Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah.] A new sermon, but to the same purpose as the former. See on Jeremiah 1:2. Toto libro idem argumentum sursum deorsum versat. Oecolamp.
Ver. 2. Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house.] The east gate, which was the most famous and most frequented of the people, and therefore fittest for the purpose. And proclaim there this word.] Stand there with this word (as once the angel with a terrible sword did at the porch of paradise) to excommunicate, as it were, this hypocritical people; and do it verbis non tantum disertis sed et exertis, plainly and boldly.
Ver. 3. Amend your ways and your doings.] Heb., Make good your ways, sc., by repentance for and from your sins, and by believing the Gospel. Defaecantur enim mores, ubi medullitus excipitur evangelium. Amendment of life is an upright, earnest, and constant endeavour to do all that God commandeth, and to forbear what he forbiddeth.
Ver. 4. Trust ye not in lying words.] Or, Matters, sc., that will deceive you. The ships Triumph or Good Speed may be ventorum ludibrium, mocked by the wind and miscarry upon the hard rocks or soft sands; so fair shows and bare titles help not. Vatinius, that wicked Roman, professed himself a Pythagorean: and vicious Antipater wore a white cloak, the ensign of innocence. This was virtutis stragulum pudefacere, said Diogenes wittily, to put honesty to an open shame. The temple of the Lord, the temple—are these,] i.e., These buildings, or these three parts of the temple, viz., the most holy place, the sanctuary, and the outer court. To these are made the promises of God’s perpetual residence; (Psalms 132:14) therefore we are safe from all danger while here we take sanctuary. See Micah 3:11. The Romish crew, in like manner, have nothing in their mouths so much as the Church, the Church, the Catholic Church; and therein, like oyster wives, they outcry us. Many also among ourselves cry, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,” who do yet nothing care for the Lord of the temple. They glory in external privileges, and secure themselves therein, as the Jews fable that Og, King of Bashan, escaped in the flood by riding astride upon the ark without. But what profiteth it “ Respicere ad phaleras, et nomina vana Catonum? ” Esse Christianum grande est, non videri, saith Jerome. It is a great privilege to be a Christian, but not to seem only to be so; an empty title yieldeth but an empty comfort at last. Cic. in Vatinium. Ecclesiam ad ravim usque crepant catholicam.
Ver. 5. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways.] If ye thoroughly execute judgment; if ye be serious in the one, and sedulous in the other. See Jeremiah 7:2.
Ver. 6. If ye oppress not the stranger, &c.] Turtures amat Deus, non vultures. See on Isaiah 1:23.
Ver. 7. Then will I cause you to dwell in this place.] Not else. God’s promises are with a condition, which is as an oar in a boat or stern of a ship, and turns the promise another way.
Ver. 8. Behold, ye trust, &c.] See on Jeremiah 7:4.
Ver. 9. Will ye steal, murder, &c.] Heb., Will ye stealing steal, murdering murder, &c.— i.e., drive a trade with the devil by these foul practices allowed and wallowed in, quasi examen malorum facinorum nihil obsit, modo domum Dei ingrederemini, as if you could set off with me, and make amends by your good deeds for your bad.
Ver. 10. And come and stand before me in this house.] This was worse than to do as the Circassiaus, a kind of mongrel Christians of the Greek Church of this day, who, as they baptize not their children till the eighth year, so they enter not into the Church, the gentlemen especially, till the sixtieth year, but hear divine service standing without the temple—that is to say, till through age they grow unable to continue their rapines and robberies, to which sin that nation is exceedingly addicted. And say, We are delivered,] i.e., Licensed. Hoc idem dicunt qui cogitationes inter peccata non numerant, saith Oecolampadius. Breerwood’s Enquiry.
Ver. 11. Is this house, which is called by my name.] Is it become impiae gentis arcanum? as Florus afterwards spitefully called it; or a professed sanctuary of roguery? as the Papists maliciously say of Geneva; or a receptacle of all abominations? as Pompey’s theatre in Rome was once said to be. Become a den of robbers?] To such it should have been said by the porters, Gressus removete profani. In the mystical sacrifices of Ceres, no profane person was to be admitted, for the priest going before uttered these words, εκας εκας οστις αλιτρος —that is, be packing every wicked person. So the Roman priests had their procul, O procul este, profani. Arx omnium turpitudinum.
Ver. 12. But go ye now.] Non passibus sed sensibus. Summon the sobriety of your senses before your own judgments, and consider what I did of old to Shiloh, a place no less privileged than yours, and wherefore I did it, and be warned by their woes. Alterius perditio, tua sit cautio; seest thou another shipwrecked, look well to thy tackling. Reason should persuade, and therefore lodgeth in the brain; but when reason cannot persuade, example should, and mostly will.