ntance, as the only way to escape impending
calamities; and he prevailed upon his secretary to read the scroll,
containing all his verbal utterances, to the assembled people in the
Temple, who, in view of their political dangers, were celebrating a
solemn fast. The priests and people alike, clad in black hair-cloth
mantles, with ashes on their heads, lay prostrate on the ground, and by
numerous sacrifices hoped to propitiate the Deity. But not by sacrifices
and fasts were they to be saved from Nebuchadnezzar's army, as Jeremiah
had foretold years before. The recital by Baruch of the calamities he
had predicted made a profound impression on the crowd. A young man, awed
by what he had heard, hastened to the hall in which the princes were
assembled, and told them what had been read from the prophet's scroll.
They in their turn were alarmed, and commanded Baruch to read the
contents to them also. So intense was the excitement that the matter was
laid before the king, who ordered the roll to be read to him: he would
hear the words that Jeremiah had caused to be written down. But scarcely
had the reading of the roll begun before he flew into a violent rage,
and seizing the manuscript he cut it to pieces with the scribe's knife,
and burned it upon a brazier of coals. Orders were instantly given to
arrest both Jeremiah and Baruch; but they had been warned and fled, and
the place of their concealment could not be found.

Jehoiakim thus rejected the last offer of mercy with scorn and anger,
although many of his officers were filled with fear. His heart was
hardened, like that of Pharaoh before Moses. Jeremiah having learned the
fate of the roll, dictated its contents anew to his faithful secretary,
and a second roll was preserved, not, however, without contriving to
send to the king this awful message. "Thus saith Jehovah of thee
Jehoiakim: He shall have no son to sit on the throne of David, and his
dead body will be cast out to lie in the heat by day and the frost by
night; and no one shall raise a lament for him when he dies. He shall be
buried with the burial of an ass, drawn out of Jerusalem, and cast down
from its gates."

No wonder that we lose sight of Jeremiah during the remainder of the
reign of Jehoiakim; it was not safe for him to appear anywhere in
public. For a time his voice was not heard; yet his predictions had such
weight that the king dared not defy Nebuchadnezzar when he demanded the
submission of Jerusalem. H