than Jeremiah, and here especially in the chapter out of which the
text is taken he speaks very severely against them. He charges them
with several crimes; particularly he charges them with covetousness:
"For," says he, in the thirteenth verse, "from the least of them even
to the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness; and from
the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely."

And then, in the words of the text, in a more special manner he
exemplifies how they had dealt falsely, how they had behaved
treacherously to poor souls: says he, "They have healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when
there is no peace." The prophet, in the name of God, had been
denouncing war against the people; he had been telling them that their
house should be left desolate, and that the Lord would certainly visit
the land with war. "Therefore," says he, in the eleventh verse, "I am
full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in; I will pour
it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men
together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged
with him that is full of days. And their houses shall be turned unto
others, with their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out
my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord."

The prophet gives a thundering message, that they might be terrified
and have some convictions and inclinations to repent; but it seems
that the false prophets, the false priests, went about stifling
people's convictions, and when they were hurt or a little terrified,
they were for daubing over the wound, telling them that Jeremiah was
but an enthusiastic preacher, that there could be no such thing as war
among them, and saying to people, Peace, peace, be still, when the
prophet told them there was no peace.