Fourthly There is calumny. conduct? "For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God." Where is Job found guilty of such Where is he found adding rebellion to his sins, clapping" his "hands" in derision, and multiplying his words against his Maker? Nowhere in this book. It is one of those religious slanders common to bigots. CONCLUSION. Whilst we would follow this young man's counsels, as laid down in these verses, we would hold up his vanity, arrogance, heartlessness, and calumny as a warning to the young advocates of religious opinions. HOMILY No. LXXI. THE THIRD SPEECH OF ELIHU. (1.) MAN'S CHARACTER. "Elihu spake moreover, and said," &c.-CHAP. xxxv. 1–8. GENERAL NOTE. If Elihu paused for a reply from Job he was disappointed. The old patriarch remains mute, and hence the young man proceeds to deal with the assertion that a life of righteousness had brought no corresponding blessedness, and to argue that man's righteousness constitutes no claim on God. EXEGETICAL REMARKS. Vers. 1, 2.-" Elihu spake moreover, and said, Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?" Where did Job say this? I cannot find it in any of his utterances. Ver. 3.-" For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto Thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin" [margin, more than by my sin"]? Job had said, that the wicked who use these very words do not suffer for it; from this Elihu infers that (chap. xxi. 13-15) he virtually sanctioned their sentiments. Ver. 4.-"I will answer thee" [margin, "I will return to thee words"], "and thy companions with thee." Perhaps the reference is here to Eliphaz, who had propounded the same question (chap. xxii. 2); but instead of discussing, he went off to deal reproaches against Job. Elihu seems to have undertaken to refute not only Job's argument but his friends' (chap. xxxii. 6, 7). Vers. 5 8. "Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou," &c. "Which are so high above thee (ver. 6). If thou hast sinned, what effect canst thou produce on Him? And if thy transgressions are numerous, what canst thou do unto Him? (ver. 7). If thou art righteous, what givest thou Him? or what doth He receive of thine hand? (ver. 8). A man like thee only can thy wickedness affect, and thy righteousness only a son of man; consequently, if God desires to see thee a good man, it is not for His but for thine own benefit."-Bernard. HOMILETICS.-We shall take these verses as suggesting some thoughts concerning man's character. I. THAT SELFISHNESS IS AN EVIL IN MAN'S CHARACTER. "For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin? Job never said so. But whether he did or not, Elihu's language implies that such an idea is a great evil. Satan had charged the patriarch with this selfishness: "Doth Job serve God for nought?" Selfishness in every department of action is an evil; but when carried into religious services it has a peculiar enormity. Yet, sad to say, in this sphere it has been prevalent in all ages. It is by no means an uncommon. thing for men to take up religion on purely selfish motives. (1) There are some who take it up for mere worldly gain. As religion becomes popular and fashionable in a neighbourhood, the temptation to this increases. Men join congregations in order to increase the number of their clients, their patients, their customers, and thus enrich their coffers; thus they endeavour to make gain of godliness. (2) There are some who take it up for eternal gain. Their object is to escape hell and get to heaven. Religion, to them, is not the summum bonum, but a means to a selfish end. selfishness, however it may show itself in a man's character, is an evil. It vitiates every act. It is incompatible with moral excellence: the soul of which is disinterestedness. It is incompatible with true happiness, which springs from self-oblivious love. It is incompatible with usefulness all power for good consists in benevolence. And it is incompatible with the Spirit of Christ. "He pleased not Himself, He sought not His own." The verses suggest But II. THAT GOD IS INDEPENDENT OF MAN'S CHARACTER. "Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. If thou sinnest, what doest thou against Him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto Him?" The idea is, that God is too infinitely exalted to have His happiness at all affected by the character of man, whether good or bad. It does not mean that He is too high to observe our conduct, or to be interested in it, but too high to have His well-being affected by it. Let rebels in His universe be multiplied a million-fold; let all who populate His holiest heavens become rebellious and depraved, it would have no more effect in diminishing His happiness than the breath of an infant in darkening the sun. This being the case, it follows that sovereignty must be the principle of all His conduct with man. First: It is the reason of all law. Why does He require us to love and serve Him? Not for His own sake, but for ours. Thus only we can become happy. Secondly: It is the source of Redemption. Why did He send His Son into the world? He cannot be advantaged by it. "God so loved the world," &c. Thirdly: It is the ground of rewards. The blessedness He communicates to the good is given, not on the ground of merit, but of grace. He doeth all things according to the counsel of His own will. We can confer no favour upon Him. "He is," says Paul at Athens, "Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. God's only want is, a want to give. The verses suggest 66 III. THAT SOCIETY IS INFLUENCED BY MAN'S CHARACTER. Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man." May hurt!" May profit!" Nay, Elihu ; rather say, does and ever must. "No man liveth unto himself." Every action a man performs before the eye of another, is like a pebble cast into a lake. It will spread out in circling waves until it touch the boundary. Every word spoken to another swells the flowing current in a deathless soul. One man's character is reproduced in another. The sire comes out in the son; the past generation reappears in the present. The wickedness of one must hurt society, the righteousness of one must profit it. There are at least three things that give every man some influence upon his race. (1) Relationship. Men are not detached from each other like angels, without father or mother. They derive their existence from others, and transmit it again. Each is a link in the chain, receiving and propagating impulses. (2) Dependence. Men are dependent upon one another for the necessaries of physical life, the means of intellectual culture, and the blessings of religion. (3) Affection. We are creatures of social sympathy. Our affections are rooted in theirs, and theirs in us. Thus we derive and give that which moves the world. We are either a curse or a blessing to others. If wicked, we are fountains of poison that will stream out pestilential influences long after we are gone. If righteous, we are fountains of life, whence rivers to irrigate, purify, and beautify the world will flow down the ages. Brother, look well to thy character. Seek goodness for its own sake. Worship the Infinite because it is right; and thus thou shalt truly bless thyself, and bless all who will come within the circle of thine influence. "Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge," &c. HOMILY No. LXXII. THE THIRD SPEECH OF ELIHU. (2.) FIVE PREVALENT EVILS AMONGST MEN. high in power. If they cry aloud on account of the arm.' The power of great men who tyrannize over them. (Ver. 10.) When, viz. the oppressor, who uttereth songs in the night, who passes the whole night in feasting and revelry, doth not say within himself, Where is God my Maker? Is there not in heaven a God who has made them as well as me? (Ver. 11.) Who teacheth us men to be more than the beasts of the earth, and hath made us wiser than the fowl of heaven. If there is a God in heaven who has blessed us with intellect and reason, and given us a conscience. to teach us that might is not right, that, when we take advantage of our strength and power against the feeble and the weak, we degrade ourselves to the level of the brute, and that we then resemble rather wolves and tigers than men-if there is such a God, how can I venture to oppress my fellow-creatures in His presence ?". "-Bernard. Ver. 12.-"There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men." "There they cry, yet He answereth not, because of the pride of evil men."-Delitzsch. It is natural for men to cry to Heaven in distress. Prayer is an instinct of the soul; but all prayer is utterly unavailing where there is pride in the heart. Ver. 13.-" Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it." A vain, hollow, heartless petition Heaven will ever disregard. Ver. 14.-" Although thou sayest thou shalt not see Him, yet-judgment is before Him; therefore trust thou in Him." This is again addressed to Job. Job had said (chap. xxxiii. 8) that he could not find out his Maker, he went to the east, the west, &c. He was concealed. Elihu reminds him, that though God was invisible to him, he was visible to God; and that God, though invisible, is just, and should be trusted. Ver. 15.-" But now, because it is not so, He hath visited in His anger; yet He knoweth it not in great extremity." But now that with which His anger has visited thee is as nothing, yea, He hath not regarded the great multitude of thy sins. The idea seems to be, that although Job had been afflicted, his affliction was as nothing compared with the sinfulness of his speeches, and that in the abundance of His mercy God had overlooked his numerous transgressions. Ver. 16.-" Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge." In view of all that Elihu had now said, he concluded that the views of Job were utterly erroneous, and that he had no just cause of complaint. HOMILETICS. In these verses we have five evils that are prevalent amongst men-the cry of oppression, the absence of piety, the prayer of inefficiency, the non-recognition of God, and the uncharitableness of speculative religionists. I. THE CRY OF OPPRESSION. "By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry.' The cry of oppression has been heard in all ages and all lands, and is one of the loudest cries in the world to-day. Men are everywhere oppressing their fellow-creatures, the autocrat his subjects, the employer his employés, and the master his |