Migratory Birds

Migratory Birds

(No. 2858)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1903.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 28, 1870.

"Yes, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times, and the
turtledove and crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming,
but My people know not the judgment of the Lord." Jeremiah 8:7.

IN our text the Prophet makes use of the flight of migratory birds to
teach a valuable lesson. He mentions the swallow, which is the most
prominent among the summer visitors to our own country, but he also
names the stork, the crane and the turtledove, all of them familiar
instances of birds that came, at a certain season, to Palestine and,
punctual to the hour, at given changes of the weather, winged their way
back again to warmer climates. Too many careless observers, like the
peasant of whom Wordsworth writes–

"A primrose by a river's brim

A yellow primrose was to him

And it was nothing more,"

would have seen those birds and soon forgotten all about them. But the
Prophet, observing the wisdom of these wanderers of the air, contrasts
it with the folly of man who knows not "the judgment of the Lord," and
obeys not so readily the monitions of his God as the birds do the
instinct by which He guides them to and fro. We shall mark these
migratory birds and set the wisdom of their instinct in contrast with
the folly of mankind.

I. The first thing that strikes us is the fact that the stork, the
swallow, the crane and the turtledove know WHEN TO COME AND GO.

So far as we know, no audible command is given to them. You and I might
forget, in the beginning of summer, that then is the period when the
swallow will put in an appearance in our land. And that towards autumn
he must take himself away, across the purple sea, to the African
strand, or wherever he can find a suitable climate. But these birds
know when to come or go–they tell, by some mysterious means, exactly
when to start on their long flight. They were never known to go too
soon. They are never known to stay too late. The bulk of them depart at
one period and the rest a few days later. If we are living in the
suburbs, we hear a twittering congregation gathering around the gables
of the houses and, in the evening we miss the swift-winged hawks who
had, during the summer, found their evening meal among the dancing
insects. Their shrill, joyous twittering is hushed, for they have
perceived that the heavy dews of autumn and the long nights of winter
are coming to strew the earth with fading flowers and falling leaves
and, by-and-by, with frost and snow and, therefore, they have flown off
to fairer lands where other summers await them! They will come back
again in due time, true as the calendar. Whether we look for them, or
not, they will be punctual to Nature's appointment. As sure as the
summer's sun will be their return! They know, without any special
instruction, when to come, and when to go.

It is worthy of observation that the young birds which have been born
in this country and have never made the long journey before, yet set
forth with the older ones at the appointed time. They are novices in
the art of travelling, yet they try their callow wings and away they
fly to the far-off land where the sun shines as it does not in this
higher latitude. I wish that our young people were all as wise as the
young swallows are–that they knew their appointed time, that they
understood that there is no period in life which has so much of
hopefulness about it as the period of childhood and youth–that it is
the best time in which to seek the Savior, for it has a special promise
attached to it. "Those that seek Me

early shall find Me." I would that they could hear the Lord Jesus
Christ's peculiarly sweet and tender message concerning them–"Suffer
the little children, and forbid them not to come unto Me: for of such
is the Kingdom of Heaven." Yet, alas, young storks, swallows, cranes
and turtledoves fly at the appointed season–but many young men and
maidens delay and waste the joyous hours of the morning of their lives
in the ways of sin and folly! Yes, they waste the hours which, if
consecrated to Christ and to His service, would have brought them a
rich return in this life and, in the life to come, would have tended to
increase and intensify their everlasting happiness.

Further, the parent birds, also, go their way at the right time. They
can, and doubtless do, help to guide the young. They may have made that
journey but once before, but they know all about it–they remember how
long and how weary a way it was to them, but when the hour has struck,
away they go, attended by their little ones! I would that all you who
are parents among mankind were as wise as these parent fowls of the
air. You have your children around you, but where are you leading them?
Your example, if not your precept, is guiding them somewhere–you are
influencing them for good or evil. You cannot help doing so. I think
you would hardly wish to help it, for a child of yours, over whom you
had no influence whatever, would be a strange occupant of your home!
Oh, that you would be as wise as these migratory birds! May God's own
wisdom make you so, that your own flight to Heaven may be an impulse to
your child to take flight there, also! May your faith help his faith!
May your holiness check him from sin! May your consecration to God,
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, induce him to give his heart to
God while he is yet young!

