“Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver
thee, saith the Lord.”—Jeremiah i. 8.
The Prophets were ever ungratefully treated by the Israelites, they
were resisted, their warnings neglected, their good services forgotten.
But there was this difference between the earlier and the later
Prophets; the earlier lived and died in honour among their people,—in
outward honour; though hated and thwarted by the wicked, they were
exalted to high places, and ruled in the congregation. Moses, for
instance, was in trouble from his people all his life long, but to the
end he was their lawgiver and judge. Samuel, too, even though rejected,
was still held in reverence; and when he died, “all the Israelites were
gathered together and lamented him, and buried him in his house at
Ramah[1].” David died on a royal throne. But in the latter times, the
prophets were not only feared and hated by the enemies of God, but cast
out of the vineyard. As the time approached for the coming of the true
Prophet of the Church, the Son of God, they resembled Him in their
earthly fortunes more and more; and as He was to suffer, so did they.
Moses was a ruler, Jeremiah was an outcast: Samuel was buried in peace,
John the Baptist was beheaded. In St. Paul's words, they “had trial of
cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and
imprisonment. They were stoned; they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was
not worthy; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and
caves of the earth[2].”
Of these, Elijah, who lived in the wilderness, and the hundred
prophets whom Obadiah fed by fifty in a cave, are examples of the
wanderers. And Micaiah, who was appointed the bread of affliction and
the water of affliction by an idolatrous king, is the specimen of those
who “had trial of bonds and imprisonment.” Of those who were sawn
asunder and slain with the sword, Isaiah is the chief, who, as
tradition goes, was by order of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, sawn
asunder with a wooden saw. And of those who were stoned, none is more
famous than Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, “who was slain between the
temple and the altar[3].” But of all the persecuted prophets Jeremiah
is the most eminent; i. e. we know more of his history, of his
imprisonments, his wanderings, and his afflictions. He may be taken as
a representative of the Prophets; and hence it is that he is an
especial type of our Lord and Saviour. All the Prophets were types of
the Great Prophet whose way they were preparing; they tended towards
and spoke of Christ. In their sufferings they foreshadowed His
priesthood, and in their teaching His prophetical office, and in their
miracles His royal power. The history of Jeremiah, then, as being drawn
out in Scripture more circumstantially than that of the other Prophets,
is the most exact type of Christ among them; that is, next to David,
who, of course, was the nearest resemblance to Him of all, as a
sufferer, an inspired teacher, and a king. Jeremiah comes next to
David; I do not say in dignity and privilege, for it was Elijah who was
taken up to heaven, and appeared at the Transfiguration; nor in
inspiration, for to Isaiah one should assign the higher evangelical
gifts; but in typifying Him who came and wept over Jerusalem, and then
was tortured and put to death by those He wept over. And hence, when
our Lord came, while some thought Him Elijah, and others John the
Baptist, risen from the dead, there were others who thought Him
Jeremiah. Of Jeremiah, then, I will now speak, as a specimen of all
those Prophets whom St. Paul sets before us as examples of faith, and
St. James as examples of patience. Jeremiah's ministry may be summed up
in three words, good hope, labour, disappointment.
It was his privilege to be called to his sacred office from his
earliest years. Like Samuel, the first prophet, he was of the tribe of
Levi, dedicated from his birth to religious services, and favoured with
the constant presence and grace of God. “Before I formed thee . . . I
knew thee[4],” says the word of the Lord to him when He gave him his
commission, “and before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee,
and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” This commission was
given the year after Josiah began his reformation. Jeremiah returned
for answer, “Ah! Lord God! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.”
He felt the arduousness of a prophet's office; the firmness and
intrepidity which were required to speak the words of God. “But the
Lord said unto him, Say not I am a child; for thou shalt go to all that
I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be
not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith
the Lord. Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and
said unto me, Behold I have put My words in thy mouth.”
