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SERMON IX.

JEREMIAH Xxxix. 15—18.

Now the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord; and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.

HISTORY,' said a wise man, ' is Philosophy teaching by examples.' The remark carries with it a peculiar force, when applied to Scripture history; which is God himself teaching by examples. In other narratives, the principal object, both of the writer and his reader, may

sometimes be amusement alone: God, however, always designs our instruction in his. Sacred history, moreover, has a special value from another consideration-that God is frequently the Author of the events, as well as of their description; in the perusal of which he would have us to observe, that, in his dealings with mankind, he actually is and does, what he professes, in the more doctrinal parts of the Bible, both to be and to do.

These remarks will connect our present subject with that which was before us last Sunday afternoon. We shall find, during our consideration of it, that God's judgment of men in this present life, is precisely what our Lord says it will be," in the day when the Son of Man shall be revealed."

The story of Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, as contained in the text, and in seven verses of the preceding chapter, relates to a period which intervened between the investment of Jerusalem by the besieging army of Nebuchadnezzar, and the final capture of the city about eighteen months afterwards. In order to give you a complete view of this excellent man's character, there are four points in the case to which your attention must be directed: the Person-the Conduct-the Principle the Reward.

Let us look, first, at

I. THE PERSON-what he had originally been, and what he was at the present time.

1. What was his Origin? He is said to have been an Ethiopian, or Cushite; one of the descendants, therefore, of accursed Ham, the son of Noah.

- On both sides of the Red sea there was a country, to which, in ancient history, the name of Ethiopia' is given. It is not improbable, how→ ever, that Ebed-melech was an African, and, so far as concerns the colour of his skin, a Negro. We cannot suppose, that, in the land of his nativity, he had enjoyed many of the blessings of civilization. But there were privileges of infinitely greater moment, to which he was an utter stranger. At that time he was without Christ being an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, and a stranger from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." His circumstances were such, that it might seem as if nothing could make them worse; and yet worse was to come. For,

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2. What was his present Situation? and how had he arrived at it? One of those savage wars, which are continually taking place in barbarous countries, had made Ebed-melech a captive; and the victors had sold him, as men sell cattle, into the hand of Judah. For his Hebrew name tells us what he now was-the king's slave. He lived, indeed, surrounded by worldly splendour; but under circumstances of the most humiliating kind.

He was a mere piece of State-furniture; such as is common in most of the Oriental courts, and had been adopted by the degenerate sovereigns of Jerusalem, in imitation of their heathen neighbours. Such slaves, it is true, through their employment in the interior of the court, often attained to considerable influence: but it is no less certain, that they were still looked upon as altogether a degraded caste.

You will say, however, that one disadvantage of“. his original condition was now remedied; and that he had access to Divine truths, which could only be known in the favoured land of Israel. But, let me ask, what hope could there be of his benefiting by this privilege, at the period here described -when the worst idolatries of the heathen, with their concomitant vices, had been imported into Judea; and when Jerusalem, on this very account, was at the crisis of her fate? Almost everything he saw around him tended to generate contempt for what was called the National Religion.' There was, indeed, one individual frequently heard of, who, under the name of a prophet, preached that religion with great earnestness and zeal. But the prophet, he could easily see, had no friends and there appeared but little probability that he should either seek or find one in the black slave.

Such were the original and present circum

stances of Ebed-melech. And now, having described the Person, let me shew you, secondly,

II. THE CONDUCT which is recorded of him. The bitter enemies of true religion had accused Jeremiah before the king of discouraging the soldiery, by his denunciations of approaching woe: and Zedekiah, though he seems to have been better disposed than his courtiers towards the prophet, had not the resolution to protect him. "Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you." Jeremiah, accordingly, was thrust down into a filthy dungeon, where "he sank in the mire," and would quickly have perished, had it not been for the intervention of this very slave. As soon as he heard of this act of cruelty, he went directly to the king, to remonstrate against it: "He is like to die for hunger," said he, "in the place where he is; adding also" These men have done evil, in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet." To the honour of the king, this application was successful. Ebed-melech received a commission to "take with him thirty men," and rescue the prophet from his painful situation: all which was effected, under his own personal superintendence, with the greatest kindness and humanity.

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In this conduct of the Ethiopian slave, there are two things worthy of observation.