the plan of God, I would have thee go to Him." He might mean, Were I in thy place I would do so. I would have recourse to Him. If chastisement had come upon me as it has upon thee, instead of theorizing and murmuring, I should at once have felt satisfied that as it has come from God I must have deserved it, and I should, therefore, have approached Him with submission and put my cause into His hand. Ver. 9.-" Which doeth great things and unsearchable (margin, "there is no search"), marvellous things without number" (margin, "till there be no number"). Here he begins to indicate the reasons why the Almighty should be sought in affliction. What a concise, but comprehensive, representation of God's works is here. They are "great -"unsearchable "-" marvellous " "without number." Such a representation agrees with all observation and all science. This illustrious Temanite strongly insinuates that a Being whose works are of this description is beyond all human philosophizings in relation to His conduct toward men; and therefore confidence in Him, and not speculation about Him, is at once our duty and in terest. could, if he would apply to Him, effect a happy transition in his experience, turn his afflictions into health, and his mourning into joy. Ver. 11.-"To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety." Here he turns from God as operating in material nature, to Him as working in the fields of human history. In this verse he declares Him to be the Friend of the humble. The illustrious Virgin, blessed mother of our Great Master, expressed in her song the sentiments of this verse "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, And exalted them of low degree. And the rich He hath sent empty Ver. 12.-" He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise" (cannot accomplish anything). "He frustrateth the plots of the crafty, that their hands effect nothing substantial."- Dr. Bernard. Ver. 13.-" He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong." Whether Eliphaz was an inspired man or not, it is remarkable that Paul quoted these words, "It is written," he says, "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness". (1 Cor. iii. 19). It is also a fact that what is here stated has often been done in the history of the world. The case of Haman, who was hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai, is a striking example. Ver. 14. "They meet with (margin-" run into ") darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night." "The sense is, that where there is really no obstacle to the accomplishment of an honest plan-any more than there is for a man to walk in the day-time-they become perplexed and embarrassed, as much as a man would be should sudden darkness come around him at mid-day. The same sentiment occurs in chapter xii. 25."-Barnes. Ver. 15.-" But He saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty." So that He saveth the needy from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the strong. There are two ways by which man injures his brother, by HOMILETICS.-These verses enable us to discover the view which this old Natural Religionist had of the Supreme Existence. We see : " I. That he regarded Him as a TRUSTWORTHY God. 'I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause." As if he had said to Job, I would recommend thee in this thy affliction to confide in the Almighty were I in thy position I would do so to do so is the right thing. This implies his belief that God was infinitely trustworthy: and so He is. Everywhere in the Bible are men invited and encouraged to exercise unbounded trust in the character and procedure of the Supreme, and everywhere is trust in Him represented as the grand duty and privilege of mankind. Four things demonstrate the Trustworthiness of the Almighty : First His love. We could not trust an unloving God, still less a malific one. Before we commit our "cause," our interest, our all, to any being we must be assured of his love to us. What an assurance of the Eternal love we have sincere, deep, tender, boundless, never-failing. All the love that other beings have for us is only a drop from the immeasurable ocean of the Divine heart. loved the world," &c. "God so Secondly: His truthfulness. Truthfulness lies at the foundation of trustworthiness. It is, alas, too true that we trust the false, but we trust them believing that they are true. It is not on their falseness, but on their supposed truthfulness, that we rely. God is true in Himself. He is truth. He is the One Great Reality in the universe. God is true in His revelations. All that He has uttered by works or words is in perfect accord with His own great heart and thought. It is "impossible for Him to lie." "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of His word shall fail. : Thirdly His capacity. Capability of realizing what we expect and need in the object in which we confide is essential to trustworthiness. It is true that we trust beings who cannot meet our exigencies, but we should scarcely do so were we convinced that they could not. God is infinitely capable capable to counsel, guard, and nourish us for ever. He is