JEREMIAH by J. Clarke

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 18, 1860

JEREMIAH

By J. Clarke

Is frequently called the weeping prophet. His writings abound with pathos and deep sorrow. As he viewed the sad state of his people, his heart, overflowing with love to them, was continually burdened, and often he breaks out as in chap. xxiii, 9, “Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness; for the land is full of adulterers, for both prophet and prince are profane, yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord [verse 11]; I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing; they commit adultery and walk in lies.” Verse 14. Jeremiah began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of the reign of king Josiah, and we find that he lamented for the death of king Josiah [see 2 Chron. xxxv, 25] of whom he was probably an intimate companion, perhaps nearly of the same age, as we find that he was young when he began to prophesy [see Jer. i, 6, 7] and was probably a great help to the piety of young Josiah. Thus we see guards thrown around those whom God would make instruments for good.

The age of Josiah had a few very good men, and much was done to stem the torrent of wickedness which was overflowing the land, and probably these good men had high hopes of the reformation of the nation; but Josiah could only check the tide, and after a prosperous reign of thirty-one years, his wicked son came in his stead, and all their high hopes were blasted.

Jeremiah was a lover of his people. He had seen a prosperous season of thirty-one years, had seen good men and good principles legalized, protected and encouraged by a good king; but death took away the last hope of his nation, and now came trouble. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and this lamentation continued, not for Josiah, but for a wicked and perverse people, for a ruined nation, for lost virtue, for false prophets, and a scattered flock, a city burned with fire, and a nation in disgraceful captivity.

The weeping strains of Jeremiah convey to our minds some idea of the feelings which God and holy beings experience when his people depart from him, and from his law. Jeremiah in his drooping melancholy strains, did just as God would have him do. His people were joined to idols; his favorite nation who had been gifted as no other people had been, had squandered those gifts; and now they were captives in a strange land.

Jeremiah had seen their fall, had warned and entreated, but in vain. Perhaps a few, like Daniel and his companions, had treasured up his words, and mingled their tears with his, and perhaps a revival in the great passover of Josiah [see 2 Chron. xxxv, 18] had awakened better thoughts in the minds of a few, who were as the salt of the earth; and for these the tears and lamentations of Jeremiah were not in vain, but sprang up gloriously in after years; and it is a pleasant thought that the companion of Josiah perhaps was in his old age the counselor of Daniel. But the people had decided in favor of the world and its vanities; and what to them were the warnings of one who never approved of their doings?

But, as he had prophesied, the enemy came. Now was the opportunity for Jeremiah to say to the wicked people, “We have brought this ruin upon yourselves, by your own stubbornness and sin.” But did he say thus to them? Nay; hear him:

“Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are widows; we have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.” Lam. v, 1-4.

After all his warnings, and all he had suffered from wicked people, see him making common cause with them: “We are orphans.” Oh how he felt for the orphan, the fatherless, and the widow! “We have drunken our water for money. Verse 14. “The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music” [verse 17]; for this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.”

Where are now the Jeremiahs, who mourn in the secret places for the crying abominations that are done in the land, whose tears flow because of the judgments about to fall upon a ruined world? Whose low wailing cries ascend to God with every breath? “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heaven. Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned, renew our days as of old.”

Oh would it not be for the good of Zion, if the tears of Jeremiah could go with the doctrine of the third message? If more agonizing cries could accompany the logic which shakes the walls of Babylon?

A world in ruins! who can forbear to weep? A world just sinking below the reach of mercy! and are there no tears, no groans, no sobs, as we view them rush more and more madly down the fatal steep?

Alas! our hearts are hardened by contact with evil, and with false theology, and light literature. We are on enchanted ground, and many are indulging in visions of present happiness; who should be mourning and weeping over the ruins around us, and even now, as the day is almost spent, mercy’s star is almost set, many are hoarding and coveting.

I would rather have been with Jeremiah in the low dungeon, in the deep mire, or driven, as he was, from place to place by his enemies, than be the most favored of earth. He has a bright inheritance in store; his tears are all remembered, and his crown is bright with stars. He has sown in tears; he will reap in joy. Though his nation rejected him, as at a later day they rejected the Lord, yet some few mourned with him, and their reward awaits them.

Are there those who weep over the moral fall of our age? Restrain not your tears; there is a cause; but it must be in secret places; the world besotted and blind will laugh at your tears, and make merry over your sorrow. By and by they will appreciate these lamentations, and when yours have ceased and been turned into joy, they will take up the sad wail, but too late, too late.

Blessed are they that weep now, for they shall be comforted. Weep, O daughter of Zion. It is your safety now to mourn. Alas! there is a cause, not the world only, but lethargy that has settled in our midst, and the people of God, who have the commands of God, and the faith of Jesus, are lukewarm, and many are this moment being left behind in the darkness.

J. Clarke.