The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-08-01
npAr1nNnn oF JOB
The Subject Of Rev. Powlck's sermon
the NJ. y. Church.

The sublect of Rev. Powlck's Sermon y NJ
the NJ y. Church.
The sermon in the Methodist Episeopa J
church on Sunday morning was on The
Patience Of job" James 5.lI; eye hDee
heard Of the patience of job The sin ofl
impaticnce though lightly regarded, lies at
the foundation OF about as much human |
misery as any other sin. II is 30 common for
men 10 got angry under provocatou, to get
discouraged after failures, to yield to des.
pondency in the midst Of trials and to doubt
God whom they cannot lathom the dispensa-
tions Of His providence that the sinfulness Of
so doing sometimes does not occur to them.
But impaticnce is always confession ofI
weakness and a badge Of littloness. job is
presented as an example Of patience. Look
at the circumstances Of his life and character
His very name means 'persecuted one" He
lived in the hoathen, idoatrous land Of Uz.
So far rs we know he had not the advan
tages Of Sunday schools and churches. The
/ Bible was not yet written, No house Of God
/ was yet built and no ministerng priest was
/ yet ordained. Gods judgment Of his char
aoter was "there is none like him in all the
earth perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God and escheweth evil" And what
made it still harder to be good he was very
rich 80 that he was the greatest man in all
the east He was familiar with all the
trials incident to domestic life for he had
seven sons aud three daughters. But as he
had the disposition he found the time to be
religious. As there were no places of public
worship he turned his own home into a
church and observed family worship,
But the time came to him, as it does to us
when he was bereaved of his children and
when his property was stolen and his person
was afflicted The wife Of his bosom turned
upon him and exhorted him 10 do what
Satan said he would if he was afflicted
Course God and commit suicide" His
: friends, miserable comforters, under pre-
, tense Of weeping with him sandered him
But mark his course: When the messengers
{ bring tidings of his stolen herds and mur-
dcred children he fell down on the ground
4 not in a ft Of rage nor inconsolable grief
o aud worshipped, saying "the Lord gave and
the Lord hath taken away, blessed he the
name Of the Lord" When his wife de hin
. curse God and die he says "What2 Shall W,
: receive good at the hand of the Lord and moi
j evil Y When his friends misrepresenteC
s him and charged that bis faith was only
e presumption he cries "though He slay me ye
= will trust him"
q Patience is not mere stoicism. 1t does no
: require us to be nor to affect to be Indifferent
r t o our sutierings II need not seal the lip
and gild sorrow into something else. Job
whose name has become the synonym for pa
tience, gave free vent to his feelings and even
/. cursed the day in which he was born. 1t
II supreme test is not in the queuching of emo
3 ton and the clinchng of the teeth in passion
IS less silence while fiery volcano RACES with
:, in 1t exhibits itself not in casual utterance
70 and spontaneous feelings but unswerv
8 ing loyalty to God and duty in spite of trials
Patience means endurance We can excust
the groaning ship for tossing about if only sh
endures the storm and brings us safely int
. port.
"a The superstition Of Jobs friends that unu
y sual sorrow prove unique guilt still survives
e But the bible teaches that "whom the Lor
o. loveth he chasteneth," 1t would seem tina
c Jobstri were to display and to perfect his YiI
tues. The sufierings Of saints are disciplinar
d and not punitive. This is the great lesson ofthi
sublime poem There is more in the bible t
prove that unusual sorrow proves unusua
goodness in the sorrowing than in the col
trary Even Satan could not touch Jobs pen
son nor property, nor can he touch ours, ii
first obtaining permission Of God. There al
/ no accidents in the government Of God. i
=. doth not atilict willingly. Every branch j
l. me that beareth fruit he purgeth it that
u may bring forth more fruit.
a The end of job is commentary upon tn
a passage "All things work together for goo
d to them that love God" And if Job coul
g love and serve God so faithfully that Go
r himself could say he was perfect nOtwith
~ standing his adverse circumstances, who car
,e not2 ''Ye have not yet resisted unto bloc
1t striving against sim
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