I speak to you who are in middle life and remind you that these birds
which have come to the prime of their days, take their flight at the
appointed time–and if ever there is a set time for turning unto God,
with you who have come so far on life's journey without seeking the
Lord, it surely is now! You who have reached the full strength of your
manhood and have your households about you and yet are not saved, be
not like the rich man whom God called a fool because he had much of
this world's goods stored up and yet had not thought of making
provision for his soul! Do not set your affections upon those
well-feathered nests which you are so soon to leave, but seek an
enduring portion in that better land where joy maintains eternal
Spring! Stretch your wings for the flight Christ-ward and heavenward,
and may you have the happiness of seeing your sons and daughters
following in the same blessed track!

Some of the migratory birds are growing old. Their wings are somewhat
worn and their flight is a very weary one. Life, to them, has lost its
early brilliance, yet, when the time comes, they too, the veterans of
the sea passage, are measuring the leagues of ocean waves when the
waters are calm, or in times of storm when favoring gales may better
serve their purpose. These birds add experience to instinct and rightly
follow the guidance of Nature–yet there are old men and old women who
are not as wise as the old swallows are! They linger in the plains of
sin though the harvest is past and the summer is ended–and the winter
is coming fast upon them. I see the first flakes of snow on their
frost-crowned heads. Already their leaf begins to wither. The light of
their day is darkening, the flower of their beauty fading and the
shadows of their weakness lengthening. What? Not away yet, old
graybeard? Not away yet, when the killing frost is already upon you?
Stretch your soul's wings at once! 'Tis late, 'tis very late! The sere
leaf of autumn warns you. The white rime of the early frost chides you!
Oh, that you would know the seasons and the judgments of God, even as
the birds of the air do, and that you would seek Him, now, before it be
too late! It is the eleventh hour with you, Man! You have reached your
three-score years and ten, yet you are unsaved! May Divine Grace visit
you and make you wise–and if it does, you will not sleep till you have
found the Savior, lest your couch should become your tomb! You will not
dare to go into another week of work-days until you have made this
first day of the week the appointed Sabbath, a day of rest unto your
soul in the bosom of your Savior!

Observe well that these birds–the young, the parents and the older
birds, all go at the right time. Perhaps the bright days linger a
while–our autumns sometimes are protracted and tempting. When the
winter months have come, we may have some almost summer days in this
changeful climate of ours, but no bright second-summer tempts the
swallow to linger! That interesting bird may have an eye for fair
scenes and lovely views and, I think wherever he may fly, he will see
no fairer land than this, and no greener dells and fresher woodlands
than those that adorn our happy isle. Yet he lingers not for them.
Though it is Africa's brown unattractive sand that calls him, on he
goes, for he must go or die! His food will fail him here, the damp will
be deadly to him–so away he must go. He has built his nest and birds
love their nests as we love our homes. He has formed associations and
acquaintances, it may be, for birds have friendships. But the

time has come when, with his companions, or without them, he must
without fail proceed on his long voyage to the sunny shore! He performs
his predestined journey at the ordained time.

And let nothing tempt anyone to linger in love of sin and love of this
world when he ought to be seeking those things which are above! Let not
the world's pleasures, nor its gains, nor its most tender associations
beguile you. You, O Man, like the swallow, must go or die! It is with
you as it was with Lot in Sodom–the city of your habitation is soon to
be destroyed–this world, in a little while, must meet destruction. Up,
and away! The fiery hail is ready to descend! The angel of God comes to
warn you, saying, "Escape for your life; look not behind you, neither
stay you in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest you be
consumed." So, let nothing hinder you, but speed on till you reach God,
your Father, and Christ, your Brother, and are washed in His precious
blood and made meet to dwell with Him in Heaven forever!

