Bible Commentary

Expositor's Bible Commentary Job 8:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, XIX. VENTURESOME THEOLOGY Job 8:1-22 BILDAD SPEAKS THE first attempt to meet Job has been made by one who relies on his own experience and takes pleasure in recounting the things which he has seen. Bildad of Shuach, on the other hand, is a man who holds to the wisdom of the fathers and supports himself at all times with their answers to the questions of life. Vain to him is the reasoning of one who sees all as through coloured glass, everything of this tint or that, according to his state or notions for the time being. The personal impression counts for nothing with Bildad. He finds no authority there. In him we have the Catholic theologian opposing individualism. Unfortunately he fails in the power most needed, of distinguishing chaff from grain. Back to antiquity, back to the fathers, say some; but, although they profess the excellent temper of reverence, there is no guarantee that they will not select the follies of the past instead of its wisdom to admire. Everything depends upon the man, the individual, after all, whether he has an open mind, a preference if not a passion for great ideas. There are those who go back to the apostles and find only dogmatism, instead of the glorious breadth of Divine poetry and hope. Yea, some go to the Light of the World, and report as their discovery some pragmatical scheme, some weak arrangement of details, a bondage or a futility. Bildad is not one of these. He is intelligent and well-informed, an able man, as we say; but he has no sympathy with new ideas that burst the old wine skins of tradition, no sympathy with daring words that throw doubt on old orthodoxies. You can fancy his pious horror when the rude hand of Job seemed to rend the sacred garments of established truth. It would have been like him to turn away and leave to fate and judgment a man so venturesome. With the instinct of the highest and noblest thought, utterly removed from all impiety, the writer has shown his inspiration in leading Job to a climax of impassioned inquiry as one who wrestles in the swellings of Jordan with the angel of Jehovah. Now he brings forward Bildad speaking cold words from a mind quite unable to understand the crisis. This is a man who firmly believed himself possessed of authority and insight. When Job added entreaty to entreaty, demand to demand, Bildad would feel as if his ears were deceiving him, for what he heard seemed to be an impious assault on the justice of the Most High, an attempt to convict the Infinitely Righteous of unrighteousness. He burns to speak; and Job has no sooner sunk down exhausted than he begins:- How long wilt thou speak these things? A mighty wind, forsooth, are the words of thy mouth. God:-will He pervert judgment? Almighty God:-will He pervert righteousness? If thy children sinned against Him, And He cast them away into the hand of their rebellion; If thou wilt seek unto God, And unto the Almighty wilt make entreaty; If spotless and upright thou art, Surely now He would awake for thee And make prosperous thy righteous habitation. So that thy beginning shall prove small And thy latter end exceedingly great. How far wrong Bildad is may be seen in this, that he dangles before Job the hope of greater worldly prosperity. The children must have sinned, for they have perished. Yet Job himself may possibly be innocent. If he is, then a simple entreaty to God will insure His renewed favour and help. Job is required to seek wealth and greatness again as a pledge of his own uprightness. But the whole difficulty lies in the fact that, being upright, he has been plunged into poverty, desolation, and a living death. He desires to know the reason of what has occurred. Apart altogether from the restoration of his prosperity and health, he would know what God means. Bildad does not see this in the least. Himself a prosperous man, devoted to the doctrine that opulence is the proof of religious acceptance and security, he has nothing for Job but the advice to get God to prove him righteous by giving him back his goods. There is a taunt in Bildad’s speech. He privately believes that there has been sin, and that only by way of repentance good can come again. Since his friend is so obstinate let him try to regain his prosperity and fail. Bildad is lavish in promises, extravagant indeed. He can only be acquitted of a sinister meaning in his large prediction if we judge that he reckons God to be under a debt to a faithful servant whom He had unwittingly, while He was not observing, allowed to be overtaken by disaster. Next the speaker parades his learning, the wisdom he had gathered from the past:- "Inquire, I pray thee, of the bygone age, And attend to the research of their fathers. (For we are but of yesterday and know nothing; A shadow indeed, are our days upon the earth)- Shall not they teach thee and tell thee, Bring forth words from their heart?" The man of today is nothing, a poor creature. Only by the proved wisdom of the long ages can end come to controversy. Let Job listen, then, and be convinced. Now it must be owned there is not simply an air of truth but truth itself in what Bildad proceeds to say in the very picturesque passage that follows. Truths, however, may be taken hold of in a wrong way to establish false conclusions; and in this way Job’s interlocutor errs with not a few of his painstaking successors. The rush or papyrus of the riverside cannot grow without mire; the reed grass needs moisture. If the water fails they wither. So are the paths of all that forget God. Yes: if you take it aright, what can be more impressively certain? The hope of a