Ver. l.—IgraePi hetr$. "Hath he no heir?" Most wonderful is the preseryatlon of the Jews as a distinct race amid the strangest vicissitudes of fortune and through centuries of exile — surviving the devastating deluge of the successive Oriental monarchies th« oaptiTity in Babylon, the cruelties of Antiochus Epiphaues, the sweep of Roman
OH. XLii. 1— 39.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 253
conquest, the peraecntion of the Middle Ages, and the cosmopolitan citizenship of our own day. Yet, mucii as Israel has contributed to the philosophy and trade of the modern world, and ureat as her future inssion may yet be, we cannot blind ouraelve- to the fact that her lonely glory of religious pre-emint-nce lias passed away. Other;* have entered into this proud inheritance.
I. The inherits nob. 1. The knowledge of (he true Ood. This, and not the lan<l flowing with milk and honey, was tlie chief treasure of Israel's inheritance. When all neighbouring nations were following polytheism, idol-worship, and immoral rites, Israel was led by prophetic voices to look to one God — a spiritual presence who could only be worshipped " in the beauty of holiness." Thitt people, therefore, which has the highes' knowledge of God, and the purest religious life and worship, will be the true heir of this part of the ancient possession of the Jews. 2. The mission to enlighten the heathen. The Jew was not called to his privileged position wholly for his own sake. He was an elect people that he might be an apostle to the world; that in him there might be developed the revelation of truth which was for the healing of all the nations; that he might cultivate, preserve, transmit, and disseminate this abroad. His was the proud mission of the torch-bearer to the nations that sat in darkness, that through his light they might see their light and life. This mission was often ignored, and it waa never perfectly developed in Old Testament times ; but the work of Jonah and Daniel, and the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning the heathen, are partial accomplishments of it. It waited till Christ came for its fiill exercise. Then the Jew became the missionary of the gospel. The faith of the new age was given to the world by Jew-apostles.
n. Thb heibb. If the Jew has lost his proud religious pre-eminence, who has become his heir? 1. The Christian is the heir of. the Jew's knowledge of the trne Ood. He and he alone, whether he be of the stock of Shem, of Ham, or of Japheth, is the true Israelite, the "royal priesthood," etc. For Christianity is the fulfilment and perfection of the Jewish faith (Matt. v. 17 — 20). In the New Testament we see a higher knowledge of God, a more spiritual worship, a more devoted service. If this be true, to reject it and rest contented with the lower faith of the Old Testament must be to give way in the race. 2. The most Christian missionary is the truest heir to IsraeVs mission to evangelise the world. If there be any one race upon whom the mantle of Israel has fallen, may we not think that this is the great English-speaking peoples of Britain and America? Such an inheritnnce is not to be made out by ingenious arguments about the fate of the lost ten tribes. If we were the descendants of those apostate Israelites, we should be none the better for the fact, nor are we \mder any disadvantage because the hypothesis of an Israelite origin proves to be groundless. To make much of such a point is to go back to the lower conceptions of Judaism, and to disregard the higher spiritual conditions of Christianity. The true heir of Israel is the possessor of Israel's faith in its full development. It is not our birth and descent, but our personal religion, that can secure the inheritance to us.
Ver. 7. — The failure of wisdom. Bdom, the country of Job, the haunl of ancient lore, is to find that her learning and science will prove no safeguard against the deluge of destruction that is about to burst over the nations. The disaster which fell upon ancient" wise men" of the Bast may be a warning to the higher intelligences of all ages. The failure of wisdom is twofold — nenative and positive.
I. Nboativb: there abb evils with which wisdom cannot cope. 1. Physical. Science can do much to avoid troubles into which ignorance falls, to mitigate inevitable disasters, and to devise means of escape from those which are already present. Sanitary science will help to prevent disease, and medical science to cure it. Military science will put a country in a certain state of security ; economical science will check dangers of poverty. But how many of the worst things in life are beyond the power of science ! The philosopher cannot arrest the hand of the invader. The most terrible diseases are the most fatal. Men have long since given up the vain search for the elixir of life. Science is powerless before death. 2. Moral. Still less can science " minister to the mind diseased." What consolation is a knowledge of the processes of a malady to the mourner, the light of whose eyes is darkened for ever by its fatal work ? What comfort can Bcience whisper to the widow and the orphan ? The Teat border of the
264 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xlix. 1— 39
world's sorrow, and the weariness of the unceasing cares of life, it does not so much ai touch. The deeper evil of sin flows in a foul, black stream, unchecked by science. The mission of science is great and glorious, and we should be profoundly thankful that we liye in an age when its bright torch confers many a boon and relieves many a trouble. But we must not ignore the fact that the greatest ills that flesh is heir to ara just those winch it cannot cure.
II. Positive: there are evils which wisdom intokeb upon its own head, Knowledge is good and Divine, and in itself a blessing of the first order. Tet it brings a snare, and the abuse of it terrible disasters. 1. The knowledge of inevitable evil only increases distress. " Where ignorance is bliss," etc. 2. Superior wisdom may engender pride. Hence arises a false sense of security which only increases danger. The wise man is slow to tread those lowly paths which lead to true rest. It is difficult for him to become as a little child, that he may enter into the kingdom of heaven. 3. Wisdom may come to be trusted to for help that it cannot afford. Men make an idol of science, as though it were a new evangel. The ultimate disappoint- ment must correspond to the grossness of the delusion. We most learn, therefore, while avoiding a foolish depreciation of science and philosophy, to look still for our safety and blessedness to that higher wisdom of God, that gospel of the Crucified, which is still to some as foolishness.