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haps the street preacher; the convicted, converted hearer, then a whole house hold brought to Christ. Thus the story is repeated hundreds of times. The princes were moved to listen to the solemn words as Baruch read them again and were dismayed. Make your own picture of them as they quietly listened, not to an address, but to the burning words of Jehovah which stir red their souls with fear (Acts 24:25) “ A nd as lie reason ed o f righ teou sn ess, tem perance, and ju d gm en t to com e, F e lix trem bled, and an sw ered, G o th y w a y fo r th is tim e; w hen I have a con ven ien t sea son , I w ill ca ll fo r thee.” “ The king must hear this message” say the princes, “ but,” they ask, “ how didst thou write all these words?” They knew that the Word had been given to Jeremiah, but how did he write it? The answer is plain,-—“He kept dictating while I wrote with ink.” The princes commanded Baruch to take Jeremiah and hide from the king. Then Jehudi read the prophecy before the king and princes. It was in De cember and they gathered around the fire on the brazier. As the roll was read the king cut it up and cast it into the flames, section by section, until it was destroyed. The king, was enraged. He was a fool also. He knew something of the history of Israel and Judah, something of God’s wonderful dealings with His people. He knew of the sin and sacri lege of Judah. He knew how Jehovah had fought for His people, and how He had punished them; but his heart was bitter toward God and he was unwill ing to confess his sins and the sins of his people. There were those in the gathering who plead for the Scriptures, but their plea was unavailing. • The king de manded that Jeremiah and Baruch be taken “ but the Lord hid them” as He had done with Elijah (1 Ki. 17:2, 3) “ A nd the w ord o f the L ord cam e unto him , sa y in g, G et thee hence, and turn thee eastw ard , and hide th y se lf by the b ro o k Cherith, that is b e fo re Jordan.”
God never forgets or forsakes. He always has a hiding place (Psa. 17:8) and “ our lives are hid with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3) (3) TH E RECORD REWRITTEN AND PRESERVED, vs. 27-32. Again the Lord commanded Jeremiah to write the words of prophecy, adding more words concerning His purposes in judgment, and we have them today. “ Forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in Heaven.” “ The Word of the Lord shall stand forever.” “ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away.” The fight against the Word of God is no new thing. The first thing that the devil did when he ihade the ac quaintance of Eve was to deny the Word of God. Most men would like to get rid of the Book. Who likes to read such passages as “ The soul that sinneth it shall die” ?“ Or “ All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” ? Or “ There is none righteous, no not one” ? The reason men hate the Word of God is because it is true. If it; were false they could ignore it, but because it reflects the image of their wicked hearts and foretells their awful future, they hate it and would blot it out, burn it up, or banish it forever, if they could. But the Bible cannot be gotten rid of by binding or burning. It is here to stay and by it all the earth will be judged. H. L. Hastings in his pamphlet, “Will the Old Book Stand?” well says: . “ The Bible is a book which has been refuted, demolished, overthrown and exploded more times than any other book you ever heard of. Every little while some body starts up and upsets this book, and it is just like upsetting a solid cube of granite. It is just as big one way as the other, and when you overturn it again it is right side up still.” Every little while somebody blows up
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