From the beginning this has been the crux of the problem of suffering. It was not hard to understand suffering where there was sin. The mystery was rather on the other side, that so often the wicked seemed to escape their just punishment. But that the righteous should suffer while the wicked went scot-free, this seemed a challenge of God's moral government, so staggering that for long — even in the face of the most convincing evidence — men refused to believe in the fact. We see this in the attitude of Job's friends, when they insist, in spite of Job's denial, that where there is so much suffering there must have been corresponding sin. We see it in the protest of Jeremiah and Ezekiel when they repudiate the old proverb : " The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." And yet it remains true that the innocent do suffer with and for the guilty, and that the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. What does it mean ?
There are two things which it might mean. One is that the ultimate reality is force, and that the Christian faith in a loving Father, who cares for each one of His human children, is without foundation in fact. The other is that the individual is not the final unit; that, because God's plan is social, a family, and not simply a collection of unrelated sons and daughters, His method
JEREMIAH xii. 5 45
of training must be more complex than would be the case if He were dealing with isolated individuals. It is the latter that is the Christian view. God's method is a method of redemptive love, and redemptive love saves by vicarious suffering.
^| For people like me, who are confirmed invalids with no hope of recovery, this religious point of view [expiatory suffering] has the advantage of giving us strength and even joy in bearing the pain, the sleepless nights, and the thousand and one deprivations of our lot ; and it further teaches us to see material pleasures in the right light, a process which makes them appear very hollow, and sometimes positively harmful. The reason why I am so happy is that I do not envy any one ; I have found the secret of pure joy, for I suffer with Christ in the holy cause of the redemption of humanity. Then I have other sources of joy as well, which are more beautiful and fragrant than any of the ordinary pleasures of health, and which I would like every one to possess, even if it involved their being ill for years. Fortunately, however, this is not an indis- pensable condition for those who want to comfort and help all who are fallen and out of the way, and who would show them the radiant glories of eternity in the midst of the shadows of this earthly life.
Sometimes I feel that I am so much happier than those whom the world reckons the most fortunate, that I am almost ashamed of myself, and I am quite glad when from time to time my spirit fails me, and I realize my oneness in suffering with all who struggle and rebel. Oh, how well I understand them, when I think of all the blessings that I have received and how I have fallen ! I feel then that I am sister to all these unhappy souls, and my heart goes out to them, and I long to take them by the hand and dry their tears, and show them Him who is the Saviour and the Life.1
3. But Jeremiah was not only troubled about himself, he was anxious for God's character. — There is a touch of apparent vin- dictiveness in his cry. " Let me see thy vengeance on them " ; " pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter." We are disposed to contrast these words with those that Jesus breathed for His murderers from the cross, and those that Stephen uttered as the stones crashed in upon him ; and we think that there is an alloy in the fine gold, a trace of dross in the saint.
1 A Living Witness: The Life of Adele Kamm (1914), 202.
46 THE PRIDE OF JORDAN
It is possible to adopt the suggestion that the prophet was predicting the fate of these wicked men, or that he was the Divine mouthpiece in this solemn pronouncement of the coming doom. But a deeper and more correct conception of his words appears to be that he was concerned with the effect that would be produced on his people if Jehovah passed by the sin of his persecutors and intending murderers. It was as though the prophet feared lest his own undeserved sufferings might lead men to reason that wrongdoing was more likely to promote their prosperity than integrity and holiness.
Josiah was the one God-fearing monarch of his time, but he was slain in battle ; he himself was the devoted servant of God, and his life was one long agony ; was it the best policy then to fear God? Might it not be better to worship the gods of the surrounding peoples, who seemed well able to defend their votaries, and to promote the prosperity of the great kingdoms that main- tained their temples ? As Jeremiah beheld the blasting influence of sin, how the land mourned, and the herbs were withered, and the beasts and birds consumed, his heart misgave him. He saw no limit to the awful evil of his times, so long as God seemed indifferent to its prevalence. Therefore he cried for vengeance — aot for the gratification of his own feeling, but for the sake of Israel and of God.