VIII. The depositaries of this testimony. The prophet put his in an earthen vessel. We, too, have this treasure in earthen vessels. Let the literal suggest the spiritual; Jeremiah, Paul.
IX. The underlying and effectuating will. (Ver. 15.) The Lord luould have the land to be restored, the Cajjtivity should return. So he " will have all men to be saved." Have we claimed our share in this redeeming work ? — 0.
Ver. 19. — Nothing hid from God. " Thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men." No truth more forgotten than this. Men assent to it, but it has no power over the vast mass of men, and far too little power even over religious men. How different it is with the presence or absence of our fellow-creatures ! We have often much to conceal from them, and we would often make great efforts to prevent them knowing much of our lives. Hence it makes all the difference in the world to us whether they be with us or away from us. It regulaies our conduct, our words, our looks, our very tone and movement. But how little of such effect does the thought of the Divine eye seeing all and always what we are and do, even to the understanding of our thoughts afar off 1 Therefore such forgetfulness of God's presence as that which we are all of us so liable to be guilty of requires that we should diligently consider the many proofs of the truth declared in this verse. Note some of them.
I. He has laid down laws to begulatb and govern the ways of men. He has done this not only for those that are open and manifest, but those that are most secret as well. He is a " discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (cf. Ps, cxxxix.). " God looketh at the heart." Now, he could not thus largely and minutely lay down these laws if he did not know completely the ways which they concern.
II. He discovers them. If we have been engaged in some secret way, or such as we thought was secret, where no eye was upon us as we imagined ; if afterwards some one meets us and tells us all that we did, we know that, unseen to us, he must by himself or by others have been present at that secret hour. Now, thus we know that God has been ever present For: I. EeteUs us all about thtm "WJi»tlr3Era7'' 3l«ft
M THE BOOK OP THE PEOPHET JEREMIAH. foH. xsxu. 1— 44.
•speciallj. Is conscience, bat God telling ni tlmt he is perfectly acquainted with all that we thought unknown ? 2. He tdh others of them. He told David (1 Sam. xxiii. 12) that the men of Eeilah would deliver him up into the hand of Saul. He told Joseph of Herod's purpose to kill the infant Saviour. He warned the wise men from whom Herod hoped to have acquired the knowledge he needed. And again, he warned Joseph about Archelaus. And many such instances there are. Now, they all ■kiKf ^Ot Qod knows all the ways of men.
III. He turns tbbu which way hb wnx. Sometimes he gives men their heart's desiie, satisfying the longing soul. Sometimes he overrules them for ends far other than the doers of them designed. As when they crucified our Lord (Acts ii. 23), God ordered which way their sin should issue, which was quite other than they thought (cf. history of Joseph). Sometimes he baffles and denies them altogether. If he did not, this world would be hell. What if all the sin men conceive of they were to commit 1 Hence (Gen. xx. 6) God says he withheld Abimelech from sinning against Abraham, and suffered him not to touch Sarah. And God is for ever graciously strangling sin in its very birth. But all this shows that " his eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men."
IV. He recompenses them. I. When our secret ways have been evil, cannot we tell in the darkening of the face of God that he knows all? And when they have been such as the Lord delighteth to see in secret, do not our hearts know when we come to him that there is the answering smile ? 2. And he recompenses them in his present outward dealings with us. The sinner's most secret sin finds him out not seldom in this world. And the patient continuance in well-doing, however humble and obscure, rarely fails to meet with its reward, 3, And God will judge them in the last great day. Then the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed. " God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." Again is it made evident that be knows all. He is " the Father who seeth in secret."
Conclusion. Understand what is the right use of this great doctrine. Not that we should be trying every hour of the day to be thinking of the all-seeing eye of God. We cannot, and God does not intend that we should, be ever thus conscious of his presence. Children are not of the presence of their parents. They are utterly uncon- strained. But should need arise for their parents' help, should they be tempted to do what they know their parents would forbid, then in a moment they become conscious of their piesence, and the needed aid is asked for, and the tempting sin is resisted. Now, thus should we remember the continual presence of God. " The right state of mind plainly is to have the thought of God's presence so perpetually at hand that, as with Joseph in his great temptation, it shall always start before us whenever it is wanted." This is living with God and communion with Christ ; and it is won by prayer and close walking with him, and blessed are they who win. — 0.
Ver. 27. — Truth confessed, hut not realized. " Is there anything too hard for the Lord ? " In ver. 17 the prophet had confessed " nothing is too hard for thee," but it ia evident that, though he thus confessed the blessed truth, he did not realize it so as to enjoy it and get the comfort of it (cf. homily on vers. 1 — 44). Now, there are many causes which hinder our realization of this truth which we nevertheless both confess and believe. But they may all be summed up under the three headings of trouble, guilt, and sin. It was the first of these, though not exclusively, which was clouding the prophet's mind, and making even this axiom of Divine truth seem doubtful for the time. Glance at these causes of this sad questioning whether some things be not too hard for the Lord, and their several cures.
I. Qbbat tbouble. Cf. circumstances of the time and of prophet especially. Oh, what doubt and misgiving do the troubles of life, the terrible events, " the stings and arrows of outrageous fortune," cause to souls not a fewl It was so here. Now, observe thea/ntidute to this doubt. To strengthen his faith the prophet draws an argument from the creation. Then, with no resources from without, God formed the earth and the world. Then, when the material out of which the ordered universe should come had all to be brought into order, " the earth was without form and void, and darkness," etc. Then, when all was created, all had to be preserved and daily sustained. Let any one contemplate the proofs that these &cts give of tht existence, the power, the