162
Z I O iV ’ S LANDMARKS.
bo.som of the eternal rniiul, that led
Him to provide mercy for such help
lcf(3 sinners ! Unless He loves with
an everlasting love, and draws sin
ners with loving kindness, they are
undone forever.
J)raw me, O Lord with love divine.
And I will follow thee ;
Turn me, and on my darkness shine.
That I myself may see.
I. N. VANMETER.
EDITORIAL.
L. I. BODENHAMER, Editor,
WILSON, N. C., OLTOBEH 1, 1870.
“There the wicked cea«e from troubling;
and there the weary be an re.?t.
There the prisoners rest together ; they hear
not the voice of the oppre.ssor.
The small and great are there ; and the ser
vant is free from liis master.
VVlierefore i,s light given to him that is in
misery, and life unto the bitter in soul ;
Which long for death, but it comoth not;
and dig lor it more than for hid treasures ;
Whieli rejoice exceedingly, and are glad,
when they can tiiid the grave ?
Why is ligiit given to a man whose way is hid,
and whom God hath liedged in?
For my sighing coineth before I eat, and rny
roarings are poured out iike the waters.
For the thing which I greatly feared is come
upon me, and that which I was afraid of is
come unto me.” Job 3 : 17, IS, 1&, 20, 21, 22,
2ij, 24 and 2~> versos.
Job was a man .of singular, piety,
and more singular trial perhaps
than any other man ; he is supposed
to have lived in Idumea at a very
early period of the world. That
there was actually a man called Job,
there need be no doubt, and that the
character and trials of Job are clear
ly set forth in the three first chap
ters of his life or book of Job. Al
though he was actually arnau, yet he
was a ‘■^Pamble,” that is, his actual
life and trials were to represent the
Christian course or the church of
Curist as a body. Hence, be is
said to be perfect and upright, and
one that feared God and e.sehewed
evil. The perfection spoken of may
be a comparative perfection, or it
may be perfect in the inner roan,
ivhose aims and desires in all Chris
tians are to live in the perfect law
of Christ; and to tliis perfect law of
Christ, written in their hearts,
their outer man is daily arraigned
for trial. Hence, the bitterness of
Job’s life is so often spoken of in his
history, because his perfection, if
applied to his outer man, was only
a comparative perfection, that is,
his general conduct was better than
the conduct of men in general, vis
ibly .so considered, by all that were
ac(iuainted with him. A^'et, 4vhen
compared with the perfect law of
God, as Job was wont to do, his life
fell far short of being such a life as
to render him happy, but quite
miserable. Job’s way of looking,
however, was not God’s way of
counting perfection ; for God looks
at Job in Christ’s perfect righteous
ness, being com pi etc in Him, and so
S[>eaks of him when He introduces
Job to the world of mankind, and
calls the]attention of Satan to him
as a model man, one that fears God,
one that is iipriglit, one that is per
fect. Perhaps it was from tnis high
character given Job by the Lord,
that first brought 1dm under the
scorn and ridicule of the devil, and
his abettors. For so soon as God
announces Job’s cliaracter to the
world as aperfectand upright man,
tlie devil and the world of legal
professors, as they do yet, mistake
Cod’s view of Job in Clirist, tor
God’s view of Job (in Job,) and no
great wonder at this mistake in the
blind, for Job himself seems, at
times, to look at his natural or outer
life, to be the upright and perfect
life, attributed to him by God him
self, and seeing his enemies expect
ing such a life at his hands, in or
der that God should be true and
Job justified; and finding that
same war in his members that St.
Paul, tbe ‘‘chief of sinners” and the
“less than the least of all saint.s,”
found in his outer man, causing
him to do, in his visible roan, the
things tliat hisinvisihie roqu would
not do, and even hated and con
demned, and causing him to leave
undone many things that his spirit
ual man would do, brings Job in the
bitterness of his soul to curse the
day wherein he wuts horn. Job 3 :1.
This conduct of’ Job sheweth the
bitterness of bis outer life, called
his day the cursing of Job, was
simply condemning bis da}’’, that
is, first, tbe day, or night, or hour
that give to him an e.'iiistence in
time, and associated him with a
body of sin and death. Second, the
entire day of his life of corruption,
sin and vanity, his whole life in the
flesh, and all the desires of the flesh,
bo them small or great, are by Job,
in the one sentence of, “Let the day
perish wherein I w'as born, and tbe
night in which it was .said, There is
a man child conceived.” If Job’s
life had been one of uprightness in
the flesh, and perfect in its nature,
so that lie could have relied upon
any part of his life for justification, \
he could not have cursed his entire
day. Hence, he saith, “Let that
day be darkness ; let not God re"
gard it from above, neither let tlie
light shine upon it.”
