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A considerable portion of Jerem iah ’s prophecies fall w ithin th e reign of je - hoiakim , when th e first serious invasion by Chaldean forces occurred and the first large deportation of captives. Je re m iah’s exhortations from th e Lord to yield to the Chaldean power caused Jehoiakim to be opposed to th e prophet. Consequently he instigated a rancorous persecution against Jerem iah from which th e la tte r more th a n once barely escaped w ith his life. This was th e prophet’s tim e of stern est trial. As other kings followed him Je re m iah made earnest bu t unavailing ef forts to w ithstand th e growing cor rup tion of both court and people and to induce repentance tow ard God, bu t was baffled in every endeavor. Such is th e disheartening story of Jerem iah ’s labors and protests during th e twenty- th ree years between th e death of Josiah and th e u tte r overthrow of the city and kingdom. Jerem iah survived th e fall of th e city and kingdom. His sympathies went w ith th e b etter p a rt of th e .people into th eir exile in Babylon, bu t he n eith er accompanied nor followed them in per son. E ith e r through his own convic tions of duty, or through th e special direction of the Lord, he cast in his lot w ith the poor rem nant who remained a sho rt tim e in the land, and ultimately, against his protest, went to Egypt to perish there. Nebuchadnezzar be friended him in a most decided manner, and if he had gone to Babylon his lot would Apparently have been as pleasant as th a t of a captive w ith his captive b reth ren could be, bu t Jerem iah mani festly sought not his own, bu t th e things of his- g reat Master. Hence, in th e footsteps of th e g reat “Man of sor rows” he followed the rem nan t who had no shepherd and no h ea rt to heed one, and filled out his rem aining days among an ungrateful, disobedient peo ple. There are some lessons of g reat value
to be found in th e life and sp irit of th is prophet. I t is God’s way to raise up His own instrum ents and adapt them for work He gives them to do. Je re miah was an illu stration of thi§ di vine policy. We note how he yielded to the pressure of God’s hand upon" him (20 :7 , 9) and how, step by step, he moved on into p eril and darkness thickening fearfully in his path, how he “ endured as seeing H im who is in v isib le;” how he never so quailed be fore his enemies as to w ithhold one of th e stern words God gave him to say; how we rarely h ear th e slightest mur-. rniur from his lips; how when human frailty seemed too much for present grace, th e Lord kindly gave more grace; how he filled ou t th e very la st’ days of a prophetic life which overran forty years, w ith Suffering, daring, w itness ing, beseeching and weeping— almost evermore— w ith apparently fruitless endeavor, and w ith no consolations known to us save those of a clear con science and an approving God. H is h ea rt never became m isan thropic-—never had the least touch of the malign element. He never ceased to love w ith th e love of sympathy and pity th e wickedest and vilest of those whose sins the Lord sent him to de nounce. There is a wonderful record for us in those tears. Would to God th a t all His m inistering servants kept th e ir own -spirit in a sympathy w ith Christ’s as near, warm and effective as did th is prophet!— Henry Cowles, D. D. Never was heavier burden laid upon th e shoulders of m ortal man. Jerem iah intensely loved his country. He would have given all he had to see Judah flourishing, Jerusalem prosperous; and lo, we see him compelled by his destiny to announce to his fellow-citizens noth ing but m isfortune. His office was like th a t of a m inister obliged to accompany a crim inal to th e scaffold. He induces Israel and its K ing to subm it to the decree of divine justice. He depicts
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