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SERMON VIII.

JOB'S SEEING GOD.

JOB Xlii. 5, 6.

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

THESE words were uttered by Job at a very remarkable period of his affecting history. Up to this moment, his sorrows had been unassuaged: the Almighty seemed fiercely to contend with him, and his arrows drank up his spirit. His friends also had bitterly reproached him, and he remained unvindicated from their charges; and no ray of hope had hitherto burst through the gloom that surrounded him. But the verses that follow our text point out a most favourable change in his condition. "The Lord," it is said, "turned the captivity of Job;" the Divine anger was also kindled against his friends, who had spoken unfeelingly to him in his affliction, and for whom he was directed to pray and God accepted his intercession on

their behalf. This change in the conduct of God towards Job was preceded by a change in the mind of Job himself; the nature of which change is shewn in the words of our text. Formerly he had justified himself, as we find up to the thirty-first chapter; after which he begins to condemn himself; he is humbled on account of his transgressions. "He answered the Lord," it is said in the first verse of the chapter before us-but not as he had formerly spoken, in the language either of self-applause, or of repining against the dispensations of God; for he had wisely determined to speak no longer in this manner; "Behold," said he, Behold," said he, "I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer again; yea twice, but I will proceed no further :"--but "he answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I understood not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak"-not, however, to boast of his wisdom, or to complain of the appointments of God's providence, but as a suppliant before his Judge; for, continues he, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear;

but now mine

eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." This instructive passage will lead us, first, To inquire what we are to understand in the text by "seeing" God, and into the effects which such a sight is calculated to produce; and, secondly, To apply the subject to our own times and circumstances.

First, then, let us inquire what we are to understand in the text by seeing God; for Job says, that he had heard of him before by the hearing of the ear, but now his eye saw him. He does not mean through his bodily senses; for in this manner, says our Saviour, "no man hath seen God at any time." "God is a Spirit;" "the King invisible," "dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, or can see." Even when God revealed himself to the people of Israel, "they saw no manner of similitude," nor were they permitted to form any image or intended representation of him. The other manifestations also of him, described in the Old Testament, are to be understood in a manner not inconsistent with the declaration of his being "the invisible God." Whether a voice was heard, or an appearance was seen, it was only an instrument which the Almighty saw fit to employ in holding sensible communion with his servants of old, for special

ends; and, such manifestations being altogether of an extraordinary nature, and having long since ceased, should any person in these later ages profess to be favoured with new revelations from God, he would either be deceived himself, or be attempting to deceive others. And though in the case of Job, who lived long before the volume of Revelation was closed, probably before the age of Moses, when nothing of it is known to have existed except in tradition, God conveyed his instructions in a peculiar manner,

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speaking to him out of the whirlwind;" yet the knowledge which Job thus acquired, important as it was, was only of the same kind which each of us may possess by means of the assistances graciously afforded us in the word and the providence of God. It was not so much a new or miraculous knowledge of God which he had obtained, as a practical conviction and application of those truths respecting him which he had known before, but which had not been before brought home to his heart and conscience with their due force, so as to produce the fruits of repentance, humility, and submission to the will of God. He had heard of the wisdom, the power, and the providence of the Creator; of his justice, his mercy, and the veneration due to him his friends, especially Eliphaz, and even Job himself, had uttered many admirable maxims on these subjects-but now

his knowledge had become more than ever practical in its effects. He felt assured that God could do all things; that none could resist his will; yet that it was never too late to hope for his mercy. The display which had been set before him of the Divine glory, had so humbled him in his own estimation, that "he abhorred himself, and repented in dust and ashes." For though he had been eminently distinguished for his amiable and charitable conduct; and though he was described by the Almighty himself as "a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil;" yet, when he viewed the infinite Majesty of God, and his Almighty Power and Wisdom, as displayed in all his works; and, on the other hand, the frailty of man, his weakness, his ignorance, and the brevity of his "appointed time upon earth," he felt deeply abased in the presence of his Creator. All that he had before known and believed now recurred to his mind with new force, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, produced a powerful effect upon his judgment and affections. His knowledge was attended with such a lively faith as made it, according to the definition of the Apostle, "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." He had known and confessed many important doctrines and precepts of true religion at an earlier period of his history. He had