Jeremiah 12

God is an infinite ocean of blessedness, and there is enough in him to fill us: If a thousand vessels be thrown into the sea, there is enough in the sea to fill them. 4. If God be our God, he will entirely love us: Propriety is the ground of love: God may give men kingdoms, and…

The final impunity of flagitious sinners in this world, the unrelieved oppressions, afflictions, and miseries of the best, the prosperity of wicked devilish designs, the defeating and overthrow of holy, just, righteous undertakings and endeavours, promiscuous accidents to all so…

This now says the Prophet shall in the days of the Gospel be observed throughout the world, which it could not be in case it were not lawful for Christians in any case to swear by that holy name. And that in like manner is a promise concerning the calling and conversion of the G…

Ignorance of the nature of it and how essential it is to the Divine Being, is the occasion of security in sinning and atheism to ungodly men (Ecclesiastes 8:11, 12, 13; 2 Peter 3:3, 4). And a great temptation it is ofttimes to them that are godly (Habakkuk 1:12, 13; Jeremiah 12:…

The righteous are God's treasure (Psalm 135:4), and where his treasure is, there is his heart: they are God's delicious garden, where he plants the flower of his love (Psalm 146:8). They are the dearly beloved of his soul (Jeremiah 12:7). They are his Hephzibah, or darling (Isai…

3. His providence, in general when the wicked prosper; 'tis a temptation that has shaken the tallest cedars in Lebanon. David, though a steward, he was ashamed of it, and counts it brutish ignorance (Psalm 73:22); so (Jeremiah 12:1, 2, 3) and Habakkuk chapter 1. But let us come…

Indeed, and the observation of the outward felicities of vice, and the oppressions of goodness have caused fretting commotions in the hearts of God's people; Psalm 73 is wholly designed to answer this case. Jeremiah, though fixed in the acknowledgment of God's righteousness, wou…

God loves his people with the choicest of his love, they have the spirits of his love distilled; and to shew this, he calls them by those Titles which denote love; the apple of his eye, Deutr. 32. 10. The dearly beloved of his soul, Jer. 12. 7. His Treasure, Psal. 135. 4.

We say when Cherries come at first, that they are Ladies meat, or Longing meat: Now the Lord is pleased to condescend so much to express his love to his people, as the love of a longing woman to Cherries or other fruit, when they come first of all; as a woman has a longing after…

Oh it is a sad expression, what Israel! a vessel employed and received to empty out excrements! [1. Israel were a people precious and honorable in the eyes of God (Isaiah 43:4). [2. An holy people to the Lord (Deuteronomy 14:2). [3. They were God's peculiar people above all nati…

he permitted to the people, whether they would follow Jehovah or Baal, v. 21. Then they swore by his name, thereby establishing him as the most present God, the searcher of hearts, and the supreme governor of all actions: Jeremiah 12:16, "They taught my people to swear by Baal,"…

And thus much of those which the Lord in mercy and wisdom receives of us. Now follows those means which he has given us, and they are attributed to the Lord himself directly, as his titles, to be used, either simply (Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 1:17), in an oath (Deuteronomy 6:13; Jer…

Answer: The thing in question is not concluded; we say not we are to pray for the salvation of none but believers only, and that Christ died for none but those that already believed: we are to pray for all ranks, believers or unbelievers, as Christ died for thousands of both, bu…

Reasons. 1. We pray cursorily, and go about prayer as a customary task for fashion's sake; we come with a few cold devotions morning and evening, and so God is near in our mouths, and far from our reins (Jeremiah 12:2). Oh take heed of this; nothing breeds slightness and hardnes…

The way of the wicked often prospers, and the way of these wicked Chaldeans prospered so often, that the prophet Habakkuk complains to God as one scandalized at it: You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, why do you look upon them that deal treach…

In the Old we have a prophecy of what should be hereafter in the times of the gospel (Isaiah 45:23): I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. And again (Jeremia…

After this, how was the church opposed in Egypt! And how was the church of Israel always hated by the nations round about, agreeable to that in Jeremiah 12:9, "Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her." After the Babylonish captivity, ho…

And this was not only an Institution belonging to Israel under the old Testament, but also to Gentile Converts, and Christians under the New Testament. Thus God declares concerning the Gentile Nations, Jeremiah 12:16. If they will diligently learn the Ways of my People, to SWEAR…

And so as every thing loves its own, the hen warms and cherishes her chickens, and every bird the young ones; so must the Lord follow with heavenly and quickening influences sincerity of heart, when he particularly says to them (Psalm 32:11), Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice you…

He complains of a sort of people, that draw near to God with their mouth, and with their lips do honor him, but have removed their heart far from him, and their fear toward him is taught by the precepts of men. So (Jeremiah 12:2): You, oh Lord, are near in their mouth, and far f…

Can there be a greater slight put upon the eternal God than for men to use his sacred and blessed name as a byword, with which they give vent to their exorbitant passions, or fill up the vacancies of their other idle words? The name of God is thus abused not only by those that b…

2. His pleasant portion, Jer. 12:10 They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 3.

Wind shaking the tree, makes it grow more steady. Thus the tribulations of the godly, and the persecutions they suffer, do oppose their graces, but because they cannot overcome them, they strengthen them: As we read Psalm 45. when the Church forsakes all, when she leaves her fat…

O what will you do in the day of your visitation? Jer. 12:5 If thefootmen have wearied you, how can you contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, how will you do in the swelling of Jordan? We read of Polycarpus, that as he lay in his bed, he saw in a vision the bed set o…

It may be learned from his constant way in governing the world; notwithstanding all provocations; yet he does good to men, causing his sun to shine upon them, sending them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. From this it was easy for them to c…

That none may pervert this comfortable doctrine, let me add two caveats. 1. That men deceive not themselves with a naked name, thinking themselves to be of the Church, when they are only in it; such may Christ hate (Jeremiah 12:8). 2. That being of the Church they grow not insol…

Because there is not so much as a word of it for the time (so the word is) this greatens, and fills the heart of man, and makes it big to do evil. And not only is the Lord's long suffering mistaken by the ungodly, but even by his own, that should understand him better, and know…

David stood both in the one temptation and in the other, the reproach and contempt of the vulgar, and also when princes sat and spoke against him. But to these we may say as (Jeremiah 12:5): If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how will you contend w…

Use 1. Is to reprove those that do not give God the heart in their service. 2nd. Not the whole heart. First, not the heart, but content themselves with outward profession (Jeremiah 12:2): you are near in their mouth, but far from their reins. God is often in their speech, but th…

God's judgments are a great deep, we should believe the righteousness and goodness of God in the general (Psalm 36:7), before we can find it out. The people of God have maintained their principle, when they have been puzzled and entangled in interpreting God's providence (Jeremi…

2. God may delay so long, till a land be wasted by sundry successive common judgments that light upon good and bad. (Jeremiah 12:4) After the complaint of the prosperity of the wicked, the prophet subjoins, "How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the field wither?" When…

Believe that God now does understand what you are. It was an article in that famous prophet's creed, in Jeremiah 12:3: You, O Lord, know me, you have seen me, and tried my heart towards you. O that every one of us were enough sensible of that awful solemn truth!

The hypocrite makes only a show of obedience. Jeremiah 12:2: You are near in their mouth and far from their inner being. There may be a fair complexion when the lungs and vitals are rotten.

He who is born of God honors those who fear the Lord (Psalm 15:4). The saints are the dearly beloved of God's soul (Jeremiah 12:7). They are his jewels (Malachi 3:17).

1. A hypocrite is he who on the stage represents a King, when he is none, a beggar, an old man, a husband, when he is really no such thing (Luke 20:20). They sent out spies, feigning themselves to be just men: to the Hebrews they are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 faciales, facemen,…

On this account the children of Israel were nearer to God than any other nation in the world (Psalm 148:14): The children of Israel, a people near to him. There is an external covenanting with God; such may be really far from God, yet they are as to their visible state near to h…

So he said to her, Peace be to you; stand up. But she continued upon her face, and said, “Righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you; yet let me talk with you of your judgments” (Jeremiah 12:1). Why do you keep so cruel a dog in your yard, at the sight of which such women…

Nothing so much comforts you under or after an affliction as the discovery it has made of your heart. You will seem to feel with what affections those words came from the prophet's lips (Jeremiah 12:3): 'But you, O Lord, know me; you have seen me, and tried my heart toward you.'…

Secondly, a passive trial of it: whether we try it or not, God will try it; he will bring our gold to the touchstone, and to the fire. 'You, O Lord, know me, you have seen me and tried my heart toward you,' said the prophet (Jeremiah 12:3). Sometimes he tries the strength and ab…

'If they draw near to him with their lips, yet their heart is far from him' (Isaiah 29:13). 'You are near in their mouth, but far from their minds' (Jeremiah 12:2). There are some that feel the influence and power of their communion with the Lord in duties, going down to their v…

O who can value the comfort that is tasted by the soul upon the trial and discovery of its sincerity! When after some sore temptation wherein God has helped us to maintain our integrity, or after some close pinching affliction wherein we have discovered in ourselves a sweet resi…

Q. 8. What are the attributes which usually are ascribed to him in his works, or the acts of his will? A. (k) Goodness, (l) power, (m) justice, (n) mercy, (o) holiness, (p) wisdom, and the like, which he delights to exercise towards his creatures, for the praise of his glory. (k…

Q. 8. What are the attributes which usually are ascribed to him in his works, or the acts of his will? A. (k) Goodness, (l) power, (m) justice, (n) mercy, (o) holiness, (p) wisdom, and the like, which he delights to exercise towards his creatures, for the praise of his glory. (k…