d, always clear and
potential,(756) He had planted them and built them up to be a nation.
These were the proofs of Him--ever operative, effective and victorious both
over their foes and over every natural obstacle which their life
encountered. And being _the Living God_ He still works and is ready to
work, would His people only seek where!(757) He is awake, watching over
His Word _to perform it_ and controlling the nations.(758) It is He who
has made the earth and gives it to whom He will,(759) who prepares the
destroyers of His people, who calls for the kingdoms of the North, even
for the far Scythians beyond the edge of the world, to execute His
purposes.(760) He brings the King of Babylon against Jerusalem, and
recalls the Chaldeans to their interrupted siege of the city, gives it
into their hands and Himself banishes its people.(761) He moulds the
nations for his own ends, and if they fail Him, decrees their
destruction.(762) His Word builds and plants but also pulls up and tears
down.(763) He is always near to guide or to argue with nations and
individuals, and to give directions and suggestions of practical detail to
His servants for the interpretation and fulfilment of His purposes.(764)

It was all this activity and effectiveness, with their sure results in
history, which distinguished Him from other gods, the gods of the nations,
who were ineffective, or as Jeremiah puts it _unprofitable--no-gods,
nothings_ and _do-nothings, the work of men's hands, lies_ or _frauds_,
and mere _bubbles_.(765) On this line Jeremiah's monotheism marks a
notable advance; for alongside of faith in the Divine Unity and
Sovereignty there had lingered even in Deuteronomy a belief in the
existence of other gods.(766) With Jeremiah every vestige of this
superstition is gone, and other gods consigned to limbo once and for all.

Yet Jeremiah's monotheism, like that of all the Hebrew prophets, is even
more due to convictions of the character of the God of Israel. We have
seen how he dwells on the Divine Love, faithful and yearning for love in
return, pleading and patient even with its delinquent sons and
daughters;(767) but equal to this is his emphasis on the righteousness of
the Most High, by all His deeds _working troth, justice, and judgment on
the earth_, which are His delight and the knowledge of which is man's only
glory.(768) He demands from His people not sacrifices, which He never
commanded to their fathers, nor vows but a better