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Job Chapter
Five
Job 5
Chapter Contents
Eliphaz urges that the sin of sinners in their ruin.
(1-5) God is to be regarded in affliction. (6-16) The happy end of God's
correction. (17-27)
Commentary on Job 5:1-5
(Read Job 5:1-5)
Eliphaz here calls upon Job to answer his arguments. Were
any of the saints or servants of God visited with such Divine judgments as Job
or did they ever behave like him under their sufferings? The term
"saints
" holy
or more strictly
consecrated ones
seems in all ages
to have been applied to the people of God
through the Sacrifice slain in the
covenant of their reconciliation. Eliphaz doubts not that the sin of sinners
directly tends to their ruin. They kill themselves by some lust or other;
therefore
no doubt
Job has done some foolish thing
by which he has brought
himself into this condition. The allusion was plain to Job's former prosperity;
but there was no evidence of Job's wickedness
and the application to him was
unfair and severe.
Commentary on Job 5:6-16
(Read Job 5:6-16)
Eliphaz reminds Job
that no affliction comes by chance
nor is to be placed to second causes. The difference between prosperity and
adversity is not so exactly observed
as that between day and night
summer and
winter; but it is according to the will and counsel of God. We must not
attribute our afflictions to fortune
for they are from God; nor our sins to
fate
for they are from ourselves. Man is born in sin
and therefore born to
trouble. There is nothing in this world we are born to
and can truly call our
own
but sin and trouble. Actual transgressions are sparks that fly out of the
furnace of original corruption. Such is the frailty of our bodies
and the
vanity of all our enjoyments
that our troubles arise thence as the sparks fly
upward; so many are they
and so fast does one follow another. Eliphaz reproves
Job for not seeking God
instead of quarrelling with him. Is any afflicted? let
him pray. It is heart's ease
a salve for every sore. Eliphaz speaks of rain
which we are apt to look upon as a little thing; but if we consider how it is
produced
and what is produced by it
we shall see it to be a great work of
power and goodness. Too often the great Author of all our comforts
and the
manner in which they are conveyed to us
are not noticed
because they are
received as things of course. In the ways of Providence
the experiences of
some are encouragements to others
to hope the best in the worst of times; for
it is the glory of God to send help to the helpless
and hope to the hopeless.
And daring sinners are confounded
and forced to acknowledge the justice of
God's proceedings.
Commentary on Job 5:17-27
(Read Job 5:17-27)
Eliphaz gives to Job a word of caution and exhortation:
Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening
which
comes from the Father's love
and is for the child's good; and notice it as a
messenger from Heaven. Eliphaz also encourages Job to submit to his condition.
A good man is happy though he be afflicted
for he has not lost his enjoyment
of God
nor his title to heaven; nay
he is happy because he is afflicted.
Correction mortifies his corruptions
weans his heart from the world
draws him
nearer to God
brings him to his Bible
brings him to his knees. Though God
wounds
yet he supports his people under afflictions
and in due time delivers
them. Making a wound is sometimes part of a cure. Eliphaz gives Job precious
promises of what God would do for him
if he humbled himself. Whatever troubles
good men may be in
they shall do them no real harm. Being kept from sin
they
are kept from the evil of trouble. And if the servants of Christ are not
delivered from outward troubles
they are delivered by them
and while overcome
by one trouble
they conquer all. Whatever is maliciously said against them
shall not hurt them. They shall have wisdom and grace to manage their concerns.
The greatest blessing
both in our employments and in our enjoyments
is to be kept
from sin. They shall finish their course with joy and honour. That man lives
long enough who has done his work
and is fit for another world. It is a mercy
to die seasonably
as the corn is cut and housed when fully ripe; not till
then
but then not suffered to stand any longer. Our times are in God's hands;
it is well they are so. Believers are not to expect great wealth
long life
or
to be free from trials. But all will be ordered for the best. And remark from
Job's history
that steadiness of mind and heart under trial
is one of the
highest attainments of faith. There is little exercise for faith when all
things go well. But if God raises a storm
permits the enemy to send wave after
wave
and seemingly stands aloof from our prayers
then
still to hang on and
trust God
when we cannot trace him
this is the patience of the saints.
Blessed Saviour! how sweet it is to look unto thee
the Author and Finisher of
faith
in such moments!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Job》
Job 5
Verse 1
[1] Call
now
if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt
thou turn
Call —
Call them all as it were by their names: will not every good man confirm what I
say? If - Try if there be any one saint that will defend thee in these bold
expostulations with God. Thou mayst find fools or wicked men
to do it: but not
one of the children of God.
Verse 2
[2] For wrath killeth the foolish man
and envy slayeth the silly one.
Killeth — A
man's wrath
and impatience
preys upon his spirit
and so hastens his death;
and provokes God to cut him off.
The foolish —
The rash and inconsiderate man
who does not weigh things impartially.
Envy
… — I
perceive thou art full of envy at wicked men
who seem to be in a happier
condition than thou
and of wrath against God; and this shews thee to be a
foolish and weak man. For those men
notwithstanding their present prosperity
are doomed to great and certain misery. I have myself seen the proof of this.
Verse 3
[3] I
have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
Foolish —
The wicked man.
Root —
Not only prosperous for the present
but
as it seemed
firm and secure for the
future.
Suddenly — In
a moment
beyond mine
and his own
and all other mens expectation.
Cursed — l
saw by the event which followed his prosperity
that he was a man accursed of
God.
Verse 4
[4] His
children are far from safety
and they are crushed in the gate
neither is
there any to deliver them.
Children —
Whose greatness he designed in all his enterprizes
supposing his family would
be established for ever.
Safely —
Are exposed to dangers and calamities
and can neither preserve themselves
nor
the inheritance which their fathers left them. There is no question but he
glances here
at the death of Job's children.
Verse 5
[5] Whose harvest the hungry eateth up
and taketh it even out of the thorns
and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
Harvest —
Which they confidently expect to reap after all their cost and labour
but are
sadly and suddenly disappointed.
The hungry —
The hungry Sabeans eat it up.
Thorns —
Out of the fields: in spite of all dangers or difficulties in their way.
Verse 6
[6]
Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust
neither doth trouble spring
out of the ground;
The dust — It
springs not up by merely natural causes
as herbs grow out of the earth: but
from God. Eliphaz here begins to change his voice
as if he would atone for the
hard words he had spoken.
Verse 7
[7] Yet
man is born unto trouble
as the sparks fly upward.
Is born — He
is so commonly exposed to various troubles
as if he were born to no other end:
affliction is become natural to man
and is transmitted from parents
to
children
as their constant inheritance; God having allotted this portion to
mankind for their sins. And therefore thou takest a wrong course in complaining
so bitterly of that which thou shouldest patiently bear
as the common lot of
mankind.
As — As naturally
and as
generally
as the sparks of fire fly upward. Why then should we be surprized at
our afflictions as strange
or quarrel with them
as hard?
Verse 8
[8] I
would seek unto God
and unto God would I commit my cause:
I would — If
I were in thy condition.
Seek — By
prayer
and humiliation
and submission
imploring his pardon
and favour.
Verse 9
[9]
Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
Who
… —
Here Eliphaz enters upon a discourse of the infinite perfection of God's nature
and works; which he doth as an argument to enforce the exhortation to seek and
commit his cause to God
verse 8
because God was infinitely able either to punish him yet
far worse
if he continued to provoke him; or to raise him from the dust
if he
humbly addressed himself to him: and that by a representation of God's
excellency and glory
and of that vast disproportion which was between God and
Job
he might convince Job of his great sin in speaking so boldly and
irreverently of him.
Marvellous —
Which (though common
and therefore neglected and despised
yet) are matter of
wonder to the wisest men. The works of nature are mysteries: the most curious
searches come far short of full discoveries: and the works of Providence are
still more deep and unaccountable.
Verse 10
[10] Who
giveth rain upon the earth
and sendeth waters upon the fields:
Rain — He
begins with this ordinary work of God
in which he implies that there is
something wonderful
as indeed there is in the rise of it from the earth
in
the strange hanging of that heavy body in the air
and in the distribution of
it as God sees fit; and how much more in the hidden paths of Divine Providence?
Verse 11
[11] To
set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to
safety.
To set up —
That is
he setteth up. Another example of God's great and wonderful works. He
gives this instance to comfort and encourage Job to seek to God
because he can
raise him out of his greatest depths.
Verse 13
[13] He
taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is
carried headlong.
The wise —
Men wise to do evil
and wise in the opinion of the world
he not only deceives
in their hopes and counsels
but turns them against themselves.
Froward —
Or
wrestlers: such as wind and turn every way
as wrestlers do
and will leave
no means untried to accomplish their counsels.
Is carried — Is
tumbled down and broken
and that by their own precipitation.
Verse 14
[14] They
meet with darkness in the daytime
and grope in the noonday as in the night.
Meet — In
plain things they run into gross mistakes
and chuse those courses which are
worst for themselves. Darkness often notes misery
but here ignorance or error.
Grope —
Like blind men to find their way
not knowing what to do.
Verse 15
[15] But
he saveth the poor from the sword
from their mouth
and from the hand of the
mighty.
Mouth —
Which was ready to swallow them up.
Verse 16
[16] So
the poor hath hope
and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
So — So he obtains what he
hoped for from God
to whom he committed his cause.
Iniquity —
Wicked men.
Stoppeth —
They are silenced and confounded
finding that not only the poor are got out of
their snares
but the oppressors themselves are ensnared in them.
Verse 17
[17]
Behold
happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty:
Behold —
Eliphaz concludes his discourse
with giving Job a comfortable hope
if he
humbled himself before God.
Happy —
Heb. Blessednesses (various and great happiness) belong to that man whom God
rebukes. The reason is plain
because afflictions are pledges of God's love
which no man can buy too dear; and are necessary to purge out sin
and thereby
to prevent infinite and eternal miseries. Without respect to this
the
proposition could not be true. And therefore it plainly shews
that good men in
those ancient times
had the belief
and hope of everlasting blessedness.
Despise not — Do
not abhor it as a thing pernicious
refuse it as a thing useless
or slight it
as an unnecessary thing. But more is designed than is exprest. Reverence the
chastening of the Lord: have an humble
aweful regard to his correcting hand
and study to answer the design of it.
The Almighty —
Who is able to support and comfort thee in thy troubles
and deliver thee out
of them: and also to add more calamities to them
if thou art obstinate and
incorrigible.
Verse 18
[18] For
he maketh sore
and bindeth up: he woundeth
and his hands make whole.
For he
… —
God's usual method is
first to humble
and then to exalt. And he never makes a
wound too great
too deep for his own cure.
Verse 19
[19] He
shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea
in seven there shall no evil touch
thee.
Deliver — If
thou seekest to him by prayer and repentance. Here he applies himself to Job
directly.
Six —
Manifold and repeated.
Touch — So
as to destroy thee. Thou shalt have a good issue out of all thy troubles
though they are both great and many.
Verse 20
[20] In
famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
He shall —
These things he utters with more confidence
because the rewards or punishments
of this life
were more constantly distributed to men in the Old Testament
according to their good or bad behaviour
than they are now: and because it was
his opinion
that great afflictions were the certain evidences of wickedness;
and consequently
that great deliverances would infallibly follow upon true
repentance.
Verse 22
[22] At
destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the
beasts of the earth.
Laugh —
With a laughter of joy and triumph
arising from a just security and confidence
in God's watchful and gracious providence.
Verse 23
[23] For
thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the
field shall be at peace with thee.
League —
Thou shalt be free from annoyance thereby
as if they had made an inviolable
league with thee. This is a bold metaphor
but such as are frequent both in
scripture and other authors. This is an addition to the former privilege; they
shall not hurt thee
verse 22
nay
they shall befriend thee
as being at
peace with thee. Our covenant with God is a covenant with all the creatures
that they shall do us no hurt
but serve and be ready to do us good.
Verse 24
[24] And
thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy
habitation
and shalt not sin.
Know — By
certain experience.
Verse 25
[25] Thou
shalt know also that thy seed shall be great
and thine offspring as the grass
of the earth.
Know — By
assurance from God's promises
and the impressions of his Spirit; and by
experience in due time.
Verse 26
[26] Thou
shalt come to thy grave in a full age
like as a shock of corn cometh in in his
season.
Full age — In
a mature and old
but vigorous age
as the word implies. It is a great
blessing
to live to a full age
and not to have the number of our years cut
short. Much more
to be willing to die
to come chearfully to the grave: and to
die seasonably
just in the bed-time
when our souls are ripe for God.
Verse 27
[27] Lo
this
we have searched it
so it is; hear it
and know thou it for thy good.
Searched —
This is no rash or hasty conceit
but what both I and my brethren have learned
by deep consideration
long experience
and diligent observation.
