The lot of the prophet Jeremiah resembled that of most true prophets in that it was sad; but it was, perhaps, exceptionally sad. The age in which he lived was one which, in many particulars, recalls our own; it was an age of crisis, of decaying faith, of change impending and actual. Jeremiah was not naturally a man of strong fibre. Timid, shrinking, sensitive, he was yet placed by God in the foreground of a forlorn hope, in which he was, as it were, predestined to failure and to martyrdom.
I. In this chapter Jeremiah is striving to bring home to his people that things are not as they should be. The days were evil, alike among high and low; there were carelessness, unbelief, self-seeking, insincerity, and, amid all, men were completely at their ease, they were quite secure that no evil could happen to them. Jeremiah thought differently; he knew that greed, falsity, unreality, corruption cannot last. They may be long-lived, but doomsday comes to them in the end.
II. No one will understand the Hebrew prophets who does not feel that they are not uttering vulgar, material oracles, but impassioned, imaginative, metaphorical appeals to eternal principles. The first step in understanding them consists in knowing that they were mainly forthtellers, not foretellers; mainly moral teachers, not predicting seers. The certain doom of sin, the sure hope of a Saviour these are the two simple and awful principles which, on page after page, they set forth with so inspired a force.
III. A sneer has been made on the very name of the prophet of whom we are speaking, and the world thinks it has effectually depreciated any warning about present danger or future peril when it has called it a Jeremiah. Neither the world nor the Church can tolerate a prophet until they have killed him. One thing only can support him, and that is faith. He must see things as they are, see them steadily, and see them whole. For truth and faith the prophet will face death; he will gladly take his place by the side of God's victors, who have been earth's defeated. All men may hate him for Christ's sake, but he will be content.
F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiii., p. 161.
I. In the search for a man look out, in the first place, for one who has a conscience. A true man will aim at having his conscience so healthily active, so acutely, yet not morbidly, sensitive, that it shall not be misled by any specious reasoning, nor deceived by any evil example; but will sharply recoil from what is evil, and sting its possessor if he dare to yield to it.
II. If you are hunting for a man, look out for a being that has a heart. I use the word in its popular sense, and mean a warm, loving, affectionate nature.
III. If you want to find a man, look out for a being who has a soul. I mean that is capable of earnest, serious, solemn thought.
IV. Do not forget to look for a being that has a mind. Our Divine religion is given us, not merely to save souls, but to save man man in the entirety of that complex life which Christ Himself assumed and redeemed. Do not be afraid that in cultivating your minds you will weaken the foundations of your piety.
V. In your efforts to find a man, you must further seek for a being who possesses a will. The brute is guided by its instincts and passions, it is the glory of man to keep his foot upon his nature, and to hold the reins of appetite with a tight hand.
VI. In your search for a man, look out for one who has a creed and a faith.
J. Thain Davidson, Talks with Young Men,p. 31.
References: Jeremiah 5:1. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 146; J. R. Bailey, Contemporary Pulpit,vol. iv., p. 166; W. M. Arthur, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxviii., p. 276; A. W. Momerie, Preaching and Hearing,pp. 197, 209, 222.