TpWK "-
The Commoner
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JUNE; 1922 .-
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tr into their own-lives. ,They mayv, have ,
inquiry de tnat made jehoiakim take of
gonio oi i ,nder 0f his sins and of the pun
fcDB0 ! with which the Lord threatened him..
SCe critics repudiate the account of the fall
fn aS indignantly as the wicked Judao-m
! Trenudiated Jeremiah's description of the
V ii nf Israel and are as indifferent to the means
Jhich man is to be restored as Jeho'akim
to the plan offered for tho restoration of,
ISThese "whittlors of the word" begin at the
first chanter of Genesis and employ their , pen
knives on the Mosaic account of man's1 creation.
This they say," cannot; be'" true because man i3
jnerely a descendant of tho.brute.
ATTACKS ON THE BIBLE'S VERACITY
Even if this doctrine dicl not affect man's
nhilosophy of life, such an hypothesis ought- not
to bo accepted without proof because -of the at
tack it makes upon tho veracity of tho Scrip
tures. As the Bible has but one central thought,
namely, man in his relation to God, an indict
ment of tho Bible's account of man's creation,
if proven, weakens the foundation upon which
confidence in the Bible rests.
But when it is seen thatthe overthrow of tho
Biblo account c.f man's creation changes the
whole philosophy of life, one ..understands how
important it is to demand proof before conceding
the evolutionary hypothesis
If man is placed upon this "earth for a purpose,
created by special act of God and made a part of
the Maker's plan, his "highest duty, a? it
should bo his greatest pleasure , is to learn
God's will concerning him and to do it.
If, on the contrary, he; is "blood-relative of the
animals of the field and of the beasts of the for
est, duty cannot be an imperative word to him.
If ho is the child of the Almighty, made in the
Father's image, he cannpt escape a sense of re
sponsibility for thought, word, and deed. If, on
the contrary, his family tree is as Darwin out
lines it and he must counWevery form of life as"
ancestry or collateral relatives, he can scarcely
feel that he is accountable" for anything that he
does.
A sense of responsibility, when strained
through the blood of fish, reptile, bird' and beast,
loses its power to bind that which we know as
conscience, if with such an ancestry man can'
claim to have a conscience. ,;' ,' "
ROBBING 'CHRIST- OF' Ms GLORY ' "'
But the harm done by the critics is not con
fined to the destruction of reverence for God and
the weakening of the desire to please Him; the
reasons that lead to the rejection of tho Bible ac
count of man's creation lead logically to the re
action of everything else in the Bible that dis
tinguishes it from writings of uninspired men.
Darwinism eliminates all the miraculous. The
miracle is inconsistent with-evolution; for this
reason one of the prominent leaders of evolu
tion has recently tried to annihilate all tho mir
acles with an alliteration. He says, "Miracles
are scientifically improbable, historically unre
liable, practically undesirable, and, therefore,
unbelievable." Any hypothesis that will make
unbelievable" tho record of man's creation in
we image of God will exclude all the miracles-
wi. ed ln the 01d and New Testaments,
v m , a11 miracles are excluded, Christ is
robbed of the glory of His virgin birth, of the
majesty of His deity and of the triumph of His
resurrection.
f.,0Th, same logic that excludes miracles excludes
vaV tUe.8uPQrnatural. In his comments on the
verses that give us our text, a higher critic says
xJfcn was one of the Sreat prophetic souls
J-no walked so close to God that he recognized in
S ,cS?vicon that came to him the prompt
h!?H !ie divine voice- Accordingly, etc." Here
nrnni ,tto is deftly inserted in the hearts of the
dM Accrding to this critic, Jeremiah"
On,- ?eceIve any direct communications from
W?s.tho PrPliQt says he did, but simply had
iSl. ons" wllIch hG recognized as "prompt- '
evSw e divinG voice," The same logic removes
tK ence of the supernatural to be found in
le Testaments, Old and Kew.
WHEN THE WHITTLERS GET THROUGH
with m !!? "whittlers of the Word" get through
of flof?0 B,ibl il Is nt Quite as good as a book
haa il ?n bGcause, if the indictment is true, it
hi u ?ar the odium of having pretended to be
OhriBfin no,t' Tne BIbl9 is the ass of tue
bein! reliSion, If the Creator, instead of
can hn perBnal God, is so far away that man
dailv il? no cnsciousness of His ' presence , in
ansiai ' So top'aVay that He cannot hear or,
Ko5X PrAy.er' He - Uttle, if any better than he ,
if Sf itho n-aeflallsts. ' " ' . .