Know thou —
Know it for thyself; (So the word is) with application to thy own case. That
which we thus hear and know for ourselves
we hear and know for our good.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Job》
05 Chapter 5
Verses 1-27
Verses 1-7
Call now
if there be any that will answer thee.
Moral evil as viewed by an enlightened natural religionist
How does Eliphaz appear to view sin?
I. As excluding
the sinner from the sympathy of the good. He may mean here
either
Who will
sympathise with thy opinions as a sinner? or
Who will sympathise with thy
conduct as a sinner? “Call now
if there be any that will answer thee.” Thy
conduct is such that none of the holy will notice thee. This was all untrue as
applied to Job
yet it is perfectly true in relation to sin generally. Sin
always excludes from the sympathy of the good.
II. As by its own
passions working out the destruction of the sinner. “Wrath killeth the foolish
man
and envy slayeth the silly one.” His own wrath and his own envy. The
malefic passions
in all their forms
are destructive.
III. As enjoying
prosperity only to terminate in ruin.
1. Sinners often prosper in the world. They “take root.”
2. The prosperity must come to a termination. It is only temporary.
It often vanishes during life.
3. At the termination the ruin is complete.
IV. As fated to
produce misery wherever it exists.
1. Misery follows sin by Divine ordination.
2. A sinful man
so sure as he is born
must endure trouble. Such was
this old Temanite’s view of moral evil
and
in the main
his view is true. (Homilist.)
Verse 2
And envy slayeth the silly one.
--Plutarch says of human passions that they are not evil in themselves
but
good affections
which nature has furnished us withal
for great and noble
uses. Right
reason
wisdom
and discretion ought to rule; but all our powers
and passions have their proper place
and they follow the resolution of our
judgment
and exert themselves so far as reason shall direct. Were this order
well observed
how blest
how happy
should we be! But how shamefully do we
invert the order of our nature! If brutes could understand
they would rejoice
in their condition of necessity
and despise our estate of liberty and reason
when they observe how fatally we abuse them. By indulging our passions we destroy
our happiness. Eliphaz insults this holy sufferer Job
and would have him
believe that he was this malicious man whose vice had killed him
and this
envious man whose spite had slain him. Still
apart from Job
the maxim of the
text remains a truth
--“Envy slayeth the silly one.”
I. Explain the
vice of envy. When may a man be said to be of an envious mind? Envy is a regret
of mind
or an inward trouble at the prosperity of another. There are other
vices
as ambition
malice
pride
that carry a resemblance of envy
and are
related to it; but they either proceed from a different principle
or terminate
in some particular object. They are confined and limited
but envy is
indefinite. The principle
the formal reason of this singular vice of envy is
a repining
a gnawing
a trouble in the mind
that any man should prosper. It
is more or less predominant and rancorous according to the tempers of men and
the indulgence that it finds. Sometimes it appears without disguise; the
passion of the envious overcomes him. Sometimes you may see it in a man’s very
gratulations; you may discern his envy in his most kind expressions. Sometimes
he vents his angry tumour in a pleasing narration of all the evil
or the
darker part
of your condition. Sometimes his envy bubbles out in vain
insinuations of his own deserts. Sometimes it lurks in a vain pretence of
self-denial
of a mortified temper
and of a contempt of the world. Sometimes
they throw their envy upon their spleen
and then they think they may vent it
freely
and without reflection upon themselves. Sometimes it appears under a
cloak of piety and religion. And envy will express itself
as occasion offers
in rapine
violence
and murder.
II. The truth of
his character. Or how justly it is said of an envious man
that he is a silly
one. His folly is extreme
apparent
and indisputable. Wisdom consists in three
particulars. In a perfect knowledge of our happiness
or what is proper for us
to pursue
and what to shun. In a right understanding of the fittest means
whereby
we may attain the good and avoid the evil. In a skilful application of those
means to their ends
that they may operate the most effectually towards the
bringing our designs to pass. How folly is directly opposite to wisdom. A fool
is one whose understanding is prejudiced
whose judgment is not free; who is
governed by his passions
drawn into false opinions
wild
unreasonable ends
and destructive measures. But such a silly one as this is
is that of the text;
he endures and cherishes a vice that blinds his reason
and puts him out of all
possibility of being happy. An envious man is a common nuisance
that everyone
is offended with
and no man can endure. Silly man; while he designs to hurt
his neighbour
he destroys himself. His spite and indignation make him
overshoot all modest bounds. There is such a complication of evil qualities in
envy and detraction; of curiosity
conceit
and pride; of meddling
judging
and malicious censure
as makes the guilty nauseous to all. No man can be happy
but in the way of his nature. And therefore he that will grasp at that which is
out of his line
he that must have what he lists
and will have all things go
according to his mind
or will be angry
is sure to be always miserable. He
that does not consider his condition simply
as it is in itself
but with
relation and respect to other persons
shall never be easy while he lives.
III. The fatal
effects of this foolish vice. It destroys him.
1. It affects his body. Envy
peevishness
and discontent
ferment
and sour the blood
precipitate the motion of the spirits
urge outrageous
passions
fill the mind with angry thoughts
hinder rest
destroy appetite
take away all enjoyment
breed grief and melancholy
and end in a sickly
livid
look
in lassitude
consumption
and despair.
2. It vitiates his mind
and destroys the moral life. If envy divests
a man of his virtue and his reason
it must of necessity destroy his soul too.
IV. The methods of
recovery.
1. He that would be free from envy must endeavour to deserve
as well
as may be
both of God and man. True virtue gives a man an humble opinion of
himself; acquaints him with his own defects
or what he is not
as well as what
he is.
2. You must bring your mind to a good opinion of your own condition.
He that would be easy in his mind must govern his desires
and make the best of
what he has.
3. You must wean your affections from the world
and learn to value
it at no higher a rate than it deserves. What then remains but that we
endeavour to subdue our passions
to master our spirits
and to live according
to reason in the world. (J. Lambe
D. D.)
Wrath and envy
I. We have wrath.
Notice--
1. Its nature. Wrath is not comely
but it is sometimes useful. A man
who never knows anger is in nine case out of ten a colourless being who has
neither energy nor brilliance nor power. God is angry. The apostle implies that
it may be indulged in without sin. But there are extremes. It may betoken an
ungoverned disposition; it may indicate a cruel
passionate
vindictive spirit.
It may show a hasty
thoughtless
impetuous
unbalanced character. Apart from
this
unnecessary wrath is disagreeable and unpleasant to all. Its habitual
indulgence alienates all good. This brings us to note--
2. Its consequence--“Wrath killeth the foolish man.” How does it
kill? It killeth the best feelings. It stifles all sense of justice
right
caution
honour. It checks the best impulses and engenders cruelty. It killeth
peace and happiness. How many an after-pang it produces
how bitter the
divisions
the heart-burnings
the evil it causes! It filleth the body itself.
Instances are not uncommon of life being forfeited in a fit of anger. It
undermines the health and
even if it has no more effect
creates a morose
peevish
miserable disposition.
II. Envy. The word
translated “envy” may mean “indignation.” The two are only divided one from
another by a very narrow line. Envy is an evil indignation with another because
he happens to be better off than ourselves. We are told that “envy slayeth the
silly man.” Notice how this is the case--
Verse 3
I have seen the foolish taking root.
1.
Wicked men may flourish in great outward prosperity.
2. Wicked men may not only flourish and grow
but they may flourish
and grow a great while. I ground it upon this; the text saith that they take
root: I have seen the foolish take root; and the word notes a deep rooting.
Some wicked men stand out many storms
like old oaks; like trees deeply rooted
they stand many a blast
yea
many a blow. Spectators are ready to say
such
and such storms will certainly overthrow them
and yet still they stand; but
though they stand so long that all wonder
yet they shall fall.
3. Outward good things are not good in themselves. The foolish take
root. The worst of men may enjoy the best of outward comforts. Outward things
are unto us as we are. If the man be good
then they are good. There is a great
difference between the flourishing of a wise man and the flourishing of a fool;
all his flourishing in the earth is no good to him
because himself is not
good. Spiritual good things are so good that
though they find us not good
yet
they will make us good; we cannot have them indeed
and be unlike them.
4. The enjoyment of outward good things is no evidence
can be made
no argument
that a man is good. And yet how many stick upon this evidence
blessing themselves because they are outwardly blessed! (J. Caryl.)
Verse 6-7
Affliction cometh not forth of the dust.
Human suffering
“Affliction comet
h not forth of the dust
nor doth trouble
spring out of the ground.” The liability of man to suffering is one of the most
palpable truths addressed to our observation or experience
and at the same
time one of the most affecting that can call forth the susceptibilities of a
well-regulated mind. Innumerable and diversified are the immediate or proximate
causes from which these sorrows spring. The study of human suffering is
unquestionably a melancholy one
and to some it may appear not only gloomy but
also useless. It is therefore
above all things
expedient that we labour to
extract from suffering its due improvement
as forming one part
and an important
part
of the dealings towards us of a God of mercy--a God who has engaged to
make all things work together for the good of His people.
I. Is there
anything in us of ourselves that naturally or necessarily exposes us to
suffering? The text at least insinuates that there is. It is strong even in its
negative statement
and replete with meaning
when it informs us that
“affliction cometh not of the dust.” Reason tells us that in ourselves there
must be some provoking cause of the woes we feel. We must have offended our
Maker. Revelation settles this matter on a surer basis. The great fact is
that
by sin the human race have purchased sorrow
and by their guilt they have
provoked it. Never has there lived and died a man whose history has not
furnished evidences innumerable of the dependence of sorrow upon sin. In many
instances we can trace up a definite affliction to a definite sin. These
instances concern both individuals and nations.
II. Has God any
benevolent end in view in infusing affliction so copiously into the cup of our
temporal lot? That suffering
while it traces itself to sin
as its provoking
cause
is measured out by the God of heaven
and is decidedly under His
control
at once as to degree and duration
is a truth which we deem it
unnecessary to pause in proving. How are we to reconcile the Divine agency in
the matter with the goodness and the love which
while they characterise
at
the same time constitute
the glory and the grandeur of His nature?
1. God often sends afflictions to His enemies for the purpose of
melting their hearts and subduing them to Himself. Even in the natural world
and in the conduct of men
we are conversant with such a thing as the
production of real good out of seeming evil. Every day and hour God is making
the dispensations of His providence
more especially afflictive dispensations
to subserve
to pave the way for
and to promote
the purposes of His grace. As
God pulverises
purifies
and invigorates the weary soil by the keen blasts
the nipping frosts
and the drifting snows of winter
thus preparing it for a
favourable reception of the seed by the husbandman in the spring
so does God
not unfrequently
by the rude storm of adversity or the chilling visitation of
affliction
soften
melt down
and prepare the barren hearts of the children of
men for the good seed of the Word of truth.
2. God often sends affliction to His enemies with a view to their
conversion into friends. And when He visits it upon His people
it is for the
purpose of promoting their improvement and advancement in the Divine life. Even
in the case of the wicked
God’s judgments are not necessarily of a penal
character. But uniformly
and without exception
in the case of His genuine
people
affliction is sent in love. And inconceivably various are the
benevolent ends affliction is calculated to subserve and promote. Learn that we
should be humble under affliction. The simple reflection that it springs from
and is attributable to our own disobedience and guilt should be sufficient to
summon up and to keep alive this emotion. We should also learn to be resigned
when the hand of the Almighty is laid upon us. And in every case we should seek
to improve affliction for God’s glory and our own good. (W. Craig.)
The uses of suffering
It is a common thing for men to look upon pain as wholly evil. But
deeper reflection shows that suffering is not thus purely evil--a thing to be
utterly feared and hated. It is often an instrument employed for good.
I. Suffering
cannot be wholly evil.
1. A life without trouble would be one of the worst things for man.
2. Nothing which is a necessity of our nature is utterly evil.
Suffering is one of those things which no one can avoid in this imperfect state
of existence.
3. The innocent often suffer. A great deal of pain is endured which
cannot be deemed retributive
cannot be termed punishment. Look at the animal
creation
and at the sorrows which men unjustly endure--the cruel wrongs of
poor slaves
innocent prisoners
and oppressed peoples.
4. The most highly gifted natures are the most susceptible of pain.
5. Jesus Christ condescended to endure suffering.
II. Suffering
answers useful purposes.
1. It is a motive power in the development of civilisation.
2. It is one of the great regenerative forces of society.
3. One of the most beneficent uses consists in its preventive power.
4. It is the necessary condition of sacrifice.
5. It affords scope for the exercise of the passive virtues
6. It will make the joys of heaven more rich and sweet. Remember that
all discipline benefits or injures according to the spirit in which we receive
it. (T. W. Maya
M. A.)
The troubles of life Divinely appointed
I. This is a
troublesome world.
