Evening star., 1922-05-27
Church News and Activities
Sunday School Lesson

cts. Jeremiah complied with his COM
mission to keep not back a word"
with the result that he aroused bit
ter antagonfsm, which threatened the
prophets life. They lined up the
priests and plfable people to arrest
him.
Every man Of God will inevitably
arouse animosity against himself If
he performs his duty. The success
Iui business man seeks TO please his
customers. but the standard for the
prophet, priest and preacher requires
tnat ne seek to please not men, but
the Lord. The church cannot be run
along the lines of modern business.
although it's work can he advanced il
IL adapts the principles Of the efficient
commercial house to its spiritual
service. Jeremiah during the larger
part of his life was prosecuted by
both the ecclesiastical and civil au-
thorities, because he refused to trim
MS message to suit their program.
The persecution started with his de-
this weeks study. The nations dan
ger was too real, the cause of re-
ltgion too great, for the prophet to
sacrifice his manhood or his message
to please the people, who. shutting
their eyes to the danger which threat
ened the nation from within, were
blindly trusting to the formal per-
formance of the temple services to
save them from the dangers that
threatened judah from without.
Journalism. without morality, was re-
garded as the essential element of re-
ligion and absolute security.
The false prophets had promised
the people safety through their tenn
pie sacrifices, which served to In
| whom they were allied. The people
gave literally to sustain the worship
of the temple and the sacrificia-1
services, but not word of commen-
dation fell from the lips of the
prophet. When jeremiah applied the
| test of life, love and labor to their
religion, they were weighed in the
of God demanded the worship Of the
heart and the work of a life as a
proof of their religion being true.
This led to his arrest.
SON. heresy and blasphemy. which
was a capital offense. They charged
him with treason because in the hour
OF the country's danger he had dis
out the plans of the government for
national safety. They claimed that he
was hereto because his words were
neous gous 1ea esars net s9SRbt f5Sp Gd S M The
cause he declared that the temple
would be destroyed, which they in
sisted was blasphemy: Jeremiah
tiona, ns9 tribans SHlUre we
needed: all Jerusalem, judges, jury"
had heard the sermon. The prophet
stood like soldier before a court
martial expecting a sentence of death
| because he had dared to proclaim tn,
message that God had given him.
Jeremiah faced the peril of deatt
unafraid. God was his strength an6
defense He calmly answered. "Th'
Lord sent me against this house ano
against this city all the words tina
ye have heard" He took advantag,
privilege of making a defense to cal
upon the nations to repent, reforh
and return unto the Lord. His defens,
was simply that the words he spok'
were GODS and that they might d.
with them as they deemed best. Hi.
faith in Jehovah gave him courae
ana calmness in the hours of hi
peril Eighteen years before he hat
commenced his ministry with the di-
VINE assurance, They shall not pre-
vail against thee: for am with thee
satin Jehovah, to deliver thee"
His bold and ingenious defense ap-
pears to have turned the scales in hi:
,, favor: 1t secured for him a squar,
deal from the elders and princes whC
passed Judgment upon him. The
had to decide from the records of tho
false prophets. who were not free
| from the charge of being grafters
| and the unselfish labor of jeremiah
| whose word should be taken The,
gave their verdict of acQuittal, cit
! ing the example of Micah, who in the
days of Hezekiah had made a proph-s
ecy that the temple would be de-.
stroyed- Hezekiah took the words Of
the prophet as ground for repentance
and not for the destruction of Gods
messenger. Jeremiah's record for
truthfulness, integrity and faithful
ness placed him in the class with
Micah.
The people acknowledged the just
ness of the courts decision, for they
recognized in jeremiah a true man.
The providence of God can be seen in
| the fact that Ahikan. the son of
Shaphan, Josiah's secretary of state.
championed the cause of the prophet.
He appealed that they should not
give him into the hands of the peo-
pie to put him to Death" His cour-
aeeous stand for law and order saved
the prophets life. The angry, un-
reasonable mob, filled with murderous
passion, would have made short work
with the prophet If they had not been
Influenced by their leaders to allow
the law to take its course. The fick-
| leness of the mob is seen in the fact
that masses who We're ready TO de-
stroy the prophet rejoiced in his vim
dicat ton.
! jeremiah was not the first nor the
| last man to stand up for right re-
| gardless CT his own personal wei
fare. Every soul who is called of
Go0 TO 90 his WORK must sometime or
other stand alone. Every reformer
; who seeks to break up any form of
modern vice will feel the loneliness
that has marked the lives of all the
| heroes of the cross. The one who
dares to stand alone because God has
called him TO do some task need fear
| no danger, for the Lord will protect
| him and give him victory. God raised
up a Gamaliel to defend the early
| prosecuted church, just as he raised
| up Ahikan for Jeremiah. The Mas
4 ter will be with us if We obey His
! command, for We know that, al
| though "the wicked watcheth the
! righteous and seeketh to slay him.
! the Lord will not leave him in his
hand nor condemn him when he is
| judged" When God calls us. let us
dare to have a purpose firm. and dare
4 to make il known. We, too. can say.
| as did jeremiah with the Psalmists,
''The Lord is my light and my saliva
4