The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 163

the Lord's pasture, is the fairest, loveliest scene this poor sin and sorrow stricken earth presents. Even now she is Christ's bride, and all spiritual beauty and comeliness are summed up in that. IV. Fon ATTRACTIVENESS. Of. ver. 3, which tells how other shepherds were irresis- tibly drawn to this pasturage, and how eagerly they led their flocks there. As con- cerned the earthly Jerusalem this had no happy meaning, but as concerns Christ's Church its meaning is happy and blessed indeed. It is good that the fowls of the air should lodge in the branches of the grea.t tree, which has sprung from the tiny seed planted by the Lord. And it is good that "nations, and peoples, and tribes, and tongues" should, as many already have been, and as all others will be, drawn by the attractiveness of the rich and luxuriant pasturage which the Lord's pasture offers. It is a wea.ry world; self and sin are cruel taskmasters ; they have no green pastures into which they lead their sheep. The opened ear of those whose hearts are touched with Christ's sympathy per- petually hea.rs the cry for help, the longing to be led into the pasture of the Lord. It is a reproach to every professed disciple of Christ if he do not, by what he is and by the spirit of his life, attract others to the Lord's pasture, and lead them to say," We will go with you, for we see that the Lord is with you." V. IT 1s THERE WHERE THE Lonn LEADS ms SHEEP. Many think they can be Christ's without uniting themselves to his people, keeping amid the world's ways and standing aloof from the Lord's pasture. But this is wrong. There is a sense in which the old saying," Nulla salus extra ecclesiam," is true, and nothing casts graver doubt on the reality of our discipleshlp than absence of sympathy with other disciples, and no liking for their companionship. Love for " the brethren " is 'given as one note of having "passed from death unto life." It is the Lord's will that his people should be banded together in their several folds, and the instinct of the renewed heart almost certainly leads it to desire this pasturage. Hence, as a fact, there are scarce any, if any, of the disciples of Christ who are not found in one or other of the folds into which the one flock of the Good Shepherd is divided. CoNCLUSION. Ask two questions: 1. Of those who are not Ohrisfs. Do you find that the ways of the world are really better than the Lord's pasture ? is it better to serve sin and self than Christ? We are sure that there can be but one answer. Why, then, do you not bear the voice of the Good Shepherd and "follow" him ? 2. Of those who are his. .Are you careful not to blotch and blur that likeness? Many do this, so that the likeness car.not be traced, and the world turns away from it, not drawn by what it sees. Strive to let men see in you somewbat-much--of that spiritual grace and beauty whlch will lead men greatly to desire to enter the Lord's pasture for themsel ves.-C. Ver. 4.-Sorrow because of eventide. "Woe unto us I for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out." It is not thus that we are wont to welcome the going away of the day, the quiet peaceful hours of eventide. How beautiful, even in its outward aspect, is oftentimes the evening hour, the gradual subsidence of the varied sounds of the busy day, the glorious sunsets, the rich radiance of the evening sky, the exquisite tints and colourings of the hills as the mellow light of evening falls upon them, the ruby glow which adorns, glorifies, and almost transfigures the sun-clad peaks of mountainous lands! Yes, eventide is an hour of beauty, in which Nature puts on her almost loveliest garb now that the "garish day" bas gone. It is a scene on which the eye delightedly rests. And it is the hour of reunion also. From the scattered districts where one and another have pursued their daily toil, the members of the family, the household, the village, come home, and in pleasant converse talk over the events of the day, and forecast the events of to-morrow. '!'he hearts of the children turn to the fathers, and the heart of the fathers to the children, in the happy intercourse which is only possible on the blessed Sunday or at the evening hour. And it is the hour of reat. The plough stands still in the furrow, for the ploughman has gone home ; the toil-worn horse roams in hie pasture or feeds peacefully in his stable. The man of business has shut up hie ledger, and left the city and the office, and reGt.s quietly amid his famliy at home. The night has come, in which no man cnn work. And if we take the symbolic meaning of the day and regard it as telling of the day of life, even then the ideas of calm, rest, and serene quiet g~ther 3rou11tl it, Wh:it a (IH, v1. 1-80,1 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 161