house, which He fills with his glory in judgment, as He had formerly done in blessing. The throne of the Lord was apart.

In chapter xi. God judges the leaders of iniquity, who comforted themselves in the thought that the city was impregnable. They should be brought out from the midst thereof and be judged in the border of Israel. One of these wicked men dies in the presence of the prophet, which brings out the sorrow of his heart and his intercession for Israel. In reply, God distinguishes those in Jerusalem from the captives. As to the latter, God had been a sanctuary to them wherever they were, He would restore them and give them back the land. He would purify them and give them, a new heart. They should be His people, and He would be their God. But as for those who walked after their abominations, their ways should be visited upon them in judgment. The remnant are always distinguished, and individual conduct is the condition of blessing, excepting in establishing the faithful as the people of God at the

end.

The glory of the Lord then forsakes the city, and stands upon the Mount of Olives, from which Jesus ascended, and to which he will again descend for Israel's glory. This part of the prophecy ends here.

Chapter xii. announces the flight and the capture of Zedekiah. Chapter xiii. judges the prophets who deceived the people in Jerusalem by their pretended visions. In chapter xiv. the elders of Israel come and sit before the prophet. Here God sets distinctly before Israel the new principles on which He would govern them. These elders. had put their abominations before their eyes. God Himself will judge them according to their transgressions. As a nation they were all alike. The Lord could only say to them, "Repent ye." The prophets and the people should be punished together. Even if the most excellent of the earth should be found in a

b Jeremiah's exhortations will be remembered, to submit themselves to Nebuchadnezzar, and even to quit the city and go forth unto him.

land which the Lord judged, they would not hinder the execution of the judgment, they would only save their own lives by their righteousness. Now God was bringing all His judgments upon Jerusalem; nevertheless, a remnant should be spared, and the proofs they would give of their abominations would comfort the prophet with respect to the judgments. In fact, the judgment of God who gives His people up to their enemies, is a burden to the heart of one who loves the people. But when the manner in which the name of God has been dishonoured is seen, the necessity of the judgment is understood.

Chapter xv. shews that the vine-utterly useless if it bore no fruit-was fit only for fuel, and to be consumed. Thus should it be with the inhabitants of Jerusalem. A striking picture of this destruction, and of the condition of Jerusalem, which was worth nothing more.

In reading chapter xvi. it must be remembered that Jerusalem is the subject, and not Israel. Moreover, it is no question of redemption, but of God's dealings. He has caused to live, He has cleansed, ornamented and anointed, that which was in misery and devoid of beauty. But Jerusalem has used all that the Lord had given her in the service of her idols, and also to purchase the succour and the favour of the Egyptians and the Assyrians. She has had no idea of independence and of standing alone, leaning on the Lord. She should be judged as an adulterous woman. The Lord would bring against her those whom she had sought. Nevertheless, filled with pride, she would hear nothing of Samaria or of Sodom, names which the Lord now uses to humble her. She was even more worthless than those whom she must own for her sisters, in spite of her pride. Jerusalem being thus justly condemned and humbled, God will yet act in full grace towards her, and will re-establish her, remembering His love and His covenant. She will never be restored on the former ground, any more than Samaria or Sodom; and the grace that will be exercised towards her, shall suffice to bring them back also, namely, the sovereign grace of redemption and pardon, which is by no means the covenant of Jerusalem under

the law. With Jerusalem the Lord will also establish a special covenant, and her two sisters shall be given her for daughters. Her mouth shall be shut at the thought of all the grace of God who shall have pardoned her. The fifty-fifth verse is absolute and perpetual. The promise in ver. 60 is on entirely new ground.

