Page:A memoir of Granville Sharp.djvu/147

Rh shaken, and yielded to a sense of guilt! It was upon this return of conscience and right reason that Zedekiah sent two messengers, Passur and Zephaniah, to Jeremiah, saying, "Inquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon maketh war against us! if so be the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us," &c. See chap. xxi. ver. 1 and 2. But a very unwelcome answer was given to the messengers, to be returned to their monarch; for the prophet confirmed all the heavy judgments (Jer. xxi. 3 to 7.) which had before been denounced, as well against the king, expressly by name as against the city and its iniquitous inhabitants, whose notorious oppressions were now to be recompensed upon their own heads, measure for measure:—"Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations," &c. Ezek. vii. 3. See also the 4th, 8th, and 9th verses, to the same effect. And afterwards, in the 11th verse, one of the principal causes of God's vengeance is mentioned:—"Violence" (said the prophet) "is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's; neither shall their be wailing for them. The time is come, the day draweth near!" &c.—And again, in the 23d verse:—"Make a chain" (said the prophet); for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses," &c.—"Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and their shall be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor," &c.—"The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their (own) way, and according to their deserts" (or rather their own judgments) "will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord." Again, in the 12th chapter, the same reason is clearly assigned for the pouring out of God's vengeance:—"Say unto the people of the land,