leading to the country. It is now so no longer. 3. The festivals are unfrequented. Formerly, when the great and sacred national feasts were being held, multitudes of hraelites attended these holy and welcome o.ssemblies to share in the pious mirth the cheering reminiBCences, the fraternal fellowship, distinctive of such solemn and joyous occasions. But now there are none to celebrate the mercies of Jehovah, none to fulfil the sacred rit.ee. To the religious heart the change is not only affiicling, it is crushing. 4. The minist.ers of religion are 'left to mourn. The priests who are left, if permitted to fulfil their office, do so under the most depressing influences; and no longer arc there ,·irgins to rejoice in the dance. The picture is painted in the darkest, saddest colours. V, e foe!, o.s we enter into the prophet's lamentations, how dreary and hopeless is the state of that nation which God gives over to its foes. II. THE CAUSE OF THE DECLINll OF A NATION'S REl,IGION. This ever begins in spiritual unfaithfulness and defections. The external observances of religion mo.y be. kept up for a season, but this may be only from custom and tradition. The body does not at once decay when the spirit has forsaken it. To forget God, to deny· his Word, to break bis laws, to forsake his mercy-seat,-such a.re the steps by which a. nation's decline is most surely commenced, by which a nation's ruin is most surely anticipated. III. 'l'HE REMEDY FOR THE DECLINE OF A NATION'S RELIGION. 1. Confession. 2. Repentance. 3. Prayer for pardon and acceptance. 4. Resolution to obey the Lord, and again to reverence what is holy and to do what is right. 5. The union of all classes, rulers and subjects, priests and people, old and young, in a national reforma- tion.-T. Ver. 7.-Mournful memories. The recollection of the psst may be the occasion of the highest joy or of the profoundest sorrow. To remember former happiness is one of the grea.t pleasures of human life, if that happiness did but lead on to its own con- tinuance and increase. The :first beginnings of a delightful friendship, the first steps of a distinguished career, are remembered by the prosperous a.nd happy with satisfaction and joy. It is otherwise with the memory of a morni.ug of brightness which socin clouded, and which was followed by storms and darkness. In the text the anguish of Jerusalem is pictured as intensified by the recollection of bygone felicity. I. THE PRESENT CAL.AJIITY EXCITES BY CONTRAST THE RECOLLECTION OF PROSPEROUS Tll4ES. 1. .Aifiiction, homelessness, and misery are the present lot of Jerusalem. The city is in the hands of the enemy. The people have no longer a home which they can cling to, but face the prospect of exile, destitution, and vagrancy. 2. Helplessness. In times of prosperity neighbours were eager to offer aid which was not needed ; in these times of adversity no friendly proffer of help is beard. 3. Mockery. The Jews are a people from the :first separated from surrounding nations by their laws, their customs, their religious observances. As an intensely religious people, they have ever set their hearts upon their revelation, upon the God of their fathers and his ordinances. Consequently they are most easily and most deeply wounded in their religious suscepti- bilities. Strange that a nation condemned to defeat and capture for its unfaithfulness to Jehovah should yet observe the appointed sabba.ths, and keenly feel the ridicule and the contempt incurred by such observance l Her adversaries mocked her sabbaths. II. THE RECOLLECTION OF PROSPEROUS TlllES ENHANCES THE ANGUISH OF PRESENT ADVERSITY. Time h;M; been v.he:J. Jerusalem, her monarch, citizens, and surrounding population ha.ve enjoyed peace, plenty, respect from· other nations, liberty of worship, and joyful solemnities. 'l'he force of contrast makes the memory of such time bitter and distressing. Their" crown of sorrow is remembering happier things." APPLICATION. Let present privileges and prosperity be so used that the memory of them may never occasion bitter regret and misery.-'r. Ver. 10.-BpoUatwn and profa,nati,on. The presence of a foreign foe in its capital ba.s always been regarded, and is still regarded, as among the heaviest calamities that can befall a nation. In our 11wn times, a neighbouring nation has been required to endure this humiliation and indignity, shocking its patriotism and its pride. We can understand how bitter must have been the anguish of the Jews when the Chaldean hosts patrolled their city, quartered themselves upon its inhabitants, appropriated its wealth, and viola!.ed the sanctity of its temple. OH. I. 1-22.) THID LAMEN'l'ATIONS OF JERID:MIAH. Jl
J. THE POBBEBBlONS OF THE JEWS WERE FOROIBT.T APPROPRIATED BT THE"Tlt ADVlm- BARIEB, The greed of the conqueror bas ever been the theme of se.tire and reproach. Va: victis I "Woe to the conquered I" is e.n old proverb, founded upon an older propensity of human nat.ure in its military condition. The pleasant and desirable things of a city are the spoil of the conqueror. It was so when the Chaldeans entered J erusa.lem, sacked the city, and laid their hn.ndR upon whatever pleased their fancy. II. 'l'HE HOLY BOUSE OF JERUSALEM WAS SACRILEGIOUSLY ABUSED BT THE HEATHEN CONQUERORS. The temples of their gods are always the object of II nation's reverence and sometimes of affection. But the Jews had especial reason for venerating their sanctuary; it was the scene of their sacrifices and offerings, the depository of their oracles, the spot where the Shechinah-glory was displayed. The more sacred portion of the edifice was reserved for the priests; even the devout Jews were not suffered to enter these c;onsecrated precincts. What, then, must have been the disgust, the horror, with which the pious contemporaries of Jeremiah, and especially the prophet himself, witnessed the profanation of the sanctuary, as the Chaldean soldiers polluted it with their heathen presence and speech I Their feelings were injured in the most susceptible part of their nature. APPLICATION. Retribution is not an accident; neither is it the mere outworking of natural laws. There is Divine providence superintending it; it has a meaning, for it witnesses to human responsibility and sin; it bas a. purpose, for it summons to repent- ance and newness of life.-T.