HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. On Jeremiah's ministry in general. "It is sufficient," said our Saviour, "that iLe disciple be as his Lord." Now, of all his servants few answered more closely to this description than did the prophet Jeremiah. In a very deep and real sense his life was a type of our Lord's. It is in the spiritual world as in the natural, a close resemblanco exists between the separate parts and the entire organism to which they belong. Tho root, stem, bud, flower, fruit, and seed are each constructed on the same type as the tree itself. However widely diversified they may seem in form or function, their essential nature is the same. Hence every leaf is a miniature of the tree on which it grows; trunk, branches, foliage, are each patterned in it. And likewise every branch is but a reproduction 011 a smaller scale of the whole tree.1 But this is only what we find constantly exemplified in the spiritual world. What miniature lives of Christ are those of men like Joseph, Moses,·David, and many morel And amongst such as are illustrious in this respect stands Jeremiah. Like him, the consciousness of the Divine call was with him from childhood (cf. Luke ii. 49 ancl oh. i. 6). He too was perse- cuted with murd_erous hate by his own townsmen. As Christ was driven from Nazareth, so was Jeremiah from his native AnathoLh (eh. xii. 6). His vehement <lenunciations of the corrupt priests and prophets of his day remind us of the reiteraterl woes pronounced by our Lord on the "scribes and pharisees, hypocrites," of his day. Like our Lord, Jeremiah also was the prophet who stood nearest to and told most plainly of the dread catastrophe which overwhelmed Jerusalem a.ud her people. 1 Maomillnn. 10 THE BOOK OF 'l'llE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [011. 1. 1-19.
Jeremiah was the prophet of Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonian Nebuchad• nezzar; our Lord of the like destruction by the Roman 'l'itus. Both beheld the glories of the temple, and both told of the swiftly coming days when there should "not b~ left one stone upon another, which s~ould not b~ thrown down." • The footsteps of him who, beyond all others, was "despised and reJected of men," Jeremiah, in so far as it was possible to him, anticipated. The bitter tears shed by our Saviour over impenitent Jerusalem are shadowed forth in the prophet's prolonged and profound lament over his own idolatrous and disobedient countrymen. His wcll~known words, "Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by?" uttered concernincr the sorrows of Jeru~ salem and her people, have come to be so universally appropriated°to our Lord, that the prophet's own deep distress which they tell of, and the occasion of that distress, arc alike almost if not entirely forgotten. "His sufferings come neares_t of those of ;the whole army of martyrs to those of the Teacher against whom princes, and priests, and ciders, and people were gathered together." To him,· as to the great apo~tle, was it gi,·en to know "the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, and to be made conformable unto his death." And we may venture to prolong the parallel, and to apply to Jere- miah the august words which, in their supreme meaning, can belong to but'One alone. " Wherefore God also bath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." In that high recompense Jeremiah, so far as any servant of God may, shares. For the honour in which his name came to be held was-'very great. - -As time rolled on he was regarded as the chief representative of the whole prophetic ol'.der; By some he was placed at the head of all the prophets. At the time of the' Christian era his return was daily expected. He was emphatically thought to be" the Prophet _;• the Prophet like unto Moses,' who should close the whole· dispensation.'' No w,1ud•!r, then, that one devout student after another has been str,uck ·by the closeness of tlie resemblance here briefly pointed out, and has delighted -to· trace fa the prophet's history foreshadowings of the "Man of Sorrows," who, more 'than' any other, ,v:is acquainted with grief.-C. • , . Vers. 1-3.-Introductory statements concerning Jeremiah's·pare'litage and-period of his ministry. I. H1s PARENTAGE. He was the son of Hilkiah, I)Ot that Rilkiah who was high priest during the reign of Josiah, but of some similarly named priest. Even amid the terrible corruptions of that period, there appear to have been a few faithful souls who held fast to the fear of the Lord. We have their names, Huldah, Shallum, Baruch,etc. From amidst these Jeremiah SJJrang. The Lord. can call and convert and consecrate to his work whom he will; but his more common way is to .oome to the habitations of his people, when he would find some whom he destines for special and honoured service. The homes of the godly are the hope of the Church. •Amidst the children of the believing are to be found those whom God will generally employ to carry on bis work. This is one way in which the promise· is fulfilled, "Them that· honour me I will honour." II. His PBOFEBBION. He belonged to the priesthood.' Terrible are the charges which are brought against the priests and prophets of that day. They had reached the limit of utmost degradation. They are said to "deal falselyt to be "profane;" and their conduct is described as "a wonderful and horrible thing." Yet Jeremiah be- longed to this deeply fallen class. How difficult must have been his position I how constant his resistance to the contagion of their example and influence! • When from amongst those who are of the same order, who have common -interests, common duties, and who are thrown together in so many and close relationships, one stands aloof and turns upon his companions in severe and solemn rebuke as Jeremiah did, such a one needs to be ~trong as "a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls n (ver. 18) Jeremiah stands before us as a noble proof that the tide of evil, however strongly it may run, may yet be resisted; none ilro of necessity horne down by it but, by the same grace which was given to Jeremiah, they may stem the fierce current and defy its power. 'l'en thousand of th<l Eaints of God have done this; ,why should not we? IIL THE REASON 01• ALL MEN COUNTING mu AS A PROPIIET. "'fhc word of the Lord came unto him.'' I-le did not say, "I aiµ a prophet;" but all men felt he was. For his words bad power; they were mighty to the pulling down of the strong holds ol OR, I. 1-1(),] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 11