I pray the Reader to observe with me, who were the enemies of faithful Jeremiah: namely, the unfaithful priests. Oh! what a reproach is it to any age, and to every age of the Church, that the Redeemer should be wounded in the house of his friends, and that those, who profess his name, should be the first to persecute his people. Reader! do not overlook, that Jeremiah was not singular in his services. Micah in his days, and Urijah in his, were both brought into danger, for being found faithful. That must be a most accommodating, time-serving, and worldly spirit, which chimes in with the wishes of the people, in speaking smooth things and prophesying deceits. The resolution of Paul will bring upon every preacher his odium. To preach Christ crucified and Christ glorified, is to provoke hell. The offence of the Cross hath never ceased, and never will. Oh! for faithful ministers, to do as Jeremiah did, and leave the event with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 2:2.
Jeremiah 26:16-24
16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
21 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 Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
23 And they fetched forth Urijah 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 commonb people.
24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.