godless man perishes. His confidence is cut off; it is as if he trusted in a spider’s web. Even his house, however strongly built, shall not support him. The man who has abandoned God must come to this-that every earthly stay shall snap asunder, every expectation fade. There shall be nothing between him and despair. His strength, his wisdom, his inheritance, his possessions piled together in abundance, how can they avail when the demand is urged by Divine justice - What hast thou done with thy life? This, however, is not at all in Bildad’s mind. He is not thinking of the prosperity of the soul and exultation in God, but of outward success, that a man should spread his visible existence like a green bay tree. Beyond that visible existence he cannot stretch thought or reasoning. His school, generally, believed in God much after the manner of English eighteenth-century deists, standing on the earth, looking over the life of man here, and demanding in the present world the vindication of providence. The position is realistic, the good of life solely mundane. If one is brought low who flourished in luxuriance and sent forth his shoots over the garden and was rooted near the spring, his poverty is his destruction; he is destroyed because somehow the law of life, that is of prosperity, has been transgressed, and the God of success punishes the fault. We are made to feel that beneath the promise of returning honour and joy with which Bildad closes there is an if. "God will not cast away a perfect man." Is Job perfect? Then his mouth will be filled with laughter, and his haters shall be clothed with shame. That issue is problematical. And yet, on the whole, doubt is kept well in the background, and the final word of cheer is made as generous and hopeful as circumstances will allow. Bildad means to leave the impression on Job’s mind that the wisdom of the ancients as applied to his case is reassuring. But one sentence of his speech, that in which ( Job 8:4 ) he implies the belief that Job’s children had sinned and been "cast away into the hand of their rebellion," shows the cold, relentless side of his orthodoxy, the logic, not unknown still, which presses to its point over the whole human race. Bildad meant, it appears, to shift from Job the burden of his children’s fate. The catastrophe which overtook them might have seemed to be one of the arrows of judgment aimed at the father. Job himself may have had great perplexity as well as keen distress whenever he thought of his sons and daughters. Now Bildad is throwing on them the guilt which he believes to have been so terribly punished, even to the extremity of irremediable death. But there is no enlightenment in the suggestion. Rather does it add to the difficulties of the case. The sons and daughters whom Job loved, over whom he watched with such religious care lest they should renounce God in their hearts-were they condemned by the Most High? A man of the old world, accustomed to think of himself as standing in God’s stead to his household, Job cannot receive this. Thought having been once stirred to its depths, he is resentful now against a doctrine that may never before have been questioned. Is there, then no fatherhood in the Almighty, no magnanimity such as Job himself would have shown? If so, then the spirit would fail before Him, and the souls which He has made. { Isaiah 57:16 } The dogmatist with his wisdom of the ages drops in the by-going one of his commonplaces of theological thought. It is a coal of fire in the heart of the sufferer. Those who attempt to explain God’s ways for edification and comfort need to be very simple and genuine in their feeling with men, their effort on behalf of God. Everyone who believes and thinks has something in his spiritual experience worth recounting, and may help an afflicted brother by retracing his own history. But to make a creed learned by rote the basis of consolation is perilous. The aspect it takes to those under trial will often surprise the best meaning consoler. A point is emphasised by the keen mind of sorrow, and, like Elijah’s cloud, it soon sweeps over the whole sky, a storm of doubt and dismay. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite. Job 8:1-3 Bildad's unsympathetic speech Dean Bradley. Bildad grasps at once, as we say, the nettle. He is quite sure that he has the key to the secret of the distribution among mankind of misery and happiness. It is a very simple solution. It is the doctrine that untimely death, sickness, adversity in every form, are alike signs of God's anger; that they visit mankind with unerring discrimination; are all what we call "judgments"; are penalties, i.e. , or chastisements, meant either simply to vindicate the broken law, or else to warn and reclaim the sinner. And so, in what we feel to be harsh and unfeeling terms, he applies at once this principle, like unsparing cautery, to the wounds of his friend. Bildad tries to overwhelm the restless and presumptuous audacity of Job with a hoard of maxims and metaphors drawn from the storehouse of the "wisdom of the ancients." He puts them forward in a form that may remind us for a moment of the Book of Proverbs. "As the tall bulrush or the soaring reed grass dies down faster than it shot up, when water is withdrawn, so falls and withers the short-lived prosperity of the forgetters of God. The spider's web, frailest of tenements, is the world-old type of the hopes which the ungodly builds." The second friend is emphasising what the first had hinted. "There are no mysteries at all, no puzzles in human life," the friends say. "Suffering is, in each and every case, the consequence of ill-doing. God's righteousness is absolute. It