The Wilmington daily Republican., 1895-04-08
A LESSON FROM job.
Rey. Merritt nuIburd TnIts on the Subject,
'The Problem of Jab.,,

The Rev. Merritt Hulburd. D. D.,
preached at Grace Church yesterday morn
ing. on 1.-THE Problem Of Job" He chose
| for his text:
Hast thou considered my servant Job?r
Job /: SO
In the course Of his sermon he said.
There is no mystery in the existence of
pain IN sin-disordered world. It is no
mystery that sin should bring forth sor-
row; that disease and pain should follow
the fall. 9pd always attend u disobedient
life The conscience of man In all ages
h"athen as well as Jewish or Christian
conscience. has aequiesced in. the Justice of
moral constitution by virtue OF which
pain should attend the wrongdoer; and so
In all language and literature the ayengiug
furies have haunted him, and Nemesis
never forsakes the trail The problem is
not OF pain In the abstract but of its dis
tribution. Why is it 50 often true that the
innocent suffer and the guilty escape? The
problem here is innocent suffering. You
nave 1t all worked out in this book and
thfee answers given to it. First there is
tue explanation of his three friends, who
came 10 condole with him. Evidently they
are men of position. education and religion
but they in turn represent different schools
OF thought which l shall not now have
time to analyze, only to say that EiiphaZ
Is the man of prophetic insight; Bildad the
sage familiar with ancient lore; Zophar
the average religious man OF his time,
orthodox, pious sincere but bgoted mar
row, fanatical-who expects and demands
that every man accept his dictum and agree
with him.
But there is another theory; and Elihu
vntt h..p . h.. 1,
certainly very great advance upon theirs:
and rejecting that of retribution he offers
that OF publication. This has much in 1t
that must give us pause, as it harmonizes
with the facts of history, and the purposes
OF God. You will observe that Job himself
is silent in regard to it, and apparently ac-
cepts 1t. When we consider that sone of
the greatest saints in history have also
been among the greatest sufferers we can
see Fathers hand.
But there remains another view which in
Jobs case, am persuaded is the true one
In the study of this book we lose sight of
the prologue which Is in every play, drama
story or piece of music furnishes what is
called the motif. We, from our standpoint,
are looking into the crucible: we are spec
tators of the tournament; we see Gods
chosen knight as he deseends into the
arena. and satan armed with special power
to assaults he not the prince of the
power of the air?" and his winds sweep
over the possessions OF this champion Of
God, and impovcrish him In a moment
Stripped, peeled, bereaved, stunned, he
stands for a little bowling himself to the
storm; but recovering he bares his head in
reverence while he says: Naked came /
out of my mothers womb. and naked shall
| return thither. the Lord gave, and the
Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name
of the Lord" Still, satan is not convinced,
but asks farther liberty of assault; tho
mans sel1shness Is deeper than he thought
he can stand the destruction of his prop
erty and the death OF his children SO long
as he is not In pain himself. Once again he
sets on him the fouest OF diseases, and
fiery flying pains rack his body and make of
every nerve a track for fiercest agony to
travel over. Ills wife breaks down under
the trial, and is turned into nagging
temptress herself; and the friends who come
to console remain to accuse. Is it possible
to conceive OF a sterner trial. or of any ele-
ment that can be invented by dabolical in
genuity than this? | trow not. And out OF
his trial he emerges crying: What shall
we receive good from the hand of God, and
shall we not receive evil? In all this did
not Job sin with his lips . o my
brethren this preaching seems cheap to me:
have heard so much better. Not from the
lips of those the world calls great preach
ers; but In sick chambers; In homes Of pow
erty and pain; in the midst of disaster and
bereavement; raCked with rheumatism.
fading with consumption; or weeping over
their dead; but in 1t all trlumphing over
all, and singing In prisons until the prls-
oners heard them aul were lifted out of
their dependency,
Have we no lesson to learn? Let us no
more pity the suffering saint; but pity the
soul that only manages to get into harbor
by having smooth seas. Not for him the
choral entrance, or the mighty welcome of
those whom he has by a Cody life
aud example helped In to the king
dom. o the beauty OF the faces scanned and
SCARED: banched to a heavenlier whiteness
by the tolls aud tears of life; when He shall
press on them the crown Of immortal life,
for let US remember that this Is a ''crown of
righteousness" that fadeth not away. l
fear we are MOhammedan I'm our ideas of
heaven after all who talk of its fruits, f1ow-
ers, jewels and gold, for all the rewards of
the kingdom are in kind; and holiness and
righteousness constitute the bessedness
of the other life; and If these have no at
traction for you heaven will, l fear, be Il
safe but friendless shore. Ii may be safe,
but 1t will certainly be disappointing.
"Our light aiflctions which are but for
moment work out far more exceeding and
eternal weight OF glory, while we look not
for the things that are seen and temporal,
but for the things which are unseen and
spiritual