Christian Nation Vol. 18 1893 - Rparchives.org

OHRISTIAN NATION.Yolume lathe lesson are highly oriental. The festiveSabbath School Lesson,gathering, the agricultural pursuits suddenlyarrested by the hand of marauders who fellLESSON I„ SABBATH, APRIL 2, 1893, upou the unsuspecting workmen and theirbeasts, like vultures upon the prey ; the destructivelightning bolt which fell upon theAfllictions Appointed, Job 1:13-22.shepherds and their flocks, and destroyed them;the capture of the camels and their herdsnaenGOUDEN TEXT :by the Chaldeans : finallythe cyclone which"In all this Job sinned noi, nor charged Ood fool­destroyeishly." Job 1:22.the elder brother's house, and buriedbeneath its ruins all Job's posterity ; all this13 And there was a day when his sons and his daugh-' is oriental in its setting, but vivid and graphicters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest in its detail of Satan's malicious attack uponbrother's house :God's chosen. Let us notice :14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, I. Satan. These first two chapters of JobThe oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside give us a true picture of the evil one. We seethem :how he behaves himself toward God. He will15 And the Sabeansfell upon thetn, and took them challenge the Most High, in respect to hisaway; yea, they have slain the servant with the edge of people's loyalty. He is called the accuser ofthe sword; and I only am escapsd alone to tell thee, the brethren. He is filling no new office— appearingin no new role, when he accuses the16 While he was yet speaking, there came alsoanother, and said. The {Jre of God is fallen from heaven people of God, before God himself. He ap­iaid down their proposition in somethinglikflthis form. God blesses those wlio are upright,and He sends tribulations upon the unjust andand hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and peared long after fiis, at the right hand ofwicked. Job has fallen uuder tribulation,*consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell Joshua, the high priest, to accuse him. Hetherefore Job is uot a good mau. Job's wifethee.stood at the very right hand of Christ, andlooked at the scene, and she gave it another17 While he was yet speaking, there came also sought to wean him from the way of duty.interpretation. She said, God has forsakenanother, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands Gladly would he have succeeded, only to standyou. He cannot be trusted, therefore curseand fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, before God, and accuse his well beloved son ofGod and die. She seems to have imbibedyea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword ; wrong. The element by which he operates,someof Satan's docrriue, for he had said "putand I only am escaped alone to tell thee,viz : evil, is constantly on the alert, if possibleforth now thy hand and touch all tbat he bath,18 While he was yet speaking there came also another to cast down God's chosen. In the day of finaland he will curse the to tiiy face." Job alsoand said. Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and accounts, no foe will be so keenly ready to testifyagainst us, as this cruel accuser. But wetook a wrong view of his case. He sought todrikning wine in their eldest brother's house :turn the page of providence and read the19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the cannot treat this part of our subject fully here.handwriting on the other side. O, how oftenwilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and The question of how far Satan has power inwe try to do the same thing, when only a littleit fell upon the young men, and they are dead ; and I bringing about the trials of the believer, willportion of Job's trials falls to our lot. Butonly am escaped tb tell thee,be considered in connection with anotherhere is our mistake as it was Job's mistake.30 Then Jacob arose, and rent his mantle, and thought. Let us look atThe other side of God's page of providence isshaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and II. Job, God says of him, " There is noneclosely written, but for the. present we are notworshipped,like him in tbe earth, a perfect and an uprightable to read it, or if we did, we could not comprehend.Ohrist says to us, " What I do thon31 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil."womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, A beautiful translation of Job, in verse, byknowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."and the Lord By hath the taken Eev. T. away; P. Bobb. blessed shall be the Thomas Scott, renders this eighth verse as follows:name The of book the Lord, of Job has been the subject of aThe lesson will not be complete unless wegreat 23 In deal all this of critical Job sinned investigation, not, nor charged and God much foolishly.learning has been bestowed upon the effort to My servant Job, on earth a matchless name"Aoouser, hast thou marked with hostile aim,look at the question, Ha^far is Satan an agentin carrying on and-'^ecuting what we call adversityupon God's people? We will answerdeterinnu? both its author, and the date of its Ol blameless manners, witn a soul siucere,production. About tbese