The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 192

of his tenderness and beneficence in the cheery songs of spring and the glad shout of tlie harvest. 2. 'l'he voice of history. God is in history, and speaks to us through the events of the past, warning by judgments (ver. 12), inviting by acts of deliverance and gifts of mercy (see Pa. cv.). 3, 'l'he voice of pravide'Tlce in daily life. Has not God been speaking to us through our own experience-using various prophetic agencies- tho advent of a new joy, the cloud of a great sorrow, a visitation of the angel of death to the home? has he not repeatedly roused, invited, pleaded, and consoled us with voices from out eternity? 4. The voice of prophecy. God had often so spoken to the Jews before the days of Jeremiah, and reference is plainly made to this fact in the text. '!'hat voice still lives, because truth is eternal. Thus God speaks to us through the inspired thoughts of the Bible. 5. The voice of <Jhrut. He is the " Word" of God made articulate in the dialect of men (John i. 1-14). He who sees Christ hears the voice of God. 6. The voice of conscience. This is God speaking within the soul. Every time we feel compunction at doing wrong, or an inward urging to do the right, God is pleading in our heart by direct communion, spirit with spirit. II. 'l'm: VOICE OF GOD IS URGENT. God speaks with urgency-" rising up early and speaking." 1. The urgency of God's voice is a proof of his great, love to his children. He speaks with .frequency, repeating the same unheeded lesson, and even when none attend to his voice. God speaks to his children before they pray to him. The first impulse to spiritual communion comes from God, not from us (Ps. xxvii. 8). Christ stands at the door and knocks (Rev. iii. 20). We may see in this an evidence of the long-suffering mercy of God-a mercy which "endureth for ever," and we may see an encouragement to listen and turn to him. Still he" waiteth to be gracious." 2. The urgency of God's voice is a proof of the great importance of what he says. God is urgent. What tremendous destinies must turn on a question which even he must rouse and bestir himself about! We might expect that any voice from the awful majesty of God would be full of deep and vast meaning. What must be the significance of his words when even he speaks with earnest insistance, with pressing urgency? How can such an utterance be paesed unheeded? III. GoD'B VOICE IB OFTEN NOT HEEDED. He speaks with the authority of the majesty of heaven, with the yearning love of a l!'ather, with the urgency which betokens matters of profound interest, and with a direct reference to the most fearful woe and the most glorious blessedness of his children. Yet men turn aside with indif- ference. What are the causes of this appalling wouder? 1. Spiritual deafness. Thero are men who have uo ears for the voice of God. Yet God can open our ears if we are willing to hear. 2. Hatred to the Mghest truth, Men stop their ears against tho sound of honest words which are hateful to sinful hearts, 3. Consciousness of guilt. Fearing words of doom, men refuse to hear any words from God; but (1) the doom will not be the less because the warning is unheeded, and (2) God warns to save. 4. Unbelief. Doubt as to whether a voice is Divine is often natural, and if the doubt grows into widespread scepticism the cause may be intellectual rather than moral. But when once a voice is recognized as Divine, unbelief is distrust in God; it is " making him a liar," IV. THE REFUSAL TO GIVE HEED TO GoD'B VOICE IB A FATAL EVIL, 1. It aggravates guilt by adding to it (1) fresh rebellion against our great King, (2) ingratitude to tho pleading love of our merciful Father, (3) wilful sin against light. 2. It leaves the purpose of God's voice uneffccted. He urges and pleads with his children, but ho does not forco them to return to him. If they will not heed his voice that voice is lost u1ion them, and the ruin from which it would call them uno.verted. Ver. 16.-Fo1·bidden prayers. Certain prayers must be regarded as unlawful. I. PRAYERS OF POSITIVE DEMAND, Many men pro.y as though they were dictating to God. Prayer is petition, not command, The suppliant should assume the attitude of a mendicant. II. PHAYERB WHIOII Alll AT TURNING THE WILL OF GoD, We may believe that God will do in answer to prayer what he would not do apart from prayer, because the very prayer moy be tho one essential condition which makes that fitting which would not be filtin" withouL it. But this must be in accorilance with God's will, which is always p~rfect, while ours is ofteu evil, 190 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [cH, v11.1-34.