No prophet commenced his labours with greater encouragement than
Jeremiah. A king had succeeded to the throne who was bringing back the
times of the man after God's own heart. There had not been a son of
David so zealous as Josiah since David himself. The king, too, was
young, at most twenty years of age, in the beginning of his
reformation. What might not be effected in a course of years, however
corrupt and degraded was the existing state of his people? So Jeremiah
might think. It must be recollected, too, that religious obedience was
under the Jewish covenant awarded with temporal prosperity. There
seemed, then, every reason for Jeremiah at first to suppose that bright
fortunes were in store for the Church. Josiah was the very king whose
birth was foretold by name above three hundred years before, when
Jeroboam established idolatry; who was the promised avenger of God's
covenant, “the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell
in[5].” Israel (the ten tribes) having gone into captivity, schism had
come to its end; the kings of the house of David again ruled over the
whole extent of the promised land; idolatry was destroyed by Josiah in
all the cities. Such were the present blessings which the Jewish
remnant enjoyed. At first sight, then, it seemed reasonable to
anticipate further and permanent improvement. Every one begins with
being sanguine; doubtless then, as now, many labourers in God's
husbandry entered on their office with more lively hopes than their
after fortunes warranted. Whether or not, however, such hope of success
encouraged Jeremiah's first exertions, very soon, in his case, this
cheerful prospect was overcast, and he was left to labour in the dark.
Huldah's message to the king, on his finding the Book of the Law in the
temple, fixed the coming fortunes of Judah. Huldah foretold a woe,—an
early removal of the good Josiah to his rest as a mercy to him, and to
the nation, who were unworthy of him, a fierce destruction. This
prophecy was delivered five years after Jeremiah entered upon his
office; he ministered in all forty years before the captivity, so early
in his course were his hopes cut away.
But even though Huldah's message be supposed not to reach him, still
he was doubtless soon undeceived as to any hopes he might entertain,
whether, by the express Word of God informing him, or by the actual
hardened state of sin in which the nation lay. Soon, surely, were his
hopes destroyed, and his mind sobered into a more blessed and noble
temper,—resignation.
I call resignation a more blessed frame of mind than sanguine hope
of present success, because it is the truer, and the more consistent
with our fallen state of being, and the more improving to our hearts;
and because it is that for which the most eminent servants of God have
been conspicuous. To expect great effects from our exertions for
religious objects is natural indeed, and innocent, but it arises from
inexperience of the kind of work we have to do,—to change the heart
and will of man. It is a far nobler frame of mind, to labour, not with
the hope of seeing the fruit of our labour, but for conscience' sake,
as a matter of duty; and again, in faith, trusting good will be done,
though we see it not. Look through the Bible, and you will find God's
servants, even though they began with success, end with disappointment;
not that God's purposes or His instruments fail, but that the time for
reaping what we have sown is hereafter, not here; that here there is no
great visible fruit in any one man's lifetime. Moses, for instance,
began with leading the Israelites out of Egypt in triumph; he ended at
the age of an hundred and twenty years, before his journey was finished
and Canaan gained, one among the offending multitudes who were
overthrown in the wilderness[6]. Samuel's reformations ended in the
people's wilfully choosing a king like the nations around them. Elijah,
after his successes, fled from Jezebel into the wilderness to mourn
over his disappointments. Isaiah, after Hezekiah's religious reign, and
the miraculous destruction of Sennacherib's army, fell upon the evil
days of his son Manasseh. Even in the successes of the first Christian
teachers, the Apostles, the same rule is observed. After all the great
works God enabled them to accomplish, they confessed before their death
that what they experienced, and what they saw before them, was reverse
and calamity, and that the fruit of their labour would not be seen,
till Christ came to open the books and collect His saints from the four
corners of the earth. “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived[7],” is the testimony of St. Peter, St.
Paul, St. John, and St. Jude.
