"Now therefore reform your ways and your acts and obey the voice of the Lord your G.o.d; and the Lord will repent of the evil that he has p.r.o.nounced upon you."

"Hear him! Hear him!" arose from all directions. "He blasphemes! He blasphemes!" Jeremiah paid no attention to these outcries, but turned to the judges and concluded his defense:

"But as for me, see, I am in your hand; do with me as appears to you to be good and right.

"Only be a.s.sured that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants, for verily the Lord hath sent me to you to speak all these things in your ears."

Jeremiah ceased. He walked back to his place between the two guards to await his sentence. The mob was rather taken by surprise at the prisoner's defense. He made no arguments for release, no pleas for his life, but stated his belief in his work and his faith in G.o.d, trusting for the rest in the justness of his cause.

From out among the princes arose Ahikam, the eldest son of Shaphan, who was the Royal Scribe for Jehoiakim, as his father had been for Josiah. Ahikam and Jeremiah had been close friends as young men, even as their fathers had been all their lives. Recently, however, they had not seen much of each other. Jeremiah was busy about his business and Ahikam was permanently stationed in Jerusalem, at the palace.

Jeremiah hardly recognized Ahikam when he began to address the judges.

His interest in the speaker was greatly stirred, however, when he heard Ahikam say that he had no apology to offer for the position he was taking, nor for his friendship and love for the man who was accused of the crime of blasphemy. He said that he believed that his and Jeremiah's fathers were of the greatest service to King Josiah in the prosperity that attended his reign, and that, though the priests and prophets of Jerusalem might not understand it, Jeremiah wanted the peace and prosperity of the nation and of the capital, not their doom.

Then, rising to a pitch of oratorical flight, he cried:

"This man is not worthy of death, for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our G.o.d."

Up jumped Pashhur, the chief officer of the Temple, and told the story of Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, who also had prophesied in the Temple in the name of G.o.d. Pashhur continued:

"And he prophesied against the city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah; and when Jehoiakim, the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.

"And Jehoiakim, the king, sent men into Egypt, and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim, the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people."

But Ahikam, who, like his father, was acquainted with the history of his people, arose and answered Pashhur:

"Micah the Moresht.i.te, prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and he spake to all the people of Judah, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: "Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest."'

"Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah put him to death?

Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord so that the Lord repented him of the evil which he had p.r.o.nounced against them? But we are on the point of doing great injustice to ourselves."

To the surprise of the priests and the prophets Ahikam's argument prevailed with the princes who sat in judgment, and with the people themselves. They dispersed without further ado, but they continued discussing the situation among themselves.

No punishment was visited upon Jeremiah, but he had a narrow escape.

Jeremiah and Ahikam left the gate arm in arm. They were happy at the renewal of their friendship, even if it took place in the shadow of death.

Ahikam warned his friend to be more careful, when they parted.

Jeremiah left him with much to think about. It was the first time that he had been attacked and his life threatened. In addition, though Jeremiah did not hear of it that day, Pashhur had sworn to corner Jeremiah yet, so that he could not escape.

CHAPTER XI.

_A Taste of Martyrdom._

Jeremiah returned home a very sad man, but not a wiser one from the point of view of his safety. He kept much to himself in the city of Anathoth and devoted his time to teaching a group of young men with whom he had surrounded himself.

Among them was Baruch, son of Neriah, of a distinguished Jerusalem family, whose members had always stood high in the counsels of the kings. Baruch was not only a disciple of Jeremiah, but also acted as his secretary when writing was to be done.

Baruch was intimate with Jeremiah's family in Anathoth, and he informed Jeremiah that his cousins did not approve of his actions in the Temple. They did not like the notoriety it brought them and hoped he would hold his peace.

These cousins did not have the courage to speak their mind to Jeremiah face to face, and so he did not trouble about them, their likes or dislikes, their approval or disapproval. He had on his mind a very troublesome problem when it began to be rumored that Jehoiakim was about to re-introduce human sacrifices in Ge-Hinnom.

Ge-Hinnom was the "valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate of potsherds, called Tophet." The southwestern gate of the City of Jerusalem overlooked this valley where an altar had been erected for the atrocious Moloch-worship, but which was destroyed by Josiah during the Reformation.

Jeremiah had but to hear of the king's proposal to re-establish the Moloch-rites, to act.

He went to Jerusalem, despite the pleading of Baruch not to go, gathered a number of the Elders who had been his father's and Josiah's friends and co-workers, and asked them to accompany him to Tophet.

They proceeded through the southwestern gate, "the gate of the valley," followed by a number of idlers, the curious who keep at a distance to see what will happen.

Arrived at the ruins of the altar of Moloch, Jeremiah drew from under his mantle a potter's earthen bottle, and, without giving a hint of what he was about to do, broke it on one of the altar stones. Turning to the Elders, he said:

"Thus said the Lord of Hosts: 'Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again.'"

That was all! He had portrayed more vividly than he could ever have done in a long speech what would be the consequences if the king persisted in bringing back the horrible worship of Moloch.

Returning to the city, Jeremiah stopped at the Temple. He had not been in Jerusalem since he narrowly escaped stoning at the hands of the mob. As soon as he was recognized--and the word of his coming had been spread by the onlookers, who had returned from Tophet ahead of him--the crowd gathered about him, anxious to hear what he would have to say.

He told them a story first. He had been down at a potter's house that morning, watching the potter at work. The vessel the potter made didn't suit him, so he destroyed it while the clay was yet soft and pliable. Then he made another vessel out of that same clay, "as seemed good to the potter to make it." This story he followed up with a pa.s.sionate plea to the people:

"'O house of Israel cannot I do with you as this potter?'

saith the Lord. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.'

"'At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.'

"'Now, therefore,' thus saith the Lord: 'Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you. Return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.'"

Several of the Jerusalem prophets, upon Jeremiah's coming to the Temple, gathered quickly in Pashhur's chambers to talk the matter over. They had thought that the charge of blasphemy had frightened Jeremiah so that he would not return; but here he was again, as persistent in his course as ever. Not one was willing to admit that there was some truth in Jeremiah's pleadings and threats, but all of them came to this conclusion:

"Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."

Pashhur listened to all their talk with amusemsnt. Jeremiah had been a nuisance around the Temple, of which he was chief officer, long enough. Here was his chance to fix him, he thought.

"Come, and let us smite him with the tongue?" he asked, with a jeering laugh. He told them that they were fools to argue with the pest. He would show them how to deal with him.

Pashhur buckled up his mantle, gritting his teeth. He fairly ran to the open place where Jeremiah was speaking. He burst through the crowd with curses upon them all. Facing Jeremiah, he shouted:

"Thou--" but his anger and hate overcame him. He almost foamed at the mouth with rage and could not speak a word.

Before Jeremiah understood what the matter was, Pashhur slapped him on both cheeks with his hands. Then he struck him square on the jaw with his right fist--and Jeremiah dropped to the slabbed marble of the courtyard, where he had been standing.

The crowd was startled and amazed at what had happened. But Pashhur gave no opportunity for remonstrance. A number of the Temple guards, who had come up with their chief, dispersed the people with curses and blows.

Pashhur stood over the prostrate body of Jeremiah, like the victor over his defeated adversary--waiting for him to show signs of rising that he might strike him again. When Jeremiah regained consciousness, however, the brutal Pashhur had thought better of it. Another such blow and he would have killed the prophet--and Pashhur knew the law on shedding innocent blood.