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CHAPTER XI.

I. GOD sets before the Jews the covenant he had made with them when their fathers came out of Egypt, and reproaches them for having obstinately broken it by their sins, and especially by idolatry. II. He tells them, that to punish them he would visit them with his rod, and forbids Jeremiah to pray for them. III. The prophet complains of the inhabitants of Anathoth, which was the city where Jeremiah dwelt, because they would have hindered him from speaking to them, and would even have taken away his life.

Reflections.

THE first instruction which this chapter affords us is taken from the curse which God denounces against those who keep not his covenant. Let us reflect on this a little, and remember, that God has made a more excellent covenant with us, than with the Jews ; that this new covenant engages us still more strictly to hear his voice, and to do all that he hath commanded us; wherefore if we break it, we shall incur a much heavier punishment. We ought to consider farther, that it is not only by worshipping idols, that the divine covenant is broken; but that this may be done likewise, by breaking the vows which we have made to God, and by withdrawing our hearts from him to give them to the world. God complains in this chapter, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem had conspired against him, and were incurably bent upon evil; which so highly provoked God against them, that he forbad Jeremiah, even to pray for them. This teaches us, that when the wickedness of men is come to its full height, when they agree in nothing else but in provoking the Lord, and when his laws are generally despised, he spares them no longer, and even the prayers of the righteous become useless. Lastly, We should consider well the threatenings denounced in this chapter against the Jews, and in particular against the inhabitants of Anathoth, who

would have hindered Jeremiah from prophesying in the name of the Lord, and would have taken away his life too. It is a very great sin to reject the word of the Lord, to refuse to hear his faithful servants, and even attempt to stop their mouths; and God will call those churches and people, who are guilty of this sin, to a severe account. However, the ministers of the Lord, in imitation of Jeremiah, ought neither to be provoked nor discouraged, when they meet with the like opposition.

CHAPTER XII.

1. Jeremiah asks of God, why the wicked Jews, who reject his ministry, still enjoyed prosperity. The Lord answers, that he must prepare to meet with still greater opposition at Jerusalem; but that he should see the accomplishment of his threatenings; and that this people should soon be forsaken, and carried captive into a strange country: from whence, however, he would bring them back again. II. God declares, that he would likewise punish the neighbouring nations, because of the evils they had done his people; but if these nations embrace the worship of the true God, they also should be esteemed his people.

Reflections.

WHAT we are to consider upon this chapter is, I. Never to believe that the wicked and the hypocrites shall escape unpunished, or that they are truly happy because God spares them for a while; nor that the threatenings of God are less sure, because he defers the execution of them. II. That the servants of God ought not to be discouraged, though they should be exposed to the gainsaying and the scoffs of the wicked; nay, that those who are resolved to discharge their duty with integrity, have reason to expect it. III. That the threatenings of the Lord have, soon or late, their effect; and that neither the covenant of God, nor the love he has shown to any nation, can secure it from his anger, when he has

been provoked to it by repeated instances of rebellion; as we are taught by these remarkable expressions: I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage, I have given the dearly-beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies. IV. God revealed his purpose, first to chastise his own people, and afterwards the neighbouring nations, and even to receive those idolatrous nations into covenant with him. By this we may see that God is just and merciful; that he has no respect of persons, and regards only integrity and uprightness. This appears evidently in the calling of the Gentiles, after the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER XIII.

I. THE prophet represents to the Jews by the figure of a rotten girdle, which was good for nothing, that the covenant they had made with God was going to be broken, and that he would reject them, because they had forsaken him. II. He exhorts all the people, and particularly the king, and the great men, to humble themselves before this destruction came upon them. III. He laments their destruction, and declares, that their invincible obstinacy would bring it upon them.

Reflections.

THE instructions which this chapter affords us, are these: I. That our covenant with God procures us very great advantages, and unites us to him, in the strictest manner; but if we break it, as the Jews did, it will become unprofitable to us. II. That when God causes us to hear his threatenings, we should humble ourselves; and as the great are commonly the chief authors of the corruption of the people, and of the miseries consequent to it, it is but reasonable they should, by their humiliation, endeavour to avert the wrath of God. This is the reflection which we should make on the exhortation which Jeremiah addresses, not only to the people, but to the king and queen, to give glory to God, and to humble themselves

before the darkness came upon them. III. The tears which Jeremiah shed on account of the obstinacy of the Jews, and the miseries that were to come upon them, show, that when men's obstinacy is past remedy, good men, and particularly the ministers of God, can do nothing more than sigh and bewail the wretched condition of those that perish. IV. These words, Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil; deserve to be well considered, as they describe the strange perverseness of the Jews, and teach us, that by resisting the grace of God, and by an habitual course of sin, men arrive at that degree of corruption, that it is hard to recover them from it, and many never do recover.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE prophecy contained in this chapter was occasioned by a great drought which God had afflicted Judea with, and which Jeremiah here describes. To appease the wrath of God in that time of trouble, and to obtain rain, the prophet intercedes for the people but God tells him, that his prayers were in vain, as well as the prayers and fastings of the Jews; that they would shortly be extirpated by all sorts of plagues; and that those false prophets, who had promised them peace, should be confounded, and involved in the general ruin. Nevertheless Jeremiah beseeches God to pardon the Jews, and not to cast them off entirely in this extremity.

Reflections.

FROM this chapter we are to learn these four things: I. That, as God sent a drought and famine upon Judea, to signify to the Jews that they had provoked him, and that he should quickly come to destroy them, so we ought to consider all temporal calamities as tokens of the wrath of God, and incitements to repentance. II. That it is the duty of those who are set over the church and of all its true members, to labour by their prayers

as Jeremiah did, to prevent and avert the judgments of God; or at least to moderate them, if they cannot be wholly averted. III. That neither the zeal and intercession of the righteous, nor the prayers and fastings of an obstinate and impenitent people, can prevent the Divine vengeance. This the Lord humbly teaches us, when he tells the prophet: Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when he declares that the Jews should be consumed, not only by drought and famine, but likewise by war and pestilence. Lastly, The ministers of the Lord ought seriously to reflect upon what is here said of the crime and punishment of those false prophets, who promised peace to the Jews, at the very time their ruin was approaching; that it may be a warning to them never to flatter sinners, nor lull them in security; but to speak always with zeal and sincerity, what God has commanded them. We ought likewise to learn from hence, to hearken to those that declare the truth to us sincerely and without flattery.

CHAPTER XV.

GOD again declares to Jeremiah, who had interceded for the Jews, that his prayers should not be heard; that their ruin was determined, because they had entirely forsaken the Lord; and that they were to be delivered into the hands of their enemies, who would destroy them; to the wild beasts, and fowls of the air, who would devour them; and to all kinds of miseries. The prophet complains of the ill-treatment he met with from the Jews, because of his threatening them with the judgments of God; but the Lord comforts him and assures him of his protection.

Reflections.

FROM this chapter we may gather these three instructions. I. That although the godly are acceptable to God, and their prayers have great power with him, yet they cannot prevail in favour of those whose hardness is desperate. This God declares after the

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