"A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return ye backsliding children; I will heal your backsliding." Jeremiah began his eventful career with the old cry of Amos and Hosea, against the widespread evil, the seething caldron of idolatry and wrongdoing that threatened the destruction of the nation. It was far more serious, however, than in the days of the earlier prophets. Then the people worshiped idols and seemed to know no better; now the people employed all the ancient idolatrous practices for worshiping the idols and the heavenly bodies and God at the same time. Therefore, Jeremiah heard from the people at the idols' shrines, in reply to his pleadings, practically the same answer that greeted Amos at Bethel: "Behold, we have come unto thee, For thou art the Lord our God." To this false idea that God-worship and idol-worship are the same thing, Jeremiah gave answer patiently and kindly, as if reasoning with children, recalling what God had accomplished for Israel in the past and the duty of obedience to His voice by Israel's descendants in the present: "Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult of the mountains; truly the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing (idolatry) hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God." Then Jeremiah delivered a message of hope, of God's promise to the people, in case they should return from their backsliding: "If thou wilt return, O Israel," saith the Lord, "if thou wilt return to me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be removed; and thou shalt swear, 'As the Lord liveth,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory." Jeremiah aimed at first merely to arouse the people to a knowledge of their false point of view toward God; but he soon discovered that he was on the wrong track. Pleading, persuasion, promises and prophecies of hope had no more effect upon the daily life of the people than did Josiah's destruction of the shrines and sanctuaries upon their religious practices.