Jeremiah Introduction—1:3
“It is difficult to conceive any situation more painful than to watch the lingering agony of an exhausted country, to tend it during the alternate fits of stupefaction and raving which precede its dissolution, and to see the symptoms of vitality disappear one by one, till nothing is left but coldness, darkness, and corruption.”
–Zachary Macaulay
“It was Jeremiah’s lot to prophesy at a time when all things in Judah were rushing down to the final and mournful catastrophe; when political excitement was at its height; when the worst passions swayed the various parties, and the most fatal counsels prevailed. It was his to stand in the way over which his nation was rushing headlong to destruction; to make an heroic effort to arrest it, and to turn it back; and to fail, and be compelled to step to one side and see his own people, whom he loved with the tenderness of a woman, plunge over the precipice into the wide, weltering ruin.”
–Dr. W. G. Moorehead, Studies in the Prophecy of Jeremiah
Jeremiah 3:1-25
“…When a man makes a god according to the pattern of his own being, he makes a god like himself, an enlargement of his own imperfection. Moreover, the god which a man makes for himself will demand from him that which is according to his own nature. It is clearly evident in Mohammedanism. Great and wonderful and outstanding in his personality as Mohammed was, yet the blighting sensuality of the man curses the whole of Islam today. Men will be faithful to those gods who make no demands upon them which are out of harmony with the desires of their own hearts. When God calls men, it is the call of the God of holiness, the God of purity, the God of love; and He demands that they rise to His height. He cannot accommodate Himself to the depravity of their nature. He will not consent to the things of desire within them that are of impurity and evil. He calls men up, and even higher, until they reach the height of perfect conformity to His holiness. God’s call to humanity is always first pure, and then peaceable; first holy, and then happy; first righteous, and then rejoicing.”
–Studies in the Prophecy of Jeremiah by Dr. G. Campbell Morgan
Jeremiah 9—11
“America is coasting downhill on a godly ancestry, and God have mercy on us when we reach the bottom of the hill.”
–Dr. J. Gresham Machen
“We can go the way of Babylon because we’ve lost our moral purpose.”
–Dr. Albert Hyma
Jeremiah 18, 19
“An irreverent equalizing of man with God.”
–Dr. William Shedd, describing “questioning God”
Jeremiah 25:15—28:17
“It is said of Socrates made the statement that he was the wisest man in Athens. When asked on what grounds he made such a claim he replied that he was the wisest man because he realized that his wisdom was worthless!”
–Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Edited Messages on Jeremiah
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool. Shun him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a child. Teach him
He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep. Wake him.
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise. Follow him.
–Persian Proverb
Jeremiah 29, 30
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade.
A breath can make them as a breath has made,
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed can never be supplied.
A time there was ’ere England's griefs began
When every root of ground maintained its men;
For him, like labor, spread her wholesome store,
Just gave what life required but gave no more.
–Oliver Goldsmith
“A great statesman is a man who knows where God is going for the next fifty years.”
–William Gladstone
Jeremiah 31, 32
How canst Thou think so well of us
Yet be the God Thou art,
Is darkness to my intellect
But sunshine to my heart.
Yet Thou dost think so well of us,
Because of what Thou art;
Thy love illumines out intellect,
Yet fills with fear our heart.
–Frederick W. Faber
“The love of God toward us comes from love, and has no other cause above or beside itself, but is in God, and remains in God, so that Christ who is in God is its centre.”
–J.A. Cramer
Jeremiah 33—36
“Maw, I found an old, dusty thing high upon the
shelf. Just look!”
“Why, that's a Bible, Tommy dear, be careful.
That’s God's Book.”
“God’s Book?” the young one said, “Then, Maw,
before we lose it
We’d better send it back to God, ’cause you know
we never use it.”
–Author unknown
Jeremiah 39:7—44:30
“Prisons are in the interest of the free. Hell is the safe-guard of heaven. A state that cannot punish crime is doomed and a God who tolerates evil is not good. Deny me my biblical revelation of the anger of God and I’m insecure in the universe. But reveal to me this throne established, occupied by One whose heart is full of tenderness; whose bowels yearn with love—then I am assured that He will not tolerate that which blights and blasts and damns, but will destroy it and all its instruments in the interest of that which is high and noble and pure.”
–G. Campbell Morgan
Jeremiah 45:1—49:6
“What we supremely need in the life of our nation today is the moral equivalent of war.”
–William James
Robert William Dale, when asked the question, “Do you believe in peace at any price?” replied, “I certainly do. Sometimes at the price of war.”
“Finally we come to that which is the most hopeless thing” corruption of conscience. All its fine sensitiveness is gone. There is no high idealism in national outlook and national thought. Or to use the almost terrific word of the Bible, “the conscience is hardened,” so that there is no blanching with fear and no blushing with shame. There is cynicism instead of faith. Pessimism instead of hope. And utilitarianism instead of love.”
–G. Campbell Morgan
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