Jeremiah is one of the central figures of an exciting period which has to be reconstructed by a combined effort of criticism and imagination. It is nearly twenty years since I first began to prepare for a commentary Jeremiah, and since then the book and its author have retained an interest for me. The Exposition in the ""Pulpit Commentary"" (1883-1885) is a most fragmentary realization of my original plan, and I was glad to take up the pen once more. In the summer of 1887 I preached a course of sermons Jeremiah in Rochester Cathedral, similar to a course which I have printed on Elijah. These sermons are the gems of the present volume. - From the Preface