The waters wear the stones.'-The surface of the earth has undergone an enormous amount of erosion by the action of the ocean, the rivers, and the atmosphere. The ocean has worn away the solid rock, in some parts of the world, not less than 10,000 feet in depth, and rivers have cut channels through the hardest strata, hundreds of feet deep and several miles long.— Prof. Hitchcock. The gentlest powers are the mightiest. -Growing fungi, so soft that they can be crushed between the finger and thumb, have been known to lift out of the ground flagstones, which a strong man could not move without a lever.Anon. A gentleman was once riding in Scotland past a bleaching - ground, where a poor woman was at work, watering her webs of linen cloth. He asked her where she went to church. What she remembered of the sermon on the previous Sunday. She could 6 not even repeat the text. 'Then what good,' said he, does the preaching do you if you forget it all? Ah, Sir,' said she, if you look at this web on the grass, you will see that as fast as ever I put water on it, the sun dries it up, and yet, Sir, I see it get whiter and whiter.'-Anecdotes. Life, to a great extent, is made up of circumstances comparatively trifling; and trifles, ever-recurring, have no little influence in modifying the character.-Anon. Raphael did well, and Phidias did well; but it is not painter or sculptor who is making himself most nobly immortal. It is he who is making true impressions upon the mind of man;-frescoes for eternity, that will not shine out till the light of heaven reveals them; sculptures not wrought in outward things, but in the inward nature and character of the soul.-H. W. Beecher. 20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. 22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn. CHAP. XV. THEN HEN answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, 'Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches. wherewith he can do no good? Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. V. 4. If thou wouldest have the grace of fear to grow in thy soul, take heed of a prayerless heart, for that is not the place for this grace of fear to grow in. Hence he that restraineth prayer is said to cast off fear. Seest thou a professor that prayeth not? that man thrusteth the fear of God away from him. Seest thou a man that prays but little? that man fears God but little. Take heed, therefore, of a prayerless heart, if you would grow in the fear of God. Prayer is as the pitcher that fetcheth water from the brook, there with to water the herbs; break the pitcher, and it will fetch no water, and. for want of water the garden withers. -Bunyan. There is no greater argument in the world, of our spiritual weakness, and the falseness of our hearts in matters of religion, than the backwardness most men have always, and all men sometimes, to say their prayers; so weary of their length, so glad when they are done, so ready to find an excuse, so apt to lose an opportunity. Yet it is no labour, no trouble, they are thus anxious to avoid, but the begging a blessing, and receiving it; honouring our God, and by so doing, honouring ourselves.-Jeremy Taylor. · Restraining prayer' is a strong expression. Prayer is so natural, there are so many circumstances which do as it were extort it, that the man must do violence to his own mind who restrains it.-Orton. He is the Christian indeed that lays aside a good portion of time daily, in the midst of all his worldly occasions, for communion with God. Whoever he compounds with and pays short, he dares not make bold with God to serve Him by halves. He shall have his time devoted to Him, though others are put off with the less: like that devout man, who, when the time for his devotions came, what company soever he was with, would take his leave of them with this fair excuse,' He had a Friend that staid to speak with him': he meant his God.-Gurnall. Be sure, Christian, thou keep a right notion of prayer in thy thoughts. Some look upon every minute of time spent in the closet, as lost in the shop; and no wonder such are easily kept from prayer upon any pretended business, who think it a prejudice to their other affairs. But I hope thou art better taught. Does the husbandman mow the less for whetting his scythe? Does a good grace before meat spoil the dinner? No; nor does prayer hinder the Christian either in his employments or enjoyments, but expedites the one, and sanctifies the other. -Ibid. The greater thy business is, by so much the more thou hast need to pray for God's good speed and blessing upon it, seeing it is certain nothing can prosper without His blessing. The time spent in prayer never hinders, but furthers and prospers, a man's journey and business. Therefore, though thy haste be never so much, or thy business never so great, yet go not about it, nor out of thy doors, till thou hast prayed.-Bp. Bayley. Stated and regular seasons are indispensable to the effectual performance of all business. Method, proverbially styled the soul of business,' cannot exist without such seasons. Irregularity, which is the prevention or the ruin of all valuable efforts, grows of course out of irregular distributions of time. That which is done at accidental seasons only, is ultimately not done at all. No business demands regularity and method more than prayer. There is in all men naturally a strong indisposition to pray. Stated seasons, therefore, returning at regular periods, are peculiarly necessary to preserve this duty in its full vigour. He who prays at such seasons will always remember this duty; will form his schemes of life so as to provide the proper places for performing it; will be reproached by his conscience for neglecting it; will keep alive the spirit of prayer from one season to another, so as to render the practice delightful; and will be preserved, uninterruptedly, in the practice, by the strong influence of habit. He who prays at accidental seasons only, will first neglect, then hate, and finally desist from this duty.-Dwight. The observance of the duty of ejaculatory prayer does not excuse us from the observance of more stated seasons of prayer. It is true that the former when joined with the latter, is an excellent symptom of a heavenly heart, and shows grace to be very lively when such observance is frequent: as when a man between his meals is so hungry, that he must have something to stay his stomach, and yet when dinner comes, can feed as heartily as if he had eaten nothing. This shows the man to be healthy. But if a bit, by the by, takes away his stomach, that he can eat little or nothing at his ordinary meals, this is not so good a sign. Thus here, if a Christian, between his set and solemn seeking of God, morning and night, finds an inward hunger upon his spirit, so strongly craving communion with God, that he cannot stay till his stated hour for prayer returns, but ever and anon must be refreshing himself with the beverage of ejaculatory prayer, and then comes sharp-set to duty at his ordinary set time; this shows grace to be strong. But, on the contrary, it shows a slighty spirit, to make the one a plea for the neglect of the other.