though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow-- Sermons
I. THE GREAT EVIL OF THIS CRIME. It contains within it a combination of various dreadful kinds of wickedness. 1. Unfaithfulness. Husband and wife have vowed to be true to one another. Adultery is a breach of marriage vows. Even if purity were not originally binding, the voluntary assumption of the yoke of matrimony would have made it so. The sin of unfaithfulness to the marriage tie is one of breaking a most solemn promise. 2. Cruelty. This is not a sin that can be committed wholly on one's own account. A grievous and irreparable wrong is done to another. For the sake of selfish pleasure, a home, which might have been a centre of love and joy, is torn to pieces by outraged jealousy and made miserable with the total wreck of the hopes of youth. 3. Impurity. Some have thought that, as happiness does not always accompany marriage, "free love" would be more desirable. It is forgotten that the very term is a misnomer. No true love can exist without constancy and fidelity. When those virtues are removed, what is called love is at best a passing fancy; at worst it is a foul passion. The soul of the adulterer is stained and corrupted. 4. Godlessness. This great sin darkens the vision of God. It involves a violation of a Divine institution, and is thus unfaithfulness to God as well as to a human companion. The soul of the adulterer is lost to the life of holiness and the true service of God. II. THE JUST TREATMENT OF THIS CRIME. 1. Not by the abolition of marriage. This is but the refuge of despair. It is said in some quarters that marriage is a failure. But wherever it is a failure some of its necessary ingredients have been neglected. If there is no true love, if sympathy is wanting, if mutual forbearance is not practised, the close union of husband and wife must lead to perpetual quarrelling. But what we want is to raise the standard of marriage. The abolition of lifelong marriage is virtually the abolition of that most sacred Christian institution - the family. It must open the floodgates of vice by allowing suggestions, of licence that are now,. at least, to some extent, kept in check by the social conscience that respects the marriage tie. 2. By the most effectual form of reprobation. Job considered it to be an iniquity to be punished by the judges. This was the old Jewish method, and the Puritans of New England attempted to revive it. But great difficulties stand in the way of criminal prosecutions for adultery. Moreover, it is not the function of the state to punish vice, but to prevent direct or indirect injuries. Now, though adultery is an injury, the course for a legal treatment of it as such is not clear. But this does not mean that the vice should go unchecked. It deserves the severest social stigma. It lies under the wrath of God. It should be prevented as far as possible by a wise and pure bringing up of the young and the inculcation of principles of social purity. - W.F.A.
Did not He that made me in the womb make him? Homilist. I. ILLUSTRATE THE DOCTRINE HERE CONVEYED. Both high and low, rich and poor, all sorts and conditions of men, have one common Creator.1. The unity of creation, Men's tastes, habits, abodes, and appearances differ, but men are one family. 2. The high position of the Divine Being. There are none to divide His praise, none to claim His position. 3. The harmony of God's providential dealings. He can cause one event to fit in with another, one person to assist and help his fellow, and out of the apparently diverse elements to make one perfect,, harmonious, and beautiful whole. II. APPLY THE SUBJECT TO OUR OWN IMPROVEMENT. We are taught from the fact stated by Job. If we see another sin, our language should be, "Did not He that made me make him?" And we should bear with him tenderly. If we see another in want or poverty our thoughts should be, "Did not He that made me make him?" And we should afford our best relief. 1. Some suggestions for our duty towards God. He is our Creator. As our supreme Benefactor and Maker we should manifest our sense of His authority over us and our dependence on His care. 2. Some reflections on our duty one to another. (Homilist.) 1. That it indicates a very advanced state of view in regard to man. The attempt has been always made by those who wish to tyrannise over others, or who aim to make slaves of others, to show that they are of a different race, and that in the design for which they were made, they are wholly inferior. Arguments have been derived from their complexion, from their supposed inferiority of intellect, and the deep degradation of their condition, often little above that of brutes, to prove that they were originally inferior to the rest of mankind. On this the plea has been often urged, and oftener felt than urged, that it is right to reduce them to slavery. Since this feeling so early existed, and since there is so much that may be plausibly said in defence of it, it shows that Job had derived his views from something more than the speculations of men and the desire of power, when he says that he regarded all men as originally equal, and as having the same Creator. It is, in fact, a sentiment which men have been practically very reluctant to believe, and which works its way very slowly even yet on the earth. 2. This sentiment, if fairly embraced and carried out, would soon destroy slavery everywhere. If men felt that they were reducing to bondage those who were originally on a level with themselves, — made by the same God, with the same faculties, and for the same end; if they felt that in their very origin, in their nature, there was that which could not be made mere property, it would soon abolish the whole system. It is kept up only where men endeavour to convince themselves that there is some original inferiority in the slave which makes it proper that he should be reduced to servitude, and be held as property. But as soon as there can be diffused abroad the sentiment of Paul, that" God hath made of one blood all nations of men," that moment the shackles of the slave will fall, and he will be free. (Albert Barnes.) People Abaddon, Adam, JobPlaces UzTopics Belly, Birth, Body, Cared, Earliest, Grew, Guide, Guided, Infancy, Led, Mother's, Nay, Reared, Widow, Womb, YouthOutline 1. Job makes a solemn protestation of his integrity in several dutiesDictionary of Bible Themes Job 31:188130 guidance, from godly people 7925 fellowship, among believers 8410 decision-making, examples Library Thou Shalt not Steal. This Commandment also has a work, which embraces very many good works, and is opposed to many vices, and is called in German Mildigkeit, "benevolence;" which is a work ready to help and serve every one with one's goods. And it fights not only against theft and robbery, but against all stinting in temporal goods which men may practise toward one another: such as greed, usury, overcharging and plating wares that sell as solid, counterfeit wares, short measures and weights, and who could tell all the … Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works Question of the Active Life Whether virtue is in us by Nature? Whether after Christ, it was Proper to the Blessed virgin to be Sanctified in the Womb? Whether Corporal Alms are of More Account than Spiritual Alms? Whether Confession is According to the Natural Law? Whether one Can, Without a Mortal Sin, Deny the Truth which Would Lead to One's Condemnation? The Advanced Christian Reminded of the Mercies of God, and Exhorted to the Exercise of Habitual Love to Him, and Joy in Him. Trials of the Christian The Christian Business World The Seventh Commandment Tit. 2:06 Thoughts for Young Men Thoughts Upon Worldly-Riches. Sect. Ii. Job Links Job 31:18 NIVJob 31:18 NLT Job 31:18 ESV Job 31:18 NASB Job 31:18 KJV Job 31:18 Bible Apps Job 31:18 Parallel Job 31:18 Biblia Paralela Job 31:18 Chinese Bible Job 31:18 French Bible Job 31:18 German Bible Job 31:18 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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