shall not be remembered; but in the iniquity which you have committed, shall you die." There cannot be a more fatal error, than to imagine that your past experience, whatever it may have been, shall avail you any thing, if you turn back to sin. So far will it be from screening you from the wrath of God, that it will rather render you obnoxious to it, in a tenfold heavier degree: "You only have I known of all the families of Israel; therefore will I punish you for your iniquities!." Hear how strongly God himself has cautioned you against this error: "Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap: he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption: and he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." When, therefore, you consider how suddenly you may be called into the presence of your Judge, it becomes you to "keep your garments clean," and to "use all diligence that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless."]

3. To watch in a more especial manner over the secret workings of your hearts

[It is not our actions only that our God will call into judgment, but "every secret thing, whether it be good or evil." There is much that is externally "good in the eyes of men, which yet is an abomination in the sight of God"." There may be in the best exercises of our religion much of pride and self-complacency; and in our most benevolent actions, also, a mixture of ostentation and vanity. Now "God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart." How attentive then should we be to the secret workings of our minds! They are all discerned by God, as clearly as our overt acts: "He searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins:" "he weigheth the very spirits of men:" and thousands, who took credit to themselves for acting from the best of principles, will be found no better than hypocrites before him. Beloved, know of a truth, that if ever you would find acceptance with your Judge, you must be "Israelites indeed, and without guile."]

4. To improve for your good every summons which is sent to those around us

[You see in the circumstances now before you a striking illustration of our textP

* Ezek. xxxiii. 13, 18. n Luke xvi. 15.

And does not this event

P Here the particular circumstances of the person's death-if it be on account of an individual, or of the epidemic sickness, if that be the occasion-may be entered into at large.

speak to you? What if you had been the person summoned into the presence of your Judge: were you prepared to meet him? Would he have found you truly penitent for all your past transgressions; and watchful against every sin, yea, against every degree of evil, even in thought or desire? If not, what would have been your feelings at this moment? Do you not tremble at the thought? Or, suppose that this night a similar summons should be sent to you, (and you have no security that there will not,) are you ready? Do not trifle, my beloved brethren, on the very brink of eternity: but "stand with your loins girt, and your lamps trimmed, as servants waiting for the coming of your Lord." Then, "whether your Lord come in the morning, or in the evening, or at the cock-crowing, or at midnight," it shall be well with you. In a word, learn to "die daily:" and then it will be a joy to you to reflect, that your Judge is at the door: for the door at which he stands shall no sooner be opened to summon you into his presence, than angels, as his ministering servants, shall bear you from his tribunal to the realms of bliss.]

Jam. v. 11.

MMCCCLXXVI.

THE PATIENCE OF JOB.

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.

ONE of the most singular ideas that can be suggested to a carnal mind, is that which occurs in the words immediately preceding the text; "We count them happy that endure." An ungodly man sees, that it is better to bear afflictions patiently than to sink under them; but he can scarcely conceive how afflictions, under any circumstances, can become a ground of congratulation. This difficulty, however, is solved by taking into the account "the end" of those afflictions: and it admits of easy illustration from the case of Job.

In prosecuting the Apostle's view of this subject, we shall consider,

I. The patience of Job under his afflictions

Great and unparalleled were the afflictions of Job

[The destruction of all his property, and all his servants, by bands of robbers, and by lightning, announced to him as it was in three different accounts, by different messengers in speedy succession, would of itself have been sufficient to overwhelm his mind, if he had not been endued with uncommon fortitude; since by this he was reduced in a moment from the height of opulence and grandeur to the lowest indigence and wanta.

But, distressing as these events were, what an inconceivable aggravation must they have received from the tidings delivered by a fourth messenger, the sudden death of all his children! Had he heard of only one child dying, and that by any natural disorder, it would, to such a parent, have been a fearful addition to all his other burdens: but to hear of seven sons, and three daughters, all crushed in a moment by the falling of his house, if it did not bereave him of his senses, we might well expect, that it should, at least, draw forth some murmuring, and unadvised expressions.

To all these calamities were added yet others, that affected more immediately his own person; and which, in such a conjuncture, must be beyond measure afflictive. Satan, having permission to try him to the uttermost, smote him from head to foot with the most lothesome ulcers, insomuch that he was constrained to sit down among the ashes, and to scrape himself with a potsherd.

