Ver~. 59-63.-The Lord's knowle<l,ge of hi,s people's sufferings and wrongs. The first thought which occu~ to people when oppressed and afflicted is-The Lord takes no heed ; he has no compassion ; he will not help; my judgment is passed over from my God. But it is afterwards felt that such language is language of impatience and injustice. And the pious soul comes to rest almost satisfied beneath the blows and contempt of men, because a conviction springs up--lt is all known to the omniscient and s_,mpathiziug Lord. l. GoD, Th" HIS PilOVIDENCE, PERMITS HIS PEOPLE TO SUFFER AND E~"'DURE CALUMNIES, REPnoACHES, AND "WRONGS. Their endurance of such, now and again, is an unquestion- able fact. And if there be a God, and such a God as revelation declares, it iH certain that he suffers his people to pass through much that is painful to flesh and blood. II. GoD DOES NOT ALWAYS AND AT ONCE REMEDY THE ILLS WHICH DEFALJ. HIS PF.OPLE. The thought occurs to the oppressed and wronged-Can it be that he sees and bears all that is said and done to us. unmerited as it is on our part? If he does, how mysterious that be withholds his bands from avenging us, from discomfiting our cruel foes! III. Drvn."E DELAY IS NO PROOF OF DIVINE INDIFFERENCE. Christ stood upon the mountain-top, and by the misty moonlight watched his disciples tossed upon the lake, toiling in rowing, and sorely harassed. But he loved them, and if he did not come forth with to their relief there was a good reason for his delay. So often times men think God careless because their probation is prolonged; but in truth wisdom and love are the motives of all his acts and of even bis apparent tardiness. JV. GOD THUS TRIES HIS PEOPLE'S FAITH AND STEADFASTNESS AND PREPARES THEM FOR HIS SALVATION. After the stormy tempest how grateful is the rainbow I After the black night bow welcome is the dawn I The mere contrast, however it might heighten joy, would not account for God's action in testing bis servants. But there are moral endi; to be secured. And the furnace alone can separate the dross from the gold. The storm alone can try, can elicit, can perfect, the faith of the mariner and his confidence in the Lord who seems to sleep.-T.
Vers. 64-66.-Right.eoua recompense. Our conscience requires and approves of justice. Our weakness is too often in danger of cherishing resentment and malevolence. It is not safe, on most men's part, to hope for retribution upon their personal enemies. Perhaps the record of Jeremiah's feelings is not intended to be taken for an inculcation, or even a permission, of such imprecations upon our foes. I. THE GROtn,."'D UPON WHICH Dnnrn JUDGMENT 18 INVOKED. J. It was not personal offence given which suggested such a cry for vengeance. 2. It was the overt, deliberate conduct of men who acted in disobedience and defiance towards God, and wit.h inhumanity and barbarity towards their fellow-men. II. THE TRIBUNAL TO WHICH THE CONDUCT OF THE WICKED 18 REFERRED. 1. Not the fallible court of human justice or human requital. 2. But the court of Divine equity, in which none receives good. for evil, in which every plea for mitigation of sentence is beard, and from which none can depart with a complaint upon the lips. III. THE PURPOSE FOB WHICH RETRIBUTION IB IMPLORED. 1. Not for the gratifica- tion of vindictive feelings. 2. Not for the exaltation of the oppressed at the expense of the oppressor. 3. But for the speedy deliverance of God's wronged and harassed pc,,oplc. 4. For the advancement of God's cause upon earth. For the honour of God's glorious Name. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? "-1'. ell. Ill. 1-66.] 'l'lIE LAMEN'l'ATIONS OF JEr:EMIAH. G7
Ver. 18.-The sum nf a, terrible experience. This chapter must doubtless be taken ns tho utterance of Jercmiah's own feelings--feelings induceo. hy the c<>ntinual Rtress ond difficulty of his life. Through the first seventeen verses he alludes to some opponent and tormentor continually thwarting his every purpose, not for a sinale moment kwino- him free. Are we to suppose, then, that the prophet really helievea" all these untoward experiences to come from some one agent who had special designs a!!ainst him? or wnK he thus only trying to make more forcible the story of his sufferings? However this is to be settled, some of our difficulty is taken away when we find, on coming to ver. 18, this clear reference to Jehovah: "My strength and my hope is pe1ished from the Lord." These words we may take to mark about the lowest point in reckless and unadvised speaking. They give a sort of confession as to what a deadly member the tongue may become in hours of suffering. What we only feel to be the reality is taken to be the reality, whereas the reality may be immensely better. The prophet came to speak in a worthier way, and lived to admit that, in the very deptbs, he discovered what God's disposition to him really was. Note how the prophet made a. double mistake. / I. HE SAID BIS STRENGTH AND HOPE WERE PERISHED. Yet these things,even when composed of purely natural elements, are not so easily destroyed. Even with all the weakness that belongs to human nature, there is immense strength in it. After a. long life men wonder to look back and see what they have actually achieved, and the strain they have undergone. While we maybe alarmed in the midst of our troubles and vicissi- tudes, God looks on very differently, knowing how much strength there is to get over them. The resources of our own natures have to be developed, and the resources of grace connected with them. Then, when the strength is brought out, the hope naturally springs forth at the same time. 'l'here is hardly a greater peril in life than to act from the conclusions coming to us in gloomy moods. II. HE SAID BIB STRENGTH Al,"!) HOPE WERE PERISHED FROM Goo. From God. How came he to say such a thinii;, or even to think it for a moment? Probably because he had not sufficiently recollected wherein it is that God's favour really appears. To that God who has all power nothing would have been easier than to have made the prophet's path outwardly pleasant and straightforward. B11t where would have been the gain. in that? The thing really wanted was that, when Jeremiah was left alone, bereft of earthly comfort and stays, he should be led into a state of mind where he could say, "Though I seem alone, and in my solitude weak and hopeless, yet I am not alone ; for the God who made me a prophet is with me in ways which cannot be comprehended by my innumerable enemies."-Y.