and landscape, have been designed from Egyptian paintings of the period, and modern sketches of the country. The cause which Jeremiah had for mourning the loss of Josiah was two-fold. He saw that the people would be left as sheep having no shepherd, and that the long-predicted vengeance of the Almighty would soon overwhelm his beloved country. At this time, indeed, The wheels of an incensed avenging God CowPER. By prophetic foresight he discerned the mountain of Zion desolated, and the foxes walking upon it, and the joy of his heart and the hearts of the elders ceased, and their dance was turned into mourning, while their hearts became faint, and their eyes dim with weeping. For Josiah, personally, Scripture leads us to think that Jeremiah had no cause to mourn. We may conclude that it was in mercy to himself, and in judgment to the people, that he was thus removed. He was taken away from the evil to come, and, judging from the anguish Josiah felt on discovering the perilous situation of Jerusalem, death was more welcome to him than witnessing the consummation of her doom. Sudden death, moreover, is not always a judgment or an awful event. To those who serve God in deed and in truth, it is sudden glory. It is a glorious translation from a world where sorrow abounds, to a world where sorrow never enters, where God wipes away all tears from the eyes of his saints. We may mourn their loss, and shed the bitter tear, as they are lowered into the cold grave, as Jeremiah and the elders mourned the loss of Josiah, but they have joined the ceaseless praises of the heavenly hosts. Reader! let us so live by faith in Christ, that, whether death comes upon us after a lingering sickness, or in the bloom of health, we may have a good hope of joining in this song of triumph-" Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. i. 5, 6. |