A man of contention to the whole earth! - To the whole Land, to all his countrymen; though he had done nothing to merit their displeasure.
Jeremiah vents his sorrow at the rejection of his prayer. In reading these and similar expostulations we feel that we have to do with a man who was the reluctant minister of a higher power, from where alone he drew strength to be content to do and suffer.
Strife - More exactly, “lawsuit;” the sense is, “I am as a man who has to enter into judgment with and reprove the whole earth.”
I have neither lent - i. e., I have no personal cause of quarrel with the people, that I should thus be perpetually at strife with them. The relations between the moneylender and the debtor were a fruitful source of lawsuits and quarrelling.
As the work advances, our publications in all languages should increase in circulation. Our presses are now at work in many lands, sending forth the truth in French, Danish, German, and many foreign languages. Let a spirit of harmony and unity prevail as the work is carried forward; we have no time for contention and strife. In every clime the truth is to go forth as a lamp that burneth. Let every reasoning mind have the privilege of hearing the truth for this time.—Manuscript 61, 1909. PM 395.3
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