avail; therefore these, so love resolves, shall not be left untried. It will shrink from nothing to accomplish its compassionate purpose of rescuing from the murderous sin the soul it loves. 3. And there is no wickedness so deep as that of outragin" love. Men will never see sin in all its hatcfnlness until they see it as outrage done~to love. Whilst they are taught only that it is disobedience to sovereign rule rather than despite and shameful wroi:ig done to a Father's h?art., they will not look upon it as they should, nor repent of 1t as they must. Even ID human esteem, outrage done to a lovincr heart adds intensity to the condemnation with which we view and sentence disob;dience <lone to law. We all recognize that such wickedness is the worst of all. We cannot wonder, then, that the threatcnings against wrong persistently done to the love of God are terrible as they are, and the most terrible of all. CoNCLUSION. 1. Beware of bringing upon yourselves such threatenincrs as these. Those which are fulminated forth by hatred, or by pride, or by sovereignty, ~r by law - these, though they may be terrible, are not to be compared with those that we h~ve befn considering. "The wrath of the Lamb" is the most awful of all. 2. Beware of despising them. So far from believing what has now been shown, men argue in directly opposite way, and, because the threatenings are those of love, they conclude that they may safely be disregarded, they will never be carried out. But what has now been shown proves that this is the very last thing we can venture to do. 3. Beware of con- cealing them. It is to be feared that, in these soft, easy days on which we have fallen the Lord's watchmen do very often fail to "blow the trumpet and give warning,': From blood-guiltiness such as that let us pray to be delivered. For are there not many now whom nothing but the startling peal of the trumpet of God's threatened judgments will ever arouse or alarm ? Assuredly there are. Therefore, in view of the doom of the ungodly, Ill! well es by the love of Christ, let us "beseech men to be reconciled to God."-O.
Vers. 12-15.-The inquest on the slain of Judah and Jermalem. L Goo DEMANDS IT. 1. For his righteousness is impugned. Men had not failed, could not fail, to notice the terrible judgments which God had sent upon Judah and Jerusalem, and, as is implied by his own declaration of their causes (ver. 12), they had either not seen or had denied the righteousness of what had been done. This questioning of the Divine righteousness and equity is a procedure all too common still. 2. And thus the Divine hold on the loyalty of men's hearts is threatened. For unless men regard God as righteous, just, and good, no power in the universe can make them yield him the homage of their hearts. How much of the alienation of heart in the present day may be attributed to the representations of God which a false theology has set forth I Men will not, for they cannot, love such a being as too many preachers represent. God to be. They may be threatened with everlasting perdition, but it will make no difference. For God himself has given us a nature which renders impossible our yielding our hearts' homage to any one-be he whom he may-that our hearts do not regard as worthy of that homage. 3. But God's supreme solicitude is for this homage of our hearts. Hence what threatens it must be intolerable to him. Therefore he seeks for vindication before the hearts of men, and demands this inquiry. II. AN UNIMPEACHABLE JURY IS IMPANELLED. It is not just any one who can be trusted to make this inquiry. The frivolous, the unthoughtful, would fail to grasp the problem involved, and the ungodly who suffered these judgments would be sure to ass1gn them to any and every cause rather than the true one. Therefore those who are summoned to this inquest are (1) the wise-thoso who will intelligently consider all the facts of tho case; and (2) those "to whom the Lord bath spoken "-those, that is, who have been divinely enlightened, who are in sympathy with truth ancl righteous- ness. God summons such, and fearlessly demands, now as of old, the most thorough investigation into the righteousness of all his ways. III. THEY ARE BIDDEN WELL AND TRULY TRY THE CABE BEFORE THEM. He would have them so consider it that they may" understand" it in all its bearings, re11.sons, and ends. He tells them what he has done and whnt he yet will do, and what are his reasons for his conduct. He does not conceal that his judgments are tremendollB, notorious, certain to excite inquiry, to be challenged, and by many to be condemned. But he appeala to the "wise,'' and t,0 those "to whom the Lord bath spoke11," to COIL• OH. ix. 1-26.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 257