The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 489

life is a privilege carrying with it the extension of advantages for faithful service. The brave aml loyal servant of God will not selfishly crave a premature release from the duties of his life. Still there is a pathos about all life. "Our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught." Special circumstances may make it fitting to weep for the living. There are calamities that are worse than death. Such seem to have been realized in the horrors of the sieges of Je111salem. It is worse to live in sin than to die. The lost and ruined life claims our pity far more than that which is cut off by an early death. What curse could be greater than that of the "Wandering Jew"? Matthew Henry says, "Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied. And so dismal perhaps the pro~pects of the times may be, that tears even for a J osiab, even for a Jesus, mus.t be restrained, that they may be reserved for ourselves and our children (Luke xxiii. 28)." Why should not this situation jnstify suicide? Because (1) we are not the masters of our own lives; (2) no man can tell what may follow the gloomiest prospects in the 'boundless possibilities of life, even in this world; (3) the man who lays violent hands on himself in rash, cowardly, and wilful rebellion against God, may expect a worse condition in the future life thai1 that of t_he man who is called away by Providence, and possibly fa,r worse than any he is attempting to escape. Ver. 13.-Dishonest builders. In no age could these words of Jeremiah be more appropriate than in our own. Whilst we must be most careful to discriminate and not to vent wholesale censure, there can .be no doubt that the building trade of our day furnishes numerous instances of an unrighteousness in business transactions which is a scandal to the commercial character of our nation, and which, if it becomes general, must be a sure presage of ruin. • I. THE WICKEDNESS OF THE DISHONEST DUILDERS. 1. It is seen in bad WOTk. Attempts are made to palm off wretched work with external decorations. There is a doubre crime here-lying and stealing; the work pretends to be what it is not, and undue payment is wrung out of the purchaser. Is not this commercial immorality to be witnessed in many branches of trade? In how many instances is it impossible to draw the line between the trader and the swindler? We find people accepting it as a J11axim that every advantage should he taken of the ignorance, weakness, and trustful- ness of others. It is forgotten that work should be done well for its own sake and in justice to others. Remember, God judges us more by the character of our work in the week than by the appearance of our worship on Sunday. 2. This wickedness is seen in the treatment of workmen. '!'hose who live in rapidly growing neighbourhoods know how common it is for poor tradesmen to he ruined by the speculative builders to whom they have supplied materials, and for. the artisans to have the utmost difficulty in obtaining their wages. This is especially bad, because it is the oppression of the poor aud the abuse of confidence. \Ve have no right so to speculate as to risk tho property of other people. '!'he cruelties of slavery which accompanied the gigantic building operations of antiquity (e.,q. in the building of the Pyramids) may be equalled in wickedness by the crime of those who steal the work of the poor to increase the chanco of their own aggrandizement. II. THE R'QIN OF THE DISHONEST 11uu.mrns. " Woe unto him," etc.! Undue anxiety to get rich overreaches itself and ends in bankruptcy, Dishonesty in trade is poison to successful business in the ultimate. issue, for it cuts at the root of the mainspring of nll business-trust. The abuse of confidence must finally destroy confidence. No doubt commercial depression is largely due to this cause. If the abuse were general, there could be no commerce in the form that this must assume if it is to bo carried on largely with the complicated civilization of modern life. We may be assured, too, that God will not overlook this wickedness. Success may be attained at first. The rich mau may have built his. pa,lace and may be enjoying its luxuries. The commercial man may have brought his dishonos.t transactions to a successful termination. Yet tho fraud and the cruelty are noted in heaven; and if there is a Judge above, the palace of tho great will be no citadel to protect the guilty man from tho thunders of Divine judgment. Ver. 21.-The voice of God disregarded in prosperity. I. GoD SPEAKS TO us IN OUR PROSPERITY. 1. There are important words which need to bo spoken to us at such B. time. We can never have all the wants Qf our souls supplied by the richest ahundn nco  496 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [ CH. xxn. 1-30.