is to be seen at every turn in the experience of life. All this impatient, fretful, writhing under, or at the sight of pain and loss, is a sign of something morally wrong, of want of faith in Divine justice. Believe this, Job; act on it, and all thy troubles will be over; God will be once more thy friend — till then He cannot be." ( Dean Bradley. ) Bildad's first speech Homilist. I. A REPROOF THAT IS SEVERE. "How long wilt thou speak these things?" Job had poured forth language that seemed as wild and tempestuous as the language of a man in a passion. But such language ought to have been considered in relation to his physical anguish and mental distress. Great suffering destroys the mental equilibrium. II. A DOCTRINE WHAT IS UNQUESTIONABLE. "Doth God pervert judgment?" The interrogatory is a strong way of putting the affirmative; namely, that God is absolutely just, and that He never deviates from the right. III. AN IMPLICATION THAT IS UNKIND. "If thy children have sinned against Him, and He have cast them away for their transgression." Surely it was excessively heartless even to hint such things to the broken-hearted father. IV. A POLICY THAT IS DIVINE. "If thou wouldst seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication unto the Almighty." Bildad recommends that this policy should be attended to at once, and in a proper spirit. He affirms that if this policy be thus attended to, the Almighty would mercifully interpose. V. AN AUTHORITY NOT TO BE TRUSTED. "Inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers." He appeals to antiquity to confirm what he has advanced. Two things should be considered. 1. There is nothing in past times infallible but the Divinely-inspired. 2. There is always more of the inspired in the present than in the past. VI. A CONSIDERATION THAT IS SOLEMN. "We are but of yesterday, and know nothing." This fact, which is introduced parenthetically, is of solemn moment to us all. ( Homilist. ) Doth the Almighty pervert justice? Job 8:3 Judgment and justice George Hutcheson. These two words may be taken as expressing one and the same thing. If we distinguish them, judgment may serve to express God's righteous procedure in punishing the wicked; and justice His procedure in vindicating the righteous when they are oppressed. Job is unjustly charged, and accordingly he vindicates himself. 1. Job's maintaining of his own righteousness is not a quarrelling of God's righteousness, who afflicted him. Job held both to be true, though he could not reconcile God's dealing with the testimony of his own conscience, that did evidence his weakness, but not charge God With unrighteousness. 2. As for his complaints of God's dealings, he was indeed more culpable therein than he would at first see and acknowledge; yet therein he intended no direct accusation against God's righteousness. Learn —(1) The justice of God is so uncontrovertedly clear in all His proceeding, whether He act immediately, or mediately by instruments, that the conscience of the greatest complainer, when put to it seriously, must subscribe to it; and all are bound to the defence of it, as witnesses for God.(2) Such as know God, in His perfect and holy nature and attributes, will see clear cause to justify God in His proceeding; and particularly they who look upon His omniscient power and all-sufficiency, will see that He can neither be moved to injustice by hope of any reward, nor hindered to be just by the fear of the greatness of any, or any other by-respect.(3) Though God be unquestionably just, yet His dispensations may, sometimes, be such toward His people as they cannot easily reconcile His justice in His dealing, with the testimony of their own consciences, concerning their own integrity.(4) The study of God's sovereignty will solve many difficulties in the sad lots and sufferings of saints. ( George Hutcheson. ) If thou wouldst seek unto God betimes. Job 8:5-7 The sinful man's search H. Smith. I. WHAT IS IT THAT GOD REQUIRETH? A diligent and speedy search. It is a work both in desire and labour to be joined with God. How must we search? Faithfully, humbly, continually. Whom we must seek. God, for four causes. 1. Because we have nothing of ourselves, nor of any other creature. 2. Because none is so present as He. 3. Because none is so able to help as He. 4. Because there is none so willing to help as He. When we must seek. Early. "Even in a time when He may be found." II. HOW IS THE SEARCH TO BE MADE? In prayer. Prayer is a shield against the force of our adversary. Prayer hath ever been the cognisance, and the victory, and the triumph of the faithful; for as the soul giveth life to the. body, so prayer giveth life to the soul. III. WHAT EFFECT THIS SEEKING AND PRAYING SHOULD HAVE ON US. "If thou wert pure and upright." God's promises for the performance hereof yield unto us most plentiful matter of doctrine and consolation. In God's promises note His mercy, which exceedeth all His works. Note His bountiful kindness, His patience and long-suffering, and His love. God increase the love of these things in our hearts, and make us worthy of Christ's blessings, which He hath plentifully in store for us; that after He hath heaped temporal blessings upon us, He will give us the blessing of all blessings, even the life of the world to come. ( H. Smith. ) Surely now He would awake for thee. Job 8:6 Prayer awaking God Joseph Caryl. God sleeps, not in regard of the act, but the consequents of sleep. Natural sleep is the binding or locking up of the senses. The eye and ear of God is never bound. But to man's apprehension the affairs of the world pass, as if God did neither hear nor see. When men are asleep things are done which they can take no notice of, much less stop and prevent. Sleeping and awaking, as applied to God, note only the changes of providence. The words teach — 1. That holy prayer shall certainly be heard. 