Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?" &c. (verses 20-26). The great question running through these verses is, Why should God continue the existence of a miserable man? "A man whose way is hid." A very natural question this! Has the Great Author of existence any pleasure in the sufferings of His creatures? Is the writhing frame a pleasant object to His eye? Are groans and shrieks of anguish music to His ear? It cannot be. Man's instinctive belief in His benevolence, and the plan of happiness on which the universe is organized, condemn the thought. Why then? There are, no doubt, good reasons, reasons that we shall understand and appreciate ere long.

First Great sufferings are often spiritually useful to the sufferer. They are storms to purify the dark atmosphere of his heart, they are bitter ingredients to make spiritually curative his cup of life. Suffering teaches man the evil of sin; for sin is the root of all anguish. Suffering develops the virtues patience, forbearance, resignation. Suffering tests the character:-it is a fire that tries the moral metal of the soul.

Secondly: Great sufferings are often spiritually useful to the spectator. The view of a suffering human creature tends to awaken compassion, stimulate benevolence, and excite gratitude.

CONCLUSION. From this subject we learn

First: The utmost power that the Devil is capable of exerting on man. All these afflictions came upon Job through the agency of the Wicked One. The Eternal had given him permission to deal thus with His servant. And what did he do? (1) He did not destroy life. Mighty as is this Great Fiend, he can neither create nor annihilate. (2) He did not destroy piety. He expected-he engaged, indeed, to make Job curse his God, but the Patriarch did not do so. Amidst the ravings of his agony, he utters no words of irreverence towards his Maker. He reviles his ratal day, and deplores the fact of his existence, it is true, but does no more. What then did Satan do? He rendered existence intolerable, and this is all he can do. We learn

Secondly: The strength of genuine religion. It is wonderful, yet glorious, to find that Job, in the midst of all his sufferings, did not blame God in these words. This is the more wonderful, inasmuch as he had not two things, which we have, to help him under his sufferings. (1) The example of Christ as a Sufferer. Christians, in suffering, have great consolation in comparing their afflictions with those of Christ, but Job had no such comfort. He had not (2) The assurance of a future life. There is no evidence clear that Job believed in a future state. This world bounded his whole horizon. It is, therefore, wonderful that, under such circumstances, he should have refrained, in these terrible utterances of suffering, to reflect upon the Author of his being. How much more elevated should our piety be than his! What higher light has fallen on us! he lived in starlight, we under solar beams.

HOMILY No. VIII.

THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ TO JOB:

(1.) WRONG CRITERIA OF CHARACTER.

"Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said," &c.-CHAP. iv. 1–11.

EXEGETICAL REMARKS. Ver. 1. "Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said." Up to this time, Job's friends had maintained a strict silence: they seemed mute with amazement at the greatness of his afflictions, and reluctant, from. sympathy, to disturb him with their convictions. Job's bitter complaint, however clothed in extravagant, and what they considered blasphemous, language, left them no alternative but to speak. Here begins the three-fold colloquy between Job and his friends. Each speaks in

turn. Eliphaz first, then Bildad, and then Zophar. They all proceed on three principles on which they had agreed: (1) That under the righteous administration of Heaven good always comes to the good, and evil to the evil. (2) That sufferings here imply great sin. Because Job was a great sufferer, he was a great sinner. (3) That if the great sinner would repent he would be restored to the favour of God and the enjoyment of life. Eliphaz is the first speaker here, and indeed, in all the series of arguments in the

HOMILETICS.-The introduction of this first address of Eliphaz to Job is admirable. Mark, First: His politeness. "If we assay to commune with thee," that is, may we attempt a word with thee? He does not approach his venerable friend intrusively, and break forth abruptly into speech. With the true spirit of a gentleman, in the Bible sense, he entreats. permission to say a word. "He speaks in a soft, subdued, suggestive strain, contriving in every way to spare the feelings of the sufferer." Courteousness is no mean attribute of excellence. Mark, Secondly: His tenderness. "If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? He means, shall I wound thy feelings if I speak out my mind? Respect for the feelings of another is not only the dictate of a noble nature and the mark of good breeding, but an element of Christian morality. We are commanded to be tender-hearted one toward another. Mark, Thirdly: His fidelity to conviction. "Who can withhold himself from speaking?" As if he had said, with the tenderest regard for thy feeling and the utmost reluctance to give pain, I feel bound by my conscience to speak. He sincerely believed though his faith was ill-founded-that Job was not a good man because he was a sufferer; and loyalty to his faith prompted him to speak. Mark, Fourthly: His candour. He gives Job full credit for what he had done. "Behold, thou hast instructed many," &c. Though he felt that Job was at fault, and that he had now to dispute with him on a vital question, he gave him full credit for all that was excellent in the past of his life. In all this, he is an example; an example which puts to shame millions who profess their Christian morality; it is an example of a natural religionist.

The religion he had was, in all probability, derived from the light of nature. He was not of the seed of Abraham, and there is no proof that he had a documental revelation. He was outside the circle to whom the written oracles of Heaven were vouchsafed. He drew his doctrines from the pages of material nature, and the tablets of the human soul. These verses show his criteria of moral character.

I. He regarded the FACT that a man suffered as a proof

that he was not innocent. He saw his old friend Job now in afflictions unparalleled, and well nigh intolerable; and he drew the conclusion that he was not what he once thought him to be a good man. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed." In these words of his, there are certain implicates which reveal his knowledge of several cardinal theological truths: such as (1) The existence of One Supreme Being. He was neither Atheist, Pantheist, nor Polytheist: he believed in one God. (2) That this One Supreme Being superintends the affairs of individual life. The wretchedness and ruin of wicked men he ascribes to the "blast of God." (3) That this One Supreme Being, in His superintendence of individual life, administers retribution. He refers to Him as preserving the "innocent,' and as destroying the "wicked."

Now it is just at this point that Eliphaz makes the mistake. It is true that the principle of retribution is at work amongst men in this world; that there is a connection as close and indissoluble between man's character and man's condition, as there is between the seed that is sown in spring and the grain that is reaped in autumn. "They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." It is true also that this principle is often manifested in most signal judgments. By the blast of God they perish; and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. The old lion perisheth for want of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad." The deluge, the fiery showers that came down on Sodom, and the destruction of Jerusalem, are such displays of Divine retribution. All men have seen what Eliphaz had seen,-suffering growing out of sin, signal judgments coming down on flagrant criminals. But Eliphaz must have seen something more than this: he must have seen oftentimes the opposite. He must have often seen adversity linked to goodness, and prosperity to guilt. He only states a part of what he saw, and what is to be seen in God's dealing with mankind.