from the wild11rness to which she has banished herself, will the bride, the Laml/s wife be brought for her new espousals, and with her shall come, as virgins in her train many who have been taught by jler j,udgments and disciplines.-M. '
Vere. 1-9:-.Commancls counurmanded. There are three such in this section. I. 'l'HE COMMAND TO MARRY. 1. In every way whereby the will of God can be expressed-by his Word, his providence, his laws, written, moral, social, physical, Go,l has commanded that "a man shall leave his father and mother," etc. "A aood wifo is from the Lord," her companionship is the most blessed in the world. All" artifici,t! hindrances to marriage are, therefore, to be condemned. The same enemy that destroys such myriads of souls for eternity, ruins their happiness, oftentimes, in this life also. For i~ is the w:orld which frowns upon marriages, unexceptionable in other respects, in which a ,certain style cannot be maintained or a certain amount of income be secured• and all superstitious te~chings that inculcate celibacy as a state more pleasing to Go<:1', are eqtJally guilty both in regard to God and marl. Disobedience to this command involv.es such frightful consequences as in themselves to clearly manifest the Divine will, that." it is not good for man to be alone." 2. But here in these verses the prophet is distinctly forbidden to marry. (Ver. 1, etc.) And tho reasons werc:probably that, by his abstaining from marriage, he might more powerfully confirm his words as to tlrn coming cal_amities. It would show his own belief in what he had foretold when it was seen that he would not make for himself a home under such circumstances. It would leave him more free for the arduous duty which he had to discharge. It would save him great s_orrow when the evil days should come. And so now there are special cases in whic_h God's will seems to be that a man should not marry. The poverty-stricken ministers of religion, of whom there are so many ; the missionary exposed to daily peril of climate,_pestilence, savage heathendom; or any to whom it is evident that by their warriage_,mo1·e _evil than_ good will result ;-then, just as we may be called upon to do without many other great earthly advantages, so we may be called upon to deuy ourselves this. And there may be physical conditions forbidding marriage. No man has a light_ to transmit to others hereditary disease, whether of body or mind. And there are spfritu;il hindrances. A man ought to marry only "in the Lord." But all these exceptions are rare; God's general rule is that men should marry. II. THE COMMAND TO "WEEP WITH 1'HEM THAT WEEP." That there would be no stint of sorrow, no lack of mourners, the awful declarations of this section plainly show. And generally God's will, shown in a thousand ways, is that we should, by sympathy and condolence, "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Obrist." But here such sympathy and" weeping with them that weep" is prohibited (ver. 5). This does seem a stern command, aud no doubt it is so. But we do not feel called on to condole with criminals on account of the penalties they have to bear; were any to do so, we should regard it as misplaced and mischievous sympathy, calculated only to do harm. And whilst those to whom the prophet was sent were hardened in their sin, sympathy with them on account of their punishment would be also mischievous and wrong. We have continually to _be on our guard-for many never a.re-lest our sympathy for tho sinner's suffering should make us forget or think lightly of the sinner's sin. No matter how glaring the crime, there are always some who are ready to agitate for a mitigation of the penaHy. Now, it is this hurtful sympathy which God here forbids the prophet to show. III. 'l'HE COMMAND TO "REJOIOE WITII THEM THAT DO REJOICE." This :i.lso is a constant injunction of the Divine ·word, as it is an instinct of the benevolent an,l Uhristiau heart. Jesus was as ready to go to the marriage festival as to the gra vc-sidc. And so should we be. But here again the command is countennandeu (ver. S). Aml the reason is manifest. God woulu not suffer his prophet to be in aby wise a solace to sinful men. Too many professed Christians are. Nothing is a greater "comfort to Sodom" than the sight of the serenity and joviality of men who profess to believo that sinners are on their way to everlasting woe. 'l'he sinner argues-and it is :i.n argument very difficult to refute-that Christians do not believe this, no matter what they say, and hence they, the ungodly, are in no such awful peril after al!. The prophet of God was commamled to abstain from all festivity and all outward joy, and no doubt the 1·eason was, lest by any ~lrnring therein, he shoukl tlirow doubt on the :i.wful mcss:i.go he 408 'l'ilE MOK OF 'i'HE l:'ROPti1ll1 JlWtt'MIAH. [crt. xvi. 1-21.