can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit : therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? God forbid that his ministers should palliate the sins of his people, or speak peace where there is no peace! May He in mercy endue them with courage alway to declare the whole counsel of God, and to speak boldly as they ought to speak. May the people too receive with meek affection the faithful ministration of their fellow-servants, the ministers and stewards of their master Christ; that together they may gain at last the rest which remaineth for the people of God. EVENING. JEREMIAH Xxii. 3 Blessed be God, who thus careth for the children of men! The fatherless, the widowed, the houseless wanderer-all find a friend in Him. Let me then draw near to Him. THUS saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates: thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if ye will not 5 No throne or kingdom is estahear these words, I swear by blished except by righteousness. 6 myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head Unrighteousness bringeth ruin alike upon princes and their people. 6 Judah, when obedient, was high as the lofty Lebanon, and prosperous as the fertile Gilead; but disobedience laid it low and desolate. 9 O God, cleanse me from my individual sins, lest they lend their aid in hastening my country's fall. and worshipped other gods, and 10 The righteous dead, like good Josiah, are taken from the evil to come. His son Shallum, or Jehoahaz, died a captive in Egypt, 2 Kings ii. 20. of Lebanon yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, served them. 10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: but he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more. 13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; that saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermillion. 15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD. But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence to do it. There 13 The tyranny of the rich over the poor is sin against the Lord; for He is the maker of them all. The woe is specially denounced against Jehoiakim, who succeeded Shallum. 15 True honour consisteth not in the possession of high station, but in rightly fulfilling the duties of it, as did the good king Josiah. Him God prospered. cast forth beyond the gates of 20 A warning address to Jerusalem, whom God had set on high among the nations. fore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and Jerusalem. 20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. 28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: and no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. 28 Is it come to this, that Jeconiah is carried captive and brought low, as a broken idol; none of his children to succeed him!"—Then is the word of God accomplished. We thus learn that the divine threatenings against sinners shall surely be executed, and the divine promises to the righteous shall as surely be fulfilled. Let us therefore turn to God; a wise and obedient people. The fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. MORNING. JEREMIAH XXXV. THE word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Go unto the house of the Rechabites*, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; and I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the : 5 5 As God did tempt, or try, Abraham, so he tempts or tries these Rechabites, for the further confirmation of their faith. 6 How earnestly should we offer our daily prayer, that if our heavenly Father see fit to lead us into temptation, or trial, He would be pleased to deliver us from the evil of it: strengthening us to resist what is evil, and to cleave to that which is good. door and I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. • But they said, We will drink no wine for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem. Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of * The Rechabites, or Kenites, were descended from Jethro, the fatherin-law of Moses. Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD. "The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened. 14 How strong the contrast! The Rechabites, on a principle of duty, abstained from that which was forbidden by human authority; even render the act wrong. Yet the though the restriction alone would people of God did break those holy laws which divine authority had enjoined, though disobedience brought ruin and death. 15 What accumulated proofs of the Lord's forbearance and longsuffering, and of Israel's stiff-heartedness! not unto me. 15 I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me: 17 therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the 17 How solemn this judgment ! and though spoken by human lips, yet proceeding from divine authorityThe voice is that of man; the autho"Thus saith the Lord God of hosts." rity that of God. So is it now, when the minister of the word proclaims its mercies or declares its judgments. Forget not this, as you hear the word. inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you: therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for 19 19 O Father, pardon our sins, and accept our unworthy sacrifice of repentance, faith, and obedience; that as the faithful Rechabites were preserved to share thy service and worship, so we that are thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, may give Thee thanks for ever," and "faithfully serve Thee in all godly quietness," till we be called to serve Thee for ever in heaven. ever. |