I. Without doubt theik exile tried them as fire. Fire is often the symbol of pain; and that there was indeed pain and sore distress in the exiles' lot is certain. Degradation, slavery, loss of their land, their high privileges as the people of God, in short, of their worldly all, had to be submitted to by them ; and they lived, where they were permitted tolive, at the mere caprice of a powerful, despotic, and merciless monarch. What that caprice could do, and often actually inflicted in the way of cruel tyranny and oppression, the books of the Bible which belong to the times of the Captivity, and the sculptures brought from those lands and now in the museums of this and other coun- tries, clearly reveal — ^the merciless slaughters and the horrible punishments, etc. And all this woe they had brought on others — as their children — who were entirely innocent of their parents' wrong. "The fathers had eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge." And to add to their distress was the bitter reflection that they were designed to have filled a position so entirely different and better; that they were intended to be the first in the favour of God, but now had become last ; and all this by their own persistent, wilful wickedness, wickedness persisted in in spite of every kind of warning, protest, and entreaty that God could send them. Yes, it was as fire, as a fiiniace seven times heated.
IL But it was nevertheless as a eefinbe's fire. It was to issue in their good. For it did not destroy them. They were to be brought out of all this woe. " I will bring them again " (ver. 37). And it should work them good by separating them from:
6* THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEKBMlAH. L"^ xxxii. 1—44
1. Their sins. They were torn away from the Bcenes, the people, the places, the manl- 'fold circumstances, which were inseparahle from that idolatry into which they had m often fallen. 2. And from those who tempted them thereto. For that loose, evil multitude which were dealt with apparently less sternly than themselves at the fint, were the prompters and the peisuaders to that wickedness which had wrought them 80 much harm. Those who were obnoxious and therefore, in ch. xxiv., compared to the figs which could not he eaten, were, though left awhile in the possession of their own land, at length destroyed. The corrupt and poisonous leaven was taken utterly •way, so that that which was sound and healthful or capable of becoming so might be preserved. The pure ore was separated from the base alloy, the worthless dross, by the action of this refiner's Ore.
III. In proof of this, note : 1. God brought them back' to their own land. 2. They had given them " a heart to know " God. 3. And their after history proved this. For they were a noble people for generations afterwards. Of course, there were the less worthy amongst them ; but let their records be studied, their thrilling Maccabean history, for example, and it will be seen what a refining process that was through which they had been made — as was so necessary for them and for mankind at large, who were to be blessed by means of them — to pass. The absence of prophets and prophesyings, which is so marked a feature of the history written on that page which separates the Old Testament from the New, instead ot being a reproach to them, is rather a proof that their genera] national health was such that the sharp surgery, the stem ministry, of the prophetic order was not then needed as it had been, so deplorably. La former days.
IV. What made the difference between them and the baser sort who were destroyed. It was the possession of tlie Spirit of GhxL The holy fire enkindled by him had been all but quenched, but not entireiy ; the dying embers could be made to glow mth radiant heat once again. But of that fire God has said, " It shall ever be burning on the altar, it shall never go out ; " and though they had all but smothered it beneath the heap of idolatrous superstitions and practices, and other evil compliances with wrong, it was burning still. And the exile across that wide desert to the plains ot Babylon let in again the air from heaven, and the fire burnt up once more. And that this might be, God dealt with them as he did, and as he ever does, blessed be his Name 1 in like circumstances.
Conclusion. Paul's question, therefore, comes to our mind as we study such history as this : " Have ye received the Holy Ghost?" Seek him ; tor he will baflBe the power of the destroyer, and, better still, if we will but follow his leading, he will keep us from ever needing to be cast into the crucible as these were, and from needing the refiner's fire. That would have been best ot all, but thank GxkI there is a second best. " Covet earnestly the best gifts."—©.
Ver. 42. — The ratio of sorrow amdjoy. I. Teibk is such batio. Sorrow and joy are not flung down at hap-hazard into this world at the caprice of the Buler of all, and irrespective one of the other, only that for the mass of men the sorrow is far greater and more pervading than the joy. But the relations between these two it is the glory of Scripture and of the gospel especially to reveal.
II. Scbiftitbe teaches it. Here in this verse ; ct. also Ps. xc, " Make us glad according to the days," etc. ; Job ii. 10, " Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not also receive evil ? " parable of Dives and Lazarus : " Thou in thy life- time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now he is com- forted, and thou art tormented " (Luke xvi.).
III. Natube illubtbateb it. It is said that on the Scotch lakes the depth of the lake is almost always the same as the height of the surrounding hills. And is it not the same with the great depths of ocean and the lofty mouhtaius of the world ? They have long, long winter in the Northern climes, but when the light does come back, the day so stretches out that you can read by the light of the midnight sun. And if we look into the faces of men, those indices of the soul within, it will be found that the looks of sorrow and of joy are about equally distributed. Cbd is not a partial, unjust Father, petting one and neglecting others of his children. Sometimes we think so, but a larger survey will lead to truer thought.
IV. It 18 A tbuth full of oomfobt. For it teaches : 1. That if sorrow h» mnt, toy it
OH. xxxn. 1— 44.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 66