HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS.
Ver. 1. — The anger of the Lord. Men have fallen into two opposite extremes of opinion and of feeling with regard to the anger of the Lord. Theie liave been times when they have heeu wont to attribute to the Eternal the passions of imperfect men, when they have represented the holy God as muved by the storms of indignation, as subject to the impulses of caprice and the instigations of cruelty. But in our own days the tendency is the contrary to this ; men picture God as all amiability and forbearance, as regarding the sinful and guilty with indifference, or at all events without any emotion of displeasure. Soriptme warrants neither of these extremes.
I. There are occasions when God ib anget with even the objects of his SPECIAL FAVOUR. Jerusalem was the " daughter of Zion;" the temple was " the beauty of Israel ; '' the ark was God's " footstool." But as even human love is not necessarily or justly blind to the faults of those beloved, so the Lord is displeased with those wht)m he has endowed with peculiar privileges and blessings, when they are unmindful of his mercies and disobedient to his laws. " As many as I love," says the Divine Head of the Church, " I rebuke and chasten."
I. From the hearts op the disobedient God hides himself as » a oloud. When the sun is concealed behind a cloud, nature is chill, dull, and gloomy. The Lord is the Sun in whose light his people find joy and peace ; when he hides his face they are troubled, for no longer is it the case that " they look unto him and are lightened." The heart and conscience of those who have offended God are overcast with spiritual gloom and unhajipiness. So Israel found it ; and there are none who have known the blessedness of God's fellowship and favour who can bear without distress the withdrawal of the heavenly light.
III. Upon the heads of tee rebellious God hubls ths bolt of his DisPLEAsnRE. The tempest long lowered over the doomed city ; at last it broke in fury, and Jerusalem becaoie a prey to the spoiler and was cast down to the ground. Tlie prophet clearly saw, what in an age of ease and luxury men are prone to forget, that there is a righteous Ruler from whose authority and retributive power no state and no soul can escape. • Gfd is angry with the wicked every day." Yet in the midst of wrath he remembers me cy, and the penalties he inflicts answer their purpose if they lead to submission and to sincere repentance. — T.
Vers. 6, 7. — Retribution in Ohurch and state. There are occasions when it ia well to ponder seriously the calamities which befall a nation, to lay them to heart, to inquire into their causes, and to seek earnestly and prayerfully the way of deliverance, the means of remedy. " They that lack time to mourn lack time to mend."
I. It 18 WELL TO LOOK THROUGH NATIONAL DISASTERS TO THE PROVIDENTIAIi BI7LB
WHICH ALONE FULLY EXPLAINS THEM. The ruiu which Overtook Jerusalem and Jndah was wrought by the armies of the Chaldeans. But the inspired prophet saw in the Assyrian hosts the ministers of Divine justice. The sufferings of the Jews were not iccidental ; they were a chastening, a discipline, appointed by the Lord of hosts, the King of kings. The Eternal had a controversy with his people. They had not listened to his Word, and therefore he syoke to them in thunder.
II. The POLITICAL and ecclesiastical AUTHORITIES OF A NATION AKB ALIKE
RESPONSIBLE FOR NATIONAL SINS. The kings and chiefs had sought their own honour ind ease and prosperity. The priests and prophets had discharged their ofiSces in a manner perfunctory and formal. Under their natural and appointed leaders the nation had erred, had lapsed into idolatry, into sensuality, into practical unbelief. Rulers had not ruled in equity ; teachers had not taught with faithfulness and fearlessness. Like king, like subjects ; like priest, like people. All were to blame, but those were most :ulpable whose responsibility was greatest.
III. ChUBOH AND STATE ALIKE ENDURE THE PENALTIES OF TRANSGRESSION AND
DiaOBKPlBNOE 1. The picture of desolation, as regards the religious life of the people,
26 THE LAMENT ATIOlJS 01* JEREMIAH. [ch. ii. 1—22,
is a very dark and dreary picture. The religious celebrations and festivals fall into neglect; the very salibath is all but foryotten ; ihe sacrifices cease to be offered upon the altar ; the sanctuary is no longer the scene of sacred solemnities ; the priests are despised, ii. The case is equally distressing as regards the political situation. The walls of the palaces are either broken down, ur, instead of housiijg the princes of the land, afford quarters to the troops of the enemy. The royal family are consigned to humiliation and to scorn. And the temple and the city resound no longer with the praises of Jehovah, but with the brutal shouts of the Olialdean soldiery. — T.
Ver. 9. — Law and prophecy suspended. Judah was professedly and actually a theo- cracy. The form of government was a monarchy, but the true Ruler was Jehovah, Spiritual disoliedience and rebellion were Judah's offences ; and it was the natural out- come of perseverance in these that the Lord should withdraw his favovu", and leave his people to eat of tlie bitter fruit of their owa misguided planting. And it was one consequence of the Divine displeasure that the highest privileges Jehovah had bestowed, the most sacred and precious tokens of his presence, should be for a season withdrawn. It is tlie climax, as Jeremiah conceives it, of Judah's misfortunes, that " the Law is no more ; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord."
I. This temporary privation was of local and national privilbges. It was so far as the Law was Jewish, that it ceased to be observed in Jerusalem. When the city was in the possession of heathen troops, when the temple was in ruins, when the priest- hood was in disgrace, there was no possibility of observing the ordinances which the Law prescribed. The sacrifices and festivals came to an end. There were none to observe them and none to minister. And it was so far as the prophet was a functionary of the time and place, that he ceased to utter the mind of the Eternal. There were prophets of the Captivity ; but Jerusalem, the true home of this noble class of religious teachers, knew their voice no more. For them was no vision which they might see in the ecstasy of inspiration, and depict in glowing colours before the imagination of the attentive multitude.