of sinful flesh, to condemn sin in the flesh," Rom. viii. 3. "And he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation," Heb. ix. 28. And this seeing or beholding of Jesus Christ in the flesh, will be the great joy of heaven: to see the saints will be great joy. The disciples saw Moses and Elias in the transfiguration of Christ, which was a shew of heaven, Matt. xvii. What joy then will it be to see the glorious person of Jesus Christ? Christ is indeed "the desire of our eyes." It was the wish of Austin, that he might have seen three things, Rome in her flower, Paul in the pulpit, and Christ in the flesh. To have a view of Christ in the days of his humiliation and debasement, was to them who knew him by faith matter of great rejoicing. Old Simeon desired no more of this world, when once he had seen Christ; he wishes to depart and have his eyes closed, when they had seen the salvation of God, that is, Christ, whom God sent to be our Saviour, Luke ii. 3. What then will it be to the saints, when they shall see God their Saviour, Jesus Christ, sitting clothed in that glorified flesh they themselves wear, shining as the mirror of beauty, as the centre of glory, as the object of adoration, from whom all the glories and perfections of the God-head shine forth for ever and ever. Then Jesus Christ shall be set forth to the view of our bodily eyes, at the resurrection morning, in the fulness of joy that is promised, and that God hath provided: for he hath provided joy for the eye of the mind by the vision of himself; and he hath provided joy for the eye of the body by the vision of Jesus Christ. And some have piously conceived it one part of the design why Jesus Christ took flesh, that we might have complete joy in him, both by seeing the divine nature in him intellectually, and by seeing him glorious in the human nature; that so at once both body and mind shall have fulness of happiness by him.

Thus Christ placeth the future happiness of the saints in the vision of his mediatorial glory; "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory that thou hast given me,' John xviii. 24. Glorified saints shall for ever feed their eyes with unutterable delights in beholding the glory of Jesus Christ.

Ver. 27. "Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."]-The bishops' translation is, Whom I myself shall see, and mine eyes shall behold, and not

another for me.' The word here translated see, in the original signifies, first, an earnest or vehement desire to see, or longing after the sight of the object; which shews the ardency of Job's love to his living Redeemer: secondly, it signifies to see with deep attention or fixedness of the eye both of body and mind, to find out and rejoice in all the excellencies, glories, and beauties it sees in the object, not only by a single glance, but by a fixed and constant vision: this shews the full fruition of happiness and glory that the saints long to possess in the presence of the Lord Jesus.

"Whom I shall see for myself."]-This denotes that singular satisfaction and inexpressible joy that every be liever will take in the vision and glory of Christ for himself, in union, in relation, and love, as having a fulness of happiness in his Redeemer, to contemplate and adore, to feast bis mind upon and to praise him for, beholding all the glories of Christ's person, fulness, grace, and love, with its particular interest therein as its portion for ever. Seeing it for itself: O the joy of this!

"And mine eyes shall behold, and not another."]-As if Job had said, These very eyes that I now see with shall behold this glorious person, who is God in my nature; in bim I shall see all the glory, beauty, and perfections of the God-head. In him I shall behold my bliss, my perfection, and my glory; in him I shall see every promise shine, every blessing accomplished, every purpose fulfilled, and all the glories of heaven mine; in him I shall ever behold my union, my security, my God, and my salvation.'

"Though my reins may be consumed within me."]— This shews that Job's faith was not only great, but per haps the most triumphant testimony of knowledge, faith, and love, that we have in the scriptures: for what a triumph of faith do these words contain! He bids as it were defiance to death, and triumphs over the grave: which denotes, that his hope, his resurrection, and salvation, were settled beyond the power of sin, satan, death, and the grave, to overthrow. As though he had said, I, the man who now stand here before you, this same Job who now speaketh, I the very same identical person shall see God in this very flesh, and with these eyes; they shall be indeed made fit to come into the presence of the great and glorious God; yet it shall be even this flesh, and these eyes, in which I shall come into the presence of God, and behold my Redeemer. I shall be altered from what I was, but I shall not be another than I was; I shall be changed into a better

condition, but I shall not be changed into another person. My qualities shall have a perfective alteration, but I shall retain the same matter, and be the same man. A man raised glorious and immortal, is what he was, except his sin and mortality, and hath no more than he had, except his glory : which glory is beholding my Lord, my Redeemer, as mine for ever and ever.'

The text is sometimes thus read, "This hope is laid up. in my bosom." The saints treasure up in their breasts the hope of the resurrection, the hope of the glory of the life to come this they keep among their chiefest treasures; this is the riches which they lay up in their bosoms; whatsoever they lose in the world, when they are stripped of all, yet they have a heart full of this treasure. "This hope is laid up in my bosom." Saints have their bosoms full of this hope, when stripped of all.

Job having spoke of the sight he should have of God, and the assurance of his own resurrection, concludes with this expression, "My reins, or my desires, are spent:" that is, I have nothing more to desire, nothing more to wish and seek after than this, a blessed resurrection, and the enjoy ment of God for ever.

