IV Self-will is an evil will. In rejecting the Divine message the idolatrous Jews insolently add, "We will certainly do the whole word which hath gone forth out of our own mouth" (see ver. 17). 1. Self-will even in r.gar.l to things innocent in themselves is nevertheless an evil will. For we are not our iwn masters. The servant is wrong if he disobey his master, though to do a harmless act. The soldier is guilty in disobeying orders, whatever otler course he may take. We are " un.ier authority." If our Captain says, " Go," we are not free to staml for the most innocent reason. 2. Self- will is too often directed to evil things. Those Jews who delib rately rejected the Divine message chose to perform acts of idolatry of thoir owu will. Our will is corrupt
188 THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. ilit. 1—301
Left to itself it chooses much that is evil. To keep it pure we must lift it up to unioo with a higher will. When it breaks loose and defiantly chooses its own private course, its evil nature will incline it to a bad course.
v. COUFANIONSHIP IN SIN BECOMES CONBPIBAOT IN OBEATEB SIN. The husbandg
■support their wives in the evil practices of the women, and together they declare that for the future they will pursue these practices openly and deliberately. But the closest relationship and the WMrmeut affection are do reasons for defendirrg wicked conduct, much less for encouraging and shaving it. When the love of husband and wife con- flicts with the love of God, even that most near and sacred tie should yield to the highest of all obligations. Otherwise the marriage relation, which ia instituted for the blessings of mutual comfort and happiness, becomes a curse,
Ver, 18, — Chastisement mMnterpreted, L It is possiblk to mistake ths oacsb AND FUBF08B OF God's fbovidenoe IN CHASTISEMENT. Instead of accepting their calamities as punishments for their sins against Jehovah, the Jews in Upper Egypt i\rgue from them to conclusions of unbelief in the power and goodness of the God of their fathers. They are not alone in their error. The problem of suffering and its source and aim is profoundly difficult. The glib repetition of old platitudes only mocks at the mystery it can never solve. Job's friends were good men, and two of them able men ; but " miserable comforters " were they all, because their explanation of the cause of the tragic agony before them was so utterly inadequate. Two reasons for error in the interpretation of chastisement may be detected in the case of Jeremiah's contem- poraries. 1, An evil disposition. These men had no desire to recognize the hand of the true God in their experience. They had followed their wives in favouring the immoral rites of a heathenish cult. Jeremiah's teaching was rejected with insult ; the idolatrous religion was grasped with obstinate self-will. Behaving in this way, the Jews in Upper Egypt were not in a fit state to judge fairly of the meaning of God's dealings with them. Our " views " of truth depend materially on our attitude towards it. Bad passions and a corrupt will prevent men at all times irom profiting by chastise- ment, 2, The delay (^chastisement. This was not conternporaneous with the sin. It would seem that the corruption which followed the reformation of Jo^iah was not so bad as that which preceded it. Yet it was after this that the blow fell. Now, a liimilar experience may often be noted. Charles II, was a worse king than James II., and Louis XV. than Louis XVI, The revolutions did not occur when things were at their worst. They took time to ripen. The chief causes of them were not their imme- diate antecedents. The same may be expected in private lives. Therefore it may require searching thought to trace the trouble down to its real root.
XL It is possibi^ to fall into belioious eebob through misintebpbbtino Qob's PBOVIDENCB IN CHASTIBBMBNT. By a false inference drawn from the experience of trouble, the idolatrous Jews were led to fling off the last relic of their ancient faith, and to renew their allegiance to the heathen religion they had paitially renounced in outward act, though not, as it now appears, in the inclinations of their hearts. Con- sider the process by which this result was reached. 1. A delusion as to the nature of repentance and itt effects. The Jewish refugees had imagined that their abandonment of open idolatry would have warded off the impending doom. They were enraged at discovering their mistake, and they took the result as a reason for daring scepticism. Important lessons may be derived from their mistake, e.g. (1) that outward reforma- tion is useless before God without heartfelt repentance; (2) that there are necessary consequences of sin which no repentance can obviate— improvidence leading to poverty, intemperance to disease, crime to secular punishment, in spite of all the genuine tears of a Magdalene ; (3) that when God accepts repentance and forgives the penitent, it may still be necessary to chastise him for the good of his own soul. 2. Th» mistake oj judging vf the truth ef • religion by the worldly advantages that accrue from it. GocUinesi has "promise of the life that now is" (1 Tim, iv. 8), Under the Old Testameat economy this promise was emphasized. Nevertheless, even in the Jewish religion it was often recognized that suffering might fall upon the people of God (e,g. T*. zxii.). With our fuller light, we know that the temporal advantages of religion are iMit • smiul part of its blessings ; that under certain .ircumstances it may nring mora vwldly loas than gaia (e.g. to the martyn, etc) ; that there are Christiana wh«
OH. xiJT. 1— 30.] THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEllEMIAH. 188
reckon that if in this life only they have hoped in Christ, they •re of all men mosi pitiahle (1 Cor. xv. 19). Therefore we should settle it well in our minds that, as worldly injustice and calamities of all kinds may fall upon the devoted servants of Christ, the experience of these things should not shake our faith. This fact needs to he well considered and realized, because there is no more frequent cause of sudden and violent scepticism than a series of great and inexplicable troubles. 3. The sin of pursuing religion for iU worldly profit. Even if godliness is profitable for all things, it cannot he truly followed for the sake of gun. To choose our religion accnrding to the advantages it may give us, is to subordinate truth to convenience, and to degrade to the position ol a servant that which claims to rule as a master, or will have nothing to do with us.