The great facts of which our text reminds us, 1. _Should give calmness and steadiness to our faith._ We should not be greatly moved either by the distresses of the righteous or the triumphs of the wicked. These are most transient. The longest life is really a most inconsiderable episode in our being. This is but the beginning of our voyage; what matters it whether we clear out of port in a storm or amid bright sunshine? What will happen to us on mid-ocean is the only thing worthy of our concern. 2. _They should govern us in the decisions we have continually to make in life,_ between courses that are right, but involve present suffering, and those which are pleasant, but wrong. The sick man who refuses to undergo the present pain which will assure him of future health, and prefers the transient ease which will presently give place to intolerable agony, is insane. Let us not imitate him in his folly. But if the rewards of every man's hands shall be given him, how shall _any_ man be saved? This is precisely the difficulty which the Gospel was designed to meet. It is precisely because no man can be saved on his own merits that Christ came into the World, and died for every man, and now offers redemption to every man. This offer is made to YOU. For Christ's sake, the sins of the righteous shall be forgiven them; and for His sake likewise, they shall be rewarded according to their works (Matt. x. 42, xvi. 27; Heb. vi. 10, &c.) Between the doctrine of justification by faith and the doctrine of good works there is the most perfect harmony. THE CURSE OF A WEAK GOVERNMENT. iii. 12. _As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them._ "Children," "women," are not to be taken literally. In interpreting the second of these figures, we must remember the status of women in ancient times in the East. +I. A weak government is a curse.+ 1. By such a government the affairs of a nation are mismanaged, its resources squandered, and its great possibilities unrealised. 2. A weak government always becomes in the end an oppressive government. By it the national burdens are caused to press most heavily on those least able to bear them. 3. Under such a government, privileged classes and monopolies multiply and grow strong, to the hurt of the nation at large. 4. Worst of all, and as the source of countless evils, government itself comes to be despised, and the national respect for law destroyed. In short, under a weak government a nation makes rapid progress towards anarchy. +II. The curse of a weak government is not long in overtaking a nation that gives itself up to luxury and loses its regard for moral considerations.+ 1. It is only by such a nation that such a government would be tolerated. 2. By such a nation such a government is likely to be for a time most popular (Jer. v. 31).