1 tne Blble. instearof being an Inspf red5 tteok
S,ln nfalliblo guide to our feet, is just a col-
wuv ?f SayingS o men. ll ha no more au
thority than any other book
If Christ instead of being the Son of God and
Saviour of the world, sent to redeem man bv
II s blood and to guide him by His ; SSnJS was
jus a deluded enthusiast, if not a designing 7m-
to03soeciety0 """" f Qny great
wi!S0fJeih0,Tak,7 destroycd therollof the
3ft f V"LL(ird as receId by Jeremiah, ho
did not substitute anything for-it; he destroyed
but he did not create. So with the critics of tho
Bible; they play tho part of Iago they whisper
suspicions and damning insinuations.
They root up faith in the minds of the young
and tear down religious belief, but they otter
nothing in place of that which they destroy.
They cannot save man from the voyage upon
the sea Of life, but they remove the moral rudder
that must guide his ship if it is to reach tho
haven in safety, and then they mockingly bid
him bon voyage as he ventures forth without
chart or compass.
. AN IMPREGNABLE ROCK.
The closing verse of our text tells us that
Jeremiah took another roll and, giving it to
Baruch the scribe, dictated to him all the words
of the book that Jehoiakim had burned in the
fire and added to them many like words. The
wicked king could burn the parchment on which
tho words of the Lord, as given to the prophet,
were written, but he was powerless to destroy
the prophecies or to prevent their fulfillment.
And so, today, the critics may mutilate tho
Bible passage to which they take exceptions, but
they are powerless to destroy the Christian re
ligion, to which the Bible has given birth.
The impregnable rock of the Holy Scriptures
still stands and will stand. They cannot rob God
of His omnipotence or of His nearness; they can
not rob the revealed Word of God of its truth;
they cannot rob Christ of His power to eavo
those who put their trust in Him.
A COWARDLY KING, A COURAGEOUS
SLAVE, A STEADFAST PROPHET
- By 'WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN
BIBLE TEXT LESSON FOR JUNE 11
(Jeremiah 38:4-13)
Therefore the princes said unto the king1, Wc be
seech thee, let this man bo put to death: for thus
lie weakeneth the hands of the .men of war that
remain In his city, and tho hands of all the peo
ple, ln speaking: such words unto them: for this
man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but tho
hurt. ' . . , .
Then Zedeklah the king said, behold, he Is In
your hand: for the king Is not ho that can do any
thing against you. ""
Then took thoy Jeremiah, and cast him Into the
dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammclcch, that
was In the court of the prison: and they let down
Jeremiah with cords. And In the dungeon there
was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk ln tho
miro
Now when Ebed-meleoh the Ethiopian, one of
the eunuchs which was In tho king's house, heard
that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the
king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house,,
and spake to tho king, saying,
My lord tho king, these men have done evil in all
that they haye done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom
-thy havo cast Into the dungeon; and he Is like to
die for hunger in the place where he is: for there
lq no more bread In the city. .,,,,. .,
Then the king commanded Ebed-Mclech tho
wthlonian saying, Take from henco thirty . men
with thee', and take up Jeremiah the prophet out
nf the "dungeon, before he die.
So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and
went into tho house of the king under the treasury,
,! tnnk thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags,
aUd let there ? down by cords .Into tho dungeon to
JeAnmlEbed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jere
h Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags
under thine armholes under the cords. And Jere-
mS theVdrcw up Jeremiah with the cords, and
took hinfuP out of tho dungeon and Jeremiah re
mained in the court of tho prison.
