1-8; 26-32. God regarded Israel as his bride, who had responded to his love, or as a vineyard and cornfield which were expected to yield their first fruits in response to the careful cultivation of the owner. Why had they failed to respond? For the answer let us question our own hearts. What marvels of perversity and disappointment we are! Who can understand or fathom the reason of our poor response to the yearning love of Christ! The heathen, in their punctilious devotion and lavish sacrifices at their idolshrines, may well shame us. The root of the evil is disclosed in v. 31. We like to be lords, to assume

and hold the mastery of our lives. But God has been anything but a wilderness to us. He has given us ornaments, and we owe to his grace the garments of righteousness which he has put on us. In return we have forgotten him days without number, v. 32. Let us ask him to call us baeck—nay more, to draw us by the chains of love.

Jeremiah 3:11—4:2. The people of the northern kingdom, to whom this appeal is especially addressed, were more excusable than Judah, because their privileges had been less. God judges us according to our opportunities. How precious the invitation and promise of v.12! Confession is an essential condition that must be fulfilled by us. See 1 John 1:7. Zion shall yet be the center of a restored Israel, vs. 14 and 18. In vs. 21-25 the voices of the people in confession and prayer mingle with Jehovah’s encouraging their return. When we lie down in broken-hearted shame and penitence, we are very near to being lifted to the bosom of God. Compare Jer. 3:25 with 4:1. The return of the Chosen People to the God of their fathers will be the cause of revival and quickening throughout the earth. Compare Jer. 4:2 with Rom. 11:12.