I. Illustrations of such pbocbdtjbb. There is that of the sower. He scatters his grain in the furrows, and throws it broadcast o'er the land. But by-and-by he gathers in the rich harvest. The merchant. He scatters his wealth in this venture and in that, in the confidence that he shall, in due time, gather large increase of wealth thereby. The father of a family, when disease has broken out in the home. The children are sent hither and thither, scattered, but with the intent that when the disease is banished they may all be gathered again without loss or harm. And Ood has scattered the children of men, and the fortunes of men oftentimes, but with the intent of gathering them again. Job. Jacob. Israel's exile. The sending forth and return of our Lord's apostles. The persecution of the Church about Stephen. The whole company of the children of God which are scattered abroad, all to be gathered in at last iu the Father's house on high.
IL Reasons or rr. In the case of such as the sower, etc., these are obvious. But the reasons that influence them in their conduct are akin to those which we may believe order the like Divine procedure. By scattering his people hither and thither broadcast o'er the world, God looks for a harvest from such seed ; and how often he has gathered such harvest from such sowing 1 And the parent's reason — scattering hii- children to protect them from evil which would have befallen them had they remained together in one place, but purposing to gather them again when the fear of the evil is no more — how much of the painful scatterings which in this life we know and experience may be explained so 1 When the fire of the foe threatens the massed ranks of an army, the commander scatters his men, bids them take " open order," and so saves them. When the fire ceases, they close up once more. It was to save men from a great sin that God scattered them at Babel. Such divisions and separations are needful now. But he that scattereth will gather.
ILL Lessons. 1. Submission. There is wise and good reasoii for all that now is. What is, is best. 2. Hope. Yes ; " let our eyes look right on, and our eyelids straight before us." " He that scattereth will gather." Meanwhile : 3. Obedience. If God have scattered me or mine, inquire why he has done so. Put yourself in line with QfA'a purposes ; for " he always wins who sides with thee." — 0.
Ver. Hi — Strong, stronger, strongest. Israel, Babylon, God. Note — L The stbong. Was not Israel so? Regarding Israel as including Judah and Jerusalem, how strong, even materially, was Israeli In her numbers, wealth, fortresses — especially Jerusalem, which was one of the most impie.;nable of all the cities of the world ! in her privileges, memories, promised help of God ! in her past prestige and influence I in her long traditions of freedom and greatness ! and in much beside 1 But Israel may be taken as a type of all humanity. Looking upon our first parents, the head of our race, surely we should have thought their position of baiipiness, holiness, and Divine favour, impregnable. What safeguard did they lack? what motive to withstand the tempter was wanting? And how many there are now who say of themselves, and others think it, that they shall never be moved? Their mountain seems to stand so strong. Lands where pure gospel ministry exists ; children of godly homes; men who have long walked in God's ways. But facts all too often show that, " strong " as these may be, there is —
II. 'The stbonqer one who overcomes them. The Chaldean armies were too strong for Israel. " The hand of " Babylon " was stronger than he." And the facts of human life all reveal how humanity has come under the cruel dominance of one who is stronger than man. Behold the body, a prey to feebleness, disease, pain, and death ; the mind, to corrupt imagination, to delusion, and deceit ; the affections clinging to things evil, debased, perverted; the wt72 enslaved, made to do that which it wuiild not; the sovl earth-bound, unable to rise up to God and heaven, as it was made to do. Yes ; the evidence is abundant and everywhere that a stronger than man has overcome him to his harm. But this verse tells of deliverance from the hand of this stronger one, by one vho is —
OH. xxH, 1—40.] THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 8S
m. The STBONaEST of all. It came true of Israel, and shall come true agaia. It is true in regard to humanity and the indivirlual soul. It may be thought, considering the comparatively small number of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem, that this prediction was scarcely verified. But in the increase of the Jewish race in the lands of their exile, in their preservation from the hatred of their enemies (cf. Boole of Esther), in the deliverance of them from the snare of idolatry, in the implantation in their hearts of a deeper love and understanding of QoA's Word, — in all these and in other respects Israel was delivered. And humanity t< redeemed, ransomed. When Christ said, " It is finished," then was virtually accomplished that deliverance for which, in its full realization, the world yet groans. But in every triumph of Divine grace, every conversion, every breaking away from evil, every tightening of the blessed bonds which bind us to Christ, every advance the gospel makes, every missionary triumph, every act of self-consecration, there is present proof of what by-and-by shall be perfectly proved. And the means by which all this is accomplished are sug'jested to us by the word " ransomed; " it sends our thoughts to him who said of himselT that he came to give his life a "ransom for man\." Therefore: 1. Let us earh look on beyond that mighty one, the prince of this world, who is stronger than we, to him, the Saviour ol us all, the Mightiest, who is stronger than he. 2. And ask ourselves the question — Under whose rule and service do we ourselves live? That i« the all-important question. Qod help us to give it the right answer. — 0.
7er. 14. — Satisfied. I. There ib a satisfaction which is not to n desibed. 1. That of the worldling, which says, " Soul, take thine ease," etc. 2. That of conven- tionalism. This looks only to the ordinary standard of religious attainment, and so long as it can come up tolerably near to that standard, it desires no more. They are "at ease in Zion," and the "woe" denounced on such is theirs. 3. Of Pharisaism, which thanks God that it is not as other men are. 4. 0/the Sloic, that has drilled itsell' not to feel the sorrows of men. 5. Of the selfish, which, because it swiins, cares not who sinks.