Jewish prophets were statesmen as well as religious leaders, because the Jewish state was theocratic. Jeremiah's career seems to have exemplified this fact in a particular manner. He was hard pressed by Spirit to rebuke corruption in church and state, and this made him seem to assume the role of a prophet of evil. His boldness provoked bitter persecution; this reacted upon him to such an extent that the cry was wrung from him, "Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!" It would appear that he had allowed himself to be ground between the upper millstone of inspiration and the lower of unpopularity, and in the process largely lost his joy,—and herein lies a lesson for the Christian Scientist. There is neither logic nor law in the supposition that reformers must suffer for trying to stem the fatal drift in human affairs, and Christian Science proves the possibility of their exemption from suffering. The state of consciousness generally associated with the name of Jeremiah awaits its resurrection in Christian Science.
With his characteristic authorization "Thus saith the Lord," Jeremiah had warned King Zedekiah and the people of the approaching fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Chaldeans. At the instigation of the princes Jeremiah was cast into a dungeon; "and in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." But Ebed-melech, one of the eunuchs in the king's house, obtained permission to draw the prophet out of the dungeon and keep him in the court of the prison. While in prison Jeremiah proved his confidence in the future of his native land by buying a field in Anathoth, although he had prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem. Upon the taking of the city he was set free, while Zedekiah's eyes were put out, and thus mutilated the king was taken captive to Babylon.
The Christian Scientist of today is used by the power of God to deliver divine messages to various states of consciousness typified by kings, priests, and nations, and this in defiance of their own beliefs. On the one hand he uncovers error, and on the other he prophesies the power of God. As in the case of Jeremiah, resistance to truth tries to discourage him and place him in a dungeon; that is, mortal mind tries to induce the Christian Scientist to accept its arguments, to wrap himself in the darkness of despair under the influence of hypnotic fear which assumes to be the terror of terrors, and so to stifle him in the mire, or the foulness of material belief. Mire may also be taken to typify the method of the mental assassin in attempting to kill by scandalizing and suffocating. But just as Jeremiah was delivered by his obedience to God, by his willingness to deliver inspired message and thus to live in God, so the Christian Scientist of today who is obedient is sure of rescue.
