_Obey My voice, and do them._ OBEDIENCE OF PRIMARY IMPORT Much is said about the demoralising effects of army life. Perhaps there is a tendency to moral decline in the army, but one thing about army life is good. It is a good thing to learn the lesson of implicit obedience to properly constituted a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then answered I, and said, So be it, O Lord._ THE SOUL’S “AMEN” Jeremiah was naturally gentle, yielding, and pitiful for the sins and sorrows of his people. Nothing was further from his heart than to “desire the evil day.” Nothing would have given him greater pleasure than to have played the part... [ Continue Reading ]
_They obeyed not._ SINS OF OMISSION I. The great commonness of sins of omission. 1. In a certain sense all offences against the law of God come under the head of sins of omission. Every sin is a breach of the all-comprehensive law, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy nei... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found _ A SAD RELAPSE 1. The prophet calls the people’s relapse a plot or conspiracy; thereby suggesting, perhaps, the secrecy with which the prohibited worships were at first revived, and the intrigues of the unfaithful nobles and priests and prophets,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore pray not thou for this people._ FUTILE PRAYERS It is futile to pray for those who have deliberately cast off the covenant of Jehovah and made a covenant with His adversary. Prayer cannot save, nothing can save, the impenitent; and there is a state of mind, in which one’s own prayer is t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand._ INTIMIDATING THE PROPHET Think of Bunyan when he is brought before the judge, and the judge says, “You! a tinker! to go about preaching! Hold your tongue, sir!” “I cannot hold my tongue,” says Bunyan. “Then I must send you back... [ Continue Reading ]