him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him." This is Elihu's advice, and it coincided too both with Job's faith and conscience, for he himself had declared the same: "Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified. Who is he that will plead with me?” Moreover Job had well examined himself and his state, and could appeal to God for a confirmation of his integrity; and he had the testimony of God himself that he was perfect and upright, that he feared God, and eschewed evil. And a brighter testimony cannot be given to poor frail, imperfect men, however gracious they may be. And upon this footing Job styled himself to be what God had declared concerning him: "I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him. The just, upright man is laughed to scorn." Now, against this express testimony of God in Job's behalf; against the honest and true confession of Job himself; against the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit; against all light and knowledge; against the verdict of his own thoughts; against the decision of his own conscience; against his own former practice as a magistrate; and against all sound reason; he no less than twice lies against his right; and he brings it in by way of an oath, and, as it were, swears by God: " Moreover, Job continued his parable, and said, As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; all the while my breath is in me, and

the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit." I think there is wickedness enough, and falsehood too, in this very speech, notwithstanding the oath with which it is prefaced. And here we see the wonderful conscientiousness of Job, that though the Almighty had deprived him of his right, and taken away his judgment, and vexed his soul by so doing, yet he would be far from such an example; for all the time his breath was in him he would not speak wickedness, nor should his tongue utter deceit. Job has this heavy charge brought against him by Elihu: "For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment." This is lying against our right. But I have no call to look into the scriptures, nor any where else, for I have found more of this sort of lying in my own heart than ever I found in the infirmities of Bible saints, or in the mouth and heart of all my neighbours put them all together.

But to proceed. Job not only lied against his right to the sentence of justification, which at his delivery God granted to him, but he lied against his right at the bar of God in the future judgment: "For now thou numberest my steps; doest thou not watch over my sin? My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity." Again: "I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent." "He destroyeth the perfect and the

wicked," Job ix. 22. Thus Job lied against his right in the judgment which God promises to his children upon every fiery trial; as the Holy Spirit declares: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass; and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day," Psalm xxxvii. 5, 6; yea, this is secured by the covenant: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." And to this the faith of the church subscribes, when she says, "He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righte ousness." But then it may be objected, Where is the judgment of the martyrs? And it may also be objected, Where is the judgment of the Son of God, for he was condemned being innocent? To both which I answer, that though he was condemned in the flesh, yet he was justified in the Spirit, both by his resurrection, and in the hearts, and by the faith, of all his followers. And at the destruction of Jerusalem judgment was given to him; wrath came upon them to the uttermost; and the angel Gabriel tells Daniel that Messiah's death should go before, and the Jews' destruction should be an inevitable consequence of it: "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the [Roman] prince that shall come shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary;

and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."

And as for the judgment of the saints that suf fered martyrdom, their prayers lie yet at the foot of the altar, which were put up when they were offered; "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them, [this is their justification and wedding-robe before God;] and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." The prayers of these departed souls, which were offered up to God when they died, are left at the foot of the altar, which is Christ; and the time will come when their judgment, which was taken away by men, will be given unto them by God; and so it is written, "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." The New Testament records it thus: "And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest

give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." It was a long time before the dying prayer of Zechariah was answered; but he left it at the foot of the altar with his last breath: "And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones, at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the Lord. And, when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it." These very dying words our Lord takes notice of, and promises a full answer to them: "That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation," Luke xi. 50, 51. Thus the promised judgment of the poor and needy is sure to be given to the saints of the Most High; this is their promised right. But Job lied against it; both against the present judgment, and the judgment to come.

But again: the right of all believers, from the foundation of the world, is eternal life. It is the