Ver, 24. — The fall of Damascus; or, the lovely and th» lovable lo»t. Here and in Isaiah and Amos we have predictions of the overthrow of Damascus. " The burden of Damascus," says Isaiah. " Behold ! Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap." Jeremiah likens the agitated minds of the multitude of her inhabitants to the unquiet sea — still not for one moment. And the cause of that unquietness is their sorrow at the desolations coming on them. And yet she was no mean city. No ; she was disti n guished ind eed. The hearts of men, in all ages of the world, have been drawn to her, and are so still. For she was and is surpassingly lovely. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole land around, compared to the Paradise in which our first father was placed by God, and celebrated by every writer, sacred and secular, that has had occasion to speak of her or her history. " It is the oldest city in the world. Its fame begins with tlie earliest patriarchs and continues to modern times. While other cities of the East h( ve risen and decayed, Damascus is still where and what it was. While Babylon is a heap in the desert, Nineveh buried beneath her mounds, and Tyre a ruin on the seashore, it remains what it is called in the prophecies of Isaiah, ' the head of Syria.' And ever since, down to our own days, its praise is celebrated. It was ' a predestinated capital.' Nor is it difficult to explain why its freshness has never faded through all its series of vicissitudes and wars." Men have ever loved it and love it still. As the traveller from the west climbs up and up the steep passes of the great Lebanon range, and at length nears their eastern side, there, on the summit of a cliff, high up above the plain beneath, he looks down on the city of Damascus. " At the foot of the cliff on which the beholder stands, a river bursts forth from the mountain in which it has had birth. That river, as if in a moment, scatters over the plain, through a circle of thirty miles, the verdure which had hitherto been confined to its single channel. It is like the bursting of a shell, the eruption of a volcano — but an eruption, not of death, but of life. Far and wide extends in front the level plain, its horizon bare, its lines of sur- rounding hills bare, all bare, far away on the road to Palmyra and Bagdad, In the midst of this plain lies at your feet the vast island of deep verdure, waln\;its and apricots hanging above, corn and grass below." The river is its life. It is drawn out in water- courses and spread in all directions. For miles around it is a wilderness of gardens- gardens with roses among the tangled shrubberies, and with fruit on the branches overhead. Every v\ here among the trees the murmur of unseen rivulets is heard. Even in the city, which is in the midst of the garden, the clear rushing of the current is a perpetual refreshment. Every dwelling has its fountain; and at night, when the sun has set behind Mount Lebanon, the lights of the city are seen flashing on the water. All travellers in all ages have paused to feast their eyes on the loveliness of the city as they first behold it from the cliffs of Lebanon. Abana and Pharpar still flash and gleam as they flow along amid her fragrant gardens and by her dark olive "roves. Snow-capped Hermon and the rugged range of Lebanon still keep over her their wonted watch and ward. Hence she may well be taken as the symbol of all that is lovely and fair in outward life, all that is bright and beautiful in the moral nature of man. But yet she fell, and she has lost her place amongst the nations for ever. Thus she suggests to the thoughtful reader the heart-searching truth that the lovely and the lovable may yet he lost — those on whom Jesus, looking, loves them, because they are so lovable, MMy yet miss of the life that is eternal ; and he may say, as he did to one of them, " One thing thou lackest," Observe, then —
I. Thebb have been souls characterized bt much that is lovely and
LOVABLE AND TET HAVE NOT ENTERED INTO THE KINODOM OP GoD. Bead the
history of Orpah. Then there was that young ruler to whom reference has already been made. And the many who flocked around our Saviour when he was here on
264 THE BOOK OP THE PBOPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xlix 1—39.
earth, and whom he likened to the itony-ground hearers. They all had much that wai excellent and good about them, but they failed to bring forth fruit unto life etemaL
n. And there are many such now. Were our Lord amongst us now, he would love them as he did him of whom the Gospel tells. They may be young in years; in the morning of life, fair and comely to look upon, vigorous and strong, well educated, intelligent, bright and clever, cultured themselves and loving refinement and culture in others ; they may be possessed of very attractive moral qualities, amiable and kindly, ready to do a kind action and scorning to do a mean one, possessed of and deserving an honourable reputation, of unquestioned veracity, of high honour, modest and pure in word and deed, gentle and courteous in manner, unassuming, thoughtful of the feelings and wishes of others ; parents and friends, family and neighbours, all speak well of them, and those who know them best honour and love them most. Kow, there are thousands of such as these. They are loved and lovable ; they must be so. And as we picture them to ourselves we almost shrink from saying that such may never- theless miss of the kingdom of God ; like Damascus in all that is externally beautiful, and yet, like her, come under the condemnation of God. It seems scarce believable, and yet in the face of God's Word what can we say ? Nicodemus was one such, and yet our Lord told him, " Except a man be born again," etc. We would be as chari- table as the Word of God — and if we were that would make us far more charitable than the most of us are — ^but we would not be more so, for that would be to be uncharitable and unfaithful both to God and to the souls of men. And therefore we say that a man may be all that is externally fair and lovable, and yet, like bright beautiful Damascus, come under the condemnation of God ; lovely and lovable like him whom Jesus loved, and yet, because lacking the one thing, shut out — self shut out — ^from the kingdom ol God. And observe —