I. Sin la an awful fact. All nations have recognized this and mourned over it. But it has not been created by Christianity. True, the Christian faith brands it with the stigma of shame as none other does ; for everywhere sin has cast its deep shadow and driven noble souls, not a few, to utter despair. But it was here before Christianity. Hence —
II. The (jubstion of (JDBStions has been — What is to bb done with it? And the answers have been very different. Note: 1. The answer of the philosopher, which extenuates it, on the ground : (1) Of the imperfection of our nature. If we knew more, it is said, had larger comprehension of truth, we should not sin. But is that true ? Is increase of knowledge always increase of virtue ? Are little children, who know lo little, less virtuous than many an educated man ? The names that are accursed for ever, Nero, Herod, Balaam, Philip II. of Spain, Alva, and many more, were all educated men. (2) Of the tyranny of the body. It is this cursed flesh, they say. Get rid of that, and the soul will be pure. Hence one reason wherefore St. Paul's doctrine of the resurrection was so opposed at Corinth, because they thought it was a bringing back of all that dread source of evil which it was hoped was done with for ever when death came. Now, no doubt, the flesh is the occasion of sins not a few. But there are many sins, and those which probably God will most sternly condemn, which are quite independent of the body. Malice, envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness need no " flesh " for their existence. And even in those sins which are especially of the flesh, myriads of victories over it, victories continually renewed, prove that it can, as it ought to, be kept under and brought into subjection. (3) Of its being a form of good. Without it, it is urged, virtue could not be attained ; for it b in the conflict with sin that virtue is developed, disciplined, and strengthened. Virtue would lie dormant, lethargic, and be a miserable weakling, were it not that sin roused her up, exasperated her, and forced her to stand on her defence. But such argument confounds temptation with sin. What is urged is true of temptation, but never of sin. Nor is sin needed as the foil, the dark background on which virtue shall shine out with greater lustre than but for this foil had been possible to it. For sin is, some affirm, a necessary condition, almost an ingredient, of good. Moral evil cannot be so evil as it is thought. The devil is not so black M he is painted. But is sin necessary to manifest goodness Y Where, then, is such background in God, or in the angels, or in the saints in glory ? None, therefore, o< these extenuations will stand. Beason, conscience, and God's Word alike condemn them. 'i. There it the answer of despair, which regards it as inevitable and invincible. This answer does not make light of it, but regards it as that which can neither be helped nor overcome. They believe there is a kingdom of evil, independent of God, with its all but omnipoteat, omnipresent, and omniscient head, like unto God. This was the creed of ancient Persia, against which, that his countrymen might not be carried away by it,
oa xxxm. 1— 26.J THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 7»
Isaiah protested with all his might ; of. Isa. xlv. 5 — 7, " I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God heside me ... I form the light, and create darkness : I make peace, and create evil : I the Lord do all these things." And Manicheism was a like heresy. And the moral despair which regards sin as inevitable is practical Manicheism. But this is a terrible error ; for be who has come to believe in the existence of a god of evil as well as a God of goodness will soon come to believe only in the former and not in the latter at all. Moreover, conscience in her.deepest utterances gives no countenance \o this invincibility of evil. " Father, I have sinned," is its confession. It never urges that it had no power to resist — that it was forced to sin. It is a dread snare of the devil to persuade men that sin is invincible. Believe him not. Myriads of holy souls give him the lie ; and, through the might of Christ your Lord, you may give him the lie likewise. But note now —
III. Chbist's answeb to this question. This verse is one of innumerable otheri which afBrm the same truth. 1. He does not make light of it or extenuate it. His high and holy teaching, his blameless life, the doom he pronounced on sin, above all, the death he died, were one emphatic protest against and condemnation of sin. But :
2. Se did not regard it as invincible. He distinctly promises deliverance from it, and :
3. This he gives. By blotting out the record of the past. By the present help of his Spirit. By the bright prospect of eternal life. Pacts prove all this. He healed them that had need of healing. No disease baffled him. His resources did not run out, and the healing was a real one. And to it is still. Let us come to bim and see.— G.
Yer. 9. — Fruits of pardon. Some of these are declared here ; e.g.—
I. In beoabd to God. li Joy. God, not Deus impassibilis — a God who does not feel. 2. Praise and honour. The theme of the Church on earth, and especially in heaven, is this, " Unto him that loved us," etc. There is no glory equal to that which shall accrue to God by " Jesus Christ," for through him pardon comes to guilty men.
II. In beoabd to the pakdoned themselves. They enjoy the goodness and pros- perity which God procures them. Pardon is not mere acquittal, but acceptance and adoption, and hence the goodness and prosperity.
III. In beqabd to the wobld at laboe. "They shall fear and tremble." Why this ? 1. Because of its manifestation of power. His people a feeble flock, hut thus raised and exalted. 2. Because of its exposure of idolatry. It will be seen how foolish they have been to trust in their false gods. 3. Because of its manifestation of grace. The fear and trembling shall not be of dread so much as of repentance — repentance wrought by the evident grace of God in the rich pardon he has bestowed. — C.
Vers. 10 — 18. — Paradise lost and regained. I. The pictube of a fabadise i<ost. This is given in ver. 10. The land desolate ; the flocks and herds all gone ; no human being to be seen ; the cities laid waste. Now, this meagre outline would recall to the mind of the Jews the blessed days when the land teemed with inhabitants ; when the cities were numerous, wealthy, populous, and strong ; when the hills and dales of their country-side were covered over with flocks ; and when, in the glad prosperity of all, the very fields were said " to shout for joy and also sing" (Ps. Ixv.). But all that is past ; desolation reigns, the lauds stripped, the cities burnt with fire, and the people slain or in exile ; the whole land desolate of both man and beast.