The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 327

any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." "The frien,lship of the world is enmity against God." "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Whose aver- sion, then, will you have, since that of God or of the world you must have? Your peril is not that you should deliberately choose to have the aversion of God rather than that of the world, but that you should seek to compromise. But that also is impossible. In coming to a decision be sure you take eternity into view, and may God who compels you to make this great choice help you-as he will if you seek his grace-to choose, like Moses, "rather to suffer affliction with," etc.-0. Vere, 14-17.-The tide that has no ebb, but ever flows, Such is the grace of God. I. IT HAS NO EBB. It seemed to be going back in regard to those to whom the prophet wrote, What terrible calamities were threatened and also came! How dark the face of God seemed towards them! But they were to be restored Ver. 14-, "I will pluck out the house of Judah from among them." And even yet God's mercies to his ancient people are not done. Another restoration is to be theirs. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (cf. Rom. xi.). And Israel is but a type of huma.uity at large, God has not created a.II men in vain. Man, as such, is precious in his sight; "the dearly beloved of his soul." And notwithstanding the dark records of human history-man's sins and sorrows-God's love is upon him still. He "so loved the world," and that love has not ceased. 'l'be tide of bis grace has not ceased to flow. But there may be ba1Tiers in the way of its onward progress. Human sin is such. It is so in nations and in individuals, and not only do men by their sin bar for themselves the inflow of God's grace, but for those who come after thein. And to break through and break down these barriers is a work of time. Ages and generations may elapse. In mountainous regions you may. often see a river flowing through what was manifestly once the bed of a vast lake. But after the lapse of long ages the waters rose and burst through the barriers that held them back from the valleys and plains beneath, and from that moment the river has flowed on in the channel in which we now see it. So will it be with God's grace to mankind at large. Its waters shall rise, and by-and-by the rocky barriers of man's sins, and nll that man's sin has built up, shall be broken through and broken down, and then "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas." The tide has never gone back; it has been but delayed. \Vise and holy fatherly love is at the root of all things, and is the key which unlocks, as none else will, all the problems of life. That love held his people down to the .suffer- ings they had to endure until the evil mind departed from them, and so it holds humanity down and individual souls down to what they have to endure until they be changed in the spirit of their minds. But all this while the tide of his gracious purpose is rising, and soon that which hinders shall be ta.ken out of the way. Judah was to go into captivity, but Judah was to be" plucked out" from thence, and that is but a pattern of God's dealings with us all. II. But not only has this tide no ebb, IT FLOWS ON EVERMORE. Not only was Judah to be restored, but forgiveness nnd salvation are offered to her" evil neighbours" (ver. 14), who had done her harm. God's purpose in the election of some is not the reproba- tion of the rest, but the salvation of all. "In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." The "evil neighbours" had corrupted Judah (l'cr. 16), and they had persecuted her (ver. 14); but now the set time to favour them also had come, and salvation is offered •to them (ver. 16). Thus the tido of God's grace flows on evermore, and where -it seemed as if it would never come. From all which we may learn: The redemption of the world is the purpose of God. Ilut every nation and people in their qwn order. The elect are the firstfruits ; thoso nearest to them come next. If any refuse, their national life is lost (ver. 17). But the unfaithful- ness of man shall not make the faith of God of none effect. Let us take this tide at its flood; it will lead us on to life eternal. It is the "tide in the affairs of men" which calls us to launch forth upon it, that it mny bear us to never-ending bliss.-C. Vere. 1-5.-The prophet's complaint. The writings of the prophets are often as much historic as they are prophetic; historic of personal as well as national experiences, of inward thoughts and emotions as of outward incidents. In tracing the current of eYcnt~, the writers disclose the workings of their own spirits, and in expounding anc  328 THE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [err. xn, 1-17,