AH. xxin. 1— 44.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 61
vrisdom, and the beneficence of God, and the question, " Is anything too hard for thee ? " can meet with but one answer. How can any doubt the Divine reaourcei in view of the creating and sustaining providence of God.
II. Guilt. If it be hard sometimes in the face of the calamities of life to realize the fulness of the Divine resources, it is harder still in the face of human guilt. Is there a God able and willing to supply my material and temporal need ? is a question less difGcult than that which asks whether there be a God able and willing to pardon my sin. For to minds not few nor feeble, the forgiveness of sin seems an insoluble problem. If the punishment of sin be righteous, and every witness afiSrms that it is, ought God to remit it ? And if it be inevitable, the sure reaping of the previous sowing, can God remit it? Have we not something here that is too hard even for the Lord ? If in all departments of nature, we everywhere see effects surely following their appropriate causes, and if spiritual death be the appropriate effect of sin, how can this cause and tffect be severed any more than any other ? True, the human will can step in and arrest or turn aside this or that effect; we see this perpetually. But here is a question, not of power, but of right, not in the sphere of the material, but of that which is moral. It is a case in which mere power goes for nothing. What, then, is to be done? The atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ solves the problem. He, in our humanity, offered to God for us that perfect sacrifice whereby all who claim their share in its benefits are pardoned, accepted, and saved. " God was in Christ, reconciling," etc. (2 Cor. v.). It is everywhere recognized that a true confession of wrong done, and an earnest entreaty for forgiveness, should sufBce to remove all wrath on account of such wrong from the heart of the offended one. That law which God enjoins upon us he observes himself. " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit," etc. But such confession of human sin and intercession for its forgiveness Christ offered in humanity to God for us, and so God can be just and yet the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. Thus is this hard problem solved ; the " Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world." But there is—
III. Sm. Can God subdue that in the heartof a man? When we see the outrajres, the iuration, the strength of hold, the universality, the attractiveness, the prestige, and the lore of sin, it does seem as if the subjugation of this was too hard even for the Lord. To turn back the tides, to reverse the law of gravity, to alter any other law of the universe, — this were an easy task compared with the stupendous change which must be wrought in man before the love of sin can die out of him, and the love of God rule in its stead. What endeavours have been made I what schemes devised ! what philosophies elaborated! but all in vain. Hence, despair for ourselves and for others too often predominates in our souls. Evil we are, and evil we must be. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? Can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit ? But " there is nothing too hard for the Lord." The history of the Church of God proves that there is, in the regenerating, sanctifying Spirit of Qod, that power which is needed here. He is the renewing, transforming, sanctifying Spirit. Baptized with the Spirit, " I walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." May we more and more, as we may and should, in our own experience, prove tliis true.^^.
Vers. 81 — 33. — Lovi* labour apparently hst. As we read this record (ver. 33) of the perseverinix and earnest, but nevertheless fruitless, labours of God's servants, and remember that they were sent by the Lord, we are almost led to ask, " To what piu- pose is this waste V " We can understand loving, earnest labour persevere.l in, though nothing may come of it, when those who so toil are sustained by hope, even though it may be sometimes hoping against hope. But " love ho{>eth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things," and "never faileth." How many and how pathetic are the stories that might be told where such love has toiled to save some reprobate from th« doom he would" persist in bringing on himself !— the loving wife, sister, mother, striving to save those who won't be saved 1 How full this weary world is of such cases I But it is evident that these continue to labour and pray because they cannot know that they shall fail, and their hope is that they shall succeed. How David fasted and wept whilst his child was yet alive ! but when the child was dead, David arose and ate, auuinted himself, and put on his ro^al robes. And when his servants aiked him
82 THE BOOK OF THE FROPHET JEREMIAH, [on. xxxn. 1 — 44»
wherefore he so altered his behaviour, he said, "Whilst he was alive I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell if God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? Bat now he is dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him back a^ain ? " It was hope that sustained the sorrowing king ; but when hope was gone, he gave over his fruitless toil Now, all this we can understand and sympathize with. But in the long-continued ministry of Jeremiah and others like him, when all the while God knew what the end would be, how apparently wasted it would all be, when he could never have any hope of B different result from that which actually occurred, the inquiry is suggested — Where- fore did God commission, and wherefore does he still, such fruitless toil ? " Known unto God are all his works from the beginning." There can be nothing contingent with him. Hope is a mental condition impossible to God ; he cannot be said to hope for anything. It is entirely human ; but to an omniscient and omnipotent Being who "ordereth all things after the counsel of his own will," hope, or doubt, or uncertainty of »ny kind cannot be. Therefore, knowingly, with full certainty that all his servant's severe labour would not bring the people to repentance, as in fact it did not, neverthe- less God commissioned him and his fellow-servants to go and speak to them. How are we to explain this ? Reasons suggest themselves in connection with —