if your hope is in the Lord your God, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. x. 12, 13). : Thirdly This sacred history proves, that faith untried, is faith not proved acceptable. Many a man deceives himself with the empty counterfeit of faith. Hence an ordeal is requisite, in which numbers fall away whilst the faith of others is brought out, as pure gold refined from the furnace of affliction. May this be your case, my brother! God graciously keep you from falling away in this your season of trial. Remember St. James's words (James i. 12): "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." And, again, think of St. Peter's words. (1 Peter i. 3-9): "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last Ꭱ time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, Whom, having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory : receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Fourthly: This sacred history shews us that Satan is most frequently the Lord's agent in the infliction of disease and other trials. It was after the evil one went forth from the presence of the Lord, that, as related in the first chapter, Job's earliest troubles— troubles that fell upon his children and his substance -fell upon him. And think you not, my brother, that the evil one's words as to the patriarch, before he was permitted to afflict him on that occasion, prove his deep knowledge of the workings of the human heart? Satan answered the Lord and said: "Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not Thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth Thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in Thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand." St. Paul's words as to Hymenæus and Philetus, who had grieved him by holding Antinomian principles, bear out what has just been said: "Whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." (1 Timothy i. 20.) And, again (1 Cor. v. 5), when he would have the Corinthian Church put away from them the person who was a source of shame to them, he bids them "Deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." When the apostle spoke of his thwarted purposes with reference to visiting the Churches, he attributed this to the hindrances of Satan. We will look into this deeply solemn subject again, God willing, for this passage teaches us yet more valuable lessons. Meanwhile, my brother, enough has been said to put us both on our guard against our evil adversary. Enough has been said to show how greatly he rejoices when our feet slip, in running along the good path of God's commandments. Have we not abundant need to pray that God would bruise Satan under our feet shortly? Prayer. Oн Almighty and most merciful God, Who, for the eternal good of Thy people, and for Thine own glory, dost permit them to be tempted by Satan, and Who dost thereby reveal to Thy Church the hollow-hearted and the insincere; graciously look upon this Thy servant, and grant that this his sickness may issue in the profit of his immortal soul. We would adore Thy holy name, that although Thou permittest the adversary to afflict Thy people, Thou dost always limit his powers over them. Thou knowest our frame; Thou rememberest that we are but dust; Thou sufferest us not to be tempted above that we are able to bear. Oh may the knowledge that, except Thou help him, his faith will fail, keep our sick brother constant in humble dependence on Thee. Leave him not, neither forsake him, oh Lord God of our salvation. Bring him safely through this heated furnace of trial. Through the precious blood of Christ make him holy and unblameable and unreprovable in Thy sight. Sustain him in watching and praying, that so he may know by whom he is continually beset, and may have grace from Thee to resist the devil. Praised and adored be Thy holy name, that Thou art a Strong Tower of Defence to Thy people, in the season of their oppression. Oh that we may have grace ever to trust in Thee; so shall we not be confounded, though the adversary be mighty, and ourselves feeble. Most gladly, oh Lord, would we, in all things, glory in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon us, for thus, when we are weak, we are strong. Hear us, we beseech Thee, for Thy tender mercies' sake, through the alone precious merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who with Thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, ever One God, world without end. Amen. XXXI. SPIRITUAL AGENCIES, GOOD AND EVIL, IN JOB ii. 1-10. It has been too much the fashion during the last few years, in which the growth of positive and avowed infidelity, and of latitudinarianism in religious belief, has been so great, to deny the personality of that |