2. That prayer shall be heard presently, Holy prayers are never deferred the hearing. The giving out of the answer may be deferred, but the answer is not deferred. 3. Prayer is the best means to awaken God. Two things in Scripture are said to awaken God. The prayers of His people, and the rage and blasphemy of His enemies. 4. Seeing that God is awakened by prayer, our prayer ought to be very strong and fervent. If God do but awake for us, all is presently (speedily) well with us. ( Joseph Caryl. ) Though thy beginning was small. Job 8:7 The day of small things Mathematicus, M. A. Small beginnings, in certain cases, are productive of great ends. I. THE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS. Though obvious and simple, they are very easily overlooked. A pure motive seems the first. A double aim rarely succeeds. The man who has only one aim has only one enemy to encounter. Another "condition of success" may be found in the nature of the aim. Where we aim at that which is good — that which conduces to God's glory, or man's benefit, or to both — we have singular advantages on our side. The waves are on the side of God's enemies; they "cast up mire and dirt," but that is all. The current is on the side of His friends — of those, as we said above, who seek to do good. One other condition of success, always infallible, if not always essential, is a distinct promise on our side. What God promises, He predicts; what He predicts, He performs. II. SOME OF THE SPECIAL CASES to which these considerations apply. And the preaching of the Gospel in the world as a "witness," is that which comes to hand first. How insignificant and small was its beginning! It is true that other religions also have prevailed widely from a small beginning, but they are only subordinate illustrations, so to speak; for they prevailed, so far as they did, from the modicum of Bible truth which they had in them as compared with the religions they displaced. Thus, Buddhism and Christianity, for example, were each founded by one man; but the man in one case was a peasant, in the other was a prince. So Mohammedanism spread by conquering; Christianity, by being conquered. Brahminism, again, prevails in India, but in India alone, I believe; in all other lands it is an exotic which cannot maintain life; whereas Christianity holds sway, even if hated, among all the leading races of the world. Another case is that of the growth of grace in the heart. In this let no one despise the day of small things; let no one be surprised not to find himself a full-grown Christian in one night. If in other respects your beginning seems right, it is all the better, if anything, for being small. The work of God's Spirit is gradual, as a rule. ( Mathematicus, M. A. ) Beginning to be interpreted by the end H. Drummond. If evolution can be proved to include man, the whole course of evolution and the whole system of nature from that moment assume a new significance. The beginning must then be interpreted from the end, not the end from the beginning. An engineering workshop is unintelligible until we reach the room where the completed engine stands. Everything culminates in that final product, is contained in it, is explained by it. The evolution of man is also the completion and corrective of all other forms of evolution. From this point only is there a full view, a true perspective, a consistent world. ( H. Drummond. ) The beginning, increase, and end of the Divine life This was the reasoning of Bildad the Shuhite. He wished to prove that Job could not possibly be an upright man, for if he were so, he here affirms that his prosperity would increase continually, or that if he fell into any trouble, God would awake for him, and make the habitation of his righteousness prosperous. Now, the utterances of Bildad, and of the other two men who came to comfort Job, but who made his wounds tingle, are not to be accepted as being inspired. They spake as men — as mere men. With regard to the passage which I have selected as a text, it is true — altogether apart from its being said by Bildad, or being found in the Bible at all; it is true, as indeed the facts of the Book of Job prove: for Job did greatly increase in his latter end. Evil things may seem to begin well, but they end badly; there is the flash and the glare, but afterwards the darkness and the black ash. Not so, however, with good. With, good the beginning is ever small; but its latter end doth greatly increase. "The path of the just is as the shining light," which sheds a few flickering rays at first, Which exercises a combat with the darkness, but it "shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Good things progress. I. First, then, for THE QUIETING OF YOUR FEARS. Thou sayest, my hearer, "I am but a beginner in grace, and therefore I am vexed with anxiety, and full of timorousness." Perhaps thy first fear, if I put it into words, is this: "My beginning is so small that I cannot tell when it did begin, and therefore, methinks I cannot have been converted, but am still in the gall of bitterness." O beloved! how many thousands like thyself have been exercised with doubts upon this point! Be encouraged; it is not needful for you to know when you were regenerated; it is but necessary for you to know that you are so. If thou canst set no date to the beginning of thy faith, yet if thou dost believe now, thou art saved. Does it not strike you as being very foolish reasoning if you should say in your heart, "I am not