to supply Christian ministers, to be taken without distinction of nation or of tribe, and made serviceable, according to Christ's ordinance, in the propagation of the Gospel. Thus in that new dispensation the spiritual seed of Israel never will fail. They will endure before God, even as the new heavens and the new earth which He has undertaken to make. And so also will the wicked abide for a memorial of the justice of God, and of his abhorrence of iniquity. He will be glorified at once in the piety of saints, and in the perpetual sufferings of sinners.

Do

And these things will surely come to pass. Yes, prophecy already to a great extent fulfilled leaves us no room to doubt the certainty of that which has been unfulfilled hitherto. The present state of things must cease to be. This world of sense must fade away. This order of nature, as we call it, must give place to a new creation. And God, the great, the good, the holy Lord God Almighty, will then be seen ruling in the universe, and will be felt to be ever present unto all his creatures. we tremble at the thought of his appearing? Nay, let us rather hope to arise with joy when He appears. Let us long to see Him face to face. Let us be assured that it is for this that He has instructed us, and warned us, by his prophets, his apostles, and his Son, that we may be saved. This is his gracious will in our behalf, that we should be saved in Christ Jesus. On this let us rely. For this let us now praise his holy name. For this let us trust that we shall be employed in praising Him to all eternity.

God be praised, for giving his own Son, to die for us men, and for our salvation! God be praised for revealing unto man these glad tidings of great joy, from the one end of his word unto the other! God grant that we, through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, may attain unto the joy of magnifying his holy name in heaven for evermore!

The period in which Jeremiah prophesied. 1 The words of Jeremiah the his reign. son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

2 To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of

3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

LECTURE 1183.

God's tenderness of affection manifested in this prophet. The prophecies of Jeremiah are neither so frequently read, nor so generally well known, as those of the preceding prophet Isaiah. This has arisen partly from the singularly sublime style in which the prophecies of Isaiah are expressed; and partly from the circumstance, that Isaiah treats of subjects more familiar to most of us, and more readily applied to our present hopes and fears, our duties, dangers, and deliverances, than those which are chiefly dwelt upon by Jeremiah. But we must not think that reasons such as these will excuse us in neglecting to study with all our diligence each successive portion of the word of God. We must not doubt that the book before us will be profitable, and largely profitable, if duly studied, for our instruction in righteousness. If we find not here such express revelations of the chief doctrines of the Gospel, as in the preceding prophet, still we shall find abundant testimony of Christ, to convince us that He, and his salvation, were objects foremost in the view of all those holy men of old, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. If we are not struck with the same matchless energy and solemnity of language, we shall remark a tenderness of compassionate affection which may be said to be characteristic of Jeremiah's writings, as sublimity is of Isaiah's. And how apt to affect our hearts for good is this sympathy manifested by the prophet for those against whom He is commissioned from on high to denounce calamity and woe! How suitable is this quality of compassion, in the prophet's character, to remind us of those divine attributes which appeal most strongly to our love, the mercy and the love of God! Surely even when God threatens us, still He pities us. Even when He dooms sinners to captivity and death, still He would fain have them repent and be saved. May we, moved by the many proofs and expressions of his mercifulness, given us in his word, turn, whilst we yet have time, with tears of penitence towards Him, who, according to the tenour of his word spoken by this his servant, appeals to us with tears of love! See Ch. 9. 1.

The Lord calleth Jeremiah to be his prophet.

4 Then the word of the LORD saying, What seest thou? And came unto me, saying, I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.

5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

7 But the LORD said unto me, 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.

8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.

12 Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen for I will hasten my word to perform it.

14 Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee. LECTURE 1184.

13 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time,

Our encouragement to serve God with boldness.

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The calling of Jeremiah to the office of God's prophet was attended by circumstances well calculated to encourage him in the work, however much he might be naturally afraid of the secution of his countrymen. First, the word of the Lord assured him, that he had been set apart for this office even from before the hour of his birth. And so S. Paul also speaks of God's

having separated him from his mother's womb, and having called him by his grace to do the work of an apostle. See Gal. I. 15, 16. If we have reason to think, that God has from of old called us to the privilege of being Christians, let this in like manner be an argument weighing with us to undertake the important duties belonging to our holy calling. Never may we plead youth, or inexperience, or frailty, as excuses for not doing that which God has called us to perform! Never may we thus impeach his wisdom, by implying, that He has called us to do that which is impossible!

When Jeremiah so pleaded incapacity for the office of a prophet, the Lord forbad him to say, "I am a child,” told him that he should go and speak as he was commanded, and exhorted him to go without fear, under the assurance that God would be with him. Also the Lord, as seen in the vision, put forth his hand and touched Jeremiah's mouth, consecrating it to the divine service, and at the same time saying, “Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant." Not that Jeremiah was actually to do these things, but that as he spake the word by inspiration of God, so would the things be done; much in the same sense as that which is the true meaning of our Lord's words to his disciples, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matt. 18. 18. And again, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." John 20. 23.

But further the Lord presented to the sight of Jeremiah two emblems, first a rod of an almond tree, a tree which perfects its fruit soon after blossoming, to signify that He would hasten to perform his word; and secondly a seething pot with its face toward the north, to shew that out of the north an evil should break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. This was a general intimation of the things which he would chiefly have to prophesy, judgments to be speedily fulfilled, judgments on idolatry, to be fulfilled in the subjection of God's people to the victorious arms of idolatrous nations. Jeremiah must know the truth, and must be aware of the unwelcome nature of the tidings he would have to tell; and yet must be bold in telling them. We, like him, must derive courage for the work of our Christian calling, not by underrating its difficulty, but by relying on the help and defence of the Almighty. Enemies we shall not fail to meet with; dangers many and great will be sure to surround us. Let us meet them with our loins girt, as resolved to do our part manfully; not fearing that He whom we are serving will put us to shame before our foes, but rather hearing Him ever saying to our souls, "I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee."

PART VII. O. T.

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The people of Jerusalem are reproved for their idolatries. 1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was