The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 375

form of suffering which is suitable for one may not be suitable for another ; and (2) because guilt varies in degree (Luke xii. 47, 48). Ill. PUNISHMENT WILL BE ASSIGNED TO ALL THE GUILTY WITHOUT EXCEPTION, They may be numerous, yet some penalty will be found for all. The variety of destinies might suggest that among them some would find a way of escape, but, alas I they are al I penal. This variety will ever secure the punishment of all. They who escape one form of punishment will only fall into another. Some hope to elude justice because their case is very exceptional. But exceptional punishment is found for exceptional crime. IV. PUNISHMENT WILL BE SEVERE IN ALL CASES. There is a. choice of destinies, but the list is given with somewhat of irony. How terrible is the mildest fate I All future punishment must be inexpressibly awful (Heh. x. 31). Therefore let us not delude ourselves with hoping that ours will be of the milder kind, but seek deliverance from the certain fearful doom of sin in the forgiving mercy of God in Christ. Ver. 6.-God weary of repenting. I. Goo OFTEN APPEARS TO REPENT. He seems to repent of his merciful intentions when the conduct of men has called forth his righteous indignation-even repenting that he had ever made men (Gen. vi. 6), and to repent of his wrathful intentions when his children repent of their sins (e.g. Exod. xxxii. 14). Absolutely it ca.nnot be said that God repents (1 Sam. xv. 29). He never does wrong, never errs, is never moved from reason by passion, knows the end from the beginning, and therefore never sees a new thing to modify his thoughts. Yet he acts as if he repented, i.e. he grieves for the sorrow he has righteously brought, and desires that it may cease as soon as possible; and he change8 his action towards his children as they change their conduct towards him. This fact is not inconsistent with the essential Divine immutability. The sun does not vary in itself because, after developing a flower in moist weather, it withers it in drought. A government does not change its policy if it enters into amicable arrangements with a loyal dependency, though it was carrying out warlike measures so long as the province was in revolt. So God does not change in his own nature because his action is varied according to the varied require- ments of his people. Such variation is rather a result of his essential changclessness. Righteousness, which requires the punishment of the guilty, approves of the forgiveness of the penitent; so that if the action of God did not change from wrath to mercy with the change of the guilty person to penitence, it would seem as though the nature of God had been turned aside from its essential righteousness. Because tlie sun is stationary it appears to rise and set as the earth revolves; if it did not so appear it must be moving too; and because God is eternally good it must seem to us, who are constantly giving occasion for differences of treatment from the hand of God, that he repents. We can only speak of God after the manner of men; therefore we say he repents. II. Goo MAY DE WEARY OF REPENTING. Here is a second anthropomorphi<! expression, which corresponds to a great and terrible fact. 1. i.Ne may cease to repent of our sin; then God will cease to repent of his wrath. 2. We may sin so deeply and so persistently that he may no longer find it possible to withhold his threatened punishment. God is long-suffering; he waits for the return of his children. Though the recompenso of evil-doing is due, it is deferred; God spares the guilty for the sake of the intercession of the righteous. But this cannot be for ever. We may sin away the grace of God. Though God's mercy endureth for ever the enjoyment of it by the impenitent cannot be perpetual. Eternal mercy ma.y have to give place to eternal justice. CONCLUSION. Consider (1) the wonderful love of God in repeatedly "repenting" of his wrathful intentions, showing that he does not desire the woe of his children, but does all that is possible to avert it; (2) the ~reat sin of persisting in impenitence after God has shown so wonderful a love; and (3) the danger that God may be weary with repenting, and therefore the folly and presumption of relying upon our present immunity for future safety. Ver. 9.-Sunset at 1100ft. A premature ending of any human affairs may be compared to sunset at noon. I. THIS 1s A COMMON OCCURRENCE. A nation suddenly collapses; a sovereign is overthrown in the height of his power; a life is cut off in middle age. How often do we see these things I 3,8 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [cu. xv. 1-21.