opportunity for and suggests reflection. How often of our Lord is it said, " He answered not a word " (cf. John xiii.) I 2. Sometimes hy indignant denial. Thus the prophet acted here ; ver. 14, " It is false," etc. They might have known, and probably did know, bow false their accusation was. Where there is great and true indignation felt at being thought capable of a given crime, that feeling may often be shown ; often, indeed, it ought to be, as when (1) the honour of God is concerned ; (2) the good of his Church ; (3) what is shameful as well as sinful is charged ac;ainst us. 3. Sometime* hy showing the necessary untruthfulness of the accusation. This also our Lord did, as when they charged him with being in league with Beelzebub. 4. Sometimes by com- mitting it all to Ood. Of our Lord it is said, " When he was reviled, he reviled not again, . . . but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." 5. Sometimes by showing the motive of the false accusation. As when our Lord likened those who found fault with him to petulant children playing in the market-place, who would be pleased with nothing. 6. Alieays by remembering that we are in the fellowship of Christ herein, and seeking hit Spirifi aid to rightly bear this trial. — C.
Yers. 14, 16. — Characteristici of injttttioe. They may bo traced in the incident recorded in these verses. Unjust judges as were these —
I. Will not heabken to the aooubbd.
II. Abb biassed bt passion.
III. Abb needlessly oeuel.
IV. Seek not bisht, but BEVXHan.
Lbabn. To be careful what manner of spirit we are of whenever we are called apon to judge one another. Let us be thankful that the Judge before whom we stand, and w« o surveys all our ways, is that gracious Lord to whom the Father has committed all judgment, and who judges not righteously only, but in all mercy as weU. — Q,
128 THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xxxvil 1— 21
Ver. 20. — " Out of weakness made strong." This verse an utterance, not of • itnidy
invincible soul, but one of a gentle, shrinking, and often timid nature. Note^
L The Prophet Jeremiah belonged to the company of those who, out of weakness, God has made strong. 1. By nature and temperament he wan the reverse of strong. Proof in this verse. Suffei ing was ever terrible to him. Hence he piteously pleads for the king's help. And passim we have indications of the gentleness of his nature (cf. ch. i. 6, " Ah, Lord, I cannot ; " and homily on ch. iv. 19—30, " The fellowship o/ ChrisCs sufferings," Yol. i. p. 100). But: 2. Notwithstanding this, see how strong he became. When it came to the test, how he endured (of. ch. i. 10, 17, 18) 1 Nothin<; would induce him to alter his word towards the king, the prophets, and the people generally. He softened not one line of his message, although it would have been so much to his advantage to have done so. Now —
II. This is thb olort of God's grace always. There will be glory hy-and-by, an outward glory on every child of God. " Bye hath not seen," etc. But the present glory of God's grace is this, that out of weakness it makes its recipients strong. See what it did for the apostles, and especially for St. Peter — they the recreants and the denier of the Lord, but afterwards his valiant and undaunted witnesses. And grace has done the same for not a few in prospect of suffering and trial from which l)e;orehand they would have utterly shrunk away. Women and children were amongst the number of the martyrs; and in the moral inartyrdoras of this softer age they are so stilL God strengthens his servants " with might by his Spirit in the inner man." And this is the glory of his grace. Not the numbers of the Church, nor her wealth, rank, gifts, or aught of such sort, but the spiritual strength that characterizes her. " I can do all things," said St. Paul, " through Christ wliich streugtheneth me." And it will be $0 yonder in the letter world he lafbr. The glory of that day will not be the golden streets, the gates of pearl, the foundations of precious stones ; not the vast throng of the redeemed, nor aught that belongs only to their circumstances, happy as they will be ; but it will be the character of them all. And this will be their security also. The defences of that condition of the redeemed will not be outward, but inward. They, liaving been strengthened with miglit by the Spirit of God in the inner man, will have come to be rooted — like the giant oak, which no tempest can uproot from the ground— and grounded — like the deep-laid foundation of the temple, which naught can overthrow — in love, and so " Christ will dwell in " their " hearts." Yes, their glory wUl be their defence also.
Conclusion. Seek, therefore, this grace of Divine strength. Bow your " knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," tliat, " according to the riches of his glury," he would grant you this. Then, thoujrh weak and waveriiif; by nature, .steadiness and stren;;th shall be given to your will, your heart, and so God will make you as he did his prophet — aa " a defenced city, an iron pillar, a brazen wall " (ch. i. 18).— -C.
Ver. 21. — The rough irind stayed in the day of the east wind. Very terrible to the prophet were the sufferings he had to bear. Hence he seeks for relief by petitioning the king for help, which the king is led to bestow (ver. 21), It is an illustration of how God stays his rough wind, etc. Note —
I. Goo OFTEN LETS SORE TROUBLE COMB TO HU SERVANTS.
II. But he appoints it accobding to thisib poweb op endubanoe. He is not a hard master, gathering where he has not strawed, nor reaping where he has not sown. He fits the back for the burden it has to bear. If staying in the dread dungeon was too great a trial for his prophet, he will have him taken out. The wave that would have sunk the boat in which our Lord was with his disciples was never permitted to beat into it. A great many others came, but not that one. And so it ever is. " As Uiy day, so thy strength." God will be our " arm every morning."
III. Thebefore "takb no thought fob thb mobbow," etc— CL
Ver, 3, — A request for intercession. A request of this kind has always to Iw kwked
at througli the character of the man who prefers it. It makes all the difference whether it be the utterance of grovelling superstition or of enlightened piety. It is a long way I'rum this request of Zedekiah to the request of Paul : " Brethren, pray for ua." Let us try to estim;:Lte—
OH. xxxvn. 1— 21.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 129