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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," 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: afterwards He was seen on the earth, and
conversed with men." 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." 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." 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?" 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.
For the present I shall put down those predictions about Christ by
the prophet Zephaniah, who prophesied with Jeremiah. "Wait ye upon
me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection, in the future;
because it is my determination to assemble the nations, and gather
together the kingdoms." And again he says, "The Lord will be
terrible upon them, and will exterminate all the gods of the earth;
and they shall worship Him every man from his place, even all the
isles of the nations." And a little after he says, "Then will I
turn to the people a tongue, and to His offspring, that they may call
upon the name of the Lord, and serve Him under one yoke. From the
borders of the rivers of Ethiopia: shall they bring sacrifices unto
me. In that day thou shall not be confounded for all thy curious
inventions, which thou hast done impiously against me: for then I
will take away from thee the Haughtiness of thy trespass; and thou
shalt no more magnify thyself above thy holy mountain. And I will
leave in thee a meek and humble people, and they who shall be left of
Israel shall fear the name of the Lord." These are the remnant of
whom the apostle quotes that which is elsewhere prophesied: "Though
the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a
remnant shall be saved." These are the remnant of that nation who
have believed in Christ.
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