Job 14:10

“Man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.”

Afflictions, while they wean us from the love of this present world, serve to familiarize us with the thoughts of death, and to make that which to our nature is terrible, an object of desire and hope! See Job 7:1-10 and Job 14:1-2. But it is proper for us to contemplate “death” while we are yet in a state of health and prosperity; and, especially, to make the removal of others to the eternal world an occasion of considering what our own state may shortly be.

Man consists of soul and body. These, in death, are separated; the body returning to its native dust, and “the soul returning to God who gave it.” This separation must soon take place, whatever be our rank, our age, our employment. The very instant that “our soul is required of us,” it must be surrendered up; nor can the skill of all the physicians in the universe enable us to ward off the stroke of death one single hour!

And when the hour arrives for “man to give up the spirit, where is he?” While he is yet alive, we may find him. His office in life will assist us in our inquiry. The student, the mechanic, the man of pleasure, yes, and even the traveler, may be sought for, each in his own vocation, and may be found without great difficulty. But who shall find the man, when once his spirit has taken its flight to the invisible world? No more shall he return to his former abode; no more have fellowship with his former friends. The house he has built, or the books he has written, may remain; but he himself shall be far away, and the place he has inhabited shall know him no more. A tree that is cut down may sprout again; but not so the man that dies—he shall pass away as a morning cloud, and be seen no more! Ecclesiastes 9:10.

1. After death, where is a man as to any opportunity of serving God?

Once, he had one talent at least committed to him, and he might have improved it for God; but now it is taken from him. Whatever he once possessed of corporeal or mental power, of time, of wealth, of influence, is all gone forever; and he can do no more for God than if he had never existed in the world!

2. After death, where is a man as to any means of benefitting his own soul?

Time was, when he could read the blessed book of God, and draw near to the throne of grace, and pour out his soul in prayer, and lay hold on the promises of the Gospel, and seek from the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, such communications of grace and mercy and peace as were needful for him. But this time is passed away; no access to God now; no help from the Savior now; no scope for repentance now; none of these things remain to a soul that is once removed to the eternal world! verse 7-12. The work that is unfinished now will remain unfinished forever.

3. After death, where is a man as to any hope of carrying into effect his purposes and resolutions?

There are few so hardened, but they have some thought or purpose of turning unto God before they die. To the mirthful, the laborious, the dissolute—the fit time for religious services has not yet arrived; but all have a secret conviction, that the concerns of the soul deserve some attention; and they hope that, in a dying-hour at least, they shall regard what, in despite of all their levity, they know to be the one thing needful.

Perhaps the young only waited until they were settled in life; or until their children should be grown up, and leave them more at leisure to follow the dictates of their better judgment. Perhaps those who were immersed in earthly cares only waited until they should be able to retire from the world, and to devote a good measure of their attention to heavenly things. But “the day is closed upon them; and the night has come in which no man can work;” “their soul being, as it were, prematurely and unexpectedly required of them,” their hopes are never realized, their desires never are accomplished!

4. After death, where is a man as to any possibility of preparing for his eternal state?

The fight is terminated; the race is closed; the crown is awarded. There is no return to the field of action; no further scope for amended efforts. “As the tree falls, so it lies;” and so it will lie to all eternity. Pardon, peace, holiness, glory, are all at an unapproachable distance to him who dies without having attained the possession of them. There is an impassable gulf between him and Heaven; and he must take his portion forever in that place for which alone he is prepared!

Permit me, then, now to ask:

1. If the time had come for us to “give up our spirit,” where would we be?

This is a thought which ought frequently and deeply to occupy all our minds. Of individual people we can know but little; but respecting characters we may form a very correct judgment.

For instance, we know where the man who dies impenitent shall be, Luke 13:3; Luke 13:5.

We know where the man who has not fled to Christ for refuge shall be, John 3:18; John 3:36.

We know where also the hypocritical professor shall be, Matthew 7:21-23.

And if we will candidly search out our own character, we may form a very accurate estimate respecting our future destination. I beg you, then, to examine carefully into the state of your own souls, in reference to your penitence; your faith; your obedience to God’s commands; and then to say, as before God, what expectations the result of that inquiry will authorize?

Reflect, too, I beg you, on the inconceivable difference of those two states, to one of which you must go. Reflect also on the different emphasis with which the my text will be uttered by your surviving friends, according as their hopes or apprehensions respecting you are formed.

2. As the time for your giving up the spirit will shortly come, “Where should you now be?”

Are the scenes of gaiety and dissipation those which you should chiefly desire? Should not rather the house of God be the place where you should delight to resort? And should not your own closet be frequented by you for the purposes of reading scripture, and meditation, and prayer? In a word, should you not live as dying men, and improve your time in preparation for eternity? Realize the thought of your feelings in that day, when, in the eternal world, you shall say, “Where am I?”

O! the blessedness of that reflection, if you died in a state of acceptance with God; and the anguish it will occasion, if you died under his displeasure! I beg you, brethren, waste no more time in vanity and folly, but attend now to the great concerns of your souls; that, if the inquiry be made either here or in the invisible world, “Where is he?” the answer may be, “He is happy forever, in the bosom of his God!”

Charles Simeon

Job 12:5

“He who is ready to slip with his feet is as a despised lamp, in the thought of him who is at ease.”

The friends of Job meant well; but utterly mistaking his case, all that they spoke, though good in itself, was irrelevant, and tended only to aggravate his sorrows, which it was their professed intention to alleviate. The injustice of their remarks generated in him somewhat of resentment; though, considering how cruel and unjust their reflections were, we wonder not that his vindications of himself should assume somewhat of that character. But, passing by his barbed reprehension of them in verse 2, I would call your attention to the complaint which he utters in the words which I have just read. It was a just complaint, as it respected them; and it contains a truth, which is confirmed by universal experience.

To mark the precise import of Job’s expressions, I will set before you:

I. The evil complained of.

Job did not intend to deny that his friends were possessed of humanity, or to say that kind dispositions might not be found even in ungodly men; for, where distress is great and visible, and within the reach of common remedies, there are many who will find a pleasure in relieving it. It was not this which Job designed to controvert. To enter into the full meaning of his Words, we must distinctly notice,

1. The terms in which the evil is expressed.

The afflicted person is described as “He who is ready to slip with his feet.” Now, this is not the case with people in common afflictions. It refers to those only whose afflictions are of a peculiarly dark, complicated nature, contrary to the common course of things, or, at all events, contrary to what, according to the usual dispensations of Providence, might have been expected.

These trials lead a person to complain of God himself, and to question the justice and goodness of his dealings with them. Such was the state of Asaph, when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, and compared it with the afflicted lot of God’s own faithful servants. He said, “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Then he adds, “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence, Psalm 73:2-3; Psalm 73:13.” Here, by reason of his trouble, this godly man was ready to think that it was altogether in vain to serve the Lord.

Now, such a person meets with little compassion from those who have never experienced any similar affliction, “he is as a despised lamp, in the thought of him that is at ease.” That is, the man who is at ease in his circumstances and in his mind, cannot enter into the feelings of one who is thus dejected. He therefore looks upon the sufferer just as a man, after the sun is risen, looks upon a lamp in the street, from which he can reap no benefit, and about which he feels no concern. He will not get a ladder, in order to trim it; nor will he put himself to the expense of oil to supply it; nor does he care how soon it is extinguished. Like the priest and Levite in the parable, he passes by such a sufferer with unconcern, instead of getting oil and wine to pour into, and to mollify, the wounds of the sufferer.

This leads us to a just view of,

2. The evil itself.

Job was in such circumstances as his friends could not at all account for; yes, and he himself too was ready to complain of God, as acting unjustly and unmercifully towards him. Hence his friends, who came with a good design to comfort him, expressed in reality no compassion towards him, nor seemed to feel any concern, even though, by their unkind insinuations, they should drive him to despair. They did, indeed, give him good advice, on a supposition he was a hypocrite chastised of God for some secret and enormous wickedness; but, for a saint placed in the furnace, by a wise and merciful Refiner for his own good, and the good of all to whom his history should in future ages be made known, there was not, in all their advice, one word of comfort, or encouragement, or support.

They themselves, never having been involved in such trouble, could not understand his case. When Job shined as the sun in his prosperity, they could avail themselves of his light, and bask with pleasure in his beams; but, now that he was under so thick a cloud, they regarded him only “as a despised lamp,” which, having been shorn of its luster, was left to be extinguished in utter darkness.

And such is the treatment generally given to people who are circumstanced as Job was. Their sorrows being so little understood, they find but little sympathy. Even godly people know not how to meet their case, or what to say for their relief. The blow, which has struck down the sufferer, has stunned and stupefied those who, under less complicated afflictions, might have been able to comfort him; and hence he is, for the most part, left without those compassionate attentions which his sorrows require, and perhaps is regarded as one whose troubles admit not of any consolation, and of whose restoration to happiness there is no hope.

This evil prevailing so generally, I will endeavor to show,

II. The state of mind which it manifests.

Certainly it denotes,

1. A lack of Christian knowledge.

By Christian knowledge, I mean the knowledge of Christ Jesus, and of all the wonders of His redeeming love. Doubtless, a man may have a speculative knowledge of the Gospel, and yet be a stranger to the tender feelings of sympathy in such a case as this; (for even the devils possess a speculative knowledge of the Gospel, to a great extent,) but a practical and influential knowledge he possesses not.

