The Pulpit Commentary — Lamentations — Section 12

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1, 2.-The contrasts of adversity. The key-note of this strain of sorrow, this poetical and pathetic dirge, is struck in the opening words of the composition. The heart of the prophet laments over the captured and ruined city. How natural that the present should recall the past I Jerusalem, now in the hands of the Cbaldeans, was once, in the days of David and of Solomon, the scene of glory and the seat of empire, the joy of the whole earth. So much the sadder is the contrast, the deeper the fall, the bitterer the cup of woe. I. THE ONCE POPULOUS OITY IS SOLITARY. Not the walls, the streets, the palaces, the temples, but the inhabitants, are the true strength and glory of a city. Formerly Jeru- salem was thronged with citizens who took pride in her majesty, of sojourners who ea.me to gaze with wonder and admiration upon her splendours. Now her population has been reduced by famine, by exile, by war; and silence is in her streets. II. THE OITY ONCE A PRINCESS rs TRIBUTARY. The time was when other cities acknowledged her sway, paid her their tribute, sent her of tl:.eir produce and of the labour of their sons. Now she is reduced to subjection, yields her treasure to the foe, and the toil of her children is for the profit of the alien. III. THE CITY THAT ONCE WAS JOYFUL WEEPS. Mirth and mnsic ha.ve given place to mourning, lamentation, and woe. No longer are the sound of the viol and the harp, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, heard in her dwellings. They resound with the cries of grief and anguish. She weepeth in the night, and her tears are on her cheek. IV. THE CITY ONOE THE SPOUSE OF THE LORD lB WIDOWED. To Jerusalem it had been said, "Thy Maker is thy Husband I" But because of her unfaithfulness and apostasy the Lord has forsaken her; she is become as a widow, unprotected, dese1ted, solitary, and com.fortless. V. '!'HE OITY ONCE RICH IN ALLIES AND HELPERS 18 UNFRIENDED. Not only is she feeble with:n, she is friendless without. In prosperous days neighbouring nations sought her good will and alliance, and were forward with their offers of friendship and of help. All this is of the past; those who vowed faithfulness ha.ve proved treacherous, and have became the enemies of Judiea in the e:x.tremity of her desolation, forsaking, and woe.-T. Ver. 4.-The decline of national religion. Nowhere has the great truth of the close dependence of national prosperity upon national religion been more plainly and empha- tically taught thap in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. '!'heir spiritual insight detected the true cause of national degradation. Whoever looks below the surface may see that the decline and fall of nations may usually be traced to spiritual causes, to the loss of any hold upon eternal principles of righteousness and piety. I. THE OPEN SYMPTOMS OF THE DECLINE OF A NATION'S RELIGION. Those here men- tioned are in circumstances and colour local and temporary ; they were determined, as a matter of course, by what was peculiar to the religion of the country and of the day. 1. The roads of Zion are forsaken. There is no concourse upon the roads leading up to the metropolis, as was the case in the da.ys of Judah's prosperity. 2. The gates are deserted and tmentered. There wa.s a time when the busy population passed to and fro, when the people gathered together at the gates to discuss the news of the day, the affairs of the city, when the royal processions passed in splendour througll the gate;; 10 'J:BE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. (err. 1.1-22.