1. The elements of which the world is composed are not only
troublesome
but often destructive to mankind.
2. The great changes which take place in the world from year to year
render it not only troublesome
but very distressing and destructive to its
inhabitants. Every one of the four seasons of the year brings with it peculiar
trials
labours
dangers
and diseases.
3. Many parts of the world are filled with a vast variety of animals
which are extremely hostile and troublesome to mankind.
4. This world is full of evil
on account of the moral depravity
which universally prevails among its human inhabitants. Man is the greatest
enemy of man.
5. This is a troublesome world on account of the heavy and
complicated calamities which are inflicted by the immediate hand of God.
II. Why has God
ordained this state of things? He could have made this world as free from
trouble as any other world now is
or even will be. There is reason to believe
that God framed the world in view of the apostasy of Adam
and adapted it to
the foreseen state of his sinful posterity.
1. God ordained this to be a troublesome world
because mankind
deserve trouble.
2. To wean mankind from it.
3. To prepare those who live in it for their future and final state.
Improvement--
On affliction
I. Affliction is
the appointment of providence. What the vanity of false science would ascribe
to second causes is
by sound observation
as well as by the sacred writings
attributed to the providence of God. It is neither the effect of chance nor the
result of blind necessity. Here complete happiness is not the destined portion
of mortals. On this point personal experience will not contradict the report of
general observation. “We are born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.” The
present is a probationary stage. In the first stage of our being we are
subjected to moral discipline. To a probationary state
suffering is requisite.
II. Affliction is
intended to improve our nature and promote our happiness. It contributes much
to the formation of a character that is amiable and respectable. It purifies
the soul
strengthens mutual sympathy
and makes us men of a milder nature. It
produces pious resignation and humility. Adversity is a happy means of
correcting the haughty disposition. Affliction has often humbled the mighty. It
begets fortitude. A brave and generous people
becoming affluent and luxurious
lose their martial intrepidity and their virtue. They who struggle with hazards
and hardships acquire the highest energy of soul--a firm
intrepid spirit
that
is not disquieted by apprehensions and alarms
nor even appalled by danger
which threatens existence. Affliction does us good by moderating our attachment
to the world. When the angel of adversity takes away those gifts from the
prosperous which engrossed their affection
it is fixed more on the Giver.
Affliction is the salutary correction of a Father
who intends it to be
ultimately productive of the happiness of His children. The Lord makes good to
arise out of evil. Present trouble is connected with future happiness. Then
“sorrow not as those who have no hope.” Never indulge gloomy views of human life
nor murmur at the chastening of the Almighty. Always act a virtuous part. It is
guilt
and guilt alone
which arms affliction with the stings of scorpions. Be
virtuous
and you shall never have the bitterness of remorse to add to the
severity of misfortune. (T. Laurie
D. D.)
On afflictions
Why is misery permitted to enter into the creation
to interrupt
its harmony
to deface its beauty
and counteract the plan of the Creator? Some
heathens have inferred that the world cannot be under the care and direction of
an all-powerful Superintendent. Some philosophers say the souls of men had
existed in a former state
and the evils and sufferings of this life were to be
considered as inflictions for crimes committed in their state of pre-existence.
Others framed the hypothesis of two supreme
co-eternal
and co-equal beings
acting in opposition to each other. The sacred writings give a different
account of those evils that afflict mankind. It is in them taught that the
degenerate state of our nature requires Such correction and discipline
such an
intermixture of good and evil as we now observe and experience in the world.
Our present state of being is a state of trial or school of virtue.
Afflictions
far from being indications of God’s neglecting and disregarding
His creatures
are expressions of His paternal care and affection. The
afflictions of heaven are never sent but with a merciful intention. Notice some
moral and religious advantages that may result from afflictions.
1. Afflictions have a natural tendency to form us to virtue by
disposing the mind to consideration. Sin cannot stand the test of
consideration. Suffering has a natural tendency to reform the disobedient and
inadvertent
to confirm and improve the virtues of the good
and to secure and
advance the future happiness of both.
2. Sufferings remind us of God’s providence and of our dependence.
This they do by the conviction they bring that our strength is but weakness
and that we are subject to infirmities which we cannot remove
and to wants
which we cannot supply.
3. Sufferings have a tendency to correct in us a too partial and
confined attachment to the world. It is doubtless in the actual power of the
Almighty to secure Us a smooth and easy passage through this vale of life
and
guard us from all evil. But what His power might grant His wisdom sees fit to
withhold. In our future state
when we take a retrospective view of our lives
they will appear in a light very different from that in which we see them at
present. What we now consider as misfortunes and afflictions will appear to
have been mercies and blessings. We shall see that the intentions of the Deity
were benevolent when His inflictions seemed severe. Let us
then
meet every
dispensation of Providence with the most submissive resignation to the will of
that supremely gracious Sovereign of nature whose unerring wisdom can alone
determine what is good or evil for us
and whose unbounded goodness will direct
all things finally to the happiness of His creatures. (G. Gaff.)
Preparation for and improvement of our afflictions
The words of Eliphaz imply that the general state of man in this
world is a state of trouble and affliction. Yet those afflictions and troubles
do neither grow up by a certain regular and constant source of nature
nor are
they merely accidental and casual. They are sent
disposed
directed
and
managed by the conduct and guidance of the most wise providence of Almighty
God. If there were no other ends in God’s sharp providence than to keep men
humble and disciplinable
His ways would be highly justified.
I. What
preparation is fit to be made every man before afflictions come.
1. A sound conviction of the truth that no man can by any means
expect to be exempt from afflictions. Every man shares in common public
calamities. And every man has his own personal evils
such as befall the body
the estate
the name
or men’s friends and relations. No man is exempt from
these crosses at any time by any special privilege
and sometimes they have
fallen in together in their perfection
even upon some of the best men that we
read of. Even the most sincere piety and integrity of heart and life cannot
give any man any exemption or privilege from afflictions of some kind. This
consideration may silence that murmuring and unquiet and proud distemper that
often ariseth in the minds of good men; they are ready to think themselves
injured if they fall under the calamities incident to mankind. They sometimes
even take up the idea that they are hated or forsaken of God because sorely
afflicted.
2. Another preparative is to reason ourselves off from overmuch love
and valuation of the world. Philosophy hath made some short essay in this
business
but the doctrine of the Gospel has done more.
3. Another preparative is to keep piety
innocence
and a good
conscience before it comes. Have the soul as clear as may be from the guilt of
sin
by an innocent and watchful life in the time of our prosperity
and by a
sincere and hearty repentance for sin committed.
4. Next preparative is to gain a humble mind. When affliction meets
with a proud heart
full of opinion of its own worth and goodness
there
ariseth more trouble and tumult than can arise from the affliction itself. If
any man considers aright
he hath many important causes to keep his mind always
humble.
5. Another preparative is a steady resolved resignation of a man’s
self to the will and good pleasure of Almighty God. That will is sovereign
wise
and beneficent.
6. The last preparative is
labour to get thy peace with God through
Jesus Christ.
II. How afflictions
incumbent upon us are to be received
entertained
and improved.
1. A man under affliction should have a due consideration of God as a
God of infinite wisdom
justice
and mercy.
2. He should realise that afflictions do not rise out of the dust
but are sent and managed by the wise disposition of Almighty God.
3. That the best of men are visited by afflictions
and it is but
need they should.
4. That all the Divine dispensations are so far beneficial or hurtful
as they are received and used.
5. The consequences of all these considerations lead us into the
following duties: To receive affliction with all humility
with patience
and
subjection of mind; to return unto God
who afflicts; to pray unto God; to
depend and trust upon God; to be thankful; to put ourselves upon a due search
and examination of our hearts and ways.
III. The temper and
disposition of mind we should have upon and after deliverance from afflictions.
1. We ought solemnly to return our humble and hearty thanks to
Almighty God.
2. Endeavour to express the thankfulness by a sincere and faithful
obedience to the will of God.
3. Take good heed lest the heart be lifted up into presumption upon
God. And--
4. Be vigilant and watchful lest evil take you at unawares. Nothing
is more likely to procure affliction than security and unpreparedness of mind.
It is well also to keep deliverances out of affliction in memory. (M. Hale.)
Is affliction reasonable
This world really is what it seems to be--a passing stage
for the discipline and improvement of beings destined for another existence. It
is
however
one thing to theorise soberly and rationally upon the wondrous
plan of Providence
and another to apply the truth which is thus recognised
practically to ourselves. While we cannot help believing what appears to be
true
such belief may go but a very short way in determining us to do what
appears to be reasonable. Hence the variance between profession and practice
between principle and conduct
which appears in the world. And hence the necessity
for some more pressing and operative motives than those of mere abstract reason
and conviction
to compel such an attention to the truths of our Divine
religion as may make its efficacy savingly felt If the first and greatest of
the uses of adversity be to lead us to the knowledge of God
the second in
importance is to make us feel for our fellow men
and to call into exercise our
dormant charities. What manner of man is he who can behold unmoved the piteous
spectacle of human misery which everyday life exhibits? Truly
not such an one
as either approves himself to his God or recommends himself to his fellow men.
God’s dealings with us have their chiefest reference to the purification of our
hearts and minds
and the development of our faculties and affections. As far
as these ends are produced
the purposes of His providence are answered. But
His object vindicates His goodness
His means approve His wisdom. Important as
is the duty of relieving the distressed
it is subordinate to the still more
important one of purifying our own hearts and minds
and renewing a right
spirit within us. Indeed
it is only as the former is subservient to the latter
of these duties that it can be religiously commended. Have we
then
any bowels
of compassion toward our fellow men
or any sentiment of gratitude towards God
if we withhold that liberal exercise of charity which He has thus graciously
promised to consider as done unto Himself by imputation? The means with which
you have been blessed by Providence have not been conferred upon you chiefly or
primarily for your own sakes. (S. O’Sullivan
A. M.)
The shortness and vanity of human life
I. A pathetical
description of the shortness
etc.
of human life. Afflictions and calamities
of innumerable kinds seem necessarily and constantly to attend the life of man.
II. A declaration
that these miseries and troubles do not arise from chance or necessity. They
come from the wise providence of God governing the world. This
indeed
is the
only true and solid comfort that can possibly be afforded to a rational and
considerate mind.
III. It is implied
that there are many just and good and useful ends upon account of which God
permits so many afflictions.
1. Some of those things which we usually esteem among the troubles
and afflictions of life are such as may justly
and must necessarily
be
resolved into the absolute sovereignty and dominion of God. Of this kind are
mortality in general
and the shortness of human life; the unequal distribution
of riches and honour and the good things of this present life; the different
capacities and abilities of mind; the different tempers and constitutions of
body; the different states and conditions wherein God has originally placed man
in the world. Of these things there can
there needs
be no other account given
than the absolute sovereignty and dominion of God. Hath not the Master a right
to employ His servants in what several stations He pleases
more or less
honourable
provided
in His final distribution
He deals equitably with each
of them in their several and respective degrees?
2. A greater part of the troubles of life
and the afflictions we are
apt to complain of
are not the immediate and original appointment of God at
all
but the mere natural effects and consequences of our own sin. Most sins
even in the natural consequences of things
are
at some time or other
attended with their proper punishment. This consideration ought to make us
acquiesce
with all humility and patience
under that burden which not God
but
our own hands have laid upon us. But even the afflictions which are the
consequences of our own folly may
by a wise improvement
by bearing them as
becomes us
and by exercising ourselves to wisdom under them
become the matter
of an excellent virtue
and may turn into the occasion of much religious
advantage.
3. Some of the greatest afflictions and calamities of life are the
effects of God’s public judgments upon the world for the wickedness and impiety
of others. These are sufficient grounds of contentment and acquiescence
of
willing submission and resignation to the Divine will. The ends God intends in
afflictions are four--
1. To teach us humility and a just sense of our own unworthiness.
2. To lead us to repentance for our past errors.
3. To wean us from an over-fond love of the present world.
4. To try
improve
and perfect our virtues
and make some particular
persons eminent examples of faith and patience to the world.
Two inferences.
Trouble a part of human life
A life without trouble would be very uninteresting. Our opportunities
for greatness would be narrowed down if trials were gone. I watched a glorious
sunset
marvelling at the beauty wherewith the evening skies were all ablaze
and adoring Him who gave them their matchless colouring. On the next evening I
resorted to the same spot
hoping to be again enraptured with the gorgeous pomp
of ending day
but there were no clouds
and therefore no glories. True
the
canopy of sapphire was there
but no magnificent array of clouds to form golden
masses with edges of burning crimson
or islands of loveliest hue set in a sea
of emerald; there were no great conflagrations of splendour or flaming peaks of
mountains of fire. The sun was as bright as before
but for lack of dark clouds
on which to pour out his lustre his magnificence was unrevealed. A man who
should live and die without trials would be like a setting sun without clouds;
he would have scant opportunity for the display of those virtues with which the
grace of God had endowed him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 8-9
I would seek unto God.
