II. God has a eight to destboy his own work. There is no property so clearly belonging to a person as the work of his own hands. All things that exist were made by God, and all belong to him. Wliat he gave us he has a right to withdraw. His gifts are loans, talents to be used for a season and then returned. No creature has a right to its own life bef 're God. He freely gave it ; he may withdraw it. Much less have we sinful creatures any such right.
III. God will not destroy his own work without good reason. A power is not necessarily always put forth nor a right in perpetual exercise. God does not act capriciously nor cruelly. He is the Creator rather than the Destroyer. He delights in creatinji because he loves his creatures. He takes no pleasure in destroying, but will only do it under urgent necessity.
IV. Nevertheless there are circumstances under which God will destroy his OWN WORK. All things were good when they came from their Maker's hands. But some have been corrupted. When a thing is hopelessly corrupt there is no reason for preserving it and much for destroying it. See this in earthly experience — the Flood, the destructiohof Jerusalem, and ingreaterjudgments— the wages of sin, death, and the final destruction of the world. Therefore let us not presuuie that any work or institution is eternal because it was established by the eternal God, that any possession of ours must be permanent because it came from him, or that our own life is safe because God breathed it into us.
Ver. 6. — Self-seeking. Self-seeking is treated in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, as both wrong and not really profitable to the self-seeker, although it seems to be prompted by natural instincts and supported by good reasons. Let us consider the grounds of these representations.
L Wht bblf-seekinq is wrong. God does not require absolute altruism ; we are
208 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xlt. 1— 6.
only commanded to love our neighbours as ourselves. Natural self-regarding instinct! created by God can surely be innocently exercised. It cannot be necessary for all efforts of met! to rise in social position, etc., to be condemned. What, then is the self-seeking which is blameworthy? 1. That which offends against jusHcehy seeking selfish gain at the expense of others. What frightful injustice ambition must answer for, in liberty destroyed, lives sacrificed, confusion and misery sown broadcast! 2. That which offends against charity by disregarding the good of others. In the spirit of Cain it cries, "Am I my brother's keeper?" So long as it attains its own ends, it will not lift a finger to move another man's burden. But Christ teaches us that it is not enough that we do not injure others, we must also actively help them ; it is not enough that we do not steal, we must go further and " give to him that asketh." 3. That which offends against duty by sacrificing the vocation of life to private gain. We are not free to live to ourselves, because we are not our own masters. We are called to God's service. Our duty is to serve God, not self, so that whatsoever we do may be done '' unto the Lord." Self-seeking is rebellion against our Lord and Master In times of public distress self-seeking is peculiarly odious. Such were the times ii which Baruch lived. Then there are loud calls of duty and noble tasks to be done. The general grief makes the thought of one's own pleasure and profit out of place. To use that distress as a ladder by which to rise to greatness is indeed despicable.
II. Wht self-seeking is not pbofitablb. In a worldly sense and for a time it may b«, but not really and ultimately. Even in the lower human relations, how often do the seeds of ambition bring a harvest of anxiety ! The self-seeker reaches the climax of his endeavours, his most brilliant dream is realized, he is a king — and he wears a hidden coat of mail, hides himself in a fortress-castle, has not the liberty of his meanest subject, ia driven near to madness by the fear of assassination.
* He who ascendB to motmtain-tops shall find The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow| He who surpasses or subdues mankind Must look down on the hate of those below,"
When extreme greatness and extreme disappointment are neither realized, lesser self- seeking brings its corresponding trouble. It narrows the heart and destroys the purest and best delights — the joys of human sympathy. Christ shows to us deeper grounds for regarding it as a vain pursuit. " Tlie first shall be last, and the last first." The reason he givt s is that " Whosoever would save his life shall lose it : and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall save it." Only in proportion as we live out of self can we enjoy a life worth living ; only then, indeed, do we truly live at all. By trying to make ourselves great, though we may reach a high external position, we fall to a low internal comiitiuu — we become mean and small ; while in forgetting self and sacrifioing self for God and for mankind we become unconsciously great.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS.
Vers. 1 — 6. — Baruch's message ; or, Ood's consideration for his servant. It Is not always well to know more than others. Future thmgs are for the most part mercifully hidden from us. The prophecies of God's kingdom in the world, as they awaken new hopes, also occasion new anxieties ; and the latter will be the greater in proportion to our failure to comprehend and sympathize with the Divine purpose. Baruch was not in the same relation of spiritual sympathy and self-effacement with relation to the Word as Jeremiah was ; he did not share the same moral elevation, and therefore his per- plexities. In reward of his faithful, self-denying work as amanuensis to the prophet, a special communication is made to him with reference to his state of mind on heariniT the threaieniiigs of God against Israel and the nations. °
I. To RECEIVE SUCH A COMMUNICATION WAS A DISTINGUISHED HONOUR. In identifying bis name with the book he wrote it immortalized him. His work was a comparatively humble one, but it required its own virtues, and these are recognized. Nothing done for God in a right spirit is forgotten by him. Amidst imperial and world-wide changes the interest* of his servants are ever watched over with special care. When we see the
0H.XI.Y.1— 6J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 20^)
Sovereign Disposer of events, when empires are as small dust in his balance, arranging for the welfare of a single individual, merely because of help given to one of his prophets, shall we not acknowledge how precious in his eyes is even the least of his servants? They are children of the great King.