557 SAFETY IN THE GRAVE, [nISC, xr. day upon the earth : and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another ; though my reins be consumed within me." But in many parts of this book the good man lets us know, that he had no manner of hope of any restoration to health and peace in this life ; " Job vii, G, 7, 8. " My days are spent without hope :my eye shall no more see good : the eye of him that bath seen me shall see me no more : thyeyes are upon me, and I am not." Verse " Now shall I sleep in the dust, and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be." Job xvii. 15. Where is now my hope ? As for my hope, who shall see ' it ?" lie and his hope seemed " to go down to the bars of the pit together, and to rest in the dust: And if Job had no hope of a restoration in this world, then his hopes must point to the resurrection of the dead. Reason IV. If we turn these verses here, as well as that noble passage in Job xix. to the more evangelical' sense of a resurrection, the truths which are contained in the one and the other, are all supported by the language of the New Testament : and the express words of both these texts are much more naturally and easily applied to the evangelical sense without any strain and difficulty. The expressions of Job in chapter the xix. I knew that my Redeemer liveth," have been rescued by many wise interpreters from that poor and low sense which has been forced upon them, by those who will not allowJob to have any prospect beyond this life : and it has been made to appear to be a bright glimpse of divine light and joy, a ray or vision of the sun of righteousness breaking in be- tween the dark clouds of his pressing sorrow : And that the words of my text demand the samesort of interpre- tation, will appear further by these short remarks, and this paraphrase upon them. Job had been speaking, verses 7-10, &c. That i` there is hope of a tree when it is cut down, that it will sprout again visibly, and bring forth boughs; but when man gives up the ghost, he is no more visi- ble upon earth : Where is he ?" Job does not deny his future existence, but only intimates that he does not appear in the place Where he was ;; and in the follow- ing verses he does not say, a dying man shall never rise, or shall never be awakened out of hips sleep, but asserts
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