SERMON XXIII.

THE POTTER'S WORK.

LINCOLN'S INN, SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION.-MAY 23, 1852.

JEREMIAH, XVIII. 1—6.

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there will I cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hands of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Oh house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are in mine hand, Oh house of Israel.

ye

I HAVE spoken of the two signs by which Jeremiah was instructed in the gradual and certain fulfilment of God's purposes and in the woe which was coming upon His people from the North. There are other signs scattered through the book, some merely addressed to the prophet himself, some which he was to shew to the people or to make use of as parables for their instruction. A girdle which he hid in the hole of a rock till it was marred and profitable for

396

THE GIRDLE.

[Serm.

nothing, taught him how close and intimate had been the bond between God and His people, and how, through their own act, all fellowship between Him and them had been destroyed.

In each of these cases,-in the last especially,-much pains are taken to impress the force of the sign upon the prophet's mind. He must actually wear the girdle; he must take a journey to the Euphrates to hide it. He is not allowed to think of it as a fancy which has struck him and which he may let go or exchange for some other. He must exhaust the full meaning of it before he has done with it. The study of it must be a serious occupation, suspended perhaps for a time, but to be taken up again; the first thought suggested being part of a chain to which the last is linked. I apprehend this was a very wonderful education of a man's spirit, one which may supply very precious hints to ourselves for the discipline of our own. What we want in every occupation is some means of preserving the continuity of our thoughts, some resistance to the influences which are continually distracting and dissipating them. But it is especially the student of the events of his own time, of the laws which regulate them, of the issues which are to proceed from them, who has need to be reminded that he is not studying a number of loose unconnected phenomena, but is tracing a principle under different aspects and through different manifestations. A sensible illustration, if we would condescend to avail ourselves of it, would often save us from much vagueness and unreality as well as from hasty and unsatisfactory conclusions.

Jeremiah's studies in the potter's house were commenced like those of which I have spoken, deliberately. He felt that he was commanded to go down to it. He was

XXIII.]

SIGNS REQUIRE MEDITATION.

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to consider the whole course of the potter's work as one which contained a meaning that he could not dispense with. If not as unsightly an image as the marred girdle, it had at least nothing picturesque to recommend it. An orator would never choose such an instance for the purpose of making an impression on his audience; still less for the purpose of exhibiting his own skill and liveliness. It must be for business, not for amusement, that such a process is observed. Let us consider what Jeremiah's business was, and how the potter might help him in understanding and performing it.

Josiah had been as thorough a reformer as it was possible for a king to be. The prophet, it would seem, remained silent while he was carrying on his work; speech was not needed when there was such vigorous and consistent action. It might have been expected that when the task was completed he would again open his lips in a song of triumph But there were prophets enough to perThose who had followed Manasseh in

upon its success.

form that service.

raising altars to Baal and the Queen of Heaven, learned with great rapidity to talk of the Temple of the Lord, when Josiah had restored it to be the centre of worship; to boast that they had a perfect law when it was brought out of its obscurity and when the king trembled as he heard the words of it. It was wonderful to hear how these converts caught the tones and phrases of the old prophets now that they were the favourites of the court again; how they could utter their "burden" just as Hosea or Isaiah had uttered his. But the tones and the phrases were all which could be copied. The actual burden of the old seer was a warning of ruin which the sins of the land must bring forth; the burden of the new seer was Peace, Peace.

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WHO ARE THE MOST GUILTY.

[Serm. The king had restored faith; the land had been reformed; what had they to do but rejoice that such blessings had been vouchsafed, and to expect all the further blessings which were promised to a faithful and righteous nation?

So

Now began the special work of Jeremiah, that one which was to draw upon him such hatred from all among whom he dwelt, and which was to cause him a secret anguish of which they knew nothing. He had to say boldly, Your faith has not been restored; your land is not reformed; you have no right to expect the blessings of a faithful nation; for your nation is not faithful: you must look for destruction; you have brought it and are bringing it on yourselves. much he might perhaps have said and have been pardoned. General charges against a nation are borne without much indignation. They may not be believed, they may be thought troublesome and the utterances of a gloomy temper. But they can be easily evaded. They may even impart a certain pleasure to a certain class and be made reasons for selfcongratulation. 'No doubt what you say is sadly true about the mass of our countrymen; we, the religious men, the prophets and the priests, feel it; but what can we do?' How comfortable when we can thus sever ourselves from the sins of the world around and make them a foil to shew off our own excellence! It was just this unction which the prophets had administered to their own souls and to the souls of their admiring hearers. It was just this which Jeremiah was to take from them. It is against you, he said, the bright exceptions, you the religious men, the priests, the prophets, that I am to testify. You are making the land corrupt; you are doing more than all others to hasten its captivity. For whence come the outward acts of unrighteousness, but from the unrighteous heart and will? And what is an

XXIII.] JEREMIAH TEMPTED TO BE FALSE.

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unrighteous heart or will but a heart or will which has severed itself from a Righteous Being and is making another object of worship for itself? Upon them he charges the adulteries, robberies, perjuries, of the land; upon them all the open idolatries in groves and high places which the people had practised before Josiah's purification, and into which they would assuredly relapse the moment the external restraint was removed. The distinction therefore which seemed to exist between the different classes of Israelites was sternly broken down by the prophet; or rather another distinction was set up instead of it. The great moral offenders were declared to be those who exalted themselves into moral teachers, who boasted of spiritual illumination.

But was not Jeremiah in the like danger? What right had he to separate himself from other prophets, if their sin consisted so especially in the effort which they made to separate themselves from other men? You must read and meditate on his book to hear how great his danger was, and how he was delivered from it. You will find him recording very strange experiences indeed, and uttering very strange words. You will sometimes exclaim 'if I had not met with that expression in the Bible, if it had not been attributed to a great prophet, I should have called it wild, almost blasphemous.' You will find him calling the Lord of All to witness, "I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow Thee; neither have I desired the woeful day; Thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before Thee. Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil." He had said before, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." "I sat alone because of Thy hand, for Thou hast filled me with indignation. Why is my pain