Ver. 55.-Jeremiah cal,1,ing out of tlie dungeon. This is no mere figure for e. great extremity, as we a.re made to feel when we read eh. xxxviii. of the prophecies. It was not from amid mere restraint that the prophet cried, but from miry depths, most perilous, painful, and disgusting. Note- • I. THE PUTTING INTO THE DUNGEON. God does not stretch forth his hand to prevent his servants from being put into such dreadful circumstances. He looks on while they are baled to prison and even to death. For a lesson has to be taught with regard to the limitations of human power. Jeremiah's enemies might say to him, while down in the miry pit, " Where is now thy God? " but this was because they estimated God's favour to men according to the presence or absence of certain outward things. God's favour is not shown by preservin~ us in certain external possessions. Even life may have to be yielded for bis sake. God does not interfere miraculously, even with the conduct of wicked men, unless there is some very special reason. •What he says is, "You shall really be safe whatever men may do." He who allowed liis Son to be put to death, did then open wide, so that no man can shut it, the gate that leads to eternal life. IL THE TAKING OUT OF THE DUNGEON. This was in answer to prayer. And the prayer came from a spirit of trust that no gloom and discomfort of the pit could destroy. If Jeremiah had allowed himself to say that his conjunction with Jehovah had been a mere delusion, then he might have been left in the pit. And even with all his faith he might have been left in the pit. But then there would have been a clear assurance that death was better than life. And, indeed, it is probable that, if God had allowed his servant to go out of the world at the hands of his enemies, he might have been spared a great deal of pain and sorrow. What is to be looked to in these matters is, not tho present ease of the individual, but the best way in which his life can be used for tho good of men and the glory of God. Prisons are no prisons, pits are no pits, if God chooses to give to his servants liberty and continue to them their natural life. In one way or another he brings his servants out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay.-Y. Vers. 60--66.-Jeremiah and his enemies. L TeE PROCEEDINGS OF THESE ENEMIES. The spirit of vengeance is in their hearts. Jeremiah has spoken steadily against them what Jehovah had laid on him to say. They know the language in which t.hey have been described. It was, of course, just the thing to be expected that bad men should cherish vengeful purposes. And Jeremiah had to bear the consciousness of this-the very painful consciousness that he was the cause, however innocent, of showing up the worst passions in the hearts of others. '!'his spirit of vengeance manifested itself in two ways. 1. Bepruach. He was called all sorts of names, held up to derision and execration. He indeed had to reproach, but then there was a measure and dignity in CJI, Ill. 1-66.] TH~ LAMENTATIONS OF JEREM [AH. r,,3
the words he employed. His reproaches were meant to call the reproached ones to repentance. But the reproaches from his enemies meant immediati:J dan;;er to him- chinger from the populace on the one hand, and the authorities on the other. 2. Plotting. Society was just in the state when plots could be carried out with success. Jeremiah did not make one enemy or a few enemies, hut many. They were wicked men, 11nd doubtless had subordinates ready to hand for any knavery that was going on. II. JmrnMIAH's BELIEF THAT GoD's EYE WAS UPON THESE ENEMIF,S, "Thou hast 9ccn." It is a great matter to feel that God has his eye upon all human wickedne,~. \Vo may suffer greatly from it, and yet see only a very small part of what he sees. We o.re for ever running into extremes, exaggerating or palliating, magnifying the reality or else diminishing it. We look at things too mucn in reference to our individual selves, and as they concern us. But God sees things as they truly are, in all their relations and possibilities. Some things are worse than we think thern, others better. And so we are enabled to feel that all wickedness is kept within comparatively innocuous limits. The mischief only reaches the outside of what is attacked, for the same Go<l who watches the wicked watches the good at the same time. III. 'l'HE PRAYED OF JEREMIAH. (Vera. 64---66.) The vehemence, the almost savageness of these words sta!:(gers us. But then, we are not to expect the gentleness of a Christian from an old Jewish prophet. We are r:ot required to justify every petition of God's servants. We have to distinguish between the proph~t taken out of himself by inspiration and the man of like passions with ourselves, who ha.a to pass through a long discipline before he can pray as he ought to pray. We may feel here that a silent waiting upon God would have been better than any imprecations of ven- geance, and yet, at the same time, we must acquit Jeremiah of anything like personal malice. He wished that the wicked might be recompensed according to the work of their hands. The wicked wished Jeremiah to be treated according to the ferocity ot their own hearts.-Y.
Ver. 63.-The music of the wicked. I. THE PLEASURES OF BAD ME~. Musical tastes are, of course, irrespective of moral character. There are certain original qualities both in eye and ear which remain and demand satisfaction., whatever the moral character may become. If a person of musical tastes becomes a Christian, than his Christianity may be the better for his music, or possibly, if he is not careful, it may become worse. On the other hand, if a person of musical tastes becomes an utterly selfish and self- indulgent man, then music will become the instrument of all that is bad. And so we find that great excellence in arts has been found intermingled with the grossest pro- fligacy. Men are not necessarily better because intellect and tastes have been cultivated. The only power which, allowed to work, must make men better is the Holy Spirit of God, and where he is working, such things as music and pictures may be welcomed to give additional beauty. II. A MALIGNAN'l.' TENDENCY IN THE PLEASURES OF BAD MEN. Bad men must ever be hindered and thwarted by the good, and when the bad get any sort of temporary triumph over the good, they will make it a cause of exultation. To some degraded and embittered hearts great is the pleasure of giving pain. This is the peril of satirists. Great intellectual gifts and powers of literary expression are concentrated on a few polished verses, which pain the subject of them all his life. 'l'here is no diviner instrument than pain as a means to nn end, but surely that heart is set on fire of hell that can make pain an end in itself.--Y.