"O, goddes cruel, that govérne This world with byndyng of youre word eterne ... What governance is in youre prescience That gilteles tormenteth innocence?... Alas! I see a serpent or a theif, That many a trewé man hath doon mescheit, Gon at his large, and wher him luste may turne; But I moste be in prisoun." That such apparent anomalies are but a passing trial, from which persistent faith will emerge victorious in the present life, is the general answer of the Old Testament to the doubts which they suggest. The only sufficient explanation was reserved, to be revealed by Him, who, in the fulness of time, "brought life and immortality to light." The thought which restored the failing confidence and courage of Jeremiah was the reflexion that such complaints were unworthy of one called to be a spokesman for the Highest; that the supposition of the possibility of the Fountain of Living Waters failing like a winter torrent, that runs dry in the summer heats, was an act of unfaithfulness that merited reproof; and that the true God could not fail to protect His messenger, and to secure the triumph of truth in the end. "_To this Iahvah said thus_: If thou come again, I will make thee again to stand before Me; And if thou utter that is precious rather than that is vile, As My mouth shalt thou become: They shall return unto thee, But Thou shalt not return unto them. "And I will make thee to this people an embattled wall of brass; And they shall fight against thee, but not overcome thee, For I will be with thee to help thee and to save thee; It is Iahvah's word. And I will save thee out of the grasp of the wicked, And will ransom thee out of the hand of the terrible." In the former strophe, the inspired poet set forth the claims of the psychic man, and poured out his heart before God. Now he recognises a Word of God in the protest of his better feeling. He sees that where he remains true to himself, he will also stand near to his God. Hence springs the hope, which he cannot renounce, that God will protect His accepted servant in the execution of the Divine commands. Thus the discords are resolved; and the prophet's spirit attains to peace, after struggling through the storm.