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unction to your poor deluded soul. Would to God that any thing I could urge upon you to-day -the shortness of life, the astonishing reverses of this state of being, the certainty of judgment, and of the eternal misery of the unconvertedmight prompt you to call upon the Redeemer for pardon, and grace, and everlasting compassion! The text speaks also to you; and it offers you, if penitent and renewed in the " image of God," a place in the world of spirits, in the bright chambers of heaven, in the happy region where the Saviour presides. And, as yet, He waits to be gracious, and calls upon you from "heaven his dwelling-place." O hasten, my brethren, to take refuge in his arms. Plead his own dying love to sinners. Relinquish the world, ere it abandons you, and leaves you to wither like a garland in the grasp of the great enemy of souls. Call upon the Saviour, that he may " plant you, as a tree of righteousness," in the paradise of God for ever.

3. Lastly, I would speak once more to that class of persons to whom the text is especially addressed, the doubting or sorrowing servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whilst I would continue to press upon you, my Christian brethren, the rich consolations of the text, I would also urge upon you one additional consideration. If the Saviour of the world is gone into heaven, not to repose after the work of redemption, not simply to receive the homage of admiring worlds, but to prepare a place in heaven for you;" how obvious and paramount is the duty that you also should, by the power of the Holy Spirit, labour to obtain a "meetness" for that "new heavens, and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous

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ness?"-Beware, my brethren, of the unsanctifying influence of the world, of its pleasures, its pursuits, its principles, and its cares. Gladly welcome every event of which it is the tendency and design to wean the heart from this world, and to fix it upon another. "Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Walk, therefore, amidst the scenes of the world, as men waiting for your Lord, and to whom he can never come too soon. Listen to him, as he speaks from the circle of the heavens on which he sits: "Behold, I come quickly." And let every mouth and heart reply, "Amen, even so: come, Lord Jesus.”

SERMON XIV.

THE BOOK OF JOB.

JOB xlii. 5, 6.

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

THE Book of Job must be considered as one of the most striking parts of the sacred writings. Its lofty eloquence, and its interesting story; the grandeur of the character whose history it records; his sufferings, his reasonings, his general integrity, his errors, his humiliation, his final tri

umph-all conspire to render it an invaluable legacy to the church of God. But, however important when understood, and however intelligible when closely examined; its plan and argument do not at once present themselves distinctly to the mind. So much that is right mingles itself with the false reasoning of the friends of Job, and so much of defect shades the excellence of the Patriarch, that we are almost startled, in the conclusion of the work, to discover the nearly unmixed approbation bestowed on the one, and the unqualified censure inflicted on the other. On these grounds, I have thought it might be useful to take a general survey of this interesting book; and to endeavour, under the Divine blessing, to draw from it some of those lessons it is calculated to convey.-May that Spirit who breathed these lessons of heavenly wisdom into the mind of the author of this history, be present with us in this inquiry!

It is my intention, in pursuing this examination,

I. TO TAKE A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE CONTENTS of the Book of JOB; and,

II. TO STATE SOME OF THE PRACTICAL LESSONS

WHICH FLOW FROM IT.

I. In the first place, we are to take A BRIEF

SURVEY OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS SACRED BOOK.

The history opens by giving us some account of Job-that he was a man "perfect and upright;" one that "feared God," and "eschewed evil;" and that he was the "greatest of all the men of the East." The enemy of souls could not behold such a man without desiring his destruction. Accordingly, he ascends to the tribunal of God; at once denies that Job has any

real virtue; ascribes all the appearance of it to the peculiar blessings he enjoys; and, finally, says to God, "Touch all he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." Satan is permitted to inflict every worldly calamity upon him: but in vain: "in patience possessed he his soul;" and he merely exclaimed," The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Again the unrelenting malice of the devil carries him to the throne of God, and he obtains permission to scourge the Patriarch with every personal affliction--indeed, to "touch all but his life." Although assailed at every point by the malignity of the great enemy, the faith and patience of the sufferer continue for a time unshaken. Even when urged by the violence of her who should have soothed his troubled spirit, and restrained his rising violence, to "curse God and die;" it is said, " he took a potsherd to scrape himself;" and "sat down among the ashes," and said, "Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

At this period, three of his friends-Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar-come to him. It was then that, unable any longer to sustain his accumulated burdens, his faith gave way; and though he did not "curse God," he cursed the day of his birth, and deplored in the most vehement language the wretchedness of his condition.

After a silence of some time, his pretended friends begin to address him. Instead, however, of attempting to follow them into the details of the discussion, we can touch only on its general character. Instead of pitying his sufferings, instead of tracing them to the compassion of God, instead of treating them as the gentle chastise

ments of a Father's hand, they first maintain the erroneous principle, that peculiar suffering is a proof of peculiar guilt; and then apply the reasoning to the particular case of Job. They tell him, that his singular sufferings are the fruit of his peculiar criminality; that had he been upright, he would have escaped them; and that real repentance would at once remove them.

Job, in his various replies, meets this attack as might be expected. He denies both the general principle, and its peculiar application. For a time he reasons calmly and wisely; but, at length, stung by the harshness and injustice of their charges, he is hurried into expressions which border upon presumption, and even upon impiety. Sometimes his principles, and sometimes his passions, appear to prevail; and he is pious and intemperate by turns. Now he acknowledges the justice and mercy of God; and, in a moment, denies them. In one place, he appears to remember no longer that there is a world of compensation for the sufferings of the righteous; but, in another, the eye of faith seems to pierce through the darkness of intervening ages, and he exclaims, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth."

In the thirty-third chapter, Elihu, a new character, is introduced. He has heard a part, at least, of the preceding controversy between Job and his companions, and has noticed the injustice of the assault made upon him. He enters the lists; begins by justifying the Patriarch against his opponents, and ends by displaying to him the defects of his own argument and temper. He charges him with distrust of the compassion and