questions, let us not EtU his hate, and God alone his fear?"the que^tixJiTby saying, Much further than wetrouble outoelves. We believe Job was a r«;al The commendation of God does not meanaro^lhe habit of supposing. A most maliglia'uths.ter of God's chosen, he misses no op­persoa, who lived probably about the time of that Job was a man of absolute and spotless perfection,but a man of honest purpose, puie mo­Abraaam, aud who suffered just as this bookportunity to cause God's people the keenest—records. Tbe purpose for which the book wns tive, and sincere endeavor. He was not a hypocrite,buthe was truly all thath© professedthe most pfiignant eiifferingp, both of body andgiven to man is abundantly manifest to thosemind, and when he has, by permission, cast thewho have sought within the lids of the Bible, tobe. The wor-clT"perfect" means complete,body under torment, how he delights to vexfor truth that will console the afflicted in the not lacking^ iu'anv of its parts. Of a clock youthe soul, aud fill it with remorse! He haddark hour. Aq introductory to the lessons cps-say it is perfect, that is, all its springs,much to do with all Job's trials. He has joywhich follow, let us study this lesson today. wheels, hands, pins, and posts are in theirwhen the opportunit y is given, in vexing God'sThe introduction, including the first and second places. You mean it is complete. It does notpeople today. God plans limits upon Satan,chapters, and the conclusion, the last chapter, follow that the clock, when in motion, will notgo too fast OK too felow. It means that it is notis written in prose. Tbe last is high poeticstyle. Job was a very prosperous man, enjoyingall thoae advantages which, in his day, wereconsidered essential to greatness. He wastruly religious. He was reverenced by men,and became the object of envy and malicioushatred of Satan. TUe sons of God (Angels)are represented as coming before God to renderan account of the service in which they havebeen engaged, and Satan (the adversary) appearsalso amoug them, fle is challenged tofind just grounds of accusation against Job.Satan says, " yes Job is good : he can well affordto be, for you have walled him in so thatI cannot get at him ; just take away all thathe has, and leave only Job, and he will cursethee to thy face." God leaves Job in thehands of Satan, but reserves his entire person.The verses we bave selected for the lesson, explainwith what fiendish delight Satan executedthe matter, to the utmost limit of his permissivecommission. The scenes surroundinglacking in any of those parts necessary to constituteit a clock. When God says Job is aperfect man, he does not say he is either without,,or above fault, but that he represents correctprinciples as a judge, as a husband, as anemployer; not only is he right in his intentiontoward man, he has the fear of God before hiseyes. This is the kind of perfection which theScripture recognizes. The claim of absoluteperfection. Sinless perfection fails when weapply the teat as God applied it to Job. Letus look upon perfection as this is exemplifiedin Jesus Christ; then, with him as our pattern,"let ug go on unto perfection," "let us presstoward the mark for the prize of the high callingof God in Christ Jesus."III. The Accusation. The "Accuser" isnot slow to push this to the front. His accusationsvery emphatically assert that Job wasa hypocrite. The charge is openly made, andthe implication involves the thought that Jobdissembled; acted a double part; pretended tobe good and religious, merely that he mightsucceed in business. This is one of the favor.ite methods by whioh evil seeks to defame thsgood today. Men and women who do thehardest kind of work, and do it for the love ofthe Master's cause are maligned, and theitmotives wrongly interpreted, while themselvesare loaded with opprobrious epithets. Letsuch be patient lika Job, and God's timeofvindication will clear away all the clouds, andHe will " make thy righteousness to appear aethe light, and thy judgment like the noon day."IV. The Teial. This came upon Job inh's property, in his kindred, in his own body,and fiually in his friends, who, as one puis it,came to comfort, but tarried to accuse and torment.We have part of this before us already.It was as a whole tbat ihis trial fell on Job.His friends looked upon it as a judgment.They undertook fo interpret Providence, theyso that he can go only so far as allowed. AndGod allows the wheel of Satan to grind andgrind away, until the soul of the believeritbrig'tiy polished. On that bright surface tbe^Holy Spirit traces an image upon whioh Godlooks, aud behold he is well pleased. Thatimage was seen in afflicted Job. The Lordgave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessedbe the name of the Lord.Afflicted bel'ever, mourner in the silent, tbedeserted home! Your trial is sore indeed^!afflictions are not joyous. Heart wounds arehard to heal. God can ,heal them. He maynot do so here ; but he will hereafter. He whoputs your tears in his bottle, and writes tbemin his book, will yet show you these sorrows inthe light of their glorious results, and you willthank God for every bitter tear.THE PRIMARY LESSON.By Grace Hamilton George.We do not know when Job lived. We donot know who wrote this history of his li»