How can he ever have duly contemplated the compassions of Almighty God towards our fallen race? Can he have ever been astonished with the Father’s love towards us rebellious creatures, and yet feel no pity towards a suffering brother? What sense can he have of the tender mercies of our Lord, when he undertook to assume our fallen nature on purpose that he might “bear in his own sacred person our sins, and, by bearing, take away our iniquities from us forever, Isaiah 53:4.”

What, I say, can he know of the length and breadth and depth and height of this immeasurable love, and remain insensible to the needs and miseries of others?

I may further add, What can he know of “the love of the Holy Spirit” towards us, in undertaking for us the office of “a Comforter,” and dwelling in our polluted bosoms, as in a temple, for the express purpose of administering consolation to us, and of perfecting in us the work which the Father planned, and the Son executed, and which He, the third Person in the ever-blessed Trinity, applies?

When all this love has been shown to us on purpose to generate in us a similar love towards each other, John 15:12-13. Ephesians 5:2—what can he who has no sympathy for others, know of this stupendous mystery? If it is true respecting those who sympathize not with others in their bodily necessities, that “they have not the love of God in them, 1 John 3:17,” then much more is it true, that those who have no compassion for a brother under the pressure of spiritual troubles, can possess but little knowledge of that mystery which unites all in one body, and causes every member to participate in the feelings and necessities of the whole body? 1 Corinthians 12:25-26.

2. A lack of Christian experience.

Some find comparatively few conflicts in the divine life. Others have to maintain a severe warfare, by which they are often reduced to great straits. Now, it is to these latter that I refer, when I speak of Christian experience.

It is by no means uncommon for people, at their first awakening, to be bowed down with fear and terrible apprehensions of the divine displeasure. It was thus with the first converts on the day of Pentecost, “they were pricked to the heart; and cried out in great agony of soul: Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

In subsequent stages of the divine life, too, many are brought into deep waters, where, like David, they are apprehensive of being swallowed up, and utterly destroyed! Psalm 69:2. They “pass through fire and through the water, Isaiah 43:2;” and if they were not succored from on high by more than ordinary communications of grace, they would sink and perish.

Now, these people can enter into the feelings of others who are cast down by reason of their afflictions; and can suggest to them many suitable reflections, such as perhaps the angels suggested to our Lord, when tempted in the wilderness, Matthew 4:11, and when agonizing in the garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22:43.

But the man who has no sympathy with people under such circumstances, shows, that he knows but little either of temptations or deliverances; since these deep experiences are given to some for the express purpose that they may thereby be both qualified and disposed to administer to others the consolations with which they themselves “are comforted by God, 2 Corinthians 1:4-6.”

3. A lack of Christian sympathy.

The very essence of Christianity is love; and it is “by bearing one another’s burdens that we very principally fulfill the law of Christ, Galatians 6:2.” But how can we fulfill that law, if we do not “rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep? Romans 12:15.” Or how can we possess “true and undefiled religion, if we do not visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction? James 1:27,” and endeavor, according to our ability, to “lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees, and to make straight and smooth paths? Hebrews 12:12-13,” for “the feet of those who are ready to slip?”

It was peculiarly characteristic of our blessed Lord, that “he would not break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax, until he should bring forth judgment unto victory, Isaiah 42:3.” If we do not resemble him in his compassionate regard for his afflicted saints, whatever we may profess, “we have not the mind that was in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:5.”

Behold, then,

1. The benefits of affliction.

“Affliction, doubtless, is not joyous, but grievous;” but it qualifies us for services for which we would be otherwise unfit. Our blessed Lord was tempted in all things like unto us, sin only excepted, on purpose that he might be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and be qualified (so to speak) “to support those who are tempted, Hebrews 2:17-18;” and from that very consideration we are encouraged to come to him for relief under our troubles, Hebrews 4:15-16. Shall we not, then, be content to learn in the school of adversity, the lessons which he designs us to convey to others?

We trust that Job, if he were on earth again, and knew how many millions of souls his example has instructed, would readily submit again to the same discipline, in order to communicate the same blessings to mankind. And we also may well descend with David into the horrible pit and miry clay of despondency itself, if only, with him, we may have “a new song put into our mouth, which many, beholding, may fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Psalm 40:2-3.”

2. The excellency of the Gospel.

Under the gospel dispensation we have a perfect antidote to all the afflictions, even such as Job afflictions. We have a far greater insight into the nature of God’s dispensations, than they had under the darker ministration of the Law. The compassions of Christ do, in fact, dispel every cloud; and bring such light into the soul, that it may be said of all who view them aright, “Unto the godly there arises up light in the darkness, Psalm 112:4;” and every believing soul may say, “When I walk in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me! Micah 7:8.”

Yes, brethren, “there is balm in Gilead”—there is balm for every wound. Only study the Gospel, and get your souls filled with a sense of redeeming love, and every storm you encounter shall only forward you to your desired haven, and every furnace you endure shall only purge you from your dross, and “fit you, as vessels of honor, for the use of your Divine Master! 2 Timothy 2:21.”

Of those who come to Heaven, as all, more or less, must be content to do, through much tribulation, not one ever did, or ever shall, complain, that his trials have been too great. Our passage to Heaven may be laborious; but our eternal rest shall amply compensate for all our labors!

Charles Simeon

Job 11:7-9

“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.”

We are grieved to see a godly man, under circumstances that should have called forth nothing but tenderness and compassion, run down and persecuted by his own friends, and those friends men of great intelligence and real piety. But human nature, notwithstanding it may have been renovated by divine grace, is still imperfect; and, if left under the influence of any mistaken principle, we may pursue evil with earnestness under the semblance of good, and may provoke God to anger, while we imagine that we are rendering him the most acceptable service.

The friends of Job were eminently enlightened men; yet all in succession act towards him the part of enemies; and each in succession, with increasing acrimony, condemns him as a hypocrite before God. How painful is it to hear this address of Zophar, “Will your idle talk reduce men to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock? verse 3.”

But, while we lament the sad misapplication of their arguments to the point in hand, and the bitterness of spirit with which they were urged, we must still avail ourselves of the instruction they afford us, which in some respects is equal to any that is contained in the sacred volume.

Zophar supposed that Job had complained of God as acting unjustly towards him; and, if he had been right in his interpretation of Job’s expressions, the reproof he administered would have been just and beneficial. His error in relation to Job’s real character divests his observations of all force in reference to him; but they deserve the strictest attention in reference to ourselves. From them we are naturally led to notice:

I. The incomprehensibility of God.

Well does David say, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable! Psalm 145:3.”

1. God is unsearchable in his attributes.

Men will often talk of God, and lay down laws for him, just as if they had the most perfect knowledge of him, and of everything relating to him. But our knowledge of God is altogether negative: we know that he is not unwise, not unholy, not unjust. But we have no definite understanding of his attributes. What notion have we of his natural attributes of eternality or immensity? None at all. So of his moral perfections, of justice, mercy, goodness, truth—we, in fact, know as little. We contemplate these qualities as existing in man, and are enabled to estimate with some precision their proper bearings; but, when we come to transfer these qualities to God, we are much in the dark. We are guilty of great presumption when we prescribe rules for him, and bind him by laws that are suited for the restrictions or human actions. “He dwells in the light which no man can approach unto;” and presumptuously to ascend the mount of his habitation, or to look within the ark, is death, Exodus 19:12-13. 1 Samuel 6:19.

2. God is unsearchable in the dispensations of his providence.

These we see; but no one of them do we understand. This was as strongly affirmed by Job himself as by his friends. Compare Job 5:9; Job 9:10 with the text.

Who will pretend to account for God’s conduct towards our first parents, in allowing them to be overcome by temptation, and to entail sin and misery on all their posterity?

Who will undertake to declare all the consequences that may arise from anyone event, however trivial, or all the motives which exist in the divine mind for the permission of it?

We are apt to speak of things as great and small, because of the degree of importance that we attach to them; but there is nothing great, nothing small, in the estimation of God. Whoever meditates on the history of Joseph, or the facts recorded in the Book of Esther, will see that the most casual and trifling circumstances, as they appear to us, were as important links in the chain of providence, as those which bear the clearer marks of counsel and design

The rejection of the Jews, the calling of the Gentiles, and the restoration of the Jews to the favor of their God, are events of vast magnitude in human estimation; but what the Apostle says in reference to them, is in reality as applicable to the events of daily occurrence, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:33-36.”

3. God is unsearchable in the operations of his grace.

Let that first act of grace be surveyed—the destination of God’s only dear Son to be the surety and substitute of sinful man;

let the whole covenant of grace be contemplated;

let every act of grace from the foundation of the world to this present moment be scrutinized

—what do we know of any of this?

Let it be inquired, why God puts a difference between one nation and another, and between one individual and another;

let the mode in which divine grace operates upon the soul be investigated, so as to distinguish in all things the agency of the Holy Spirit from the actings of our own minds;

who is sufficient for these things?

Who is not a child and a fool in his own estimation, when he turns his attention to them? We would address our text to every man, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea! Job 11:7-9.” “Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out! Job 37:23.” “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God! 1 Corinthians 2:11.”

