ΤΟ

confounded, because she hath loft all her children, at a time when he enjoyed most comfort in them; or this may be understood of Jerufalem: and the refidue of them, those that have efcaped out of the city, will I deliver to the fword before their enemies, faith the LORD.-The prophet then proceeds,

X

Woe is me, my mother, that thou haft borne me a man of ftrife and a man of contention to the whole earth, or land! every one hates me and quarrels with me for my faithfulness: I have neither lent on ufury, nor men have lent to me on ufury; [yet] every one of them doth curfe me; I have had no dealings in the world, which are often the fource of contention; particularly thofe dealings here mentioned, which generally produced quarrels, as the jews were forbidden to lend to one another on ufury. 11 The LORD faid, Verily it fhall be well with thy remnant, in the refidue of thy days and thy family; verily I will caufe the enemy to entreat thee [well] in the time of evil and in the time of affliction; which they did, 12 giving him leave to stay or go, as he pleased. Shall iron break the northern iron and the fteel? a proverbial expreffion, fignifying, that the northern nations, who should come up against Jerufalem, would be as much fuperior to 13 them in ftrength, as tempered fteel is to common iron. Thy fubftance and thy treasures will I give to the fpoil without price, without any valuable confideration, as a worthless commodity, which a man will give away rather than keep, and [that] for all thy fins, even in all thy 14 borders. And I will make [thee] to pafs with thine enemies into a land [which] thou knoweft not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, [which] fhall burn upon you. The prophet then fays,

15

O LORD, thou knoweft my innocence: remember me, and vifit me, and revenge me of my perfecutors; take me not away in thy long-fuffering; permit me not to be destroyed by them, while thou art long suffering and bearest with their provocations: know that for thy fake I have VOL. V. fuffered

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* Dr. BLAYNEY tranflates it, They have reviled me all of them, faith Jehovah, that is, both thou and the people, yet I will take care of thee.

16 fuffered rebuke. Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word, or commiffion, was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hofts; I received thy messages with pleasure, and meditated upon them, and delivered them readily and justly; but as they were principally of the ter 17 rible kind, I began to be uneafy at them. I fat not in the affembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced, indulged no unbecoming levity; I fat alone, or retired, because of thy hand; on account of the judgments thou haft threatened to bring upon them: for thou haft filled me with indignation; I had no heart to be cheerful when I 18 had nothing but woes to foretell. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, [which] refufeth to be healed? must I always continue in this uneafy condition? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, [and as] waters [that] fail and grow dry in fummer? must I always be disappointed in my hope of encouragement, and of fuccefs in my work? Thefe were the irregular workings of the prophet's mind, to which God answers,

19

Therefore thus faith the LORD, If thou return to a better temper and a faithful discharge of thy duty, then will I bring thee again [and] thou fhalt ftand before me; 1 will restore thee to thy station, as my prophet: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou fhalt be as my mouth; if thou diftinguish between good and bad in thy preaching, I will honour thee with further meffages, and enable thee to deliver them aright: let them return unto thee ; but return not thou unto them; do not accommo- · date thyfelf to their lufts and prejudices, but deliver my 20 word faithfully, how much foever it is difrelished. And I will make thee unto, or against, this people a fenced brazen wall; and they fhall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I [am] with thee to fave thee and to deliver thee, faith the LORD. 21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

REFLECT

I.

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REFLECTION S.

ET us attentively obferve what an honour God here puts upon his praying fervants; with what respect and affection he fpeaks of Mofes and Samuel, who had been dead many centuries. If any thing would have reconciled him to Ifrael, it would have been their interceffion. This is no intimation that they interceded in heaven, but the contrary: it is only a fuppofition; as Mofes had often stood in the breach, and Samuel prevailed for their deliverance. This fhows the power of prayer, and what pleasure God takes in his worshipping fervants. It shows what a bleffing to their country thofe are, who offer up earnest prayers for it: and how defirable and neceffary it is we should abound in fupplication for our own land.