But alas, alas, it is still true that men "know not the judgment of the
Lord." They know not, as the birds do, their "appointed times." There
have been, with some of you, times of very gracious visitation–when
your heart has been made soft and impressible. I beseech you, "know"
that time and avail yourself of it! You know that the preacher's word
is not always with equal power. Even the Inspired Word of God has not
always the same effect when it is read. Therefore, cherish every tender
emotion that you feel. You know what was said to David, "And let it be,
when you hear the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees,
that then you shall bestir yourself: for then shall the Lord go out
before you." So, when there is a movement within the spirit. When there
is a revival in the Church. When there are manifest tokens of
earnestness in the assembly, then, I pray you, know your appointed time
and "bestir yourself."

There are other times, also, which should not be forgotten. For
instance, times of sickness. Have you been laid aside lately and are
you able again to come out of doors? This is a loud call to you, an
admonition, a very kind and tender one, yet one that ought to say to
you, "Prepare to meet your God." If sicknesses do not soften, they
harden. If we get no good from our chastisements, we are sure to get
harm from them. So, my afflicted but restored Friend, know your time,
recognize that you have been smitten by your God and turn not away from
the hand that smites you! Sometimes the visitation comes in the form of
death. Possibly death has come into your home and carried off your
child. O mother, follow your dear babe to the skies! Or, is it your
husband who has been called away? Then, O widow, take your Maker for
your Husband! Is it your Christian father who has been taken from you
and yet you, his child, are still unsaved? Your father beckons to you
from the skies and bids you seek his Savior! Is it your brother who is
gone? It might have been yourself, so let the tolling of the knell for
him have a message for you–let it say to you, "Consider your ways, for
your soul shall soon be required of you." Make this period, when God is
summoning others to Himself, to be the time when you, also, take flight
to the better land–I mean not Heaven, but I mean the heart of
Christ–that is the true Heaven of this life, and makes this life to be
the foretaste of the unending life that is yet to come!

It is very sad that seasons like these, of which I have been speaking,
are often the very times when people become more hardened than before.
Death itself may grow so familiar that it loses all its impressiveness.
The grave digger is often the last man to be affected by the thought of
dying. It must have been a grim spectacle when, during the French
Revolution, a certain cemetery was leveled and turned into a
saloon–and there, with the tombstones still in sight, they danced and
sang a song in which part of the refrain was, "We dance among the
tombs." Their hair was made up in the same way as those had their hair
combed who were prepared for execution by the guillotine–and no one
was admitted to the dance unless he or she had lost a father, or
brother, or some other relative by the guillotine! And knowing that
they, themselves, would, in all probability, die in the same terrible
fashion, they gathered in the place of the graves and whirled in the
merry dance among the tombs! It was a strange sight. Surely, none would
have dared to act like that had they not been carried away by the
madness of that awful period. Literally, of course, we do not act as
they did, but, spiritually, this is just what many are doing–they are
dancing and singing among the tombs! In utter carelessness and
wantonness of spirit they dance within the very jaws of death and,
unless God shall cure their madness and teach them wisdom, even as He
has taught the birds of Heaven–they will dance themselves into Hell!

II. But, next, it is very remarkable–indeed, it is one of the wonders
of Nature that THEY KNOW WHERE TO

GO.

Many of them–those newly-hatched birds–have never seen the land
towards which they speed. Yet they go there and go to the very place
where their parents went before them! They have never seen that sunny
shore, yet onward they fly towards it, straight to the mark as if they
were arrows shot from a bow! They have no swift-winged messenger to
proc-

laim the time of going and to describe the country so temptingly as to
induce them to go, but feeling the motion of a mysterious impulse
within them, they fly at the appointed time to the far-off land where
they may dwell, through the winter, in a more genial climate. Why do
they go south? Why don't they fly north, east, or west? If we were left
to seek other shores and we knew nothing of geography, we could not
find a suitable place. But these birds, untaught, find the exact spot
where it is best for them to spend the many months until they can
return to this more northerly land!

The pity concerning poor foolish man is that by nature, he does not
know where to go. When our Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples,
"Where I go you know, and the way you know," Thomas said to Him, "Lord,
we know not where You go, and how can we know the way?" The cry of many
aroused souls is, "Where shall we go? We know not the way." Men want
happiness, where shall they go for it? If the swallow were to fly
straight for the north pole in the hope of finding a genial climate, he
would not be more foolish than most men are in their supposed pursuit
of happiness! Some fly to unchastity and lasciviousness and, in this
way both wreck their bodies and damn their souls! Some fly to
money-grubbing, raking up their gold and silver till they fancy that
they are wealthy, whereas, often the more a man has of these things the
more he craves and it is a poor thing that makes us want more than we
have any need of. Some fancy that they shall find pleasure in the
approbation of their fellow men, but before long they discover that the
breath of man's nostrils can never fill an immortal soul.

