V. Does God, then, do nothing to oheok the sinneb and to encoubage the obedient? Yes; much. 1. He causes the way of transgressors to be hard. Loss of peace, of hope, ol Divine favour, of purity, of strength, of sympathy with and from the good, often of present and visible good ; conscience is deadened, and the soul perishes. Besides this, there are frequent direct judgments sent. 2. On the other hand, he orders that in keeping of his commandments there is great reward. " His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his patlis are peace." It is related how an aged couple in the vicinity of London, who in the early part of life were poor, but who by the blessing of God upon their industry enjoyed a comfortable independency in their old age, were called upon by a Cliristian minister, who solicited their contributions to a charity. The old lady was disposed to make out some excuse, and to answer in the negative both for her husband and for herself, and therefore replied, " Why, sir, we have lost a deal by religion since we began ; my husband knows that very well." And being wi.-'hful to obtain her husband's consent to the assertion, she said, " Have we not, Thomas ? " Thomas, after a long and solemn pause, rejiUed, " Yes, Mary, we have lost a deal by our religion ! I have lost a deal by my religion. Before I got religion Mary, I had got a water-pail in which I carried water ; and tliat, you know, I lost nmny years ago. And then I had an old slouched hat, a patched old coat, and mended shoes and stockings ; but I have lost them also long ago. And, Mary, you know that, poor as I was, I had a habit of getting drunk and quarrelling with you ; and that, you know I have lost. And then I had a burdened conscience and a wicked heart, and then I had ten thousand guilty feelings and fears ; but all are lost, completely lost, and like a millstone cast into the deep sea. Before we got religion, Mary, you had a washing- tray, in which you washed for hire, and God Almighty blessed your in lustry ■ Wt iiiace we got religion you have lost your washing-tray. And you had a gown and
OB.iLtl— l».j iJUfi BOOK. OP THE tROtHfiT JEfiEMIAH. 169
bonnet much the worse for wear, though they were all you had to wear ; but you have lost them long ago. And you had many an aching heart concerning me at times ; but those you happily have lost. And I could even wish that you had lost as much as I have lost, and even more ; for what we lose by our religion will be our eternal gain." We need not add that the preacher did not go away without substantial proof of the sincerity ot what had been said in his hearing. And to all those who like the rich man in the parable (Luke xvi.), who asked that one trom the dead might be sent to warn his five brethren, the same answer may be given, " They have Moses and the prophets," and we may add, in our day, far more than these ; " if they hear not them, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." — C.
Ver. 17. — Too near the edge. This is one of the reflections that come to us as we read of the place whither Johanan led his followers, and as we see the events that happened immediately after. This chapter is a record of disappointments. First the hopeful prospects ot Gedaliah's governorship, which seemed starting so fairly and happily for all, these are shattered and overthrown by the villainous conduct of IshmaeL Then it is a grievous disappointment that we do not hear of Ishmael's death, only of his escape. That such a wretch should escape with his life seems a reflection upon that justice which generally follows on the track of wrong-doers such as he was, and metes out to theui their due. Escape seems too lenient a dealing with him. And now here is another dis- appointment that Johanan, instead of seeking to follow in Credaliah's footsteps, should he for leading the people down into Egypt. " At the caravanserai of Chimham, in Bethlehem — ^the natural halting-place on the way to Egypt — Johanan held a council of war, and then, against the prophet's advice, finally determined to abandon their homes, and to make for the refuge, to which the worldly Israelite always had recourse, across the Egyptian border." It was a bad place to halt at ; it was too near that beguiling land, the witchery of which not a few of them had long been feeling and would now feel more than ever. Whenever Israel went thither, it was always a " going doiun into Egypt." This was more true morally and spiritually than even geographically, to which the word " down," of course, refers. And the present was no exception. Looking at them there at Chimham, we note—
I. The resemblance the? offeb. Are they not like all those who tamper with temptation t They know, as Israel knew, that they are in a forbidden path, and yet they do not keep clear of it. Like moths fluttering around the flame, so men will dally with ain. They know that to yield would he both most wrong and ruinous, and yet they go close to the border.
II. The seasons which ooyebned theh. The Jews came to Chimham because their will had already consented to go further— on and down into Egypt. For like reasons men come to such places. There has been already the secret yielding of the wilL There was no need of the Jews being at Chimham. It was not the way hack from Gibeon. It was a deliberate going into temptation. So those who act like them have, as they, already consented in heart. And the causes of that consent are akin They falsely' feared what the Chaldeans might do, though there was no ground for such fear ; and they falsely hoped for good — ^freedom from war and want — which they never realized. And such persons will ever magnify both the difficulties of the right path and the looked-for pleasures and advantages of the wrong. Ttius would they persuade themselves that the right is wrong and the wrong is right.
IlL The resistance thet seemed to hake. The Jews did not yield all at once. They appeal to the prophet. They ask his prayers. They make repeated and loud — much too loud : " Methinks he doth protest too much " — professions. They wait patiently the prophet's message. And yet all the while (ver. 20) they were dissembling in their hearti, " regarding iniquity " there (cf. history of Balaam). They would have Ood on their side, not themselves on God's side. All this is most melancholy matter of fact with those who, of their own accord, go too near the edge.
rV. Thb results that followed. Of course they went over the edge ; sBch pw^le •l^mys do. They showed the insincerity of their prayers by their anger when they were demed (cf. ch. sliii. 2, etc.). They escaped none of the evil they dreaded ; they gained none of the gDod they expected. " So disastrous did this step appear to the next and to all subsequent generations of Israel, that the day of Gedaliah's murder, which led to
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THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xlu. 1—2Z