ously upon him as ever. Under this word Dl^li', Shalom, the Jews comprehend all peace, prosperity, and happy success. When the worst of men have done their worst against the people of God, yet the issue shall be peace, prosperity, and happy success. ' My peace I give unto you ; ' that is, that ' peace with God and peace with conscience that I have purchased with my blood, I give unto you.' And what power or policy is there that can deprive us of this legacy ? surely none. The peace that Christ gives is bottomed upon his blood, upon his righteousness, upon his satisfaction, upon his intercession, and upon a covenant of peace, and therefore it must needs be a lasting peace, an abiding peace. But,
[13.] Thirteenthly, 'If God be with us, who can be against us?' I answer, None, so as to hinder us from being hid, secured, guarded, and protected by God in an evil day, w in a day of greatest trouble, dis- tress, or daii^er : Jer. xxxix. 11, 'Now Nebucliadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard, saying,' ver. 12, ' Take him, and look well to him,' — Heb., ' set thine eyes upon him,' — ' and do him no harm ; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.' Here you shall see the admirable power, wisdom, and goodness of God inclining the heart of this great monarch and conqueror to provide for the prophet's safety and security. He that was a dreadful scourge to punish the wicked, is made by God the deliverer and preserver of the prophet. In the 12th verse you have the king's royal commission to the captain of his guard to be as kind to him, as tender of him, and to carry it as courteously to him even as the prophet himself should desire : ' Look well to him, do him no harm ; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.' Let him have all the content, all the satisfaction, and all the accommodation that himself shall require. Jer. xv. 11, ' The Lord said. Verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil, and in the time of affliction,' — Heb., ' If I do not cause,' &c. A defective speech in the nature of an oath, as if God had said, * Let me not be deemed a God of my word, let me not be accounted true, let none reckon me faithful in my promise, if I don't turn his .sufferings into his advantage, and save him from danger in the midst of danger.' If in the time of the enemies' invasion I be not ' a wall of fire about him,' Zech. ii. 5, if in the time of public calamity I don't secure him, never trust me for a God more. If he don't find more favour at the hand of his enemies than he hath formerly found among his own people, never own me for a God more. Ver. 20, ' I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord;' ver. 21. 'And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible,' Jer. xl. 1-5, xxvi. 23, 24, and xlv. 4. God engages himself to protect him against all the might and malice of his most terrible enemies ; and though he should fall into their hands, yet he would deliver him out of their hands. Ps. xxxiii. 3, ' They have consulted against thy hidden ones.' The saints are (1.) hid in God's decree, (2.) hid in Christ's wounds, (3.) hid in the chambers of divine providence, (4.) hid in common dangers, as Noah was hid in his ark, and as Lot was hid in Zoar, and as Daniel was hid in the lions' den, and as the three children were hid in the fiery fur-
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 513
nace, and as Jonah was hid in the whale's belly, Isa. xxvi. 20 ; (5.) hid ' with Christ in God/ Col. iii. 3. In times of greatest trouble the saints are hid under the hollow of God's hand, under the shadow of God's wing, Ps. xci. 1, 4. Ps. xxvii. 5, ' For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion.' The Hebrew Succoh is written with a little samech, to shew, say some, that a little pavilion or cottage where God is shall be sufficient to safeguard the saints in the day of adversity. ' He shall hide me in his hut, as a shepherd doth his sheep in a stormy day.' ' In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.' I shall be as safe as if I were shut up in his holy ark, tabernacle, or temple, — whither they use to flee for shelter to the horns of the altar, yea, as if a man were hid in the most holy place, where none might enter but only the high-priest once a year, which is therefore called ' God's secret place.' A shepherd should not be more careful to shelter his sheep in a tent or tabernacle from the heat of the sun, nor a king should not be more ready to protect a favourite in his pavilion, whence none durst venture to take him, than God would be careful and ready to shroud and shelter his people from the rage, madness, and malice of their enemies, Ezek. vii. 22, How did God hide his church in Egypt ? the bush was still burning, and yet was not consumed, Exod. iii. 2, 3 ; and how did he hide seven thousand in Elijah's time, that had not bowed their knees to Baal ? 1 Kings xix. 18, Though ' the woman,' the church, ' be driven to flee into the wilderness, yet there she is hid, and there she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days,' Kev. xii. 6. Let our enemies do their worst, they shall not hinider us of divine protection. No pOwer nor policy can hinder our being pre- served and secured by God in the greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers that can attend us. But,
[14.] Fourteenthly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us ?' I answer. None, so as to deprive us of our union with Christ, as to dissolve that blessed union that is bettveen Christ and our souls, John XV. 1-5. When men and devils have done their worst, our marriage- union with Christ holds good. This union is indissoluble. This union between Christ and believers is not capable of any separation. They are so one, that all the ^'iolence of the world, nor all the power of darkness, can never be able to make them two again. Hence the apostle's triumphant challenge, ' Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?' Rom. viii. 35. If the question did not imply a strong negation, the apostle himself doth give us a negation in words at length, ' Neither death, nor Hfe, nor angels, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us,' &c., ver. 38, 39. Here you have a long catalogue, consisting of a large induction of various par- ticulars ; but none of all these can dissolve the union between Christ and believers. None can untie that knot that is tied by the Spirit on Christ's part, and by faith on oiks. Christ and believers are so firmly joined together, that all the powers on earth, and all the united strength of hell, shaU never be able to put them asunder, or to separate them one from another. Look, as no distance of place can hinder this union, so no force or violence from devils or men shall