II. If God be so incomprehensible, then we may see the folly of presuming to sit in judgment upon Him.

This was the particular drift of Zophar’s admonition. He conceived that Job had complained of God as unjust towards him; and therefore, having solemnly warned Job, that “God had exacted less of him than his iniquities deserved,” he proceeded to elaborate upon the character and ways of God as far exceeding all human comprehension, and to show unto Job the folly of arraigning the conduct of the Most High God. In prosecution of his argument, Zophar shows:

1. How impotent we are to resist his will.

God is almighty; and, if he is pleased “to cut off” a man’s family, “or to shut him up” in darkness and distress, “or to gather together” his adversaries against him, then “what power has any man to hinder him?” We may dispute against him; but we cannot divert him from his purpose. We may complain and murmur; but “we cannot stay his hand.” “He does according to his will in the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth;” and, “whatever his counsel may be—that shall stand!”

What folly then is it to be indulging hard thoughts of him, and to be maintaining a stoutness of heart against him, when we know beforehand that we can never prevail, that we only kick against the goads, and that the only way of averting his wrath is to humble ourselves before him! Think, all you who now repine, “Will your hands be strong in the day that he shall deal with you! or will you thunder with a voice like his!”

2. How impotent we are to escape his judgment.

God sees all the rebellious motions of our hearts, and will certainly call us into judgment for them! Here then, is a strong additional reason for not presuming to condemn him. To know that the indulgence of such a rebellious spirit will not avert his displeasure, is quite sufficient to suppress all risings of heart against him. But to know that it greatly increases his displeasure; to know that he marks every rebellious thought that springs up in our minds, and “that he considers it” with a view to a just and awful retribution—surely this should make us extremely cautious how we thus ensure and aggravate our eternal condemnation! On this subject we shall do well to remember the warning which God himself gave to Job, “He who reproves God, let him answer it! Job 40:2.”

3. How destitute we are of anything that can qualify us to presume to sit in judgment upon God.

What is “vain man, that would be wise?” What? “He is born” as stupid, as unteachable, and as refractory “as a wild donkey’s colt! Jeremiah 2:23-24.” Were he of the first order of created intelligences, he could know nothing of God any further than God was pleased to reveal himself to him. But he is a being of an inferior order, and that too in a fallen and degraded state, “having the eyes of his understanding darkened” by sin, and “blinded by the god of this world;” yes more, having also a thick impenetrable “veil over his heart.”

What then can such a creature pretend to know of God, that he should presume to sit in judgment upon him, and to arraign his conduct?

We know how incompetent a little child would be to comprehend and sit in judgment upon the designs of a great statesman; yet is there no distance between those, in comparison with the distance which exists between God and us. Let us bear in mind then what we ourselves are; and that will most effectually repress our arrogance, if we are tempted to judge God.

As the obvious improvement of this subject, let us learn,

1. To receive with meekness whatever God has revealed in His Word.

We are no more to sit in judgment upon God’s Word, than upon his providence or grace.

If once is be ascertained that the Scripture is a revelation from God—then we are to receive it with the simplicity of a little child. We must indeed use all possible means to attain a clear knowledge of the meaning of Scripture, as well as to assure ourselves that it is of divine origin. But we must never twist the word, and put an unnatural construction upon it—simply because we do not fully comprehend it. We must rather look up to God for the teachings of his Spirit, and wait upon him until he shall be pleased to “open our minds to understand the Scriptures.”

Did we act thus, setting ourselves against no truth that God has revealed, but receiving with humility whatever he has spoken, then we would no longer behold the Church torn into parties, and the minds of men embittered against each other by controversies. Let us remember:

that “the riches of Christ are unsearchable!”

that “his love surpasses knowledge;”

and that however deep our knowledge of Scripture may be, there will always remain many things difficult to be understood;

that our wisdom is, first, to improve for our benefit all that is clear;

and then, in reference to the rest, to say, “What I know not now, I shall know hereafter.”

2. To bear God’s afflictions with patience.

Our impatience does, in fact, reflect upon God either as unjust or unkind. But if we considered how “little a portion is heard of him,” that “his footsteps are not known,” and that those things which we deplore as calamities are sent by him in love for our eternal good—then we would not only submit with patience to whatever he might lay upon us, but would adore him for it as an expression of his love.

The outcome of Job’s trials is proposed to us in this very view, as the means of composing our minds, and of reconciling us to the most afflictive providences, James 5:11. If Job were now to live on earth again, and were to see all the benefit that has resulted both to himself and to the Church, and all the glory that has redounded to his God from the troubles that he endured—then how differently would he speak of them, from what he did when under their immediate pressure! What he has seen of God’s unerring wisdom and unbounded love, would make him justify God, yes and glorify him too, for all those trials which once he felt so insupportable.

Just so, if we now by faith learn to estimate the divine character aright, we shall welcome every dispensation however afflictive, and glory in our present troubles, under the sweet assurance that “our light shall before long rise in obscurity, and our darkness be as the noon-day.”

Charles Simeon

Job 10:7

“You know that I am not wicked.”

As painful as the consideration of God’s omniscience must be to the wicked, it is a rich source of consolation to those who are upright before him. Circumstances may arise, wherein they may not be able fully to vindicate their character to the world, even though they are perfectly innocent of the things laid to their charge. The defilement also which they sometimes contract by reason of their indwelling corruptions maybe such as to excite fears respecting the state of their souls; while they are maintaining a strenuous conflict with the whole body of sin. In such cases it will be a satisfaction to them to reflect, that their very inmost souls are naked and open before God; and that he can discern the integrity of their hearts, even when most clouded, either by unreasonable suspicions, or just occasions of doubt.

From God’s omniscience Job drew his consolation, when the dispensations of Providence seemed to justify his friends in accusing him of hypocrisy; he could then appeal to God, and say, “You know that I am not wicked.”

We propose to show,

I. What we are to understand by Job’s appeal.

Job never intended to assert that he was possessed of sinless perfection.

God had indeed honored him with the title of a “perfect man.” But in the very same place, the import of the term “perfect” is limited and explained by the word “upright” united to it, Job 1:8. Perfection, in the Scripture use of the word, relates rather to our desires than our attainments; and denotes that growth in grace, which is found in those who have arrived at the full stature of a Christian, as distinguished from a state of infantile weakness, or youthful inexperience.

That Job did not deny himself to be a sinner, or still to be encompassed with sinful infirmities, is evident from the whole of the preceding context, where he repeatedly acknowledges, and deeply bewails, his own depravity, Job 7:20; Job 9:20-21; Job 9:30-31. Indeed his spirit at this time was by no means free from sinful impatience, verse 3; so that, if he had boasted of sinless perfection, he would have opposed the whole tenor of Scripture, 1 Kings 8:46. James 3:2. 1 John 1:8, and his own mouth would have condemned him, and proved him perverse.

1. He appealed to God that he was free from the sin imputed to him by his friends.

Job’s friends imagined that heavy judgments were never sent except as punishments of some enormous wickedness. What evils Job had been guilty of, they could not tell; but, as they saw him so grievously afflicted, they concluded that he must have indulged some secret wickedness, which God now intended to disclose and punish. They therefore, at a venture, accused him of hypocrisy, Job 8:13-14; Job 8:20. But he repelled the charge, and asserted, in opposition to them, his own innocence. David did the same in Psalm 7:3; Psalm 7:8; Psalm 26:1; Psalm 26:6. Just so did Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:10.

2. He appealed to God that he was on the whole, upright before Him.

He had sincerely endeavored to serve and please God; nor did his conscience accuse him of allowedly indulging in sin. In hopes therefore that the solemnity of an appeal to God would convince and satisfy his friends, he presumed to address God in the words of our text. Nor was this without an evident propriety; for, as the troubles which proceeded from God were considered as a testimony against him, he could not clear himself better than by appealing to the Author of those troubles for a testimony in his favor. To have done this merely to cover his guilt, would have been madness; for if he was already suffering the rebukes of God on account of his hypocrisy, he could expect nothing but a ten-fold load of misery us the reward of such aggravated impiety. Such an appeal therefore to the heart-searching God, upon a subject of which none but God could judge, was the best, and indeed the only means, of re-establishing his character in the good opinion of his friends.

But, that we may not be too hasty in making such an appeal, let us consider,

II. What is necessary to warrant Job’s appeal.

1. We ought to have the testimony of our own conscience that we are free from the practice of all allowed sin.

If we allow ourselves in the practice of any sin:

Then we are servants of sin, Romans 6:16.

Then we belong to Satan, 1 John 3:8.

Then we have no saving interest in the covenant or grace, Romans 6:14.

Then even the prayers we offer in such a state are an abomination to the Lord! Psalm 66:18. Proverbs 28:9.

It matters not whether the sin be open or secret, great or small; if we indulge it willingly, we oppose the authority of God, which is equally displayed in every commandment. It is no excuse to say, that such or such an indulgence is conducive to our comfort, or necessary to our welfare. If it is as useful as a right hand, or as precious as a right eye, we can never be sincere, if we do not pluck it out, and cast it from us! Matthew 5:29-30. In order to say with truth, “I am not wicked,” we must have “a single eye, Matthew 6:22,” and be Israelites indeed, without deceit, John 1:47.

2. We ought to have the testimony of our own conscience that we endeavor habitually to approve ourselves to God.

We may approve ourselves to our fellow-creatures, while there is much iniquity harbored in our hearts! If we would have a good conscience, we must act, not before men to be approved by them, but before God to be approved by him.

God’s will must be the authority for our obedience.

God’s Word must be the rule of our obedience.

God’s glory must be the end of our obedience.

1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:23.