Marvels and prayer
Nothing could be better than the counsel proffered in the text
nothing more certain than the grounds on which he rests his counsel. To seek
unto God
and spread out one’s cause before Him
that must be the best thing to
do in any emergency. Does not the wonderful actually take place often in human
life? Is it only in the great world that marvels occur
unexpected and great
elevations
turnings
unfoldings
light
and help? Is it not mere blindness
that refuses to see the marvellous in our own sphere
and seeks it far away in
old times
or on foreign shores? If we believe that God encompasses and
pervades all human life
shall we not see God’s hand in all these things
and
learn to look to Him with expectation
what
ever our circumstances may be?
I. Why
then
do
we not expect marvellous things from God?
1. One reason is that we go too much by past experience. We have
difficulty in rising above the familiar.
2. Some think too much of law. The idea of law pervading all things
not only facts and phenomena of nature
but thought and feeling
soul and
heart
has wrought itself deep into many minds. There seems no room for the
strange
the marvellous. Men forget two things
freedom and God. A spirit is
something not included in the rigid system of law. A spirit is itself a cause
and originates. It produces. That lies in the very nature of a moral being; and
God is infinitely free
and deals with the soul in ways unsearchable.
3. Men think only of their own working
and not of God’s.
Consequently they settle down into small expectations.
4. We fear to lessen our own diligence by the expectation of great
and marvellous things being done for us.
II. Some reasons
why we should cherish the expectation of the great and marvellous. Such an
expectation is essential to the praying spirit. Prayer expects great things.
Could it not breathe courage and joy into us in our own individual sphere
if
we could live habitually in the belief that God may do astonishing things for
us--raising us out of difficulties
opening a way for us where none appears?
(J. Leckie
D. D.)
Refer all to God
Zachary Macaulay and Wilberforce
the friends of slaves
lived
near to each other and were great friends. The latter had such a high opinion
of the learning of the former that when he wanted information about any matter
he would cry jokingly
“Come
let us look it out in Macaulay.” To compare small
things with great
this is just what we ought to do when in a moral difficulty.
“Come
” we should say
“let us look it out in Christ: what would He wish us to
say or do in this matter?” It is chiefly because the Bible tells us the mind of
God as revealed in Jesus Christ that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light
unto our path. (Quiver.)
Which doeth great things
and unsearchable.
The great God as viewed by an enlightened natural religionist
He regarded Him as--
I. A trustworthy
God. Four things demonstrate the trustworthiness of the Almighty.
1. His love. We could not trust an unloving God. Before we commit our
cause
our interest
our all to any being
we must be assured of his love to
us.
2. His truthfulness. Truthfulness lies at the foundation of
trustworthiness. It is
alas
too true that we trust the false
but we trust
them believing that they are true. God is true in Himself. He is truth. He is
the One Great Reality in the universe. God is true in His revelations. It is
“impossible for Him to lie.”
3. His capacity. Capability of realising what we expect and need in
the object in which we confide is essential to trustworthiness.
4. His constancy. Constancy is essential to trustworthiness.
II. That he
regarded Him as a wonder working God. His God was not merely a trustworthy
but
an active God.
1. Eliphaz refers to His works in general
“which doeth great things
and unsearchable; marvellous things without number
” or as the margin has it
“till there be no number”--passing beyond the bounds of arithmetical
calculation. To all His numerous works he applies the epithets “great
”
“unsearchable
” “marvellous.” His works in the material universe are wonderful.
Go through all the scientific cyclopaedias in the libraries of the world
and
you will only have a few specimens of His marvellous achievements. Take the
microscope
and you may
like Leeuwenhoek
discover a thousand million
animalculae
whose united bulk will not exceed the size of a grain of sand
and
all having distinct
formations
with all the array of functions essential to
life. Take the telescope: and survey “the milky way
” and you will find the
central suns of a million systems all larger than the solar economy to which
our little planet belongs. His works in the spiritual world are even more
wonderful.
2. Eliphaz refers to His works in particular.
God a great worker
The works of God answer the style or attributes of God. He
is a great God
and His are great works. The works of God speak a God. And here
are four things spoken in this one verse
of the works of God
which speak aloud:
this is the finger of God. I will first bundle them together
and then both
take and weigh them asunder.
1. Great things
2. Unsearchable.
3. Wonderful.
4. Innumerable; or without number.
No works of man or angel are capable of such a fourfold stamp as
this; no
nor any one work of all the creatures put together. Man may fathom
the works of man
his closest ways are not past finding out. More directly.
First
He doth great things. There is a greatness upon everything God doth: the
great God leaves
as it were
the print of His own greatness even upon those
things which we account little: little works of Nature have a greatness in them
considered as done by God; and little works of Providence have a greatness in
them
considered as done by God: if the thing which God doth be not great in
itself
yet it is great because He doth it. Again
when it is said God doth
great things we must not understand it as if God dealt not about little things
or as if He let the small matters of the world pass
and did not meddle with
them: great in this place is not exclusive of little
for
He doth not only
great
but small
even the smallest things. The heathens said their Jupiter had
no leisure to be present at the doing of small things
or it did not become him
to attend them. God attendeth the doing of small things
and it is His honour
to do so. You will say
What is this greatness
and what are these great
things? I shall hint an answer to both
for the clearing of the words. There is
a two-fold greatness upon the works of God. There is (so we may
distinguish)--First
the greatness of quantity. Secondly
the greatness of
quality or virtue. And as these works of creation
so the works of providence
are great works: when God destroys great enemies
the greatness of His work is
proclaimed. So
great works of mercy and deliverance to His people are cried up
with admiration
and hath given us such a deliverance as this
saith Ezra 9:13. The spiritual works of God are
yet far greater; the work of redemption is called a great salvation. It is the
property of God to do great things: and because it is His property He can as
easily do great things as small things. And if it be the property of God to do
great things
then it is a duty in us to expect great things.
1. He that doth great works ought to have great praises.
2. Seeing God doth great works for us
let us show great zeal (J.
Caryl.)great love unto the Lord.
Unsearchable.--
The works of God unsearchable
And these works are unsearchable
two ways. First
in regard of
the manner of doing: we cannot find out the ways and contrivances of God’s
work. His ways are in the deep
and His footsteps are not known. Secondly
His
works are unsearchable in their causes or ends; what it is which God aims at or
intends
what moves or provokes Him to such a course is usually a secret. He
doth such things us no man can give an account of
or render a reason why. If
the works of God are unsearchable
then
we are to submit unto the
dispensations of God
whatsoever they are; though we are not able
according to
reason
to give an account of them. (J. Caryl.)
Verse 11
That those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
The exaltation and safety of the penitent
I. Of the
character which God approves. That of the lowly and contrite.
1. He is not adverting to those who are low and depressed in outward
circumstances. Divine lowliness is the effect of grace.
2. There can be no true humiliation for sin which does not express
itself in godly sorrow.
II. How he
expresses that approbation. “He resisteth the proud; He giveth grace to the
humble.” God expresses His approbation of His saints
not only by their
elevation to exalted privileges and honours
but by their security. (Stephen
Bridge
M. A.)
Verse 12
He disappointeth the devices of the crafty.
The disappointment of the crafty
The word “crafty” may mean “prudent
” but usually it denotes such
as are wickedly “cunning.” The meaning of the text is
that with how much art
and subtilty soever wicked men may lay their plots and ill designs
there is a
God who both can and frequently doth disappoint and baffle them
make them
vain
and of none effect.
I. When may we
suppose the disappointments of crafty men’s devices to be from God? That is
as
the extraordinary effects of His particular and special providence. Reference
need not be made to such as are miraculous.
1. When a disappointment shall be brought about in a way evidently
strange
surprising
and unusual.
2. The hand of God is in those disappointments which involve men
either in those very mischiefs which they had prepared for others
or at least
in others
for their grievousness and soreness
not unlike them.
3. When the devices of wicked men shall luckily meet with a
disappointment
just at that very time
when they are ripe and ready for
execution.
4. When good men
at the very time of their praying for their enemy’s
disappointment
shall obtain their desire.
5. When a great number of unexpected accidents shall
as it were
conspire to begin
carry on
and at last consummate any notable disappointment.
II. How eminently God’s
hand appeared in the deliverances of this nation. Which we this day
Nov. 5
commemorate.
III. Practical
inferences. God’s deliverances should--
1. Discourage the crafty from forming any more schemes.
2. Encourage us
in all our straits and difficulties
to place our
hope and confidence in God.
3. To make our earnest prayers to God for help in our time of need.
4. Since God has done such wonderful things for us
we must be sure
not to forget to glorify Him. (Sir Wm. Dawes
Bart.
D. D.)
The designing projects of ambitious men defeated
1. It hath been a matter of fatal experience that there always were
in all ages of the world
devices of wicked men
and designs of mischief; and
it is consistent with the wisdom and goodness of God to suffer designing men to
carry on their ambitious projects with a probable show of success.
2. These devices have been
by the good providence of God
miraculously defeated. They have been vain
not only in respect of others
against whom they were levelled
but also mischievous to those that contrived
them.
3. The natural result of these particulars is to praise God
and we
being delivered
ought to glorify Him. (Tho. Whincop
D. D.)
Verse 13
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1.
The wisdom of natural men is nothing but craft or wit to do wickedly.
2. Satan makes use of subtle
crafty men
and abuseth their parts for
his own purposes.
3. The crafty are full of hopes that their devices will succeed; and
full of trouble
because they succeed not.
4. What such plot and devise
they labour to act and effect.
5. Crafty men may devise strongly
but they have not strength
sufficient to accomplish their devices.
6. It is a great and wonderful work of God
to disappoint the devices
and stop the enterprises of crafty men. (J. Caryl.)
Verse 16
So the poor hath hope.
The expediency of preventive wisdom
By God’s different treatment of men
according to their different
characters
the afflicted receive comfort
and the unrighteous are silenced and
restrained. “So the poor hath hope
and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.” The words
recommend--
I. A careful
imitation of the divine goodness
by showing a compassionate regard to those
who are really destitute and afflicted. The amiable perfection of the great
Original
the excellence and beauty of unlimited goodness
if duly regarded
must prove a sufficient persuasive to study this resemblance; the rational and
delightful resemblance of that Divine bounty which is good to all
and whose
tender mercies are over all His works. An example so perfect may justly warm
our hearts to attempt the nearest imitation which human frailty can accomplish;
to be merciful as our Father
our Creator
Preserver
Redeemer
our kindest
Friend
our constant Benefactor.
II. The restraint
and correction of the disorderly and the wicked. “And iniquity stoppeth her
mouth.” How affecting it is to consider that so many thousand wretched
creatures are now actually employed in multiplying distempers
now swallowing
those deadly potions
that
by slower degrees indeed
but with the certainty of
a bullet
must soon fatally end their days. How infectious
how shameless is
this horrible vice! These things ought not so to be. What then is to be done to
stop
to remedy this growing evil? Inattention cannot do it. Despair cannot do
it. Public communities and private persons
everyone in his respective station
must exert his zealous
honest endeavours in this important cause; the cause of
religion and humanity
the cause of our country
and the cause of God. Once
resolve upon the good work--and resolve to pursue it--with God’s blessing
it
is half accomplished. (Lord Bishop of Worcester
1750.)
Verse 17-18
Behold
happy is the man whom God correcteth.
Happiness
“Behold
happy is the man whom God correcteth.” There are
comparatively few happy ones on this world of ours. What is happiness? The word
is derived from “hap.” It may signify a happening of any kind
good or bad.
Luck and hap stand to each other in the relation of cause and effect. Now “hap”
means joyous haps alone. Happiness practically means the preparation for all
haps
of whatever sort they may be. The happy man is he of deep and earnest
thought
who
with judicial calmness
can weigh all events
and estimate their
value for himself: the man who can honestly probe his own purposes in life
and
fairly test their moral worth. He can force every hap or event of life to leave
him a higher man than it found him. The man who is prepared to meet and master
all crosses is the only man who can say
“All things work together for my good.”
All are within the control of a power that can compel them to do his will; all
are within the compass of a goodness that will compel them to be my correctors.
All haps of life are his. It may be urged that other than Christian men can
possess this power; that anyone may
by mastering the laws of human nature and
of society
by strengthening the power of will
and adhering to the determined
purpose
achieve this mighty sovereignty. But it may be said that all this
energy of purpose is God’s work
though it be not known as Christian work.
