Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/257

of the prophecies of Jeremiah—namely, the Lamentations, wherein the artificial metrical structure prevails in a higher degree than in any other part of the Hebrew Scriptures.^[1]

This Prophet—a type of Him who was "acquainted with griefs"—gives evidence at once of the sorrowfulness, the tender sensitiveness of his temperament, and of his want of those loftier gifts which distinguish Isaiah, and which, in the esteem of Biblical critics, entitle him to a high place among men of genius.

The difference between the two Prophets is best seen in comparing those passages in the later prophet which, as to subject and doctrine, are nearly the counterparts of signal passages in the earlier prophet. Such especially are those places in the two in which the majesty of God is affirmed, while the folly and vanity of idol-worship receives a contemptuous rebuke;—such also are those which predict the future kingdom of peace, and the return of the people from their captivity.^[2] A richness of

1. See Note.
2. Compare passages in the two Prophets, such as the following:—

   Jeremiah.			Isaiah.
   x. 1–16 and li. 15–19.			$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	xl. 12, to the end
   				xliv. 6, to the end.
   				xlvi.
   xxiii. 5–8.	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$		$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	xxx. 19. 26.
   xxix.				xxxv.
   xxx. 10, 11.				xlix. 7, to the end.
   xxxi. 1–14.				liv. throughout.