We must have as much respect to the motives of our obedience, as to our words and actions. We must be careful to purge out all leaven, Luke 12:1. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, and to have the very thoughts of our hearts brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:5.

Without this we cannot say, “I am not wicked;” for that which is the root and summit of all wickedness abides within us. We have “a carnal mind that is enmity against God, Romans 8:7;” and however clean we may be in the outward appearance, we are inwardly like white-washed sepulchers, full of rottenness and all impurity! Matthew 23:27-28.

But in proportion to the difficulty of making this appeal is,

III. The blessedness of being able to make Job’s appeal.

Certainly such a consciousness of our own integrity must be a rich consolation to us,

1. Under any troubles that may come upon us.

Under the pressure of any heavy calamity, when God seems as if he were “bringing our sins to remembrance,” and especially in times of persecution, when our characters are traduced, and we are regarded as the most worthless of mankind; we find it a most painful addition to our grief if we think that we have brought the trial on ourselves by some misconduct of our own. But if, in either of these cases, we can appeal to God that we have sought only his glory, and endeavored to approve ourselves to him, we shall feel our trials greatly alleviated, and our spirits calmed. Never was a man more cruelly aspersed, or more virulently persecuted, than the Apostle Paul; yet the reflection that God knew his heart, and approved his conduct, made it appear “a light matter to him to be judged by man’s judgment, 1 Corinthians 4:3.” A similar consciousness will be productive of similar composure in all our minds, 2 Corinthians 1:12.

2. In the prospect of death and judgment.

None who have guilt upon their conscience can look forward to these seasons without pain and dread. But to him who can make this appeal to God, death and judgment have lost all their terrors. He has within himself a pledge of the felicity that awaits him. The judgment has already passed, as it were, with respect to him; and, while others have only a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation to consume them—he “knows that he has a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens! 2 Corinthians 5:1.” Not being condemned in his own heart, he has a just and Scriptural confidence towards God, 1 John 3:19-21.

Address,

1. To those who are living in any known sin.

Perhaps you have contrived so well, that you can defy man to lay any particular evil to your charge. But what will that avail, while God beholds the secret abominations of your hearts! To what purpose is it to say to your fellow-creatures, “You cannot accuse me,” when you are constrained to confess before God, “You know that I am wicked!” Reflect on the strictness of the trial that awaits you; and know, that God will bring every secret thing into judgment, whether it be good or evil! 1 Corinthians 4:4-5.

2. To those who think themselves in a good state before God.

It is by no means uncommon for men to “deceive themselves, by thinking themselves to be something, when they are nothing, Galatians 6:3.” The way to prevent this is to take the Word of God as the standard by which we try ourselves; and, to beg of God to search and try us. This is recommended by Paul, in order that we may have rejoicing in ourselves alone, and not merely in the good opinion of others, Galatians 6:4-5. If indeed we have in ourselves an evidence that we truly love and fear God, we may say, with Peter, “Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you! John 21:17.” But, after all, we should remember that whatever our estimate is of our own character, “Not he who commends himself shall be approved, but he whom the Lord commends! 2 Corinthians 10:18.”

Charles Simeon

Job 10:1

“My soul is weary of my life and loathe it! . . . I will speak out in the bitterness of my soul.”

Life is justly esteemed a blessing; and we are properly taught in the Liturgy to thank God, as well for our creation, as for our preservation, and redemption.

But to the greater part of mankind this world is a chequered scene at best; and to very many it is only a valley of tears. Had we seen Job in his prosperity, we would have been led perhaps to form a more favorable estimate of the present state; but there are changes in the affairs of men, as much as in the air and seas. The day that dawned with the most promising appearance, may be overcast with clouds, and blackened with tempests, before the sun has reached its meridian height! Thus it was with Job; the man that was the envy of all who knew him, was in a short space of time so reduced, as to exclaim, “My soul is weary of my life.”

I. We shall show that this is a common experience of men.

“My soul is weary of my life.” Daily observation proves that it is common,

1. Among the ungodly.

It arises from domestic trials. Who can tell what trouble:

a tyrannical or unfaithful husband,

a contentious or imprudent wife,

a rebellious or extravagant son,

an indiscreet or unchaste daughter,

may occasion?

There is scarcely a family to be found where something does not happen to embitter life, and to make death an object of desire!

From personal troubles also the same disquietude will spring. Pain and sickness, when of long continuance, and especially when accompanied with the infirmities of old age—cause many to wish for a speedy dissolution.

Poverty too, will so oppress the spirits, particularly when occasioned by one’s own extravagance or folly, as to make the soul weary of life. Yes, to such a degree are the minds of men oppressed by troubles of this kind, that a deliverance from them is frequently sought in suicide!

Even a mere sense of the emptiness of all earthly things will often fill the soul with disgust, and cause it to sigh for a release from the body, in which it finds no satisfactory enjoyment.

Many, in the midst of youth, health, and affluence, while moving in a constant round of amusements, and free from every external trouble—are yet so weary of life, that they would gladly part with it immediately, if they were not afraid of entering into the infernal world!

But, above all, a guilty conscience renders man “a burden to himself.” A person “weary and heavy-laden” with a sense of sin, and not knowing where to go for rest, is indeed a pitiable object. He wishes that he had never been born, or that he could be again reduced to a state of non-existence. If he might but be annihilated like the beasts, he would gladly accept the offer, and most thankfully forego all hope of Heaven, to obtain deliverance from the fears of Hell!

2. Among the godly.

Not even the most eminent saints are altogether free from this experience. They are not, while in the flesh, above the reach of temporal afflictions. They are not indeed overcome by every little trouble, like those who know not God. Yet they are not insensible to pain or pleasure; they have their feelings, as well as other men. Pains of body, loss of substance, bereavements of friends, injuries from enemies—may, when accumulated, cast them down; and produce, as in the case of Job, extreme dejection.

The weight of spiritual troubles is felt by these exclusively; nor can those who have never experienced their pressure, form any just conception respecting them. Who can describe the anguish that is occasioned by violent temptations, powerful corruptions, unsuccessful conflicts? What language can paint the distress of a soul under the hidings of God’s face, and the apprehensions of his wrath? Can we wonder that a person long exercised with such trials, should say, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then I would fly away, and be at rest! Psalm 55:4-6.” Surely “the spirit of a man may sustain other infirmities; but a wounded spirit who can bear? Proverbs 18:14.”

The commonness of this experience may well lead us to,

II. We shall inquire into the reasons of it.

“My soul is weary of my life.”

Many reasons may be assigned, but we shall limit ourselves to a few:

1. Impatience.

Job, whose patience is celebrated even by God himself, when borne down by the weight of his afflictions, cursed the day of his birth! Job 3:1-22, and longed exceedingly for death! Job 6:8-9; and would have been glad to have had a end put to his existence, even by strangling, rather than to have it protracted any longer in such misery! Job 7:15-16.

To the same source we must trace those hasty wishes, which we also are ready to form in seasons of great calamity. If “patience had its perfect work in us,” we should be willing to bear whatever God might see fit to lay upon us. But “in the day of adversity, the strongest of us are too apt to faint.”

2. Unbelief.

From this more particularly arose that weariness and aversion to life which the Prophet Elijah manifested, when he fled from Jezebel. He had encountered Ahab, and slain all the prophets of Baal, in dependence on the divine protection; but when this wicked woman threatened him, he did not take counsel from the Lord, but instantly fled into the wilderness; and, to get rid of all his dangers and difficulties at once, requested God to kill him! 1 Kings 19:4.

Had he felt the same security in God us on former occasions, he would have been quite composed, knowing assuredly that without God’s permission not a hair of his head could fall to the ground.

Thus when afflictions render us weary of life, we show that we have forgotten the promise of Jehovah to make all things work together for our good. When we know that medicine is operating for our good, we disregard the uneasiness that it occasions; we are contented even to pay for the prescriptions, from a confidence that we shall be benefitted by them in the outcome.

Just so, should we not welcome the prescriptions of our heavenly Physician, if we duly considered his unerring wisdom, goodness, and truth? Instead of repining and murmuring on account of God’s afflictive dispensations, we should rest satisfied that our heavenly Father knows best!

3. A forgetfulness of our real desert.

Man, as a sinner, deserves the curse of the law, and the wrath of God. Suppose we bore this in mind—would we not say, even under the most accumulated trials, “You have punished us less than our iniquities deserve! Ezra 9:13.” Would not a recollection of our desert of death and Hell constrain us to cry, “Shall a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Lamentations 3:39.”

Would Jonah have been so clamorous for death, and so ready to justify his impatience before God, Jonah 4:2-3; Jonah 4:8-9, if he had considered what he merited at God’s hands?

Just so, neither should we be so fretful under our sufferings, if only we bore in mind that instead of being put into the furnace of affliction, we should, if dealt with according to our deserts, be cast into the flames of Hell! We should learn rather to adopt the sentiment of the Church of old, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him! Micah 7:9.”

4. A disregard of the great ends of life.

It is truly humiliating to find not only such querulous, and almost doubtful, characters as Jonah, but the bold Elijah, the pious David, the patient Job—fainting in their trials, and longing for their death. But to this catalogue we must add another, even Moses, the meekest of mankind. Even this holy man, unable to bear up under the burdens imposed upon him, complains of them to God, and says, “If you deal thus with me, I beg you to kill me! Numbers 11:14-15.” Would he have offered such a petition if he had reflected on the benefits which had already accrued to Israel by his means, and, humanly speaking, the incalculable loss which they would sustain by his removal?

