Ver. 14.-The vinon of fahehood Mid folly. Visions from the Lord have ceasecl. (ver. 9). But the prophets continue to see visions of earthly limitation or even of diabolical delusion. These visions are false and foolish. Better have none than such. I. PPOPHEO"i" IN ITS OORRUPTION SEES THE FALSE AND FOOLISH IN PLAOE OF THE TRUE AND WORTHY. 1. The mission of prophecy is to see and declare wisdom and reality. The attractiveness of the teaching is a snare if the matter of it is vain. People natur- ally favour the pleasant utterance of pleasant things. Doctrines are sometimes chosen because they are liked rather than because they are known to be sound, or the style and language of the preacher are more heeded than the substance of his message. But, if we were in earnest, ugly troths would always be accepted in preference to specious falsehoods. 2. TM corruption of prophecy substitutes falsehood and folly for truth and wisdom. This may be experienced unconsciously. 'l'he teacher may not know that be has fallen. It is not only that his tongue utters lies, his eye sees no truth. His vision is distorted and he knows it not. He is not aware that he sees men as trees walking. Nor does be know that his folly is not wisdom. The failing of spiritual vision and decay of wisdom are the more calamitous because they are unconscious. 'l'bey are a sort of spiritual insanity. 3. Tlte evil of the corruption of prophecy is in the widespread deJ,wion and degradation that it produces. "Thy prophets have seeu vain and foolish things for thee." The prophet is a teacher as well as a seer. When the teacher errs the scholars are mi11le.d. I!. THE FAILURE TO DISCOVER INIQUITY IS A PROOF THAT A PROPHET'S VISION IS F aLSE AND FOOLISH. 1. ..d prophet is required to see human as well as Divine truth. It needs inspiration to read the secrets of the heart as muoh as to discover the mysteries of the unseen heavens or of the distant future. A prophet should be a discerner of spirits. If he cannot read the signs of the times he is a failure. 2. The failure to see i1.iquity i.s one especial, evidence of perverted prophetic vision. The physician is first of all called upon to discover bis patient's disease. If he cannot detect this the rest of his work is of little use. P,rophets may dream of the millennium and discourse !)f the celestial spheres; but so long as they are blind to the sins that men around them are perishing in, their primary mission must fail. Now, it needs a Divine in~pirat)on rightly to see iniquity. Conventionality of thought l~s to a compl~cent sat1sfact1on with the normal state of the world. We must be out of 1t and above 1t to observe how it has fall.en. The preacher who cannot see the sins of his age is worse than useless. He is a deludiug flatterer. 'l'he individual man who is blind to his own sin has not the first ray of spiritual light which may guide him aright. ill THE FALSE .U."D FOOLISH VISION OF PROPHECY DOES NOT RESTORE PROSPERITY, BUT ON THE CONTRABY IT DIRECTLY LEADS TO RUIN. By vainly promising pleasant tliiugs it brings disastrous ones. The false prophets opposed Jeremiah and said the Ca:.,tivity would not come. By that very falsehood they helped to hasten it. Had they preached repentance and warned of wrath, the doom might have been averted. None prepare soulB for ruin more certainly than smooth-speaking flattering optimists. When danger is near, the warning prophet may be the deliverer of his hearers. If the preacher fail to produce conviction of sin he cannot lead to salvation in Christ. So long as men du not see their lost condition they are in danger of their soul's ruin. To them a pleasant rdigion is a fatal religion. A Jeremiah, a John the Baptist, and a John Knox a.re the best friends of their generution. Ver. 16.-Tl.e tr-iumph of the foe. I. THE TRIUMPH OF TJIE FOE OVE[l. JERUBALEM- 6,rnug;erli mock with olCOm and deri.Bion, enemies vent their rage with hissing, gnashing OH, II, 1-22,] THE LAMEN'l'A'fIONS OF JEltEMI.AH.
of teeth, and a spiteful satisfaction that the day they have looked for has come. Why should these cruel feelings be roused against the prostrat.e city? Her previous conditiou must have provoked them. 1. Great prosperity. This excites envy in the less pros- perous, and envy soon sours into hatred. ,Jealous and selfish natures have a positive pleasure in seeing the loss of special privileges in the more favoured, although that loss may bring no advantage to themselves. 2. High pretensions. Jerusalem claimed to he especially favoured and blessed by God. She looked down with scorn on her neigh- bours. t:!uch an attitude was galling to them and led to an outburst of delight when the proud city lay grovelling in the dust, Contempt provokes enmity. No calamity receives less pity than the downfall of pride. 3. Reserved isolation. Jerusalem kept herself apart from other cities. She felt that she had a peculiar vocation. Such exclusive- ness would excite dislike. The unsocial are unpitied. It may be that the separation is inevitable or conscientious. Still, it incurs not the least a version. II. 'l'HE TRIUMPH OF THE FOE OVER THE CHURCH. The fall of Jerusalem was the fall of the Church. The enemies of the Eternal rejoiced in the destruction of his temple and the scattering of his people. There are always adversaries on the look out for disast.er in the Church of Christ. The evil spirit of the world is vexed and shamed by the standing rebuke of a pure Church. Corrupt men see in her an example con- trasting with their own conduct and thereby condemning it. Thus there arise dislike and enmity. The shame of the Church is a relief to this worldly opposition. There have been times when the Name of God has been insulted through this evil pleasnre of the wicked in the shame that the sin and failnre of his people have brought nvon his cause. Here is a motive for preserving the sanctity of the Christian Church. 1'ne loss of it will not merely involve suffering to the Church herself; it will encourage th, foes of Christ by giving them the elation of victory, and it will dishononr his Name by n·. ~king his work appear to fail. III. THE TRIUMPH OF THE FOE OVER A SOUL. There are spiritual enemies watt iin.~ for every slip that a soul may make, enemies that are confounded by its growing puity and faithfulness, but rendered insolent and jubilant by its fall. Whenever we sin we afford a triumph to the evil one. We think that we are pleasing ourselves. But there must be some mistake or our sin would not give so much satisfaction to our enemy. The laugh of Mephistopheles should have been a warning to Faust. Perhaps the most stinging smart of future retribution will be the devilish glee with which the miserable lost soul will be welcomed into the place of darkness.