He told them at the same time, that He well knew they were not minded to do it. He informed them of the means whereby they might have safety and prosperity. But He declared that they would in fact all miserably perish in the land in which they had resolved to take refuge.

which weighs It is a life of It is the way

The case and conduct of this forlorn remnant of the Jews, their desire to sojourn in Egypt, and their motives in determining to gratify this wish, may be compared with the resolution which many harbour, to live a worldly life, notwithstanding all God's warnings to the contrary. They shrink from the toils of the Christian's warfare. This is one of the chief motives determining their conduct. They think it a hard matter to be always carrying on a contest, with sin, the world, and the devil. And so in truth it is a hard matter. And yet has our blessed Lord declared, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt. 11. 30. And this He said especially in reference to one of the hardest of all tempers to attain unto, namely, the being meek and lowly of heart. For as that which is impossible with man is possible with God, so that which is hard with man is easy with God. Easy then is the yoke of Christ, easy because He helps us in bearing it, infinitely easy, when compared with the yoke which the world. imposes. Infinitely safe is the warfare which the Christian has to accomplish, compared with that seeming peace offered by the world, under which lurks enmity with God to all eternity. And the like is true of the other great motive with many of mankind in favour of a worldly life. plenty, they suppose, as well as a life of ease. to have most enjoyment at the present, they think, the way to have their wants supplied, their wishes gratified. God indeed assures them otherwise. But they will not believe his word. They have made up their minds to live a worldly life at all events. And He warns them that surely as they do so, they shall encounter the very famine they are afraid of, they shall want and be not satisfied, they shall suffer by a void in their hearts, marring all the pleasures which this world can afford. And so in point of fact it proves to be the case. The peace and plenty offered by the world yield no real safety, no abiding satisfaction. And men know this beforehand, through God's gracious warning, and yet deliberately choose the world for their portion. They are aware of the folly of their course, and yet by an infatuation almost unaccountable they determine to persist in it. Surely obstinacy so unreasonable must be sent them in judgment for their sins. Surely they who choose the way of sinners, knowing well the end thereof, must be in some measure already given up to a reprobate mind. May God preserve us from foolishness so manifest! May God, who has taught us the way of salvation, incline us to walk therein faithfully and stedfastly, unto the attainment of everlasting life!

Jeremiah is carried down to Egypt, and prophesieth there.

1 And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words,

2 Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there :

3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.

4 So Johanan the son of Kareab, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.

5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;

6 Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.

7 So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes. 8 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,

9 Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;

10 And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.

11 And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.

12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.

13 He shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.

LECTURE 1252.

That we ought to bear witness for Christ amongst the worldly. When Johanan and his company resolved to take refuge in Egypt, in defiance of the words of Jeremiah, they professed to believe, that his words were not given by inspiration of God, but

spoken falsely at the suggestion of Baruch. This is a kind of objection which often has been used against the precepts and doctrines of the Bible. Men pretend that it is not God's word, they being in fact resolved not to believe it or obey it, whether it be his word or no. And some of the arguments with which they support such notions are not unlike to this pretended supposition, that Baruch had suggested Jeremiah's words in order to decoy the people to destruction. As if they who uphold the Scriptures for God's word were not well wishers to all mankind. As if it were not man's interest to know from God's own gracious revelation what is his holy will, how our fallen nature may recover health and holiness, and how we may so pass through things temporal as to attain unto the enjoyment of things eternal.

They who cast this imputation on Jeremiah nevertheless constrained him to go with them to the land of Egypt. Disobedient to God's voice themselves, they would fain have the company of as many as they could in the rash course which they had resolved to adopt. This also is very commonly the case with worldly minded men. They seem not to be at ease as long as any refuse to join in their worldly pleasures, or to partake of their worldly gains. The advocates of the truth are sometimes charged with zeal in making proselytes as if it were a crime. What then must be the guilt of those, who delight to ensnare the steps of the devout, and to win to mammon's service such as manifest a desire to serve God? How doubly heinous in the sight of the Most High must be the transgressions of those lovers of the world, who not only do the things they know they ought not, but constrain as many as they can to do the like?

But the constraint put upon Jeremiah reached no further than the outward man. In spirit he still was free. And his prophecy, delivered at Tahpanhes, may remind us, that it is our duty as Christians, though in the world, not to be of the world, though we are constrained to hold communion with the worldly, still to be witnesses of things heavenly in the midst of them. Let it be in this spirit that we carry on intercourse with those, of whom we cannot help knowing, from what we see in their conduct, that they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Let us make it manifest that we prefer others of a very different character for our friends, though we would not if we could help it have any for our enemies. Let us strive to bear testimony, not only with our lips to the truth of the Gospel, but also with our lives to its power. Let us act as though we were deeply persuaded that the world we live in is doomed to destruction, as though we were wholly bent on securing an entrance to a better country. This will be our most likely way to win others, for their eternal good, to Christ and to his Gospel. And thus may we also best avoid the risk of being lost eternally ourselves.

The remnant reproved for their idolatry in Egypt.

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,

3 Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.

4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.

5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.

6 Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.

7 Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain:

s In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your

hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

10 They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.

11 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.

12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence :

14 So that none of the remnant

of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the

land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.

LECTURE 1253.

That repentance is not sure to follow on affliction. They who had set at defiance God's word, in the act of taking refuge in Egypt, were not likely to serve Him faithfully when there. And yet who could have thought, that they would straightway begin to renew those very practices of idolatry, which had provoked the Lord to give up their city and country to entire desolation? Such being their conduct, He sends them by his prophet yet one more message of fearful warning; reminding them of the desolation they had witnessed, and remarking that it had been inflicted as a judgment for idolatry, and referring to the many gracious exhortations and remonstrances which He had sent both to them and to their fathers by his prophets, the result of which is thus expressed: "But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods."

That this remnant of the people, who had witnessed all those horrors, which ensued exactly as God had foretold, should so soon repeat the very same transgressions, proves how little impression this scene of misery had made upon their hearts. Even adversity, that most instructive school, does not always teach wisdom. Even affliction, that most favourable season for repentance, will not always make men penitent. Let us take warning, and not trust that we should certainly repent, if afflicted. Let us beware of putting off repentance, under the notion, that we surely shall repent before it be too late. What? Think we that we shall have occasions more urgent, afflictions more severe, than had been presented to these persevering worshippers of them that were no gods? Are not we as liable to forgetfulness as they? Are not they here doomed to perish miserably in the end; many as had been their opportunities of repentance, and of reconciliation unto God? Opportunity may come, but not be improved. Affliction may be dispensed, but not be heeded. No outward means can avail to our repentance, without the grace of God in the heart. And of this we may be sure, that if we rely on any outward means whatever, and deliberately put off repenting until we have the season or the help we wait for, we are thereby provoking the Most High to withhold his heavenly influence, and to leave us to perish in our sins.

God grant, that whatsoever lot it be his will to send us, we may profit alike by sorrow or by joy, unto our soul's health! God forbid that we on any consideration whatsoever should deliberately put off the repenting of our sins, and the amending our sinful lives!