Job 31:15

Did not He that made me in the womb make him?

God the universal Creator

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.)

Man’s common rights

Had we not one and the same Creator, and have we not consequently the same nature? We may observe in regard to this sentiment--

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.)