Jeremiah 6:16

"Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein."

James Hastings made this verse the text of one of his sermons on "Great Texts of the Bible."[11] This is indeed a great text.

SEEK YE THE OLD PATHS

The title is a little misleading. One of the oldest paths is that of rebellion and licentiousness; thus a better title would be "Ask for the good way!"

I. There is a challenge for serious thought. "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask." What a stupid folly it is for men to proceed through life without a thoughtful, careful examination of "the way" they have chosen.

II. In this text, the ancient ways were the ways of faith, devotion, and honor of the One True God of Israel, as revealed and certified unto the people in the Pentateuch. In our own times the "good way" is the way of the Gospel of Christ.

III. There is the call for action. It is not enough to know about the good way; let men "Walk in it!"

IV. Those who walk in the good way, "Shall find rest unto your souls." Jesus Christ surely identified himself with this good way in the glorying words of the Great Invitation (Matthew 11:28-30).

V. Today, no less than in the times of Jeremiah, the people are vainly searching for "something new" in religion. "Give us anything except the way our father's did it!" is the motto adopted by some. A church in our community recently appointed a committee with instructions to come up every week with a novel way of structuring the Lord's Day services! Why not try jumping out the windows after church, some Sunday, instead of using the normal exits? "Idolatry and apostasy are the `modern way'; the worship of God is the old way."[12]

It is a remarkable fact that Geoffrey Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, has one that is called Chaucer's Tale, the same being a sermon on this very text, a sermon which Adam Clarke called, "an excellent sermon."[13]