The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-04-07
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
International Lesson for April .. lsoS-
Affections sanctinsd--Job 5;l7-:7.


GOLDEN TEXT. For whom the Lord loveth
He chastenc th.--Hcb. 1910.
THE BOOK or JON sis admitted. with hardly
. dissenticnt voice. 20 10 the most sublime
religious poem In the literature Of the world -
Samuel Cox. II call that ono VI the grandcss
things ever written with pen ....A noble book;
ail mems book. :. There Is nothing written, IN
the Bible or out OF IL. OF equal literary merit
Thomas Carlyle
AUTHOR Tho authorship OF the Book of
Job il entirely unknown No hint any where IL
given as 10 who wrote the book lie Is tho
Great Unnamed" inspired by the Holy Spirit
Of God
SCENES FROM joins LIFE.
Scene Job. u wealthy Arab shcik
or prince, IAN ideally perfect man. not
only morally blamcless, but also both
sincerely and scrupulously religious, q
man whose virtue and piety are beyond
suspicion" He was very wealthy,
with great herds OF cattle and vast
rctinuc of officers and servants His
three thousand camcls imply that he
was IA princcly merchant, sending out
large caravans to trade in the cities of
the east" lie was, too, of princely
heart, visiting the sick and aiding the
poor and blessing the widow and the
fathcrlcss. lie had thus grown into
middle life. His children had grown up
and settled with their families around
him. Everything was religious, peace
full and prosperous.
Scene 1.-THE counscls of God.
We now turn from earth to the unseen
regions above. God is represented as
doing in form what In some spiritual
way lie actually does. His messengers
are gathered from all parts of the
world, among them the adversary,
Satan, "a mocking. detracting. reckless,
impudcnt being, all whose regards GEN.
ter in disqualification" and who,
therefore. having no goodness himself,
does not believe in goodness anywhere.
All goodness has its price. is paid for,
and is therefore only form of selfish
ness. lie that believes that there Is no
goodness. no unsclfsh love, thereby de-
clares that he himself has none. God
points out job as truly good man.
Satan replies: DOCS job fear God for
naught?" Who would not be good if
he were SO well paid for it? As Glory
McWhirk said: Anybody can be good
on five thousand year" but put
forth thine hand now and touch all that
he hath, and he will rcnouncc thee to
thy face" In order to prove that Jobs
pety was sincere and true. that there
was such thing as real virtue and true
religion, God gave Satan permission to
take away Jobs property and his
family, and leave him poor and desc
nate man.
Scene UL-,Job in his home at Uz All
Mt once calamity follows calamity in
rapid succession. The divine wall of
protection around his home seems to he
suddenly removed. and all the troubles
of the world rush in and overwhclm the
good man. Job bore the trial rs be-
came a saint. lie could not know why
these evils had come upon him. Clouds
and darkness surrounded the Provi-
dcnce Of God; but he knew that there
was n silver lining on the other side,
and that in spite of all God is love
Scene 1.-THE counscls OF Heaven.
job is pointed out again rs serving and
loving God in very truth. and not for
pay. But Satan declares that the test
was not complete. Accordingly he is
allowed to torment job with any phys
zeal ailment, only he must not touch
his life
lSrene Fob is now afflicted with an
awful form of leprosy, the clephantia-
sis. so called. either from its likeness to
the rough hide of the elephant, or be-
cause 1t was a INDUSTRIOUS disease. as
great among diseases as the elephant is
among animals. At first. though in
tcnscly loathsomc. it is not very pain
full, so that job could easily speak with
his friends, but it usually ends in death
in the course of "A few years 1t was re-
gardcd rs direct stroke from God.
Job had before him only brief life. in
which there was no hope. no comfort,
himself disgusting spectacle to his
friends. and looked upon rs an outcast
from God as we'll as men.
Observation IF tie Proj,sa. The witness
Of job 20 the reality Of religion and
virtue. and his own discipline and de-
vclopmcnt of character, are worked out
by the discussion of the great problem
Of Providence: How can the Affections
Of good mon, and the prosperity Of
wicked men. he rcconcilcd with the
kpidut,S Va pOu slhu Ills SupTtint con-
troll?
Three friends. men Of ability, chiefs
and leaders like job came To condole
with job. and Offer him their wise adj
vice. Eliphaz, 1.-The wisest and Oldest"
is from Tcmap. n district northeast Of
Edom. within easy reach Of Uz in the
IIauran. Tcman was famed for the
wisdom Of its inhabitants nildad. the
Shuttle. is descendant of Shuah,
son Of Abraham by Keturah. Zophar,
the Naamathitc, probably belonged to
some place east Of the Jordan. near the
IIauran. For seven days these friends
sat by job in silence.
This was the beginning of long de-
bate. The theory Of the friend was: First.
That God. being good and just. must
measure out suffering in proportion to
sin. How else could lie be just?
Second. Therefore, Job must have
committed some great crime. "Thc
four calamitics occurring in one day
cannot be an accident II is taken for
granted by all--Job. his wife. and
his fr;apIs-fhat bo IL Tor ecc,a ~ao.o..