also He stops man in his nearest preparations for any action. 'If the Lord will work, who shall let it?' (Isa. xliii. 13.) That is, there is no power in heaven or earth which can hinder

Him. But if the Lord will let, who shall work? Neither sun, nor stars, nor men, nor devils can work, if He forbid them. This point is full of comfort.-Caryl.

And treadeth upon the waves of the sea.'-This was thought so impracticable, that the picture of two feet walking on the sea, was an Egyptian

hieroglyphic for an impossible thing. In the Scriptures it is represented as the prerogative of God.-Doddridge.

Job was an example of human vicissitudes, as well as of patience. View him in his private estate: he heaps up silver as the dust; he washes his steps in butter, and the rock pours him out rivers of oil. View him in his public character: princes revere his dignity; the aged listen to his wisdom; every eye beholds him with delight; every tongue loads him with blessing. View him in his domestic circumstances: on one hand he is defended by a troop of sons; on the other, adorned with a train of daughters; and on all sides, surrounded with 'a very great household.' Never was human felicity so consummate; never was disastrous revolution so sudden. The lightning which consumed his cattle was not more terrible, and

scarcely more instantaneous: the joyful parent is bereft of his offspring, and his children are buried in death. The man of affluence is stripped of his abundance; and he who was clothed in scarlet embraces the dunghill. The venerable patriarch is the derision of wicked men; and the lato favourite of an indulgent Providence is become a brother to dragons, a companion of owls.' Nor need we go back to former ages for proofs of this afflicting truth. In our times-in all times-the wheel continues the same incessant whirl; and frequently those who are triumphing to-day in the highest elevations of joy, to-morrow are bemoaning the instability of mortal affairs, in the very depths of poverty. Therefore, trust in the Rock of Ages.-Sacred Garland.

V. 16. The saints judge their own voices harsh and discordant in the ear of God. Faith makes our prayers melodious, because it carries us out of ourselves. A believer lives not in the sound of his own prayers, but of

Christ's intercession. What are we that we should expect any acceptance on our own account? or say, this we have gained, this we have obtained, thus God hath heard us, or thus we have wrestled it out with God? As, when we have

performed all our duties, we must say, We are unprofitable servants;' so, when we have obtained all our suits, we must say, We are unprofitable petitioners. I will not believe that God hath hearkened unto my voice. What's a man's voice, that God should hear it?'-Caryl.

The saints to this day, in regard to their personal suits and petitions, both for temporal and spiritual things, are so overcome, astonished, and amazed, at the goodness of God, that, though they see the thing done, yet they can scarce believe it done.-Ibid.

It is very common for a Christian to conclude that his prayers are not heard, because an answer is not obtained in the way expected. I have been praying,' says one, for strength for such a duty, and find it come off as weakly and dead-heartedly as before. If God be with me by His mighty power to help me, why then is all this befallen me?' Look once again, poor heart, into thine own bosom, and see whether thou findest not some strength sent into thee, which thou didst overlook before. This may be, yea very often is the case, when God answers our prayer, not in the letter; when the thing itself is sent, but it comes in at the back door,

while we are expecting it at the fore; and truly thus the friend thou art looking for may be in thine house, and thou not know it. Is not this thy case, poor soul? Thou hast been praying for strength against such a lust, and now thou wouldest have God presently put forth His power to knock it on the head, and lay it for dead, that it should never stir more in thy bosom. Is not this the door thou hast stood looking for God to come in at, and no sight or news of thy God is coming that way? Thy corruption yet stirs, it may be is more troublesome than before; now thou askest, where is the strength promised for thy relief? Let me entreat thee, before thou drawest that sad conclusion against thy God or self, see whether He hath not conveyed in some strength by another door. Perhaps thou hast not strength to conquer thy sin so soon as thou desirest; but hath He not given thee additional praying strength against it? Surely, Christian, thine eyes are held as much as Hagar's, or else thou wouldst see the streamings forth of Divine grace in this frame of thy heart; surely others will think God hath done a mighty work in thy soul.-Gurnall.

Satan sometimes tempts the Christian to gather from God's deportment towards him, that his prayer is not heard. This was the temptation which ruffled Job's thoughts, and embittered his spirit. He could not believe God had answered his prayer, because He broke him with His tempest. As if God's mercy came always in the still voice, and never in the whirlwind. Now in such a case, it is necessary for us to inquire, whether this tempest is sent to find out any Jonah in our ship; whether it takes us sinning, or soaking in any past sin unrepented of; or whether our conscience, diligently listened to, bears us witness that we are sincere in our course, though com

passed with many failings. If it overtakes us in any runaway voyage with Jonah, or rambling course with the prodigal, from our Father's house, then, indeed, we have reason to question; yea, it is beyond all question, that an acceptable prayer in this posture cannot drop from our lips. What! run from God, and then send Him our prayers! This is to desire mercy to spend upon our lust. But if, upon our faithful search, we find this storm overtakes us in the way of duty, and in the exercise of our sincerity, like the tempest that met the disciples at. sea, when at Christ's command they launched forth, then let us not be discouraged; for it is usual with God to

put on the disguise of an angry countenance, and to use rough language, when His heart is resolved on ways of

mercy, and meditates love to His people.-Gurnall.

