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Elihu wishes Job to be "tried unto the end." His desire strikes us as cruel. Yet, perhaps unknown to himself, great good may come out of the fulfilment of it.

I. THERE IS AN END OF TRIAL. As we look down the long vista of troubles we can see no terminus; it seems to run on for ever into the darkness. But whatever may be the appearance, the reality is not everlasting. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Never was night more long. Its slow hours drag on wearily; yet they must pass, and day must come in God's good time. The long life of trouble will end at last in the peace of the grave. But many earthly troubles pass like stormy noons, and there is "light at eventide."

II. A GOOD USE OF TRIAL MAY HASTEN THE END OF IT. So long as we fret against it God may find it necessary to keep it with us. If we are slow in learning our lesson we must be kept long at school. But when the lesson is learnt the school may be broken up.

III. THE COMPLETION OF TRIAL IS SEEN IN ITS FRUITS The fire has not done its work if the dross has not been separated from the metal. Only when the crucible shows the required chemical change is the test complete. Therefore we should be watching for results. Great troubles are wasted on men who will not submit to them, so that they may bear their de. signed fruits in patience, humility, contrition, amendment, etc.

IV. WE CANNOT JUDGE OF TRIAL TILL WE HAVE SEEN THE END OF IT. We have to read to the end of the story of Job before we can discover for what he is being led through the deep waters. The rounded life shows the place and purpose of its several episodes, but those episodes by themselves look fragmentary and meaningless. Therefore we have to "wait for the end." When this arrives many a riddle will be solved, many a hard experience will be explained, many a black cloud will be glorified into golden splendour.

V. GOD MAY DISPENSE WITH THE NATURAL COMPLETION OF TRIAL. Trouble is not like a tunnel, from which there is no exit except at its ends. It is a burden which may be lifted whenever God sees fit. The object of trial may be obtained by other means, and it is possible that gentler methods may bring about the same results. Thus God leads to repentance by his goodness as well as by purgatorial afflictions. Therefore we should not live as though some iron fate held us to a certain amount of trial. God is a living Spirit and a loving Father; and he will nut permit his children to suffer, when peaceable methods of discipline will do the desired work for them. Our part is to take patiently what God sends, and to use it profitably, trusting God to cut short the trouble or lengthen it as he sees best. - W.F.A.

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KJV: My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men.

WEB: I wish that Job were tried to the end, because of his answering like wicked men.