The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 210

of grace. His iniquities have so" taken hold of him" that he cannot "look up." All joy, al! confid~nce, all hope in God, have fled. He feels himself an outcast lrom the Divine presence; he woul,I feel the eye of God upon him if he knelt down to pray, and that he cannot bear. (3) Before man. He cannot for ever conceal his sin and folly, and even when it is as yet undiscovered, he is conscious of this "confusion of face" in the presence of others. And when at length the sin is discovered, oh, what a"ony of shame and remorse then! Death is chosen rather than life, and men rush bto the suicide's grave as to a positive relief. "Anywhere, anywhere out of the world," which has become aware of their sin! Oh, this awful recoil of sin! "I believe that if the mental sufferings of such backsliders could be written and faithfully published, they would astound you, and be a more horrible story to read than all the torments of the Inquisition. What racks a man is stretched upon who has been unfaithful to his covenant with God! What fires have burned within the souls of those men who have been untrue to Christ and his cause I What dungeons, what grim and dark prisons underground, have saints of God lain in who ha,·e gone aside into by-path meadows instead of keeping to the King's highway! He who sins must smart, especially if he be a child of God, for the Lord hath said of his people, 'You only have I known of all the people of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.' Whoever may go unchastised, a child of God never shall" (Spurgeon). JII. THE ALONE CURE FOB THIS CONFUSION OF FACE IS THE CONTRITE CONFESSION OF THAT WHICH HAS CAUSED IT. God's word is passed that such confession shall avail; but let not him who has gone back from God think that the return will be as easy as the departure. It will not. David was never the same after his sin as he was before, Oh, it is dreadful to think of this recoil of sin, and how it staggers and wounds and weakens the soul for the whole life long. We slide back, gliding easily as over smooth ice. Not so do we return. Still, let the return be ever so difficult, the Lord bids us return, an<l be will heal all our backslidings. Oh, let us all go straight away to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for fear we should be backsliders ; for there is the surest standing-ground, there our footsteps never slip! And if we have thus sinne<l, and sin's recoil is now terribly felt by us, then still go to the same cross; for our only hope of healing is there, and there alone. " Come, let us to the Lord our God With contrite hearts return; Oar God is gracious, nor will leave The penitent to mourn," 0. Ver. 20.-The innocent victims of sin. I. THEnE ARE MANY sucH. All forms of life are mentioned here-human, animal, plant from the stateliest trees down to the lowliest herb-and all shall suffer because of the sin of but a portion of them. How many, even of men, were innocent! and the young children-what had they done? Yet none were to escape, though it was but a portion of the men of the day who had done such wrong. II. HENCE SOME BAY, "THE WAY OF THE LORD IS NOT EQUAL," But: 1. The summing up of all life in one head; constituting it a corporate unity, giving a soli"darite to all life, especially to all human life, is the Divine order. 2. And though sin and so1Tow come by means of it, yet a far larger balance of good is produced by it. What do we not owe to our all beinj!; members one of another? True, evil comes, but good yet more. Were we all isolated, separated, independent, there would be no guarantee for our good eve!) then, but there would be certainty of infinite loss. If the sins of the fathers are visited on the children unto the third and fourth generation, the mercy of the Lord is unto thousands of generations "of them that love him and keef his commandments" (Exod. xx. 6). 3. And though because of it "in Adam all died, yet because of it also "in Christ shall all be made alive." 'l'his interlinking of one with all and all with one is, therefore, a matter for great tbnnkfulness, and, though attended with present evils, not at all of complaint. Ill. AND THE THOUGHT OF THESE INNOCENT VIOTIMS OF BIN IB MOST SALUTARY, l. It often holds back from sin, This is one way in which God "out of the mouth of be.bes and sucklings has ordained strength." How often fathers and mothers will_ for cu. nr. 1-34.] THE llOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 209