mountain-top, and "by the misty moonlight watched his disciples tossed upon the lake, toiling in rowing, and sorely harassed. But he loved them, and if he did not come forthwith to their relief there was a good i^eason for his delay. So oftentimes men think God careless because their probation is prolonged ; but in truth wisdom and love are the motives of all his acts and of even his apparent tardiness.
IV. God thus tries his people's faiir and steadfastness and pkepareb them FOR HiB SALVATION. After the stormy tempest how grateful is the rainbow I After the black night how welcome is the dawn 1 The mere contrast, however it might heighten joy, would not account for God's action in testing his servants. But there are moral ends to be secured. And the furnace alone can separate the dross fix>m the gold. The storm alone can try, can elicit, can perfect, the faith of the mariner and his confidence in the Lord who seems to sleep. — ^T.
Vers. 64 — 66. — Bighteous recompemse. Our conscience requires and approves of justice. Our weakness is too often in danger of cherishing resentment and malevolence. It is not safe, on most men's part, to hope for retribution upon their personal enemies. Perhaps the record of Jeremiah's feelings is not intended to be taken for an inculcation, or even a permission, of such imprecations upon our foes.
I. The ground upon which Divine judgment is invoked. 1. It was not personal offence given which suggested such a cry for vengeance. 2. It was the overt, deliberate conduct of men who acted in disobedience and defiance towards God, and with inhumanity and barbarity towards their fellow-men.
II. The tribunal to which the conduct of the wicked ib refebbed. 1. Not the fallible court of human justice or human requital. 2. But the court of Divine equity, in which none receives good for evil, in which every plea for mitigation of sentence is heard, and from which none can depart with a complaint upon the lips.
m. The purpose fob which retbibution is implored. 1. Not for the gratifica- tion of vindictive feelings. 2. Not for the exaltation of the oppressed at the expenM of the oppressor. 3. But for the speedy deliverance of God's wronged and harassed people. 4. For the advancement of God's cause upon earth. For the honour of God'i glorions Name. " Shall not the Judgo of aU tbe earth do right ? "— T.
cam, 1—66.] THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. 6T
Yer. 18. — Z^ gum of a terrihle experienee. This chapter must doubtless be token as the utterance of Jeremiah's own feelings — feelings induced by the continual stress and difBculty of his life. Through the first seventeen verses he alludes to some opponent and tormentor continually thwarting his every purpose, not for a single moment leaving him free. Are we to suppose, then, that the prophet really believed all these untoward experiences to come from some one agent who had special designs against him? or was he thus only trying to make more forcible the story of his sufferings? However this is to be settled, some of our difficulty is taken away when we find, on coming to ver. 18, this clear reference to Jehovah : " My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord." These words we may take to mark about the lowest point in reckless and unadvised speaking. They give a sort of confession as to what a deadly member the tongue may become in hours of suffering. What we only fed to be the reality is taken to be the reality, whereas the reality may be immensely better. The prophet came to speak in a worthier way, and lived to admit that, in the very depths, he discovered what God's disposition to him really was. Note how the prophet made a double mistake.
I. He said hib stbenoth and hope were febishid. Yet these things, even when composed of purely natural elements, are not so easily destroyed. Even with all the weakness that belongs to human nature, tliere is immense strength in it. After a long life men wonder to look back and see what they have actually achieved, and the strain they have undergone. While we may be alarmed in the midst of our troubles and vicissi- tudes, God looks on very differently, knowing how much strength there is to get over them. The resources of our own natures have to be developed, and the resources of grace connected with them. Then, when the strength is brought out, the hope naturally springs forth at the same time. There is hardly a greater penl in life than to act from the conclusions coming to us in gloomy moods.
n. Bm said hu btbensth and hope webe pebished fbom Goo. From Qod. How came he to say such a thing, or even to think it for a moment ? Probably because he had not sufficiently recollected wherein it is that God's favour really appears. To that God who has all power nothing would have been easier than to have made the prophet's path outwardly pleasant and straightforward. But where would have been the gain in that? Tbs thing really wanted was that, when Jeremiah was left alone, bereft of earthly comfort and stays, he should be led into g state of mind where be eould say, " Though I seem alone, and in my solitude weak and hopeless, yet I am not alone ; for the God who made me a prophet is with me in ways which cannot be comprehended by my innumerable enemies." — ^Y.
Ver. 21. — Haw hope rise$ from the deptht of despair. This utterance needs to be contrasted with that in ver. 18. There the prophet says that hope is perished. Here he has hope, grounded on a " therefore " and strengthened by a resolved attitude of mind. Thus we are helped to get an explanation of his past depression, or, as we might even call it, despair. We are helped to distinguish between abiding Divine realities and the way in which they are coloured or concealed by our moods. How is it, then, the prophet is here able to come to such an inspiring resolution ? Two things are to be noticed.
I. This hope comes bt conbidebino the biort things. The prophet says, " This will I recall to my mind," or " take to heart." This, that is to say, such things as he goes on to mention later in the chapter. He said that he had been led into darkness and confine- ment. That he had been led was only his own way of putting the thing ; the important point to note is that he got into such confusion of mind, such preoccupation with mighty evils, as to be unable to see life in the whole. Darkness had covered gracious truth, or clouds had risen between it and his spiritual vinon. We can easily come to the most melancholy conclusions if only we determine to shut certain considerations from the mind. Let it also be noted that, as satisfying hope comes from considering the right things, so delusive hope comes from letting the mind dwell exclusively on the wrong ones. And what is true of the production of satisfying hope is true of other satisfying states of mind. So men may pass from unbelief to the firmest and most fruitful foith, and from selfishness to love.