manded at the same time, to offer for themselves " a burnt-offering," a sacrifice of propitiation :-" Therefore, take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering and my servant Job shall pray for you; for him will I accept lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me that which is right, like my servant Job." Chap. xlii. 8.

All is now set to rights. Eliphaz, and Bildad, and Zophar, humble themselves by immediate compliance with the divine injunction. They solicit the intercessions of their injured friend, to appease and avert from them the "kindled wrath" of the Almighty. Job, on his part, manifests the sincerity of his devout humiliation, by banishing all his resentment,-the deep consciousness of his own failures at once prostrating his soul before God, and dictating the sentiments of conciliation and forgiveness towards his friends. He offers up for them his willing and fervent intercessions :—and it deserves special notice, that his own returning prosperity is immediately associated with his thus seeking the divine blessing upon others" And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends." The patriarch is reinstated in his former prosperity. Friends, and family, and property are restored to him. The gifts of conciliation, kindness, and generosity flow in upon him from kinsfolk and acquaintance. The Lord blessed his latter end more than his beginning." His substance, in all its variety, is doubled; and his sons and daughters, the same in number as before, grow up around him, objects of admiration to others, and sources of honour and comfort to himself. He lives to a good old age, seeing his children and his children's children to the fourth generation.

From the outline thus presented of the contents of the Book, it does not appear a matter of great difficulty to discover the principal lessons it was designed to teach.

I. Of these, the first in order, both in divine intention and in real importance, is, the settlement, by the authority of God himself, of a general principle of the divine government. This is the subject of the controversy between Job and his friends, which occupies the greater part of the Book. Job's friends proceeded upon the assump tion, that, under the administration of divine providence, prosperity and adversity were indications of character; and that peculiarly severe afflictions were to be interpreted as sure evidences of peculiarly heinous wickedness,-such as, however unknown to men, was known to God. It was on this assumption that, in spite of all the proofs to the contrary which his former character had presented, they confidently and pertinaciously charged him with all manner of secret and successfully concealed iniquity. The opposite of this principle is maintained by Job; who, in the midst of his heaviest privations, and bitterest and most tormenting distresses, persists in the affirmation of his innocence,-and of the injury done not to himself only, but to God, by the imputations against both which their pleadings involved. He upholds the principle,-as manifest in unnumbered facts,-that prosperity and adversity are not so distri buted in the providence of God as to be by any means uniform

criteria of character; that the former is frequently the lot of the wicked, and the latter of the righteous,-the enemies of God rioting in worldly abundance, while his children are the victims of privation and calamity. This controversy is decided in Job's favour. Jehovah himself announces the verdict. His anger was kindled against Eliphaz and his associates, because "they had not spoken of him the thing that was right, like his servant Job." When he says this, it is quite manifest that his language is not to be interpreted in reference to all that had been said by the parties on either side of the "great argument:"-it must be understood restrictively to the general principles of the controversy. In these, Job was right, and his friends wrong.

Some have fancied, under the Jewish dispensation, subsequent to the period of Job's life, a regular adaptation of temporal blessings and temporal judgments to individual character. In this departure from the ordinary principles of the divine administration, one of the peculiarities of this dispensation has been conceived to lie. It appears to me evident that this is a mistake; that the language of the divine record on which the sentiment has been founded must be interpreted, not personally, but nationally. Of individuals it was never true. Facts cannot be made to comport with it. The plainest and most positive statements of the Old Testament itself are against it ;Eccl. ix. 1-4. And had it been at all founded in truth, the temptation which shook Asaph's confidence in the divine faithfulness, and had well nigh driven him to atheism, could never have had existence. He was "envious at the foolish, when he saw the prosperity of the wicked;" and said, "How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world." See Psalm lxxiii. But, had the principle of Job's three friends really had place in God's administration over Israel,there could have been no "prosperity of the wicked” to be seen. But on this subject I cannot now dwell.