Every good thing is from above. And surely right effort
for a right purpose
is a good thing. Happiness and pleasure are frequently used as though they were
synonymous terms
when in truth they are nothing of the kind. All men of
pleasure are not necessarily happy men. The Christian is a man of pleasure
he
lives to please
not himself however
but God. Happiness and pleasure are
synonymous in the Christian life
and in that alone. (J. M’Cann
D.
D.)
God’s merciful chastening of His children
I. The lord
corrects His people. By “correct” understand “rebuke.” It is a rebuke that He
sendeth
and that to detect our sins. Forget not that those whom He corrects
are His children. If you ask why He chastens them
it is because they are but
children. Do not imagine that because God thus dealeth with His children
He
does not deal with them in apparent severity. Look at the instance of Job. But
though there may be an appearance of severity
it is always in tenderness. It
is but “in measure.” Remember this
whatever God may take away from His child
He never takes away Himself.
II. An exhortation.
“Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.” By the term “Almighty” we
are to understand “God all-sufficient.” All-sufficient in everything
power
tenderness
sympathy
all we want. The word “despise” is used in the sense of
loathing
a feeling of disgust at the chastening of the Almighty. God makes the
ingredients of the cup sometimes very bitter. We may despise the chastening by
forgetting whose chastening it is. We despise it when we slight it.
III. The
consolation. The same God that gives the wound
can alone bind it up. This
truth we should be learning every day. (J. H. Evans.)
Happy under Divine corrections
1. That afflictions to the children of God at sorest are but
corrections. Blessed is the man whom God corrects. You will say
But what is a
correction? And how differenced from judgments and punishments
and wherein do
they agree? They agree
first
in the efficient cause. God lays His hand on man
in both. Secondly
they agree in the matter; the same evil
the same trouble to
one man is a correction
to another a judgment. Thirdly
they may agree also in
the degree; a trouble or an affliction may fall and lie as heavy
and be as
painful to sense upon a child of God
as upon the vilest wretch in the world;
he may be as poor
as friendless
as sick as any wicked man. What
then
is
this correction? And where will the correction and the judgment part? I
conceive that the infirmities of the saints
and the Sins of the wicked differ
as judgments and corrections differ. Then
where do they part? Surely
where
corrections and judgments part. Especially in two things.
2. A child of God is in a happy condition under all corrections.
Corrections are not sent to take away his comforts
but to take away his
corruptions. Again
corrections are not manifestations of wrath
but an
evidence of His love (Revelation 3:21). And if any doubt
can a
man be happy when his outward comfort is gone? Doubtless he may: for a man is
never unhappy
but when he hath lost that wherein happiness doth consist. The
happiness of a godly man doth not consist in his outward comforts
in riches
in
health
in honour
in civil liberty
or human relations; therefore in the loss
of these he cannot be unhappy. His happiness consists in his relation to and
acceptance with God
in his title to and union with Jesus Christ. He hath not
lost anything discernible out of his estate. Suppose a man were worth a million
of money
and he should lose a penny
would you think this man an undone man
No: his estate feels not this loss
and therefore he hath not lost his estate.
3. A godly man cannot be unhappy while he enjoys God. And he usually
enjoys God most
when he is most afflicted. (J. Caryl.)
Afflictions sanctified
All affliction is not for correction. Note some of the benefits
remarked upon by Eliphaz.
1. Restoration. “He maketh sore
and bindeth up
” etc. When brought
to repentance
by God’s correction
the sinner is tenderly nursed back to
health.
2. Assurance of God’s unwearied kindness. God does not grow tired of
the work of rescue. His loving kindness is signally displayed in His
deliverance of the trusting soul from the greatest and most tremendous
calamities. The best earthly friend has limitations to his power to help.
3. A relation of amity between the soul and the powers that have
injured it. The transgressor of God’s laws is chastised
but the man who puts
himself in harmony with God’s will
and yields submission to His laws
finds
all nature tributary to his welfare.
4. Deliverance from anxiety over small and common ills of life. Such
are hard to bear. As the heart is
so is the man. Tranquillity of heart comes
in answer to prayer
or as a fruit of the Spirit
which God gives to comfort
and strengthen His afflicted ones. Faulty as human nature is and needing
correction
the chastisement which God administers to accomplish it is
indispensable to the highest type of character. (Albert H. Currier.)
Afflictions sanctified
This passage is true
but it is not the whole truth concerning
suffering. Eliphaz takes the position of one who has special insight into
Divine truth.
I. He touches upon
the facts in the matter.
1. The chief fact before him is that suffering is real. The reality
of it is the very substructure of his thought. It is not well for us to brood
over sorrows. But it is not well for us to deal with them by shutting our eyes
to them. A large part of the Scripture is occupied with the trials of life.
Pain is here a colossal
awful fact.
2. Another fact patent to Eliphaz was that suffering comes from God.
It is “the chastening of the Almighty.” God is not responsible for everything
which He permits. He is not responsible for sin. Nor is He responsible for
suffering as a whole
which has come into the world as the result of sin. But
He is responsible for the method of the application of individual sufferings
now that suffering is here. The saint can look up out of his sorrows and say
“God means something by this for me.” From God’s point of view no suffering is
intended to be wasted.
II. Eliphaz
proceeds to show the purpose of suffering.
1. Its purpose is to lead one to self-inspection
confession of sin
and repentance.
2. But the true intention of it
of course
lies back of the thing
itself. Suffering is not for suffering’s sake. There is always in God’s thought
a sequence to come.
III. The result of
God’s corrective afflictions is shown.
1. Eliphaz shows it to be an advance for the soul
which is led by
them to penitence.
2. He shows that outward prosperity comes to those who accept God’s
correction and turn from their sins. In his words we find an idealisation of
the prosperity of the righteous. There may be a literal reference to the
present life. It may refer to the blessedness in the future life of the saint
who patiently accepts God’s correction here. Righteousness as a rule pays
and
wickedness as a rule does not pay. The conclusion of the whole matter is set
forth in the words
“Behold
happy is the man whom God correcteth.” (D. J.
Burrell
D. D.)
Divine chastisement conducive to happiness
Happy is the man whom God correcteth. How multiform and unexpected
are the incidents of human life!
I. When does the
chastisement of the Almighty conduce to our happiness? l. When it induces
thoughtfulness. It is surprising how little we think
i.e.
think
seriously and well. Of eternal things we hardly think at all. The correction of
the Almighty leads us to say
Wherefore hath the Lord done this? Hence
thoughtfulness deepens and increases.
2. When it reminds us of our frailty. The consideration of our latter
end avails much to moderate our attachment to a world the fashion of which
passeth away
and from which we ourselves are hastening.
3. When it induces more earnest prayer. It is no easy matter to keep
alive the power of religion in the soul. Nothing but habitual watchfulness and
prayer will do it. To this we are naturally averse
and this natural aversion
doth remain even in them that are regenerate. There are few who do not know how
cold and formal
how negligent and careless we can become in prayer. Happy is
it when our trouble leads us to greater and more importunate earnestness in
prayer.
4. When it raises our minds above sublunary things. The soul
chastened and corrected here
will affect the rest which remains for her
hereafter.
5. When it endears to us the Lord Jesus Christ. When our sin is
discovered to us
how all-desirable does Jesus Christ become. Never do we so
fully appreciate this gift as when we are racked with pain
worn with disease
and when
standing on the verge of time
we are about
expectantly
to launch
away into the eternal world.
II. Why
therefore
should chastisement not be despised?
1. Because it is the correction of a tender Father. A loving father
does not willingly afflict his child. Amidst our severest sufferings God is our
Father still.
2. Because God is almighty to save and to deliver. A father may make
as though he heard not the cry of a corrected child: nevertheless
the cry of a
broken and contrite heart will move and interest him.
3. Because God designs our spiritual good thereby. The Lord woundeth
and maketh us sore
purposely for the fuller and more glorious manifestation of
His own power and goodness
first in the humiliation
and then in the salvation
of our souls. He empties us of self-love and carnal complacency
to fill us
with His grace and Spirit. He tries our faith to prove its preciousness. Shall
we then dread the fire that refines?
4. Because Christ went before us to glory through sufferings. Nothing
should be undervalued that tends to make us like Jesus Christ.
5. Because it tends to meeten us instrumentally for heaven. There
must be a preparedness of mind for its society
its converse
its employments.
This is nowhere so readily acquired as in the school of affliction. (W.
Mudge.)
The afflictions of the good
The view of Eliphaz seems to be--
I. That
affliction
through whatever channel it may come
is to a good man a beneficent
dispensation. “Behold
happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise
not thou the chastening of the Almighty
” etc. He regards affliction
in these
verses
as coming from a variety of sources. He speaks of “famine
” of “war
”
of “the scourge of the tongue” (slander)
and points even to the ravages of
wild beasts
and the stones of the field. Truly
human suffering does spring up
from a great variety of sources
it starts from many fountains
and flows
through many channels. There are elements both within him and without that
bring on man unnumbered pains and sorrows. But his position is that all this
affliction
to a good man
is beneficent. Why happy?
1. God corrects the good man by affliction. “Whom God correcteth.”
2. God redeems the good man from affliction. “For He maketh sore
and
bindeth up; He woundeth
and His hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six
troubles; yea
in seven there shall no evil touch thee.” The affliction is only
temporary: the Almighty in His time removes it. He that maketh sore binds up
He that woundeth maketh whole.
3. God guards the good man in affliction. “Thou shalt be hid from the
scourge of the tongue; neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it
cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh; neither shalt thou be
afraid of the beasts of the earth.” The Eternal is with His people in the
furnace: He is a wall of fire round about them
He hides them in His pavilion.
“My God hath sent His angel to shut the lions’ mouths
that they have not hurt
me.”
4. God blesses the good man in affliction. These blessings are
indicated--
5. God perfects the good man by affliction. It will ripen the
character and prepare for a happy world
Three ideas--
II. That this
affliction
as a beneficent dispensation to a good man
should be duly prized
and pondered by him. Reverence the chastening of the Almighty. Do not murmur;
do not complain. It would be well if the afflicted saint would ever ponder the
origin
the design
the necessity and tendency of his sufferings.
Conclusion--This first address of Eliphaz--
1. Serves to correct popular mistakes. It is popularly supposed that
the farther back we go in the history of the world
the more benighted are men:
that broad and philosophic views of God and His universe are the birth of these
last times. But here is a man
this old Temanite
who lived in a lonely desert
upwards of 3000 years ago
whose views
in their loftiness
breadth
and
accuracy
shall bear comparison
not only with the wisest sages of Greece and Rome
but with the chief savants of these enlightened times. This old Temanite was
outside the supposed inspired circle
and yet his ideas seem
for the most
part
so thoroughly in accord with the utterances of the acknowledged inspired
men
that they are even quoted by them.
2. Suggests a probable theological misunderstanding. Most biblical
expositors and theological writers regard Eliphaz as considering Job a great
sinner
because he was a great sufferer. How can this be reconciled with the
fact that Eliphaz starts the paragraph with
“Behold
happy is the man whom God
correcteth”? In the whole of the paragraph
in fact
he shows that it was a
good thing for a good man to be afflicted. Does he contradict himself? It may
be so
for he was human
and therefore errable; but my impression is
that
Eliphaz drew his conclusion that Job was a great sinner
not merely
if at all
from his great sufferings
but from the murmuring spirit which he displayed
under them
as recorded in the third chapter. (Homilist.)
Chastening not to be despised
1. There is
or possibly may be an averseness in the best of God’s
children for a time
from the due entertainment of chastenings. Every
affliction is a messenger from God
it hath somewhat to say to us from heaven;
and God will not bear it
if His messengers be despised
how mean soever. If
you send a child with a message to a friend
and he slight and despise him
you
will take it ill.
2. The lightest chastenings come from a hand that is able to destroy.
When the stroke is little
yet a great God strikes. Although God give thee but
a touch
a stripe which scarce grazes the skin: yet He is able to wound thee to
the heart. Know
it is not because He wants power to strike harder
but because
He will not
because He is pleased to moderate His power; thou hast but such a
chastening
as a child of a year old may well bear; but at that time
know
thou art chastened with a hand able to pull down the whole world; the hand of
Shaddai
the Almighty gives that little blow. Men seldom strike their brethren
less than their power; they would often strike them more
their will is
stronger than their arm. But the Lord’s arm is stronger (in this sense) than
His will. He doth but chasten
who could destroy. (J. Caryl.)
Benefits of afflictions
Volcanic dust makes rich soil. Splendid flowers are being grown in
the matter from La Soufriere that was once molten and terrifying. After the
eruption of 1812 the quantity of vegetables produced on an estate near Kingston
was unprecedented. So afflictions and hardships fertilise the soul and make it
more prolific in patience
sympathy
faith
and joy.
Verse 21
Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue.
The scourge of the tongue
I. The scourge.
“The scourge of the tongue.”
1. There is the lying tongue. It perverts facts. It turns the lame
out of the way and misleads the blind.
