hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and ont of the holes r,f Lhe rocks." It will be useless then to" call on the hills to cover us," etc. None will he over- looked. Fishers will come with their drag-net, gathering all classes as fish of al 1 kinds and of all sizes are collected in the sea. Rauk counts for nothing when king, arc hunted like foxes; intellectual ingenuity can then find no covert of sophistry beneath which to elude the keen scent of the bloodhounds of justice; exceptional originality ce.n secure no position beyond the reach of the broad sweeping net of a general j udgment. II. 'l'HE REASON FOR EXPECTING A FATAL RESULT TO TBE CH,\SE, God undertakes the direction of it (ver. 17). He knows all; he is ever watching every one of his children, for their joy if they a.re obedient and submissive, for their ~ha.me if they arc rebellious and impenitent. 1. God's eyes are upon their ways. He does not depcn,1 upon hear&ay evidence, upon the testimony of his emissaries. Hence (1) none can eludo his searching gaze, and (2) we shall not be convicted on false evidence. 2. God's eyes are upon their ways. He notes conduct, action, behaviour. 3. God'ij eyes are upon a//, their ways. The most secret do not escape his notice. Little faults are obser.cd; hidden sins are known; all is fairly weighed and compared. God does not select conduct for judgment; he observes both the good and the bad, and judges of the whole. 4. lniquit.1 is not hidden. God looks beneath the ways to the iniquities which prompt them ; Le reads the heart, e.nd judges of conduct by motive. Who can escape such a searching ordeal? III. THE FATAL END TO THE CHASE. (Ver. 18.) After conviction follows the sentence. 1. This is a recompense. It is earned and it is fairly proportionate to guilt. None of us dare ask for the simple reward of our conduct. " Consider this- That in· the course of justice, none of as Should see salvation: we do p~ay for meroy.n 2. It inc!'eases in severity with the increase of sin. The successive sieges of Jerusalem were successively more terrible; so were the repeated raids upon Rome. The longer we treasure up wrath for the day of wrath the greater must be the weight of it that wil-l ultimately bUJ'Bt on our heads. 3. It is justly required by great sin. This was (1) great moral and religious cormption; (2) practised in "the holy land "-in God's inheritance, e.nd therefore a sacrilegious defilement of Divine things; and (3) an abuse of God's blessinis in the land God had given the people. The sin of those who enjoy Divine privileges and hold positions in the Church by means of which they can gloriff or dishonour the Name of God is, on these accounts, especially culp:-1ble.
Vera. 19-21.-,-God revealed to the heathen by his judgment on his people. I. Goo rs REVEALED IN JUDGMENT. Illessings reveal God's love; judgments, his righteon8 power. They who ignore the perennial tokens of God's loving-kindness may be rouscrl by startling manifestations of his justice. The judgments which fall on the professc\l people of God a.re the most striking proofs of his unflinching and impartial justice. II. 'l'HE HEATHEN MAY LEARN THE LESSONS WHICH ARE LOST TO TUE PEOPLE OF Goo. The heathen seem to be here described as returning to God before the Jews. Nothing is so blinding as sin against light. The publican repents before the l'harisee. Worldly men nre more ready to receive religious impressions than people who were once religious and have fallen a.way. III. 'l'nE REVELATION OF Goo VOUCHSAFED TO THE SPIRITUAL-MINDED IS IIIO!IER THAN THE REVELATION MADE TO THE HEATHEN IN JUDGMENT. The latter is grand anrl striking, but it does not open up the choicer stores of the knowledge of Gud. Jeremiah prizes these. To him God is a Strength, Fortress, and Refuge. God is nut a mero Judge. He is e. gracious Father, and this is his chief character. He is a Strength- actively saving and inspiring energy; a Fortress-protecting us when attacked in tho hard battle of life; and a Refuge in the day of afiliction, 11ffording solace to his sorrowin?: children. God's people enjoy personal relations with him very different from those of men who simply recognize the terrible presence of 0-od in judgment. Thus Jeremiah s11,ys, "My Strength," etc.
JEnr.mA11, :.! J) 403 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [c11. xvi.1-21,