it not a thing to be grasped at, a prize which he should cling to with eagerness and retain wilh tenacity, but "emptied himself of it, and made himself of no reputation." Thus for tho time of his incarnation submitting himself to the cruel might of sin and Satan, he gained thereby that infinite exaltation, that salvation of mankind upon which his loving heart waa set. "Let this mind," therefore, "be in us which was also in Christ Jesus." And whenever it is found, God rewards it. Self-sacrifice, the cross, is the way to supreme reward. The shepherds were told, at the Nativity, that there was born to them "a Saviour, Christ the Lord." And when they came to Bethlehem they found a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. What correspondence was there between that saying of the angels and that sight of the infant Jesus? To the outward eye none, but to the eye instructoo by God's Word and God's providence, there 1s every correspondence. For those outward signs of poverty and humiliation which were the characteristic of his life, have formed his title-deeds, his royal right, to the homage of every human heart. "Blessed are the meek," etc.; "He that humbleth himself shall," etc. It is ever so; and especially when we humble ourselves before God, giving up self and sin, giving up and losing, as the world would say, our very life, -tllen it is we find it, as God grant we may.-C. Vera. 1-7.-A king appealing for a prophet's intercession. J. A KING'S ACKNOW- LEDGME:l\TT THAT HUMAN RESOURCES ARE UNAVAILING. The hour and the danger so long and often predicted, referred to all the more earnestly as the hour draws nigh, ha.~ come at last. No time is here taken up in narrating the attempts Zedekiah may have made himself to repel the invader. The Scriptures :were not meant to give us details of sieges. The likelihood is, however, that it was long before Zcdekiah reached anything like an. extremity that he made this appeal to the prophet. When an unusual danger comes close at band it is easy to exaggerate. 'rhe mau who has been indifferent, imprudent, heedless of a.II hints that have been given him to make provision for the future, is the ~ery man who, when peril comes, rushes into panic and becomes unable to use the resources be has. , ll. A KING'S PRESUMPTUOUS ATTEMPT TO AVAIL HlllISELF OF DIVINE RESOURCES, Nothing is more beautiful than to see one who has found out the vanity of human help turning to God. Only he must come in II right spirit, having made a clear discovery of why it is that man could not help him. Anything of this sort was utterly lacking in Zedekiah's approach.. '!'here is no sign of repentance, no word of confession, no resolu- tion of amend1i1ent. The only thing in the shape of acknowledgment is that Jehovah is the God who does wondrous works. This is an acknowledgruent which we fiud often in the Old Testament., but it is acce1itable to God only when accompanied with a senso <:>f why it is tlint God does his wondrous works. The more we consider Zedekiah's request, the more will the blindness and audacity of it appear. Here is the king in Jerusalem, bound, if 11ny man ever was, to know the significance of the history of Israel as a whole; and yet he can only see certain ~eat manifestations of power which encourage him to hope that a similar manifestation may now come for his own deliver- ance. '!'here is no real coming to God, unless we come for things that aru according to his will. His power cannot wait upon our selfish n~eds. '!'here is no tellin~ what might have happened, even at this more than eleventh hour, if Zedekiah had only come with something of true penitence. God knew beforehand that this could not be expected; and thus there is no clearer evidence of tbo righteousness of Jerusalem's doom and of Israel's expatriation than is furnished from Zedekiah's owu lips. He shows that ho has lost all sense of the meaning and the necessity of Gou's great covenant with his people. If only they had been obedient they would never have lacked the benefit of many wondrous works. III. THE PLAIN AND NECERSARY ANSWER OF JEHOVAH. We see through all that Go,l here says a purpose to make plain that ho is now full of activity against his apostalo people. The object was not to be attained simply by leaving them, in their natural i-eso11rces, to the natural resources of the Chaldeans. 'l'be contest is not of man against n~11n, but of the man who has forsaken God against the man whom God bas taken to be the instrument of his righteous indignation. God must specially intervene and make his presence manifest, to show that all this visitation of suffering is from him. If God has, for a time, to forsake his people, he must needs oppose them. If Gou bo 488 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [011. XX.I. 1-14,
not for ns, he is against us; and so here the defenders of Jerusalem are represented as having difficulties to deal with such as have arisen through God's own operation. Their weapons of war do not produce the usual effect. God turns them back upon those who wield them. This may be more than a mere general figure of speech. It is quite possible that either the arm wielding the heavy, sharp sword becomes as the arm of the little child, or else, that remaining strong, the weapon becomes bnt as the chi!J's toy. Thus the Chaldeans themselves would learn that some mysterious power was at work, and that the glory of the victory was not theirs. Furthermore, God was to fight against these apostates with a weapon of his own. He can make the wicked and the ambitious his sword, but pestilence is of his own sending. Not all the might- of the Chaldeans could bring a pestilence, nor take it away once it had come. Thus we see bow all this dread combination of events was intended to impress on all, alike amongst besiegers and besieged, who had minds to understand that God himself was terribly at 'l"Jrk. He was indeed dealing with the people according to his wondrous works; works J.ecessitated in order to prevent his holy and reasonable wrath from being nothing mora than empty wind.-Y.