III. What was the scope and aim op the boll ? 1. It was a record of God^t wrath against sin and a denunciation of judgment. The words so important that they needed to be thus recorded were spoken " against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations " (ver. 2). People like to forget disagreeable ideas and cherish only those that please them. let there are times when it is for our own profit to face them. Surely it is best to know our danger if by the knowledge of it we can find a means to escape it, or, at the worst, be prepared to meet it. But if the revelation of judgment, and of temporal judament, contained in Jeremiah's prophecies was so precious as to be committed to writing under a solemn Divine commission, what value shall we set on the revelations of heavenly things and declarations of the glad tidings of salvation that are written in other parts of the Bible ? 2. It aimed at leading the people to repentance. (Ver. 3.) The threats of future calamities were first uttered with this end, and they were to be repeated for the same object. Thus the darkest words of revelation are spoken in mercy. If they are repeated, it is because God is so forbearing and anxious to save chat he will not give his people up. The aim of revelation is practical. It is a lamp to jur feet (Ps. cxix. 105). The cliief purpose of its warnings and its words of grace is to lead us back from sin to God. Thus the Bible, though the crowning work of all literature, should not be regarded chiefly from a literary point of view, but rather aa conttuning messages from our Father to guide and help our conduct.
Vers. 5 — ^21. — The reading of the roU. I. The reader. Baruch, the secretary of Jeremiah, is sent to read the roll. We do not know what cause detains the prophet. He has often made bold utterances in public before this. But if he cannot go the truth must not be hidden. " The Word of God is not bound " (2 Tim. ii. 9). Truth is more important than the speaker. It matters little who is the messenger ; all importance attaches to the message. Men forget this when they run after a Jeremiah and neglect a Baruch, though the scribe may be the bearer of the prophet's teachings. We should recollect hnw much more important the gospel preached is than the man who preaches it. If a Chrysostom, a Paul, or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel but the trae gospel of Christ, " let him be anathema." But if Christ is proclaimed, we must be thankful for that, though the preacher and his conduct may not quite ai>prove themselves to us (Phil. i. 18). Perhaps it was best that the prophet should not appear in person to repeat his message. His presence might rouse personal feelings to the neglect of his message. He desired the truth to carry its own fair weight. Baruch did his work bravely and modestly. In repeating the prophet's unpopular words, he would invite the odium that attached to them to pass on to himself. But his duty was to read the roll. Ood would see to the consequences. With this courage there was a remarkable modesty. The occasion was a tempting opportunity for Baruch to exercise hin own powers by way
OH. xxxTt 1— 32.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 107
of comment or addition. But he said nothing beyond what was written in the roll He knew his place. The scribe is not a prophet. Why should not the great sermona of great preachers be sometimes read in our churches ?
II. The OIRCDM8TANCE8 OF THE BEADING. The roU was read to three audiences. 1. The people (vers. 9, 10). The Bible is a book for the peopls, not for the priests or the learned only. The occasion of that reading was " a tasting-day " (ver. 6). Then the people would be in the best mood for receiving the call to repentance. We should learn to speak " in season." The place of the reading was the temple (rer. 10). Instruction should be associated with worship. 2. The princes (vers. 11 — 19). Divine truth is of importance to all classes. They who are in responsible positions are especially called upon to study the signs of the times. 3. The king (vers. 20, 21). It was necessary that what concerned the fate of the kingdom should receive the most careful consideration of its monarch. Even kings must bow before the utterance of truth. A prophet can speak with authority to a king.
III. The effect of reading. The effect on the people is not here indicated. Probably little moral good came of it ; but there was evideutly some impression made if the feelings of one man, Michaiah, may he taken in illustration. This man was so much stirred by what he heard that he immediately reported it to the princes at the court (vers. 11 — 13). From this report other consequences flowed. If but one man out of a great congregation is seriously impressed by a sermon, that sermon has not failed ; possibly through the one man it may be instrumental in effecting vast and lasting good. When the roll was read to the princes they were first dismayed (ver. 16). How graphic is that picture of the great men of the kingdom as " they turned shuddering one to another," terrified and confounded by the prophet's words I Perhaps some of them had heard the same words before unmoved. The time may come when the most hardened will be roused. The terror of princes might be a wholesome beginning of a genuine repentance. But if no appropriate action followed, it would soon die away, leaving the conscience the more hardened and demoralized. We need to "bring foTth/ruits meet for repent- ance." The princes inquired as to the origin of the roll. Were its words true ? On what authority were they written? Such inquiries are reasonable. We should have a reason for accepting what we believe to be a Divine message. Yet it is dangerous to divert attention from the moral weight of truth by too much intellectual criticism about literary curiosities. The princes reported the matter to the king with a warning to Baruch — patriotic and generous conduct. The king's reception of the book was very difierent. Unlike the princes, who neither accepted the message without question, noi rejected it for its unpleasant contents, but inquired calmly and careluliy as to tht authority of it, Jehoiakim flew into a rage and hastily destroyed it. What an act ol supreme folly 1 The truth was not the less important because the record of it waa burnt. " We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth " (2 Cor. xiii. 8).