Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush… (with Ezra 9:6): — "Just fancy," said Tom, who had been doing a bit of word study by the aid of his newly-acquired Skeat, "to blush is, in its origin, the same word as to blaze, or to blast, and a blush in Danish means a torch." "And a very good origin too," said his sister, who got red in the face and hot all over on the slightest provocation. Yes, youth is the blushing time of life. Said Diogenes to a youth whom he saw blushing: "Courage, my boy, that is the complexion of virtue." I. THERE IS THE BLUSH OF GUILT. Who broke the window? All were silent; but one boy looked uneasy. His blush was the blast of his red-hot conscience, condemning the dumb tongue. II. THERE IS THE BLUSH OF SHAME. It was such a mean thing to tell that lie to one's own father. It was a shabby trick I played my chum. And that nasty word I spoke yesterday to a girl, too, it makes me sick-ashamed of myself to think of it. Yes; you ought to think shame. But "the man that blushes is not quite a brute." III. THERE IS THE BLUSH OF MODESTY. Tom said nothing about his splendid score at the match, until his sister read aloud at breakfast next morning the flattering report given in the newspaper, at which Tom blushed like a girl. He had his revenge, however, when more than one letter came to Shena from Dr. Barnardo, and Tom protested that he knew now why she had no money to spend on sweets, and poor Shena got very red in the face and went out of the room. IV. THERE IS THE BLUSH OF HONEST INDIGNATION at the meanness of the cheat, the cruelty of the bully, the greed of the glutton, and the indifference of selfish souls. This blush of virtuous anger must have come into the meek face of Christ, when He rebuked the disciples for keeping the mothers from bringing their children to Him. V. Just twice, I think, do we read of BLUSHING IN THE BIBLE, and the solemn thing is that the blush in both cases is not before men, but under the eye of God. 1. One of the most remarkable prayers in the Bible is the prayer of Ezra, the scribe — the brave, good, holy man who led a company of his Israelite brethren from Babylon to Jerusalem. It rises hot and passionate out of his very heart; for, like all priestly souls, he makes all the sins of the people his own. "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God." He loved his people so dearly that their faults seemed to be his own, and he blushed before the Holy God for shame of them. 2. Quite at the opposite pole of feeling is the other place in the Bible where blushing is spoken of. For Jeremiah, the broken-hearted prophet of the Lord, uses it when he has to describe the utter callousness of the people, in spite of all their sins and sorrows. "They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush." That is surely the most hopeless state of all, when one has lost the very power to feel shame and sorrow before God. The Florentines used to point to Dante in the street, whispering, "There's the man who has been in hell." But hell has come into the heart of the man who cannot blush. Oh, it is better, as Mahomet said in his old age, to blush in this world than in the next. St. John of the eagle eye and loving heart tells us that in the great day of judgment we shall either have the bold. ness or liberty and confidence of children, or we shall shrink away with shame "like a guilty thing surprised." (A. N. Mackray, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. |
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