converted because I do not know when"? Nay, with such reasoning as that, I could prove that old Rome was never built, because the precise date of her building is unknown; nay, we might declare that the world was never made, for its exact age even the geologist cannot tell us. Another doubt also arises from this point. "Ah! sir," saith a timid Christian, "it is not merely the absence of all date to my conversion, but the extreme weakness of the grace I have." "Ah," saith one, "I sometimes think I have a little faith, but it is so mingled with unbelief, distrust, and incredulity, that I can hardly think it is God's gift, the faith of God's elect." When God begins to build, if He lay but one single stone He will finish the structure; when Christ sits down to weave, though He casts the shuttle but once, and that time the thread was so filmy as scarcely to be discernible, He will nevertheless continue till the piece is finished, and the whole is wrought. If thy faith be never so little, yet it is immortal, and that immortality may well compensate for its littleness. Having thus spoken upon two fears, which are the result of these small beginnings, let me now try to quiet another. "Ah!" saith the heir of heaven, "I do hope that in me grace hath Commenced its work, but my fear is, that such frail faith as mine will never stand the test of years. I am," saith he, "so weak, that one temptation would be too much for me; how then can I hope to pass through yonder forest of spears held in the hands of valiant enemies? A drop makes me tremble, how shall I stem the roaring flood of life and death? Let but one arrow fly from hell, it penetrates my tender flesh; what then if Satan shall empty his quiver? I shall surely fall by the hand of the enemy. My beginnings are so small that I am certain they will soon come to their end, and that end must be black despair." Be of good courage, have done with that fear once for all; it is true, as thou sayest, the temptation will be too much for thee, but what hast thou to do with it? Heaven is not to be won by thy might, but by the might of Him who has promised heaven to thee. Let me seek to quiet and pacify one other fear. "Nay, but," say you, "I never can be saved; for when I look at other people, at God's own true children, — I am ashamed to say it, — I am but a miserable copy of them. So far from attaining to the image of my Master, I fear I am not even like my Master's servants. I live at a poor dying rate. I sometimes run, but oftener creep, and seldom if ever fly. Where others are shaking mountains, I am stumbling over molehills." If some little star in the sky should declare it was not a star, because it did not shine as brightly as Sirius or Arcturus, how foolish would be its argument! Hast thou ever learned to distinguish between grace and gifts? For know that they are marvellously dissimilar. A man may be saved who has not a grain of gifts; but no man can be saved who hath no grace. Have you ever learned to distinguish between grace that saves, and the grace which develops itself afterwards. Remember, there are some graces that are absolutely necessary to the saving of the soul; there are some others that are only necessary to its comfort. Faith, for instance, is absolutely necessary for salvation; but assurance is not. II. Upon this head I wish to say a word or two for the CONFIRMATION OF YOUR FAITH. Well, the first confirmation I would offer you is this: Our beginnings are very, very small, but we have a joyous prospect in our text. Our latter end shall greatly increase; we shall not always be so distrustful as we are now. Thank God, we look for days when our faith shall be unshaken, and firm as mountains be. I shall not forever have to mourn before my God that I cannot love Him as I would. We are growing things. Methinks I hear the green blade say this morning, "I shall not forever be trodden under foot as if I were but grass; I shall grow; I shall blossom; I shall grow ripe and mellow; and many a man shall sharpen his sickle for me. But further, thin cheering prospect upon earth is quite eclipsed by a more cheering prospect, beyond the river Death." Our latter end shall greatly increase. Faith shall give place to fruition; hope shall be occupied with enjoyment; love itself shall be swallowed up in ecstasy. Mine eyes, ye shall not forever weep; there are sights of transport for you. Tongue, thou shalt not forever have to mourn, and be the instrument of confession; there are songs and hallelujahs for thee. Perhaps someone may say, "How is it that we are so sure that our latter end will increase?" I give you just these reasons: — we are quite sure of it because there is a vitality in our piety. The sculptor may have oftentimes cut in marble some exquisite statue of a babe. That has come to its full size; it will never grow any greater. When I see a wise man in the world, I look at him as being just such an infant. He will never grow any greater. He has come to his full. He is but chiselled out by human power; there is no vitality in him. The Christian here on earth is a babe, but not a babe in stone — a babe instinct with life. Besides this, we feel that we must come to something better, because God is with us. We are quite certain that what we are, cannot be the end of God's design. We are only the chalk crayon, rough drawings of men, yet when we come to be filled up in eternity, we shall be marvellous pictures, and our latter end indeed shall be greatly increased. Christian! remember, for the encouragement of thy poor soul, that what thou art now is not the measure of thy safety; thy safety depends not upon what thou art, but on what Christ is. III. Now for our last point, namely, FOR THE QUICKENING OF OUR DILIGENCE. 