tist. The tempted one feels himself overwhelmed by the consciousness of sin, his feeling of guilt, feels himself unworthy of the grace of God, and does not venture to believe in the forgiveness of his sins. This temptation must also be viewed as a trial of faith, into which God often lets his children fall, as we, for example, see in Luther, who was often and severely tempted in this way. In such a case the tempted one must remind himself, or be reminded, that we are justified before God for Christ's sake through faith alone, and not through our merit, nor through the works of the law. He must be reminded that it is the greatest sin not to believe in the forgiveness of sins, for unbelief is the sin of all sins, which severs us from life in the love of God. Nor is it this or that degree of faith by which a man is justified before God. It is Christ's merit, it is Christ himself who is our righteousness, when he is appropriated in sincere, though it may be, weak faith. To overcome temptation we must not only watch our heart above all things, but consider too that we have not only to contend with flesh and blood, but with evil spirits, "against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6: 12). It is therefore also necessary that we quicken faith anew in Christ who lives in us, who is greater and mightier than he that is in the world (1 John 4: 4), and strive in prayer and labor, and when it is needful, with dietetic means also. For experience teaches that the body, and especially the nervous system, plays a great part particularly in temptations. -- Suffering. Turning now from temptation to the consideration of suffering in general, all sufferings that befall the believer in following Christ have this in common, that, despite the general connection that exists between suffering and sin, they are allotments of the disciplinary grace of God. The sufferings of a Christian are veils beneath which the love of God conceals itself. The sufferings that befall a Christian may be regarded partly under the point of view of fatherly chastisement, partly under that of fatherly trial. Chastisement, however, is not equivalent to the retributive punishment, which is appointed to the ungodly. For the judgment upon the ungodly embraces only retribution as such, a revelation of God's righteousness, that they may receive what their deeds have deserved. In chastisement, again, although this includes punishment and retribution, yet paternal love predominates, which leads and prepares the disciple to a renewed exercise of godliness (Heb. 12: 11). "As many as I love, I reprove and chasten" (Rev. 3: 19). This experience ever recurs in the history of God's children; and we may maintain that the higher a man stands in the kingdom of God, the more will he experience, internally or externally, the chastening hand. But every chastisement is likewise a trial; but every trial is not a chastisement. Trial as such contains nothing of punishment and retribution. It may overtake the believer in the midst of and as an aid to the work of sanctification. It aims to establish his fidelity more deeply, to confirm his calling and election, to strengthen his consciousness that he is God's child, and victoriously to reveal his love to God as pure unselfish love, that God may be glorified in his servant. Whether now we are to understand our own sufferings as chastisements, or as purifying trials, or as both together, are questions to which each one must give the answer within himself. Two men may suffer the same thing, and yet it is not the same. For the moral state of the individual cannot be judged after his suffering; but the suffering must be judged after each one's moral state. The import of the sufferings of the just is the great problem, whose solution is aimed at in the Book of Job,a work which ranks among the highest among the Old Testament books of Wisdom, whether we regard the descriptions of nature contained in it, the exhibition of the mysteries of the visible creation, or its psychological descriptions, or its exhibition of the mysteries of the suffering human soul. It goes back to the original religion which existed independent of Abraham's, wherefore Franz Delitzsch has aptly designated the book of Job as a Melchizedek among the books of the Old Testament. This book teaches us to recognize a fourfold purpose in human suffering. 1). There is a retributive suffering with which God visits the ungodly. This proposition is discussed in manifold aspects by Job's three aged friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar (see especially Job 8: 1-22; 15: 20-35; 18: 1– 21; 20: 1-29), and at last conceded by Job himself (27: II-23). 2). There is a divine chastisement imposed upon all men, which is necessarily due to the natural impurity and sinfulness of human nature, and must accordingly be borne by the righteous also. This is the doctrine which Eliphaz advances in his first speech, in explanation of the calamities of Job (4: 1-21), where in verses 12-16, he refers to a revelation imparted to him in a night vision. 3). There is also a special trial, testing and purifying, of the righteous, imposed upon them by the love of God, for the purpose of delivering them from some secret pride, of leading them to humble and penitent self-knowledge, and of thus insuring to them the divine favor. This is the doctrine which Elihu brings forward in Job 33: 14-30; 36: 5-15. 4). There is a suffering which is designed to manifest the triumph of faith and the fidelity of the righteous. This it is which was the immediate object of Job's afflictions, as already alluded to in the Prologue of the Book of Job, and shown to all in the Epilogue.1 The Cross.-Having set forth suffering as chastisement and trial, we must mention yet a third class of sufferings, namely, sufferings for righteousness' sake, for Christ's sake, for the sake of the kingdom of God, in which we can also include Job's sufferings in their wider sense, so far, namely, as they also are to serve to glorify God, and to establish more firmly the kingdom of God in the heart of man. Such sufferings may be embraced under the title "cross," and we may even distinguish a twofold cross. There is 1 Compare my Biblical Theology of the Old Testament. Page 209, First Edition. Chicago and New York, 1886. a cross, a suffering that is laid upon us without our will. We are, like that Simon of Cyrene (Mark 15: 21), compelled to bear the cross; for example, a sickness, or the loss of a beloved one. But now all depends upon how we bear it, whether with resistance or in faith and obedience, in yielding ourselves to the will of God. There is also, however, another cross, which is not so much laid upon as offered to us, and in which it depends upon our will, our free choice, whether we will accept it or leave it. If we decide henceforth to live our life in following Christ, that is equivalent to the decision of taking up the cross, because we then have chosen a life of self-denial. Comfort under Sufferings.-The ground of quieting and comfort which we have to apply amid our sufferings are different according to the nature of those sufferings. The strongest ground of contentment is the consciousness of the grace of God in Christ, the consciousness that we are beloved of God in Christ, that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and that all things must work for our good, if we love God (Rom. 5: 5; 8: 28, 38, 39). But this finds its special application in the different situations. If we must view our sufferings as chastisements, there must be a comfort for us in this, that they are fatherly chastisements, that aim at our salvation, our improvement, that we may bring forth the fruit of righteousness. When we can regard our sufferings as trials, our comfort lies in this, that these sufferings are to serve for our education, for our progress, that a transformation into the more perfect may take place, which otherwise would not come to pass. But |