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See how difficult it is to bear cenfure and reproach with patience and cheerfulness. Jeremiah was much out of frame, thro' the ftrife and contention of his countrymen; and it is indeed hard to live peaceably and keep our tempers, when we live among bad neighbours, who are difpofed to pick quarrels and spread flanders. Those who have large dealings in the world are very likely to fuffer in their character, and confequently in their temper; but let them take, warning by the prophet, and be fo much the more upon their guard that they do not indulge a fretful, uneafy fpirit; and endeavour, by watchfulness and prayer, in patience to poffefs their fouls; and, when difcompofed, to return to a right mind.

3. See what oppofition faithful minifters have reafon to expect. Jeremiah had purfued no fecular bufinefs, which is often the fource of envy and contention; he acted in his own fphere, and delivered his meffages faithfully; and merely on this account thefe wicked men hated and perfecuted, and did all they could to filence him as a troublefome man. Let none of God's faithful fervants, particularly his ministers, wonder, if they are put under an ill name; and if they who are reproved, and will not be reformed, cenfure and abuse their best friends, and quarrel with those who would fave them from deftruction.

4. See how minifters ought to behave themselves in fuch circumstances. They are to meditate on the word of God; digeft it, and endeavour throughly to understand and relish it. They are not to ftudy to please men by finful compliances, and by bringing down chriftian precepts to their standard; but to deliver their meffages faithfully, and urge men to come up to the purity of the chriftian standard. They are to distinguish between the precious and the vile; to reprove the wicked and the careless; to encourage and comfort the righteous. They are to confider themselves as God's mouth; to fpeak nothing but what his word requires; and when they do fo we are to confider them as God's mouth, and pay as much regard to what they fay, as if God himself fpoke to us. These are maxims neceffary to be regarded by us at all times; efpecially amidst prevailing degeneracy; and in fo doing God will fupport and deliver us; and we shall ftand before him with honour and acceptance thro' Jefus Chrift..

1

CHAP. XVI.

In which the prophet foretells the utter ruin of the jews.

Ting

HE word of the LORD came alfo unto me, faying, while others go on in their usual course, 2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither fhalt thou have fons or daughters in this place; a token of the defolation 3 that is speedily approaching. For thus faith the LORD concerning the fons and concerning the daughters [that are] born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; fuch calamities are coming, that it would have been better they had lived fingle; for 4 They fhall die of grievous deaths; they fhall not be lamented; neither fhall they be buried; [but] they fhall be as dung upon the face of the earth and they fhall be confumed by the fword, and by famine; and their carcafes fhall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and 5 for the beafts of the earth. For thus faith the LORD, Enter

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Enter not into the house of mourning, neither lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, faith the LORD, [even] loving kindness and mercies; their own miferies are fo great that they cannot fympathize with others; they are not objects of 6 my mercy, nor of the compaffion of others. Both the great and the small fhall die in this land: they fhall not be buried, neither fhall [men] lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them, that is, shall not have the tops of their heads, they fhall be 7 treated like common malefactors: Neither fhall [men] tear [themselves] for them, or break bread for them, in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither fhall [men] give them the cup of confolation to drink 8 for their father or for their mother. Thou fhalt not alfo go into the house of feafting, to fit with them to eat and to drink; thou shalt not use even innocent entertainments, but, by abstaining from them, declare that all 9 feftivity fhall ceafe. For thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Ifrael; Behold, I will caufe to ceafe out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, all publick and private occafions of rejoicing.

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And it fhall come to pafs, when thou fhalt fhow this people all these words, and they fhall fay unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what [is] our iniquity? or what [is] our fin that we have committed against the LORD 11 our God? Then fhalt thou fay unto them, Because your fathers have forfaken me, faith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have ferved them, and have worshipped them, and have forfaken me, 12 and have not kept my law; And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may

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It was the custom in those days to fend food and wine to mourners, as fuppofing they had no heart to provide for themfelves; this was very different from making feasts for them, which is a ridiculous and indecent cullom, fometimes practised among us.