circumstances of the past which they would gladly for~t. 3. It was clearly and boldl,y expressed. 'l'he language was precise, detailed, and graphic, the description of the approaching ruin vivid and appalling. Jeremiah used no euphemisms. His words arc enough to make our blood curdle as we read them, more than a score of centuries after they were spoken. How must they have sounded in the ears of the criminals who heard them as the sentence of their own doom? Lurid pictures of future punish-. ment frequently strike one as unreal, as though only drawn for effect; they rouse :rnbelief in some, despair in others, or a hardening in sin. Yet a clear and uncompro- mising statement of the scriptural revelation of the horrors of the future is not to be set aside for more pleasing doctrines, especially in preaching to the great and the self- satisfied. 4. It was accompanied by a significant action. Jeremiah broke the bottle in the presence of his audience, This would strike the eye and impress the imagina- tion. It is not enough that we convince the reason of a truth; we must rouse the imagination to realize it before it will be effectual. The Eastern imagery of the Bible is useful to as in this way. The preacher finds the value of illustratioµ.s in making truth Yivid and interesting. Ideas may be received through the eye as well as through the ear. II. CONSIDER THE SUBJECT OF THE DISCOURSE. 1. It accused of sin, (1) in for~ saking God and (2) in practising vice and cruelty. We must feel the intensity of guilt to realize the justice of punishment. 2. It denounced a· most-terrible doom. This was to correspond to the crimes committed. 'l'he Tophet of sin was to be the 'l'ophet of punishment. They who had sacrificed children to Moloch would eat the flesh of tbeir sons, etc. 3. It exposed the rottenness of false confidence. "I will pour out-the counsel of Judah." People imagine that somehow, without repentance, by ingenuity or by daring, they may escape the consequences of their sins. They will find that all such devices must end in ignominious failure. 4. It was accompanied by a. symbol 9f hope- less destruction. The bottle was broken. (1) This potter's vessel was a. comparatiyely worthless thing: wickedness robs men's lives of all yalue. (2) It was very brittle: nothing is so unstable as the security of the wicked before their sins have :wrought out their natural consequences. (3) It was broken to pieces : the punishment of sin is destruction-the destruction of a nation for national sin as seen in the breo.king up of the Jewish people, the destruction of a soul in the killing out of it of spiritual''activi- ties and all the higher capacities of its being. •
Vers. H, 15.-The warning confirmed. The warning of the discourse in the valley of Hinnom is con.firmed by a repetition of it under more ordinary circumstances. I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CONFIBMATION OF THE WARNING. 1. It was repeated. The scribe must bring from his treasury things.old as well as things new. Men need "line upon line." Unpopular truths must not only be revealed once for all, they _must be impressed upon people until they are accepted. 2. It was repeatecl in• the ·temple. The horrible associations of 'l'ophet were wantin·g there. ' All was decorum, order; propriety. Yet the message was not the less true there tho.n, in a more congenfal place. 'l'errible truths must be uttered in face of the religious respectability of onr Ohurch worship. Such outward correctness ~hould not make us forget the true condition of men's hearts, which is apparent enough in the darker scenes of life, in the Tophets of iniquity. We are tempted to be deceived by the appearance of religious assemblies into a blindness to the greatness of sin which is visible enough in common life.. 3. It was repeated in the ears of all tl1e people. The leaders were first. selected to hear the warning (ver. 1). But it was not confined to them.· 'l'he people generally were guilty. They bad quietly acquiesced in the wickedness of their great men. Nay, they l,aJ furthered tl,em iu it (eh. v. 31), had followed their example, and become guilty of si,nilar crimes. 'l'bey, too, must not expect to escape in the hour of juclgment. II. THE FORM IN WHICH THE WARNING WAS CONFIRMED, 1. It was epitomized. Truth needs to be broken up into detail that it may be clearly understood o.nd vividly conceived by the imagination. ·But it is possible to lose ourselves in details and miss the drift of the sum of .them. Hence the advantage of broad, sweeping enunciations of principle. 2. It was repeated as a prediction of real facts. '!'he warning was not to be regarded as an empty threat, nor as the indication of a danger that might be evaded, "I will bring .. , the evil that I ha\·e pronounced," eti,. It is both weak and cruel to on. xrx. l--'--15.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 459
threaten without the intention' or executing the threat-weak, for the hollowness of the e.larm is soon discovered by experience, and then it is impotent; cruel, for why create distress about a mere "bogey" danger? God is merciful, but firm. His threats are conditional, but, while the conditions subsist, the execution is as certain as a.ny event that depends on the uniform laws of MtiJ.re. 3. It was repeated without dimi- nution. All the evil pronounced will fa.11 on aU the towns. The effect of stern warn- ings fades •with the lapse of time. We are tempted to think that things will not be so very bad as at first seemed likely, and to take comfort from such reflections. Dut da.nget is not lessened by our growing indifference to it. 4. It wa.s strengthened by an appeal ·to the increasing necessity for it. "Because they have hardened their necks, that they might not. hear my words." A deep consciousness of guilt makes the just punishment of it seem inevitable. Wilful persistence in wickedness after warning can only increase the guilt and, make the punishment the more certain and the more severe.