not only be cleared of weeds, it must be sonened, Tho plough must break up the fallow ground. V. IT IS OUR DUTY TO BBEAK UP THE FALLOW GROUND. Men must be prepared for receiving the gospel of Christ.. Wo are too ea.g~r to sow the seed. Hence the slight returns we have for so much effort aud expenditure. People are called to "accept Christ" who do not know Christ, and would have no room in their hearts to receive him if they did know l,im, Much so-called "gospel preaching" thus meets with ridicule, or indifference, or bewildered surprise. If we were Jess hasty in seeking brilliant results we should see more true, fruitful returns for our work. Christ was not al ways and only crying, "Come unto me I" "Follow me!" Less pleasing, and iu some eyes less important, words were often seen by him to be necessary. Men need iu~tructing as well 118 inviting, rebuking as well as exhorting. VI. 'l'HE DUTY OF BREAKING UP THE FALLOW GROUND IS GREAT AND PRESSING. How much fallow ground there is (1) in the world !-think of India, China, Africa, the godless of Europe; (2) in the Church /-how many enjoy its privileges I how few maintain its work I and (3) in our own hearts /-what faculties are wasted I what oppor- tunities for good neglected I Ver. 10.-Divine illusions. I. Goo» MEN MAY MISJUDGE Go»'s ACTIONS. The words of the text are not spoken with Divine authority; on the contrary, they are given in historical narrative as a record of the personal utterance of the prophet. He does not preface them with the august claim of authority, "Thus saith the Lord;" he clistiuctly says, "Then said I." Without needing to look for any other renderiug of tha text, we may consider it ns throwing light on the condition of the prophet's mind, rather than as a difficult scriptural declaration of God's character and mode of acting. 'l'hus we may see in it an expression of hasty judgment, misunderstanding, irritablo impatience, complaint. If so, it warns us to beware of the prejudiced or impassioned utterances of the best and wisest men (Ps. cxvi. 11), and to be more cautious in form- ic;!: juclgments on difficult aspects of providence and religion, since even prophets err. II. IT IS DIFFICULT 'l'O JUDGK RIGR'rLY OF Gon's ACTIONS WHILE WE ARE IN THE llllDST OF THEM. We are too near to have the right perspective. The character of an action cannot be judged till its ultimate design is revealed. Many things look wrong because they are parts of a whole the remainder of which is unseen. Pride, passion, self- iutercst, and prejudice pervert our judgment. We must wait for time to clear up many <lark passages in earthly providence (John xiii. 7). 'l'ho inconsistency which seemed palpable to Jere.miah is less felt by us. III. Gon's ACTIONS ARE 60111ETIMEB ILLUSORY TO us. There was a measure of truth in the rash cry of the prophet, God never deceives. Yet his utterance may be mis- understood by us. God is said to harden the heart when his action results in tl,i~ evil condition through the misconduct of men, and uot at all through his wish to bring that evil about. So God might almost be said to deceive (though the oxpression is misleading) when his Word is such that we fall iuto a misconception in hearing it. IV. TIii!: ILLUSORY CHARACTER OF SOME OF Gon's ACTIONS IS DETERMINED DY COM- MON LII\IITATIONS AND IMPEDFECTIONB. Some truths aro revealed, while qualifying truths are necessarily hidden because we could not understand them. No mention is made of the time of tho fulfilment of a promise; hence we think it will be immediate, and are disappointed when we see delay and find unexpected troubles coming first. One part of God's Word may seem to contradict another when they refer to different conditions, but conditious not yet revealed to us. V, '!'RUTH AND HUMAN WELFARE ARE BETTER SERVED BY THESE ILLUSIONS THAN BY llEVELATIONS WIIICH ADMIT OF NO MlSCONtiTRUCTION. If the child were never allowed to stumble, he would never learn to walk. We are educated by temporary illusions for higher truths than could be attained by plainer paths. Thus we know more of God and of heaven through the anthropomorphic and materialistic language of much of Scripture, which has resulted in gross misconceptions at times, than we should have learnt from le.nguago made bare enough to he unmistakable, Ver. 14.-Tl,e cleansing of the heart a necessary condit-ion of aalvation. I. SA 1.- 'fhe very mention of COll· 't ATION IS PilO!il!SED ON TIIE SIMPLEST POS81DLE CONl>lTlONB, 84 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [oH. 1v. 1-31.
ditioDs suggests difficulties, delays, barriers. Dut the only conditions required are in our own power, are simply such as are necessary to make the reception of the salvation of God possible to us, and do not refer to the source of it, We are not to s:we ourselves, not to purchase nor to merit salvation, but only to be in a ricrht 0 condition to receive it. II. SALVATION IS O1'."LY POSSlllLE WHERE THERE IS A CLEANSING FROM WICKEDNESS. The soul that clings to sin cannot also grasp the Saviour. If it would be right to deliver men from the painful consequences of wickedness while they remained under the power of it, it must have been wrong ever to have permitted those consequences. Hit is not unjust to forgive the impenitent, it is unjust to punish them, which is absurd. III. THE CLEANSING FROM WICKEDNESS MUST BE IN THE HEART. There all sin has its origin. Clean hands are vain without a pure heart. Reformation must not simply be moral, it must be spiritual-not a change of habits, but a purification of thouaht affection, and desire. " ' IV. THE DUTY OF CLEANSING OUR HEARTS FROM WICKEDNESS RESTS UPON OURSELVES. The text is not a promise, but an exhortation. True, no one can purify himself by bit own efforts alone (eh. ii. 22). God has provided the fountain for uncleanness, and only they who wash in this are clean. But men must plunge into the purifying flood, must rna½e the effort o'. repentance, ~ust seek the cleansing which is promised through Chnst, must submit to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, must actively apply them- selves to the execution of good deeds in the power given by God. Compare the words of Isaiah (i. lG). V. THERE IS NO BEASON TO DELAY THE CLEANSING OF OUR HEARTS, "How loner shall thoughts of wickedness lodge within thee?" The longer repentance is post~ paned, the more difficult does it become; the more numerous are the stains of sin, the nearer is tbe approach of doom. Since it is for men to seek the cleansing of their souls, any delay must be attributed to their negligence, not to God's unwillingness to help them.