1. First, take heed to yourself that you obey the commandments which relate to the ordinances of Christ. But further, if thou wouldst get out of the littleness of thy beginnings, wait much upon the means of grace. Read much the Word of God alone. Rest not till thou hast fed on the Word; and thus shall thy little beginnings come to great endings. 2. Be much also in prayer. God's plants grow fastest in the warm atmosphere of the closet. 3. And, lastly, if thy beginning be but small, make the best use of the beginning that thou hast. Hast thou but one talent? Put it out at interest, and make two of it. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow. Job 8:9 The intellectual poverty of life Homilist. The two unquestionable truths that Bildad here expresses are the transitoriness and the intellectual poverty of our mortal life. We "know nothing." Bildad seems to indicate that our ignorance arises partly from the brevity of our life. We have no time to get knowledge. 1. We know nothing compared with what is to be known. This may be said of all created intelligences, even of those who are the most exalted in power and attainment. "Each subsequent advance in science has shown us the comparative nothingness of all human knowledge." — Sir R. Peel. 2. We know nothing compared with what we might have known. There is a vast disproportion between the knowledge attainable by man on earth, and that which he actually attains. Our Maker sees the difference. 3. We know nothing compared with what we shall know in the future. There is a life beyond the grave for all, good and bad, a life, not of indolence, but of intense unremitting action, — the action of inquiry and reflection. I. IF WE ARE THUS SO NECESSARILY IGNORANT, IT DOES NOT BECOME US TO CRITICISE THE WAYS OF GOD. How often do we find some poor mortals arrogantly occupying the critic's chair, in the great temple of truth, and even suggesting moral irregularities in the Divine procedure. II. DIFFICULTIES IN CONNECTION WITH A REVELATION FROM GOD ARE TO BE EXPECTED. Place in the hands of one deeply conscious of his ignorance, written with profundity of thought, and extensiveness of learning, and would he not expect to meet with difficulties in every page? How monstrous then it is for any man to expect to comprehend all the revelation of the Infinite Mind. The man who parades the difficulties of the Bible as a justification of his unbelief, or as an argument against its Divinity, is pitiably ignorant of his own ignorance. Were there no difficulties, you might reasonably question its heavenly authorship. Their existence is the signature of the Infinite. III. THE PROFOUNDEST MODESTY SHOULD CHARACTERISE US IN THE MAINTENANCE OF OUR THEOLOGICAL VIEWS. It is the duty of every man to get convictions of Divine truth for himself, to hold these convictions with firmness, and to promote them with earnestness; but at the same time, with a due consciousness of his own fallibility, and with a becoming deference to the judgment of others. The more knowledge, the more humility. True wisdom is ever modest. Those who live most in the light are most ready to veil their faces. IV. OUR PERFECTION IS TO BE FOUND IN MORAL QUALITIES RATHER THAN IN INTELLECTUAL ATTAINMENTS. If our well-being consisted in exact and extensive information of our great Maker and His universe, we might well allow despair to settle on our spirits. Few have the talent to become scientific, fewer still the means; but all can love. And "love is the fulfilling of the law"; and love is heaven. V. THERE MUST BE AN AFTERLIFE AFFORDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE. We are formed for the acquisition of knowledge. If we are so necessarily ignorant, and there be no hereafter, our destiny is not realised, and we have been made in vain. VI. WE SHOULD WITH RAPTUROUS GRATITUDE AVAIL OURSELVES OF THE MERCIFUL INTERPOSITION OF CHRIST AS OUR GUIDE TO IMMORTALITY. Unaided reason has no torch to light us safely on our way. Our gracious Maker has met our ease, He has sent His Son. That Son stands by you and me, and says, "Follow Me." ( Homilist. ) On the ignorance of man, and the proper improvement of it R. Price, D. D. What do we know of ourselves? We carry about with us bodies curiously made; but we cannot see far into their inward frame and constitution. We experience the operation of many powers and faculties, but understand not what they are, or how they operate. We find that our wills instantaneously produce motion in our members, but when we endeavour to account for this we are entirely lost. The laws of union between the soul and the body, the nature of death, and the particular state into which it puts us; these and many other things relating to our own beings are absolutely incomprehensible to us. One of the greatest mysteries to man is man. What do we know of this earth, and its constitution and furniture? Almost all that we see of things is their outsides. The substance or essence of every object is unintelligible to us. We see no more than a link or two in the immense chain of causes and effects. There is not a single effect which we can trace to its primary cause. And what is this earth to the whole solar system? And what is the system of the sun to the system of the universe? And if we could take in the complete prospect of God's works, there would still remain unknown an infinity of abstract truths and possibles. Observe too our ignorance of the plan and conduct of Divine providence in the government of the universe. We cannot say wherein consists the fitness of many particular dispensations of providence. There is a depth of wisdom in all God's ways which we are incapable of tracing. The origin of evil is a point which in all ages has perplexed human reason. And then carry thought to the Deity Himself, and consider what we know of Him. His nature is absolutely unfathomable to us, and in the contemplation of it we see ourselves lost. This imperfection of our knowledge is plainly owing — 1. To the narrowness of our faculties. 