Jeremiah 5:1-9 Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man… We all know the two meanings of the word man — the one which distinguishes a human being from a beast, the other which is applied only to those who possess the highest qualities of manhood. Such are the salt of the earth, such would have been the saviours of Jerusalem. Ay, such an one was the Saviour of this world, the man Christ Jesus. A union of qualities is needed to make up a man in this high but true sense. These qualities are partly physical, partly mental, and partly spiritual. We know what false ideas are attached to manliness. It is often entirely associated with brute strength. He is a man, think many, who has the greatest strength of arm and power of body. But though beneficial, and often beautiful, this manly strength does not make the man. In some of the most splendid specimens of bodily physique you have the mind of a child and the weakness of a fool, or, still worse, the unrestrained appetites of the beast, or the desperate wickedness of a fiend. How often, too, are the views of men taken as the stamp of manhood. Too often the youthful ideal of manliness is not self-restraint, but self-indulgence, to abandon duty, to pursue pleasure, to wreck the happiness of others, to be lord of one's self, that heritage of woe — how many cherish these as the highest functions of a man! There may be other false ideals, but I wish to come to the scriptural ideal of the man who, if he could be found, would have saved the city and state of Jerusalem. What are the leading characteristics? To do justly, to seek truth. How commonplace, how stripped of the glory and pride dear to young imaginations, how possible for all to reach. I. The first test, whether we are worthy to be called men, is THE RIGHTNESS OF OUR ACTIONS, THE INTEGRITY OR JUSTICE OF OUR DOINGS. What is our conduct in life? Are we conforming ourselves to the Divine standard? Let us look at detail in right-doing in the different positions which we are called to fill. A deal of our lives is spent in our homes. There, if anywhere, we are genuine. We cannot seem to be what we are not before those who know us best, and who can read us through and through. How often there we fail to be men! The man who does justly is eminently tender, willing to enter into the feelings of others, to deal justly with them, to extend to them the sympathy of his strong nature. He is also helpful. The very presence of some men is helpful; you may not ask their advice, but to know they are near you is in itself a strength; and in the home relationships is it not the special province of the father, the husband, the son, the brother, to be helpful, to lift burdens, to smooth difficulties, to unravel the knots of this tangled existence? Do you not know homes where they who should be helpful only hinder the family life, where they are burdens and disgraces, taxing not only the family love, but wasting means all too narrow, and depriving their own kindred of their due share of life's blessings? Such are not men, still less are they men who presume on others' weakness. Many a husband shelters himself under his wife's love from the penalties of his neglect, if not of worse treatment. Many a lad, who, above all, wants to be thought manly, takes advantage of his parents' fondness, and wastes their hard-earned money in riotous living, while they believe it is being usefully spent on his education or advancement in life. Such men will never save a State, will never rise to such a height of nobility that they can leaven with the true spirit of goodness and righteousness the mass around them. II. The second test of manhood is SEEKING TRUTH. Truth is, in the Old Testament, not only mental but moral, is not only intellectual knowledge, but the knowledge of God and of His will. We need in this present day men equally ready to seek truth in all spheres of knowledge — in science, in philosophy, in politics, in religion. We cannot be too earnest in seeking all light, wherever it comes from. We should remember the words of the poet: "Truth is the strong thing; let man's life be true," and we should pursue our search in humility, in reverence, and in faith — above all, in regard to Divine things. That is a duty laid upon us all — to seek God, who is truth; to cleave to Him at all costs; to do His will, whatever it be. We may be mistaken as to what His will is; we may be troubled by doubts and difficulties, moral or intellectual; but we must remember that if we try to do justly we shall know the doctrine whether it be of God. III. In doing justly, in seeking truth, you will be men because you will be FOLLOWERS OF THE MAN CHRIST JESUS. When we think of Christ as man we too often think only of His sorrow, of His persecution, of His death. True man He was in all these points, and nothing soothes us more in our time of trouble than that blessed knowledge. But I wish you to realise Him as man not only in the weakness but in the strength of humanity. I wish you to recognise in Him the ideal man, who did justly and sought truth. Think of His life, of His tenderness to His mother, of His helpfulness to His friends. Think of the ideal which He set before men. "Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?" is His counsel to the multitude eager for the outward. "Lay not up treasure upon earth" is His warning to the rich and over-careful. "One thing is needful" is His reply to the cumbered housewife. Read these Gospels, and tell me if there ever breathed a purer, more righteous, more unselfish spirit. (J. R. Mitford Mitchell, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. |
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