We need something better than the blasts of fame's trumpet to satisfy
the spirit which is to live forever and ever–in raptures or in woe.
Some fly to strong drink, some to one thing and some to another, all
alike fools! There is but one kind of true happiness and only one place
where it can be found. Solid satisfaction can only come from
reconciliation to God and that reconciliation can only come to us
through Jesus Christ, His Son! Man is never right till he is right with
God. And never happy till he is happy in the happy God. Man needs peace
and rest–every man needs these blessings. In these feverish days, rest
is the great need of the age and, to find it, man sometimes flies to
superstition and sometimes to unbelief. He must be quiet, he says, for
there are thoughts that vex and perturb his spirit. And Jesus stands
and says again, as He said of old, "Come unto Me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." But, to a sadly
terrible extent, man heeds not His gracious invitation and flies
anywhere butto the true place of rest!

When man is spiritually awakened, he sees that he needs pardon. And
pardon is to be obtained nowhere but in the precious blood that flowed
from the wounds of the crucified Son of God! Yet many men try to get it
by almsgiving, penances and outward reformations–they will even look
to priestly lips for absolution, though none can forgive sins but God!
They fly here and there–anywhere except to God and to the one Mediator
between God and man, the Man, Christ Jesus! O men, as I look upon you,
I see the contrast between you and the stork, and the turtledove, and
the crane, and the swallow, for, when the time comes for these birds to
fly, they stretch their wings and away they go as though they could
even see the far-off land! They never stop until they have reached the
goal for which they started. But you fly here, there, anywhere–and
nowhere, in the long run, and you drop down, faint and weary–drop, ah,
where?–but into the devouring jaws of the old dragon who has long
sought your destruction and who will achieve it unless you listen to
the voice of wisdom which said, "turn you, turn you from your evil
ways; for why will you die?" "Seek you the Lord while He may be found,
call you upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and
the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and
He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon."

II. Thirdly, dear Friends, these migratory birds not only know the time
for them to come or go, and the place to which they should go, but, BY
SOME STRANGE INSTINCT, THEY ALSO KNOW THE WAY.

There is no road that they can follow. Our swallows, I suppose, fly
across the English Channel–sometimes across France and Spain–but they
are often met with far, far out at sea and have been known to rest upon
the rigging, the masts, and even the decks of vessels when they have
grown weary. Their flights are very long and rapid, but they can have
no landmarks. They usually fly far across the sea, yet they never miss
their way and, in due time, they reach their desired end. No convoy is
by their side, no wings of angels are heard rustling around them as
they speed upon their way. There may be no favoring wind, but if it
should be contrary to them, they fly against it. They must reach the
sunnier climate, or die in the attempt and, therefore, though the wind
should, at times, keep them back, and impede their flight, yet onward
they go!

Now, there are many, many men who can say with the Apostle I quoted
before, "Lord, we know not where You go, and how can we know the way?"
They say this concerning the way to salvation, the way to safety, the
way to Heaven. They do not know the way. Some of you who have heard the
Gospel preached for years do not know the way. That is not through our
lack of plain speaking, nor through our lack of reiterating–

"The old, old story, Of Jesus and His love."

I always feel that I have not done my duty as a preacher of the Gospel
if I go out of this pulpit without having clearly set before sinners
the way of salvation. I sometimes think that you have so often and so
long heard me tell this story that you will get weary of it, but I
cannot help it if you do. I had better weary you than in any way be
false to my charge. Yet, with all this telling over and over, and over
again the simple message of, "Believe, and live," though the outward
ears hear it and the mind catches some idea of it, yet the soul
embraces it not.