V. 20. And is it not always so? Did a man ever yet undertake to repel the charges of guilt brought against him by his Maker, and to prove that he was innocent, in which he did not himself show the truth of what he was denying? Did not his false views of God and of His law; his passion, murmuring, and irreverence; his unwillingness to admit the force of the palpable considerations, urged to prove that he was guilty, demonstrate that he was at heart a sinner, and that he was insubmissive and rebellious? The very attempt to enter into such an argument against God, shows that the heart is not right; and the manner in which such an argument is commonly conducted demonstrates that he who does it is sinful.Rev. A. Barnes.

If a man, whose face is foul or de

formed, should boast of his beauty, would you not say, this man knows not his own face; or surely he hath not looked in a glass to-day? May we not much rather say to him who justifies himself, and saith he is perfect, sure you never saw your face in the glass, in the pure crystal glass of the word. He that comes into the Gospel light, sees himself; and as the light increases, so does his sight of himself; and the more he sees himself, the more evil he sees in himself. In a cloudy day we think the air is clear, but the shining of the sun shows us millions of motes in the air. If a man sees no motes in his life (some see not beams there), it is, because he walks in darkness, and hath no light: he doth not know his own soul.-Caryl.

It is as dangerous to lodge or nourish in ourselves thoughts of our own perfection, as to lodge thoughts of the most sinful corruptions. A holy heart loves good thoughts, but it loves not thoughts of its own goodness.

We have an ordinary saying amongst us, which expresses well the sense of Job, 'Such a woman is beautiful, and she knows it;'Such a one hath many good parts, a very fine wit, and he knows it; that is, such persons pride

22 This is one thing, therefore I and the wicked. 28 If the scourge the trial of the innocent.

V. 23. God laughs at their trial, because He knows they will honour Him in their trials. He laughs not because they are pained, but because Himself is glorified. As a father, who puts a child upon a very hard task, which yet he is

themselves in their perfections. Many stand reflecting upon their own perfections, either external,-how strong and beautiful they are; or internal,—how witty and eloquent they are; what excellent parts and gifts, what a nimble tongue, what sound judgments they have, till they lose Christ in this crowd of themselves. This is a dangerous knowledge, a knowledge worse than ignorance.-Caryl,

said it, He destroyeth the perfect slay suddenly, he will laugh at

assured the child is able to go through with, takes content to see him sweat at it, pant and blow at it: or as a commander in war, rejoiceth when he puts a party, of whose valour and skill he is confident, upon some dangerous ser

This language cannot, in_strict_propriety, be applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Mediator between God and man. He is not an umpire to settle a dispute, in the sense in which Job understood it; He is not an arbiter to whom the cause in dispute between man and his Maker is to be referred; He is not a judge to listen to the arguments of the respective

parties, and to decide the controversy. He is a Mediator between us and God, to make it proper or possible that God should be reconciled to the guilty, and to propose to man the terms of reconciliation; to plead our cause before God, and to communicate to us the favours which He proposes to bestow on man.-Rev. A. Barnes.

me: me.

It appears to me that the impropriety of some of these sentences, and the indecency of these complaints, is their beauty; for they are designed to show into what irregularity of temper

persons in affliction are liable to fall; how their passion carries them headlong, and how ready they are to charge God foolishly; which suggests a very useful caution to us.-Orton.

'Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.' - The Ladrone Islands, when Ferdinand Magellan first landed at them, were inhabited, we are told, by a tribe of Indians, whose curiosity was so extravagant, that when they were shot through with arrows, they drew the arrows from their bodies, and gazed at them with an earnestness that seemed to overcome the sense of pain, till they dropped down and expired. In like manner, when 'the arrows of the Almighty are within us, the poison whereof drinketh up the spirit,' it should not be our first and chief concern to mitigate the pain we suffer, but to ascertain the cause of -the infliction. It is thus that messengers of death to us may often be converted into messengers of mercy.-L.

Under the pressure of affliction, we should examine not only our conduct, but our opinions; not only our faults, but our prejudices; not only our propensities, but our judgments. Our

actions themselves will be obvious -enough, it is our intentions which re