Jeremiah 6

Jeremiah 6:15

The Color Of Virtue I am ashamed and blush.—Ezra 9:6.Neither could they blush.—Jeremiah 6:15.Did you ever hear the story of how the Virginian creeper got its blush? The story is only a legend, but it is very beautiful and worth repeating. It tells that when the plants and flowers were first created they were all green; but God sent down to earth one of His angels, and told him to give each flower a color of its own. So the angel flew busily over the earth, and each flower he touched turned some lovely hue. He gave the crocus its gold, and the violet its purple, and the rose its red, and the poppy its scarlet, the forget-me-not its blue and the snowdrop its white. He was a very busy angel, I assure you, as he flew over hill and dale and wood and field, painting all the flowers he saw.But alas! he missed a very small creeper lying hidden in the shadow of a great wall.

It felt really sad to think that the angel had passed it over, and for a little while it lay on the ground and wept. But after a time it cheered up and said to itself, “Well, though I may not be beautiful I can always be useful.

I’ll set to work and cover this great bare wall.” So it climbed and spread, and climbed and spread, till the wall had a magnificent covering of green.In autumn the angel returned to earth to see how his flowers were looking, and, as he flew, his eye lit upon this wonderful green thing spreading all over the wall. Though it had no color but green it looked so glad and busy that the angel stopped to admire it and praise it for all it had so bravely done. And when the angel spoke, the Virginian creeper felt so pleased to think that what it had done was good in the angel’s sight that it blushed a glorious crimson. And when autumn comes and flowers decay, the Virginian creeper still blushes crimson, remembering how the angel praised it long ago.That is a pretty legend, isn’t it? “Yes,” I hear some of you sigh, “but I’d rather the Virginian creeper blushed than me. It’s so horribly awkward. I just can’t keep from blushing, and the more I want not to do it the more I do it I’m so ashamed of myself sometimes:”Boys and girls, you should never be ashamed of blushing.

What you should be ashamed of is not being able to blush. A blush is a really good thing, and it is only right that your rosy cheeks should sometimes grow a few shades rosier.

Why! we blush for pleasure, we blush because of praise, we blush with honest indignation, and I hope we blush for shame or guilt.Of course I know there’s a sort of blush that really is most annoying—the unnecessary blush. It is the blush that you feel when you walk into a room or a public building, and you are certain that every eye is upon you. It is the blush that comes when you and a few others are accused of some fault, and you, who are not guilty, and know nothing about it, flush a brilliant scarlet. Well that blue, comes from shyness or self-consciousness; and the cure for it is just to forget yourself. A hundred chances to one nobody is thinking of you or taking special notice of you. At such times try hard to think of some other thing or some other person, and you will be astonished how that will help to keep the blush away.So much for the unnecessary blush!

But there are times when a blush is necessary, and if we don’t blush then we are in a sad case indeed.You will notice we have two texts today, and the first says, “I am ashamed and blush.” That was the prophet Ezra speaking to God. Why was he blushing?

He was blushing because he loved the people of Israel so much that he was ashamed of their faults. The second text is from the prophet Jeremiah. He also loved the people of Israel, but what grieved him was that they were so hardened in their sins that they couldn’t even blush for them.Boys and girls, it is a dangerous thing if we can’t blush. It means that we are no longer ashamed, that we no longer feel guilty when we do wrong, that we have grown absolutely brazen.“Courage, my boy!” said Diogenes of old, when he saw a youth flushing. “That is the color of virtue.” Diogenes was a Greek philosopher, and he must have known the explanation which the Greeks gave of shame. The Greeks said that Jupiter was so sorry for the miseries that men brought on themselves by their sins that he sent Mercury to implant in their hearts justice and shame, that these two virtues might save the world from ruin.We are wiser than the wise old Greeks, for we know that it was God who implanted in man’s heart the senses both of shame and of justice; but the Greeks were quite right in their idea that justice and shame help men to be good. If we are ashamed to do wrong deeds, if we are ashamed to listen to evil words and horrid stories, if we are ashamed of meanness, or covetousness, or untruthfulness, if we can blush for all these things, and blush also the hot blush of anger at wrong done to others, then there is some hope for us. People will think none the less of us for such blushes; and God, who sees the faintest tinge of red, will rejoice that His child can fly the flag of virtue.

Jeremiah 6:29

A Pair Of Bellows The bellows.—Jeremiah 6:29. Our text today is a word used only once in the Bible, yet we all know it well, and many of us have in our homes the thing it stands for. Turn up the Book of Jeremiah, and in the sixth chapter at the very beginning of the twenty-ninth verse you will find our text— “the bellows.”Most of us, both little and grown-up, are fond of using bellows. There is a charm in turning the tiny peep of flame that flickers among the dead coal into a blaze that roars up the chimney. If the bellows have a squeak or a wheeze, as lots of them have, why, it’s all the more sport! Then which of us has not longed to be a blacksmith when we stood in a smithy and watched the smith blow his fire? How the sparks flew!

