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upon EZEKIEL.
fels communicated to me, and in delivering his Chapter
Commands to my Brethren : and was pleafed III.
with the Hopes of being an Inftrument of their L/\*~^J
Converfion, and the Amendment offome of them :
But yet this Pleafure was afterwards very much
allayed by the heavy Tidings I was to be the Meffenger
of, and the ill Treatment I was to expe£h
See Ver. 14. Compare Jer.xv. 16, 17. Rev. x. 10.
Ver. 5. For thou art not fent to a Teofle of a Ver. 5;
/{range Speech.] It would be a great Addition to
the Burden of thy Office, if thou wert fent as a
Prophet to a Foreign Nation, and to a People
whofe Language thou couldft not underftand, nor
they thine, as Jonah was.
Ver. 6. Surely had I fent thee to them, they Ver. 6.
would have hearkened unto thee.~\ And yet in all
Appearance thofe Strangers would have hearkened
to thy Preaching fooner than the Houfe oflfrael
will, as the Ninevites did to Jonah's. Compare
Mat.xii. 41, xi. 21. The Particles Im lo are very
-well rend red furely : They are the form of an
Oath, the Words, aAs I live, being under/rood.
Compare Chap. v. 11. xvii. 19. Nuwb.x1v.2S.
Ver. 7. For they *uoill twt hearken unto me.~\ Ver. 7.'
They have fo long refitted the means of Grace that
I have offered them by the former Prophets ; See
Jerem. xxv. 4. that there is lefs Hopes of their Conversion,
than if they were Infidels. Compare
Mat. v. 1?.
Ver. 8. "Behold I have made thy Face ft?ong\fQT.$.
againft their Faces."] I have given thee Courage
and Aflurance proportionable to the Hardinefs and
Impudence of thofe thou haft to deal with. See
Chap. ii. 6. and Ifa. 1. 7.
Ver.