Just so, should not we also be more willing to endure our trials, if we considered what valuable ends might be promoted by our continuance under them? Perhaps we are not prepared to die; for people are most apt to wish for death when they are least prepared to meet it! For the sake of extricating themselves from some heavy earthly afflictions—many commit suicide and thus plunge themselves, both body and soul, into the everlasting miseries of Hell!

But, supposing that we are prepared, may not others be greatly edified by our example, our counsels, and our prayers? May not our own weight of glory also be greatly increased, by a due improvement of our light and momentary afflictions? 2 Corinthians 4:17. Is not this last consideration alone sufficient to reconcile us to a prolonging of our troubles, and a deferring of our heavenly felicity? For this sublime idea the author is in a measure indebted to a poor woman (so poor as to be supported by the parish), who, when in great pain, and almost in dying circumstances, replied (in answer to what he had suggested respecting the rest and happiness that awaited her), “True, Sir, but in some respects affliction is better even than Heaven itself; for, etc. etc.”

We may indeed be in a strait between the two; but we shall, like Paul, be willing to live, when we reflect how much better that may be both for ourselves and others, Philippians 1:23-24.

Towards lessening this common evil, we shall,

III. Prescribe some remedies for it.

The painful experience before described may be mitigated, and in many cases wholly prevented, by,

1. A due attention to our worldly callings.

People under the pressure of heavy afflictions are apt to give themselves up to sorrow, and to neglect the proper duties of their calling. By this means their minds become more and more enervated; their spirits sink, and they fall a prey to their sorrows; and die of a broken heart. But if, instead of thus yielding to lowness of spirits, they would employ themselves in their accustomed duties, their occupations would divert their attention from their troubles, and give scope and opportunity to the mind to recover its proper tone. Whether the troubles be of a temporal or spiritual nature, this remedy should be applied. We must not indeed go and plunge ourselves into business or amusement in order to get rid of reflection, (that would be to run into a contrary extreme;) but we should never be so occupied with our sufferings as to forget or neglect our duties. It is remarkable, that when God repeated to the fugitive prophet that expostulatory question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” he ordered him, not to sit any longer wishing for death, but to go about the business which yet remained for him to do; namely, to return to Damascus, and anoint Hazael to be king of Syria, and Jehu to be king of Israel, and Elisha to be his successor in the prophetic office, 1 Kings 19:15-16. And in the same manner, it befits us not to sit wishing for the spoils of victory, but to continue fighting until God shall call us to put off our armor!

2. A close walk with God.

It is strange that heavy trials which are sent to bring us to God, often prevail rather to drive us from him! We complain, “We are so overwhelmed with trouble, that we cannot think of our souls or compose our minds for supplication to God.” But we are particularly commanded to “call on God in the time of trouble, Psalm 50:15;” and to “cast all our care upon Him, who cares for us, 1 Peter 5:7.” We see in the instance of Paul how speedily our sorrows might be turned into joy, if only we would use this remedy, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

Surely one ray of the light of his countenance would dissipate all our darkness, and change our impatient murmurings into “thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” If we were bowed down with a sense of guilt—then one glimpse of Christ would remove the load from our conscience. If we were harassed with the fiercest temptations or most overwhelming fears—then one word from him would quiet the tempestuous ocean, and qualify us for encountering all the storms with which we might at any time be overtaken.

3. A frequent survey of Heaven.

A view of Heaven would indeed excite desires after the full enjoyment of it. But this is very different from the experience which is described in the text. Our longings after Heaven cannot be too ardent, provided we are contented to wait God’s time in order to possess it! 2 Peter 3:12. This is an important distinction, and most accurately marked by the Apostle Paul. He knew that Heaven was the portion prepared for him; and he earnestly desired to enjoy it, 2 Corinthians 5:1-3; but these desires did not spring from an impatient wish to get rid of his troubles, or to terminate his conflicts—but from a thirst after God himself, and the perfect fruition of his glory! 2 Corinthians 5:4.

Now this would be a most effectual remedy against the other. The brighter the views we had of the glory that awaits us—the less we would regard the sufferings of this present time!

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us!” Romans 8:18.”

If the years of labor and servitude appeared to Jacob only as a few days, because of the love he bore to Rachel, and the desire he had to possess her as his wife, Genesis 29:20, so will the tribulations which are appointed as our way to the kingdom, Acts 14:22, appear of little concern, when we look to the end of our journey, and the felicity we shall then enjoy!

Charles Simeon

Job 9:20-21

“Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life.”

In controversies of every kind, and more especially in those which relate to religion, the disputants are, for the most part, more anxious to obtain the victory, than to discover truth. Hence, instead of putting that precise construction on each other’s words which they were designed to bear—they labor to turn to their own advantage every expression of their adversary, and to derive from it an argument for the support of their own cause. Even good men are by no means so honest as they ought to be in relation to this matter, more especially when they become heated by opposition.

The friends of Job were exceedingly faulty in this particular. They first charged Job with hypocrisy; and then, when he asserted his own innocence in relation to that heinous sin, they represented him as asserting his freedom from all sin, and as justifying himself as a righteous person before God.

This was by no means the intention of Job; on the contrary, he here explicitly declares, that “no man can be just before God, verse 2,” and that he would stand utterly self-condemned if he should presume to arrogate to himself any such measure of perfection. He had stated in the foregoing verse, that if he should dare to contend with God, he could neither withstand his power, nor put himself into a capacity to make good his cause before him, verse 19; and now he renounces with abhorrence any such impious idea.

Of the former verse of our text, this is the plain and obvious meaning; and in the latter verse, the same idea seems yet more strongly, though not so plainly, stated, “Though I were blameless,” so far as not to be aware of any evil that I had ever committed, “yet would I not know my soul,” or pretend to know it as the heart-searching God does, “I would despise my own life,” and submit to any death, rather than presume to offer such an insult to the Majesty of Heaven. Thus he avows, in opposition to the charge that had been brought against him,

first, the folly of a self-justifying spirit,

and next, the impiety of a self-justifying spirit.

These two we propose to consider in their order:

I. The folly of a self-justifying spirit.

By a self-justifying spirit we understand, a persuasion of mind that we do not deserve God’s wrath and indignation; but on the contrary, that we do deserve his favor and blessing. Now supposing a person to indulge this spirit, what does he, in fact, affirm? He affirms, if not in words—yet by clear inference, what “his mouth must utterly condemn.”

1. The self-justifying man asserts that there is no truth in the Scriptures.

The Scriptures in every part either affirm, or take for granted, that man is a sinner, justly condemned, and standing in need of mercy at the hands of an offended God. Now to talk of perfection, or of being righteous before God, is to assert directly the reverse of what the Scriptures assert, and, consequently, to say that there is no truth in them.

But will anyone dare to speak thus concerning the sacred oracles? Will not his own mouth instantly condemn him as a proud and wicked infidel? Or, if he professes to believe the Holy Scriptures, and yet maintain the notion of his being righteous before God, will not his own mouth still condemn him as guilty of the grossest inconsistency? Believer or unbeliever, he must equally stand self-refuted, and self-condemned.

2. The self-justifying man asserts that there is no sin in his heart.

We ask not whether there be any flagrant iniquities that can be laid to his charge; it is sufficient if once, in ever so small a degree, in act, word, or thought, he has transgressed, or fallen short of, the perfect law of God; having offended thus far, he has broken the law, and is from that moment subjected to its curse! Galatians 3:10.

Now to be justified by the very law that condemns us, is a contradiction in terms; so that the person who pretends to be just before God must either deny that he has any sin in his heart, or maintain the contradiction before stated. If it is said, that he may imagine that the law admits of imperfections, and justifies us notwithstanding those imperfections, we answer, that we cannot make laws of our own, but must take the law as we find it; and that the law, being a perfect transcript of God’s mind and will, can be satisfied with nothing but perfect and perpetual obedience; and consequently, if ever we have transgressed it in the smallest measure, we are, and must forever be, condemned by it.

To deny the perfection of the law would be to deny the perfection of God, which is atheism. And to admit its perfection, and yet dream of justification by it, is such an absurdity, as every man’s own mouth must condemn. The only possible ground of being justified by the law must be, that we have no sin in our hearts; and, if any man dare affirm that, his own mouth has already proved him most ignorant and perverse, 1 John 1:8.

3. The self-justifying man asserts that he has no need of a Savior.

If he is righteous himself, he has no need to be clothed in another’s righteousness, nor any need of an atonement for his sins; consequently, as far at least as relates to that individual, God has sent his own Son in vain. And will any man say that God, in making his Son “an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world,” was under a mistake, and that for himself he needed no such exercise of mercy? Why then does such a man call himself a Christian? If he stood in no need of Christ, and is in a state of justification without Christ, he should cease to “name the name of Christ;” for while he continues to do so, his own mouth condemns him, and proves him perverse. “If righteousness comes by the law, then Christ has died in vain! Galatians 2:21.”

But let us proceed to notice,

II. The impiety of of a self-justifying spirit.

It was not without good reason that Job expressed such an abhorrence of the spirit that was imputed to him; for the indulging of it is,

1. An incrimination of God.

There is not an attribute of God which is not dishonored by a self-justifying spirit:

It impeaches and vilifies God’s truth; seeing that he has represented all to be in a state of guilt and condemnation before him.

It denies God’s justice; since he threatens all men with damnation, when there are some who do not deserve it.