Chapter xvii. presents the judgment of Zedekiah for despising the oath that Nebuchadnezzar made him take in the name of the Lord. Israel not having been able to stand in integrity before God, the Lord had committed the kingdom to the head of the Gentiles, whom He had raised up. This was His determinate purpose; but He had disposed the heart of Nebuchadnezzar to respect the name of the Lord, and Judah might still have remained the centre of religious blessing, and the lamp of David might still have given light there, although the royalty had been subjected to the head of the Gentiles, until the time should come for the result of the judgment and dealings of God. The covenant between Nebuchadnezzar and Zedekiah was made on this ground, and the name of the Lord was brought in to confirm it. It was not the Gentile who broke the covenant. Zedekiah added to his other sins that of rendering impossible the existence of a people and a kingdom that belonged to God. The name of the Lord was more despised and trampled under foot by him than by the Gentile king. He intrigues with Egypt to escape from the dominion of Nebuchadnezzar, whom God Himself, in judgment, had set up as supreme. This filled up the measure of iniquity, and brought on the final judgment. But it left room for the sovereignty of God, who would bring down the high tree and exalt the low tree, who would dry up the green tree and make the dry tree to flourish. His grace would take the little forgotten branch of the house of David and raise it up in Israel upon the mountain of His power, where He would cause it to become a goodly cedar, bearing fruit, and sheltering all that would seek the protection of its shadow. All the powers of the earth should know the word and the works of the Lord.

Chapter xviii. contains an important principle of

the dealings of God, unfolded at that period. God would judge the individual according to his own conduct: the wicked nation was judged as such. Neither was it, in fact, judged for the iniquity of the fathers. The present iniquities of the people made the judgment which their fathers had merited, suitable to their own actions. But now with respect to His land of Israel, the principle of of government laid down in Ex. xxxiv. 7, was set aside, and souls belonging individually to the Lord would individually bear the judgment of their own sins. God would pardon the repenting sinner, for He has no pleasure in the sinner's death. The government of Israel on earth is still the subject. Every one shall be judged according to his ways.

Chapter xix. describes the captivity of Jehoiakim, afterwards that of Jechoniah, and finally the complete decay of the house of David.

Chapter xx. begins a new prophecy, which, with its subdivisions, continues to the end of xxiii. It will have been remarked that the general divisions are made by years. The twentieth chapter is important. The preceding chapters had spoken of the sin of Jerusalem. Here the Spirit retraces the sin and especially the idolatry of Israel, that is to say, of the people, as a people, from the time of their sojourn in Egypt. For His own name's sake God had brought them up from thence and given them His statutes and His sabbaths, in token of the covenant between God and the people. But Israel had rebelled against God in the wilderness, and even then He had thought to destroy them. But He had spared them, warning at the same time their children also, who nevertheless followed their fathers' ways. Still, for His name's sake, God withdrew His hand, on account of the heathen in whose sight He had brought the people up from Egypt. But in the wilderness He had already warned them that He would scatter them among the nations (Lev. xxvi., Deut. xxxii.) and as they had polluted the sabbaths of the Lord and gone after the idols of their fathers, they should be polluted in their own gifts, and be slaves to the idols they had loved, that they might be made desolate by the Lord. For having been brought

into the promised land, they had forsaken the Lord for the high places. He would no longer be enquired of by them, but would rule over them with fury and with an out-stretched arm. He had already in the wilderness threatened the people with dispersion among the heathen; and now having brought them into the land for the glory of His great name, Israel had only dishonoured Him. He therefore executes the judgment with which He had threatened them. Israel, always ready to forsake the Lord, would have profited by this to become like the heathen. But God comes in at the end. He keeps the people separate in spite of themselves, and He will gather them out from among the nations and bring them into the wilderness, as when He led them out of Egypt, and there He will cut off the rebels, sparing a remnant, who alone shall enter the land. For it is there that the Lord shall be worshipped by His people, when He shall have gathered them out from all the countries where they have been scattered, and the Lord Himself shall be sanctified in Israel before the heathen. Israel shall know that He is the Lord, when He shall have accomplished all these things according to His promises. They shall loathe themselves, and shall understand that the Lord has wrought for the glory of His name, and not according to their wicked ways. We find some principles here that are important to notice. The people are judged in view of their conduct, from the time of their departure from Egypt; their idolatrous spirit was manifested even in Egypt itself (Amos v., Acts vii., 25, 26). The Lord had indeed spared the people for the glory of His name, but the sin was still there. Israel as a nation is therefore scattered, and then placed anew under the rod of the covenant, and God distinguishes the remnant, and acts for the sure accomplishment in sovereign grace of that which the people were incapable of, as placed under their own responsibility. Israel as a whole, as a nation, is distinguished from Judah which continues in a particular position. With regard to the nation, as such, the rebels are cut off and do not enter the land. In the land two-thirds are cut off at the end (Zech. xiii., 8, 9). But in this latter case, it is the Jews who were guilty of