In everything, and by everything, he was taught that
he was still a Jew, a brother to his sinful brothers; that their
sorrows were his sorrows, their shame his shame, their ruin his ruin.
In all their afflictions he was afflicted, even as his Lord was after
him.
He struggled, we find, again and again against this strange and sad
calling of a prophet. He cried out in bitter agony that God had
deceived him; had induced him to become a prophet, and then repaid
him for speaking God's message with nothing but disappointment and
misery. And yet he felt he must speak; God, he said, was stronger
than he was, and forced him to it. He said: "I will speak no more
words in His name; but the Word of the Lord was as fire within his
bones, and would not let him rest;" and so, in spite of himself, he
told the truth, and suffered for it; and hated to have to tell it,
and pitied and loved the very country which he rebuked till he cursed
"the day in which he saw the light, and the hour in which it was said
to his father, there is a man-child born." You who fancy that it is
a fine thing, and a paying profession, to be a preacher of
righteousness and a rebuker of sin, look at Jeremiah, and judge! For
as surely as you or any other man is sent by God to do Jeremiah's
work, so surely he must expect Jeremiah's wages.
Pages:
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376