Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII (of 8)Newman, John Henry
Religion
Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII (of 8)
Newman, John Henry
Church of England -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 19th century
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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