The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 286

bidden to care, turning from her with disgust, scouting her claims, running riot in sin unchecked, unhindered, unwamed; sinking down into awful depths of wickedness and spiritual ignorance, living "without God and without hope in the world." Such is the scattering of the flock, the alienation of her children, and the spoiling of her tabernacle from all which may God evermore keep and defend us. But that we may be thu; defended, let us- III. INQuntE THE OAUSE OF SUOH DISASTER, It is clearly stated in ver. 21, "Tha pastors have become brutish, and have not sought the Lord." 1. Who are these pastors? It would be a mistake to suppose that only ministers are meant. Jeremiah did not mean these only, but all to whom the flock of God were entrusted-kinas, 0 rulers, judges, parents, and teachers, heads of families, and all to whom, by virtue of their position, the charge and responsibility of watching over the souls of others was given. 2. Now, these pastors had" become brutish." By which is meant, first of all, unintelligent, stupid, blind to the meaning of facts, and incapable of perceiving what needed to be done; with no quick apprehension, if any at all, of their responsibility, their duty, or the peril that threatened both their flock and themselves; settled down into the stolid apathy and indifference of igaorance, of dulled perception, and of bliadness of heart. Brutish, too, because unspiritual, materialized, worldly, earth-bound; havina little or no regard for anythiag beyond what this life can give or take away ; ea.ring more for the fleece of the flock than for its faith and fidelity. And brutish, it may be, in a yet lower sense, because sensual; like those of whom Paul tells with bitter tears, "Whose god," he says, "is their belly, who glory in their shame, who mind earthly things." 3. "The pastors have become brutish." ·what an awful association of ideas I Can any condition be conceived of more horrible than this? No wonder such disastrous results followed. 'l'hink how dreadful such a fa.et must be for the honour of Ohrist. How his Name must be blasphemed I How such must crucify the Son of God afresh, and once more put him to open shame! How again the Lord Jesus, pointing to the wounds in his sacred, hands and feet and side, must declare, "These are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" I Blessed Saviour, keep us from such sin as this. And how dreadful for the Church of Ohrist, which he bas purchased with his own blood I How such men discourage the Church I how they chill its ardour! how they stagger its faith I how they weaken its strength I how they imperil its very life I And bow dreadful for the world 1 "Woe unto the world," said our Saviour, "because of offences I" This he said in pity for the world, hindered, made to stumble and fall by those who should only have helped it on its way to God. How many will bo hardened in wickedness, encouraged to despise all religion, furnished with fresh subject for impious mockery and new arguments for sin, by such as they of whom our text tells I And how dreadful for these brutish ones themselves I "But woe," said Jesus," unto them by whom that offence cometh I" "Who shall abido the day of the Lord's coming" to execute his wrath on them? Who, indeed I God, in his infinite mercy, save us from ever knowing what that wrath is. 4. Bat how came this awful full, What brought down these pastors to this dreadful condition? And the answer to this question is plainly given, They did 11ot seek the Lord; they were prayerless pastors: and that explains all. Now, this did not mean that there wo.s no worship, no praise, no pro.yer, ever offered, \Ve know there was. The temple service went on and the sacrifices were presented as usual. But there was no true, heo.rtfelt prayer. They did not really seek tho Lord. And so with ourselves, thcro may be, and there probably will be, the keeping up of pious customs, tho daily prayers, the ordinary worship; but for such seeking of the Lord ns is here told of, and the negkct of which worked such ruin, there must be far more than this. 'l'hero must bo that full appli- cation of the heart and mind, that lifting up of tho soul to God, th:i.t drawing out of the affections after him, that cleaving of the desires to him, that o.nlour and yet that patience, that humility and yet that boldness which time cannot measure, which make lonO'0 prayers seem short to him who offers them, and short prayers, if of neces- sity they must be short, count as long prayers with him who, for Christ's sake, mercifully receives the soul who follows hard after him. 'l'his is tho kind of prayer which can alone be our safeguard from the abyss into which tho pastors here told of fall. Would we escape it, we must seek the Lord so; all elso is as socking him not at ~ll. h is no holic1ay task, but one demanding all the energies of tho soul. llow many,  286 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [arr. x. 1-25.