2. To the lateness of our existence. We are but of yesterday. 3. To the disadvantageousness of our situation for observing nature and acquiring knowledge.We are confined to a point of this earth, which itself is but a point compared with the rest of creation. Our subject ought to teach us the profoundest humility. There is nothing we are more apt to be proud of than our understanding. Our subject may be of particular use in answering many objections against providence, and in reconciling us to the orders and appointments of nature. There is an unsearchableness in God's ways, and we ought not to expect to find them always free from darkness. Our subject should lead us to be contented with any real evidence which we can get. And our subject should lead our hopes and wishes to that future world where full day will break in upon our souls. ( R. Price, D. D. ) Our days upon earth are a shadow. Life a shadow T. R. Stevenson. The author of "Ecce Homo" has remarked that Westminster Abbey is more attractive than St. Paul's Cathedral. The reason is obvious. Westminster Abbey is full of human interest. There lie our kings, poets, and conquerors. Statues of great men in characteristic attitudes confront us at every turn. St. Paul's, on the contrary, is comparatively barren in this respect. An imposing temple it is, nevertheless, almost empty. As much may be said of Dante and Milton. The poems of the former are occupied with the hopes and fears, loves and hates of those who were "of like passions with ourselves," whereas the productions of the latter are occupied with heaven and hell rather than with our own familiar earth. To which of these classes the Bible belongs we need not state. While Divine in its origin, it is intensely human in its theme, end, and sympathies. Man's dangers and duties, character and condition, absorb the anxiety of each sacred writer. The text reminds us of this. It speaks of life. Our existence is compared to a shadow. The figure is a favourite one in the Old Testament. No less than eight times is it used. What does it mean? I. A SHADOW IS DARK. We always associate the word with that which is gloomy and sombre. And, alas! how dark is life to many! To them the statement of Holy Writ emphatically applies, "Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery." As Sydney Smith observed, "We talk of human life as a journey, but how variously is that journey performed! There are those who come forth girt, and shod, and mantled, to walk on velvet lawns and smooth terraces, where every gale is arrested and every beam is tempered. There are others who walk on Alpine paths of life against driving misery and through stormy sorrows, over sharp afflictions; walk with bare feet and naked breast, jaded, mangled, and chill." Yonder is a poor lad, a wretched city arab. He cannot read or write. He does not know that there is a God. He has hardly heard the name of Christ. Father and mother he does not recollect. His "days upon earth are a shadow." Here is a young widow, scarce out of her teens. Less than twelve months ago she was a blooming bride; now she weeps at her husband's grave. Her fondest earthly expectations are blasted. Her "days upon the earth are a shadow." There is a large and prosperous household. Father and mother, son and daughter, have a noble ambition — to excel each other in kindness. Brothers and sisters emulate one another in affection. On a certain morning, however, a letter is laid upon the breakfast table which tells them that, by one blow of misfortune, they are ruined. The home nest is destroyed. They must go forth, separated for life, in order to procure their subsistence. Their "days upon earth are a shadow." All lives are more or less shadow-like. II. A SHADOW IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHOUT LIGHT. Natural or artificial radiance is essential to shade. As much may be affirmed of our troubles. They are accompanied by the light of the Sun of Righteousness. To console us in all trial we have the light of God's presence. "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee." A vessel crossing the Atlantic was suddenly struck with a terrible wind. She shivered and reeled under the stroke. Passengers and crew were thrown into confusion. The captain's little girl awoke during the disturbance, and, raising herself in bed, said, "Is father on deck?" Assured that he was, she laid herself down quietly and slept again. We may do the same. Calmly ought we to trust our Heavenly Father, who is always with us in life's storms. Does the reader remember the dying words of John Wesley? As he was drawing near his end he tried to write. But when he took up the pen he discovered that his right hand had forgotten its cunning. A friend offering to write for him asked, "What shall I write?" "Nothing but this: The best of nil is, God with us." Such was the support of the expiring saint, and such is an unfailing source of strength to us in every hour of trial. We have also the light of God's purpose. The very meaning of certain commonly used words bears important testimony to the kindly and wise object of the Lord in afflicting us. "Punishment" is derived from the Sanskrit "pu," to cleanse. "Castigation" comes from "castus," pure. "Tribulation" has grown out of tribulum, a threshing instrument, whereby the