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THE

PORTRAIT

OF

JEREMIAH.

THE

PORTRAIT OF JEREMIAH,

CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO HIS ORDINATION AND MINISTRY, COMPARED WITH THAT OF MODERN TIMES.

ONE of the most unanswerable proofs of the divinity of the holy scriptures, and which is at once appalling to the infidel, and comfortable to the believer, is, the unceasing and perpetual use intended from it, (and every day confirmed) in the church of the living God. That which equally suits all ages and generations of the Lord's people, through the whole time-state of the church, can have no other for its author but God himself. It forms no less a standing miracle of the Lord's gracious provision, in point of sustenance for the souls of his people, than the manna with which the Lord victualled the camp of Israel, day by day, for their bodies, during the whole of their forty years' wilderness state, until they came to Canaan. And it gives confirmation in the lives and experiences of the people of God, of the truth of that sweet scripture, which the Holy Ghost has spoken by his servant Peter, of the incorruptible "word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Pet. i. 23. Had any of those inspired servants of the Most High God ministered in the church

but yesterday, and the sacred writings left behind them supposed to have been sent forth at no earlier period, they could not have been more suited to the wants and circumstances of the Lord's people than they now are; all bearing with them the seal of the Spirit, that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.

Amidst the very many proofs in point, which might be brought forward to confirm this observation, there is one particularly striking, and which from its vast and momentous importance, seems to demand the most profound regard; namely, the scripture account of the ordination and exercise of the ministry. Here, in an eminent degree, is manifested the Lord's intention, in the use of his divine word. And as the Almighty Author of salvation, Jesus Christ, is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever; the ordination of his servants can have no departure from the sameness of institution which from the first dawn of grace in the church hath been shewn in the Lord's own appointment, and for the Lord's own glory. And if (as it cannot but be confessed) this be correct, it may be said, without any thing unkind or invidious in the observation, that since the days of the prophets and apostles some unhappy bias hath taken place to warp the mind from the scripture standard of ordination, as stated by God himself. Without attempting to establish any thing by way of dictum, I have thought, that the fairest and most candid method of ascertaining the fact itself, would be, to state what is taught by the unerring standard of scripture on this subject, and in a free, but unimposing manner, remark the very striking dissimilarity in the sacred order of ancient times contrasted to the present: and the instance of Jeremiah affords a

case in point. A comparative statement of his ordination and ministry with those of modern days, will set the subject at once in a clear point of view. And this I shall endeavour to accomplish in the plainest and most unvarnished manner; "NOT (as the apostle speaks) in craftiness, or handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." 2 Cor. v. 2.

And here, at the very opening of the subject, we find one feature of discrimination is the instance of Jeremiah, which forms the portrait of the whole character, and is that which gives life and energy to every other; namely, his call and ordination of the Lord. For thus we read concerning him, “ then the word of the Lord (saith Jeremiah) came unto me, saying, 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," Jer. i. 4, 5. Observe, all begins on the part of God. From him, as the first cause, unto whom is the final end.

It is not Jeremiah first speaking unto the Lord, but the Lord first speaking to Jeremiah. And observe further, what is contained in these words which the Lord speaks to him, namely, not only that the Lord knew him, before that the Lord formed him in the belly, which may be said, and indeed must be said of all men and of all creation; for "known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world," Acts xv. 18. But such a foreknowledge of the person the Lord had intended him to be, and the office the Lord intended him for, as though now first made known to Jeremiah, when called to the exercise of it, had been in the council, will, and decree of God, from all eternity. So that the ordination of the prophet to the ministry, was in fact commensurate to the purpose of his very being; and the Lord who calleth things which are not, as though they were, and declareth the end

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