in tho desert ground, so this earthly trust robs a man of the power to use aright even the opportunit.ics of higher good that are within his reach. Heavenly influences appeal to him in vain. He knows not the richer possibility of good that surrounds him, fails to apprehend it, cannot see when it cometh. 3. .lthiitlessness. The "parched placos in the wilderness" yield no solid food. Labour bestowed on them is profitless. Such is the "curse" that rests upon the man who makes the "arm of flesh" his trust-a vaiu hope, destitution of the good t.hat might be his, a withered, wasted life. lI. TnusT IN THE LoRD. Blessed is the man whose whole being is rooted and grounded in God. His is a life fed at the unseen and eternal fountains. "Your hearts sliall live that seek God" (Ps. lxix. 3Z). The image of the "tree planted by the waters" is suggestive of certain important aspects of that life. 1. Growth. Ali the tree, by the mysterious prolific energy with which it is endowed, strikes its roots deeper, and spreads forth its branches over a wider space, so the freshness and force of Divine life in the soul manifests itself in ever-deepening, enlarging, heightening forms of moral and practical goodness. This is a matter both of Divine purpose and of natural organic tendency. Spirit-life, like plant-life, knows no stagnation. Where there is no growth there is decay. 2. Beauty. Of all the fair objects of nature, a well-grown tree is one of the fairest. The symmetry of its proportions, the blending in harmonious negligence of its forms and colours, the play of light and shade.among its leaves and branches, all combine to make it the fitting type of moral dignity and loveliness. We cannot wonder nt tl::.e graceful imagery of Hebrew. poets and prophets when we remember how they dwelt in a land of olives and palm trees, of cedars and lign aloes and pornegra.nat,es. Goo.ly character is supremely beautiful. The actual forms. of religious life that one sometimes meets with are intensely displeasing. But these are caricatures, not just representations. Ouly as our piety is pleasing and attractive. to men is it divinely true. " Whatsoever things are tme, . . . honest," etc. (Phil. iv. 8). 3. Strength. Here is the idea of a resistive force. The tree, in the vigour of its life, is able to resist the pressure of unfriendly climatic influences. It fears not the scorching.heat, or the driving blast, or the rushing torrent. It is as though it" saw" them not. All religious life isa con- flict with dif!icul ties. It flourishes just so far as it is able at once to appropriate the good and repel the evil that environs it. Christ gives "the spirit of power" to them that believe in him-power to overcome the most oppressive and the most seductive iufluences of a hostile world. "Where is 'true fo.ith, all change comes grecious]y," And neither providential trials nor the assaults of evil can shake the steadfastness of him whose heart is thoroughly "established with grace." 4. Productiveness. "Neither shall cease from yielding fruit" (see also Ps. i. 3 ; xcii. 14). The fruit of the producing tree is the final develo1,ment, the end and aim of its life. All religious thought and feeling, and all Divine methods of spiritual culture, point to this as their ultimate issuo -the production of enduring forms of practical goodness. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit" (John xv. 6). If Christ is our living root,there can be no limit to this process. The new-born soul knows no decay of its vital energies, but .rather an eternal enlargement. "It gives, but still increases." 'l'he more it gives the more it increases. "As the outward man perisheth, the inward man is renewed day by day." And when death comes and cuts the body down and lays it in tho dust, it only sets the spirit free to put forth the powers of its sanctified life in new forms of service in a nobler sphere, to bear fruit for ever in the paradise of God.-W.
Vers.1-4.-The profound impression of Judah's sin. !..THERE IB IMPLIED JUDAH's OWN lNDil'"FERENCE TO ITS BIN. With supernatural clearness of vision, the prophet saw the sin of Judah; and he spoke concerning that sin with words which Jehovah had put iuto his mouth. And y-et it is evident the pcoplo would not admit his representations as being correct and as needing urgent atten_tion. The great bulk of them thought that he was inventing or at least exaggerating. '!'hey had lived so long amongst evils as to have become quite used to them; nay, mox:e, they made a. pleasure and a. profit of them. And this is just one of the i;1reat difficulties iu preaching the gospel and trying to 1,crsuade men to rcpentauce. fhey cannot be brought to see that there is anything l.o 011. xvu. 1-27.] 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEP.EMIAII. 181