The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

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THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH
appearances. The aspect of affairs is sometimes such
as to force home the feeling that God must have deserted
the sufferer, or how could He have permitted the misery
to continue unchecked ? A dogmatic statement of the
Divine omniscience, although it may not be disputed,
will not remove the painful impression, nor will the
most absolute demonstration of the goodness of God,
of His love and faithfulness ; because the overwhelming
influence of things visible and tangible so fully occupies
the mind that it has not room to receive unseen, spiritual
realities. Therefore, though not to the reason still to
the feelings, it is as though God had indeed forgotten
His children in their deep distress.
Under such circumstances the first requisite is the
assurance that God should remember the sufferers
whom He appears to be neglecting. He never really
neglects any of His creatures, and His attention is the
all-sufficient security that dehverance must be at hand.
But this is a truth that does not satisfy us in the bare
statement of it. It must be absorbed, and permitted to
permeate wide regions of consciousness, in order that
it may be an actual power in the life. That, however,
is only the subjective effect of the thought of the Divine
remembrance. The poet is thinking of external actions.
Evidently the aim of his prayer is to secure the atten-
tion of God as a sure preliminary to a Divine inter-
position. But even with this end in view the fact that
God remembers is enough.
In appealing for God's attention the elegist first
makes mention of the reproach that has come upon
Israel. This reference to humiliation rather than to
suffering as the primary ground of complaint maybe
accounted for by the fact that the glory of God is
frequently taken as a reason for the blessing of His