Jeremiah 8 · The Lantern

In illo tempore, ait Dominus, ejicient ossa regum Juda, et ossa principum ejus, et ossa sacerdotum, et ossa prophetarum, et ossa eorum qui habitaverunt Jerusalem, de sepulchris suis:

et expandent ea ad solem, et lunam, et omnem militiam cæli, quæ dilexerunt, et quibus servierunt, et post quæ ambulaverunt, et quæ quæsierunt, et adoraverunt. Non colligentur, et non sepelientur: in sterquilinium super faciem terræ erunt.

Et eligent magis mortem quam vitam, omnes qui residui fuerint de cognatione hac pessima, in universis locis quæ derelicta sunt, ad quæ ejeci eos, dicit Dominus exercituum.

Et dices ad eos: Hæc dicit Dominus: Numquid qui cadit non resurget? et qui aversus est non revertetur?

And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God. For "cannot he that falls arise again, and he that goes astray return?" Permit them, then, to be instructed by you. Be ye therefore the ministers of God, and the mouth of Christ.

God is indeed good to everyone, but he shows his patient endurance especially to those who sin. If you want to hear a paradoxical statement—paradoxical because it is not customary but true for the great piety it reveals—listen. God always seems to be severe to the righteous. But he seems good to sinners and quick to clemency.

It is worth our while observing, in what way his sin was forgiven, and how he put away his fault. The event may prove of no slight benefit to us. He did not then defer his repentance. Nor was he careless about it, for as rapid as was his decent into sin, so quick were his tears because of it. Nor did he merely weep, but he wept bitterly.

Quare ergo aversus est populus iste in Jerusalem aversione contentiosa? Apprehenderunt mendacium, et noluerunt reverti.

They have all abandoned him. There is no one who speaks well and does penance for his sins. They follow their own wills like a horse ready for battle. They bend their tongue as a bow. They invent everything, and there is no truth in them.

Those then who perish, perish against his will. This he testifies against each one of them day by day: "Turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel?" And again: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not." And: "Why has this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting?

Just as there is no illness that is incurable for our physician, so the heavenly medicine cannot be powerless in any wound or for any length of time. Therefore, the physician testifies that he is always able to restore health to the one converted.

Attendi, et auscultavi: nemo quod bonum est loquitur; nullus est qui agat pœnitentiam super peccato suo, dicens: Quid feci? Omnes conversi sunt ad cursum suum, quasi equus impetu vadens ad prælium.

Jeremiah also says, in like manner: "The turtle and the swallow have known her time, and the sparrows of the field have observed the times of their coming, but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord. How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? The meting out is in vain. The scribes are deceived and confounded.

Wherefore it were meet exceedingly to admire the consideration of our Lawgiver, in that, when He might bring forward His illustration from among men, and when He might have spoken of Moses and Elias and John, and others like them, who took no thought; that He might touch them more to the quick, He made mention of the irrational beings.

(Verse 6.) I listened and heard: no one speaks what is good. There is no one who repents for his sin, saying: what have I done? All have turned to their own course, like a horse rushing into battle.

Milvus in cælo cognovit tempus suum: turtur, et hirundo, et ciconia custodierunt tempus adventus sui: populus autem meus non cognovit judicium Domini.

Quomodo dicitis: Sapientes nos sumus, et lex Domini nobiscum est? vere mendacium operatus est stylus mendax scribarum!

Confusi sunt sapientes; perterriti et capti sunt: verbum enim Domini projecerunt, et sapientia nulla est in eis.

Propterea dabo mulieres eorum exteris, agros eorum hæredibus, quia a minimo usque ad maximum omnes avaritiam sequuntur: a propheta usque ad sacerdotem cuncti faciunt mendacium.

Et sanabant contritionem filiæ populi mei ad ignominiam, dicentes: Pax, pax! cum non esset pax.

The arranged time comes to our people; there is peace in the world; and, at the same time, ruin is weighing us down from the enticement of the world, (the destruction) of the reckless people whom you have rent into schism. Either obey the law of the city, or depart from it. You behold the mote sticking in our eyes, and will not see the beam in your own.

Do not believe the false prophets who say, "Peace, peace, and there is no peace"; who are always repeating, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." "Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish things; they have not laid bare your iniquity that they might call you to repentance—those who devour God's people like bread have not called on God." Jeremiah announced t…

Such, then, should Christ's apostles be preachers of the gospel and not ones who greet on the road. That is, not ones who look for something else, but those who proclaim the gospel out of genuine brotherly love. Let them come to the house and say, "Peace be to this house." They do not only say it with their lips, but they pour out what they are full of.

Confusi sunt, quia abominationem fecerunt: quinimmo confusione non sunt confusi, et erubescere nescierunt. Idcirco cadent inter corruentes: in tempore visitationis suæ corruent, dicit Dominus.

Congregans congregabo eos, ait Dominus. Non est uva in vitibus, et non sunt ficus in ficulnea: folium defluxit, et dedi eis quæ prætergressa sunt.

Quare sedemus? convenite, et ingrediamur civitatem munitam, et sileamus ibi: quia Dominus Deus noster silere nos fecit, et potum dedit nobis aquam fellis: peccavimus enim Domino.

Exspectavimus pacem, et non erat bonum: tempus medelæ, et ecce formido.

A Dan auditus est fremitus equorum ejus; a voce hinnituum pugnatorum ejus commota est omnis terra: et venerunt, et devoraverunt terram et plenitudinem ejus; urbem et habitatores ejus.

Quia ecce ego mittam vobis serpentes regulos, quibus non est incantatio: et mordebunt vos, ait Dominus.

Dolor meus super dolorem, in me cor meum mœrens.

Ecce vox clamoris filiæ populi mei de terra longinqua: Numquid Dominus non est in Sion? aut rex ejus non est in ea? Quare ergo me ad iracundiam concitaverunt in sculptilibus suis, et in vanitatibus alienis?

Transiit messis, finita est æstas, et nos salvati non sumus.

Super contritione filiæ populi mei contritus sum, et contristatus: stupor obtinuit me.

Numquid resina non est in Galaad? aut medicus non est ibi? quare igitur non est obducta cicatrix filiæ populi mei?

Let no one, then, run down the law, as if, on account of the penalty, it were not beautiful and good. Shouldn't he who drives away bodily disease appear as a benefactor? Shouldn't he who attempts to deliver the soul from iniquity even more appear as a friend since the soul is a more precious thing than the body?

"Shall not he that falls rise again, and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?" Why, then, is the virgin "turned away with a stubborn revolting," even though she heard Christ, her spouse, saying through Jeremiah: "And when she had committed all these fornications, I said: Return to me, and she did not return?" "Is there no balm in Gilead?

(Ver. 22.) Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Not only in this place, but also in many other passages of the Scriptures, we find the balm of Gilead being used as a symbol of repentance and healing.

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