St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-11-21

Ciy uoL Jul against Tic 4LlquAIAC5 VI
my people. Oh, God, give me thy mes
sage"
The heart that feels the oyerburden-
ing desire to know Gods word and to
speak it, never fails of receiving Di-
vine enlightenment, and the opportu-
nifty of becoming the mouthpiece of
God So it was with jeremiah. Gods
message came to him, and he went
forth to speak it.
The first one he encountered was
Johanan himself, who had come long
since to treat the prophet with sort
Of good-natured Indifference. Had not
the comfort and apparent prosperity
with which the Jews now found them
selves surrounded more than justified
the wisdom of his move in taking the
people into Egypt? He had nothing
further to fear from the influence Of
jeremiah over the people. Had not
the prophets dire warnings been unful-
filled thus far? And was there any
likelihood that they would ever be full
filled? And feeling thus, it was with
supreme satisfaction that he had seen
Jeremiah passing from place to place
where the Jews had their dwelling
place. He'll learn a thing or two"
Johanan had chuckled to himself.
And Jeremiah had learned thing
or two, but not the thing or two which
Johanan had had in mind. jeremiah,
| indeed, had observed the prosperity Of
the Jews, but it had only appeared
| like most horrible thing, being moth.
| ing more nor less than the purchase
price of their souls. And as we have
already said, he had observed the
| utter abandon of the people to the
idolatrous practices of the Egyptians.
had agoniZed over it in prayer to God.
and now was going forth with his
message from God. And the first per-
son whom he CHANGED to meet as he
set forth upon his new mission was
| Johanan himself.
His first impulse was to turn from
him as from one accursed of God, but
instantly there came the thought:
Set not the bounds upon Gods
grace, neither do thou become judge
in Gods place"
Humbly he turned and addressed
himself to Johanan, pouring out such
a message of entreaty and condemna-
ton upon sin as to fairly make the
man writhe in the turmoil of conflict
| ing emotions and an accusing con-
| science. But when jeremiah came to
declare the evil which God would GER
tainly bring upon the people because
of their sins, contemptuous sheer
curled the lips of Johanan, and, as he
| turned away, he exclaimed:
Thou ever prophesieth evil but
good cometh to US. Thou art indeed q
| false prophet
Nothing daunted, jeremiah passed
from place to place, speaking to the
Jerusalem and Judea as the evil
| dences of Gods certain punishment
upon sin and declaring that God had
spoken, saying, i will punish them
that dwell in the land of Egypt, as l
have punished Jerusalem, by the
sword, by the famine and by the pes.
thence; so that none of the remnant
of Judah, which are gone into the
land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall
escape or remain, that they should re-
| turn into the land of Judah, to the
which they have desire to return to
dwell there; for none shall return but
such as shall escape"
| But, however much Johanan pro-
fsssed to be Indifferent to the prophet,
he had q lurking fear Of the influence
he might exert over the people, and
so, as the prophet went about, deliver
ing his message, he follower him,
seeking to unity the people against the
prophet How well he succeeded was
apparent when the men all came to-
gether and made answer to jeremiah
in these words:
LAS for the word that thou hast
spoken unto US in the name of the
Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.
But we will certainly do whatsoever
| thing goeth forth out of our mouth, to
| burn incense to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out drink offerings unto
her, as we have done, we, and our
fathers, our kings and our princes in
the cities of Judah, and in the streets
| of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty
of victuals and were well and saw no
evil"
Sick and disheartened, jeremiah
faced that great assembly. They had
sgorned him, they had rejected Gods
word. There remained nothing for
him to do but to deliver Gods final
word of judgment.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel" he cried. Behold,
will watch over you for evil, and not
for good; and all the men of Judah
that are in the land of Egypt shall be
consumed by the sword and by the
famine until there be an end of them.
And l will give Pharaoh, king Of
Egypt, into the hands of his enemies,
and into the hand of them that seek
his life; as 1 gave Zedekiah, king Of
Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnez-
Ear, king of Babylon, his enemy, and
that sought his life