The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 101

c-ra dawned. But yet ·not a full end. The material for the new creation was there and it took new form and order according to the creative word. All had become deso~ late, but out of that God brought forth a new condition of thinas, which he himself ?eclarcd to be" very good." And wha_t i~ this doctrine o.( evolut!o':i, concerning which m these days we hear so much-what 1s 1tbut a further 11lustrat1on in the kingdom of nature of the law of the text? "The survival of the fittest "-what does that imply but that there has been an end made of all the unfit and the less fit. But the whole order has not perished; there has been an end, but not a full end, and the fittest have been reserved. 2. And how frequent in the pages of hutory are the illustrations and examples of this principle of the Divine procedure I The destruction of the world by the Flood,-that was an end, but not a full end, for Noah and his house were saved. Earlier still, when God drove out from Eden the parents of our race,-what an end ,rns then made of all that was bright and blessed in their lives ! but still not a full end. For, as St. Paul tells us, " the creature was made subject to vanity, in hope." Ilope, the hope, of redemption and restoration through the promised Seed of the woman ,vas God's illustration of this law then. The destruction of the generation of Israei that came up out of Egypt with Moses, and whose carcases fell in the wilderness· but their children were God's reserve of mercy in their case. And outside the paaes of the Bible, thoughtful students of history, who love to trace the hand of God th~rein are able to point to many an illustration of this law. Take the story of one man....: Alfred the Great: he and the little Saxon band that clave to him were God's reserve of mercy for our land in those dark days, and saved us from coming to a full end, though we had come so near to it. And there are many, many more to which we cannot now allude. And in_the history of the Church also how often has this been seen! Take the call of Abraham, for example. The religion of the ancient patriarchs had all but died out, au end had nearly come. But by the Divine call of Abraham it was prevented from being a full end; a new era was introduced when he became" the father of the faithful and the friend of God." And to pass over all intermediate illustrations of this same law, though they be many, and some of them most notable, we may refer to the revival of evangelical religion in the last century. An end had come to well-nigh all earnest religion; the land was desolate with more than a material desolation. '!'here was" a famine, not of bread, but of the hearing of the Word of the Lord." But God suffered it not to be a full end. Wesley and his trusty band, Whitefield and those who laboured 'lfith him, became, under God, the means of a new departure, the introducers of a better order of things which has continued to this day. And it has been the same in families. Take tbe prophetic family in the days of Samuel. But for him it would have come to a full end. Take the most illustrious instance of all,-the houso and lineage of David. To what nearness to extinction it had come when the Saviour, the predicted Stem who should grow out of the root of J ease, was born at Bethlehem, and that course of events began which have made the name of David, great before, yet infinitely and eternally great now by means of him of whom it was foretold by the angel to his mother, that he should " sit upon the throne of his father David," and of whose kingdom David himself sang that it" should have no end." 3. And what are many of God's providential dealinga with men, his afflictive dispensations especially, bnt further illustrations of this same law? "Ye have heard of the patience of Job." The liveB of Joseph, of David, of Elijah, of Daniel, of Paul, and, above all, of our Lord,-what are they but instances in which "it pleased the Lord to bruiso them, and to put them to grief"? He saw fit to make an end to much of that which naturally they lo1·ed, and for a weary while to cloud over and conceal well-nigh all the brightness of their lives. But in no case was there a full end made, nor ever will there be. To many of us the Lord God comes and makes an end of what we would so much like to guard and keep--health, wealth, friends, prosperity, our inward joys, our outward gladness; God sends his angel of discipline and bids him make an end-though not a full end-of these things. Yes, it is oftentimes God's way. 4. And what are hi, spiritual disciplines but the carrying out of the same priuciple? Do we not read, "Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God"? of the prodigal, that "he camo to himself," and said, "I will arise and go to my father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned?" of Peter, that" he went out and wept bitterly"? Yes, often does ho liriug tluwll our hearts so that \'.'c cry- out," Why 11rt thou caet down, 0 my soul? ' 1 cu. 1v. 1-31.] 'l'HE DOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 07