SERMON II.

Jeremiah, xxxviii. 6.

Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison; and they let down Jeremiah with cords: And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: So Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

It is a truth which has been made known to us by the messenger of the Lord's Second Advent, consequent upon the opening of the internal sense of the Word of God, that all the persons and historical circumstances mentioned throughout the Sacred Scriptures, are representative of the Lord's Church, of the state and progress of man's regeneration, and, supremely, of the Lord Himself, with respect to the glorification of His Humanity, and consequent subjection of the hells and redemption of the human race.-The prophet Jeremiah, however, is perhaps one of the most striking instances of this truth, of any character mentioned in the Sacred Records; because the general circumstances attending his history-the peculiar manner of his being ordained a prophet-"the Word of the Lord which came to him" on that occasion-the apparently unmerited sufferings which he endured; and especially the melancholy writings called The Lamentations of Jeremiah; are such evident testimonies of the whole bearing an illusion to things of an internal nature that "he who runneth may read."

With respect to the natural history of this suffering prophet, his life appears to have been directly contrary to the promise made to him by the Lord on his ordination to the prophetic mission; for he informs us, in the first chapter of this book, "the Word of the Lord 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: I gave thee a prophet unto the nations." And upon his endeavouring to excuse himself on account of inability, the Lord appears to have encouraged him to enter upon the office by very great promises: "Be not

afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord...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."-Now this must all have been spoken figuratively and in allusion to his spiritual state; for instead of a fulfilment of this elevated station according to the letter, the prophet complains bitterly, "I, the man, have seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He hath led me and brought me into darkness but not into light. Surely against me is He turned; He turneth His hand all the day. My flesh and my skin hath He made old, He hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out, He hath made my chain heavy."-Yet "God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man, that He should repent."

The sufferings of Jeremiah, however, appear to have been both internal and external, both private and public, or individually and in his prophetic character; and we may trace through his writings many of those states which the regenerate pass through on account of their darkness as to the dealings of the Divine Providence, particularly in that which the Psalmist describes, when he says, "I was envious at the foolish; I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like men." This is a state which the mind is very apt to get into, when it is encompassed with trouble after it has entered upon a religious course, because the evil spirits are anxious to insinuate that nothing is to be gained by such a life, for those who make no religious profession have much greater enjoyment even of the blessings of Providence. Thus Jeremiah complains, "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? Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: They grow, yea, they bring forth fruit; Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. But Thou, O Lord, knowest me; Thou hast seen me and tried my heart towards

Thee."

The New Jerusalem Messenger, has made known the reason why the faithful, or those who are in a state of regeneration,

suffer equally or perhaps more, than the unfaithful, who know nothing of a spiritual nature: And the reason assigned is, that some are by this means let into states of temptation, by which alone their regeneration can be effected; and with others, it is to prevent their attributing good to themselves; for if such were exempted from troubles, they would then attribute it to their own goodness, and thus would claim merit and glory to themselves. In order, therefore, to prevent this self-appropriation, they are at least equally subject to general misfortunes, in order that, as to life, wealth, and possessions, they may be destroyed as well as others. But if mankind were not of such a quality—if they could bear the sunshine of worldly prosperity, those who are pursuing their journey to the heavenly Canaan would be much oftener exempt from common misfortunes. Yet, alas! so weak is our fallen nature, that if we were spared on such occasions, we should be apt to upbraid the unfortunate, and attribute merit to ourselves.

But to return to our immediate subject:-Notwithstanding the perils in which it involved him, we find the prophet continued faithful to his commission, and "spoke the Word of the Lord" in defiance of all opposition: Zedekiah was but just settled on the throne, and Nebuchadnezzar departed out of Judea, and Syria, when several kings of the neighbouring nations, sent their ambassadors to Jerusalem, to congratulate him upon his accession to the throne, and to propose a league against the king of Babylon, in order to shake off his yoke, and prevent his return into those parts. Upon this occasion, Jeremiah, by God's command, made him bonds and yokes, which he sent by the ambassadors to their respective masters, with this message from God, viz. "That he had given all their countries to the king of Babylon, and therefore their wisest course would be to submit to his yoke, which if they refused to do, both they and their countries should most certainly be destroyed." But to Zedekiah he went in person, and having persuaded him to submit to the king of Babylon, and not to give credit to false prophets, who might flatter him with a deliverence from his power, he prevailed with him, for that time, not to enter into the league that was proposed. In the seventh year of his reign, however, Zedekiah grew impatient of the Babylonish yoke, and made a confederacy with PharoahHophra, king of Egypt; which when Nebuchadnezzar understood, he drew together a great army out of all the nations

