Ver. 20.-The cry of tM contrite. Trouble, when it leads to an inquiry into its cause, when it prompts to submission and to repentance, proves a means of grace. The cry of suffering and distress may have no moral significance; the cry of contrition and of supplicatioo is a sign of spiritual impression, and is a step towards spiritual recovery, I. THE OCCASION OF AFFLICTION AND CONTRITION. This is here specified, and the reality and severity are manifest. Within, i.e. in the homes and streets of the city, there is dearth; without, i.e. in the field, there is destruction by the sword. Thus in two strokes national calamity and disaster are depicted. IL THE TOKENS OF AFFLICTION -"''D CONTRITION, Man's bodily nature is expres- sive of his spiritual state. Severe suffering and distress display themselves in organic, physical disturbance 'l'he prophet feels in his bodily frame the disturbing effects of the trials he has undergone, the lively sympathy he has experienced. III. THE C01'7ESSION TO WHICH AFFLICTION AND 00NTBITION LE.AD. Identifying the nation with himself, the prophet exclaims, " I have grievouijly rebelled." There is candour and jnstice, there is submissiveness, there is spiritual discernment, in this outspoken acknowledgment. No excuse, no extenuation, no complaint, is here, but a plain confession of ill desert, Rebels against a rightful authority, against a just, for- be!l.ring Sovereign, what could the Jews expect but such humiliation as they actually experienced'! "If we c011fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive." IV. '1'11E cnv OF AFFLICTION AND OF CONTRITION. 1. It is a cry unto the Lord. Judah had looked for earthly friends and helpers, and had learned by bitter experience the vanity of such expectations. And now Judah sought the Lord whom by sin and rebellion she had offended. 2. It is an entreaty for Divine regard and consideratioo. What had happened was indeed by permission of Heaven. But the regard implored WM one of sympathy, commiseration, and kindness. 3. It is a cry for deliverance, It is dictated by the assurance that he and only he who wounded can heal and comfort and restore.-T. Ver. 1.- Widowhood-the emblem of l,onelinua. L THE FOROE OF THE EMBLEM. Another emblem might have been used. Or the statement as to loneliness might have been left in its simplicity without any comparison at all. Why, then, this particular emblem? Because it sets forth the separation between two parties to a peculiar con- nection-a connection intended to have all the permanence which anything in this CU. I. 1-22,] THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIATI, 13
ee.rth cnn he.ve. Of the huebe.nd e.nd wife it ie to be said that "they twain have become one flesh," and when the wife becomes e. widow she is Jen in a pP,culiar and irremediable loneliness, even though she be in the midst of kindred, neighbours, and friends. So e.lso we may say that the inhabitants of Jerusalem, together with the place itself, its site, its houses, its streets, had become one great whole. The children of Israel wandered through the wilderness for forty years, but when at last they left it, it would not have been suitable to say that the wilderness had become as a widow. II. A VIEW THUS SUGGESTED AB TO THE CAUSE 011' SEPARATION. One kind of loneli- ness had come as a terrible visitation because another kind of loneliness had not been sought as an imperative condition of security. Had not Balaam said, "The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Numb. xxiii. 9)? Israel was to dwell in safety alone. What could be expected if the people mixed again so recklessly with those from whom they had been separated by a course of Divine marvels? It may also be noticed that Jerusalem would not have been left as a widow if the people of Jerusalem and the countryaltogetherba<l had in them the spirit which prompted to deal wisely and compassionately with every widow. The widow bad been carefully provided for by Mosaic enactments, e.g. in the solemn feasts and in the time of harvest, Yet in the first chapter of Isaiah's prophecies we find him denouncing the princes of the once faithful city because the cause of the widow did not come unto them. III. A GROUND OF HOPE, Widowhood is evidently a state on which the loving God looks down with infinite tenderness and desire to help. Jerusalem became as a widow, yet the separation was not for ever. Her exiled inhabitants returned. Yet this was a small matter compared with the greater truths taught alike by the separation and the restoration. Things nearest and dearest to us may have to be taken away for a time, but all that belongs to our real welfare and to our complete relation to even the whole universe will come back in due time. We must not mistake eclipse for destruction.-Y.