Ver. 6.-Nor out themselves, nor me.ke ooours in pr6pheoies immediately after themselves bold. Both practices are for- threateniuga (e.g. Isa, x. 23, 2i), as if tu say, bidden in the Law (Deut. xiv. 1; Lev. xix. "Things being in suoh o. misero.ble pli 0 ht., 2S; xxi. 5), but the prohibition was at your God will iuterpose to help you;" "but anY rote unl,1own to the mMSes (see, for in the position of ver. 18. How can the the former, eh. xii. 5; xlvii. 5; and for the prophet say, "And first I will recompense )al.fer, eh. xhii. 5; Isa. xxii. 12, "The Lord their iniquity double," when vers. 16, 17 .Tehornh called ... to baldness; '1 Amos tiii. contain a description of this very double 10; ll'IiMh i. 16; Ezek. 'Iii. IS). St. Jerome recompense? remarks, e.nd incidentally gives a valuable Vers. 16, 17.-I will send for should rather evidence of the tenacity of primitive cus- be, I will send. Fishers o.nd hunters, by e. toms, "Mos hie fuit e.pud veteres, et usque divinely given impulse, shall "fish" and hodie in quibusde.m permanet Jud1BOrum, ut "hunt" the unhappy fugitives from their in luctibus incidant la.certos," etc. lurking-plnces. There may, perhaps, be an Yer. 7.-Tear iliemselves for them. The allusion to the cruel ancient practice of verb is used in Isa. !,iii. 7 of breaking " sweeping the country with a drag-net" bread (t.he accusative is there expressed), (Herod., iii. 149), and then destroying the nnd there is 110 doubt thnt this is the menn- male populntion: Samos, e.g. was thus ing here. The only question is whether " netted " and depopulated by the Persians. liihem, for them, should not rather be Haba.kkuk may also refer to this when he lekhem, bread (this was read by the Sep- says (i. 15), "They catch them in their net, tuagint, Peshito, Vulgate, Te.rgum). St. and.gather them in their drag." J·eromc sees here an allusion to the funeral Ver. 18.-First-i.e. before." I bring them feasts (comp. the parentalia), and surely he back again into their land "-I will recom- is right. The_ Jews had a conception of the pense . . . double; i.e. amply, in full nature of the life of the other world only less measure (comp. eh. xvii. 18; Isa. xl. 2 ; distinct than thnt of their Egyptian neigh- Rev. xviii. 6). With the oarcases, etc. The bour;;. The funeral feast was not merely for idols, which " defile the consciences" of those the living, but for the dead. Indeed, it was who worship.them, e.recompared to the most primarily inteuded for the spiritual nourish- unclean and loathsome objects. ment of tl.JOse who had gone before to the Ver. 19.-0 Lord, my strength, and my for- unseen world (comp. Bonwick, 'Egyptian tress, eto. Jeremiah falls into the tone of Belief and Modem Thought,' p. 48). Cbar- the psalmists (Ps. xviii. 2: xxviii. 8: lix. Jin, the old traveller, asserts that "the 17). All that is choicest and mostlpermo.- Oriental Christians still make banquets of nent in Old Testament religion finds its this kind by a custom derived from the adequate lyric expression in the Book of J ewe." The cup of consolation. It would Psalms. The Gentiles shall oome unto thee, seem as if the funeral feasts had dwind.Jed The article, however, is not expressed. among the Jews into little more than a " Nations," i.e. a crowd of peoples, hitherto refection for the benefit of the mourners. ignorant of the true God, shall ho.sten to the Ver. 9.-The voice of mirth, etc.: a striking scene of J ehovah's great interposition ; they description, repea~ed ~rom eh. vii 34. have been convinced by IsrR.el's unlooked- Ver. 12.-Ima.gmation; rather, stubbom- for restoration of the unique divinity of 'IIW (eh. iii 17). Jehovah. • Ver. 13.-A grim irony. In tb,e foreign Ver. 20.-Butthe Je,vsof this generation, lnnd ye shall serve your idols to ytfur hearts' in spite of the manifold proofs of the truo content, day and night if ye will, '' because, religion which have been vouchsafed to [not, where] I will '/lot ha'IJe mercy upon them, nre deserliqg the real divinity for the you" (by delivering you, autl ·so calling you unreal. In a. tone of surprise the prophet back from your idols). exclaims, Shall a. man make gods unto him- Vera. 14 15.-Tbe text of these verses self, etc.? occurs in a' more characteristic fo1-m and in Ver. 21.-The ,final answer of Jehovah. a better comiectiou in eh. xxiii. 7, 8. The There will be no further grace-time. I will connection here would be improved by in- this onoe cause them to know; rather, 1 toill serting the pasea;;e before _v~r. 18: and as this Hme.(comp. on eh. x. 18) cause them to di;iplo.cements are 1;1ot unfarn1lrnr pheno_mena a~lmowledge. Thejudgment which Je1·emiah in manuscripts, tine would not be a v10lent has had the sad duty of announcing will ,,et. The difficulty is not in the therefore prove to the blinded Jews tl111t Jehovah introducing tLe proruille, which freqµently alone ill true God, alone co.u strike a.nd heal, c;u, xvr. 1-21.] 'l'HE DOOK Oll' THE PROPHET JEUEMIAll.
HOMILETICS. Ver. 2.-"Forbidding to marry." I. CELIBACY Is NOT A-SCRIPTURAL VIRTUE. :Mar- riage is a Divine institution. It is natural, and God is the Author of nature; it ia recognized and regulated by inspired teaching and blessed by Christ; it is a means of human welfare.; JI. CELIBACY MAY BE WISELY OBSERVED IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF PECULIAR TROUBLE. Such were the circumstances of Judah in the days of Jeremiah; such, in tbe opinion of St. Paul, were the circumstances of his own time (1 Cor. vii. 26). Those were not times for wedding festivities; the married would be encumbered and hindered from doing their best for the public weal, and children born then would be born only to a heritage of misery. Similar circumstances may recur. III. CELIBACY MAY BE WISELY OBSERVED BY MEN WHO ARE co;-;;TEM.PLATING TASKS OF PECULIAR LONELINESS, DANGER, OR DIFFICULTY. There are risks that a man may encounter for himself which he should avoid if others would be seriously involved in his fate. There is work which precludes the enjoyment of domestic life. It is not right to undertake obligations to another that cannot be fulfilled. The pioneer of dangerous travel, the John the Baptist of wilderness missions, is better unmarried. IV. CELIBACY IS A DUTY FOB ALL UNTIL THEY ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE A SUITABLE MAINTENANCE FOB A FAMILY. It is not heroic but selfish to bring a family into a life of certain hardship and misery. The principle which applied to the public circum- stances of distress in Jeremiah's age applies to the private circumstances of distress which are met with in every age.