It degrades God’s wisdom; since it supposes that his wonderful plan of providing a surety for us, and laying our sins upon him, was unnecessary.

It holds up to derision also God’s mercy and grace, which are proclaimed as incomprehensibly great and glorious, when the very offer of them is only an empty sound!

Hear what God himself says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar! 1 John 1:10.” Can anything be conceived more heinous than this? Should we not “despise our own lives,” and submit to ten thousand deaths, rather than be guilty of it?

2. A contempt of our own souls.

God has provided a salvation for us, and offered it freely to all who will accept it in and through his beloved Son; and has told us, that “there is no other name under Heaven whereby we can be saved,” but that of Jesus. And yet we choose to ground our claim of happiness on the purity and perfection of our own character, rather than submit to be saved in his appointed way.

But is not this madness? Will a man deal so with his temporal interests? Will he risk the loss of them upon a mere phantom of his own imagination, in direct opposition to the plainest dictates of his understanding? Surely, if men had the least value for their souls, they would not so trifle with them; they would at least endeavor to ascertain what degree of weight was due to their opinions, and whether there was any rational ground for them to expect God’s blessing in a way so contrary to his own most express and solemn declarations. But their total indifference about the outcome of their confidence shows that they account their souls of no value, or, as Solomon expresses it, “they despise their own souls! Proverbs 15:32.”

3. A trampling under foot the Son of God.

This is God’s own representation of the sin. In rejecting the sacrifice of Christ, there being no other sacrifice—we cut ourselves off from all hope of salvation! Yes, “we trample under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and do despite to the Spirit of grace, Hebrews 10:26-29.” What amazing impiety is this! We are apt to confine our ideas of impiety to gross sins committed against our fellow-creatures. But such sins as unbelief and self-righteousness we suppose to be of very little importance. But God estimates sin chiefly as it dishonors him, and more especially as it militates against that stupendous effort of his love—the redemption of sinners by the blood and righteousness of his beloved Son. Know then, that to justify ourselves, is to repeat, in fact, the conduct of those who crucified the Lord of glory; it is to say, “We will not have this man to reign over us.”

This subject may be further improved:

1. For our conviction.

Who was it that used the language in our text? It was Job, of whom God himself testified, that “he was a perfect and upright man.” And if he could not justify himself before God—then who are we, that we should presume to do so? Are we more perfect than he? Hear how he speaks of himself, a few verses after our text, verses 30, 31; and then see what our views of ourselves should be.

Nor was Job singular in his views of himself; the language of all the most eminent saints, both in the Old and New Testament, is precisely similar, Psalm 130:3. Psalm 143:2. Proverbs 20:9. Isaiah 6:5; Isaiah 64:6. Philippians 3:4-9 and especially 1 Corinthians 4:4. And such must be our views of ourselves also, if ever we would find mercy at the hands of God; we must “humble ourselves, if ever we would be exalted.”

2. For our consolation.

Some are discouraged at the sight of their own vileness, and are ready to think that such unworthy creatures as they, can never be saved. And such thoughts they might well have, if justification were, either in whole or in part, by any righteousness of our own. But “we are justified freely by God’s grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 3:24-26.” It is “the ungodly whom God justifies, Romans 4:5; Romans 5:6,” not indeed those who continue ungodly, but those who come to Christ in an ungodly state, desiring to be cleansed from the guilt and power of their sins; those people are justified the very moment they believe in Jesus, and from all the sins they have ever committed! Acts 13:39. Here indeed is abundant consolation for “the weary and heavy-laden” sinner; here indeed he may find rest to his soul.

Remember then what the Apostle has said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;” and that Paul himself, when he was a bloody persecutor and blasphemer, obtained mercy, on purpose that the extent and riches of God’s grace might be displayed in him, as a pattern and encouragement to all who should ever desire acceptance with their offended God, 1 Timothy 1:15-16.

Follow his example then, and believe in Jesus for the remission of your sins. Say, as the prophet encourages you to do, “In the Lord Jesus have I righteousness and strength;” for “in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and in him shall they glory! Isaiah 45:24-25.” The very name by which the Lord Jesus himself delights to be called, is, “The Lord our Righteousness! Jeremiah 23:6.”

Charles Simeon

Job 9:2-4

“How can a mortal be righteous before God? Though one wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?”

The fundamental doctrines of our holy religion are not like the deductions of human reason which leave a degree of doubt upon the mind; they correspond with something within us, which contributes to assure us that the things which we have received upon the divine testimony are unquestionably true. The inspired writers indeed, knowing by whom they were inspired, delivered without hesitation those things of which they had no internal evidence, as well as those which were confirmed by their own experience. Nevertheless there is a peculiar authority in their mode of declaring experimental truths; they make them a subject of appeal to their very enemies, and challenge the whole universe to deny the things whereof they affirm.

Thus it was with Job. Bildad had charged him with asserting his own perfect innocence, and accusing God as unjust in his proceedings towards him, “Does God pervert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice!” Job, in his reply, allowed the premises of his opponent, but denied the consequences which were deduced from them, “I know it is truly so;” that is, I know God will not pervert justice, “but” I deny that I ever intended to justify myself before God, or to harden myself against him; for I am as fully convinced of the folly of acting in such a manner, as you or anyone else can be, “How can a mortal be righteous before God? Though one wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?”

Job asserts two things in his reply:

I. Job strongly asserts the folly of justifying ourselves before God.

There are many who justify themselves before God.

Few indeed, if any, will deny that they have sinned; but all unregenerate people will deny that they deserve the wrath of God; at least, if, on account of some flagrant transgression, they are constrained to confess themselves liable to eternal punishment, they hope by some repentance or reformation to compensate for their sins, and to establish a righteousness whereby they may find acceptance with God.

This proceeds from an ignorance of God’s standard, the divine law.

“The law of God is perfect, Psalm 19:7;” “the commandment is exceeding broad, Psalm 119:96.” It extends not to actions only, but to the thoughts and desires of the heart “You shall not covet.” That is, you shall not harbor, you shall not even have an inordinate desire, Romans 7:7. This requires perfect and perpetual obedience, Galatians 3:10. On our failure in any one particular, it denounces a curse against us, Galatians 3:10; and from that period it can never justify us. It admits of no repentance on our part, or relaxation on God’s part, Matthew 5:18. It is as immutable as God himself; and it is owing to men’s ignorance of this law that they so foolishly build upon it as the foundation of their hopes!

None who understand God’s law will ever look for justification from it.

If among a thousand perfect actions, one only were found defective, it were sufficient to condemn us forever. But, if we will try ourselves by the law, we shall not find “one action of a thousand,” no, nor one in our whole lives that will not condemn us. If we should presume to “contend with God” respecting the perfection of our best action, how soon would he confound us!

We will venture to expose the folly of such presumption. Bring forth your action to the light; was there nothing amiss in its principle, nothing defective in the manner, nothing of a selfish mixture in its end? See if you can answer a weak sinful creature like yourselves; and, if you cannot, how will you “answer” the pure heart-searching “God!”

See then the folly of hoping ever to “be just with God;” and adopt the language of David, “Enter not into judgment with your servant; for in your sight shall no man living be justified! Psalm 19:12; Psalm 40:12; Psalm 130:3; Psalm 143:2.”

But there is another point in the text to which we must advert, namely,

II. Job strongly asserts the folly of hardening ourselves against God.

Those who justify themselves before God are equally prone to harden themselves against him.

This they do by their unbelief and impenitence; they will not give credit to the declarations of God concerning them. They think, in direct opposition to all that God has spoken, that he will never execute his threatenings against the transgressors of his law. They profess to hope that repentance will appease his anger; and yet they put off their repentance from year to year, and take occasion even from his mercy to sin the more against him!

The folly of this appears:

1. From the character of God.

If God were ignorant of what passes in our minds, or unable to punish us for our sins—then we need not concern ourselves so much about him. But are “the thick clouds a covering to him, so that he cannot see us? Job 22:13-14.” “Are we stronger than he, so that we can provoke him to jealousy, 1 Corinthians 10:22,” without any fear of his resentment? No! “he is wise in heart, and mighty in strength;” he beholds the most secret emotions of our hearts, and will surely call us into judgment for them.

What folly is it then to “harden ourselves against him,” when “neither rocks nor mountains can conceal us from him,” nor the whole universe combined deliver us from his hands! Daniel 4:37. Proverbs 11:21.

2. From the experience of men.

“Who among all the sons of men ever prospered,” while he lived in an impenitent and unbelieving state? Many indeed have been wealthy and powerful, Psalm 73:3-12; but who ever had solid peace in his conscience? Who ever had real comfort in a dying-hour? Who ever had happiness in the eternal world? This is the only prosperity that deserves our notice; and, in this view of it, the question in the text is unanswerable.

But, if we cannot tell of one who prospered, can we not recount multitudes that have been marked as objects of God’s most signal vengeance? Was not the rebellious Pharaoh visited with ten successive plagues, and drowned at last, with all his army, in the Red Sea? Exodus 9:17; Exodus 14:17; Exodus 14:28. Was not the vain-glorious Nebuchadnezzar changed, as it were, into a beast for the space of seven years for his impious boasting against God? Daniel 5:20-21. Was not his son Belshazzar warned by a hand-writing on the wall, in the midst of his lewd, drunken, and blaspheming revels; and, agreeably to the prediction, dethroned and slain that very night? Daniel 5:22-28; Daniel 5:30. But why do we mention individual instances, when we are told, that “every one who, after repeated reproofs, hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy! Proverbs 29:1.” Who that considers this denunciation, must not confess that such opposition to a God of infinite wisdom and power is madness itself!

