presence of the king, the princes, and priests
he was defiant, immovable, and fearless, uttering his solemn warnings
from day to day with noble fidelity. All classes turned against him; the
nobles were furious at his exposure of their license and robberies, the
priests hated him for his denunciation of hypocrisy, and the people for
his gloomy prophecies that the Temple should be destroyed, Jerusalem
reduced to ashes, and they themselves led into captivity.

Not only were crime and idolatry rampant, but the death of Josiah was
followed by droughts and famine. In vain were the prayers of Jeremiah to
avert calamity. Jehovah replied to him: "Pray not for this people!
Though they fast, I will not hear their cry; though they offer sacrifice
I have no pleasure in them, but will consume them by the sword, by
famine, and pestilence." Jeremiah piteously gives way to despairing
lamentations. "Hast thou, O Lord, utterly rejected Judah? Is thy soul
tired of Zion? Why hast thou smitten us so that there is no healing for
us?" Jehovah replies: "If Moses and Samuel stood pleading before me, my
soul could not be toward this people. I appoint four destroyers,--the
sword to slay, the dogs to tear and fight over the corpse, the birds of
the air, and the beasts of the field; for who will have pity on thee, O
Jerusalem? Thou hast rejected me. I am weary of relenting. I will
scatter them as with a broad winnowing-shovel, as men scatter the chaff
on the threshing-floor."

Such, amid general depravity and derision, were some of the utterances
of the prophet, during the reign of Jehoiakim. Among other evils which
he denounced was the neglect of the Sabbath, so faithfully observed in
earlier and better times. At the gates of the city he cried aloud
against the general profanation of the sacred day, which instead of
being a day of rest was the busiest day of the week, when the city was
like a great fair and holiday. On this day the people of the
neighboring villages brought for sale their figs and grapes and wine and
vegetables; on this day the wine-presses were trodden in the country,
and the harvest was carried to the threshing-floors. The preacher made
himself especially odious for his rebuke for the violation of the
Sabbath. "Come," said his enemies to the crowd, "let us lay a plot
against him; let us smite him with the tongue by reporting his words to
the king, and bearing false witness against him." On this renewed
persecution the prophet do