[1.] First, None can be so against us os to hurt us or harm us; there- fore Aquinas well expounds that Quis contra nos? i.e., Quis efficaciter? and others, Quis Icesive et prevalenter? Who can be against us, so as to hurt us ? Dan. iii. 25, 27, and vi. 22. Acts xviii. 9, ' Then spoke the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace;' ver, 10, ' For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee, to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city.' God had many souls in this city to convert and to bring in to Christ, and therefore he animates and encourages Paul to preach boldly, and to go on in his
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work undauntedly.! Ay, but, Lord, there be many in the city, that will set themselves against me. Ay, but I am with thee. Ay, but. Lord, there be many in the city that will hate me. Ay, but there is no man that shall set on thee to hurt thee. They may kill me, said Socrates of his enemies, but they cannot hurt me. It was the speech of Anaxar- chus, a heathen, whenas he by the tyrant was commanded to be put in a mortar, and be beaten to pieces with an iron pestle, he cries out to the persecutors, You do but beat the vessel of Anaxarchus ; you do not beat me, nor hurt me ; you do but beat the case, the husk, the vessel that contains another thing. His body was to him but as a case, a husk ; he counted his soul himself, which his persecutors could not reach nor hurt. Though there were many in the city of Corinth that would be ready furiously to set on Paul, yet there should not be a man that should be able to hurt Paul. God would be his lifeguard to pro- tect him, and he would make void all the mischievous designs and endeavours of his adversaries against him. When in a city the Lord hath those that are ordained to salvation, he will bless the labours of his faithful servants with happy success ; so that faithful ministers may not, yea, must not, for fear of the invincible malice of some, neglect the salvation of others. All the arrows that men of might and malice should shoot at Paul in the city of Corinth, should never reach him, they should never hurt him, nor harm him: 1 Pet. iii. 13, 'And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good ? ' They may oppose you, but they cannot harm you ; they may hate you, but they cannot harm you ; they may plot and devise mischief against you, but they cannot harm you ; they may persecute you, but they cannot harm you. I know Caesar told Metellus that he could as easily take away his life as bid it be done ; but these were only bravadoes, for that is a royalty which belongs to God only, ' to whom belong the issues of death,' Ps. Ixviii. 20, or the goings out from death ; that is, deliver- ances from death and deadly dangers. It is an allusion to one that keepeth a passage or a door ; that is, God hath all the ways which lead out from death in his own keeping, Christ hath the keys of death, the sole dominion and disposal of it, Kev. i. 18 ; 2 Pet. ii. 9. The Lord knows how to deliver his people from the most desperate and deadly dangers ; he can deliver them out of the mouth of the lion, he can pull them out of the jaws of death, and so secure them from all harm or hurt. None can be so against the people of God as to harm their souls, as to hurt their happiness. But,
' If God be with us, who can be against us ? ' I answer, [2.] Secondly, None can be so against us as to prevail over us. The gates of hell may fight against us, but the gates of hell cannot prevail against us. Christ is the captain of your salvation, God hath made him general of the field, and therefore you may be sure that he will stand by you and bring you off with honour. Mat. xvi. 18 ; Heb. ii. 10; Jer. i. 19, and xx. 11. You need never fear having the day, who have Christ your captain for your second. Though your persecutors are as so many roaring lions, yet Christ, who is the lion of the tribe of Judah, will make you victorious over them all, Rev. v. 5. In all storms and
1 What said Justin Martyr to his murderers in the behalf of himself and his fellow- martyrs ? You may kill us, but you can nerer hurt us.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 495