These things then being clear, the following advice cannot but approve itself to the consciences of all.

1. Be attentive to the concerns of your souls.

To “repent, and believe the Gospel,” was the command which Jesus himself gave to his hearers; and it is as necessary for you as it was for them. But it may be thought that an attention to spiritual concerns will interfere with your worldly prosperity. This however is not a necessary consequence; there can be no doubt but that, if you serve God faithfully, the world will hate you; but prudence and diligence may advance your temporal interests even in spite of the world’s hatred.

Be it so, however; your temporal and spiritual welfare, we will say, are in direct opposition to each other; can it be doubted which you should prefer? Is not the soul of more value then ten thousand worlds? Seek then the prosperity which God approves, and which will continue forever.

2. Study the Gospel in particular.

It is the Gospel alone that can enable you to answer that important question, “How shall a man be just with God?” That takes your eyes off from human attainments, and directs them to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is there “set forth as an atoning sacrifice for sin, that, through him, God may be just, and yet the justifier of penitent and believing sinners, Romans 3:24-26.”

From thence you learn, that Christ’s obedience unto death is a sufficient plea against all the accusations of God’s law; and that, if you are washed in his blood, God himself will not behold in you the least spot or blemish, Ephesians 5:25-27. It was from “the Gospel as originally preached to Abraham,” that he found out the method of a sinner’s acceptance with God, Galatians 3:6-9. All the Apostles acquiesced in this way of salvation; they all renounced their own works in point of dependence, and sought for saving mercy through faith in Christ! Galatians 2:15-16. Let the Gospel then, whether as written by the first ministers of Christ, or as preached by those who now follow their steps, be your meditation and delight; so shall you find support under the most accumulated trials, and be accepted by your God in the day of judgment!

Charles Simeon

Job 8:8-14

“Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding? Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the hypocrite shall perish! What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider’s web!”

Religious controversy is rarely carried on with that meekness and candor, which are necessary to render it profitable to the soul. Even in such a sacred subject as religion, the generality seek for victory rather than for truth, and put such a construction on the expressions of their adversary as to distort his opinions and to calumniate his views.

The friends of Job, though good men, were guilty of this to a very great extent. In the chapter before us, Bildad begins his reply with a most unjustifiable misconstruction of all that Job had spoken; and accuses him of having represented God as “perverting justice;” when Job certainly never intended to make so impious an assertion. But still we must remember, that the general opinions of Bildad were just; and that, if Job had really been such a character as his friends imagined, the warnings which they suggested, and the advice which they gave him, were on the whole both beneficial and good.

In order to enter fully into the meaning of the words before us, we must particularly bear in mind that Bildad regarded the sons of Job as ungodly, and Job himself as hypocritical. Compare Job 4:7-11; Job 5:3-5 with 8:4, 6. In this view, he designates the former as “forgetting God,” and the latter as having acted “the hypocrite” before him; and both the one and the other he compares to “a reed,” which, when deprived of water, withers in a very short space of time.

I. We shall consider this comparison in reference to those who manifestly forget God.

Here, as we have observed, we must keep in view the precise character which Bildad considered as belonging to the sons of Job.

They were presently living in ease and affluence, happy in their family connections, and blessed with an abundant measure of harmony in their domestic circle. The apprehension which their father had, lest his sons should by any means have been led to dishonor God in their mirth, Job 1:5, shows that they were not, in his opinion at least, possessed of solid piety; while, on the other hand, it showed that they were not decidedly wicked. Now people of this description are very numerous, “There is a generation,” says Solomon, “that are pure in their own eyes, but are not washed from their filthiness, Proverbs 30:12;” they fill up their stations in life with credit to themselves, and with benefit to all around them; they are irreproachable in their character, as men of honor and integrity, of kindness and benevolence, of decency and decorum; and in all these respects they are, “like the rush in the mire, green and flourishing.”

In their prospects also and their expectations, they are happy. Not anticipating evil, they look forward to fresh gratifications, like travelers in a rich and fertile country. In early youth they form optimistic hopes of settling in the world; and then of advancing their rising families; and thus, having always some fresh object in view, they run their career of pleasure or ambition, and conclude that, at the termination of it, they shall stand as high in the approbation, of their God, as they do in the estimation of their ignorant fellow-creatures.

In their end an especial reference is made to them. Those of the foregoing character, while living in their proper element, the world, flourish; but when, through illness or misfortunes, they can no longer enjoy the world, like the rush in a season of drought, they wither; they need “not be cut down” by great calamities; small trials suffice to rob them of all their verdure, and to reduce them to a very pitiful and drooping state. “In the fullness of their sufficiency they are in straits, Job 20:22;” and they are compelled, however reluctantly, to inscribe on every created enjoyment, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity and vexation of spirit!”

But, if we look to the period of their departure hence, we shall find the text yet more awfully verified in them; then indeed “all their hopes perish, even as a spider’s web!” We have a most remarkable illustration of their state in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man seems to have been much such a character as we suppose these to be; he “lived to the flesh rather than to the Spirit,” and “to himself rather than unto God.” This was the rich man’s sin; (we charge him wrongfully, if we accuse him of oppression;) and it is the sin of those we are now speaking of, Romans 8:5; Romans 14:7-9 and 2 Corinthians 5:15.

They “forget God.” They forget, that God is entitled to all their love, and to all the service which they can possibly render to him; they forget, that, as he is the Author, so he should be also the End, of their being; and that, “whether they eat or drink, or whatever they do, they should have a single eye to his glory.” The end of such a course is seen in the rich man; who was no sooner taken from his present enjoyments, than he was cast into Hell, where he “lift up his eyes in torment, and entreated in vain for a drop of water to cool his tongue.” We find him too requesting that a messenger might be “sent to his five surviving brethren, to warn them, lest they also should come into the same place of torment;” for then he found, what during his life he would not believe, what must of necessity be the outcome of such a life; he found, what all must find, (either now by faith, or hereafter by their own actual experience,) that “the wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the people that forget God! Psalm 9:17.”

II. We shall consider this comparison in reference to those who make a hypocritical profession of serving God.

As under the former head we have kept Job’s sons in view, so here we must keep Job himself in view.

In Bildad’s opinion of Job we find the true notion of a hypocrite.

Job had maintained a high reputation for sanctity, and had shown a great zeal for God’s honor in relation to others; but, as Bildad erroneously thought, Job had neglected to consult it himself, or to live agreeably to his avowed principles.

This, though not the true character of Job, is a just description of many among ourselves; they profess to venerate religion, and show much zeal in the propagation of it; they pretend also to feel deeply, when any depart from the good way, and bring a disgrace on their holy profession.

Many professing Christians appear fine to others, but are themselves under the dominion of some besetting sin. They are secretly indulging pride, envy, malice, covetousness, lewdness, or some other bosom lust. They do not live near to God in their secret chamber, or aspire after conformity to His will as revealed in His Word. They are more anxious to appear pious, than to be so; and to be applauded by men, than to be approved by God.

Now these people, while carried on by a conceit of their own superior knowledge of divine truth, and a desire of establishing a character for piety, are, like the reed in the water, green and flourishing; they seem extremely rapid in their growth; and are regarded, both by themselves and others, as people of a higher order of being.

But the hopes of all such people are most delusive.

It rarely happens that a hypocrite continues long to deceive those who are intimately acquainted with his private habits. He cannot maintain a consistency of character, for lack of an inward principle of saving grace. Like the seed sown in ground where it “had no depth of earth,” or like the reed destitute of water, he withers away, and exposes both himself and religion to general contempt.

For the truth of this we may appeal to the records of former ages; yes, “though we are of yesterday and know nothing,” as it were, we must have seen it but too frequently in our own day; that a person of high expectation has declined from the right path. Hypocrites eventually “make shipwreck either of their faith or of a good conscience.” Lot’s wife was a monument of a hypocrite in the Old Testament, and Demas was a monument of a hypocrite in the New. Just so, similar monuments of a hypocrite are yet found in every church today!

Let us follow the hypocrite into the eternal world—what is his condition there? Alas! alas! However high he was in his own estimation or in that of others—he is now fallen indeed; and all his towering hopes are now swept away with the broom of destruction! Even while he is here carrying on his deception, though it is unsuspected by himself or others, and though his hypocrisy is not in act, but in heart only—he is “treasuring up wrath for himself” for “the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus!”

Possibly he may carry his hope with him into the eternal world, and almost presume to argue with his omniscient Judge. But “He will say to them, I never knew you! Depart from me, you who practice iniquity!” And then their state shall be so superlatively wretched, that those who sink the deepest into perdition are said to “take their portion with the hypocrites!”

“But the wicked will lose hope. They have no escape. Their hope becomes despair.” Job 11:20

“Where is the hope of the hypocrite, when God takes away his soul?” Job 27:8

O that we might all learn from this subject:

1. The importance of genuine piety.

We are not disposed to undervalue the blessings of worldly prosperity, or domestic happiness; but in comparison with eternal blessedness we must say that everything in this world is only as the dust on the balance. Yet the highest ambition of parents for their children is, to see them precisely in the way that Job’s children were, all with separate establishments, living in sweet harmony with each other, and in the vicinity of their parents, where all as one family, may augment and enjoy the happiness of the whole. This state also is regarded by young people of both sexes as the summit of their ambition.

