II. How IB REAL contamination TO BE AVOIDED ? Granted that we know what things are defiling and can distinguish them from the objects of conventional ostracism ; how are we to behave ourselves in regard to the unclean things? We are to avoid contact with them. But here a difficult question arises. As Christians we are to be the salt of the earth. It is our mission to purify the impure. But if we shun it, how can we change it? If we neglect politics because we see politicians to be acting dishonourably, and business because we wish to avoid tricks of trade, and society because we must escape the corrupting influences of unwholesome amusements and scandalous conversation, shall we not be handing over politics, business, and society to the unchecked influence of evil ? The answer to this question seems to be that the departure must be in spirit and from the spirit of those things that are degrading. We are not to flee bodily. We may do so in vain. For the corruption of the world may pursue the hermit to his cell and torment his mind with evil imagmations in the desert. But if we forsake all sympathy with the unclean our soul cannot be touched by it. Thus Christ ate and drank with publicans and sinners and passed through their foul atmosphere without defilement. Especially if the object is to do good we may be sure that the consciousness of a mission and the cleansin>>; influence of Christian charity will prevent contamination. Thus a pure-minded Christian woman is able to go into the haunts of vice on an errand of mercy and return scatheless as the snowdrop that lifts its head from the impure soiL
Yer. 22, — Z%e end of punishment. Here is a gleam of prophetic hope. From doleful lamentations the poet is able to look forward and see the end of the sad desolation of Jerusalem,
I. PuNiBHUENT HAS AN END. Nothing is everlasting but God, and the life which
God gives and the goodness of that life. Evil, darkness, pain, and death are teraporal
72 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. [oh. nr. 1—22
phaaes of being. This may seem to many an unjustifiably dogmatic statement. Text for text we may find passages of Scripture to support it and to contradict it. It is when we take into account the drift of the whole Word of God, the character of QoA therein revealed and the purposes of punishment and of all dark facts of pro- vidence as far as these purposes are made known to us, that we are led more and more to believe in the victory and duration of the blessed and the overthrow and cessation of the evil phases of experience.
II. The end of punishment is determined by its object. What is the object of punishment ? This may be manifulil. 1. It is not the satis/action of vengeance in, One who is wronged, For (1) such a satisfaction could only be required by sinful human passion, never by the good will of God ; and (2) if such a satisfaction were required, it would not be punishment, which is quite another thing. 2. It is partly the deterring of possible offenders. In so far as law must be vindicated for the sake of its future observance the punishment must be severe, but not beyond that point. 3. It is chiefly for the restoration of the offender. This was the reason given for the terrible calamities that overwhelmed the guilty city of Jerusalem. Human punishment under criminal laws is so far a failure that the primary end of it is rarely achieved. But with God's all-wise government it is held in view and mainly aimed at. Therefore the punishment is called " chastisement." What is required of chastisement is that it sliould be sufficient. For it to be endless would be to defeat its object. Moreover, it does not require to be measured by the ofience alone. Even if it were so measured it need not be everlasting, since no finite being can commit an infinite sin. But it is measured by the change required to be wrouglit in the guilty person.
III. The pbospect up the knd of punishment should help us to bbab it. God sends chastisement on earth. And he does not except any from it — at all events he does not except Christians, for "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." If there were no hope to the chastised, and punishment were a sign of being cast off for ever by God, we might well sit down in sullen despair. But there is encourage- ment in the thought that it is temporary, is working our good, and may be lightened and shortened by prompt repentance and patient submission.
IV. The guiltt agents of punishment will be punished. Edom had triumphed over Jerusalem. Edom was to have her sin discovered and punished when Jerusalem was restored. So Babylon's doom was promised (Isa. xiii.). Satan, the great enemy of souls, may be used as an instrument for our chastisement. But his day of doom is drawing near. Then he can torment us no more.
v. Christ puts an end to punishment. It is not necessary that we should endure our punishment to the end. If we had to do so where would the end be ? The awful prospect would shut out all view of any end, whatever we might reason about its far-off certainty. But Christ has accomplished for us by his suffering and sacrifice a work of redemption which will save with full, free, and immediate pardon all who repent and trust iu hisa.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS.
Ver. 1. — 77ie gold dimmed. Present adversity brings to mind, by force of contrast, the prosjjerity of bygone days. The Hebrew prophet of sorrow might well recall the golden days oi old.
" A poet's crown of sorrow is remembering happier tliingg."
His touching and poetic language affords —
I. A LESSON OF human MUTABILITY. The exclamatiou reminds us of those oft- quoted words. Ilium fuitl Troy was, but is no morel The proudest cities have crumbled into ruins, the most splendid palices have mouldered into dust.
II. A LESSON that pbeoious THINGS MAY TURN TO viLK. The homes of kings, priests, and prophets, were possessed by the brutal soldiery ; the city of David and Solomon resounded with the ferocious cry of the Chaldeans. Sin can bring the brightest and the most glorious of human societies aud iustiiutiuns into decay and contempt.
OH. nr. 1—22.] THE LAMENTATIONS OP JEREMIAH. 73
IIL A LBBSON THAT SACRED THIN08 MAT BE PROFANED. " The stoDes o( the sanotuary " were flung about. The very temple of Jehuvah became a ruin, the sacred solemnitiei came to an end, and the voice of the priests and the Levites ceased in the precincts. Sin can rust even the fine gold.
IV. A LESSON OF THE UNSPARING ENMITY OF MAN. The Chaldeans were not deterred by any consideration from carrying out their wiath to the bitterest extremity. The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. r« victis I is an old cry.
v. A LESSON AS TO THE EXACTING NATURE OF DiVINE RETRIBUTION. The hand
was the hand of the Chaldean, but the judgment was the judgment of God. When men rebel against him, no human power or splendour can preserve them from his righteous indignation and just retribution.— T.