The City of God, Volume IIAugustine, of Hippo, Saint
ReligionChristian
The City of God, Volume II
Augustine, of Hippo, Saint
Apologetics -- Early works to 1800; Kingdom of God -- Early works to 1800
Jeremiah, like Isaiah, is one of the greater prophets, not of
the minor, like the others from whose writings I have just given
extracts. He prophesied when Josiah reigned in Jerusalem, and Ancus
Martius at Rome, when the captivity of the Jews was already at
hand; and he continued to prophesy down to the fifth month of the
captivity, as we find from his writings. Zephaniah, one of the minor
prophets, is put along with him, because he himself says that he
prophesied in the days of Josiah; but he does not say till when.
Jeremiah thus prophesied not only in the times of Ancus Martius, but
also in those of Tarquinius Priscus, whom the Romans had for their
fifth king. For he had already begun to reign when that captivity
took place. Jeremiah, in prophesying of Christ, says, "The breath
of our mouth, the Lord Christ, was taken in our sins,"[549] thus
briefly showing both that Christ is our Lord and that He suffered for
us. Also in another place he says, "This is my God, and there shall
none other be accounted of in comparison of Him; who hath found out
all the way of prudence, and hath given it to Jacob His servant,
and to Israel His beloved: afterward He was seen on the earth, and
conversed with men."[550] Some attribute this testimony not to
Jeremiah, but to his secretary, who was called Baruch; but it is more
commonly ascribed to Jeremiah. Again the same prophet says concerning
Him, "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up
unto David a righteous shoot, and a King shall reign and shall be
wise, and shall do judgment and justice in the earth. In those days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this
is the name which they shall call Him, Our righteous Lord."[551] And
of the calling of the nations which was to come to pass, and which
we now see fulfilled, he thus spoke: "O Lord my God, and my refuge
in the day of evils, to Thee shall the nations come from the utmost
end of the earth, saying, Truly our fathers have worshipped lying
images, wherein there is no profit."[552] But that the Jews, by whom
He behoved even to be slain, were not going to acknowledge Him, this
prophet thus intimates: "Heavy is the heart through all; and He is
a man, and who shall know Him?"[553] That passage also is his which
I have quoted in the seventeenth book concerning the new testament,
of which Christ is the Mediator. For Jeremiah himself says, "Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will complete over the house of
Jacob a new testament," and the rest, which may be read there.[554]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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