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other friends of the afflicted patriarch in this opinion, he is not equal to either in intellect, genius, sensibility, or culture. There is that dash of rough insolence, and arrogant dogmatism about him, which are only found in connexion with souls of an inferior mould. Albeit, he says, occasionally, some good things, and now and then in the height of his excitement touches the sublime. The greatest ignoramus who may have impudence enough to address his fellow men for one half hour on religious subjects, if he possesses the average amount of human capability, can scarcely fail to advance much genuine truth; and if his passions wax warm rise occasionally into the eloquent. Thus it was with the author of our text. He had assurance enough to address Job for a considerable time, and in the address he advances much wholesome truth. Truth is truth, come whence it may ;-from sceptics or saints, fiends or angels. I take the words of Zophar contained in our text as a very truthful description of godliness in its twofold development,-its development in the spiritual activity, and in the spiritual blessedness, of a man's life. Here we have:

I. GODLINESS DEVELOPED IN THE SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY OF A MAN'S LIFE. The spiritual activity which Zophar here recommends to Job has a three-fold direction; a direction towards his own heart, towards the great God, and a direction towards moral evil. First: It has a direction towards his own heart. "If thou prepare thy heart." The heart in scripture frequently stands for the whole of our spiritual nature, including the rational as well as the emotional. The Bible everywhere urges attention to this. "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." "Keep thy heart with all diligence," &c. The great work of man is to prepare his heart. It is a field capable of producing fruit to the honor and glory of God; but, it is covered with weeds, and thorns, and thistles. The fallow ground must be broken up, the noxious weeds uprooted, and thus prepared to receive the incorruptible seed. It is a palace reared for the great king

of the universe, but its chambers are defiled by depravity, and infested with demon spirits; those chambers must be cleansed, those fiends must be exorcised, and thus the palace prepared as a residence for its royal owner. It is a sensitive plate, made to receive the glorious image of God Himself as reflected by the eternal Sun of truth; but that plate is so overlaid with the defilement of sin that it will not reflect the rays of heaven or receive the Divine impression :—it must be cleansed and thus prepared to take the image of its Maker. Secondly: It has a direction towards the great God. "If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards him."-Him-God. To stretch out, or spread forth, the hands is a phrase frequently used to denote the act of supplication. Thus we are called upon "to lift up our hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord." "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." The stretching out of the hands before God, is an attitude, therefore, symbolic of a deep-felt necessity of communications from God, and a practical confidence that such communications will be made. It is expressive of the very essence of religion-felt and living dependence upon the eternal Father. Thirdly: It has a direction towards moral evil. “If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles." Job is exhorted to rid himself and his circle of all sin. The work of a godly man here is the same as that which Christ came to accomplish-"To put away sin." To put it away from human hearts and homes, &c. Such then is godliness as developed in the activity of life. Let us proceed to notice :—

II. GODLINESS DEVELOPED IN THE SPIRITUAL BLESSEDNESS OF A MAN'S LIFE. Zophar assures Job that if the course of activity he inculcates be pursued, certain advantages would inevitably ensue. He specifies several of these.

First From such godly activity there would come cheerfulness of aspect. "Thou shalt lift up thy face

The face is the soul's dial plate.

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without spot." notifies all the revolutions of the heart. Thoughts chisel their likeness on the brow; emotions throw their glare into the eye; passions paint their hues upon the face. Job's soul was full of anguish at this hour, and his countenance as a consequence was sad. It was clouded with sorrow and disfigured with tears. Zophar tells him that if he pursued that course of godly activity which he had indicated, the anguish of his spirit would be removed, his countenance would grow bright, and "he should lift up his face without a spot." So it is ever;-if men would have bright and sunny faces, let them be good. My gloomy brother, why is thy "countenance fallen"?

Secondly: From such godly activity there would come steadfastness of mind. "Thou shalt be steadfast." Instability of soul is weakness. He who is "unstable as water" cannot prevail in any noble work. Failure will inevitably mark all his undertakings. Instability is more than weakness, it is misery; the mind unsettled, constantly veering towards different points of the compass, must be unhappy: mental distraction is misery. The godly man will be as firm in the tempest as a well rooted oak; as calm amidst the billows of life as the rock that only breaks into pieces its surging assailants. There is nothing, however, but godliness that can give this sublime fixation to our being.

