II. THE PROPHET. Not Jeremiah peculiarly, but Jeremiah as representative of all the faithful prophets; those to whom he here refers as having been engaged in the ea.me kind of service. He brings against the people a serious charge of persistent neglect; but it also involves a serious confession with respect to himself. A serious confession, but not a shameful one. Though his long ministry has not had the desired end, it is by no means a failure. For twenty-three years the work has been lai,d upon him of denouncing national apostasy and individual transgression, in all the varieties of H. The substance of this long ministry is written down and the spirit of the ministry made evident. We know the things he spoke of, and how he spoke of them; the enemies he made, the sufferings be endured, the pangs with which his heart was torn. In his ministry he gave himself, without stint. Nor does his work stand alone. He was not the first to exhort to repentance. He succeeded men who had been as faithful as himself, and engaged as long a time in the service of God. And yet, after so many remonstrances, the nation remains stubborn in its apostasy, infatuated as ever in its rapid descent to ruin Hence we learn how chary we should be in talking of unsuccessful ministries. No ministry, whatever its other results may be, can be unsuccessful in the sight of God, if only there is unshaken fidelity to him. It is fidelity that he rewards, not obvious results. 1n spite of all the husban<lman's care, digging about the tree and dunging it, it may yield no fruit; but the fidelity of the husbandman deserves a reward all the same. Industry cannot overcome the bad elements in what is given him to cultivate. All who have to engage in preaching and prophesying duties must learn the lesson, that more is needed for success than mere perseverance. Perseverance is like the dropping water which wears away the stone; but what is here required, is that the stone should be changed as to its nature, not worn away. If Jeremiah had been able to prophesy twenty-three centuries, instead of twenty-three years, the result would have been the same. All he could do was to reiterate, in the ears of the people, the necessity of repentance. It is in the light of a passage like this that we learn more of what Jesus meant when he said he came to fulfil the prophets. It was his not only to accomplish their predictions, but do whai they could not possibly do by all their appeals-turn the hearts of the disobedient to God. Compare the barren ministry of Jeremiah, prophet of Jehovah, with the fruitful ministry of Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ. Yet Paul did not speak one whit more earnestly concerning righteousness and repentance and submission to God. The difference lay in this, that Paul was not only a preacher, but when he preached there was a subduing and renewing Spirit. III. THE PEOPLE. This is a serious chargo brought against them, that one man had been in their midst for all these years, with one message, never varying and never slackening, and yet that they had paid, as a nation, not tho slightest heed to it. When Nebuchadrezzar did come, there ,was no chanco for them to say that they had not received proper warning. They could not blame Jeremiah. 'l'heir very persecution of him was a witness against themselves. 'rhus there is a warning to those who are hearers of the gospel with all the voices with which it is addressed to them. It is not outside of themselves they must look for explanations of why the truths of the gospel have found no lodgment in their hearts. The cause is within. How many have been listening to the news of Jesus Christ for many more years even than twenty-three, and every year seems to bring a lessening probability that they will treat the messago as having a practical concern for themselves !-Y. Ver. 9.-Nebuchadrezzar, the servant of God. I. Trrn CONTRAST WITH OTHER rnn- VANTB, Observe the mention, in ver. 4, of those very differont servants of God, the prophets (so mentioned elsewhere). God had sent many of them and many times, and hardly any attention had been paid to them. Higher motives had been appealed to in vain. Considerations of duty and prudence were thrown to the winds. And now the miahty king Nebuchadrezzar comes, with a very different sort of force-not looking at all like a servant of God; and yet he is just as much the servant of God as is any of the prophets. Indeed, king of a great peoplo though he was, his rank in the service of God was not so high as that of the prophets. Ho appears in this place as nothing more than tho final executioner of justice. II. NONE THI!: LESB EFFICIENT A SERVANT BECAUSE TlIE BERVlCE WAS I:F.NDEBED JEREMIAH, 2a 662 'l'RE BOOK 01•' 'l'IIE PlWPllE'l' JEllBMIAII. [cu. xxvr. 1-2-t
l'XCONSCIOUSLY. Nebuchadrczzar, despot as he ,vas, would havo been very wrathful if be had known cxacLly how he appeared in the sight of God. He had certain purposes of his own, and be succe~ded in cffrcting them; but tho very energy with which ho worked for himself only made him to render his service to God more complete. And may it not be happening in the world, a great deal more frequently than we think, that the very success of selfish and domineering men is being so handled by God as all tho m0re to serve his purp0ses? lll. THE LIMITATIOXS OF NEDUCIIADREZZAt.'s SERVICE, The service, with all its completeness, wa.s only within certain limits. It does not require much intellicrencc to destroy what is destructible. Ilnt if there is to be a building-up work for aid, then there must be a conscious, voluntary, and devoted service. farael was meant to be a scrrnnt of God in the fullest aud noblest sense of the ,vord. It had been instructed in the will of God and borno with patiently in many failures to obey that will. Hence the description of Nebuchadrczzar as a servant is an implied rebuke of those who had refused to be servants. Noto the great contrast found in the New Testament where Christ's apostles, at the beginning of their Epistles, hasten to proclaim thems:lvcs as the servants of God.-Y.