The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 540

fact. 'l'hcy can surmount and triumph over all the evil influences which surround and oppose them (cf. ver. 7.) 2. And the evil are to take warning. Prolonged privilege and opportunity have no necessary saving power, Such advantages may leave them wor.se than before. It was so here. IV. OBSERVE THE GREAT ILLUBTilATION OF THE TRUTH TAUGHT HEBE m CHRIST AND HIS CmJBOH. 1. Christ was '' as a root out of a dry ground." How utterly opposed to all prospect of his becoming great, and his Name above every name, were the early circumstances in his history I And yet he has triumphed over all. 2. And so with the history of the Church, It was small as "a grain of mustard seed," feeble as "sheep amidst wolves," was as a thing of nought and despised. And yet what has it not become, what will it not become'! And what is true of Christ and his Church shall be true likewise of all that are his. "Fear not, little flock," said our Lord; "it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom,"-C. Ver. 7.-A heart to know the Lord. It was" for good" that God sent the captive portion of his people "into the land of the Chaldeans" (ver. 5.) The germs of the better life of the future were preserved in them, and their very tribulations were the instruments of his gracious purpose and blessings in disguise. In the "evil figs "-the refuse left behind-there was nothing worth preserving (ver. 8). Of all the beneficent Divine purposes, this had in it the promise of highest good-" I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord." I. A TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GoD HABITS SEAT IN THE HEART. Intellect cannot solve the mystery of his being. Reason alone cannot even demonstrate his ex.istence. "Who by searching can find out God ? " "The world by wisdom knew not God." It is a matter of pure spiritual sensibility. Moral sympathy is the true key to this knowledge. Reverence, humility, love, trust, submission, affections of the heart, are its conditions, Even right ideas of God depend very materially on the state of the heart towards him. The exhalations of a vain, frivolous, corrupt, or carnal heart pervert the soul's vision and obscure his glory, Only as our hearts are purged from every form of earthly defilement can we behold him as he is. " Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God." II. GoD HIMSELF CAN ALONE IlllPART THIS KNOWLEDGE. "I will give them," etc. It is a matter of direct Divine revelation; a. Divine science in which mere human teaching is of little avail. A secret, silent, gracious power above all natural influences can alone awaken in us those moral affections which lie at the root of it. A true know- ledge, like a true Christian faith, must stand " not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The blindness of the man of science to the deeper meaning of nature, and of the sceptical philosopher to the manifestation of God in Christ, and of the worldling to the Divine presence in his own life, does but indicate the lack of this power. God must unveil himself to us, by drawing our hearts into lowly and loving fellowship with himself, before we can truly know him.-W. Vera. 1-10.-The good and bad figs. I. CoNBIDEB THE FIGS GENERALLY. We cannot, of course, say why figs should be chosen rather than another fruit, though the choice can hardly be a mere accident. Some reason probably appeared to the observant of that time which we are without sufficient information to discover. Possibly tho goodness of good fruits was more obvious against the badness of bad ones, in the case of the fig than in the case of other fruits. It is to be noticed also that the figure chosen to set forth the difference between the good and tho bad in Israel is taken from fruit. It was something presented as the result of growth and in connection witlr culture. The question was suggested how such a difference should come between th~ good and the bad, For if trees of tho same sort grow in the same soil and have tho same attention, and the same external influences, how comes some of tho fruit to be very good and some very bad? Notico also the sharpness of the d£stinction. 'l'bcso fruits were either good or bad. To be excluded from one is to be inclndcd iu thti other. There is no third, no medium class. This exactly agrees with the way of speaking in the New Testament, especially by Jesus himself: e.g. the seed in the good and bad ground, the sheep and goats, the good kinds of fish and tho bad ones, the five wise and the five foolish virgins. It is of the first importance to b~ar in mind 64.:3 TIIE DOOK OF TllE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [en. xxv. 1-38.