There are some who have run into an opposite extreme. They have considered the visitation of Job as an exemplification of pure sovereignty, as a case in which the afflictions were really not called for,not needed; as an instance in support of what have usually been termed the sovereign hidings of God's countenance. Into any general discussion of this subject I cannot at present enter. The association of sovereignty with the infliction of suffering has always appeared to me to involve a principle not less repugnant to the nature of God's moral government, than the principle maintained by Job's three friends. By those who profess to hold it, accordingly, it is in general so much qualified, and invested with so many modifying explanations, as to render it almost unmeaning, if not even inconsistent and self-contradictory; every explanation which admits desert necessarily neutralizing sovereignty. Now, with regard to the case of Job, it should be observed

In the first place, that, whatever was the excellence of Job's character, (and it is admitted that the terms of the divine attestation are as strong as any that are applied to human character in the sacred word,) yet the excellency of the very best of men is still only com

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parative. The verdict of holy omniscience still stands true—“ There is none righteous, no not one." "There is not a just man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not." All the temporal suffering that can be endured even by the most eminent in holiness is still deserved by them; and in the very case of Job himself, it was a truth, although, on the part of him who uttered the words, the animus by which they were dictated was malignant,-"Know therefore and see, that God afflicteth thee less than thine iniquities deserve."

Secondly: Job was, by trial, made sensible of this himself. We read much, in the science of chemistry, of latent heat,—or heat that is not extricated and rendered sensible, unless when the body in which it is concealed is exposed to such influences as effect a certain change in its state. May we not say with truth that, in the science of morals, there is such a thing as latent sin; sin that is elicited only by the exposure of him who is the subject of it to particular circumstances of trial? sin of which not only are others unaware, but even the individual himself in whom it exists, is hardly if at all conscious, till these circumstances occur? Thus it was with Job. The event made it manifest, that, in the midst of all his exalted excellence there was latent corruption, in the form of pride, and passion, and self-estimation; and when that latent corruption had discovered itself, and had been effectually subdued, he found reason to acknow ledge, though the precise terms might not be used by him, that it had been "good for him to be afflicted." He was made sensible, too, that worldly prosperity had operated upon his heart with an influence of which he had not been, sufficiently at least, aware. With its proverbially insinuating power, it had begun to make him confident, and tempted him, (in the language of the apostle Paul,) to "trust in uncertain riches." His own acknowledgment shows this, when describing his prosperous condition,-"Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand:" language which corresponds with that of the psalmist,-" In my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved: Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong." Psalm xxx. 6, 7. His character, it is true, did not indicate any undue or injurious influence of the world over him; nor did such influence even discover itself immediately on his sudden reverses. But to a certain degree it was there; and, by a gradual, imperceptible, stealthy progress, it might have grown upon him. From this he was saved by the sad experience of the world's vanity, and prepared for the still more humble and devoted use of his prosperity than before, on its subsequent restoration.

Thirdly: It ought not to be forgotten, what an essential difference there is between temporal distresses, of whatever description and in whatever amount, and the hiding of God's countenance. The latter implies, (if it means any thing at all explicit,) the sovereign with drawment of the light of comfort from the mind; the prevention of the mind, by a sovereign influence, or a sovereign suspension of influence, from seeing and enjoying God, or reposing in him that trust which gives the soul the peace of his children. Now, so widely different is this case from the other, that many a time, in the expe rience of the Lord's people, it has been in seasons of the heaviest

visitation of temporal calamities that the "light of God's countenance" has been most abundantly and most exquisitely enjoyed. Its radiance has been brightened, and its sweetness enhanced, by the very darkness amid which it has shone; like a ray of the sun's "blessed light," in the "cloudy and dark day," streaming from an opening in the heavens, athwart the blackness of the shrouded sky. There is no evidence that, in the case of Job, there was any 66 Sovereign hiding" of the divine favour from his soul. It was all along his own fault alone, if in his distress he did not find God, and find peace, and comfort, and joy from confiding in Him. His expressions at times show that to such feelings as these his bosom was by no means altogether a stranger: and his complaints, at other seasons, of the departure and absence of God,-and the longings he utters to see him and stand in his presence,-are to be interpreted of his past prosperity, when "the candle of the Lord shined upon his head, and when by his light he walked through darkness," and of his inconsiderate eagerness to have an open interview with him,-an opportunity of pleading his cause before him, and of showing how he could vindicate himself even to his Maker!-a desire, which, when gratified, as we have seen it was, only covered him with shame, and happily corrected his rash presumption.

