Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-05-10
Jereminb and the Higher Law.

Old jeremiah must have left seed upon
earth. The daily diatribes OF the Leader indi-
cate the direct line of descent of its grumbling
editor from that old constitutional cOmplainer."
Plain Dealer, May 9Th.
Upon reading the above article l was led to
wonder ignorant layman that was 10 Scriptu-
raj biography , why the editor of the Leader
should be thought by the Plain Dealer to be an
undoubted descendant Of that noble, righteous
and sin-hatng prophet of Israel. Not, Mr..
Editor, because doubted your hatred of sin ol
your sincerity of service in the cause of truth
but why should you be for these qualities
likened tc jeremiah rather than to Isaiah or
Micah HabakLuk or Malachi / must confess
to you, sir, and through your columns to the
Plain Dealer, that thought it random con,-
p5r.son, designed rather for a contemptuous
fling at the good old Prophet, without any care
for the analogy of the comparison, until came
to refresh my recollection by perusal of the
Prophet jeremiah And hasten now to apollo
gize: to the Bible-wise Plain Dealer for the
wrong done to it in my lack of faith in its BibIi-
cal information.
1t appears that jeremiah uttered the burden
of his complaints against the Jewish nation for
two sins--idolatry and oPpression-in each Of
which sins he puts as the gTaoamen of the Of
fence, the charge against Israel that they hare
GlsTegdrded (ihe hlgher tal0J me tdiO CJ uOd anu
have hearkened unto and followed (the lower
law the laws of their Kings
In robuking the people for their idolatry, the
L. A. A.
nasseh their King, which he had done in Jeru-
salem der Is La and consgns the peop'e
to DEATH TO the sword, to famine and to captiv.
ity. To know what Manasseh did, we have on
ly to consult the 2lst chapter of I'd Kings,
where it is recorded Gin verse 9) that Manassch
caused them to go astray," $50 the original im.
ports,) aud in verse IL, he "hath made Judah to
sin" That this causing and making the people
to sin was not simply by the force of his exam
pie, will appear from the 18th chapter Of 2d
Kings, where the charge is distinctly made that
the people had followed other gods. l0ailng IA
the statutes of the Kings Of Israel l0hich they
had made" This, then, was one violation OF
the higher law in obedience to the statutes of
the Kings.
But the prophet also r1bukes the people no
less severely, and foretelIs for them no less bit.
ter punishment for their OPpressiOn-(Jer. 7
and 6-alsO chap 81 IL, aud % 3 and l3)-
in al which passages he denounces with wee |
and destruction, those that oPprsss The Siraa.
ger'-ihose that tOr6sar to deiiUer the spoiled |
out Of The hand Of the oPprsssOr"-t those that
fbo5r
him not for his lOork"
And after the prophet has thus declined |
against the sin of oppression, he proceeds to
specify the manner, or at least one of the ways
in which the people have incurred such guilt !
He reminds them in chap. "a, verses SIG, how
they bad cOVenanted with God when He gave
them HIS lao through Moses-(ihat higher law) |
that every man should emancipate certain of !
his servants (or slaves, as the Rev. Dr. Ross
prefers to TRANSLATED they had renewed,
and the King with them, that covenant--and |
yet in violation Of that covenant they had |
turned and recaptured their released servants
aud had reduced them again to seryitude And |
Notwithstanding this oppression had received
the sanction Of the King and the princes, Jere-
miah commands the people IN the name of Je-
hovah to rescue such oppressed ones, and deliver
them out Of the hand Of the opprossor, lest |
the fury Of the Lord 60 out like FIRE (aganst
them) and there be none to quench it"
Thus did jeremiah as the prophet of the Lord
robuke IN his time the people aud their King for
seeking TO enforce the statutes of the govern
ment in the face Of the higher law Of God
Shall it then be thought by you, Mr. Editor.
a reproach, nay should you not rather count il
a great cOmmendation, that the Plain Dealer
esteems your heart worthy TO throb with the
blood Of the God.fearing prophet Jeremiah
And may we not in kindness hope that the
analogy Of this time 10 the time of jeremiah will |
not be completed by an infiction upon the Plain
Dealer Of such punishment as was visited upon
Zedekiah, who Teviled the doctrine Of Jehovah's |
prophet for he was delivered into the hand OF |
the King of BObylOn and lost both bis eyes as a |
part OF bis punishment in setting at naught the |
law OF Jehovah. l would commend 10 the
ram Dealer the entire lesson taught by the
history which he considers 80 appropriate to
TINS ume and place A LAYMAN