Jer. xxxi. 35 — 37. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar ; The Lord of Hosts is his name : If those ordinances depart from me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.
THE study of the prophecies is most instructive. We are apt to read them as though they did not concern us : whereas in them we see the purposes of God unfolded to us ; and, by a comparison of them with past and passing events, we see God so order- ing every thing in heaven and earth, that all should be accomplished in their season. Into futurity, also, we gain an insight. And shall not that, which so interests Jehovah himself, as to be predicted by him in terms the most solemn that can possibly be ima- gined, interest us? Behold, how the Almighty here describes himself in all his majesty and glory ! behold, too, the solemnity of his assertions, equivalent, in fact, to oaths ! And to what has all this respect ? It has respect to his Church and people, for whom he has the richest mercies in reserve, and to whom he pledges himself that these mercies shall be vouch- safed in due season. Let us contemplate, then, I. The promises here made to God's Church and
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