THE SHORT COURSE SERIES

Edited by Rev. John Adams, B.D.


The Divine Drama of Job

By Rev. Charles F. Aked, D.D.

General Preface

 

The title of the present series is a sufficient indication of its purpose. Few preachers, or congregations, will face the long courses of expository lectures which characterised the preaching of the past, but there is a growing conviction on the part of some that an occasional short course, of six or eight connected studies on one definite theme, is a necessity of their mental and ministerial life. It is at this point the projected series would strike in. It would suggest to those who are mapping out a scheme of work for the future a variety of subjects which might possibly be utilised in this way.

The appeal, however, will not be restricted to ministers or preachers. The various volumes will meet the needs of laymen and Sabbath-school teachers who are interested in a scholarly but also practical exposition of Bible history and doctrine. In the hands of office-bearers and mission-workers the "Short Course Series" may easily become one of the most convenient and valuable of Bible helps.

It need scarcely be added that while an effort has been made to secure, as far as possible, a general uniformity in the scope and character of the series, the final responsibility for the special interpretations and opinions introduced into the separate volumes, rests entirely with the individual contributors.

A detailed list of the authors and their subjects will be found at the close of each volume.

 

"I loathe my life ; I would not live alway:

Let me alone ; for my days are vanity."

                                                         Job vii. 16.

"Must it not be a deep spiritual instinct that drives trouble into solitude? . . . Away from the herd flies the wounded deer; away from the flock staggers the sickly sheep—to the solitary covert to die. The man too thinks it is to die; but it is in truth so to return to life. 'Leave me to my misery,' cries the man, and lo, his misery is the wind of the waving garments of him that walks in the garden in the cool of the day! All misery is God unknown."

Geo. Macdonal D.