Lecture Eleventh
Jeremiah 3:4 | |
4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? | 4. An non posthac clamabis ad me, Pater mi, dux adolescentiae meae tu es? |
God, after having set forth the wickedness of his people, and severely reproved them as they deserved, now kindly invites them to repentance,
It is with this design that he asks, "Will they not again call on me as their Father and the guide of their youth?" And by this periphrastic way of speaking, he intimates that he was the husband of that people; for most tender is that love which a youth has for a young virgin in the flower of her age. God, then, makes use now of this comparison, and says, that he still remembered the love which he had manifested towards his people. In short, he shews here that pardon was ready, if the people sought reconciliation; and he confirms the same thing when he adds --