence there is fulc,eBS of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore"? To whom be &11cribed all praise, might, majesty, aud dom.iniou for ever. A.m.en.-J, Veni.1--6.-0ontntiofl. Job, chastened with severe aflJ.ictioue, harassed by the bitiui on. nu. 1-17.J THE BOOK OF JOB; 671