Some render the passage thus; My reins are consumed by reason of my desire:' as if he had said, I have spoken of death, I have spoken of glory, of the vision of God, and now my reins are consumed with desire after these things; my desire is spent with desiring. Not only were all bis desires terminated in this, but his desire and power were swallowed up in the pursuit of this, he had such strong affections to God, that he was even ready to fall or faint away. Which shews that the saints, upon the disco very of the glory of God and the happiness of the next life, are filled with longing desires after those enjoyments, and that it quiets their minds under their present affliction; for it is observed, that Job's mind was more at rest, and free from those bitter complaints, after this discovery of his glory and salvation by his living Redeemer.

Ver. 28. "Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?"]-This shews that Job had the true fear of God in his soul, and real faith in the person, righteousness, and resurrection of Christ; that these blessings were rooted or implanted in his mind by the Spirit of God, and being thus blessed with the know. ledge of and faith in the Messiah, in his resurrection and salvation by him, they should no longer persecute him

as a hypocrite, though he might differ from them in some things concerning divine providence.

CHAPTER XX.

One would have thought that snch an excellent confession of faith as Job made in the close of the foregoing chapter should have satisfied his friends, or at least have mollified them; but they do not seem to have taken any notice of it, and therefore Zophar here takes his turn, enters the lists with Job, and attacks him with as much vehemence as before. (1.) His preface is short, but hot, ver. 2, 3. (2.) His discourse is long, and all upon one subject, the very same that Bildad was large upon, chap. xviii. the certain misery of wicked people, and the ruin that awaits them. 1. He asserts in general, that the pros perity of the wicked is short, and their ruin sure, ver. 4-9. 2. He proves the misery of his condition by many instances. That he should have a diseased body, a troubled conscience, a ruined estate, a beggared family, an infamous name, and be himself shall perish under the weight of divine wrath: all this is most curiously described here in lofty expressions and lively similitudes, and it often proves true in this world, and always in another, without repentance, ver. 10--29. But the great mistake was, and, as bishop Patrick expresseth it, all the flaw in his discourse (which was common to him with the rest) that he imagined God never varied from this method, and therefore Job was, without doubt, a very bad man, though it did not appear he was, any other way but by his infelicity.

VER. 22. "In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits."]-This shews that an unregenerate and unsanctified man can never be satisfied, because he hath no interest in God as his portion; which shews the happiness of the saints in being reconciled to God through Christ, whose grace is sufficient for them: for out of his fulness they receive grace; "and where sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound."

CHAPTER XXI.

This is Job's reply to Zophar's discourse; in which he complains less of his own miseries than he had done in his former discourses, finding that his friends were not moved by his complaints to pity him in the least, and comes closer to the general question that was in dispute betwixt him and them, whether outward prosperity, and the continuance of it, was a mark of the true church, and the true members of it, so that the ruin of a man's prosperity is sufficient to prove him an hypocrite,

though no other evidence appear against him: this they asserted, but Job denied. (1.) His preface here is designed for the moving of their affections, that he might gain their attention, ver. 1-6. (2.) His discourse is designed for the convincing of their judgments, and the rectifying of their mistakes. He owns that God does sometimes make examples of wicked men, by some visible remarkable judgment in this life, but denies that he always doth so; nay, he maintains that commonly he doth otherwise, suffering even the worst of sinners to live all their days in prosperity, and to go out of the world without any visible mark of his wrath upon them, (1.) He describes the great prosperity of wicked people, ver. 7-13. (2.) He shews their great impiety, in which they are hardened by their prosperity, ver. 14-16. (3.) He foretels their ruin at length, but after a long reprieve, ver. 17 -21. (4.) He observes a very great variety in the ways of God's providence towards men, even towards bad men, ver. 22-26. (5.) He overthrows the ground of their severe censures of him, by shewing that the destruction is reserved for the other world, but that they many times escape to the last in this world, ver. 27. to the end. Aud in this Job was clearly in the right.

VER. 14. "For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways."-This shews the dreadful evil of sin, and the enmity of the carnal mind against God; and it shews that salvation is not owing to the creature's free-will, which is enmity to God, but to the power of sovereign grace upon the heart, that sweetly draws the will with delight in the ways of God.

CHAPTER XXII.

Eliphaz here leads on a third attack upon poor Job, in which Bildad followed him, but Zophar drew back and quitted the field. It was one of the unhappinesses of Job, as it is of many an honest man, to be misunderstood by his friends. He had spoken of the prosperity of wicked men in this world as a mystery of providence, but they took it for a reflection upon providence, as countenancing their wickedness, and fell foul upon him accordingly. In this chapter, (1.) Eliphaz checks him for his complaints of God, and of his dealings with him, as if he thought God had done him wrong, ver. 2-4. (2.) He chargeth him with many high crimes and misdemeanors, for which he supposed God was now punishing him. Oppression and injustice, ver. 5-11. Atheism and infidelity, ver. 12-14. (3.) He compares his case to that of the old world, ver. 15-20. (4.) He gives him very good counsel, ver. 21-30.

VER. 21. "Acquaint now thyself with him."]-Acquaintance with God at first is God's acquainting himself with us in the communications of his blessings to us, in regeneration, and the implanting of spiritual life in the