(1.) He called on the name of the Lord. Perhaps he remembered the words of Psalm xxxiv.: ‘This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.’ At all events he acted on them, and though in all probability he could not kneel because of the mire, yet he could pray, and so he did. But he was not like many people who live prayerless lives, and only begin to pray when they get into trouble, for prayer was no new thing to him. He was no stranger at the throne of grace, and he could look back on many happy occasions in which he had reason to be quite sure God had answered him. It is a terrible thing when men go on, strangers to prayer, till they are driven to it by calamity. It was not so with Jeremiah. He knew the mercy-seat well, and he was well known there. He could refer to answers in former times, and say, ‘Thou hast heard my voice,’ and so appeal to God in his present trouble and say, ‘Hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.’ There was both a breathing and a cry; the cry being the actual expression of his wants in words, and the breathing, the outpouring of his soul in mental intercourse with a God who knew his thoughts. It is well to remember this distinction between the breathing and the prayer. The prayer is not altogether unlike the food at stated seasons. The breathing is the unceasing communion of soul as essential to life as breath is to the body. * * * * * (2.) And now mark, in the second place, how God treated him. The King of Kings was not ashamed of being the companion of the prisoner in the pit. It was a deep, dark dungeon; but the man of God was not alone there. The stone on the top could not shut out God, as it could not shut in prayer. And you will observe the prophet was not required to climb out of the pit to find the Lord, as so many people are continually trying to do, but the Lord drew nigh to him when he was at the bottom, not when he was at the top, or half-way up; but at the bottom, in the mire, and in the dark. It was there that God drew near to him in the day that he called, and most graciously spoke to his soul, and said, ‘Fear not.’ How often, how mercifully have these words been spoken! I believe they occur more than fifty times in Scripture. How often do we meet with such words as ‘Fear not, Abraham.’ ‘Fear not, thou worm Jacob.’ ‘Fear not, Daniel.’ ‘Fear not, Zacharias.’ ‘Fear not, little flock.’ ‘Fear not, Paul.’ ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last!’ Do not all these passages show that there is reason for fear in outward life, and that there is the element of fear in the human heart, but there may be a victory over fear even in the bottom of the pit, when the Lord Himself draws nigh, and says, ‘Fear not.’ But you may say you cannot hear the words, and, no doubt, in that you are correct, for we are not to expect loud voices from heaven. We have not the least reason to believe that Jeremiah heard a voice. When