is_ as a ~re,, t~at has broke~ out amidst_ combt)stible material. By-and-by "tho ,nckcd city 1s felt to be an mtolcrable evil. It 1s a menace to tho peace and good government of its neighbours. 'l'hcy cannot afford to ignore it, No time must be lost in bringing it to reason. Its excitements and dissipations wax madder and more widespread. No time can be lost. Hence the avengers come from all quarters in haste and eagerly. "Sanctify war against her! Arise, let us go up at noon I "-the heat being no barrier to their setting out; "Arise, and let us go up in the ni"ht I "- the darkness and weariness being forgotten in their hatred and vengeance. °For the same reason no terms can be made with it. The Mosaic regulations in warfare are set aside (Dent. x.x. 19, 20). There is no chivalrous respect inspired by it, and as it shows no mercy, none is accorded to it. III. IT IS A OONTINUAL OFFENCE TO Goo. God's love for it had been great., and he had purposed to make it a centre of redeeming love. This aim had been thwarted. So it hR.s been with the city life of man everywhere. As a natura! development, and a providential result in human history, the city is intended t.o enlarge the powers of doing good and to bless the world. But how seldom hr..1 this been the case 1 The centralization of life has but intensified its corruption. Is there any place where the salvation of society seems more hopeless than in our great cities? And God's patience threatens to give out. He cannot bear the noisom,aess of its evil. He is about to turn from it in utter loathing and final abandonmen~. But not yet. Warnin" is given• a prophet is sent. Nay, the Son himself, if hapiy they will hear him, in .;hom alon~ a sufficient antidote is found. In him is salvation, for of the holy city, the New Jeru- salem, the scene of regenerated society, he is Centre and Lord. He is the "Fountain opeued for sin and for all uncleanness."-M. Ver. 13.-The ministry of deceit. The extent to which corruption prevailed is suggested when even the prophets a.o.d priests share the general apostasy : "Every one dealeth falsely." I. TIIE DUTY IT HAD TO FULFIL. The priest dealt with ritual, the prophet with moral and doctrinal questions in religion. 'fhey had to act as the spiritual guides and overseers of the people of God. Here they are represented as behaving like quack doctors in cases of grave injury or disease. They were appointed for the spiritual health and well-being of men. Circumstances in the condition of their fiocks would determine the manner in which they should exercise their functions, and the special direction in which their 1tttention should be directed. Israel had fallen into serious wickedness. It was no isolated acts of transgression of which she was guilty; her whole spiritual state was one of alienation from God. In such a case the utmost faithfulness a!ld severity were required; as the surgeon has to probe the wound, and use sharp in.struments for excising the part that is diseased ; or the physician has to make a thorough diagnosis of a patient, and in desperate sickness to use desperate remedies. Here an opposite course had been pursued. 'l'he gravity of the "hurt" was overlooked or ignored, and merely outward signs of amendment were regarded as complete recon- ciliation with God. 1. That which separates men from God is no slight matter. It is a deadly thing. If it continues, it must inevitably destroy. The observances of religion will be nullified until it is put right. Men must be told of their sin, not merely in a round and general manner, but judiciously, and according to the specialities of individual or class peculiarities. The unbelief of the natural man is the parent of his misdeeds and sin, and keeps him from any real communion with God. 2. The min- ister of religion is bound to be discerning and faitl,ful. 3. It is only tlirough a real and spiritual repentance that reconcili&tion can be effected. At such a juncture spiritual religion ought to have been insisted on, and the enormity of the offence exposed. Preliminary acts of contrition; experiences and discoveries of the heart such as con- viction of sin, etc.; the necessity oflove, obedience, and faith ought not to be slurred over. IL FAILURE IN THIS DUTY AND ITB 0AUSES, The root-cause is undoubtedly the share which the religious teachers had in the general depravity. There was also a consequent lack of spiritual discernment. The greatness of the fall from the former position occupied by Israel was not appreciated, and the nature of true religion was n~t understood. A ministry under court patronage and a merely popul~r ministry nro 11.hke subject to the temptations to please rather than to deal honestly with the evils of ctt. vt. 1-30.J 'fHE BOOK OF Ttm l'lWPHET JEREMIAH.
individuals, society, and the state, and to rectify them. "They who live to please must please to live." 'l'hcrc is such a thing always as a making of religion too easy either in its moral condilions or its doctrinal realizations, It is fearfully wrong to say a man is a Christian when he is not a Christian; or so to deal with him in pastoral relations tlrn.t he fancies himself in possession of salvation and spiritually secure when he is in heart and life far from God. Flattery has a. thousand forms, a.nd there is no false- hood to which it contributes that is more insidious or wide-reaching than this. III. 'l'HE UESULTS, These are terrible in the extreme. From the authority of office they are credited in their declarations, aud national a.nd individual offences are •condoned and perpetuated. Possible for a man to be deceived on this most vital question; to think himself a child of God when he is in reality a. child of Sa.tan. Death-bed repentances. 1. The divorce of morality from religion. 2. The intensi- fied wmth of God at hypocrisy and sham religion. 3. Eternal death and irretrievable loss.-M.