Let me tell it to you yet once more. The way for a soul to fly to the
place of safety lies in this direction alone–God's only-begotten and
well-beloved Son, who is Himself "very God of very God," came down from
Heaven and became Man. He lived upon this earth a life of perfect
obedience to His Father's Law, and a life of holy service on behalf of
sinful men. On the Cross of Calvary, the sin of all those who will ever
trust in Him were laid upon Him and, on the accursed tree, He endured
all that they ought to have suffered for their sins. God bruised
Christ, His own Son, in the place of as many sinners as believe on Him.
God was perfectly just in acting thus. The payment of our enormous debt
of guilt was demanded–and Christ paid it in full. So, all who trust in
Jesus may rest assured that their sin was laid upon Christ, put away by
Christ and so completely blotted out that it has ceased to be! We are
accounted just through our faith in Jesus Christ, the great Sin-Bearer.
"The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." "He has made Him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him." The way of safety, then, is the way of Substitution,
the way of Atonement, the way of Jesus Christ's blood! And the way to
travel in that road is by simply trusting– believing with the heart in
Jesus Christ, relying upon Him, depending upon Him, leaning on Him,
resting on Him, believing His Word–and accepting Him to be to us what
God has set Him forth to be to the trusting sons and daughters of men!

IV. My last remark about these migratory birds the stork, the
turtledove, the crane and the swallow is that they not only know the
time for their flight and the place they need to reach, and the way
they have to go, but THEY SHOW THEIR WISDOM BY ACTUALLY GOING TO THE
SUNNY LAND.

It would not profit them, in the least, to know when to go if they did
not really go at the appointed time. It would not serve them an atom to
know where to go, if they did not go–nor to know how to go if they
still loitered here. But the wisdom of these fowls of the air is proved
by the fact that they do go. They practice what they know. They yield
to the instinct which guides them, the impulse which moves them! But,
alas, in contrast with these birds, sinners are often very foolish.
They have long heard the Gospel, but they have not yet obeyed it. They
have never practiced what they know, at least in a sense. There are
many who profess to believe all that we preach, who prove, by their
actions, that they have never really received our message. How foolish
it is to say that they believe there is a Hell and yet seek not to
escape from it–to talk of believing that there is a Heaven and yet
never begin in the way that leads to it–and to pretend to believe in
the only Savior of sinners and yet really not to trust in Him!

Then there are many who know their danger, yet do not escape from it
They are fully aware of the terrible place where their sin is carrying
them. They are quite conscious that they are without hope of entering
Heaven and that, when they die, there will be nothing for them but "the
blackness of darkness forever." Yet all this knowledge is of no avail
to them, for they do not seek to escape from their impending doom!
Where shall I find language strong enough to describe such folly as
this? There are some who even say, as that son said to his father, "I
go, Sir," yet they do not go. They vow yet break their vow again and
again. They are at times moved, but it is only with temporary regrets,
for they turn again to the sin they said they had left. Alas! Alas!
Alas! Yet these people are not idiots–they are not fools in other
matters. See them at their business–they are sharp enough there. They
want to see the latest telegram, for it may affect the stocks and
shares in which they are so deeply interested. They are very anxious to
be on time about their temporal affairs. They are punctual in their
payments and they are glad to be equally prompt in their receipts.

They look after their own interests in everything except the greatest
and most important of them all! They carefully examine the title-deeds
relating to their estates. They will not set their signature to any
document till they have thoroughly understood it and seen that it is
all right. They make everything as secure as they can except their
immortal souls! To take care of the garment, but to neglect the body it
covers, is folly! To give all our time to our houses and lands, to our
money and our worldly estate–and to leave our soul to be lost–is the
most supreme folly of which we can be capable! I know not what to say
to those who know what they should be, what they should do–and yet
hesitate, debate and delay to do it! Is there such folly anywhere else
under Heaven? The birds of the air and the beasts of the field are not
so stupid as that! Surely the very stones in our streets have as much
reason in them as those men have who know that there is a Savior for
sinners and who yet lose Him by neglecting to trust in Him! Vain is it
for me to appeal to you! Instead of doing so, I make my appeal to God!
Holy Spirit, save these fools from themselves and from their sins, and
lead them to faith in Christ, the only Savior! O fools, and slow of
heart to believe, I call Heaven and earth to witness that I have warned
you of the consequences of your fatal folly! If you will perish in your
sins, remember that I have warned you–not with such a voice as I would
use if I had it, nor in such language as I would wish to speak if it
were possible– but using the best I have, that which my heart prompts
me to use!

