hatred to him it was asked. Sad, indeed, it is to reflect that these very won]; miali t bo asked in e. far different spirit; that they might come from thCJ depths or°an ignorant seeking heart, wandering long amid idolatries and human systems of philo- so_ph!, without hearing anything ~o· ·serve, as bread of heaven for the deep hunger w1thm. There are people upon whom Gods Word has been pressed in every variety of appeal and representation. The Word has sought them out again and again; and yet in the end all they can do is to cast a scornful doubt on whether it is the Word of God at all. It may, indeed, be allowed that they did not mean to insult Jehovah; all they had in view was to express, in the most stinging way, their bitter hatred of this pertinacious, plain-spoken prophet-this man who had come as a comparativo youth from little Anathoth, rebuking those who were high in rank, old in years, and looked up to by _the bulk of the peoplei No fallacy infecting the regions of practical life is more pernicious than that which, profes8irig tci admit the authority of him who sends, yet d+scredits the status. of his professed messenger. It is thus very easy to evade unpleasant, humiliating messages. So the Jews of our Lord's time were fanatic- ally solicitous· to honour their conception of Jehovah, and, as part of this devotion, they ended by cru,cifying Jesus as a blasphemer. The very people who asked, "Where is the word of Jehovah?" may have been the_ first to frame plausible repudiations of any wish to blaspheme him. "Their great aim and purpose was to put this upstart Jeremiah in his proper place. They probably thought that these scornful speeches might become at last as a gag in his mouth. • The lesscin is plain: do not reject truth, or in any wise try to evade it because it comes through same one you do not like. What Jeremiah said here, respecting the character and wcirk cif these men, was true; and they do not deny the truth. They simply ignore the charges, and. by one scornful question hint that the threa.tenings· connected with the charges are but as empty words. II. THE WAYS IN ·wmcH TfilS QUESTION :MAY BE ANSWE!l.ED, Jeremiah, we perceive, has his own answer appropriate tci his individual circumstances. He falls back on his integrity. God knows the fidelity and obedience of his heart. God bad put into his mouth the words he had spoken. They did not rise out of his persona.I feeling ; they ,vere ncinhe breathings of an egotist, a. fanatic, a madman, e.n enemy of his country. But inasmuch as _this question is ever being asked by a certain class who will not believe. in a. Divine plan of the world-partly revealed in Scripture anti the partial execution of which is shown in history-it is well to remember how Jehovah has honoured his servants who have had in any way to fill the office of prophets. He who bas gcine forth to threaten the persistently impenitent has never been without some achieved judgment of God ,vhicb, he might adduce as an illustration. The shadows cast forward into the future have their correspondences in the substances belonging to the past. If we could only summon ciut of tb,e invisible world the generation which perished in ,the Flood, the dwellers in the cities of the plain, Pham.oh and his army, thoHe who were destroyed in the gainsayirig of Kornh, and many others, they would be _nble to give no uncertain answer_ to the' question," Whero is the word of Jehovah?" The kingdom of µod is not in word only ; it hll.l! in it a power which can be manifested in all needful abundance; with all needful, rapidity, and in whatever aspect may he proper to the occasion. God's Word becomes a complete and plainly perceptible deed exactly when the time is ripe. Shall man be able to arrange a time-piece so that :when the hour hand and minute ha.rid together point to twelvo there shall he tho striking which signifies noon has arrived; and shall not_ God bo ablo to order tho mysteries and complexities of the world so ns to bring out the intended results just when he wants them? It is not for ·us to know times nud seasons·; but most emphatic- ally it is fo1· us. to believe that every word of God is true. These very scorners of Jeremiah wer,e about to add, in the c0urse of a few short ye11rs 'at most-, nu illustration as forcible as any that what God has spoken may be taken as already done. God's calm a~vancing of his kh:1gdom should do muoh to make his people calm. It is our fault if the sarcasms of tho unbelieving become nnytl1ing more than words; and mere words are best met by a silent, patient, and beli~ving continue.nee in well-doing.-Y.
Vers. 16-18.-The prophet's consciqttsness of ir,tegrity. We may tnk_e it that this one question, "Where is the wc;rd of Jehovah_?" stands for e. great deal m the way of iaunt. 'i'bc appeal to GoJ, with which the prophet. follows up the mention of this 440 'l'iIE BOOI{ OF TH~ PROPHE'I' JERE1.1IAH. [cu. :tv11. i-21