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Where was Peter when he denied Him? Why, with the rabble, warming himself by the fire. Ah, what have some suffered by a few evil companions at a warm fireside? especially in a public-house! We are to "watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation."

We remark further, Christian, if you deny Him, He does not deny you. He owns you for His, bearing witness with your spirit that you are "the children of God." He owns you in prayer. He says, "When they call, I will answer." He owns you in ordinances. He gives you communion with Him then, and enables you to say, "This is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven." He owns you in providences. Sometimes you may be at a distance from outward means: remember faithful Abraham, how God blessed him so as to render him the envy of all the surrounding nations. Those who fear God shall be blessed with faithful Abraham. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro in the earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him." How does God own you in tribulation! "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" He will own you in death, and this induced Baalam to say, "Let me die the death of the righteous." He will own you in the last day, before an assembled world, and will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant; Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you."

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Remember you are always under observation. monished, therefore, to say with David, "Make Thy paths straight before my face." God will not deny you in your retired walks, but you will not be happy there if God is not in all your thoughts. He will not deny you in your closets. God will be with you in your private devotions, in your praying in your families, and for your fellow Christians and Church members. The sanctuary of God will be a witness of your conduct. The table of the Lord will be a witness. God Himself will be a witness. But time forbids us to enlarge. May the Lord add His blessing to what has been said. Amen.

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II.

A GOOD MAN MISUNDERSTOOD.

(Delivered on Thursday Evening, July 11th, 1844).

"Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hası strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled."-JOB iv. 3-5

We read of Job's true friends who came every one from his own place, for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Yet how often has it been, while relying upon creatures, you have found them "broken cisterns which can hold no water," or broken reeds "which have not only deceived your hopes, but pierced you through with many sorrows!" Not Scripture only, but all observation and all experience in every period says, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of?" The three friends of Job, instead of easing his complaint, were all "physicians of no value;" and instead of relieving his distresses, "miserable comforters were they all." They poured oil upon his head indeed, but it was the oil of vitriol. Here one pretends to say he can keep silence no longer. He cries, "Who can withhold himself from speaking?" and addressed him in the words of our text, in which we have both commendation and censure; the one altogether true, and the other altogether false. But you will observe the commendation was not intended to soften the censure, but to enhance it. It is no unusual thing for persons to kiss when they are going to betray; like the long African serpent which licks and slobbers the victim he is going to swallow.

From the words of our text we consider, first, WHAT ELIPHAZ SAYS OF JOE'S REAL CONDUCT. This was highly commendable and

exemplary. "Behold thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees."

Job was a great man, very great, as you see in the first chapter. But this greatness did not raise him above the claims of duty, yea, it made him the more sensible of them. There are many who are blessed above others, who are only public scandals and disgraces. The more God does for them, the more they do against God; like vapours and exhalations, which only serve to eclipse the sun that draws them up. There are many called Right Honourables,' that ought to be called Right Horribles;' who render irreligion and vice current by the stamp of their influence and example. They are God's stewards, but not faithful to the trust; who seek to lay up for themselves what ought to be expended upon others. There are some who think it beneath them to regard their inferiors. But real goodness is the truest greatness, and real dignity is always condescending. It condescends to men of low estate. Job was a good man; and never from the beginning of the world to this hour was a good man to be met with who was useless. He who has the grace of God, has always a disposition to be useful; and we will add, he has also a capacity to be useful. He is in a happy measure qualified to glorify God; and serve his generation by his prayers, by the influence of his example, and by his life and lips.

We may remark here, that there were two ways in which Job exerted himself. First, by way of instruction. He had taught many; not a few, but many. When the ark was brought to Jerusalem, and placed for a season at Zion, David, you remember, offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord, he blessed also the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and then returned to bless his household. God says of Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, that they shall keep the way of the Lord." Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." We may be sure then that Job did not overlook the instruction of his servants. He could say, "If I did despise the cause of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant when they contended with me, what then shall I do when God riseth up? and when He visiteth what shall I answer Him ?" So then we are sure he would not neglect to instruct them. And he was so careful of his sons whenever they attended a festival in each other's house, that he always retired to pray, and offer

a sacrifice for them, saying, "Lest my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Would he then neglect their instruction? Indeed here "He who provided not for his own hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." It is false zeal that works abroad, and does nothing at home; that flames in the world, but goes out in dreadful darkness between God and the soul. But charity, which is allowed to begin at home, does not end there. So in regard to religion. First there is a personal, then family and domestic, then social and public solicitude. Job had instructed many-the poor, the young, and the old. We cannot determine the degree of knowledge he possessed, but we may be sure he was willing to communicate what he had received from God for this purpose, and in this he would be guided by his own convictions; for he has said, "Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding."

There is none but has opportunities of instructing others. Though he may not have many, yet he has some, if he is willing to avail himself of them. For a word fitly spoken, how good it is! What did the woman of Samaria accomplish by the invitation, "Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?" In our day you have many opportunities of instructing others. You may send forth the Gospel, distribute religious tracts, teach the poor children in the Sunday-school.

"O'tis a glorious privilege to save,

And he who scorns it is himself a slave."

Secondly, remark, Job exerted himself by way of consoling. "Thou hast strengthened the feeble knees." This language is metaphorical: it takes the members of the body and transfers them to the mind. For it is well known how depression makes the hands hang down and the knees to tremble; and where are the hands that never hang down or the knees that never tremble? The inference is, the effect of sympathy upon the mind. "Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees "-not exclusively-— as if he had done nothing by actions. Job was not one of those who said, "Go in peace, be ye warmed and be ye clothed, notwithstanding ye give them not the things necessary for the body." He did not live in word only, but in deed and in truth. But how much is accomplished by words properly applied ! How does the Gospel comfort us by the good news it brings under perplexing providences, under worldly cares, under

bereaving dispensations, under bodily distresses, diseases, and infirmities. How does it support the wounded spirit, when overpowered by a sense of unworthiness and guilt, and when borne down by doubts and fears and spiritual conflicts. In this state God sometimes gives His people the tongue of the learned, and enables them to comfort others in their tribula tions, with the comfort wherewith they themselves were comforted of God.

II. Observe WHAT IS SAID OF HIS ALLEGED INCONSISTENCIES. "But now it is come upon thee, and thou fainteth ; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled."

Job little imagined that he should stand in need of the consolation he had given to others. "Then I said I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand." But how was it? He exclaims, "I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came." You should always keep this in mind: the condition you see a fellow-creature in may be an emblem of your own very soon; you should say, "My neighbour has been bereaved of his child, and I may shortly be called to resign mine; I may soon lose my health, like my friend, and be made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights may be appointed me." Everything here is in perpetual change. Upon this, Solomon enforces charity. "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth; as much as to say, it may soon be your turn. So the Apostle to the Hebrews, "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body;" and in writing to the Galatians, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempt

The charge here insinuated was not true in regard to Job; and it was not kind, candid or just in Eliphaz to speak of him thus. It is true Job did use some improper expressions in the paroxysm of his distress: he even cursed the day in which he was born, but then how did he receive the tidings of his successive calamities? What disposition had he displayed when he arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed

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