refuse an answer to a broken-hearted suppliant. He may answer in a way that we do not expect : or he may delay his answer with a view to our greater good : but as he has promised to grant such petitions as are offered up in faith, so will we affirm, in the presence of the whole universe, that " every one that asketh, receiveth ; and he that seeketh, findeth ; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened0."]
c Matt. vii. 7, 8.
Jer. xv. 16. Thy toords were found, and I did eat them ; and thy word ivas unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.
THE commission given to the prophets was often of a very painful nature ; to harden, rather than con- vert, their countrymen ; and to denounce judgments, rather than to proclaim mercy a. Of this kind was the commission given to Jeremiah b : and for executing it, he was grievously persecuted and oppressed. Yet, notwithstanding the nature of his message, and the consequences resulting from a faithful delivery of it, he rejoiced in being honoured with an embassy from the King of kings ; assured that, whatever might be the final result either to his countrymen or himself, God would be glorified. But when the prophets were sent only to denounce judgments, they knew that there was a secret reserve in the mind of God for the exercise of mercy, in case the people who were thus menaced should repent. When Jonah was sent to Nineveh to declare explicitly that in forty days the whole city should be overthrown, he had a secret sus- picion, which in the event was verified, that God would, in case they repented, exercise mercy towards them. And in like manner, Jeremiah had a hope, that the faithful execution of his office, even though it should be unavailing to the generality, would be productive of good to some ; and therefore on that account God's word, which he was sent to publish,
a Isai. vi. 9- -12. b ver. 1—4, 13, 14.