And how the black metal in the heart of the flames turned first red and then white under the blast of his mighty bellows!Though bellows are mentioned only once in the Bible they are as old as the oldest part of the Bible itself, for we know that the Egyptians in the days of Moses used them. On the monuments of Egypt there are pictures showing the bellows of Moses’ time.

They are not the least like our bellows; indeed, they seem very strange to our eyes, but there they are, and the men who blew them also! You see the fire in the middle of the picture, and on either side is a man busy at work. He seems to be standing on two fat leather air-cushions, a foot on each. In his right hand he has a string from the cushion under his right foot, and in his left hand he has a string from the cushion under his left foot; and he is pressing down the leather bag when it is full of air, and pulling it up by the string when it is empty; and both he and his friend on the other side of the fire look as if they had a stiff job. From the leather bags there are long pipes to carry the air to the fire, and in the picture you see a third man holding something like a bent iron rod in the flames. Perhaps he is just poking the fire to help his two friends, or perhaps he is working on the rod.

Poor fellows! you feel sorry they lived in the days when blowing bellows seemed such hard work.Now, a pair of bellows is a thing we may use only once a week or so when a fire refuses to burn; but the smith we were speaking of a moment ago will tell you that he could not do his work at all without the aid of bellows. The bellows make his fire sufficiently hot to soften the metal and prepare it for the anvil.

They are an absolute necessity if he is to do his work properly.And I think, boys and girls, that we, too, need bellows if we are to do successfully our work in the world. If we are to make the best of our lives we need something to urge us on. Our life is like the smith’s fire—if we want it to be more than just a dull, useless smolder we shall have to use some sort of bellows.There are many bellows which we may use to make our fire of life burn brightly, but I want to speak of the three greatest today, and we shall take them in the order of good, better, best. If you go to history and study the lives of the men who have left their mark on the world, you will find that they used one or more of the three.1. The first bellows is called ambition. It is a grand ornamental article with a fine brass nozzle.

Its wood is highly polished, its leather is a gorgeous crimson, and its edges are studded with glittering brass nails. Everybody should use the bellows of ambition.

We don’t give much for the boy or girl who is content to sit at the foot of the class, and to have twelve errors in dictation every other day. No, the boy or girl we admire is the one who aims to sit at the top of the class even though he or she may not be brilliant. Aim at the top! If you don’t reach it you will get to the middle at least. Ambition will help you to do what without it would be impossible. It will make the fire of your life glow bright, and shine far.But remember, please remember, that ambition, though it looks so fine, is a dangerous instrument if you use it too much. The blaze you make may prove so hot and fierce that it will burn up and destroy other people’s property. Remember that others too have a right to the first place.

Don’t let the ambition to be great make you hard and selfish and cruel. Don’t be so busy blowing your bellows and working for success that you have neither time nor wish to help those about you. Ambition was the bellows of Napoleon, as it has been that of many another conqueror. But we know where it brought Napoleon in the end of the day—so beware!2. Our second bellows is called duty. Its wooden sides are unpolished, and its drab-colored leather is nailed on with iron nails. It is large and powerful, but it is very stiff to blow and it creaks a good deal at times. Although it looks so uninteresting it makes a better fire than the bellows of ambition.

It blows not for itself but for other people. The fire it stirs up may not shine so far, but it is hotter at the heart and warms those around it.The bellows of duty has one remarkable thing about it. It is always at hand. No matter where you turn, it is always at your elbow. You don’t need to go looking for it. It seems rather to be always looking for you, and trying to say, “Here am I! Use me, use me!” And, boys and girls, we are wise if we do use that uninteresting-looking bellows, for we shall not lack our reward.Duty was the grim bellows of grand old Oliver Cromwell. It has been the bellows of most reformers, and it has done noble work.

But I can tell you of a more powerful instrument still; and that brings us to the third bellows—the finest of all.3. What is the third bellows? Well, it calls itself love. It is made of wood exquisitely carved, its leather is delicate cream, and its nails are pure gold. It does not look so showy as the bellows of ambition, nor so strong as the bellows of duty, but try it! It blows so gently that it does not extinguish even the tiniest spark, and yet it blows so strongly that the fire is soon at white heat.But the marvelous thing about it is that it is so easy to blow. It takes only half or quarter as much labor as is needed with the other two; it does its work twice as quickly. Why is this?

It gives away the secret in its very name. It does its work easily because it loves it, and it does its work well for the same reason. If we use the bellows of love we shall do life’s tasks not because we want to be first, nor yet because we ought, but because we love them. That makes work easy, and duty light, and life truly happy and successful.Love has been the bellows of men greater than Napoleon or Oliver Cromwell. Love inspired the greatest Man of all, the Man who was not only man but God. It was love that sent Christ into the world. It was love that led Him to die for us. It is only love that will make us live such lives as He would have us live.So, boys and girls, choose your bellows.

