466 A SHORT VIEW Ot+ 'SCRIPTURE HISTORY. to pronounce the judgments of God against the people ? A. Gad put forth his hand and touched his mouth, to signify his divine inspiration, and promised his presence with him tó deliver hint from all that should oppose him ; Verses 7 -19. 3. Q. What was the chief message with which Jeremiah was sent to the people, and to the princes and kings of Judah A. That Jerusalem should be destroyed, and the people and the princes should be carried away captive into Babylon, because of their sins, and remain there seventy years. From chapter vii. to xxv. 11, 12. 4. Q. By what methods did Jeremiah set before them their sins and these judgments of God ? A. By some very plain and direct speeches, by an example of the Rechabites set before them, and by some parables or emblems.- 5. Q. How did Jeremiah shew them the heinousness of their sins by a view of the example of the Rechabites ? A. Since all the family of Rechab abstained from wine, which is no unlawful liquor, merely becauseJonadab their father forbidthem ; much momshould the Jews have abstained from those practices which are utterly unlawful, when the God of Israel had forbid them ; Jer. xxxv. 1 -11, 13-19. 6. Q. What were some of the emblems by which God ordered Jeremiah to foretel their calamities ? A. A linen gir- dle, a potter's vessel, an earthen bottle, yokes of wood and of iron, &c. 7. Q. What was designed by the linen girdle ? A. Jere- miah was commanded to hide,it in the hole of -a rock-near the river Euphrates, and when he sought it again, it was quite spoiled ; so God decreed to spoil the pride of Jerusalem by the nation that dwelled near Euphrates, that is, Assyria; Jer. xiii. 1 -11. 8. Q. What was intended by the potter's vessel ? A. As when the vessel of clay was spoiled in the making, the form of it was changed, and it was moulded up into another vessel, as the potter pleased ; so God declared his power over the house of Is- rael, to manage and dispose of them as he pleased, and that he would change his providences and their state, according to their behaviour; Jer. xviii. 2-17. 9. Q. What further lesson was taught by an earthen bot- tle ? A. Jeremiah wascommanded to break the bottle in the sight of the priests and the elders, and to declare, " Thus saith the Lord, .even so will I break this nation and this ëity, that it shall not be made whole again ; Jer. xix. 11. 10. Q. What did Jeremiah teach them by the emblems of bonds and yokes ? A. In the days of Jehoiakim king of Judah God commanded Jeremiah to make bonds and yokes, and put them uponhis own neck, and then to .send them to the kings of the cations sound about, to assure them that theOthould all
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