Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I [am] a child.
Ver. 6. Then said I, Ah, Lord God!] Verbum angustiae. The old Latin hath it A, A, A, whereby is noted, say some, a threefold defect - scil., of age, of knowledge, and of eloquence; but that is more subtle than solid. True worth is ever modest; and the more fit any man is for whatsoever vocation, the less he thinketh hinlself; forwardness argueth insufficiency.
Behold, I cannot speak.] Heb., I know not to speak, i.e., aright, and as I ought. Tanto negotio tam instructum oratorem me non agnosco. Jeremiah was an excellent speaker, as well appeareth by these ensuing homilies of his, which show that he was suaviter gravis, et graviter suavis (as one saith of Basil), a grave and sweet preacher, one that could deliver his mind fitly, and dared to do it freely. Hence some of the Jews judged our Saviour to have been Jeremiah propter dicendi agendique gravitatem et parrhesian, for his gravity and freedom of speech. Nevertheless Jeremiah, in his own opinion, "cannot speak"; that is, was no way fit to speak. So Moses is at it with his "Who am I?," Exo 3:11 whereas none in all Egypt was comparably fit for such an embassy. It was a usual saying of Luther, Etsi iam senex, et in concionando exercitus sum, &c. Although I am now an old man, and an experienced preacher, yet I tremble as oft as I go up into the pulpit.
For I am a child.] Epiphanius saith that Jeremiah was not even over fourteen or fifteen when he began to prophesy. Samuel also, and Daniel, began very young. So did Timothy, Origen, Cornelius Mus, a famous preacher, say his fellow Jesuites, at eleven years of age. Archbishop Ussher was converted at ten years old, preached early, and so continued to do for sixty years, or nearly so. a Mr Beza was likewise converted at sixteen years old (for the which, as for a special mercy, he giveth God thanks in his last will and testament), and lived a preacher in Geneva to a very great age.
a His Life and Death, by Dr Bern.