delights in his people, and therefore he will be signally present with his people, both in the fire and in the water, both in the fire of per- secution, and in the waters of affliction. God loves the persons of his people, and he loves the presence of his people, and he loves the graces of his people, and he loves the services of his people, and he loves the fellowship of his people ; and therefore he will never leave his people, but stand by them, and be signally present with them, in their greatest troubles and deepest distresses. Such is God's singular love to his covenant-people, that he will neither forsake them nor forget them in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers. The Jews were low — ^yea, very low, in Babylon; their distresses were great, and their dangers many; they looked upon themselves as so many dead men, ' Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we are cut off for our parts,' Ezek. xxxvii. 1-15. They looked upon themselves both as forsaken and forgotten by God. Behold, captive Zion lamentingly saith, ' The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me,' Isa. xlix. 13-18 ; Ps. Ixxxiv. 7 ; Isa. i. 27 ; Heb. xii. 22. Zion is taken several ways in Scripture : (1.) For the place properly so called, where they were wont to meet to worship the Lord; but this place was long ago destroyed. (2.) For the blessed angels, ' Ye are come to mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.' (3.) For the congregation of saints, of believers, of which it is said, ' The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the habitations of Jacob,' Ps. Ixxxvii. 2. The believing Jews being sorely oppressed and afflicted by a long captivity, Dan. ix. 22 ; Lam. iv. 6, and by many great and matchless miseries that did befall them in their captive state, they look upon God as one that had quite forsaken them and forgotten them ; but they were under a very high mistake, and very erroneous in their complaint, as appears by God's answer to Zion : ver. 15, ' Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have com- passion on the son of her womb ? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.' Ver. 16, * Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me.' In these words, as in a crystal glass, you may see how pathetically, how sweetly, how graciously, how readily, how resolutely God doth engage himself that he will neither forsake Zion, nor yet forget Zion in her captive state. Now let us a little observe how this singular promise is amplified, and that, (1.) By an emphatical illustration ; God's compassionate remembering of Zion far transcends the most compassionate remem- brance of the tenderest mother to her dear sucking babe. Now this is laid down —
First, Interrogatively, ' Can a woman,' the most affectionate sex, 'forget a sucking child, for having compassion on the son of her womb?' Can a woman, can a mother so forget as not to compassionate a child, which she naturally inclines to pity ? A sucking child that hangeth on her breast, such as mothers are wont to be most chary of, and to be most tenderly affected towards ? her sucking child, which, together with the milk from the breast, draws love from her heart ? her suck- ing child of her own womb, which her bowels do more yearn over than they do over any sucking nurse-child in the world ? And tliis
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 533
is the ^son of lier womb,' wliich the mother usually embraceth with more warm affections than the daughter of her womb. Can a woman, yea, can a mother forget to exercise love, pity, and compassion to such a poor babe ? Surely very rarely.
Second, Affirmatively, ' Yea, they may forget.' It is possible that a woman may be so unwomanly, and that a mother may be so unmotherly in some cases, and in some extremities, as to forget her sucking child, yea, as to eat the fruit of her womb, as the pitiful women did boil and eat their own children in the siege of Samaria and Jerusalem, 2 Kings vi. 24-30 ; Lam. iv. 10. Extremity of hunger overmastered natural affections, and made the pitiful mothers require of their children those lives which not long before they had given them, laying children not in their bosoms, but in their bowels.
Thirdly, Negatively, ' Yet will I not forget thee.' God will be more constantly, unmovably, and unchangeably mindful of Zion, and ten- der of Zion, and compassionate of Zion, and watchful over Zion, than any mother could be over her youngling; yea, he would be more motherly to his poor captives in Babylon than any mother could be to her sucking babe. This precious promise is amplified by a convincing argumentation, and that partly from his ' engraving of them upon the palms of his hands.' This is an allusion, say some, to those that carry about with them, engraven on some tablet, or on the stone of some ring which they wear on their finger, the mark, name, or picture of some person they entirely affect. Their portraiture, their memorial, was like a signet graven upon his hand. God will as soon blot out of mind, and forget his own hands, as his Zion ; and partly from his placing their walls still in his sight. The ruined demolished walls of Jerusalem were still before him as to their commiseration, and to their reparation, God being fully resolved in the fittest season to raise and re-edify them. Look, as the workman hath his model or pattern constantly either before his eye, or in his thoughts, or in his brain, that he is for to work by, so, saith God, Zion is continually in my eye, Zion is still in my thoughts ; I shall never forsake her, I shall never forget her. But,
[6.] Sixthly, The Lord will be signally present with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, because of his propriety and interest in them, and his near and dear relation to them : Isa. xliii. 1, ' But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, 0 Jacob, and he that formed thee, 0 Israel, Fear not : for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name ; thou art mine.' Thou art mine, for I have made thee ; thou art mine, for I have chosen thee ; thou art mine, for I have bought thee, I have pur- chased thee ; thou art mine, for I have called thee ; thou art mine, for I have redeemed thee ; thou art mine, for I have stamped mine image upon thee ; thou art mine, for I have put my Spirit into thee, Isa. XV. 16 ; 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; 1 Pet. i. 18 ; Phil. iv. 23, 24, xxxvi. 26, 27. Now mark what follows : ver. 2, ' When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.' God will certainly keep Ins own people, his own childi'en, company, both in the fire and
534 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD