Jeremiah 15

Well then may we count those the sweetest hours which are spent in reading the holy Scriptures. Well may we say with the prophet (Jeremiah 15:16): "Your words were found, and I did eat them, and they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart." Conform to Scripture.

Hear the word with delight and complacency. (Jeremiah 15:16) Your words were found and I ate them, they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart. (Psalm 119:103) How sweet are your words to my taste, indeed, sweeter than honey to my mouth.

4. If we would have the word written effectual to salvation, we must delight in it as our spiritual cordial. (Jeremiah 15:16) Your words were found, and I did eat them, and they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart. All true solid comfort is fetched out of the word.

Cain brought his sacrifice but grudgingly, his worship was rather a task than an offering, rather penance than sacrifice, he did God's will, but against his will; we must be carried upon the wings of delight in every duty; Israel were to blow the trumpets when they offered burnt…

And from this we learn two things. The first, that every minister of God's word, and every one that intends to take upon him that calling, must propose to himself principally this end, to single out man from man, and gather out of this world such as belong to the church of Chris…

3. God will be in the midst of his people, because they are engaged in his quarrel. Jer. 15. 15. Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke! All the oppositions the godly meet with, are for standing up in the defence of Truth; if they would desist from Religion, and throw off…

(Chapter 3:11) "Why did I not die from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost, when I came out of the belly?" And (Jeremiah 15:18) "Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?" (Chapter 20:18) "Why did I come out of the womb, to see labor and…

Nor need we flee to that exposition ever and anon, that Christ died for all, that is, all ranks of men. For "all" is put in Scripture ordinarily for many; as (Deuteronomy 1:21; Psalm 71:18; Jeremiah 15:10; Jeremiah 19:9; Jeremiah 20:7; Jeremiah 23:30; Jeremiah 49:17; Ezekiel 16:…

7. Jeremiah is a remarkable instance; he was a Prophet of the Lord, sanctified from his Mother's womb, yet he met with so many discouragements, that he has a mind to leave his people; and he wishes for a lodging-place in the wilderness, that is, some solitary retirement, that th…

When the Lord our God puts us to silence, and into solitary places, he expects that we should visit him there (Song of Solomon 2:14). Oh my Dove that is in the clefts of the rock, in the secret place of the stairs, that is, in an afflicted persecuted and desolate condition, Let…

Hence it appears, that Ministers of the Gospel, must not be men-pleasers, nor apply, and fashion their doctrine to the affections, humors, and dispositions of men, but keep a good conscience, and do their office. The Lord tells Jeremiah he must not turn to the people, but the pe…

Thirdly, ministers have not the presence and protection of God, unless their lives be virtuous and godly. If you turn, you shall stand before me (Jeremiah 15:19). God reveals his secrets to the prophets his servants (Amos 3:7).

True prophecy judges men, discovers the things of the heart, and causes men to say, The Lord is within you (1 Corinthians 14:25). The scepter of Christ whereby he smites the nations, is in his mouth (Isaiah 11:4): that is, in the Ministry of the word (Jeremiah 15:19). And it is…

I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my appointed food: Job 23:12. Your words are found by me, and I did eat them, and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: Jeremiah 15:16. The law of your mo…

But here is plain truth, without a miracle. Secondly, whereas it is said, seven days and seven nights; we may note further, that the number seven, (as other numbers) may be understood indefinitely, a certain time being put for an uncertain; as (Jeremiah 15:9), the prophet says,…

4. As Christ may withdraw, if provoked and not entertained, from a private believer; so will he do from a Church, if they hold not fast what they have received, and walk not accordingly. 5. Church-members, by their sins, have much influence on Christ's removal from among them; i…

It's known also, that in nature, the navel has much influence on the child in the womb, which may be especially taken notice of here, as appears by the following commendation, namely, that it's like a round goblet, that is, well formed and proportioned (opposite to a navel not c…

The cup has wrath in it, the wrath of an angry God; and is it good for you to drink off the wine of God's wrath? Drunkenness has been your sin, and if you go on, God threatens that drunkenness shall be your punishment (Jeremiah 15:12). Speak to them this word, thus says the Lord…

The preaching of the gospel did indeed prove the occasion of contention. Our Savior foresaw and foretold it would be so (Luke 12:51-53), that his disciples and followers would be men of strife, in the same sense that the prophet was (Jeremiah 15:10), not men striving, but men st…

And Plutarch tells of Agesilaus, that he cast off voluptuous pleasures to his slaves, as better beseeming a base quality and servile nature, then himself. You mayest think to live in pleasure is a brave life, but it is the basest life that is; so God judges it: Hence the same wo…

He might take comfort in a subordinate way in these things; but the solace of his life, and the true sauce of all his labors was in the word of God. As David, so Jeremiah 15:16: Your words were sound, and I did eat them; they were to me as the joy and rejoicing of my heart. That…

So he who hungers after righteousness feeds eagerly on an ordinance. Jeremiah 15:16: Your words were found, and I ate them. In the Sacrament he feeds with appetite upon the body and blood of the Lord.

But suppose he should be so understood; it is most uncertain that by the buying of these false teachers is meant his purchasing of them with the ransom of his blood. The word translated 'buying' in the Old Testament signifies any deliverance, as Deuteronomy 7:8, 15:15, Jeremiah…

2. The Devils never sinned against Gods patience; as soon as they apostatized they were damned: God never waited for the Angels : but we have spent upon the stock of Gods patience; he has pitied our weakness, born with our frowardness; his Spirit has been repulsed, yet has still…

A pious Soul meditates of the Verity and Sanctity of the Word; he has not only a few transient thoughts, but lays his mind a steeping in the Scripture; by meditation he sucks from this sweet flower, and concocts holy truths in his mind. 3. He shows his love to the Word by deligh…

The Word is his delight. Thy Words were found, and I did eat them, and thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, Jeremiah 15:16. The Sabbath is his delight, Isaiah 58:13.

And in this regard David might say, the Words of God's mouth were sweeter to his taste than honey, Psalm 119.103. because one may soon surfeit upon honey, but he can never surfeit with the Word of God. He that has once with Jeremiah, found the Word and ate it, Jeremiah 15.16. wi…

Christ may give rough answers, when he has a good mind; he put a hard word upon the nobleman (John 4) that came to him for his dying son: You (and all your nation) will not believe, except you see signs and wonders. Never any man saw and apprehended harder things of God than Jer…

1. After the revelation of the spirit, neither devil nor sin can make the soul to doubt (say they). Indeed, but the spirit of revelation was in Jeremiah, who doubted when he complained (Jeremiah 15:18) to God of God, 'Will you be to me altogether as a liar, and as waters that fa…

And what more concerns us than to keep our first love to Christ? When he multiplies our widows in the three kingdoms, as the sand of the sea, and brings against the mother of the young men, a spoiler at noon-day (Jeremiah 15:8). This woman stayed on her watchtower, and now the v…

Answer. The flesh may come in and join in prayer, and some things may be said in haste, not in faith, as in that prayer (Psalm 77:9): "Has God forgotten to be gracious?" Nor is that of Jeremiah's to be put in Christ's golden censer to be presented to the Father (Jeremiah 15:18):…

First, it does feed upon the word, and that makes to rejoice in the word. And secondly, it lays up the word in remembrance for us, that we shall not forget it: read (Jeremiah 15:16). I did eat your word, and it was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; which shows you, that a…

Hence is that you read (Ezekiel 14:14): They shall deliver neither son nor daughter, but themselves only. And (Jeremiah 15:1). So that, though sometimes the mourning of God's people, is accepted for the mourning of the whole land; yet sometimes, though clusters of good families…