The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 255

where fraud and falsehood, like a plague or cancer, comes over to invade society, the b1md which hchl together the parts compounding it presently breaks, e.nd men nre thereby put to a loss where to league and to fasten their dependencies, and so nre forced to scatter and shift every one for himself. Upon which account every notori- ously false person ought to be looked upon and detested as a publio enemy and to be pursued as a wolf or a mad dog, and a disturber of the common peace and' welfare of mankind; there being no particular person whatsoever but has his private interest concerned and endangered in the mischief that such a wretch does to the public" (Suut.h). A sin, therefore, so destructive of tho well-being of his children cannot bbt be abominable in the eyes of the Father of us all. 3. It shuts God out of the heart altogether. God has made us for himself, but deceit bars fast the door of man's heart against him. God can only be worshipped in spirit and in truth ; but deceit renders this primary condition of such worsh~p unattainable. 4. But God in his anger remembers mercy. Ver. 7, "Behold, I will melt them, and try them," that is to say, be will, as the smelter casts the metal into the fire not to destroy but to refine it, to purge away its dross, and then, that being done, tests and tries it to see that the pro- cess bas been eITcctual; so God will send bis judgments upon his people, not to destroy, but to purify them, and he will afterwards test them again, give them another oppor- tunity of serving him. He might have destroyed, but this he will not do. He "will melt them, and try them." But less than this he cannot do. ".What else," etc.? he asks. It is a dread process; Judah and Jerusalem found it so, and all who compel God to cast them into snch a crucible find it to be a dread process. Our blessed Saviour wept over Jerusalem, although he told them that when next they saw him they should say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord." It was the thought of that furnace for fire through which they must be passed ere they would come to this better mind that drew forth those tears. Let none, therefore, deem the judgment of G'od a subject for trifling with, because, as here, God says its purpose is to" melt and try," rather than to destroy. CoNcr.usroN. Let this consideration of the doings and doom of deceit lead us to listen to the Lord's appeal, "Oh, do not this thing that I hate I "-C. Vers. 10--22.-J7ze terri'ble threatenings of love. There are few more awful passages of Scripture than this. 'l'he doom denounced on the guilty people is indeed dreadful. Nevertheless that doom had not yet descended. '!'here was a merciful pause, during which space was given for repentance. Meanwhile the prophet was bidden to utter these threatenings. Notice- L How TERRIBLE THEY ARE. 1. In themselves. The fertile hills e.nd pastures of their country shall be laid waste, so that no living creature can find food (ver. 10). Jerusalem is to be utterly destroyed and desolate (ver. 11). The deep anguish of the people-their very meat to be as "wormwood," and their drink as " water of gall" (ver. 15). They shall be carried captive and scattered among- the heathen, and even then shall not escape the sword (ver. 16). They shall be overwhelmed with sorrow, their eyes shall gush out with tears (vers, 17-19). Death shall reign everywhere (ver. 21); and shall be accomr,anied with deepest degradation (ver. 22). It is not possible to conceive of more hopeless misery than is portrayed in these vivid descriptions of the wrath that was to come. 2. Because of their righteousness. Unrighteous suffer- ing can be borne, and those who bear it are bidden by the Lord to count themselves as "blessed" because of it (Matt. v. 11, 12). And sorrows that come to us in the course of God's providrnce, and the reason of which we do not know, these we can bear sustained by the faith of the Father's love. Dut when sore suffering is sent to ufl as the direct punishment of sin, and tho righteous because so deserved anger of God is evident, then those consolations which are open to us under other sufferings are closed to us under these. 'l'he bitter reflection, "It was all our own fault; it might, it ought to have been avoided," makes the pain we endure, and the calamities that overtake us, more terrible than otherwise they could possibly be. We take refuge from ma~'s anger and from ordinary sorrows in God's Jove, but sin that has brought down God's nghteous judgment has also closed against us that most blessed shelter and every shelter, and we are left without defence. And another element in their terribleness is : 3. The cer• taint11 of their fv.lfilme'TII, "God is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall llH. IX. 1-26.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 255