Ver. 4. — The decline of national religion. Nowhere has the great truth of the close dependence of national prosperity upon national religion been more plainly and empha- tically taught than in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. Their spiritual insight detected the true cause of national degradation. Whoever looks below the surface may see that the decline and fall of nations may usually be traced to spiritual causes, to the loss of any hold upon eternal principles of righteousness and piety.
I. The open symptoms of the decline of a ration's religion. Those here men- tioned are in circumstances and colour local and temporary ; they were determined, as a matter of course, by what was peculiar to the religion of the country and of the day. 1. The roads of Zion are forsaken. There is no concourse upon the roads leading up to the metropolis, as was the case in the days of Judah's prosperity. 2. The gates are deserted and unentered. There was a time when the busy population passed to and fro, when the people gathered together at the gates to discuss the news of the iay, the •fibin of the city, when the royal processions passed in splendour througb the gates
10 THE LAMENTATIONS OP JEREMIAH. [ch.i.1— 2a
leading to the country. It is now so no longer. 3. The festivals are unfrequented. .''ormerly, when the great and sacred national feasts were being held, multitudes oi Israelites attended these holy and welcome assemblies to share in the pious mirth, the cheering reminiscences, the fraternal fellowship, distinctive of such solemn and joyous occasions. But now there are none to celebrate the mercies of Jehovah, none to fulfil the snored rites. To the religious heart the change is not only afflicting, it is crushing. 4. The ministers of religion are left to mourn. The priests who are left, if permitted to fulfil their ofBce, do so under the most depressing influences ; and no longer are there virgins to rejoice in the dance. The picture is painted in the darkest, saddest colours. We feel, as we enter into the prophet's lamentations, how dreary and hopeless is the state of that nation which God gives over to its foes.
II. The cause of the declinb: of a nation's beligion. This ever begins in spiritual unfaithfulness and defections. The external observances of religion may be kept up for a season, but this may be only from custom' and tradition. The body does not at once decay when the spirit has forsaken it. To forget God, to deny his Word, to break his laws, to forsake his mercy-seat, — such are the steps by which a nation's decline is most surely commenced, by which a nation's ruin is most surely anticipated.
III. The eemedt fob the decline of a nation's eeliqion. 1. Confession. 2. Repentance, 3. Prayer for pardon and acceptance. 4. Resolution to obey the Lord, and again to reverence what is holy and to do what is right. 6. The xaaon of all classes, rulers and subjects, priests and people, old and young, in a national reforma- tion.— T.
Ver. 7. — Mournful memories. The recollection of the past may be the occasion of the highest joy or of the profoundest sorrow. To remember former happiness is one of the great pleasures of human life, if that happiness did but lead on to its own con- tinuance and increase. The first beginnings of a delightful friendship, the first steps of a distinguished career, are remembered by the prosperous and happy with satisfaction and joy. It is otherwise with the memory of a morning of brightness which soon slouded, and which was followed by storms and darkness. In the text the anguish of Jerusalem is pictured as intensified by the recollection of bygone felicity.
I. The pebsbnt calamity excites by contbast the becolleotion of fbosfebous TIMES. L Affliction, hom^lessness, and misery are the present lot of Jerusalem. The city is in the hands of the enemy. The people have no longer a home which they can cling to, but face the prospect of exile, destitution, and vagrancy. 2. Helplessness, In times of prosperity neighbours were eager to offer aid which was not needed ; in these times of adversity no friendly proffer of help is heard. 3. Mockery. The Jews are a people from the first separated from surrounding nations by their laws, their customs, their religious observances. As an intensely religious people, they have erer set then- hearts upon tlieir revelation, upon the God of their fathers and his ordinances. Consequently they are most easily and most deeply wounded in their religious suscepti- bilities. Strange that a nation condemned to defeat and capture for its unfaithfulness to Jehovah should yet observe the appointed salibaths, and keenly feel the ridicule and the contempt incurred by such observance I Her adversaries mocked her sabbaths.
II. The becollection of prospeboub times enhances the anguish of fbesemt ADVEBSITY. Time has been when Jerusalem, her monarch, citizens, and surrounding population have enjoyed peace, plenty, respect from other nations, liberty of worship, and joyful solemnities. The force of contrast makes the memory of such time bitter and distressing. Their "crown of sorrow is remembering happier things."
Application. Let present privileges and prosperity be so used that the memory M them may never occasion bitter regret and misery. — ^T.
Ter. 10. — Spoliation and profanation. The presence of a foreign foe in its capital has always been regarded, and is still regarded, as among the heaviest calamities that can befall a nation. In our own times, a neighbouring nation has been required to endure this humiliation and indignity, shocking its patriotism and its pride. We can understand how bitter must have been the anguish of the Jews when the Chaldean hosts patrolled their city, quartered themselves upon its inhabitants, appropriated it« wealth, and violated the sanctity of its temple.
OH. 1. 1—22.] THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. 11
L Thb possebsionb or thb Jkws webb foboiblt afpbopbiatbd bt tbeib aster- babies. The greed of the conqueror has ever been the theme of satire and reproach. Va victit I " Woe to the conquered 1 " is an old proverb, founded upon an older propensity of human nature in its military condition. The pleasant and desirable things of a city ar( the spoil of the conqueror. It was so when the Chaldeans entered Jerudalem, sacked the city, and laid their hands upon whatever pleased their fancy.