"Why will you die?" Why will you be lost to all eternity? You must live
forever, for you are immortal! God has made you so and He will never
let your soul die. Then, will you deliberately choose to make that
endless life of yours to be forever wretched, forever without hope? You
do not mean to do so! I cannot think that you are so insane as that!
You desire to have peace here and hereafter? Then seek the Savior this
very hour! None are as happy as true Believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Would you have joy forever? Then trust in Him! But if you do
not, no joy can ever be yours. The inexorable decree of God concerning
Heaven is, "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles,
neither whatever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are
written in the Lamb's Book of Life." Therefore, if your names are not
in that Book–that is to say, if you believe not in Jesus Christ as
your Savior, if you are not trusting in the blood of the Lamb–you will
go to that dread place where hope can never dawn–but where the
midnight despair shall darken over the lost souls that will be
imprisoned there forever and forevermore!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JEREMIAH 8,9:1.

Jeremiah 8:1. At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the
bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the
bones of the priests, and the bones of the Prophets, and the bones of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. The Prophet Jeremiah
had to foretell terrible judgments upon the guilty people who had been
often warned, but who had, at last, gone beyond all bearing and were
about to be destroyed by the Chaldeans. Here we have the picture of
Judah and Jerusalem invaded by the Chaldeans and Babylonians, just
before the city was utterly destroyed. It was a very common practice to
bury treasure with the bodies of kings, hence when any land was invaded
by foreign foes, they broke open the tombs and searched for hidden
valuables and it was a sign of the special detestation of the enemy,
and of their fury against the people when they dragged the carcasses
out of the graves and scattered the bones to the four winds of Heaven.
In this case, it was foretold that this desecration would not only take
place with regard to the bones of the kings, in whose tombs the
greatest treasure might be expected to be found, but the bones of
princes, priests, Prophets and people were all to be alike brought
forth!

2. And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the
host of Heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and
after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they
have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall
be for dung upon the face of the earth. What a striking and appropriate
judgment that was! As they had worshipped the sun, that very sun was to
dry their bones. As they had worshipped the moon, that moon's rays
should fall upon their relics and the stars, which they had adored,
would also be quite unable to help them.

3. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of
them that remain of this evil family which remain in all the places
where I have driven them, said the LORD of Hosts. There was to be stern
treatment for the dead, but it would be worse with the living, for the
Chaldeans were strong, fierce, cruel and most ingenious in the torments
which

they inflicted upon their captives. It was an awful thing to be living
in such times as those–and it is always a terrible thing to be living
when God's judgments are abroad in the earth–and sinners are hardened
in their sin.

4, 5. Moreover you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD, Shall they
fall, and not arise? Shall he turn away, and not return? Why then is
this people of Jerusalem slid back by a perpetual backsliding? They
hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. Perseverance in sin is a great
aggravation of it. There are some who fall into sin, but, by God's
Grace, they are raised out of it and they turn away from iniquity and
are restored to God's favor. Where there is true Grace in the heart,
where there is spiritual life, there will be restoration sooner or
later. But there are others, like the people of Jerusalem, who have
"slid back by a perpetual backsliding." Day after day they grow more
outrageous in their wickedness.

6. I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented
him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?Everyone turned to his
course as the horse rushes into the battle. God listened. He waited to
be gracious. He was eager to hear one penitent cry and to observe one
tear of genuine repentance, but, as the war-horse is eager for the
fray, and, at the first blast of the trumpet, seeks to dash into the
very center of the fight, so did these ungodly people! Instead of
turning to God, they turned more desperately to sin.

7. Yes, the stork in the Heaven knows her appointed times; and the
turtledove and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their
coming, but My people know not the judgment of the LORD. When God's
judgments are being experienced, it is high time to repent! But these
people did not think of such a thing–they were not half as sensible as
migratory birds which come and go as the seasons guide them.