-Gurnall. The late Rev. J. A. James declared that his first serious convictions of the importance of personal religion, were the result of his witnessing the secret devotions of a youthful companion, who occupied the same bed-room as himself.-Life, &c. The longer we neglect writing to an absent friend, the less inclination we have to set about it. So the more we neglect private prayer and closet com 6 munion with God, the more shy we grow in our approaches to Him. Nothing breeds a greater strangeness between the soul and God, than the restraining of prayer before Him; and nothing would renew the blessed intimacy, if God Himself, the neglected party, did not, as it were, send us a letter of expostulation from heaven, and sweetly chide us for our negligence. Then we melt, then we kindle, and the blissful intercourse gradually happens as usual.-Toplady. iniquity, and thou choosest the For thy mouth uttereth thine tongue of the crafty. Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I yea, thine own lips testify against thee. foul heart. He that made that pro verb, Loquere ut te videam, Speak that I may see you,' did not think of the hypocrite, who will speak that you shall not see him. The thickest clouds that he hath to wrap up his villany in, are his religious tongue and sandy profession.-Gurnall. A sincere heart is like a clear stream in a brook, you may see to the bottom of his plots in his words, and take the measure of his heart by his prayer. I have heard say, that diseases of the heart are seen in spots of the tongue. But the hypocrite can show a clear tongue, and yet have a "Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? 8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us? 10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. 11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there 12 any secret thing with thee? Why doth thine heart carry thee away? or what do thy eyes wink at, 18 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. 16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? V. 15-16. So inconceivably holy is the Lord God of hosts, that He sees defilement even in the brightness of the firmament; the living sapphire in the heavens, before His majesty, loses its lustre; yea, the stars (though the most pure and resplendent part of the heavens) are not pure in His sight. How much less man, who, in his fallen and depraved state, is but as a worm that crawls in the corrupted carcase; and the son of man, who, by reason of his manifold actual impurities, is too justly compared to an insect that wallows amid stench and putrefaction? Is there not then abundant cause for the most irreproachable and eminent of mankind to renounce all arrogant pretensions, to lay aside every assuming air, to take nothing but shame and confusion to themselves?-Hervey. 17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; 18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: 19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. 21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. 'A dreadful sound is in his ears.'— He that is a terror to himself, can no more be without terror, than he can be without himself. Nor can anything be a comfort to him, who is his own terror. And therefore, a guilty conscience hears a dreadful sound, what sound soever he hears. He ever expects to hear bad news, and he puts fearful glosses and comments upon that which is good. A wicked man interprets all reports in cne of these two mischievous senses, either to the discredit of others, or to the disquiet of himself. Bring what text of providence you can to him, he corrupts it with one of these glosses. Yea, the faithful counsels of his own friends are dreadful sounds to him, for he hath a suspicion that while they are counselling him for good, they are but contriving evil against him, or setting snares to catch him.-Caryl. 25 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. 26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. 28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he' prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. 80 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. 81 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense. It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. 35 CHAP. XVI. 82 THEN Job answered and said, "I have heard many such things: all. The patient's case is sad indeed, when his medicines are poisons, and his physicians his worst disease. What Job saith here of his friends, is true of all creatures in comparison with God; and one time or other we shall be made to see it, and own it, that miserable comforters are they all. When we are under convictions of sin, terrors of conscience, and the arrests of death, it is only the blessed Spirit that can comfort effectually. All others without Him do it miserably, and sing songs to a heavy heart to no purpose.-M. Henry. 8 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief. 5 He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it. -Von Knebel. It is natural to sufferers, to think what they would do, if the tables were turned; but perhaps our hearts may deceive us, we know not what we would do. We find it easier to discern the reasonableness and importance of a command, when we have occasion to claim the benefit of it, than when we have occasion to do the duty of it.M. Henry. Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased? But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company. 8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face. 9He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth: mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. 10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. 11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. 12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. 13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant. 15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death; 17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure. 180 earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. 14 V.19. Whether we keep a diary or not, our Lord keeps one for us, a journal of all our thoughts, words, and deeds.Anon. If it can be recorded at last concerning us, Such and such have had the Gospel preached unto them, and they have obeyed the Gospel, and complied with its call;' O! how great a thing 16 19 Also would it be to have a record in heaven for that! How did Job solace himself in this, 'My record is in heaven!' When you can appeal to the records in heaven, touching transactions between God and you, and you can say, 'Lord, thou didst make an offer to me of thy Son, thou didst require me to receive Him as my Lord and Saviour. |