The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 132

makes it clear that burnt offerings and all sacrifices are nothing without repentance and reform, he will be thought very little of. He must let the people sin and sin as much as they like. '!'hey will cram the temple area with multitudes of flocks and herd& to take the effect of sin away, if only they may go on sinniug. What God had gi,en to teach the dreadful malignity of sin, these priests had turned into an agency for ma king it seem a mere trifle. II. 'l'REI-E WAS ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY OF REBUKE AND REMONSTRANCE. 'l'he people were not obliged to accept these priests and prophets on their own ipse dixit. It was not because a mau came forth with his "'l'hus saith the Lord" that ho was to he followed. Anybody can say," Thus saith the Lord." The devil attempted persuasions of this sort when he came to Jesus in the wilderness. There must be a strict search- ing into what is said. One purpose for which God used prophets and priests was as a test of those whom they had to do with. God wishes to know the extent of our regard for the truth, and he has not left us helpless in discovering that truth with the almost certainty. There is always something to appeal to. Every true prophet with his "Thus saith the Lord" had behind him a Law and testimony, already written and indisputably valid, to which he could point. Each prophet as he came alon" was more firmly tied to the truth, because he had behind him so many who had already spoken, and whom he must not contradict. So the apostles could be checked iu speaking lies or inventions, because au appeal was possible to what Jesus had said in the flesh. There were twelve men with one message, and only as long as the message was one were people botmd to receive it. And happily, if a difference had arisen, there was always the means of testing which speaker was right. "No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed." As things stand to-day, it is perfectly clear that we can test every one professing to be a messenger of Divine truth ; we can test him effectually. We are not left unprovided amid modem imposture, knavery, and delusion.-Y. Ver. 1.-True manhood. Without any introduction, let us plunge at once into our subject, which is True manhood. It opens broadly before us in the suggestions which both this verse and the chapter from which it is taken contain. .And first of all we will note- I. THE DrvmE DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION OP IT. It consists in executing jndgment and seeking the truth. The Lord asks importunately that "a man" may be found, and then be defines and describes what he means by "a man," in tho ,rnrds, "one that executeth jndgment, that seeketh the truth." Such is bis description of true manhood. So, then, the true man is he to whom truth-that which is right, that which is in accordance with the will of God-is the all-important thing. The habi, of his mind, the purpose of his life, is to discover this truth- to know what is right. And when what professes to be truth comes before him, he weighs it in the balance of conscience, tests how it tallies with the mind and will of God; and according to its agreement thereto he approves or disapproves, he gives his judgment. .And then, when his judgment is formed, his mind made up, as we say, he does not linger in the outer courts of mere approbation, but he presses on into the very sanctuary, the holy of holies, of corresponding action-he "executeth judgment." Having sought, seen, approved the right, he does it; not onco now and then, but habitually. Such is the man after God's own heart, such the Divine description cl what manhood really is. .And now observe: 1. How complete a definition this is! For what form of goodness or excellence is there that this does not include? ·whatever is right for a man to do or be comes under this description. Our well- k □ own word, "virtue," will help us here; for what is virtue but simply that which becomes, which properly belongs to the idea of, the vir, the grand old Homan name for man regarded in his higher nature, as contrasted with the lol'"1er idea of man in regard to those qualities which he possesses in common with the brutes arc,und him? Man spoken of as merely the human creature was designated by another word ; but man as intelligent and moral, man in his nobler being, they designated by that word vir, from which our word" virtue" comes. 'l'herefore" this word' virtue' corresponds as closely as possible with our word' manliness.' 'l'hey are equivalent terms. '!'hen, if we know what virtue ia, we know what true maphood is. H includes all moral e1ccllcnco orr. v. 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 129