Vers. 22-24.-Man rebulced by nature. Man considers himself to be" the lord of creation." He alone of all creatures is made in the image of God. Yet there are things in nature which should put him to shame. Jeremiah indicates two of-these. I. 'l'RE DIVTh'E ORDER OF NATURE REBUKES THE WILFUL DISOBEDIENCE OF MAN. 1. .,Yature is ever obedient to the law of God. (1) The greatest powers of nature submit to Divine ordinances. 'I'he sea, vast and mighty, is bound by his decree (Job :r.xxviii. 8-11). (2) The wildest convulsions of nature do not transgress these ordinances. The waves may toss and roar, but they cannot pass the bounds that God bas set them. Hurricanes, thunder-storms, earthquakes, are as subservient to law as the silent sun- i;bine and the peaceful growth of spring. (3) The simplest meaus in accordance with Di vine laws are sufficient to restrain the fiercest forces of nature. God bas placed the sand as a bound of the sea, and the storms are 'driven back from the sandy beach as surely as from the coast of iron crags. (4) The obedience of nature to these Divine ordinances is everlasting and without exception. The sea is bound by perpetual decrees. 2. Man alone is disobedient to the Law of God. He is the great exception to the order of the universe. The wild sea never transgresses God's decrees ; man is the sole transgressor. The possibility of this strange, solitary rebellion among all the orders of God's kingdoms of nature is explained by the constitution of man and the character of the obedience which is required by this. Nature is under necessity; man is free. Nature's obedience is unconscious, material; man's is deliberate, moral. Ho is to fear, to tremble, i.e. to obey under the influence of thoughts and feelings of reverence. Lacking these, be can he bound to the throne of God by no chains of compulsion. Ilut how terrible to use the high endowment of liberty only to set at defiance the august decrees before which all other creatures bow unceasingly! II. THE DIVINE BENEFICENCE OF NATUllE REBUKES THE UNGRATEFUL REBEI,LION' OF MAN. 1. The order of nature is beneficent. God gives the rain "in its season.'' He keeps for men " the appointed weeks of the harvest." The regularity and harmony of the physical world are beneficial to men. The sun never fails to rise. If it once failed what disasters would follow I If the motion of the earth were irregular no life could' continue to exist. The order of the seasons is a. distinct blessing (Gen. viii. 22). Instead of shrinkinu 0 from "the reign of law" as from a. cruel tyranny, we should welcome it when we remember that the laws of nature are but the material expression of the will of God, and that will the outcome of bis goodness. 2. This beneficence of nati:re shows all sin to be a mark of ingratitude. God smiles on us in 1:111tu~e (Ma~t. v. 4o ). How then can we, while blessed by the very sunshine of that smile, me up m revolt against him? If the grandeur and splendid harmony of nature do not a.we us, 1:111, v. 1-81.J 'l'llE DOOK OF TlIE PMPllET JEn.mtLi.lt. 110
shall not its gentleness and kindliness attract us to loyal obedience to him who is at once the Fountain of law and the Father of mercies ?
Vera. 30, 31.-The most appalling condition eo which a nation can sink. Arter enumerating the sins of his people in ever-darkening series, the prophet at length reaches a form of evil worse than all others, at the sight of which he starts back with an exclamation of horror; this is corruption at the very fountain of instruction anJ. worship, and the willing acquiescence in it by the nation, I. CONSIDER THE FEARFUL NATURE OF THIS EVIL. 1 False prophecy. The prophet should be the highest oracle of truth. If he utters lies, knowledge is corrupted at it~ source. The guilt of such conduct is exceptionally great, because (1) it is a sin against light; (2) it is a prostitution of the highest powers to the basest ends; and (3) it is a cause of widespread ruin to those who follow these "blind leaders c,f the blind.'' 2. Subservient priesthood. The priests were at the beck of the false prophets. These men had not the excnse of the prophets, The prophets represented a progressive religion-a religion of inward lights, a religion in which new departures were expected, and therefore one in which the excuse of honest though mistaken enthusiasm might be urged in defence of a lapse into error. But the priests were the custodians of a rig:,\ ritual defined by a written Law. They were put in trust, and their apostasy was a deliberate act of unfaithfulness. The Christian teacher, though free from the letter of the Law, and gifted with the spiritual freedom of prophecy, is put in trust with the gospel (1 Tim. i. 11). If he, while retaining the influence and emoluments of his office, consciously forsakes the guidance of the New Testament for the fasci11ations of ground- less speculation, he too is guilty of unfaithfulness; and if he knows tbe speculation to be false, but accepts it out of deference to its popularity, he is guilty of base treason like that of the commander of a fortress who surrenders to the enemy from sheer cowardice. 3. Popular acquiescence in these evils. "My people love to have it so." This is plea.sing, since (1) the false prophets flatter and prophesy smooth things, while tbe true prophets like Jeremiah must often rebuke and denounce j11dgments; and (2) the priests are satisfied with an unspiritual religion, ritual without morality, perhaps even immorality in religion. But this fact completes the terrible depravity of the nation. 'l'he people cannot plead ignorance nor compulsory obedience. The willing followers of corrupt religious leaders must share their guilt; nay, they are responsible for the aggravaLion of it by fostering with applause that which would die out if neglected. II. CONSIDER THE FINAL nESULT OF THIS EVIL. "And what will ye do in the end thereof?" It was characteristic of the false prophets that they aimed only at imme- diate popularity, and thought only of the present, while the true prophets were con- cerned with the future. But the future will some day be the present, Is it not best to inquire what this is becoming while yet there is time to modify it? 1. Consider the morul results of this depravity, the corruption of conscience, the falsifying of the nature of those who live in falsehood, the destruction of all spiritual life in those who lower spiritual functions before the claims of worldly convenience. 2. Consider the prnul results of this depravity. Can this of all evils go unpunished? (See ver. 29.)