Yer. 13.-Forsaking the fountain of living waters. I. THERE IS SUGGESTED HERB AN INCONCEIVABLE ACT OF FOLLY, It is a thing which could bo believed of no one in his sound se1;1se~ that he woul~ leave a fountain of living water, knowing it to be such, and enJoymg the use of 1t; and be contented ,with a cistern such as is hero d~scribed. A fountain is that fro~ which he benefits without any trouble; it is a pure gift of grace, and ~11 he has ~ do 1s to tak~ up his_ habitation by it. Why, then, should he l_eave_ a_ fountam for a cistern, even 1f the cistern were l'eady-made? Still less credible !s 1t t~at he should take the trouble to make a cistern. And the incredibility reaches its height when we are asked to suppose him doing all this with the end of possessing a broken cistern that can hold no water. Such broken cisterns the people of_ Israel seem to have known only too well. Dr. Thomson says there are thousands such in Upper Galilee, which, though dug in hard rock and apparently sound, are all dry in winter ; at best they are an uncertain source of supply, and the water, when collected is bad in colour and taste, and full of worms. The whole action, then, of the characte~ here indicated is scarcely conceivable, unless as the expression of fear in a diseased. mind. In somewhat of this way we have heard of men acting, who, after having made great fortunes, have become victims to the horrid delusion that they are paupers, and must make some sort of provision against utter destitution. So we might imagine the victim of delusion, with fountains all round him, still insisting upon having some sort of cistern provided. Note, moreover, that the aspect of folly becomes more decided when we consider that it is water which is treated in this way. _The water which is offered so freely and continuously in the fountain is a thing which man needs, and yet it is for the supply of that which is a great and may be a painful need that ho is represented as depending on broken cisterns which with great toil he has construcied for himself. II. THERE IS l[ENT101'"ED AN INDISPUTABLE ACT OF ,DESERTION. Israelites, stung to wrath by a charge of folly, might reply that they had not left a living fountain for broken cisterns. This, however, was but denying the application of a figure; the historical fact which the prophet bad connected with the figure they could not possibly deny. Assuredly they had forsaken 'God. Not simply that at this time they were without him, but, having once been with him, they had now left him. Had he not taken them up when they were in the weakness, dependence, and waywardness of national infancy? Had they not received all their supplies from him, and gathered strength and prestige under the shelter of his providence? Th6y owed the land in which they lived, and the wealth they had heaped- up, to the fulfilment of his promises, and yet they were now worshipping idols. Their worship was not a momentary out- break like the worship of the golden calf, soon after leaving Egypt, and when they had so Jong been living in the midst of idolaters. It was a steady settling down into tho worst excesses of an obscene and cruel worship, after long centuries during which tho Mosaic institutions had been in a place of acknowledged authority. What extenua- tions there may have been for this apostasy are ndt to be considered here. The thing insisted upon is the simple undeniable fact of the apostasy itself. III. '!'ms DESEilTION OF JEHOVAH IS DIVINELY ASSEUTED TO DE AN ACT OF THE GnossEST FOLLY. We have noticed tbe figure under which this act is set forth; and if Israel meant to get clear of a humiliating charge, it was only by denying that God was indeed a fountain of living water. 'l'be figure, therefore, resolves itself into a sort of lo·,ical dilemma; and the fact is clearly shown that in spiritual affairs men are capable or° a folly which, in natural affairs, they are as far from as possible. Man holds within him a strange duality of contradictions. In some directions be may show the greatest powers of comprehension, insight, foresight; may advance with all the resources of nature well in band. But in other directions he may stumble like a blind man, while around him on every band are piled up the gracious gifts of a loving and forgiving God, '!'here is no special disgrace to any individual in admitting what a fool he may be iu ~i1iritual things. In this respect, at all events, he is not a fool above other fools. He CH. II. 1-37.] 'l'HE BOOK OF 'fHE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 45
m1ty see many of the wise, noble, and mighty of earth who have lived and died in npparent neglect as to the concerns of eternity and the relation of Christ to them, Men toil to make securities and satisfactions for themselves, but if they only clearly 6aW that they are doing no better than making broken cisterns, their toils would be relinquished the next moment. It is but too sadly plain how many neglect the revela- tiona, offers, and promises of God; but who can doubt that If they could only really 6ee him to be the true Fountain of living waters, the neglect would come to an end at once?-Y.