2. There is the cursing tongue.
3. There is the obscene tongue.
4. There is the scolding tongue. What martyrs have some members of a
family become! A scolding tongue withers and blights everything it comes
across
just like the lightning withers and blasts the tree it strikes. It is
as a goad to an ox
the mosquito to the traveller
the thorn eating into the
gangrened flesh.
II. The
deliverance. “Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue.” It is one of
the peculiarities of God’s promises that He does not undertake to remove evils.
We shall be hid--
1. By the direct influence of Divine power. God will restrain the
evil speaker and the rage of the ungodly.
2. By the sanctifying influence of Divine grace. There axe some
creatures who when water is poured on them repel the same by the nature of
their skin or feathers. So the heart which is prepared by grace
casts aside
and rejects the evil word
or the cruel insinuation
or the boisterous abuse;
these things have no power over it.
3. By the resignation of a chastened spirit. The chastened spirit of
the Christian disarms the shafts of the evil tongue
and
bending before the
furious blast
is spared the poignant stings of malice.
4. By the prospect of future freedom. The nauseous taste of medicine
is little heeded when the anticipated end is considered
which is restored
health and renewed strength. So in the view of future glory and entire
sanctification
the present bitterness will be little regarded. (J. J. S.
Bird.)
The scourge of the tongue
Some folks lay themselves out to be as unpleasant as they can and
say disagreeable things. They are the wasps of human intercourse. The candid
friends whom Canning so abhorred
the people who “speak their mind
” but have a
mind that were far better not spoken. (H. O. Mackey.)
Verse 24
Thy tabernacle shall be in peace.
Returning from a journey
These words may be considered as a promise made to a good man
with regard to his absence from home. When he goes a journey at the call of
providence
he may leave all his concerns with the Lord whom he serves
for He
will guide his steps
and suffer no evil to befall him nor any plague to come
nigh his dwelling. The person to whom this promise is made is supposed to have
a house. It is called a “tabernacle
or tent.” It would be well for us to view
our abode
however pleasing and durable it may appear
as only a temporary
residence--a shelter of accommodation for a traveller. David calls his palace
the “tabernacle of his house.” Home has a thousand attractions. But dear as it
is
we must sometimes leave it. Sometimes journeys are necessary. When God
calls us abroad
He will take care of us
and we may hope to find the proverb
true
The path of duty is the path of safety. Hence he is reminded of the
welfare of his house and family in his absence. Thou shalt know that thy
tabernacle is in peace. Peace means prosperity. Peace is harmony. There can be
no happiness in a family
among the members of which are found reserve
suspicions
bickerings
contentions. Peace is preservation. To how many
disasters is a family exposed if God withdraws His protection. Nor shall the
tabernacle only be preserved
but the owner too. We always travel in jeopardy.
Are no suitable returns to be made to the God of our salvation? A man would sin
if his gratitude were not lively and practical. He would sin
did he not
confide in God for the future more simply and firmly. Learn
domestic piety
crowns domestic peace. (William Jay.)
Verse 26
Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age.
The death of the Christian
I. Death is
inevitable. “Thou shalt come.” This remark is very trite
simple
and common.
But while this is a truth so well known
there is none so much forgotten.
II. Death to the
christian is always acceptable. “Thou shalt come to thy grave”; intimating a
willingness
and a cheerfulness to die. Thou shalt not be dragged or hurried. A
Christian has nothing to lose by death.
III. The Christian’s
death is always timely. “In full age.” But good people do not live longer than
others. The most pious man may die in the prime of youth. The text does not say
“old age
” but “full age.” A “full age” is whenever God likes to take His
people home. There are two mercies to a Christian. He will never die too soon.
And he never dies too late.
IV. The christian
will die with honour. “Like a shock of corn.” I believe we ought to pay great
respect to saints’ bodies. “The memory of the just
is blessed.” (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
The good man’s grave
If this passage be taken in its restricted application to the mere
animal existence of man on earth
the promise it contains will be found to be
fulfilled in only a few comparatively of the people of God. But in the ease of
such
life means something more than mere duration
or the mere succession of
outward events. A good man’s life consists chiefly in the extent to which he
realises the fruits of his godliness
and the fulness of his age is reached in
the maturity of those graces which are implanted within him by the Spirit of
God. In this light the passage may be regarded as verified in the case of every
really pious man
whatever be the term of his continuance here on earth. The
passage suggests the following thoughts--The spiritual life in man is always
progressive. Where real spiritual vitality exists
maturity is always reached
before the individual is removed by death. The whole process is under the
watchful eye of the Great Proprietor of all. And we are reminded of the true
nature and real purposes of death to the child of God. It is simply the agency
by which he is transferred from a scene where his longer continuance would be
injurious
to a higher and nobler sphere. The question naturally arises
In
what relation the two terms of existence
which lie on either side of the point
of transit
stand to each other? Had the question been asked in the case of an
unfallen being
there would be no difficulty in answering it. The difficulty
concerns fallen but redeemed man. For them the grave is robbed of its terrors.
Around it gather associations
not of defeat but of victory; not of humiliation
but of honour. Through its portals the weary pilgrim passes to his home.
Paganism
conscious only of the presence of decay
kindled for the dead the
funeral pyre; but Christianity
expectant of the resurrection
lays their
bodies reverently in the dust
and inscribes upon their sepulchre
In Christ he
sleeps in peace
” (W. Lindsay Alexander
D. D.)
A pious old age
I. In what does
this ripeness or fitness for heaven consist? There must be in such a character
sincerity. I mean there must be integrity in their first transactions with God.
A shock of corn fully ripe reminds us of steadfastness. To be spiritually
minded is also implied in a Christian’s ripeness or fitness for glory.
II. In what
respects is such a good old age desirable? There is nothing desirable in old
age itself.
1. It is a proof of sincerity.
2. It gives opportunity for considerable growth in grace.
3. It recommends religion to others.
4. It tends to an extraordinary fitness for heaven.
Such are some of the advantages of a religious old age. And this
is a subject in which all are deeply concerned. Improve the present season
for
“what a man soweth
that shall he also reap.” (S. Lavington.)
Ripe for the harvest
The life of man
morally and spiritually considered
must not be
measured by length of days
but rather by the degree to which the end of
existence has been attained. Consider this interesting promise.
1. The emblem under which it is conveyed suggests to us the care and
affection with which the great Head of the Church regards the progress and the
end of His servants.
2. The comparison of the text implies that progress belongs to the
very nature of religion
and therefore is its invariable and indispensable law.
3. There is a state of grace attainable on earth which may be fitly
described as a state of maturity. Consider in what that maturity consists.
4. It should reconcile us to such losses to reflect that a state of
maturity necessitates the reaping. (Daniel Katterns.)
Preparation for death
I. A consideration
of the change to take place in the dissolution of the body. Through man’s
transgression death entered the world--“so death passed upon all men.” Our
first parent came from the hands of God
created after His likeness
impressed
with immortality.
II. A consideration
of the period of death’s arrival. How few die in old age! It is “full age” with
us when we are prepared to depart--when the work is done we have to do.
III. The manner of
death’s arrival. The last enemy wears a thousand forms.
IV. Some
reflections. Christians do not repine at God’s decree. The Christian is taught
to believe that whilst the spirit is in God’s keeping
the body also is not
undeserving His cognisance. (George Anthony Moore.)
The parable of harvest
This text literally reads
“Like as a shock of wheat that
is lifted up.” It is a perfect vision of the closing days of harvest. It is the
consummation of the year; the last triumphant act in a long drama of skill and
patience.
1. The first parable of harvest is
that harvest is God’s memorial
and the parable of His love. His promise is that while the bow is in the
heaven
springtime and harvest shall not fail. God sets the bow for a sign
a
bright watcher or minister
to declare His goodwill to us. How miraculous a
thing is the wheat harvest of the world! The wheat harvest in the East is the
one supreme event of the year. This is the first and chief lesson of the
harvest; we are God’s pensioners
and He spreads the table in the wilderness.
2. The order of the world is use first
and beauty second. There are
many things more beautiful than corn. True
it has a certain humble grace of
its own
but it is the democratic grace of the worker
not the aristocratic
grace of the idler. You could live in a world without roses
but not in a world
without corn; you like to have perfume
but you must have bread.
3. The harvest is the parable of life itself. How little spoils both.
How irrevocable the tendencies of each! A slight error spoils the year’s
husbandry
as slight errors often spoil a whole life. See in corn an
illustration of the solidarity of life itself. The corn travels the wide world
over. It has no local limit
it is cosmopolitan. It has no personal life; its
life is for the race. In these respects the parable of life is revealed. We
live in infinite relations
beyond our relation to the soil we thrive in
and
the age we are said to live in. We sow ourselves as corn is sowed
and others
reap; even as we before reaped what others sowed.
4. The harvest is the parable of death. What is death? We know that
decomposition is recomposition. Nothing perishes
for there is no waste in
nature. Here we have the revelation of the true purpose of life--which is use;
and of the true triumph of life--which is to be sacrificed
as the corn must be
plucked and ground before it can become bread. (G. W. Dawson.)
How to grow old gracefully
Or how to grow old so that age
as it advances
may be an honour
and comfort to us
and terminate in peace and happiness.
1. Bear in mind that we must grow old. This is the law of our being
fixed and certain as the law of mortality.
2. If we would grow old gracefully
we must possess true piety; faith
in Christ as our Saviour
and hope in God as our everlasting portion.
3. We must cultivate a love of nature.
4. We must continue to take an interest in the young
and in whatever
is moving around us
affecting the welfare of society and the cause of Christ.
5. There are some peculiar faults and sins--incident to age--against
which we must be guarded
if we would grow old gracefully. Such as peevishness.
“There are two things which a man ought not to fret about
--what he can help
and what he cannot.” Avarice or covetousness. Jealousy of whatever is new
and
a proneness to think that things are growing worse because they are different
from what they were in former days. And an unwillingness to let go of the
duties
responsibilities
and honours of life
retire from the stage of action
and be forgotten. This is indeed a hard lesson to learn.
6. There are certain virtues which demand to be cultivated
if we
would grow old gracefully. Such as patience
liberality
cheerfulness
hopefulness
readiness to yield the field of labour and responsibility to them
that are younger; and an habitual and cheerful posture of readiness to leave
the world and go to be with Christ. (J. Hawes
D. D.)
Christian maturity
By a natural instinct
man reads in all the short-lived objects
around him the images of his own decay. Nothing is lovelier to look upon
nothing is more evanescent in its loveliness
than the varied vegetation which
clothes the landscape. And in its evanescence man has ever contemplated the
emblem of his mortality. These emblems are not altogether mournful. While there
are those suggestive of an untimely fate
there are others that delineate the
end of man in its seasonableness as a natural close
a full consummation
a
ripeness as of the harvest. Contemplate the true maturity of man.
I. The maturity of
man in its characteristics. To die old seems a natural wish. Death in old age
comes not with a shock
as of something abrupt
unexpected
but as a natural
issue--the culmination of life’s manifest destiny
the measurement of the full
circle of life’s journey. It carries the associations of the sunset
of the
harvest--tender
but not sombre and sad. And these are right and religious
feelings. For man’s life on earth is a great thing
a sacred power
a most
momentous and immeasurable trust. The error of mankind is not that they place
life too high
but that they think far too little of its true value
of its
most awful responsibility. Scripture has not taught us to think lightly of
life
or to wish an early removal from it. It cultivates the appreciation of
life as a great and holy thing. Used as a power of getting and of doing good
life is a glorious privilege. Life on earth has its completed circle--its
threescore years and ten--when it has rounded that little orbit
the bodily
life has reached its maturity
beyond which it is not fitted to survive
and
sinks into the dust as naturally as the ripened corn falls into the ground. But
if that were all
it were hard to tell why it should be a thing of Divine
promise. That were a poor consolation
to have the full term of life
and to
come to the grave in however ripe an age
if the grave were all. But the body
is not the man--only the vehicle and tabernacle of the man. It is the soul that
is the man; and the man is then only “as a shock of corn in his season
” when
he is mature in the spiritual and immortal part. The decay of the body imposes
no inevitable decline in the soul’s higher life. Time leaves no mark on the
mind
except of growing power. If
then
the full age of man be of the
spirit--ripeness for immortality--what are the characteristics of one ready to be
garnered into heaven?
1. Christian maturity is the fulness of spiritual life. Man is of
“full age” when the whole circle of Christian excellences is present in the
character
and each unfolded in its due proportion. When all the graces meet in
a person
they robe him with a glory known only to Christianity. The last
attainment is completeness. Christianity is the union of all the graces
not
only in their completeness
but in their individual fulness. In our second
birth are included all the elements of final perfection--not then come to their
full measure
but from that moment the formative principles of character should
advance to maturity.
