The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 285

nocks all scattered ; those that tho foe had not destroyed driven olf and wandering in the wilderness, none knew where. It is a picture of utter and most mournful desolation. II. lTs MEANING. Its intent is to represent what was about to happen in regard to the Church and people of Judah. 'l'he temple shoulll be overthrown and burnt with fire; her holy places profaned, her altars broken down, her sacred services all brought to nn end, the solemn feast-day no more observed. Her children-they who ministered at her altars and sang the high praises of the Lord-should have gone forth from her and be as though they were not, and all the congregation of the people, the flock of the Lord, should be scattered. And all this came to pass, as we well know, violently and as in a moment, like as a stone is suddenly hurled forth from the sling (ver. 18). Dut the prophet's picture has a yet wider application; for it tells of the terrible desolation which may come upon any Church, whether in a nation, or a community, or in any given district. Under the vivid imagery which Jeremiah employs we may see represented the deplorable disaster of a Church's desolation, and whence and how it comes. Therefore let us look at : 1. The overthrown tent. By it we may see represented the destruction of the whole organization of the Church. How beautiful is the spectacle presented to the outward eye by a Church that enjoys the blessing of God I Behold her sanctuaries. Look upon them, from the stately cathedral down to the humblest house of God in the land. Here, with dome and towers and spires piercing the sky, pointing upwards, heavenwards, and breaking the dull level of men's common habitations, aud of the buildings which they have reared for their dwellings, their labour, their trade. And out in the country, on the hillside, scattered over the wide plains and along many a quiet valley, in hamlet, village, and town, we behold the sanctuaries built for God, and the stream, larger or smaller, of worshippers that continually go up to them to worship. Each one of these sanctuaries a centre of light and warmth, of energy and holy toil, blessing and being blessed. And think of the sa,bba,ths of the Church-those blessed days of rest, when the weary round of toil is made to hush its noise, and for the time to cease. The plough stands still in the furrow, the horses roam in the meadow or gladly rest in the stall; but the ploughman is gone home, that he may, if he will, give heed to the husbandry of the soul and to the preparation for the harvest of heaven. Nor, in this survey, may we pass by the Chwrch's worship. What myriads of jubilant anthems and glad psalms and triumphant hymns go up heavenwards, with a merry n.oise ! What help for all who desire it is won by those who give heed to the holy truth that is at such times proclaimed I Ah! if spiritual thought and feeling could, by some Divine chemistry, bo made visible, what a glorious scene would be witnessed I Like unto the rainbow which was round about the throne, beautiful to behold, would the worship of the Church be seen, even ns it is seen by him to whom and for whom and by whom it is all rendered. Think, too, of the worlc of the Church. 'l'he ships that bear her messengers, charged to proclaim the glad tidings of the gospel to all mankind, speed their way through all seas, across all ocenns, and enter every harbour. Ah! yes; Christ's Church on earth, faulty, imperfect, unfaithful, as she so often and so largely is,-where would the world be without her 't and where would the wretched and the lost find their truest friends, if not in her? But all this outward organization, this visible tabernacle of the Church, is contemplated, not as in her happy ideal, but in the very reverse. The prophet's picture portrays the tabernacle thrown down, and desolation everywhere. Hence her sanctuaries forsaken, profaned, or left to decay and ruin; her services abandoned or turned into mere per- formances of worn-out ceremonies; her sabbaths no longer days of guarded rest, but like all other days; her work paralyzed and dropped more and more, and all her external framework and organization overthrown. 'l'ry and realize what that would be. And this is not all. 2. Her children a,re represented as having gone forlh from her. When all is well with a Church, it is our joy to see the children taking the fathers' place, coming forward to uphold the standard which the aged hands of the seniors are compelled to Jct go. How delightful such a scene is we need hardly say. But there is nothing of this kind contemplated here, but, on the contrary, those to whom the Ohurch would naturally look to carry on her work l\re seen borne away captive by the foes of the Church, and as slaves to the world. 3. And the last foature in this sad picture is tli.e scattering of the flock. 'l'he people at large, for whose interests the Church was c:11. x. 1-25.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 285