Times-promoter., 1908-10-16

the prophet feared God rather than
men, and, because he must obey him
and speak his message all through
Jerusalem, he cried, saying:
"Thus saith the Lord, He that re-
maineth in this city shall die By the
sword, by the famine and by the pes.
thence: but he that goeth forth to the
Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have
his life for prey, and shall live.
Thus saith the Lord, This city shall
surely be given into the hand of the
king of Babylon's army, which shall
take it."
What stir that message caused.
Scarcely had jeremiah finished de.
livering his proclamation in the
market place in Jerusalem, ere the
princes had come from the presence
of the king with authority to seize
him and do with him as they de-
sired.
Now, the king feared the prophet
exceedingly, and could never before
be persuaded to lay violent hands
upon him, though he had shut him up
in the court of the prison on various
occasions. But on this day the
princes had come in such rage that
he could not resist their demands:
LET this man be put to death"
they cried; ''for thus he weakeneth
| the hands Of the men of war that re-
main in this city, and the hands of
all the people, in speaking such words
unto them: for this man seeketh not
the welfare of this people, but the
/ hurt"
And having obtained the consent of
the king, they rushed forth to seize
the person of the prophet, fully de-
termtned upon killing him. But
when they had come upon him they
feared to do so because of the people,
who, wasted by disease and lack of
food, were now in great distress, and
the hope of deliverance from their
suffering held out by the prophet
seemed good to them.
Instead, therefore, of killing him,
the princes drew him to the prison of
Malchiah, which was a terrible dun
geon, into whose depths the light
was unable to penetrate. Into this
place then jeremiah was cast, and
into the thick, filthy mire of the bot
tom of the pit the feet of the prophet
sank until he could neither move this
way nor that. He was in great dan
ger of losing his balance and becom-
ing submerged in the soft, oozy
ground. To prevent this, he worked
his way slowly and painfully to the
side of the pit, and, bracing his body
in slight niche in the walls, he
waited.
He had been placed there to mis-
erably perish, he knew. He had heard
of the noisome place and had known
Of many desperate criminals who had
passed days in the depths of the great
pit. But none had ever been cast
into the pit as he had been without a
sustaining rope to hold upon and pre-
vent slipping down, down, into the
miry depths and to death. He looked
up to see If he could discover any
glimmer of light that told of sunlight
above, but could see only the same
black darkness above as pressed in
about him. He listened for some
sound, but only the loud beating Of
his heart could be heard in the death.
like stiffness.
Il shall die here" he thought. "And
then | shall be with God" he added.
The thought seemed to cheer him,
and he began to chant one Of the
Psalms he had learned to love so
well.
"Out of the depths have cried unto
thee, o Lord"
He paused Had the Psalmist, too,
been cast into the depths of some hor-
rible pit to die? And he wondered:
did God hear and answer"
AS though by way of answer there
fioated in around him a light whose
refulgence transformed the noisome
pit into a place of heavenly glory,
and he heard his own name spoken,
and he knew that God was with him.
All, the blessed JOY of that moment.
For ten times the suffering and dis,
tress which he was enduring he would
not have missed that blessed expe-
rience. There was new joy and
sweetness to him in the thought that
he belonged to God and that no harm
could come to him save that which