V«r. 22. — The limit of Go6P» forbearance. I. Gk>D'B roitBEABANoa n liuited. There is no limit to his love. His mercy " endureth for ever." There is no limit to bis patience, his endurance of the most provoking wickedness. But there is a limit to God's forbearance. Consider what determines this. \. Justice. There is a point where necessary justice must interfere to prevent further wrong and punish what is already done. 2. The good of the community. Mercy to the criminal may involve injustice to the victim. There are abandoned wretches whom the world would find inestimable advantage in caging up out of the power of doing further mischief. There must be a point where their rights cease and the rights of others step in. In the Divine govern- ment this must be noted and acted on. 3. The advantage of the offender. It is a curse to a man to leave him for ever unchecked and unpunished. He may be left for a season to give all necessary scope for the operation of milder measures and for his own free repentance. But when the gentleness has failed, the only chance lies in some drastic treatment.
II. It is possible to beaoh the lihit of God's forbbabakce. It was reached by the antediluvians, by the cities of the pkun, by the Jews at the time of the Captivity, by the Jews when Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, by many a nation and many a man since. It may be reached by ns. This subject, therefore, is not a question ol abstract theology, touching only the ideal relations of Divine attributes. It is tre- mendously practical. 1. The limit may be reached in our lifetime. Men presume on their prosperity till God providentially strikes them down in desolation, and they learn in their anguish the folly of their long abuse of God's long-suffering mercy. 2. It will come to the impenitent in the next life. Death will bring it if it has been stayed during all the earthly life. The longer it is delayed the more fearful will be ita consequences to those who " treasure up to themselves wrath in the day of wrath."
III. It must be mfSPEAKABLT TEREIBLB TO BEAOH THE LIMIT OF God'S FOE-
BEABANCB. Then all the vials of wrath will be outpoured. The horror of the judgment ensuing can only be measured by the greatness of the forbearance which restrains it. If that were not very fearful, why should God hesitate so long in letting it loose ? Why should he use all other possible means to prevent the necessity of resorting to it? Why should he \irge and plead with us to hear his voice to-day and harden not our hearts?
Ver. 25. — Sinfiil vow*. L SmruL rows abe ahono the most wicked of bins. Some sins are conunitted hastily and in passion, these with more deliberation ; some without strong dedre, these most earnestly.
II. It is a sin to pebfobm sinful vows. If we were not at liberty to make the tows, we are not at liberty to perform them. We caimot be bound to do that which we have no right to do. If we have promised to do an unlawful act, we should not consider that promise binding upon us, since our word cannot abrogate the law that forbids the act.
III. God liEAVES men fbee to bxecxttb theib evil intentions. The Jews in Upper Qgypt were to be left to the performance of their vows to the queen of heaven. This implied no sanction; it was only the withholding of forcible restraints. What a ■olemn responsibility lies in the fact that we have this large liberty after we have chosen an evil way, and before we are called to judgment for it I
IV. God sometimes ceases to warn men of the danqeb of theib wicked ooubses. They* are then left to themselves till their sin ripens. It is a terrible fate, but con- riateat with th« goodneif of God, m we may be sure that, if God deliberately oeases
190 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xlit. 1— 30i
to warn • man, it is because warnings are lost on him or simply harden him. We may so sin as to Income "seared in our own conscience with a hot iron" (1 Tim. iv. 2).
V. The fruit of the wicked courses which men have chosen fob themselykb WILL BE THE WORST PUKisHMENT OF THEM. They need no external penalties per- formed by executioners of justice. Sin is its own executioner, the natural effect of sin its own pimisliment. In the natural results that followed the performance of their wicked vows the idolatrous Jews will reap the bitterest harvest of retribution. "The sin, when it is full-grown, hringtth forth death " (Jas. L 16).
Ver. 28. — The remnant of the remnant. Of the Jews who escaped the sword of Nebuchadnezzar in the invasion of their land, "a remnant" fled to Egypt; of this body of refugees " a remnant " was to survive the dangers that would destroy the greater part. Thus but a small number would return to Jerusalem in safety. For their folly in fleeing to Egypt the fugitives would suffer a second desolation, while the captives in Babylon and the patient poor people who remained in the land of their fathers would be spared. Tet even out of this further calamity some few would be brought in safety.
I. Judgment is tempered with mercy. Many are spared at the first blow. Some of these are only hardened in wickedness. A second bluw falls. Still some are spared. God is reluctant to give bis people up. If he can find room for any mercy in the midst of the severest judgment, he will exerois^e it.
II. God's judgment is discbimikatino. Even now it must be so ; for " shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? " But we do not yet know its purposes and its methods, and therefore to us it looks as though it could not take note of individual deserts. Ultimately we shall see how Gk)d has overlooked no exceptional case. Noah is picked out of the drowning world. Lot is remembered in Sodom. Elijah is pro- vided for in the general drought. We can look for no such evidences of an interfering Providence in earthly things now, perliaps, but the truth they illustrate holds good, and must work its blessed results in the day of final account. Natural selection does not alwaj's result in the survival of the morally fittest on earth. On the contrary, the good may become martyrs, the bad triumphant tyrants. But we see only the openine; acts of the drama. The final catastrophe will reveal the justice that regulates.
III. Left to themselves, no men could escape the doom of bin. In the eternal judgment there could not even be a remnant of a remnant. " All have sinned, and come short of the glory of Gi)d." All would, therefore, receive the wages of siu.
IV. By THE REDEMPTION OF ChKIST ALL WHO HAVE SINNED MAT BE SAVED. This is
large enough to deliver, not merely a remnant of a remnant, but eveky man who has fallen, however low be lies in the mire.