In the midst of all this trouble one might hope that he would have some comfort in the kind offices of neighbours, the compassion of friends, and the tender assiduities of his wife. But, alas! his servants turned their backs upon hima: the children in the streets despised and mocked him: the very friends who came to comfort him, loaded him with the most unfounded accusations, and asserted, that his sufferings were indications of peculiar wickedness, which God was now disclosing and punishing. His wife also derided his affiance in God, and counselled him to renounce it utterly, yea, to curse God, and dies."

66

Take any one of these trials separately, and it was great: but view them collectively, and they exceeded all that ever were endured by mortal man.]

They served however to call forth his most unrivalled patience

[Mark his conduct when informed of all his accumulated misfortunes, and especially the loss of all his children: "Then

Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped; and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Behold him yet again after his body was so smitten, and when his wife gave him that desperate, that atheistical, advice: all was meekness still: his very reproof was mild, though firm: "He said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

Thus "in all this he never once charged God foolishly, or sinned in the least respecti."

It is true that, after this, we find him "cursing the day of his birth," and uttering some unwarranted expressions against God: nor would it become us either to conceal, or to extenuate, his guilt in these respects. Our blessed Lord alone was absolutely without sin. But though Job betrayed his infirmity in some hasty words, yet, on the whole, his argument was right in opposition to that of his friends: and God himself, as the arbiter of the dispute, declared, that "they had not spoken the thing that was right as his servant Job had." Moreover, the deep humility with which he acknowledged his offence, proved his title to the character which God had given him in the beginning, that he was the most perfect and upright of the sons of men'.]

Having taken this view of Job's afflictions, and of his patience under them, let us consider,

II. The design which God had in them

We, who behold every part of this mysterious dispensation in one view, are enabled, from its catastrophe, to mark the design of God in every intermediate step of the plot: we see what God intended, by what he actually effected.

1. He confounded Satan

[Satan had accused Job as a hypocrite, who, if he were brought into trying circumstances, would even curse God to his face and he undertook to prove him such a character, if God would only suffer him to make the trial. God gave him this permission, and thereby afforded Satan an occasion to prove himself a liar, and to demonstrate that integrity, the existence of which he was so forward to deny.

h Job i. 20, 21.

k Job xlii. 7.

i Job i. 22. and ii. 10.

1 Job i. 8. and ii. 3.

m Job i. 9-12. and ii. 4—6.

Nor is this a small consolation to the people of God, whom Satan is ever ready to accuse and harass. When he would persuade them that they are hypocrites, they may recollect, that "he was a liar from the beginning." When he, through Divine permission, assaults them either in body or mind, they may look back to this history, and see, that he can in no respect exceed his commission, or overthrow those who trust in God. He may toss them vehemently as in a sieve; but shall never destroy the smallest grain of solid wheat".]

2. He exercised and improved the graces of Job—

[If "men do not light a candle, in order to put it under a bushel, but that it may give light to those who are in the house," we may be sure that God does not implant his grace in the heart, but with a view to call it into exercise. Now he had endued Job with such eminent patience, that the common events of life were not sufficient to call it forth: he therefore suffered Satan to exert all his power against him, in order that Job's piety might be displayed, augmented, and confirmed. Behold the sufferer when coming out of his trial; how bright does he shine, when "abasing himself in dust and ashes!" How eminent does he appear, when God himself not only takes his part, but refuses forgiveness to his uncharitable friends, except as an answer to his intercession for themP! Truly he lost nothing in the furnace but his dross; and "he came out of it purified as gold."]

3. He increased Job's happiness both in this and in the eternal world

[Doubtless the afflictions of Job were inexpressibly severe : yet was he no stranger to consolation even in his most distressing hours. If all his earthly comforts were dead, and he had lost all hope of happiness on this side the grave, still he saw that he had a Redeemer living; and he knew that the day was fast approaching, when he should enjoy an intimate and everlasting communion with him1.

But beyond all expectation he was raised from his low estate; his family was again increased to the very number he had before lost; his possessions were doubled; and his life, which probably at that time was somewhat advanced, was prolonged a hundred and forty years, that he might see his posterity even to the fourth generations. We must confess, therefore, that even in this life he was abundantly recompensed for the months of trouble that he had endured.