Thirdly From such godly activity there would come fearlessness of soul. "Thou shalt not fear." Godliness is love, and "perfect love casteth out fear." What has a godly man to fear? Any of the forces of the universe? No! For they are under the command of Him who is his friend. Death? No! for death to him would be gain. He can sing, "God is my refuge and strength," &c. Moses on the margin of the Red Sea; the three Hebrew youths entering the fiery furnace; Peter addressing the Sanhedrim; Paul standing before Agrippa; are a few of the sublimest instances of moral heroism on record. Is the courage of the warrior, emblazoned by historians and poets, who have never pene

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trated into the moral heart of things, moral heroism? No! Godliness is true courage.

Fourthly From such godly activity there would come a deliverance from all suffering. "Thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away." The life of a godly man is like a river, not like a stagnant pool or a dead sea. It is ever in motion, sometimes sparkling in the sunbeam, and sometimes shivering in the clouds; sometimes chanting through scenery as beautiful as Eden, and sometimes moaning through districts of miserable desolation; sometimes clear as the day, and sometimes black as the night. Still it is ever moving to its ocean destiny ;-progress is its law, infinitude is its home. The godly man's sufferings will one day be only a thing of memory, and he "will remember it as waters that pass away." You have stood on the banks of a river, and seen the waters roll by you, changing their forms and hues every minute. You have left the spot, retired home, reflected upon the forms and shades which that river rolled under your eye, and you have felt that they were gone for ever. That river would never roll back to give you the same impressions-they are gone. So the sufferings of a godly man, are but forms on the river of his life, passing away never to return. Have you ever seen a river rolling backward and retracing its march? Never! And never will the sorrows of a good man return; they are gone for ever. Flow on then thou stream of life, and bear away our trials! Thou wilt get clearer, deeper, and calmer, as thou nearest the blue, broad, boundless, sea of eternity. It will be pleasant to remember them when they are gone; it will inspire us with the grateful and the devout. Fifthly From such godly activity there would come uncloudedness of being. "And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday, thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning." The word "age" means life; the idea is, that Job's life, which was now mantled in the black garb of sorrow, should be brightened into a mid-day radiance. This is true. "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the

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darkness." Psal. cxii. 4. shall be one day encircled righteousness. Mal. iv. 2. shining light." Prov. iv. 18. forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father." Matt. xiii. 43. The figure, magnificent though it be, is yet inadequate. Clouds obscure the sun, nor does he wax brighter with ages; and then, too, peradventure the time may come when he shall be blotted out of being, and Old Night shall reign again. Not so with the godly soul.

Those that fear God's name with the beams of the sun of "The path of the just is as a "The righteous shall shine

SUBJECT:-Limiting the Holy One.

"And they limited the Holy One of Israel.”—Psalm lxxviii. 41. Analysis of Homily the Fibe Hundred and Thirty-seventh. THESE words bring two things under our notice :-First : The transcendent glory of the Creator. He is the "Holy One." There are other beings in the universe that are in a sense holy;-angels and saints are holy, but He is the Holy One. His holiness is essential and underived. It is the eternal source and the absolute standard of all holiness in the universe. He is the Holy One. Other holy beings to Him are only as the dim stars of night to the unclouded sun of day. The words bring under our notice :-Secondly: The extraordinary conduct of men. They "limit" the "Holy One." How astoundingly strange this reads! Can the feeble limit the Omnipotent? Can the finite restrain the infinite? What does it mean? The words must be taken, of course, in a relative, not in an absolute, sense. Omnipotence cannot be weakened; Omnipresence cannot be excluded from any spot. He is the All-in-All, everywhere, through all things and for ever. And yet there are senses in which man may be said to limit the "Holy One."

I. MEN IN SOME OF THEIR INTELLECTUAL THEORIES LIMIT THE HOLY ONE. It is a philosophic necessity that the Holy One, as He appears to the intellect of man, should be

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