the human sensibilities, gives them depth and refinement. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus. In his worship we

discover

Secondly: His exalted philosophy. He traced all to the Great First Cause, God. All that he had lost he felt God had given him. When he came from the "womb" of the great mother of all-the earth-he had nothing, and when he returned back into his chambers of everlasting forgetfulness, he would go "naked" as he came.

He felt that all that he had possessed came to him as a gift from Jehovah. He did not trace it to luck, to fortune, or to his own industry. "The Lord gave, he says. "The Lord gave me my sheep and oxen; the Lord gave me my children. All are His gifts." And what he had lost the Lord had also taken away. He does not trace his loss to chance, necessity, misfortune; nor does he trace it to the plundering Sabeans or ruthless Canaanites; nor to the lightnings or the winds; nor even to the great arch-enemy of humanity; but up directly to Jehovah. He knew that the forces of nature, the passions of wicked men, and the plots and workings of infernal spirits, were all under the inaster control of Jehovah. This was his philosophy; and is it not true? The philosophy that traces the events of our history up to some secondary causes, or the laws of nature, is but a philosophy "falsely so called." All is under the Absolute One. He originates all good, He controls all evil.

"All good proceedeth from Thee,
As sunbeams from the sun;

All evils fall before Thee,

Thy will through all is done."

In his worship we discover

"Blessed be the name

Thirdly: His religious magnanimity. of the Lord." Wicked men would have vented their rage in curses on the Sabeans and Chaldeans, on the lightning and on the wind; or would have risen up in rebellious hostility against Heaven. This is what Satan expected. But instead of this, Job says, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." praise Him, I adore Him in all. This is something more than submission to the Divine will under suffering; something even more than acquiescence in the Divine will in

I

suffering. It is exultation in the manifestation of the Divine will in all the events of life. It amounts to the experience of St. Paul, who said, "I glory in tribulation," &c.

How disappointed this Mephistopheles must have been with the result. The result was the very opposite to what he had expected-to what he had wrought for. Thus it has ever been, and thus it will ever be. God may permit Satan to blast our worldly prospects, to wreck our fortunes, and destroy our friendships. But if we trust in Him He will not allow him to touch our souls to their injury. He only uses the fiend to try His servants. An old Welsh minister, in preaching on this text, is reported to have said that God permitted Satan to try Job as the tradesman tries the coin that his customer has tendered in payment for the purchased wares. He strikes it on the counter and hears it ring as rings the true metal, before he accepts it, and places it in his drawer. The Heavenly Merchant employed Satan to ring Job on the counter of trial. He did so did so with all the force of his mighty arm, and in the Divine ear the moral heart of the patriarch vibrated as the music of Divine metal, fit for the treasury in the heavens.

HOMILY No. V.

A PICTURE OF THE FOE OF FOES.
(Continued.)

"Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fust his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the

Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his

Old Testament,* where Jehovah is represented "as sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left." He inquires who would go and persuade Ahab that he might go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? "And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him." This he promised to do by being a "lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets." We find also † that he intruded into the very presence, ay, into the very thoughts, of the Holy Son of God; and, in the synagogue at Capernaum, where Christ preached, we find the devil intruding; he entered the congregation and heard the sermon. "Satan came also Ay, and so he ever does. among them." Wherever the sons of the Almighty assemble, whether it be to inquire into the laws of nature, or to study the doctrines of inspiration, to project schemes of usefulness, or to worship, Satan is amongst them; he is there, there to bias the intellect, and to pollute the feelings. Tell me where there is an assembly of good men, and you will tell me not only where God is in a special manner, but where the devil is also. Satan is amongst them. He attends prayer-meetings, goes to church, and listens to sermons; whoever is absent, he is present wherever "the sons of God" are congregated.

III. He is AMENABLE TO THE ETERNAL. Two questions Jehovah addresses to him. One as to his movements. "Whence comest thou?" In what part of My universe hast thou been wandering? The other as to his opinion. "Hast thou considered my servant Job?" The Eternal claims an authority over Satan's activities and thoughts. He does not interrogate the Evil One for the sake of information, for He knows his most secret steps, and sounds the depths of all his thoughts. The prince of darkness stands ever unveiled to the eye of Omniscience. The interrogatory is designed to strike conviction into the heart of the Evil One and to startle him with the sense of his amenableness.

First However great a creature is, he is still accountable to his Maker. Satan, perhaps, is one of the greatest of God's creatures; he has power enough to "lead the world

* 1 Kings xxii. 19-23.

+ Matt. iv. 3.

Luke iv. 33.

captive at his will," yet he is not an irresponsible despot. No creature spirit in the universe can outgrow his responsibility.

Secondly However wicked a creature is, he is still accountable to his Maker. This arch-fiend, with all his gigantic power, with all his daring rebellions, with all his profound machinations, and powerful confederates, has not been able through all these ages to snap one link of the .chain of responsibility that binds him to the throne of God. Whilst you can never sin away your responsibility, you may sin your guilt up to crushing mountains, and into adamantine chains.

IV. He is A VAGRANT IN THE UNIVERSE. "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." The language implies two things:

First: Homelessness. (6 Going to and fro in the earth." He is the "unclean spirit," that is everlastingly walking through barren places, "seeking rest and finding none. He is roaming the earth. There is no repose in sin. "The wicked are like the troubled sea.' There is no spot in all space on which a depraved spirit can settle down, and be at Satan and all his children are homeless wanderers in the universe; they have no shelter from the stormy blast or the scorching ray; they are gyrating for ever on furious and unabating tempests. The language implies:

rest.

Secondly: Zealousness. The expression, "going to and fro," has in the original the idea of heat or haste. He is in a hurry; he moves with swift step, or perhaps on rapid wing. He does not saunter in his movements; he is no laggard; he is in earnest; malevolence burns within him, and as a "roaring lion he goeth about seeking whom he may devour." All evil passions are zealous. Greed, ambition, jealousy, envy, revenge, these never slumber or sleep. They are as active as the flame shooting out in all directions.

V. He is A SLANDERER OF THE GOOD. "Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, 'Doth Job fear the Lord for nought?' &c. "Hast Thou not made an hedge about him, and

about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?" &c. First: He slanders God to man. To our great progenitor he said, "Thou shalt not surely die, for God doth know the day on which thine eye is opened, thou shalt know both good and evil." He is constantly at this work; shaking men's faith in the Eternal by injecting suspicious thoughts. "Yea, hath God said," &c. Secondly:-He slanders man to God. This he does here. He insinuates that what appeared religious and good in Job was simply a manifestation of selfishness. In this department of slander he acts the fool, for the Omniscient One knows the heart; in the other department, viz., slandering God to man, he is more sagacious and more successful. He is Diabolus, breaking the harmony of God's moral universe by slander. Trust in God. is the only foundation of moral order. Destroy it, and anarchy runs riot.

"And the Lord

VI. He is A SLAVE OF THE INFINITE. said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." He acts only by permission. Licence is now given him to deal with Job's externalities, but as yet he is not to touch his personality. He is to deal only with his property and relations. Great as Satan is, mighty as is his influence in the world, he is not an independent existence, he is in the hands of the Everlasting Father, Who sustains him every hour, and Who uses him as His instrument. Infinite Goodness makes this foul fiend an engine for good in His government. He links him to His triumphant chariot. No rider has such command over his steed as God has over him. He may bound and prance, fired with all the passions of hell, but he can never break away. If he tempts us, he tempts us by Divine permission; and "God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."