y. How MUCH FULL DECISION FOB GoD 18 NEEDED. This alous wiU keep us from such sad endeavour ; but this will. Therefore seek grace from God to make and abide by this choice ; and bring yourselves under the blessed attraction of Christ ; so shall you be drawn to him more and more, and made to abide in him. — 0.
Ver. 27. — A question of easaisti-y. A deservedly esteemed commentator observes on this conduct of Jeremiah, " Though we must be so harmless as doves as never to tcil a wilful lie, yet we must be so wise as serpents as not needlessly to expose ourselves to
142 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xxxvm. 1— 2a
dangw by telling all we know." But many an not latisfied with this defence, and they hesitate not to apply the terms " equivocation," " subterfuge," and other Ilka censures to the prophet's reply to the princes. Note, therefore —
I. What ib urged against such ooNonor. One says, "The plain meaning of such words is that Jeremiah hoodwinked them. He did not lie to them, certainly; but he did not tell the truth, and left them with a fiilse impression. It comes yery near to deception ; it was evasive, and certainly was not an honest act. It seems an obliqut lie." And this view of the case is supported on grounds such as these : 1. Had he not been afraid, he would have told the whole truth ; hut fear does not justify /cUsehood,tho\igjti it often occasions it. 2. What must the king have thought of a prophet of God so com- plaisant as this ? 3. What would the princes say of his vaunted righteousness when they learnt how he had denlt with them ? 4. Our Saviour and his apostles never did the like. 5. It had all the effect of a lie, since it left a false impression on the minds of those to whom be spoke. 6. The very fact that it needs laboured argument to justify it against our instinctive condemnation of it shows that it does not belong to the nobu family of truth, etc. But audi alteram partem. Therefore note —
II. What hat be urged ik defence. 1. In reference to the foregoing argument$. The first assumes that there was no motive but fear. The second and third an assumptions also. The fourth is, to say the least, doubtful (cf. John vii. 8, 9 ; Acta XX. 20—26). Concerning the fifth, it is not true that aU the effect of a lie, nor its worst effect, is that stated. And as to the sixth, it may be said that instinctive condemna- tions may be unjust as well as just. 2. Other replies to the charge against the prophet arc : (1) He spoke no untruth. (2) Expediency, if not unlawful, is obligatory. (3) It has been ever recognized as lawful, under certain circumstances, to mislead an enemy ; cf. Bahab's conduct (Josh. ii. 1) and its commendation (Heb. xi. 31 ; Jas. iL 25). The commonly supposed case of a murderer asking you which way your Mend has gone, in order that he may overtake and murder him ; in such case, not only might you mislead, but would you not be boimd to do so? 3. There are taered ■principles on which such suppression of the truth as Jeremiah's is justified. (1) Th« right to truth may be forfeited, as the right to liberty and life may be forfeited, by wrong-doing. In the vast majority of cases men have a right to the truth, but in all the cases cited above they had no such right. (2) Truth is not an end in itself, but only a means to an end, which is the honour of God and the well-being of man ; and there are occasions, doubtless very rare, when the end can only be secured by the sacrifice of the ordinary means. Therefore let all who presume to condemn great saints of God as guilty of lying, because they had no mere superstitious idolatry of veracity, as some have, hesitate before they bring such charge. Who are we to sit in judgment on such? But, on the other hand, let none pervert these reasonings, as the Jesuits did and many yet do, into a justification for lying and departing from the truth whenever it may be found convenient. It needs a healthy conscience to decide when these reasonings are applicable — a conscience [enlightened by God's Spirit and animated by his love, and then such a one, and only such a one, may be left to do as he wills in cases like those we have considered.— 0,
Ver. 4. — Prophecy and patriotism. I. Tna ethiob or patriotism. Here are four men who go to the king with a complaint against Jeremiah ; and in doing so they do not take low ground. Indeed, there are many people interested in affairs of state who would say they took very high ground. What sounds more plausible than to say that a whole country should never be more united than when the common enemy attacks it ? Should there not at such a time be mutual encouragement, the bold and brave men of a state striving to animate all the citizens with their own ardour and resolution ? Thus the whole question is opened up with respect to a man's allegiance to lus country. How far daes the claim extend of a country upon those who live under its laws, having their person and their property protected by these laws? That national history, great national events, patriotic feelings, have their place in the machinery of government, everyOunstian would allow ; but it may not be so easy to settle exactly what that place is. Everything turns on what should have the first place in a man's affection, duty, and service ; aiwl so we have the example o< Jeremiah hen to ^uide us. He. a Jewish prophet, teaches us —
OH.xxxvni 1— 28.J THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 143
II. The first dutt of a Chbistiah. From this world's point of view Jeremiah did an eminently unpatriotic thing. Instead of uniting the people into resistance, he, as it were, divided them into two classes. He made it a time for individual and not for common action. But, after all, in every conflict there comes a time for yielding ; the ^lUacking party must retire in failure, or the defending party submit in defeat. To Jeremiah it was given to see the certain result. He knew that not the Chaldeans but Jehovah himself had to be reckoned with. The first duty of a prophet was to Jehovah, and so for that matter was the first duty of every Israelite. Thus in the same way, the first duty of a Christian is to Christ. He who serves Christ most completely serves l<is country best. In such a service the Christian may be misrepresented, miscalled, stamped even as traitor, but that only means that he is called to pass through Jere- miah's experience here. Why, even a man of pagan Rome can teach us in this matter ; for Cicero, in the fourth book of his ' De OfBciis,' speaking of gradations of duty in the state, says that a citizen's first duty is to the immortal gods, and his second to his country. " Bender unto Cassar the things that are Caesar's, and to God th« things that are Gtod's." — Y.