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.

It was his privilege to be called to his sacred office from his earliest
years. Like Samuel, the first prophet, he was of the tribe of Levi,
dedicated from his birth to religious services, and favoured with the
constant presence and grace of God. "Before I formed thee . . . I knew
thee[4]," says the word of the Lord to him when He gave him his
commission, "and before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee,
and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." This commission was
given the year after Josiah began his reformation. Jeremiah returned for
answer, "Ah! Lord God! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child." He felt
the arduousness of a prophet's office; the firmness and intrepidity which
were required to speak the words of God. "But the Lord said unto him,
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. Be not afraid of their
faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord
put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and said unto me, Behold I have
put My words in thy mouth."

No prophet commenced his labours with greater encouragement than
Jeremiah. A king had succeeded to the throne who was bringing back the
times of the man after God's own heart. There had not been a son of
David so zealous as Josiah since David himself. The king, too, was
young, at most twenty years of age, in the beginning of his reformation.
What might not be effected in a course of years, however corrupt and
degraded was the existing state of his people? So Jeremiah