8. Why do you say, We are wise, and the Law of the Lord is with us?
Certainly in vain he made it The pen of the scribes is in vain. What?
Do they talk like that, the people who do not know and do not regard
God's judgments–do they talk in such a style as that? Ah, yes! Some of
the most wicked of them have a so-called "religion" upon which they
still pride themselves. Their hands are red with blood, yet they keep a
Bible handy. They say, "We are wise, and the Law of the Lord is with
us." All the while that they are sinning against the Lord and His Law.
Scribes multiplied copies of the Law and some of these very people who
were most hardened in guilt possessed a copy. But, says God, "certainly
in vain he made it. The pen of the scribes is in vain." And our own
Bible Societies may go on printing Bibles by the millions but, as long
as men do not obey what is taught in the Bible, the work of the
printing press, like that of the copyist, will be in vain! We need more
than the letter of the Word, valuable as that is! We need to know, in
spirit and in truth, what the Spirit teaches through the letter, and
also to practice it! God grant that even our Bibles may not rise up in
judgment against us!

9. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have
rejected the word of the LORD, and what wisdom is in them? See God's
judgment upon a man wise in his own conceit? You hear, every now and
then, of some wonderfully learned philosophic, scientific man–and many
folk are frightened because he is an infidel. He does not possess true
wisdom. God's description of such a man is this, "The fool has said in
his heart, There is no God."

10-11. Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields
to them that shall inherit them; for everyone from the least even unto
the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the
priest everyone deals falsely. For they have healed the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace–when there is
nopeace. It is a dreadful thing when those who ought to warn the people
simply flatter them. When, instead of speaking sharp, stern, honest,
faithful words, they cry, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. Such
false teachers say, "Do not trouble yourself. All will be right at
last. You may live as you like, for there is no hereafter that need
alarm you. In another state you may get set right, whatever God's Word
declares as to the punishment of the impenitent." There are far too
many of these smooth-tongued deceivers now living! God deliver this
land from them, lest they become an occasion of judgment against the
people!

12. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they
were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they
fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall
be cast down, says the LORD. They had gone so far that they could not
blush. It is a dreadful thing when a man has lost the very sense of
shame–there will be no repentance where that is the case!

13. I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes
on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the
things that I have given them shall pass away from them. They would not
recognize the Giver, so

the gifts would be taken away from them. Now the people dwelling in the
country villages begin to be alarmed because of the Chaldeans–and they
say–

14-16. Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, andlet us enter into
the defended cities, andlet us be silent there: for the LORD our God
has put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink because we
have sinned against the LORD. We looked for peace, but no good came;
and for a time ofhealth, and behold trouble! The snorting ofHis horses
was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the
neighing ofHis strong ones, for they are come, and have devoured the
land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
Dan was the northernmost tribe, bordering on Phoenicia. And after
Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Phoenicians, he began to march through the
territory of Daniel. The mighty horses of the Chaldeans can be seen
represented upon the slabs brought home by Mr. Layard. They are a very
prominent part of the Chaldean force–so the poet-Prophet pictures them
as being heard as far as from Dan as all the way to Jerusalem, so
terrible was their snorting. This, of course, is the imagery of poetry,
but there was terrible reality behind it.

17. For, behold, I will send serpents among you, vipers which will not
be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD. Such were the
Chaldeans–crafty as serpents, full of the venom of cruelty wherever
they came! There was no way of charming them as a serpent may be
charmed. They came on a deadly errand and thoroughly did they perform
it.

18-21. When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in
me. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of
them that dwell in a far country: is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her
king in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven
images, and with strange vanities? The harvest ispast, the summer is
ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people
am I hurt; I am black; astonishment has taken hold on me. The weeping
Prophet sorrows over the desolation of his land in words that have
seldom been surpassed for sublime sympathy and pathos–

22. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then
is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Jeremiah 9:1. Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of
tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of
my people! Matthew Henry well observes that, in the Hebrew, the same
word signifies, "eye," and, "fountain," as if God had as much given us
eyes to weep with as to see with, as if there were as much cause to
sorrow over sin as to look out upon the beauties of the world.
Magnificent in its poetry and most touching in its pathos is this verse
which ought never to have been cut off from the previous chapter–"Oh
that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might
weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!"