cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” The life of man is here computed not by years, nor by months; but by days. And of these days, there is not one that we can call our own. "Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Our days here are spoken of as few; and in fact they are much fewer than we are apt to imagine. Compare them with the days of the years of the pilgrimage of the patriarchs, and they dwindle away into a very limited space. Compare them with the everlasting state to which the duration of our existence is destined, and they sink into nothing. "Mine age is as nothing before thee." If you live to the age of threescore years and ten, your days will be soon cut off and fly away. In that case they will not amount to twenty-six thousand; and when these few thousand days are past, you will enter on the days of eternity; with which, time past, present, and to come, will bear no degree of comparison. But how few are there, comparatively, who reach the period emphatically called the age of man, the days of our years, which are threescore years and ten. This is a point to which the greater part of the human race never arrive. But whether individual life be more or less prolonged, it quickly reaches its termination. "Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live: He cometh up and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay." May the consideration of

content." This was a lesson he had attained, not by
the effects of his own natural powers, not by the rea-
sonings of philosophy; but by the grace of God:-
not all at once, but by a long course of discipline.
He had passed through many vicissitudes and trials;
and through the sanctified use of them by divine
grace, he had been taught and enabled to practise
the great lesson of Christian contentment.
Do you
ask, then, how this grace is to be obtained? I
answer, in three ways.

1. First, from the doctrines, facts, and principles of the word of God.

Here you are taught motives which you can learn no where else. In the volume of divine revelation you are instructed in the knowledge of that God whose providence governs you and all your concerns. Here you learn the character of the majesty, the justice, the omnipotence, the infinite goodness, the unerring wisdom of the supreme Disposer of all human events. Influenced by motives derived from the knowledge of the attributes of Jehovah, dear as Isaac was to Abraham, at the divine command he was devoted to death; and had not He who issued the command prevented its execution, the obedient son would actually have been sacrificed by the loving father! Taught in the same school, Eli, warned of the divine judgments coming on his family, replied, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." On the same principles, Aaron, on the melancholy death of his two sons, "held his peace." In the Bible we are taught the relation in which we stand

to God as his creatures-sinful creatures indeed, yet through grace made his children. Here we learn our manifold mercies. Here we are reminded of the shortness of our stay on earth; and that as "we brought nothing into this world, so it is certain we can carry nothing out." Here we learn the future state of man, when the brief period of his continuance on earth has reached its termination, in the everlasting misery of sinners and the eternal felicity of the righteous. These are facts, doctrines, and principles from which may be learned the mystery of Contentment.

2. Secondly, we are to learn this grace from the example of Christ.

We are to look, my brethren, to Jesus, not only as our Redeemer, but as our example. "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, became poor. He who was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, took on him the form of a servant.' He who laid the foundation of the earth, and raised the fabric of the universe, had not, when upon earth, where to lay his head. "He went about doing good, but he was despised and rejected of men." He was a partaker of flesh and blood, and knew the sensations of hunger, and weariness, and cold; but the conveniences and comforts which he needed, he found not. And, oh, with what patience, and submission, and contentment, did he bear all the afflictions and sorrows of humanity! Contemplate, dear brethren, his patience through the whole of his life; especially in

his last sufferings. "He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." As Christians, we are taught to expect sufferings as our lot, and to bear them with patience, as our duty. "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps." Consider him, therefore, as your example; and while you do this, look to him for his grace to enable you to follow it. It has pleased the Father that in Christ should all fulness dwell," and for you it is treasured up that you may "receive out of it, and grace for grace." Though you can do nothing of yourself, you may do all things through Christ strengthening you. His example and his grace is sufficient to make you content with such things as you have.

3. Thirdly, true contentment is to be learned only from the teaching and agency of the Holy Spirit.

It never can be acquired by any efforts of man's natural powers, independent of the operation of the Spirit of God. Like all other Christian graces, it is produced by his influence; and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." sense, contentment may be said to be learned from the knowledge of the scriptures; and in another, from the example and grace of Christ. But who teaches the knowledge of the scriptures?

In one

It is the

office of the Holy Ghost, whom the Father hath sent

live, and when we shall die. The number of our months is with Him. Our days are at the disposal of His power, which cannot be controlled. Our life is under the ken of His omniscience, which cannot be deceived. Our times are in His hand. The powers of our nature depend entirely on Him, and act under His influence. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." The means and the end of life are determined by Him. We cannot pass the bounds which God has prescribed; for His counsels are unalterable, and His foreknowledge infallible. We are immortal till our race is run; when this is finished, the end of life is come, and we enter on our future and eternal state of existence.

5. Job, having made these remarks on the life of man, at length comes to his reflection on its termination.

“Man dieth and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" Man is a dying creature; and in this short reflection he is described by what he is before death, in death, and after death. Before death, he is continually wasting away; he dies daily. In death, he giveth up the ghost the soul leaves the body, and returns to God who gave it; and after death, "where is he?" This leads me to consider,

II. Job's devout reflection on the important consequences of man's mortality.

"Man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" Let us consider the last part of the reflection, containing the question, in four points of view.