2. Christian maturity is the fulness of spiritual experience. We
associate experience with life--Christian experience with the Christian life;
and this adds elements and aspects to the piety
which are not found in its
first rise--mellowing
sobering
enriching the whole spiritual man
as with the
golden glow of autumn. There is a wide difference between the effect of worldly
experience and of Christian experience. The former disenchants the heart of all
its youthful illusions
and makes it distrust all appearances and persons
and
hope for nothing better than vanity and vexation of spirit. The effect of
Christian experience is to transfer the hopes and affections to the realities
of a higher world
and to deepen their power. The follower of Christ is
conducting a great experiment as to the power of the Gospel. And he finds as he
goes on
that it justifies all his confidence. Faith becomes experience--less
liable to be moved away by blasts of unbelief
or by assaults of temptation.
The disciple becomes an established Christian.
3. Christian maturity is completed by spiritual usefulness.
Christianity will make a man useful in every way
secular as well as religious.
But no measure of secular service can be accepted as an apology for the neglect
of the higher work
which is laid to every man in Christ’s kingdom. Spiritual
life and experience are the preparatives and the power of usefulness. As they
are enlarged
they nourish and enrich that spiritual fruitfulness which puts
the crown on Christian maturity.
II. The conditions
of christian maturity. How is it prepared? The shock of corn is the result of a
process. Christian maturity represents the whole course and combination of
influences that have been at work in the man. Nothing can mature that has not
life. Among the conditions of a Christian maturity we name--
1. Early decision for Christ. True piety takes its rise in a cordial
surrender to Christ
and it reaches its maturity in the completeness of that
surrender.
2. Progressive piety. There would be no harvest if the seed plant
only rooted and sprung up above ground
and never advanced any further. There
is a succession of stages of growth--“first the blade
then the ear
after that
the full corn in the ear.” No man
at whatever stage of his Christian course
you find him
is all that he needs to be. There must be progress in Christian
intelligence
growth in Christian faith--which worketh by love. There must be
assiduous cultivation of piety
which will include a growing love to the
sanctuary
to the Bible
to the service of prayer
to the scene of communion.
There will be a growing devoutness approaching ever closer to the spirit of
heaven
and waiting the call to enter into the joy of the Lord. (J. Riddell.)
Death in a ripe old age
Many men avoid all consideration of death
and never venture to
speak on the subject. If this be the result of ignorance
it is to be lamented;
if it be the result of doubt as to their future existence
their reserve and
silence may tend greatly and unnecessarily to perpetuate and increase the
doubt. A future life was the expectation of the sages of antiquity
seeing that
such an end of man as appears at his death is unworthy of the great powers
conferred upon him by the Creator
and inadequate to man’s knowledge and
earnest thought and prayer about an endless life. Jesus Christ has brought life
and immortality to light by His Gospel. He has with great simplicity and beauty
revealed to us the character and providence of His Father and our Father
of
His God and our God. This is the highest evidence of
and surest testimony to a
future life possessed by our race. It is worthy of universal reception
and
brings light to the understanding and solace to the heart. Death has a mighty
power to destroy many things that mar the happiness of life. What a lesson it
reads to the covetous
the malicious! What a beautiful scene
or what a painful
and miserable scene
a death bed can be made! But in the case of the truly
good
the power of the life will be greater than the impression of the death. (R.
Ainslie.)
Corn husking time
“As a shock of corn cometh in in his season.” There is difference
of opinion as to whether the Orientals knew anything about the corn as it
stands in our fields. After harvest in America
the farmers gather
one day on
one farm and one day on another
put on their rough husking apron
take the
husking peg
which is a piece of iron with a leathern loop fastened to the
hand
and with it unsheath the corn from the husk
and toss it into the golden
heap. Then the waggons will come along and take it to the corn crib. Possibly
the Hebrews knew about Indian maize
and husked it just as we do. Lessons--
1. It is high time that the king of terrors were thrown out of the
Christian vocabulary. Many talk of death as though it were the disaster of
disasters
instead of being to a good man the blessing of blessings.
2. First frost and then sunshine. We all know that husking time was a
time of frost. We remember we used to hide between the corn stacks
so as to
keep off the wind. But after a while the sun was high up
and all the frost
went out of the air
and hilarities awoke the echoes. So we all realise that
the death of our friends is the nipping of many expectations
the freezing
the
chilling
the frosting of many of our hopes. But the chill of the frosts is
followed by the gladness that cometh in like a shock of corn cometh in in his
season.
3. The husking process. The husking time made rough work with the ear
of corn. The husking peg had to be thrust in
and the hard thumb of the husker
had to come down on the swathing of the ear
and then there was a pull
and a
ruthless tearing
and a complete snapping off
before the corn was free. If the
husk could have spoken it would have said
“Why do you lacerate me?” That is
the way God has arranged that the ear and the husk shall part. That is the way
He has arranged that body and soul shall separate. You can afford to have your
physical distresses when you know that they are forwarding the soul’s
liberation. This may be an answer to the question
“Why is it that so many
really good people have so dreadfully to suffer?” Some corn is hardly worth
husking. With good corn the husking work is severe. There must be something
valuable in you
or the Lord would not have husked you.
4. Husking time was a neighbourly reunion. There was joyous feasting
together when the work was done. Heaven will be a time of neighbourhood reunion.
5. All the shocks come in in their season. Not one of you having died
too soon
or too late
or at haphazard. Cut down at just the right time. Husked
at just the right time. (T. De Witt Talmage
D. D.)
Consolations in the death of aged Christians
“Thou shalt come to thy grave in full age.” In this text there is
the promise of a comfortable death. Thou shalt come to thy grave with freedom
of mind
and without reluctance
satisfied with life
waiting for a release
and at full maturity
dropping kindly like ripe fruit
or as a stack of corn
fully ripe is gathered into the barn or storehouse at the time of harvest. Aged
Christians--
I. Lay under the
common sentence of death all their days. They were under the sentence of death
all the while they lived in this world
and a long life was only a longer
reprieve. We knew that our friends were mortal
all the while they lived with
us.
II. It is
comfortable to consider how long they were spared and continued to us in a
useful state. What great reason for thankfulness to God for sparing the comfort
of their useful lives. Often
then
recall the more remarkable instances of
their former usefulness
and exemplary character while they lived. We have not
done with our departed friends when we have lodged them in the grave; we must
remember what was eminent and exemplary in the several stations of life
and
circumstances of things through which they passed.
III. Consider the
great honour put upon them who were long serviceable in this world. They have
had a greater exercise of Divine care over them
and a larger experience of
Divine goodness in the many expressions of a gracious concern for their good
of seasonable interposure
and distinguishing favour. What a mercy it was to
our deceased friends to ripen by long standing
in wisdom and experience
and
to be successful instruments of the Divine glory
and of good to the world
for
a great while together!
IV. Consider how
often the aged outlive their own usefulness. It is no wonder if active natures
and brisk spirits
long exercised in painful service
begin at length to decay.
The more zealous and industrious they are in the service of God
the more
likely they are to find their natural strength abated in advancing age.
Sometimes good and useful men are disabled for service by the weakening of
their intellectual powers. Then their death becomes less grievous.
V. Consider how
well prepared they were for death and how ripe for another world. It is a
melancholy thing to think of an aged person dying unprepared. But when they are
prepared in the habitual temper of their minds and a blessed composure of
spirit
what an evidence this becomes of the truth and value of religion.
VI. Consider the
merciful release from the long fatigues and conflicts of life. They are set
free from all the burdens of nature
which sometimes are very grievous
and all
the afflictions of life
which often create them a great deal of trouble. All
the labours of life and difficulties of service cease. They are delivered from
the power of all their spiritual enemies
and set out of reach of all their
attempts.
VII. Consider the
blessed state they are entered upon and the infinite advantage of a removal.
They leave a state of sin and sorrow
of the burdens of nature and miseries of
life
for a state of purity and peace
of liberty and enlargement
where all
their burdens are removed and their desires satisfied. Consider with pleasure
the high advancement and honour of our deceased friends
the noble enjoyments
the pure delights
the perfect satisfaction and joy. An undue concern for the
death of good men
looks a little selfish
and like envying their happiness.
VIII. Think of the
nearness of our own dissolution and how soon we shall meet together again. We
are following them apace to the other world. What a comfort it is to be
followers of them who
through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
IX. It is a
considerable reason of comfort that there are many surviving relations left. We
can never say that we are wholly bereaved. Men sometimes live in their
posterity several ages. (W. Harris
D. D.)
The grave relieved of its terror
Eliphaz urges Job to repent of his wickedness
and promises him
great good as the consequence. His words suggest--
I. That old age
will help to relieve the grave of its terror. Life to those in old age has lost
its genial glow; desire has failed; the limbs have lost their vigour; the
appetites their relish; the senses their keenness; the faculties their
activity; the heart
most of its friendships
its hopes
its aims. They have outlived
their interest in the world; their old friends are in the dust; they are
surrounded by strangers; they bow beneath the weight of years
and oftentimes
welcome the grave. Yes
apart from religion
there is much in old age to make
the grave even attractive. But how few of the human family are allowed to reach
the grave in this way.
II. That spiritual
maturity will help to relieve the grave of its terror.
1. True religion is a life which grows in this world to a certain
maturity.
2. When this maturity is reached in a man
his removal from this
world will take place. It ripens in some much sooner than in others.
3. The removal of such from the world will be no terror to them. It
will take place under the superintendence of the great Husbandman. This spiritual
maturity it is that deprives the grave of its terror. Here then are two helps
to relieve for us the terror of the grave. Old age is one. Spiritual maturity
of character is the great relieving power. (Homilist.)
The Christian ripe for the garner
I. Mark the
analogy between corn and a good man. “Thou shalt come to thy grave
” etc.
1. In both cases there is labour. Spontaneous harvests do not spring
up in this world. If a larger yield is to be produced
and a better quality
obtained
he puts more management into his land
and bestows more labour upon
It
and the result
in most instances
is a rich crop.
2. The life of a good man
like corn
is a great mystery. If the
little
tiny seed which grows in your field baffles you
how much more God’s
work in the human heart! We need not trouble ourselves about the process; the
great question is
“Has the incorruptible seed of the Word of God entered into
my nature?”
3. Corn has life in it
and will grow! The men who tell us that
Christianity is being played out
are the men into whose souls it has never
been played in!
4. The good man
like corn
is nourished by various influences.
Through how many processes must a tiny seedling pass
and to how many
influences must it be subjected
before it becomes bread on our tables? And how
many influences are necessary to form and mature the character of a good man?
5. The great agent is the Holy Spirit
who softens the heart to
receive “the incorruptible seed.”
6. Adversity helps to mature a good man’s character. It is said that
each day’s sunshine
in the month of June
is worth a million of money to our
farmers; but if all the days of summer and autumn were unbroken sunshine
would
that be helpful to full barns and big hay stacks? No! David said
“It was good
for me that I was afflicted
” and millions have made the same confession. These
blights and disappointments of life are designed to remind us that eternal
fields are within our reach--fields which are always rich in golden harvests.
Temporal loss often leads to spiritual gain
and millions have exclaimed
with
Richard Baxter
“Oh! healthful sickness! Oh! comfortable sorrow! Oh! gainful
loss! Oh! enriching poverty! Oh! blessed day that I was afflicted!”
II. And what is
meant by a good man coming to the grave in a full age. “Thou shalt come to thy
grave
” etc.
1. That he has filled up the measure of human life. We often measure
life by length; God measures it by depth and breadth. We look at quantity; God
looks at quality. Many a man has died full of good works
long before he has
reached forty years of age. Others have passed the allotted span of human life
and left no good works behind them.
2. Coming to the grave like a shock of corn
fully ripe
means the
maturity of Christian character. The farmer knows the proper time for cutting
down the corn. If he cut it down too soon the ear would not be filled
and if
he waited too long
the best of the corn would be shaken and wasted. Our times
are wholly in the hands of unerring wisdom and unsearchable goodness
and He
will not allow death to overtake us too soon
or be delayed a moment too long.
3. And observe the certainty of all this. “He shall come.” Some
bestow great labour on that which yields them no profit. The old age of a good
man is always richer than his youth. God cares as much for the poor remnant of
an old man’s life that remains
as for the fresh and stainless period of his
youth. And one of the most enviable sights out of heaven
is that of a good old
man
waiting
with undimmed powers and unsoured temper
till his Master shall
say
“He is ripe for the garner.” Indeed
when such a man dies
it is heaven’s
testimony that he’s ready for heaven. The great Dr. Clarke
in old age
looking
back on a useful life
and forward to a glorious rest
said
“I have enjoyed the
spring of life: I have endured the toils of summer; I have culled the fruits of
autumn. I am now passing through the rigour of winter
and I am neither
forsaken of God nor abandoned of man. I see at no great distance the dawn of a
new day: the first of a spring which shall be eternal. It is advancing to meet
me. I run to embrace it. Welcome
eternal spring.” Did you ever meet with a
godly man who was not prepared to die when death came? Never!
