his own private disaster an instrument of spiritual witness.
"And the Lord said unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend and an adulteress. Even as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods."[1]
A later prophet, the author of the latter part of Isaiah, adopts the same moving and suggestive thought when he thus consoles the captive nation:
"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more. For thy Maker is thine husband: the Lord of Hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer: the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth when she is cast off, saith thy God."[2]
And again in another place the prophet writes:
