The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts.
The decay of religion mournful
1. The overthrow of the commonwealth bringeth with it the overthrow of the Church’s outward peace.
2. When the things that God hath given us here are not applied to the appointed use, we have just cause to mourn, seeing our sins have caused the let thereof (Deu_28:15-68; Isa_13:19, etc.).
3. The earth and earthly things do often admonish men of their sins, either by denying that comfort which naturally they bring with them (Lev_18:25), or bringing grief or punishment with them (Mic_2:10).
(1) God hath made all His creatures as written books, wherein man may read his sins.
(2) That man may have no show of excuse left him at that great day of account.
4. All God’s creatures mourn when God is disobeyed, and rejoice when He is obeyed by His people.
5. The service of God is not tied to any place, but upon condition of their obedience that dwell therein (Jer_26:4).
6. It is a great grief to God’s ministers to be deprived of their ministry or to see it unprofitable to the Church.
(1) God is greatly dishonoured thereby.
(2) It giveth occasion of interrupting all good things among the people, and matter of all kinds of sin.
7. The ministers must be guides to the people, to lead them to mourning (when there is cause), as also to all other duties.
8. They that seem most exempt from it must mourn at the decay of religion.
(1) This reproves them that lay not to heart the distress of God’s people for the truth, thinking it sufficient that themselves live in safety.
(2) It teaches us to strive to be grieved when we hear of the decay of true religion in any place, though it be safe where we are.
9. The greatest loss that can befall God’s people is the loss of the exercise of the Word and Sacraments. Because God hath appointed them to be the means of begetting and confirming faith in us. (J. Udall.)
All her gates are desolate.
Religious desolation
A pathetic picture indeed is this, that the feast is spread and no man comes to the banqueting table; every gate is open in token of welcome and hospitality, yet no wandering soul asks for admittance; the priests once so noble in the service of song, the virgins once so beautiful as images of innocence, now stand with hands thrown down, with eyes full of tears, with hearts sighing in expressive silence their bitterness and disappointment. All this can God do even to His chosen place, and to altars on which He has written His name. Officialism is no guarantee of spiritual perpetuity. Pomp and ceremony, with all their mechanical and external decorations and attractions, are no pledge of the presence of the Spirit of the Living God. The sanctuary is nothing but for the Lord’s presence. Eloquent preaching is but eloquent noise if the Spirit of the Lord be not in it, giving it intellectual value, spiritual dignity, and practical usefulness. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord; because men have forgotten this doctrine, they have trusted to themselves and have seen their hopes perishing in complete and bitter disappointment. (J. Parker, D. D.)