But even in this life we see how soon their gourd may be withered by a worm at the root; and after this life, nothing remains of it, but a fearful responsibility for every hour that has been spent in a forgetfulness of God. Indeed, indeed, however the ungodly may scoff at genuine piety, there is nothing that deserves a thought in comparison with it. If the whole world is no adequate price for one single soul, it is madness to be bartering away our souls, as so many do, for the smallest trifles that can be presented to our view.

To all then, and especially to the young, I would say, Remember God, “remember your Creator in the days of youth” or health; and let “the life which you now live in the flesh, be by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself for you.”

But if you are still disposed to hold fast your delusive expectations, go and sweep away a spider’s web, and then reflect, how suddenly, and irrecoverably, it is destroyed! Then say with yourself, Such is my hope, and such will before long be the termination of it. “O consider this, you that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you! Psalm 50:22.”

2. The danger of self-deception.

We all see how others deceive themselves; yet none, of whatever class, imagine themselves to be in any great danger of self-delusion. But James tells us, that we may “seem to be religious,” and persuade ourselves that we are so, and yet “deceive our own souls, and our religion be worthless! James 1:26.” O remember, that we live in a deceitful world, and have an adversary whose wiles and devices are inconceivably subtle; and that our own “hearts also are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked!” Let the consideration of these things make you “jealous over yourselves with a godly jealousy.”

Do not be too confident that all is right with you; but say with Paul, “Though I know nothing by myself—yet am I not hereby justified; but he who judges me is the Lord, 1 Corinthians 4:4.”

Yet, if you have “the testimony of your own conscience that with simplicity and godly sincerity you have your conduct in the world, you may rejoice in it 2 Corinthians 1:12;” only “rejoice with trembling! Psalm 2:11.” And, bearing in mind that “God requires truth in the inward parts, Psalm 51:6,” beg of him to “search and try you, Psalm 139:23-24,” and to make you “Israelites indeed, in whom there is no deceit.”

Charles Simeon

Job 7:1

“Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?

Are not his days like those of a hired man?”

The precise connection of these words is not very clear; nor, as far as the sense of them is concerned, is it of any great importance to inquire respecting it. It should seem that Job, having been reproved by his friend Eliphaz for expressing too strongly and too impatiently his wish for death to terminate his troubles, here vindicates himself by an appeal to him, that, if a hired man looks forward with comfort to the rest that awaits him after his labors, then much more may Job desire rest under his great and accumulated afflictions.

But, waving any further consideration of this, I will endeavor to show:

I. What these questions import.

Wherever appeals are made to man in the inspired volume, we may be sure that the things asserted are true, and that they are deserving of particular attention. Those which present themselves to our notice in the text plainly imply:

1. That man’s time on earth is fixed by God himself.

The time of our birth is fixed by Him who formed us in the womb, and breathed into our nostrils the breath of life. Our continuance, also, in life is fixed. No man can deprive us of life until our appointed time is come. Nor can any man protract his existence upon earth one moment, when the appointed period of his dissolution has arrived. “No man,” says Solomon, “has power over the spirit, to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war, Ecclesiastes 8:8.” No, “his days are determined, the number of his months are with God, who has appointed his bounds, which he cannot pass, Job 14:5.” “Our times are altogether in God’s hands! Psalm 31:15;” and “all the days of our appointed time must we wait, until our change comes, Job 14:14.”

2. That during that time we have a work to do, and a warfare to maintain.

The word, “our appointed time,” is, in the margin, translated “our warfare.” The same word occurs in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, and is there translated, “warfare;” “Her warfare is accomplished;” and there the marginal reading is, “appointed time, Isaiah 40:2.” Without determining which is preferable here, we will include both.

We have a work to do, even “as a hired man,” who labors in the field. To serve our God, and to seek the salvation of our souls, are the great ends of life. In this work we must engage, not as laborers only, but as soldiers also; for we have corrupt propensities which must be mortified, and powerful adversaries that must be withstood. Our conflicts with these may well be called a “warfare;” for, indeed, we can never hope to overcome them, if we do not go forth to the combat, “in the strength of Christ, and do not put on the whole armor of God, Ephesians 6:10-18.”

During the whole period of our abode on earth this warfare must be maintained; nor must we ever put off our armor until our victory is complete. It cannot be supposed that God has sent us into the world merely to please and gratify ourselves, like the rich fool who said, “Let us eat, drink, and be merry!” There is not a hired man who does not know that he has some work assigned to him, nor a soldier who does not expect that he will have some conflicts to sustain; and every Christian must regard himself as invested with these characters, and, as of necessity, called to the performance of these duties.

3. That, at the expiration of that time, God will give us a recompense according to our works.

The hired man expects his pay, and the soldier expects his discharge, when they have completed the term for which they were engaged, and fulfilled the offices to which they were appointed. And we, also, may look forward, even as Moses did, to “a recompense of reward, Hebrews 11:26,” which our Divine Master will surely give to all his faithful servants.

Doubtless, whatever our labors or our conflicts are, it is “not a reward of debt, but a reward of grace, Romans 4:4,” that we are to hope for; but still God has graciously pledged himself that “our labor shall not be in vain, 1 Corinthians 15:58;” and he would even esteem himself “unrighteous, if he were to forget the works and labors of love which we have performed for his name’s sake, Hebrews 6:10.”

The import of the interrogations being sufficiently clear, let me point out,

II. What these questions suggest to every reflecting mind.

Whole volumes would not suffice for a full statement of this part of our subject. To mention only what is most obvious, they suggest:

1. That we should perform our appointed work with diligence.

We expect a hired man or a soldier to do this. If they were unmindful of their calling, or loitered in it, we would account them worthy of reproof. But their offices, however important, are not to be compared with those which we have to discharge; theirs relate to time and to mortals like ourselves; but ours relate to God and to eternity. Let us, then, at the commencement of every day, ask ourselves, “What have I to do for God and for my own soul this day?” And “whatever our hand finds to do, let us do it with all our might, Ecclesiastes 9:10.”

2. That we should sustain the trials that are allotted to us with patience.

There are trials in every situation of life, and especially in those which expose us to great fatigue and danger. No hired man or soldier expects to escape them. They are regarded as necessarily attached to the offices which such people have to perform.

And can we hope to escape them; we, whose work is so arduous, and whose warfare is so continued? We should be prepared for them, and have our minds fore-armed against them; and, bearing in mind who it is that has appointed them, and what he deserves at our hands—we should welcome every trial as a means of displaying our attachment to him, and of honoring that God whose servants we are.

3. That we may look forward to our dismissal from the body as a season much to be desired.

This, perhaps, is the primary idea intended in the text. At all events, the hired man welcomes the rest and recompense which await him after the labors of the day, just as the soldier does his discharge after a long and dangerous campaign.

What then should we do, whose rest will be so glorious, and whose recompense so great? Can we think of the approbation of our God, and not pant for the time when we shall hear him say. “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord!” Can we survey all the glory and felicity of Heaven, and the crowns and kingdoms that await us there, and not long for the period when we shall be invested with them? Paul “desired to depart, and to be with Christ, Philippians 1:23,” yes, and “groaned in spirit” for the time, “when, the earthly house of this tabernacle being dissolved, he should possess a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens! 2 Corinthians 5:1-3.

We, then, may exercise the same holy disposition; not, indeed, through weariness of life, but through desire of beholding our God face to face. Our wish must be, not merely to be freed from the storms and tempests of this present world, but “to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life! 2 Corinthians 5:4.

In a review of this subject:

1. We find matter for humiliation.

What if a hired man employed by us had performed his work, from day to day, as we have ours; of what reward should we account him worthy? Or, if a soldier in our army had discharged his duties as we have ours; what recompense would he receive at the hands of his commander?

Our zeal and diligence ought to have far exceeded those of the most industrious laborer and the most devoted soldier upon earth. Ah, brethren, the very best among us has need to weep in the review of all his past life, and even of the very best day that he ever spent, and the best services that he ever rendered. Arise, I beg you, to your duty; and redeem, as much as possible, the time you have lost.

What advice would you give to a man who was under sentence of condemnation, even though two or three months were yet to intervene before the execution of his sentence? Take that advice to yourselves, and follow it; and pray mightily to God, that your appointed time, whether it be short or long, may be so improved, as you will wish you had improved it, when you shall come to die.

2. We find matter for encouragement!

Had we to perform our work in our own strength, or to “carry on our warfare at our own cost,” then we might well despair. But it is not so. The Spirit of the living God has promised to us, to “help our infirmities;” and “he who has begun the good work in us has engaged to perfect it until the day of Christ, Philippians 1:6.”

Count not, then, your difficulties or your dangers, as though they were too great for you to encounter. Only go forth in the strength of Christ, and you may say to all of them, “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! Zechariah 4:7.”

Your weakness, if only you feel it as you ought, should rather be an occasion of satisfaction than of despondency; since, “when you are weak, then shall you be strong; and Christ’s strength shall be perfected in your weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.” After all, who can tell how few your conflicts may be? Perhaps your appointed time is already so near a close, that you have but a few days or hours to live. Be this as it may, “let your loins be girt, and your lamps trimmed, as those who wait for the coming of their Lord; that, at whatever hour he shall come, he may find you watching.” “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch!”

Charles Simeon