f. THE MIND OF GOD 18 A PROFOUND MYSTERY TO US, BUT HE KNOWS HIS OWN OOUNBELR. 1. God has his" thoughtR," even as we have ours. We believe in a God who is no mete philosophic abstraction, but a. living, personal being, of whose infioite iotelli- gence ours is but the dim and distant reflectit.,n. 2. His thoughts are immeasurably higher than ours. "As the heavens a.re higher than the earth,'' etc. (Isa. Iv. 9). W 0 cannot solve the mystery or trace the course of our own mental processes, and ho 1v shoul,l we be able to comprehend his? Our minds, with a.II their utmost ran ere ancl activity, move but upon the outskirts of the glorious realm of the infinite and ;ternal thought of God. 3. His thoughts are all conformed to the eternal truth of things. Indeed, they are themselves the eternal truth of things. For what are all created existences-material and spiritual, all laws, forces, etc., but embodiments and reflections of the "thoughts" of God? And whatever his purposes may be they are not variable ; they partake of the immutability of his essential nature. "'l'he counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations" (Ps. xxxiii. 11). II. GoD'S WAYS OF DEALING WITH US ARE OFTEN PERPLEXING, BUT A GRACIOUS PURPOSE GOVERNS ALL. "Thoughts of peace and not of evil" lie concealed within his darkest providences. 1. The constitution of the universe, in spite of all its discords, bears abundant witness to the benign spirit that inspires it. We have no sympathy with that gloomy and morbid view of it according to which, for aught that appears, it might have been fashioned by some spirit of cruelty and hate. True as it may be that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together," there is proof enough that" God's tender mercies are over all his works." 2. The Bible has its anomalies, but it is the unfolding of a redemptive purpose. The revelation of God's mercy towards a guilty, ruined world in the person of the Christ is the key to all its historic dispen- sations. As every chastisement inflicted on the Jewish people had some gracious design in it as regards themselves, so the whole conrse of their national life and eccle- siastical polity played its part in the development of that world-wide plan. And through all the changes and storms and conflicts that may yet be in store for the Church and the world, Scripture keeps alive the blessed hope of the future. The pro- phetic word is "as a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts" (2 Pet. i. 19). 3. The saddest experiences in our pe>"sonal life have their /;eneficent Divine intent. Every cloud has its "silver lining." Our keenest sorrows often prove to be " celestial benedictions in a dark disguise." God's " thought of peace" is at the heart of all our earthly tribulations (Heb. xii. 6-1 l). III. THE ISSUE ALWAYS JUSTil!'ms Gon's THOUGHTS AND WAYS. The" expected end," when it comes, never fails· to solve the mystery of the path that led to it. The gracious purpose, hidden in the secrecy of the Eternal Mind, veiled under many forms of dark disguise, is then made manifest. God is his own Interpreter, and the. day of hie glorious self-vindication will surely come:
"His ways are love-though they transcend Our feeble range of sight, They wind through darkness to iheir end In everle.eting light." w. Vere. 1-7.-The letter to the captives. Notice the mention of those who bore this letter. We may conclude they were not mere messengers having no interest iu tho message they conveyed, but those who themselves would have much to say over and above what was written. I. Goo's CONSlDRnATION FOB ms PEOPLE IN THEIR CAPTIVITY. He not only means to bring that captivity to an end in his own time, but while it lasts it is to be m~de ~s little liko captivity as possible. It was not enough that he should leave the nat10n m Babylon till the time of his chastisement expired. While they remained there, they were to have the largest opportunities compatiblo with the. circumstances in wh!ch he had found it necessary to place them. And so when the circumstances of any hfe are untoward when perhaps we have maLle them l!O by our own folly, God shows his solicitude' that we should neverthc1ess have peace in uur own heart~, aud such ample guidance as may turu even the untoward into the helpful. Gud will not hmish circum • 698 THE BOOK OF THE PilOPHE'l' JEREMIAH. [ou. XXIX. 1-32,