Roman husbandmen separated the corn from the husks. To quote from a living author: "A Chinese mandarin who has a fancy for foreign trees gets an acorn. He puts it in a pot, places a glass shade over it, waters it, and gets an oak; but it is an oak only two feet high. God does differently. He puts the sapling out of doors; He gives it sunshine and pure air. Is that all? No. Hail whistles like bullets in its branches, and seems as if it would tear them to ribbands. But is the tree the worse for it? No; it is cleansed from blight and mildew. Then come storm and tempest, bowing the tree until it appears as if it must fall. But only a few rotten boughs are removed, and the roots take a firmer hold, making the tree stand like a rock. Then comes the lightning, like a flaming sword, rending down huge pieces. Surely the tree is marred and injured now! Not at all. The lightning has made a rent through which the sunlight reaches other parts." This is a picture of God's dealings with us. The storms of trouble develop holiness and virtue. Two men stand by the ocean. As he looks at the grand green waves, galloping like Neptune's wild horses, and shaking their foaming manes with delight, one of them sees in the ocean an emblem of eternity, a symbol of infinitude, a manifestation of God. But the other, as he glances at it, sees in it nothing but a fluid composed of oxygen and hydrogen, forming a convenient means of sending out shiploads of corn and iron, silk and spices. "To the pure all things are pure." Let us be righteous, and we shall find spiritual help in everything. If we have but a heart yearning after Christ, we shall never fail to get strength and solace from nature, revelation, and mankind. The same bee has a sting for its foe and honey for its friend. The same sun sustains and ripens a rooted tree, but kills the uprooted one. The sane wind and waves sink one ship and send another to its destination. III. A SHADOW AGAINST WITH ITS SUBSTANCE. It corresponds in shape. The tree has a shadow, which is its precise similitude. It corresponds in size. A small house or stone has a small shadow. Life is a shadow. God is the sun. What is the substance? Eternity. Surely it is not outstraining the figure to say this. Life is a "shadow of good things to come" in the other world. But is it so? Is life a "shadow of good things to come"? That depends upon circumstances. The character of our being hereafter agrees with the character of our being here. The people of Ashantee believe that the rank and position of the dead in the other world are determined by the number of attendants he has. Hence, on the death of his m

8:1-7 Job spake much to the purpose; but Bildad, like an eager, angry disputant, turns it all off with this, How long wilt thou speak these things? Men's meaning is not taken aright, and then they are rebuked, as if they were evil-doers. Even in disputes on religion, it is too common to treat others with sharpness, and their arguments with contempt. Bildad's discourse shows that he had not a favourable opinion of Job's character. Job owned that God did not pervert judgment; yet it did not therefore follow that his children were cast-aways, or that they did for some great transgression. Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, sometimes they are the trials of extraordinary graces: in judging of another's case, we ought to take the favorable side. Bildad puts Job in hope, that if he were indeed upright, he should yet see a good end of his present troubles. This is God's way of enriching the souls of his people with graces and comforts. The beginning is small, but the progress is to perfection. Dawning light grows to noon-day. 8:8-19 Bildad discourses well of hypocrites and evil-doers, and the fatal end of all their hopes and joys. He proves this truth of the destruction of the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to former times. Bildad refers to the testimony of the ancients. Those teach best that utter words out of their heart, that speak from an experience of spiritual and divine things. A rush growing in fenny ground, looking very green, but withering in dry weather, represents the hypocrite's profession, which is maintained only in times of prosperity. The spider's web, spun with great skill, but easily swept away, represents a man's pretensions to religion when without the grace of God in his heart. A formal professor flatters himself in his own eyes, doubts not of his salvation, is secure, and cheats the world with his vain confidences. The flourishing of the tree, planted in the garden, striking root to the rock, yet after a time cut down and thrown aside, represents wicked men, when most firmly established, suddenly thrown down and forgotten. This doctrine of the vanity of a hypocrite's confidence, or the prosperity of a wicked man, is sound; but it was not applicable to the case of Job, if confined to the present world. 8:20-22 Bildad here assures Job, that as he was so he should fare; therefore they concluded, that as he fared so he was. God will not cast away an upright man; he may be cast down for a time, but he shall not be cast away for ever. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue, that Job was an ungodly, wicked man, was unjust and uncharitable. The mistake in these reasonings arose from Job's friends not distinguishing between the present state of trial and discipline, and the future state of final judgment. May we choose the portion, possess the confidence, bear the cross, and die the death of the righteous; and, in the mean time, be careful neither to wound others by rash judgments, nor to distress ourselves needlessly about the opinions of our fellow-creatures.