builder-mere ehelter, comfort, splendour, protection. As these come into view the object in which they a.re to be realized becomes representative of the living personality e.nd character with which it is associated. Jehoia.kim was a. despot, bent upon aggran- dizement, and so he eought to build a magnificent pa.lace with forced, unpaid labour. 'l'he ambitions of unspiritua.l men, the exclusive and absorbing projects of earthly life, resemble the palace-building of this Hebrew tyrant in- I. THE UNION 011' EXTRAVAGANT DESIRES AND DISHONEST, UNLAWFUL METHODS. Easy for Jehoiakim to" go in" for a. splendid pa.lace, as he is not in the habit of paying his employes. Are there not many in modem life who act on the same principle? The desire for self-advancement and aggrandizement overtops every other consideration. 1. Unlawful methods of securing these are employed. Speculation; getting on in busi• ness in order to get out of it; adulteration; insufficient wages; prices that do not admit of honest manufacture; clap-trap advertisements, etc. 2. Imagining that others exist/or the suke of one's self. This reverses the golden rule and the spirit of Christ's life. II. ITS FUNDAMENTAL SIN. This i~ selfishness-self-glorification, neglect of God and of human claims. 'l'he great principles of the Divine kingdom a.re contradicted ;-jus- tice, mercy, brotherly sympathy, etc. III. ITS RESULTS. 1. The ruin of the building; i.e. the life-project-the unhallowed aim. 2. The ruin of the builder-for time, perhaps for eternity.-M. Vers. 8, 9.-.Monumentalfudgments. I. EXCEPTIONAL PENALTIES WILL ATTEND TIIl!l ABUSE 011' EXCEPTIONAL PRIVILEGES. 1. As a:measure of fustice. The position attained by Jerusalem was due not so much to its site as to its being the centre of a. theocracy. The foundation of its prosperity was a. spiritual one. It was God's elective favour which had lifted it up above the cities of the earth. Presuming upon this, the first laws of righteousness had been violated and the whole conditions of the covenant relation ignored. This assumption of the inalienability of Divine blessiugs is at the root of every great apostasy. It is doubly unrighteous. (1) As a robbing of God. (2) As a misuse of a falsely acquired advantage and reputation. The robbery of such things is of infiniteiy greater heinousness in so far as they transcend in their value merely earthly treasures, and differ from them in the terms of their acquisition. It is free grace and unrequited love that a.re trampled on, and the punishment must therefore be the more exemplary. 2. As a necessary precaution. Pretensions so great are apt to mislead others. People who say, "'l'he temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we," may be taken at their own estimation if no marked change takes place in their external con- dition. God, therefore, uses his judgment in its external signs as an index of his repro• bation. Other nations than Israel have illustrated this principle in their decline and fall. 'l'he great peoples of Christendom are on their trial. There is nothing more hateful in the sight of God than a. people that bas outlived its religion and yet retains the pro- fession of it Although the chief penalties of unfaithfulness in spiritual things must be inward, external evidences will not be wanting of what has taken place. How colossal the ruin of a power that has onco been Christian, and has been exalted through Divine grace for the fulfilment of plodges which have never beeu redeemed (Matt. xxiii. 37; xi. ll3)1 II. THE JUDGMENT OF GoD WILL DE ENDORSED DY THE VERDICT 011' THE WORLD. Even tile ruins of Jerusalem would be a thing to gaze at. Its desolation would be unlike any •Jtber. The epitaph of a forfeited spiritual supremacy would seem to be graven on tho very stones. There is ever something unmistakable and peculiar in the condition of those who are rejected by God. Their misery is not as other misery, their ruin not as other ruin. 1. The spectacle will be self-explanatory. Not that every siu and failing of God's people would be written in earthly chronicles, but the causes of their :lecay would be broadly apparent.. So is it with the Churoh from which God removes his candlestick, and the soul in whom iho light has become darkness. 2. It will be morally impressive. Even in its misery the people of God will instruct the nations ; nml the Church of Christ will be a spectacle to angels and to men in its failures as ln it~ successes.-M.
Vers. 10-12.-.F'atesworse than death. Josiah'e death was still fresh in the memory Jl!,BEJ'4IAH, 2 a; 198 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [ea. XXII. 1-30.