Now, in the instance of Jeremiah, we have on record that variety and
vicissitude of feelings, which this transition from hope to
disappointment produces, at least in a sensitive mind. His trials were
very great, even in Josiah's reign; but when that pious king's
countenance was withdrawn on his early death, he was exposed to
persecution from every class of men. At one time we read of the people
conspiring against him[8], at another, of the men of his own city,
Anathoth, “seeking his life[9],” on account of his prophesying in the
Lord's name. At another time he was seized by the priests and the
prophets in order to be put to death, from which he was only saved by
certain of the princes and elders who were still faithful to the memory
of Josiah[10]. Then, again, Pashur, the chief governor of the temple,
smote him and tortured him[11]. At another time, the king, Zedekiah,
put him in prison[12]. Afterwards, when the army of the Chaldeans had
besieged Jerusalem, the Jews accused him of falling away to the
enemy[13], and smote him, and imprisoned him, then they cast him into a
dungeon, where he “sunk in the mire,” and almost perished from
hunger[14]. When Jerusalem had been taken by the enemy, Jeremiah was
forcibly carried down to Egypt; by men who at first pretended to
reverence and consult him[15], and there he came to his end—it is
believed, a violent end. Nebuchadnezzar, the heathen king of Babylon
and conqueror of Jerusalem, was one of the few persons who showed him
kindness. This great king, who afterwards honoured Daniel, and was at
length brought to acknowledge the God of heaven by a severe
chastisement, on the taking of the city delivered Jeremiah from
prison[16], and gave charge to the captain of his guard concerning him,
to “look well to him, and to do him no harm; but to do unto him even as
he should say . . . .” An Ethiopian, another heathen, is also mentioned
as delivering him from the dungeon.
Such were his trials: his affliction, fear, despondency, and
sometimes even restlessness under them are variously expressed; that
succession and tide of feelings which most persons undergo before their
minds settle into the calm of resignation. At one time he speaks as
astonished at his failure: “O Lord, art not Thine eyes upon the truth?
Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; Thou hast consumed
them, but they have refused to receive correction[17].” Again, “A
wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets
prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My
people love to have it so[18].” At another time, he expresses his
perplexity at the disorder of the world, and the successes of the
wicked: “Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee; yet let me
talk with Thee of Thy judgments: wherefore doth the way of the wicked
prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? . .
. but Thou, O Lord, knowest me; Thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart
towards Thee[19].” Then, in turn, his mind frets at the thought of its
own anxious labours and perplexities: “Woe is me, my mother, that thou
hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole
earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury;
yet every one of them doth curse me. . . Why is my pain perpetual, and
my wound incurable? . . . wilt Thou be altogether unto me as a
deceiver, and as waters that fail[20]?” These are the sorrows of a
gentle and peaceable mind, forced against its will into the troubles of
life, and incurring the hatred of those whom it opposes against its
nature. This he elsewhere expresses thus: “As for me, I have not . . .
desired the woeful day” (which he foretold); “Thou knowest: that which
came out of my lips was right before Thee. Be not a terror unto me:
Thou art my hope in the day of evil[21].” When Pashur put him to
torture he was still more agitated, and said, “O Lord, Thou hast
deceived me, and I was deceived. Thou art stronger than I, and hast
prevailed. I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me . . . Cursed be
the day wherein I was born” (here certainly is the language even of
impatience), “let not the day wherein my mother bare me be
blessed[22].”
However, of such changes of feelings what was the end?—resignation.
He elsewhere uses language which expresses that chastened spirit and
weaned heart, which is the termination of all agitation and anxiety in
the case of religious minds. He, who at one time could not comfort
himself, at another was sent to comfort a brother, and, in comforting
Baruch, he speaks in that nobler temper of resignation which takes the
place of sanguine hope and harassing fear, and betokens calm and
clear-sighted faith and inward peace. “Thus saith the Lord the God of
Israel unto thee, O Baruch. Thou didst say, Woe is me now, for the Lord
hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no
rest. . . Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that
which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest
thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring
evil upon all flesh; . . . but thy life will I give unto thee for a
prey in all places whither thou goest,” that is, seek not success, be
not impatient, fret not thyself—be content, if, after all thy labours,
thou dost but save thyself, without seeing other fruit of them.