Use them each in turn, use them well and often, but don’t forget to use oftenest of all the wonderful bellows of love.

Jeremiah 6:30

Refuse Silver Refuse silver.—Jeremiah 6:30. “Refuse silver!” What did the prophet Jeremiah mean by “refuse silver”? And why did he tell the people of Judah that they were like refuse silver.As many of you know, silver is rarely found as pure silver. It is often found mixed with other metals such as copper or platinum, and before it can be made use of it has to be separated from these. The alloy, as the mixture is called, has to be refined or purified. Nowadays there are several ways in which this can be done, but in Jeremiah’s day there was only one, and it is to it that he refers when he speaks of “refuse silver.” In the prophet’s time the alloy was mixed with lead and the whole was melted in a furnace. Then a current of air was passed over the molten mixture.

This caused the lead to combine with the impurities. It carried them away and the pure silver only was left.Now Jeremiah pictured himself as a refiner of silver trying to refine or purify the nation.

He was continually giving the Jews warnings and messages from God telling them to repent of their wicked ways, pleading with them to give up their naughtiness, their impurities. He was heating the fire, he was blowing the bellows. He was doing his best to make the people turn to God, but in vain. They were like silver that refused to be purified. They would not separate themselves from their sin. They would not give up their wickedness. And so, Jeremiah told them, they were like “refuse (or “impure”) silver.”It is a far cry from the days of Jeremiah, but I think there are still plenty of grown-up people who are like refuse silver. They remain wicked because they want to be wicked.

And there are lots of little people who are uncommonly like refuse silver too. They won’t be good because they prefer to be naughty.Now, I am rather sorry for those who won’t be good because they prefer to be naughty. You see, they are making such a huge mistake. Perhaps they are mixing up goodness and “goody-goodness”—which are two very different things. Perhaps they are just determined to have their own way whether it be bad or good. Perhaps they are like the troublesome small boy whose mother said to him, “Johnnie, I don’t believe you know what it is to be good!” “Yes, I do!” promptly replied Johnnie. “It’s not doing what you want to do.” Perhaps they are what Scotch people call “contrary.” When someone wants them to do a certain thing they immediately want to do the very opposite.

Whatever their reason may be, they are acting very foolishly. And if there are any of them here today I want to tell them three things.1.

The first is that goodness means happiness.—Did you ever try to swim up-stream or against a strong current? That is what you are trying to do when you are persistently naughty. You are going against God and against good. And going against God and against good never brought anyone happiness yet. It may bring you at the moment a kind of excitement which you mistake for happiness; but nobody who goes on deliberately doing evil is ever really happy. God made man to be good, and that is why. The better man is the happier he will be. Goodness and happiness are like the parallel lines of a railroad track.

They are found always side by side.2. Then goodness means usefulness.—It is only if you are doing right, it is only if you are pure and good, that you will be of value to the world. Refuse silver is worthless, and so are deliberately naughty people. Have you ever tried to work a sewing-machine? Have you ever tried to work it backwards? You know that the wheel will turn backwards as well as forwards. You can reverse it quite easily. Yes, but it won’t do any sewing; it will merely tangle the thread.

Those who prefer naughtiness to goodness are working their machine of life backwards. They are succeeding only in making a failure.3. In the last place, goodness means strength.—It does not mean weakness, as some people would make you believe. These people are probably thinking of “goody-goodness,” which, as we said already, is quite another thing. Goodness — genuine goodness and purity—is a power so great that there is nothing it may not accomplish.They tell a story of the church in the quaint little town of Mont St. Michel on the coast of Normandy. The town is built, as you may have read in the geography books, on a rock. The story goes that a certain good man called Aubert was bidden in a dream to build on the rock a church to God.

He and his fellow-laborers set to work to prepare a foundation, but it was hard labor, for the rock was steep and difficult. At last they succeeded, except for one huge boulder which was so enormous that none of their pulleys or contrivances could move it out of the way.Then Aubert had a dream, and in his dream he was told to send for the sons of a certain peasant, and they would move the stone. He did this, and twelve strong men came at his bidding. They pushed and pulled, but still the rock would not move. Aubert was puzzled, but he bethought him that there might be still another son, so he asked the men if they had yet a brother. They replied that they had, but he was only a child.

Aubert desired that he too should be brought, and the story tells that when the child set his hand against the rock the whole mass crashed down to the foot of the mount—where it lies to this day.Boys and girls, that is more a legend than real history, but there is a lesson in it for you and me. It reminds us that goodness—the goodness of purity and innocence—is not weak, but is one of the strongest things in the world.