Jo’-, like all Christians, here looks
upon his life in the flesh, as a dark
history, a very poor picture of a
perfect man, but like the honest
penitent, confesses to the dark like
ness of his human nature, and saith,
my whole life in the flesh, or the
day of my natural existence is to
ray inner man very dark, and every
step I take is marked with sin. But
what shall I say? Can I deny,
when mine enemies say ot me, yonr
life is a dark one ? No, never, hut
I will say, “Let tliat day be dark
ness.” I am as willing to condemn
it as you are, and grieve much more
over it tlian any one else. Yea,
and can say, moreover, “Jet not
God regard it from above.” Job
here does not wish God to sacrifice
Hisjustice to regard or favor his
course, but coni'esses and resigns all
to His mercy. Y"ea, he sets about
rather to cry down his life than jus
tify it, for saith he, “Let darkness
and the shadow of death stain it ;
let a cloud dwell upon it ; let the
blackness of the day territy it.”—
That i.s, it is so corrupt it is fit tor
nothing else; it does not honor
God, and I therefore wish it .stain
ed out of existence by darkne.ss and
the shadow of death. So Job con
tinues bis denunciations of his evil
life on down to the grave, and says,
‘ ‘T h ere the wicked cease' froni ftro-u b-
ling, and there the weary be at
rest.”
The word ^‘zdokerf” embraces not
only men and devils thatannoy us,
but it includes all of our inbred
sins that break out of our nature
like burning volcanoes, casting
forth our inward corruptions ; these
areas miieli the “wicked” as visi
ble organized bodies of animated
matter. Hence, the Christian, like
Job, is often in bitterness of soul,
cursing or condemning the day in
which he was born. But surely tbe
lot of somechri.stians is harder than
others. Job’s trials as a man, were
evidently greater than vvere Enoch’s;
bis afflictions were unequalled in
the history of man, yet he was as
surely the child of God as was
Enoch. Peter met with more diffi
culties than John, yet they were
both disciples ; and so it is yet, some
poor dear children of God,.like Job,
are surrounded with such a muUi"
tude of afflictions that you scarcely
can touch them, from the sole of
the foot to the head, except you
touch a sore or a scar, that is, their
entire life i.s surrounded with such
circumstances that every thing they
•say, or do, or think, is only pro
ductive of pain. Yea, they often
think that all their trials are be
cause of God’s disapprobation to
them, and the many temptations
and sins \n»u feel, and the corrnp"
tion you see iti yourself will yet
banish you from your dear Saviour,
But oh, poor, tempted, viistresseil
and tried, ye fearful, that are ready
to faint by the way, come give me
your hand, and let us sing :
“Hosanntvb with a c'hucrfiil souiul,
To God’s uphokhaf; Isand I
Ten thousaod snares attend u.s round,
And yet sceare we stand.’'’
Job’s trials were such that notb-
inoearthW could comfort him, the
riatund pleasures of life were swaL
lowed up in adversity—he could
see nothing in lime and sense, to
count hi.s stay or to make life a
pleasure to him. Hence he views
the grave as the only end of his
bitterness, and the only chance to
he rid t>f the burden of a heavy
heart ; the oidy dwelling of peace
to him, for saith he, “There the
weary be at rest.” Oh ! ye resting
dead, will you admit one more
poor, wayworn, tried, heavy laden,
disquieted pilgrim, whose hopes are
cut off from the living? Will voa
admit me, as a prisoner of silence
and forgetfulness, that! I may rest
with you, when the wicked will
cease to ever trouble my now weary
Oreast, and where I shall never, uf>y
never, hear any more the voice of
the oppressors? Then our mortal
ity will he swallowed up of life,
and all kindred ties that hind us here
to earth will he loosed, and we will
be among the slain as they that be
dead ofokl; I shall there rest with the
small and the great, and ever be
free from the voice of the oppressor.
What ever the oppressor be, and
liovv ever loud and shrill his voice,,
it cannot reach me there; yea,
though 1 now he the servant of sin
in rny flesh, and the servant of ty-
ranical laws, tyranical men, or ty-
ranical devils; Y^ea, although pov
erty, mislortuues, disappointments,
disquietude and all other causes of
pain, should here exult over me as
ray master, yet, there I, your ser
vant, will be free from you all.—
Here I often ask, “Wherefore ia
light given to him that is in raiserv.