I am not worth the bread I eat. Let me
lie down and die." And then, when the Lord had driven that man so
far, I have seen, I who speak to you now, how the Lord turned and
looked on that man as he turned and looked on Peter, and brought his
poor soul to life again, as He brought Peter's, by a loving smile,
and not an angry frown. I have seen the Lord heap that man with all
manner of unexpected blessings, and pay him back sevenfold for all
his affliction, and raise him up, body and soul, and satisfy him with
good things, so that his youth was renewed like the eagle's. And so
the man's conversion to God, though it was begun by God's
chastisements and afflictions, was brought to perfection by God's
mercy and bounty; and it happened to that man, as Ezekiel prophesied
that it would happen to the Jews, that not fear and dread, but
honour, gratitude, and that noble shame of which no man need be
ashamed, brought him home to God at last. "And you shall remember
your ways, and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled: and you
shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evils which you
have committed. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have
wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked
ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, saith
the Lord God.
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