III. PRAYERS FOR WHAT rs WRONG IN ITSELF, God cannot grant such prayers. Wo may pray for all men, but we may not pray for every imaginable favour to be given to all men. Thus it is wrong to pray that the impenitent wicked should not be punished. The purpose of the text seems to be just to forbid this prnyer. Jeremiah is not to pray that the calamities he sees approaching may not fall on the guilty people. It would be bad for them and an outrage on justice that, while they refused to hear the Divine voice warning them of their danger and inviting them to the way of safety, God should hear the voice of any intercessor pleading that the threat should not be accomplished, and that the wicked 11eople should be saved from just punishment. Vers. 21-28.-Declension. Jeremiah endeavours to rouse a sense of guilt in his hearers by pointing to the sad downward course of their history when this is regarded in the light of Divine requirements and inducements to follow them. I. THE DIVINE REQUIREM.E:NTS. These were not for the offering of mere formal sacrifices, but for obedience to God in heart and conduct (1 Sam. xv. 22). Men need to be repeatedly reminded of this fact, because there is a common tendency to separate religion from morality, to believe that God is pleased with the performance of Church services by those whose lives are spent in sin and selfishness, and tha,t the devotions of the sanctuary atone for the wickedness of daily life, Jeremiah and the prophets generally teach (1) that religious services are worthless except as expressions of inward devotion, and (2) that no religious service is acceptable while obedience in common life is neglected. II. THE Th"'DUCEMENTS TO FULFIL THESE REQUIREMENTS, 1. A clear statement of them. Jeremiah was not the first to reveal them. They were well known and easily understood. 2. Rewards promised/or obedience. It would be" well wHh '' the people if they walked in all the ways that God commanded them. Disobedience led to the Captivity. Obedience is the only condition on which we can enjoy liberty. 8. Repe,atd warnings. (Ver. 25.) By all forms in which the Divine voice reaches us God is continually reminding us of his will and urging us to obedience. III. THE CAU8E8 OF DECLENSION. 1. Inattention. "They hearkened not." People are too preoccupied by worldly concerns to give the requisite thought to higher interests. 2. Self-will. " They walked in the counsels and stubbornness of their evil- heart." Men disobey through the conceit of superior knowledge and through the obstinacy of selfish aims. IV. THE CHARACTER OF DECLENSION. 1. Departure from God. Israel turned " the back and not the face" to God. In disobeying the will of God we necessarily cease to walk with God, lose the light of his presence, become godless. 2. A constant deterio- ration of moi·als. The contemporaries of Jeremiah "did worse than their fathers." l'ro!IT'ess is the natural order. But, left to itself, the leaven of wickedness will spread as surcly as the seed of goodness would grow if that were allowed free development. V, TBE CONSEQUENCES OF DECLENSION. 1. Hardening agai11st the reception of truth. (Ver. 27.) The people have reduced themselves to such a condition that they cannot receive the prophet's message. 2. Inability to profit by correction. " This is a nation that . . . receiveth not correction" (ver. 21:l). 3. Destru,ction of the value of religious services. 'l'he burnt offering should express the dedication of the worshipper. But a. it does nothing of the kind, it is worthless, and may as well serve as flesh for a common meal (ver. 21), Religion, which should be the inspiration of morality, is dead and powerless in the hands of people of corrupt lives. 'l'he noblest exercise of humanity ia thus reduced to a nullity. Ver. 32-ch. viii 3.-Horrors of retribution. I. THERE 18 REASON TO BELIEVE THAT llORRORS OF SIN WILL BE FOLLOWED DY HORRORS OF RETRIBUTION, 1. Justice requires a proportionate relation of punishment to sin. 'l'he Jews had sinned greatly. It was right that they should be punished with severity. Mild views of the requirements of punishment may be the result of a dulness of conscience which does not recognize the depth of guilt. When men are most deeply convinced of sin, they are also most apprehensirn of the merited wrath of God, 2. Punishment, to be effective, must be proportionate to guilt. In its three functions aij deterrent when threatened, chastise- ment for correction wh~n recci·.-cd, and warning to others when witnessed, it cau only CH. vu. 1-34.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 191
be effectual if a due proportion be observed. 3. The nature of God leads us to suppose that he may exact horrible retribution for horrible sin. He is almighty, and if his anger, which is slow to rise, is at length roused, this must be terrible indeed. God is long-suffering, merciful, ready to forgive; but he is not weak and indifferent to the great evils of sin. It is not reasonable to suppose that the Divine anger will be the less in its outpouring because it is long withheld. II. THERE ARE INDICATIONS OF THE HORRORS OF RETRIDUTION IN TilE SCRIPTURAL REVELATIONS CONCERNING IT. Jeremiah is speaking chiefly of physical horrors which are to accompany the overthrow of Jerusalem. Ilut he suggests that these contain certain necessary elements of retribution. 1. Death. Tophet shall bo a valley of slaughter. The great and ultimate punishment is always regarded, not as pain, but 113 death (Rom. vi. 23), 2. Shame. The corpses are to be unburied and exposed to the ravages of unclean animals--for the Jew a fearful degradation. Sin exposed, con- founded, defeated, will reflect burning shame on the sinner. 3. Anguish. "'£he voice of mirth," etc., will cease; men will prefer death to life (eh. viii. 3). 4. A peculiar relation of penalty to offence. Tophet, the scene of horrible wickedness, shall be the spot for retributive slaughter. Where wretched men iwmolated their children their own dead bodies shall be cast. The sun and moon and stars which they wor- shipped shall look down on their bones bleaching out in the open. Ill, THERE ARE TIMES WHEN IT IS NECESSARY TO MAKE MEN THINK OF THE HORRORS OF RETRIBUTION, The language of Jeremiah is explicit and graphic. 1. Details of future retribution should not take the chief place in instruction. They lose their effect by too frequent repetition. By themselves they are not able to produce a better lifo, but may result in hardness, unbelief, and disgust. The love of God in Christ is the great power to lead to holiness. 2. Nevertheless we roust not shnn to declare" the whole counsel of God." Thoughts of retribution may be powerful means for rousing convictions of sin, if they are accompanied by appeals to conscience which make meu feel the due proportion of guilt to punishment.