III. Christian men siuuld pray fob others. Every Christian has now the privi- lege of being a propliet (Joel ii. 28) and a priest (Rev. i. 6). Every Christian, there- fore, has the responsibility which accompanies his privilege, and is required to act as the intercessor for others. Are we not too selfish in our prayers ? Nevertheless it must be remembered that men gain little good from the prayers of others unless they will also pray for themselves. The worst man is not left dependent on the intercession of good men. Through Christ he may approach the heavenly throne with his own cry for mercy.
IV. It is the duty of those who ark consulted to give painful ab well as pleasant advice. Jeremiah warned the people that he would " keep nothing back." The seeming kindliness that restrains the utterance of uniileasant but important home- truths is really only a cloak for selfishness. The preacher must not shun to declare the whole counsel of God — the hard sayings of Scripiure, the unpopular doctrines of Christianity, the unflattering truths of human nature.
V. If wb take counsel with God, we must consent to obey him. Otherwise our prayer is a mockery ; for God is not an Oracle, but an Authority. What lie reveals is not merely hidden mystery, but obligations of duty. He guides us to liis will. It U our place to follow the guidance and do what is thus not only declared, but oommanded.
Ver. 3. — Divine guidance. I. The need of Divini suidanoe. 1. It arises out of our obligation to do the will of Ood. We are not left to carve out a career for ourselves, but to fulfil a Divine vocation. With this definite end before us, our life must fail unless we are directly making for it. A harmless life, following its own whims and fitncies, is a wasted life. But only God knows his own will. Therefore we need that he shall reveal this to ui, to show us, not only the path of safety, but the way he wills us to go. The most clear-sighted need this guidance. As servants, we wait for our Master's orders ; as soldiers, we are to follow our Captain's commands. Without these, how can we do the one thing needful? 2. It arises out of our own ignorance and WindncM. We do not know all the circumstances which surround us; we cannot pradiot the ezigendea of the future ; the ultimate issue of our actions is beyond oui
172 THE BOOK OF THE PllOPHEl JEREMIAH, [ch. xlii. 1—22.
reckoning; the limits of our powers are not kimwn to us; our future requirements and capacities cannot now be gauged. Yet we must decide and act at once in relation to all these unknown quantities. Therefore only a higher wisdom and a larger knowledge can secure us from fatal blunders.
II. The method of Divine guidance. The Jews appealed to a prophet. We have no Jeremiah. Yet we have essentially the same means of guidance, now broken into two parts, for the higher education of our S[iiritual nature. 1. The revelation of Ood's will and truth in Scripture. Theje we have God's guidance in the words of the prophets, and in addition to that in the higher thought of the apostles of the New Testament and of Christianity. Above all, we have the great example, the speaking lessons, of the life and character of Christ, who is the "Light of the World." In all this we have larger, clearer views of God's will and of man's duty than were given to the Jews under the earlier dispensation. 2. 2'he light of the Spirit of Ood in our mind and conscience. It may be urged that, while the instructions of the prophets for the guidance of Israel were definite and particular, the lessons which we may gather from revelation are general ; and that, though the ideas of conduct thus communicated to us are higher and larger than those of the Jewish economy, they are nevertheless so abstract that we may make great mistakes in the practical application of them. This is true ; and therefore, with the less particular revelation, God gives to us more light for the interpretation of it. We live under that dispensation of the Spirit wherein all Christians are, in a measure, prophets, and God's Spirit is poured out upon all flesh (Acts ii. 17). By God's light in our souls, interpreting God's revelation in Christ, we may know God's will concerning our lives ; and, no longer slaves to the letter of unin- telligible precepts, we may carry out the broad principles of the spiritual life by a thoughtful and conscietitious application of them to the details of daily life.
III. The use of Divikb guidance. God reveals the way ; we must walk therein. The direction may be so clear that he who reads may run, yet he must run. The sign-post is not a carriage to convey the indolent traveller to his journey's end. God reveals his will ; he leaves it to our free choice and effort to obey it. He does not guide us, like the horse or mule, with bit and bridle. We are not forced to follow the revela- tion, but we are bound in moral obligation to do so. The main object of the revelation of truth is to guide us in practice. God enlightens our darkness that we may gird up our loins and walk in his ways.
Vers. 6, 6. — Implicit obedience. The people swear to obey the voice of Qoi before they know what injunctions it will lay upon them. They contemplate the possibility of receiving unpleasant commands ; but they leave the decision in the hands of God, undertaking to follow it, whatever form it may take. Thus they bind themselves to implicit obedience. Let us consider the obligation and the limitation of implicit obedience.
I. The obligation of implicit obedience. This requires us to obey the voice of God when it calls us to do anything within the range of right and possibility ; i.e. any- thing which a wise and good God would ever command. It implies a possible conflict with our inclination, our opinion, or our worldly interest. Othenvise the obedience becomes a mere form. If we only obey when we like to do the thing required, we are not really obeying a higher will, but simply following out our own will in accidental coincidence with the will above us. True obedience only begins when it leads us to do what our own wisdom or desire would not have prompted. It must, therefore be prepared to run counter to these private tendencies. It must be the submission of our will and opinion to God's will and wisdom. Now, not only is this implicit obedience obligatory, but it is a certain fact that God will put it to the test. His higher will and larger wisdom must often conflict with our foolishness and self-will. Moreover, amid the trials of life, God will certainly sometimes require us to do what seems evil to us, ix. what is painful and contrary to our wish. Therefore faith is essential to obedience. In so far as we can trust God, we shall be able to obey his darker counsels.