Jeremiah 32

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XXXII.—How obstinately men persist in persecution, and other wickedness, even when the Lord is punishing them for it! No afflictions can drag men from their lusts. By what strange tokens God confirms his own oracles! An exact honesty, prudent discretion, and a firm dependence on the promise and providence of God, ought to meet together in all our civil transactions. The more honourable views we have of God and his mercies, the more humble and penitent will be our views of our own and others’ rebellion against him. And the former experiences of God’s people ought to encourage us, even when his providence seems to contradict his promises. When we have God’s orders, we have nothing to do but obey, and trust him with the issue. And, if we are in the dark concerning his dispensations, we may humbly beg his instructions. No crimes are too horrid for apostate professors to commit; and no judgments too severe to punish them. Deep carnal security ordinarily ends in deep despair: but blessed mornings of deliverance, conversion, and reformation, frequently succeed long and dark nights of trouble. And unchangeable is their state, stable and permanent their holiness and happiness, and cordial their harmony, who have God for their God, and the performer of all things in and for them