II. Along with the settlement of the great principles of the Divine government, we have before us a signal example of patience; and the most ample encouragement to trust in God, and to cultivate the spirit of humble, tranquil, cheerful submission to the divine will. This lesson is a fine counterpart to the other. It is just the practical following out of the other; the duty, on the part of the creature, corresponding to the principle of administration on the part of God. The lesson which we have been already considering, is the lesson taught by the controversy between Job and his friends, along with its authoritative decision: the present lesson may be regarded as that of the Book at large. By some critics, this has even been considered as forming the principal if not the exclusive object of the Spirit of God in inditing the Book. "The question concerning the Divine justice," says an eminently high authority, Bishop Lowth, "was not the primary object, nor does it constitute the subject of the poem; but is subservient, or in a manner an appendage to it. The disputation which takes place upon this topic is no more than an instrument of temptation, and is introduced in order to explain the inmost sentiments of Job, and to lay open the latent pride that existed in his soul. The Almighty, therefore, when he addresses Job, pays little regard to this point; nor indeed was it necessary; for neither the nature nor the object of the poem required a defence of Divine Providence, but merely a reprehension of the over-confidence of Job." I cannot but think, however, that this is assigning too low a place to the illustration of the principles of God's providence, or moral government, as one of the objects of the composition. Surely had this been merely "subservient," merely an appendage," we should not, in the close of the poem, have found so very much made

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* Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, Vol. ii. pp. 396, 397.

to turn on the difference between the views which had been expressed in regard to it, by the patriarch on the one side, and by his friends on the other. We should not have found the approbation and the censure of Jehovah so explicitly directed to this one subject. "The true object of the poem," says the same admirable but not infallible critic, 66 appears to be, to demonstrate the necessity of humility, of trust in God, and of the profoundest reverence for the divine decrees, even in the holiest and most exalted characters."* Without attempting to adjust the exact proportions in which it was the divine purpose to impress these several lessons, it will be well for us to receive deeply the impression of them both, of the principles of God's rule over us, and of our duty to him, as subjects of that rule. It is of no slight importance, in order to a correct estimate of our own characters and of the characters of other men, and in order to our entertaining just sentiments and cherishing appropriate feelings towards God, that our conceptions of the principles by which his government of the world is conducted be according to truth. The very patience, humility, submission, and confidence, which it is supposed to be the chief end of the book to inculcate, are associated with such conceptions, and in no small degree, arise out of them. "Take, my brethren, the prophets," says the apostle James, with an eye to both the lessons we have just been stating, for an example of "suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy who endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy."

Whilst, in the case of Job, we have an example of patience, we have, at the same time, an exemplification of the imperfection of every virtue in the very best of human characters,―of the imperfection even of the particular virtues in which they more especially excel. Though Satan's taunting prediction," he will curse thee to thy face," taunting both to God and to his servant,-was not verified, yet even Job's patience was not perfect. It endured much; but it was at length overcome. He "opened his mouth, and cursed his day;" and both then and afterwards, he "spoke unadvisedly with his lips. Whilst, therefore, we comply with the admonition to imitate the patience of Job, let us not forget that, in this as in every virtue, we have a pattern still higher, a pattern that is "without blemish." Let us look unto Jesus," who, although the grand end of his appearance on earth was to "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself," and to "bring in" for our justification "an everlasting righteousness," has, in the manner of executing "the work given him to do," "left us an example that we should follow his steps:" "who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not, but committed himself unto Him that judgeth righteously;" who "was led as a lamb to the slaughter;" who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and is now made higher than the heavens." While, then, for our acceptance with God, we renounce all self-dependence, and rely, exclusively and with simplicity of faith, on his perfect righteousness, and atoning

* Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, Vol. ii. pp. 397, 398.