The spirit of revenge in princes, the weakness
of a king, the courage of a slave, the steadfast
ness of purpose of a life based on faith in God
all thSse are revealed in the chapter from the
c7feer of Jeremiah the prophet, which gives us
thl most drama" c period In the great prophet's
J nmi stirring ministry of over forty years
i met me f X 11 of persecution because among a
a 1, Stn over to false gods and false teach
ras he fever deviled from his God-given task
ersne ?evo,Vu"v0-nlo 0f the consequences of
of warning h s people of tne c q
A
whom he had given a covenant of vaasalago after
that mighty Babylonian rulor had placed him on
tho throne of Judah. Now Ncbuchadnctsar, af
ter lifting tho siege of Jerusalem at tho ap
proach of Zedekiah'n allies, tho Egyptians, had,
once again placed his army over against tho
city's walls and at this critical Juncture .
Joromiah, instructed of tho Lord, npoko out
saying that the city would surely bo taken by tho'
onemy and importuning tho people to go out and'
surrender thomsolvos to tho Chaldoane. "Ho that
remainoth In this city shall die by the sword, by,
tho famine, and by the pcstilonco," warned tho i
prophet, "but ho that gooth forth shall .live."
JEREMIAH'S DEATH DEMANDED H
Lven as ho uttored the Words commanded oC
him by tho Lord. Jeremiah must havo known'
that ho was giving his onomios, tho princes o
Judah, their groat opportunity for roYcnco.. .
against him who had boon rolentloss in con
demning thoir idolatrous ways. And, Indeed,
the princes lost no time in Booking tho downfall
of the man they hated ovon moro than they
feared tho Chaldean army encompassing Jeru
salem. Straightway thoy sought out tho king and de
manded that Jeremiah bo put to death, "for thus
ho weakeneth tho hands of the men of war that
remain in this city, and tho hands of all the peo
ple, in speaking such words unto thom: for this
man seeketh not the welfare of this pooplo, but
tho hurt."
H.'s accusers seemingly had a strong caso
against Jeremiah, but it would havo boon strong
er if they had left oft tho last count in the indict
ment. They would have had difficulty in proving
that the prophet .sought tho hurt of tho people
instead of their welfare, but his prophecies' :
doubtless did weaken the hands of the men of -war
because he repeatedly advisod surrondor and
declared that tho city would bo burned If It was i
not surrendered.
AN INTERESTING QUESTION
Jeremiah's outspoken criticism at ouch a time
raises an interesting question that every coun
try has had to deal with in time of war.
During our War for Independence some of the
British statesmen became temporarily unpopular
at home because they took tho American side.
One of them insisted that Great Britian could
not enforce her demands against the Colonies
without destroying the rights of British subjects
as well as the rights of Americans.
In tho Boor War, Sir Henry Campbell-Banner- .
man, John Burns and other British political
leaders aroused a great -deal of criticism by op
posing tho government's courso. A mob broko
out the windows in Burn's house, but aftor tho
war Burns was re-elected to tho House of Com- .
mons and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman be
came Premier. In this country during tho late
World War the right to criticize became quite an ,
issue at times.
It must bo remembered, first, that Jeremiah
was not expressing his own opinion ho was
speaking words that God had commanded him to
speak. One cannot invoke Jeremiah as an. au
thority on this point unless he is, as Jeremah
was, the spokesman of the Almighty and acting
under direct commission. f
A COWARDLY KING '
Then, too, it must be remembered ' that"
Jeremiah was willing to suffer any punishment -that
might be Imposed upon him. Although as
a' prophet he was a privileged character, he was
willing to speak and suffer punishment if pun
ishment followed. One who feels it his duty to
oppose his Government's courso ln time of war
should also feel it his duty to accept and enduro
any penalty Impofled, leaving time to vindicate
him. If he is right, his sacrifices will aid his
cause.
behold the striking contrast oetween tne cour
age of tho man of God and the cowardly king!
Instead of taking tho punishment im his own
hands or refusing to allow Jeremiah to be pun
ished, the king excused himself. H6 made a
poorer excuse than Pilate did when he tried to
shirk responsibility in the trial of Jesus. Zede-'
kiah net only turned Jeremiah over to those who
clamored for his death, but he professed help-
lessness "for the king is not ho that Can do
anything against you."
This is about as pitiful an excuse as any ruler
over made. And Jeremiah's accusers wore scarce
ly less cowardly than the king. Instead of put-
ting him to death, they let him down into a
dungeon in which there was no water, but mire,
"and Jeremiah sunk in the mire."
A COURAGEOUS SLAVE ;'
Now a new character comes to' tho front an
Ethiopian slave, a eunuch who was in the king's
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