And now, my brethren, does what I have been saying apply to all of
us, or only to Prophets? It applies to all of us. For all of us live in
a world which promises well, but does not fulfil; and all of us (taking
our lives altogether apart from religious prospects) begin with hope,
and end with disappointment. Doubtless, there is much difference in our
respective trials here, arising from difference of tempers and
fortunes. Still it is in our nature to begin life thoughtlessly and
joyously; to seek great things in one way or other; to have vague
notions of good to come; to love the world, and to believe its
promises, and seek satisfaction and happiness from it. And, as it is
our nature to hope, so it is our lot, as life proceeds, to encounter
disappointment. I know that there are multitudes, in the retired ranks
of society, who pass their days without any great varieties of fortune;
though, even in such cases, thinking persons will have much more to say
of themselves than at first sight might appear. Still, that
disappointment in some shape or other is the lot of man (that is,
looking at our prospects apart from the next world) is plain, from the
mere fact, if nothing else could be said, that we begin life with
health and end it with sickness; or in other words, that it comes
to an end, for an end is a failure. And even in the quietest
walks of life, do not the old feel regret, more or less vividly, that
they are not young? Do not they lament the days gone by, and even with
the pleasure of remembrance feel the pain? And why, except that they
think that they have lost something which they once had, whereas in the
beginning of life, they thought of gaining something they had not? A
double disappointment.
Now is it religion that suggests this sad view of things? No, it is
experience; it is the world's doing; it is fact, from which we
cannot escape, though the Bible said not a word about the perishing
nature of all earthly pleasures.
Here then it is, that God Himself offers us His aid by His Word, and
in His Church. Left to ourselves, we seek good from the world, but
cannot find it; in youth we look forward, and in age we look back. It
is well we should be persuaded of these things betimes, to gain wisdom
and to provide for the evil day. Seek we great things? We must seek
them where they really are to be found, and in the way in which they
are to be found; we must seek them as He has set them before us, who
came into the world to enable us to gain them. We must be willing to
give up present hope for future enjoyment, this world for the unseen.
The truth is (though it is so difficult for us to admit it heartily),
our nature is not at first in a state to enjoy happiness, even if we
had it offered to us. We seek for it, and we feel we need it; but
(strange though it is to say, still so it is) we are not fitted to be
happy. If then at once we rush forward to seek enjoyment, it will be
like a child's attempting to walk before his strength is come. If we
would gain true bliss, we must cease to seek it as an end; we must
postpone the prospect of enjoying it. For we are by nature in an
unnatural state; we must be changed from what we are when born, before
we can receive our greatest good. And as in sickness sharp remedies are
often used, or irksome treatment, so it is with our souls; we must go
through pain, we must practise self-denial, we must curb our wills, and
purify our hearts, before we are capable of any lasting solid peace. To
attempt to gain happiness, except in this apparently tedious and
circuitous way, is a labour lost; it is building on the sand; the
foundation will soon give way, though the house looks fair for a time.
To be gay and thoughtless, to be self-indulgent and self-willed, is
quite out of character with our real state. We must learn to know
ourselves, and to have thoughts and feelings becoming ourselves.
Impetuous hope and undisciplined mirth ill-suit a sinner. Should he
shrink from low notions of himself, and sharp pain, and mortification
of natural wishes, whose guilt called down the Son of God from heaven
to die upon the cross for him? May he live in pleasure here, and call
this world his home, while he reads in the Gospel of his Saviour's
life-long affliction and disappointment?