that were under his dominions, and marched against Judea, to punish Zedekiah for his perfidy and rebellion; and in the ninth year of that king's reign, that victorious army came before Jerusalem, and blocked it close on every side, so that the famine began to prevail in a very short time. In the beginning of the next year, Jeremiah, still faithful to his office, declared to the king in the name of the Lord, that the besieging army would certainly take the city and burn it with fire, making him prisoner, and that he should die in Babylon; which prediction so enraged Zedekiah that he ordered the prophet to be close shut up in prison. But even here the prophet continued his integrity. For the Egyptians, not daring to engage the Chaldean army, retired before them into their own country, leaving Zedekiah and his people, with their unequal strength, to contend with Nebuchadnezzar, who now more exasperated than ever returned to invest Jerusalem; on which the king sent messengers to Jeremiah (then confined in the court of the prison only, so that he could speak to the people) to enquire the fate of the present war: But, unawed by the perilous situation in which he stood with respect to his natural life, he returned for answer, "Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it. And he that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live;" which prediction being considered by the chiefs and commanders of the army as tending to discourage the troops and promote revolt, it is added, "Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee let this man be put to death; for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold he is in your hands; for the king is not he that can do anything against you;" or perhaps was so circumstanced that he durst not oppose them. Yet willing perhaps to give the prophet some chance for his life, he did not put him to immediate death; but, as our text informs us, "Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison; and they let down Jeremiah with cords: And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: So Jeremiah sunk into the mire."

In a former discourse upon these words it has been endeavoured to shew, that in this particular, as well as in all the other recorded circumstances of the prophet's life, he represented the state of the church; but at the same time it was wished to inculcate, that in representing the state of the fallen church, he also represented both his own state and our own, or the state of man in general before regeneration; and that his external sufferings were such as were necessary to produce or excite those internal states whereby he might acquire, according to the Lord's promise on His ordination, "power over the nations and over the kingdoms;" that is, over his own evils and falses, and thereby attain the blessings of the Lord's kingdom.

Prophets, as the term is used in the Holy Scriptures, signify those whom the Lord teaches, that is, all who are in the spiritual affection of truth for its own sake: Also those who teach truths out of the Word: In an abstract sense church-doctrine of truth; and in an extensive sense, the Word itself. They likewise represent the state of the church as to truth or doctrine; and when the Word was revealed to the prophets, it was not by influx into their interiors, but by emissary spirits, whom the Lord filled with his aspect; and the spirit so filled knew no other than that he himself was the Lord, until he had finished his message. And Jeremiah's being ordained a prophet, did not exempt him from the infirmities and corruptions of human nature: From these he was to be redeemed by a regular process of regeneration the same as others, and that process was temptation and sufferings. His natural man, indeed, was quiescent at the time of receiving the Word of the Lord; for concerning the prophets we are told, sometimes they were in vision or in the spirit; and at other times that the Word of the Lord came to them. When they were in spirit, or in vision, then they were not in the body but in the spirit, in which state they saw such things as were in heaven, or in the spiritual world; but when the Word came to them, they were in the body, and heard Jehovah speak: At such times the Word was not revealed in a state of the spirit or vision, but was dictated viva voce to the prophets. These two states of the prophets are carefully to be distinguished; for in the state of vision, the eyes of their spirit were opened, and the eyes of their body shut, and then they not only heard what the angels spake, or what Jehovah spake by the angels, but saw what the angels. represented to them in heaven; and then they seemed to them