Carchemish and he calmly surrenders to his own and
his people's fate. That is how this prophet, by nature so fluid, and so
shrinking stands out henceforth _a fenced city and a wall of bronze over
against the whole people of the land_: the one unbreakable figure in the
breaking-up of the state and the nation. We perceive the method in God's
discipline of such a soul. He sees his servant's weakness and grants him
the needful athletic for it, by wrestling with him Himself.

We may here take in full the remarkable passage, part of which we have
already studied.(736)

Too Righteous art Thou, O Lord, XII. 1
That with Thee I should argue.
Yet cases there are I must speak with Thee of:--
The way of the wicked--why doth it prosper,
And the treacherous all be at ease?
Thou did'st plant them, yea they take root, 2
They get on, yea they make fruit;
Near in their mouths art Thou,
But far from their reins.
But me, O Lord, Thou hast known,(737) 3
And tested my heart with Thee;
Drag them out like sheep for the shambles,
To the day of slaughter devote them.

Thou hast run with the foot and they wore thee-- 5
How wilt thou vie with the horse?
If in peaceful country thou can'st not trust,
How wilt thou do in the rankness of Jordan?
For even thy brothers, the house of thy father, 6
Even they have betrayed thee.
Even they have called after thee loudly,
Trust them not, though they speak thee fair.(738)

_The rankness_ or _luxuriance of Jordan_ is the jungle on both sides of
the river, in which the lions lie. This then is all the answer that the
wearied and perplexed servant gets from his Lord. The troubles of which he
complains are but the training for still sorer. The only meaning of the
checks and sorrows of life is to brace us for worse. It is the strain that
ever brings the strength. Life is explained as a graded and progressively
strenuous discipline, the result of it a stronger and more finely tempered
soul. But this surely suggests the questions: Is that the whole result? Is
the soul thus to be trained, braced and refined, only at last to be broken
and vanish? These are natural questions to the Lord's answer, but Jeremiah
does not put them. Unlike Job he makes no start, even with this stimulus,
to break through to another life.

3. Sacrifice.

But in thus achieving his individuality over against both his nation and
his God