It cannot be; let us prepare for suffering and disappointment, which
befit us as sinners, and which are necessary for us as saints. Let us
not turn away from trial when God brings it on us, or play the coward
in the fight of faith. “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you
like men, be strong[23];” such is St. Paul's exhortation. When
affliction overtakes you, remember to accept it as a means of improving
your hearts, and pray God for His grace that it may do so. Look
disappointment in the face. “Take . . . the Prophets . . . for an
example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them
happy who endure.” Give not over your attempts to serve God, though you
see nothing come of them. Watch and pray, and obey your conscience,
though you cannot perceive your own progress in holiness. Go on, and
you cannot but go forward; believe it, though you do not see it. Do the
duties of your calling, though they are distasteful to you. Educate
your children carefully in the good way, though you cannot tell how far
God's grace has touched their hearts. Let your light shine before men,
and praise God by a consistent life, even though others do not seem to
glorify their Father on account of it, or to be benefited by your
example. “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you shall find it after
many days. . . . In the morning sow your seed, in the evening withhold
not your hand; for you know not whether shall prosper, either this or
that; or whether they both shall be alike good[24].” Persevere in the
narrow way. The Prophets went through sufferings to which ours are mere
trifles; violence and craft combined to turn them aside, but they kept
right on, and are at rest.
Now, I know full well, that this whole subject is distasteful to
many men, who say we ought to be cheerful. “We are bid rejoice, why
then do you bid us mourn?” I bid you mourn in order that you may
rejoice more perfectly. “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted[25].” “They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy.” I bid you
take up the cross of Christ, that you may wear His crown. Give your
hearts to Him, and you will for yourselves solve the difficulty, how
Christians can be sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing[26]. You will find
that lightness of heart and cheerfulness are quite consistent with that
new and heavenly character which He gives us, though to gain it in any
good measure, we must for a time be sorrowful, and ever after
thoughtful. But I give you fair warning, you must at first take His
word on trust; and if you do not, there is no help for it. He says,
“Come unto Me, . . . and I will give you rest.” You must begin on
faith: you cannot see at first whither He is leading you, and how light
will rise out of the darkness. You must begin by denying yourselves
your natural wishes,—a painful work; by refraining from sin, by
rousing from sloth, by preserving your tongue from insincere words, and
your hands from deceitful dealings, and your eyes from beholding
vanity; by watching against the first rising of anger, pride, impurity,
obstinacy, jealousy; by learning to endure the laugh of irreligious men
for Christ's sake; by forcing your minds to follow seriously the words
of prayer, though it be difficult to you, and by keeping before you the
thought of God all through the day. These things you will be able to do
if you do but seek the mighty help of God the Holy Spirit which is
given you; and while you follow after them, then, in the Prophet's
language, “your light shall rise in obscurity, and your darkness shall
be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide you continually, and
satisfy your soul in drought: and you shall be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not[27].”
[1] 1 Sam. xxv. 1.
[2] Heb. xi. 36-38.
[3] Matt. xxiii. 35.
[4] Jer. i. 6.
[5] Isa. lviii. 12.
[6] 1 Cor. x. 5.
[7] 2 Tim. iii. 13.
[8] Jer. xviii. 18.
[9] Ibid. xi. 21.
[10] Ibid. xxvi. 16, &c.
[11] Ibid. xx. 2.
[12] Ibid. xxxii. 3.
[13] Ibid. xxxvii. 14.
[14] Ibid. xxxviii. 6, 9.
[15] Jer. xlii. xliii.
[16] Ibid. xxxix. 14.
[17] Ibid. v. 3.
[18] Ibid. v. 30, 31.
[19] Jer. xii. 1-3.
[20] Ibid. xv. 10-18.
[21] Ibid. xvii. 16,17.
[22] Jer. xx. 7-14.
[23] 1 Cor. xvi. 13.
[24] Eccl. xi. 1, 6.
[256] Matt. v. 4.
[26] 2 Cor. vi. 10.
[27] Isa. lviii. 10, 11.