able to do exceeding abundantly," &c. Fourthly: His constancy. Constancy is essential to trustworthiness. Wherever there is inconstancy there is unreliability. How constant is the Eternal. He is of one mind. He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," - the same in nature, the same in heart, the same in thought and purpose. He stands as an immoveable rock amidst the incessant surges of a changing universe. Truly this old Temanite was justified in regarding the Almighty as infinitely trustworthy. We see from these verses II. That he regarded Him as a WONDER-WORKING God. His God was not merely a trustworthy, but an active God. His God was not quiescent, sitting down in His universe, having finished His work. "Which First: Eliphaz refers to His works in general. doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number," or as the margin has it, "till there be no number "-passing beyond the bounds of arithmetical calculation. To all His numerous works he applies the epithets "great," "unsearchable," "marvellous.' His works in the material Universe are wonderful. Go through all the scientific cyclopædias in the libraries of the world, and you will only have a few specimens of His marvellous achievements. Take the microscope, and you may, like Lauwenhoeck, discover a thousand million animalculæ, whose united bulk will not exceed the size of a grain of sand, and all having distinct formations, with all the array of functions essential to life. Take the telescope, and survey "the milky way," and you will find the central suns of a million systems all larger than the solar economy to which our little planet belongs. His works in the spiritual world are even more wonderful. Who can tell the number of God's mental systems, the millions that belong to each; how multitudinous and vast the hierarchies of souls? Thy works, O Lord, are wondrous, What a Secondly: Eliphaz refers to His works in particular. (1) He refers to the vegetable sphere. "Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields. blessed thing is rain! In seasons of drought its value is deeply felt. How its showers change the face of nature, turn death into life, and life into bud and bloom, flower and fruit. Our little sages ascribe rain to certain laws: they point us to the shifting of winds and changing of temperatures as the causes of rain. But this old But this old sage of Teman referred the showers to God. "Who giveth rain upon the earth." This is inspired philosophy. "The Lord our God," said Jeremiah, "giveth rain, both the former and the latter in His seasons." "Thou visitest the earth and waterest it," said David. "He," says Paul, "left not Himself without witness in that He gave us rain from heaven," &c. (2) He refers to the human sphere. set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty," &c., &c. (verses 11-16). He sees God in human history. Human events to him were not fortuitous occurrences, but Divine acts. He indicates that in His conduct to mankind He does two things-(a) Favours the good. He sets “on "To high those that be low," and those that "mourn " He exalts. This is true throughout the world: in the long run of things ever the "good comes uppermost." They are often socially exalted, always morally. (b) Confounds the evil. "He disappointeth the devices of the crafty." History abounds with the examples of the bafflement of wrong. The conduct of Joseph's brethren, Ahithophel, Sanballat, Haman, and the Jewish Sanhedrim in relation to Christ, are instances. Satan, the arch-enemy of the universe, will exemplify this through all the confounding crises of his accursed future. HOMILY No. XII. THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ TO JOB: (5.) HIS JUDGMENT OF HUMAN AFFLICTIONS. "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:" &c.-CHAP. v. 17-27. EXEGETICAL REMARKS. Ver. 17. -"Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty." The translation of this verse cannot be improved. It starts a new argument to assure Job that afflictions, properly borne, are so highly advantageous that they should be submitted to with a calm resignation. The sentiment of this verse will be found elsewhere (Hebrews xii. 5; James i. 12; Prov. iii. 11, 12). Ver. 18.- "For He makeṭh sore, and bindeth up: He woundeth, and His hands make whole." "I wound and I heal" (Hos. vi. 1; 1 Samuel ii. 6). An image, from binding up a wound. The healing art consisted much at that time in external applications. "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds" (Psalm cxlvii. 3). Ver. 19.-" He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." "The Hebrew idiom fixes on a certain number (here six) in order to call attention, as to a thing of importance, then increases the force, by adding, with a 'yea,'-nay, even the next higher number: here seven, the sacred and perfect number. In all possible troubles: not merely in the precise number seven. How many soever may be thy troubles, the Lord will deliver thee out of them all (Psalm xxxiv. 6, 15, 17, 19)."-A. R. Fausset. Ver. 20.-" In famine He shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword." In the margin, "from the hand of the |