4. A good man
like a shock of corn
is safely garnered. Corn is laid
up to be preserved; but that is not all. It is also laid up that it may be
used. The best use of corn comes after it has been cut down. Some people
imagine that heaven will be a place of perpetual indolence and selfish
delights. That is not the Bible conception of heaven. I know that heaven is a
place of rest
but then
as Baxter says
“it is not the rest of a stone
but a
rest consistent with service; an activity without weariness
a service which is
perfect freedom.” When a good man dies
he is not flung away as a useless
instrument
to be no longer employed in his Master’s service
but passes from
the humbler services on earth to the nobler service of heaven; from an obscure
to a loftier service
“where His servants do serve Him.” The sanctity of a good
man’s soul is not lost at death
but will continue to grow forever.
The ripened life garnered
I. To produce the
shock of corn
there must have been seed sown.
II. The seed sown
must have contained the principle of corn life.
III. There must have
been a prepared and proper soil.
IV. The seed must
have grown gradually.
V. The plant must
have been supplied with nourishment from the root inwardly and by air
rain
etc.
outwardly. This is absolutely necessary in nature
or the plant will
wither and die. It is the same in the kingdom of grace. “The trees of
righteousness
the planting of the Lord” (Isaiah 61:3)
must be sustained by the
sap from the root
and by the Spirit’s operation through the Word and
ordinances.
VI. In growing up
it must have been exposed to many vicissitudes. Cold
heat
drought
flood
and
tempest are common between seed-time and harvest; and our Lord has declared to
His disciples
that in this world they shall have tribulation.
VII. It must have
had sunshine to ripen it. No harvest without sunshine; nor can the soul ripen
without the shinings in of the rays of the Sun of Righteousness.
1. Of the truth.
2. Of God’s countenance.
3. Of heaven. Conclusion--
1. The husbandman sows seed for the purpose of reaping a joyful
harvest. He cuts down the corn when it is golden in the ear that it may not be
lost
and when the Lord’s time is fully come
He sends forth His reapers.
2. The husbandman separates the grain from the straw
so the Lord
separates the spirit from the body. “The body is dead because of sin
the
spirit is life because of righteousness.”
3. The ingathering is profitable and joyous.
4. Shall we then mourn or regret our loss? (W. P. Tiddy.)
A ripe old age
We have here pictured a ripe and venerable old age--a good man
coming safely out of all the drill and discipline of the present life
taken up
from all
and housed forever in the glory and garner of the sky. Polishing and
ripening are rough and warm work. The soul of man undergoes rough and trying
treatment here; but the path of sorrow is the way to joy; and the path of
suffering is the way to glory.
I. The suggestive
simile by which the life of the aged saint in this world is depicted. Corn
ripe corn
ready for the husbandman and home. Corn suggests the ideas of
preciousness
maturity
diversity of influences
and manifoldness. Let us seek
that our lives may be valuable as ripe corn
and not valueless as empty chaff.
II. The glorious
destiny for which the aged saint in this world is being disciplined.
1. The saint as well as the sinner has to meet the same inevitable
lot
so far as the body is concerned.
2. The saint goes to his grave
but the wicked is driven there.
3. The good are not destroyed when they come to the grave
but are
gathered into the garner. Let these reflections cheer us in remembrance of our
departed
sainted friends
and in anticipation of our own departure. (F. W.
Brown.)
The ripe Christian
The illustration is drawn from agricultural life. It is the close
of harvest
and the busy reapers are carrying home the spoil. There are few
scenes to be witnessed upon earth more pleasing and attractive. How suggestive
of comfort and plenty! What a picture of happy industry and well-rewarded toil.
How exquisite the patches of colour! How merry and melodious the song! Mark how
skilfully the reaper handles his sickle
and clutches the corn; one sweep
and
the whole armful is down
and laid so neat and level that when the band is put
round the sheaf almost every straw is of equal length. The single stem is
called “a stalk of corn”; the armful
which the reaper cuts down with one sweep
of his hook
is called “a sheaf”; whilst a bundle of sheaves
placed together
and set upright
ready to be borne away to the homestead
is styled
from an
old Dutch root
“a shock of corn.” Well
what an interesting and significant
metaphor this is! and how suggestive! How much there is in that bundle of
wheat-sheaves
now ready to be carried home
to remind you of the aged Christian
who has served his generation by the will of God! What anxiety has been
expended upon that corn! Through what risks and storms has it come! A thousand
contingencies might occur to check the growth or affect the quality of the
grain
and the value of the harvest. But now it has been brought safely through
all these risks. The little green thing has become a vigorous and fruitful
stalk. The farmer’s solicitude is over; his months of anxious toil are ended;
the grain is safely gathered in--how much in all this to suggest the closing
scene in the life of a ripe believer. “Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full
age
like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.” As we read the text we
naturally think of the old and grey-headed saint. How many years of anxiety
have been expended upon him! How many storms have swept over him! Through what
a variety of experience has he passed! Perhaps in early life he gave little
promise of a long and useful career. Yet here he is
come to life’s close in
happiness and honour. He has weathered the blasts
he has borne his fruit
he
has served his generation
and all that remains for him is just to be gathered
in--gently borne away to the homestead of heaven. Yet I would not have you run
away with the idea that the text applies exclusively to the aged. This
prominent idea is not so much old age
as ripeness
maturity. It does not say
“Thou shalt come to thy grave in old age
” but “in a full age.” There is a
difference. Old age is not absolutely promised to all God’s people; but a “full
age” is. It is noticeable that
although in the early history of the human race
many lived to a great length of time
even to hundreds of years
it is not
recorded in Scripture of any of these that they died “in a good old age
and
full of years”; not until we come to Abraham is such a record given; although
his term of life was but a fourth of that of many who had gone before him; the
reason probably being that
though Abraham’s years were fewer
yet his virtues
were greater; his life was a life of faith
and therefore of completeness. I
have seen a matured saint cut off at twenty; and another man
not nearly so
ripe
at threescore and ten. You may remember how
addressing young men
Solomon
with characteristic sagacity
makes the distinction I am indicating.
“My son
” he says
“keep my commandments: for length of days
and long life
shall they add to thee”; intimating
of course
that the natural tendency of
virtue is to lengthen a man’s days; but that
whether such a man’s days shall
be many or few
he shall
at all events
have “a long life
” in the sense of a
full and complete one.
“They
err
who measure life by years
With
false and thoughtless tongue:
Some
hearts grow old before their time
Others
are always young.
‘Tis
not the number of the lines
On
life’s fast-filling page;
‘Tis
not the pulse’s added throbs
Which
constitute true age.”
Amongst moral and responsible beings
that life is really the
longest
however brief its outward term
into which the largest amount of
beneficent activity is condensed. Thoughts suggested here in regard to a good
man’s death.
1. It is not unwelcome. “Thou shalt come to thy grave.” He is not
driven or dragged to it
as may be said of many an ungodly man. God makes him
willing when He has made him ready. I have often been struck with the fact
that
when the end of a Christian’s life begins to draw near
however reluctant
he had been hitherto to leave the world
and however he may even have dreaded
his departure
all that reluctance and fear melts away.
2. The death of a good man is seasonable. “As a shock of corn cometh
in in his season.”
3. As death is welcome to the ripe believer
and seasonable
so it is
honourable. It is no ignominious blow; it is not a crushing
humiliating
stroke; it is a release
an enfranchisement
a coronation. (J. Thain
Davidson
D. D.)
Lo this
we have searched it
so it is; hear It
and know thou it
for thy good.
“So it is”
Thus closed a forcible speech by Eliphaz the Temanite; it may be
called his “summing up.” He virtually says
“What I have testified in the name
of my friends is no dream of theirs. Upon this matter we are specialists; and
bear witness to truth which we have made the subject of research and
experience. Lo this
we have searched it
so it is; hear it
and know thou it
for thy good.” By this declaration he sets forth his teaching with authority
and presses it home. He persuades Job to consider what he had said
for it was
no hasty opinion
but the ripe fruit of experience. I shall not follow Eliphaz;
I am only going to borrow his closing words
and use them in reference to
Gospel testimony; which is to us a thing known and searched out.
I. To begin with
these words may well describe the qualification of the teacher. He will be
poorly furnished if he cannot run in the line which Eliphaz draws in the words
of our text.
1. He should have an intimate knowledge of his subject. How can he
teach what he does not know? When we come to talk about God
and the soul
and
sin
and the precious blood of Jesus
and the new birth
and holiness and
eternal fife
the speaker who knows nothing about these things personally must
be a poor driveller. A blind man
who is teaching others about colour and
vision? A preacher of an unknown God? A dead man sent with messages of life?
You are in a strange position.
2. I must add that he should have a personal experience of it
so
that he can say
“Lo this
we have searched it
so it is.” It is unseemly that an
ignorant man should keep a school. It is not meet that a dumb man should teach
singing. Shall an impenitent man preach repentance? Shall an unbelieving man
preach faith? Shall an unholy man preach obedience to the Divine will? He who
would learn to plough
must not be apprenticed to one who never turned a
furrow. We must know the Lord
or we cannot teach His way.
3. What is wanted in a successful teacher is a firm conviction of the
truth of these things
growing out of his having tested them for himself. He
must say
with emphasis
“So it is.” The Lord’s Word must be true. Why do you
“hope” about it? Believe it and enjoy it. But people will go hoping and hoping
and limping; as if to be lame were the proper thing. A ministry of hesitation
must be ruinous to souls. When Divine truth is held fast
then let it be held
forth
and not till then.
4. Once more a needful qualification for a teacher of the Word is
earnestness and goodwill to the hearer. We must implore each one of our hearers
to give earnest heed. We must cry to him with our whole heart
“Hear it
and
know thou it for thy good.” Without love
there can be no real eloquence. The
great Saviour’s heart is love
and those who are to be saviours for Him must be
of a loving spirit. True love will do the work when everything else has failed.
Knowledge of our subject avails not without love to our hearers. There are
three ways of knowing
but only one sort is truly worth the having. Many labour
to know
merely that they may know. These are like misers
who gather gold that
they may count it
and hide it away in holes and corners. This is the avarice
of knowledge. Such knowledge turns stagnant
like water shut up in a close
pond--above mantled with rank weed
and below putrid
or full of loathsome
fife. A second class aspire to know that others may know that they know. To be
reputed wise is the heaven of most mortals. One does not eat merely that others
may know that you have had your dinner
and one should not know merely to have
it known that you know. The third kind of knowledge is the one worth having.
Learn to know that you may make other people know. This is not the avarice but
the commerce of knowledge. Acquire knowledge that you may distribute it. Light
the candle
but put it not under a bushel. Be taught that you may teach. This
trading is gainful to all who engage in it.
II. The argument
for the hearer. “Lo this
we have searched it
so it is.” The argument directed
to the hearer is the experience of many
confirming the statement of one. “We
have searched it
so it is.” I should like to bear my own personal witness to a
few things about which I am fully persuaded. “Lo this
we have searched it
so
it is.”
1. And my first witness is that sin is an evil and a bitter thing. I
think I may speak for you and say
“We have searched this out
and we know that
it is so.” We have seen sin prove injurious to our fellow men.
2. I wish to testify to the fact that repentance of sin
and faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ
bring a wonderful rest to the heart
and work a marvellous
change in the whole life and character.
3. Next
we beg to bear our witness to the fact that prayer is heard
of God. God does hear prayer. We bear our witness to that fact with all our
strength
and therefore we say about it
“Lo this
we have searched it
so it
is; hear it
and know thou it for thy good.”
4. Another testimony we would like to bear
namely
that obedience to
the Lord
though it may involve present loss
is sure to be the most profitable
course for the believing man to take.
5. We beg to say that the old-fashioned Gospel is able to save men
and to arouse enthusiasm in their souls.
III. We have here
the exhortation to the inquirer.
1. “This
we have searched it
so it is; hear it.” But oh
if you
wish to be saved
hear the Gospel! Let nothing keep you away from God’s
sanctuary
where the real Gospel is proclaimed. Hear it! If it is not preached
exactly in the style which you would prefer
nevertheless
hear it. “Faith
cometh by hearing.”
2. The next thing that he says is
“Know it.” Hear it and know it; go
on hearing it until you know it. To know Christ is life eternal.
3. Our text means--know it in a particular way. “Know thou it for thy
good.” The devil knows a great deal. He knows more than the most intelligent of
us; but he knows nothing for his good. All that he knows sours into evil within
his rebellious nature.
──《The Biblical Illustrator》