II. Pabadise beoained. Such is the bright, joyous picture set forth in these verses (11 — 18). Its elements are : 1. Righteousness. Not mere innocence, as in Eden, but virtue tested and triumphant, and so issuing in a settled righteousness. This must be the basis of all truly blessed life. The people must be all righteous. This secured by him who is called " the righteous Branch," " the Lord our Righteousness." 2. Love. (See Ter. 11.) The joyous picture of the gladness of the bridegroom and the bride. And that companionship which is the most blessed in the world, and that love which is deepest and purest of all, are fitly taken as the symbol of that love which shall con- stitute the home of God's redeemed more than a paradise regained. 3. Worship. (Ver. 11.) The picture of the t«mple service has risen up before the prophet's mind. Ha hears the glad chant, the loud response of the people, " Praise the Lord." He sees tht altar &e and the priests and sacrifices, and by this representation he teaches us that u;orslt]p ia part of the blessedness that is to be. i. Healthfid and universal employ.
80 THE BOOK OF THE rROPHBT JEREMIAH, [oh. xxxm. 1— 2«
(Vew. 12, 13.) It has often been said, " God made the country, man made the town ; " and the saying may be read truly or falsely, as each one wills. For he who says there is nought of God in the city speaks as falsely as he who says there is onljr God in the country. But there can be no doubt that the highest, purest, and mos»' healthful forms of life are connected with the country. " Four words, each of them full of meaning, comprise the conceptions which we attribute to the paradisaical state. They are these innoeence, love, rural life, piety ; aad it is towards these conditions of earthly happiness that the human mind reverts, as often as it turns, sickened and disappointed, from the pursuit of whatever else it may have ever laboured to acquire. The innocence we here think of is not virtue recovered, but it is moral perfectness, darkened by no thought oi knowledge of the contrary. This paradisaical love is con- jugal fondness, free from sensuous taint. This rural life is the constant flow of summe^ days, spent in garden and field, exempt from oui exacted toiL This piety of paradise is the grateful approach of the finite to the Infinite — ? correspondence that is neither clouded nor apprehensive of a cloud '" (Isaac Taylor). Now, in these verses, when the prophet would set forth the blessed life that the restored people should enjoy, he draw a picture, not of city, but of country life; not of hard exacting toil, but of healthful, peaceful occupation — the pastoral life ol a quiet, beautiful land. It is a symbol of all healthful employ, and such employ shall be t turthei feature in the blessedness that is to be. Therefore, " Sursura corda ! '" a righteous, loving, worshiplul, and healthful lile awaits the sons of men " for I will causi theii captivity to return, and have mercy on them," saith the Lord. — 0.
Ver. 11. — The propheft refrain. ' For 1 will cause tc return the captivity of the land." This declaration is heard again and again. We have it in substance times without number in this and in previous chapters. We have a similar statement in ch. xxxii. 37. But we have the exact words, the very same form of expression, in ch. xxxii. 44, and in vers. 7 and 26 of this chapter. Hence we have called it the prophet's refrain. And the like theme of God's purposes ot grace towards mankind generally should be the refrain of all the jTophets of the Lord in these our days. For —
I. The blessings assueed are similar. In connection with each several repetition of this promise, " I will cause their captivity to return," is named some specific blessing which that return shall bring along with it. In connection with its first mention (ch. xxxiL 44) God's purpose is given as the reason wherefore his now afflicted people should again possess their land. And there is a life eternal, a true, real, blessed me for humanity ; a life compared with which this life is like the hard lot oi the captive Israe compared with the glowing glad life promised in the days when their captivity should return. Then in connection with its second mention (ver. 7 ol this chapter) there is the promise of " health and cure," moral and spiritual health, when their iniquity should be cleansed and their sin forgiven. And is not the promise of man's rtdemption like to this ? In the eternal life there shall be health and cure indeed. And with the third mention oi this promise (ver. 11) there is associated gladness and joy. " There shall be . . . the voice of joy and the voice of gladness," etc. (ver. 11). And with the fourth there is (ver. 26 of this chapter) the promise ot permanence for all that has been before, the permanency as of the covenant of day and night, and the perpetual sovereignty of their own royal house, the seed of David. And so we look for a new order of things, which shall not be as this, troubled and transient, but characterized by • rest and joy that shall be eternal. Thus analogous are the blessings promised to the return of Israel and the redemption of mankind.
II. The motives of such proolamation of God's fubposes of grace ahk alike. The reason of the prophet's refrain were such as these. 1. He so delighted in the truth he had to tell. Often and often he bad been charged with a message of a far less welcome kind ; but this was blessed to his soul. And so, would we effectually speak oi God's purposes of grace, they must be the joy of our soul. We must ourselves delight in them. 2. He really belieued it. The oft repetition ot this word shows his confidence in it. He speaks with no bated breath. " I believed, therefore have I spoken." And this must ever be the spiritual force with which our gospel must be charged if it is to have any efiect on those who hear it. 3. He knew it would so comfort the cast down. Many already were mourning along with the prophet over the desolations so surely
OH. xxxiiL i— 26.J THE BOOK OP THE PEOPHET JEREMIAK 81