The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 201

drawn near to God, that material shrine had a certain value and would not lightly be allowed to perish. But if there were precioll8ness in the temple, there was not suffi- ciency of it to outweigh or to cover over the iniquities which surged around it, yea invaded its very courts, and of which it was made the unwilling occasion. Instead of being a palladium, or any sort of guarantee of safety to that godless nation, its towers a.ad courts, its altars and ever-ascending sacrifices, were ever calling down ven- geance upon those who so shamefully used them. And, indeed, it coulJ hardly be said to be as God's wheat at e.11. The temple had often been the vehicle of that " wor- ship in spirit and in truth" which alone God desires, and for the sake of such worship it bad a relative preciousness. But let that worship cease-as it had long ceased-then t.he temple became as a mere corpse, beautiful, tenderly loved indeed, but still cor- ruptible, corrupting and spreading corruption, and therefore demanding to be put out of the way. Now apply all this to the false truths of our own day. Will the Church, her sacraments, her ordinances, your membership with her, your frequent moods of religious feeling, your current creed, your loud profession of attachment to her, your manifold religious privileges,-will any or all of these things, precious though they every one of them be, compensate for that surrender of your trne self to God which is his perpetual desire and demand? Will they not rather, as did the presence of the temple and their innumerable privileges for the Jews, heighten your guilt, and make more glaring your sin, because they show that you have been amongst those "to whom much has been given," and of whom, therefore, '' much will be required"? No worship, however • magnificent, costly, constant ; however hallowed by association, or authorized by vener- able usage, or sanctioned by the holiest of the Church of God, or even owned by God as the means of uplifting many hearts heavenward and Godward; if such worship be wanting, as, alas I it may be, in tho all-essential element, the "worship in spirit and in truth;" if there be no outgoings of the heart in it all, as too often there is not,- tben it will prove no shield from but a provocative to that holy wrath of God which sooner or later awaits every godless soul. IV. THE VERY SERIOUS SUGGESTIONS IT OFFERS. 1. The utte:r hatefulness of sin. (1) It turned the very temple of the Lord and its sacrifices, which had been designed to be "a savour of life unto life" to those who by means of them drew nigh to God, into "a savour of death unto death." And so still, even Christ the Rock, the sure Foundation, becomes by this wresting power of sin a crushing stone which, falling on the head of the sinner, grinds him to powder. (2) It drags down the innocent with the guilty. That temple of the Lord, the holy and beautiful house, what had that done? Had it not deserved all honour and love from those amid whom it stood? And now the sin of the people was to overwhelm her in utter and irretrievable ruiu. 'l'he man whose wickedness pulls down innocent and loving wife and children, and drags them in the mire which he has chosen to wallow in, as we see their misery, bow odious his sin appears I And this is ever one of sin's works. It drags in and down the innocent, the pure, the beloved. Behold those blackened ruins, those polluted altars, those blood-stained courts, and see a parable of sin. 2. The testimony that these refuges of lies, such as that in which the Jews trusted, do am·ely give of our need of a real refuge, a true defence. Men who deny the Saviour most are yet ever confessing that they and all men do need a Saviour. They who would not trust in God trusted in the mere material temple. 3. 'l'o what are we trusting? In "lying words "-which God forbid I-or-which mn.y God grant I-in those words of the Lord Jesus, which are able to make us wise unto salvation ?-C. Vers. 6-16.-Strange church-goers. I. LooK AT THEM AS JEREMIAH SAW THEM. Thieves (vers. 6, 9), most cruel oppressors, murderers, adulterers, etc. Yet they wore all going into the temple to worship the Lord. Strange church-goers indeed. II. ABK IF THERE BE ANY BUCH NOW? What if some angel of God, unseen by us, were to mark on the foreheads of all who enter our churches uow their true characters in the sight of God: would there be no fraudulent, no oppressors of the poor, none whose hearts though not their hantls, are chargeable with having shed innocent blood'? Let us each ~ne ask, "Whllt name would be put upon me 1" III. INQUIRE WHAT POSSIBLE MOTIVES CAN ACTUATE THEM. 1. With some, no doubt, it id a cloke to cover up their real character. 2. Or a tribute pa.id to tho demands of 200 'l'HE DOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [oH. vu. 1-34.