holiness, the peace, the grace, the comforts, the supports that always attends the gracious presence of the Lord with his people in their deep distresses, &c. Therefore let the high praises of God for ever be in their mouths, who enjoy this signal presence of God. The 46th Psalm is called by some Luther's psalm ; that is a psalm that Luther was wont to call to his friends to sing when any danger, trouble, or distress was near. When the clouds began to gather, Come, saith Luther, let us sing the 46th Psalm, and then let our enemies do their worst. ^ Observe the confidence and triumph of the church in the face of the greatest dangers : ver. 1, ' God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble :' ver, 2, ' There- fore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ; ' ver. 3, * Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.' Ver. 6, * Though the heathen rage, and the kingdoms were moved,' to remove and root out the church with great force and fuiy. Now mark, by the change of the earth and removing of the mountains, are often meant the greatest alterations and concussions of states and polities, Hag. ii. 22, 23 ; Jer. li. 25 ; Eev. vi. 14. Now, saith the psalmist, all these dreadful turns, changes, shakings, and concussions of states and kingdoms shall never trouble us, nor daunt us ; they shall never make us fret, faint, or fear. Why, what is the ground ? * The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge,' ver. 7 ; and so, ver. 11, the same words are repeated again, * God is not gone, God is not withdrawn, God is not departed from us.' Oh no ! ' The Lord of hosts is with us, the Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge, the God of Jacob is our refuge ;' and therefore we are divinely fearless and divinely careless. Though hell and earth should combine against us, yet we will bear up, and be bold to believe that all shall go well with us ; for God is in the midst of us, * The Lord of hosts is with us,' even the Lord, who commandeth far other hosts and armies than the enemy hath any. 'The God of Jacob is our refuge;' Heb., 'Our high tower.' God is a tower, so high, so strong, so inaccessible, so invincible, that all our enemies, yea, all the powers of darkness, can never hurt, reach, storm, or take ; and therefore we that are sheltered in this high tower may well cast the gauntlet to our proudest, strongest, and subtlest enemies. And let thus much suffice for the inferences.
The next use is a use of exhortation, to exhort all the people of God so to order and demean themselves as to keep the divine presence, as to keep the signal, the singular presence of God, with them in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, a7id most deadly dangers. Now that this may stick in power upon your souls, consider seriously of these following motives : —
[1.] First, The signal presence of God with his people puts the greatest honour, dignity, and glory upon a people imaginable ; vide Isa. xliii. 2, 4 ; Jer. xiii. 11 ; Ezek. xlviii. 35. There are many titles of honour amongst men ; but this, above all, is the truly honourable
1 We may translate it, * He is found ;' that is, God is present, at hand; as. Gen. xix. 15, ' God is a present help.' The Hebrew word, in a secondary sense, signifies ' to be sufficient,' Num. xi. 22. A sufficient help : you need no other.
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title, that we have God so near unto us : Deut. iv. 7, ' What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is to us?' Whilst he vouchsafed his presence amongst them, how honourable, how renowned were they all the world over ! But when he departed from them they became the scorn and contempt of all nations. It may be said of some men, they have large estates, but not the presence of God with them ; they are highly honoured and dignified in the world, but no presence of God with them ; they have great trades and vast riches, but no presence of God with them ; they are nobly related, but no presence of God with them ; they have singular parts and natural accomplishments, but no presence of God with them. The want of the divine jDresence gives a dash, casts a blot upon all their grandeurs and worldly glory, and, like coprice,! turns all their wine, be it never so rich, into ink and blackness. What a deal of honour and glory did the presence of God cast upon Joseph in prison, Gen. xxxix. 19, 20; and upon Daniel in the den ; and upon the three children in the fiery furnace ; and upon David, when a persecuting Saul could cry out, ' Thou art more righteous than I,' 1 Sam. xxiv. 17 ; and upon John, when a bloody Herod feared him and observed him, Mark vi. 20 ; and upon Paul, when a tyrannical Felix trembled before him. Acts xxiv. 25 ; as if Paul had been the judge, and Felix the prisoner at the bar. Some write of the crystal, that what stone soever it toucheth, it puts a lustre and loveli- ness upon it. The presence of God puts the greatest lustre, beauty, glory, and loveliness that can be put upon a person. Now because the witness of an adversary is a double testimony, let Balaam — who, as some write of a toad, had a pearl in his head, though his heart was naught, very naught, stark naught — give in his evidence. ' How goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob, and thy tabernacles, 0 Israel,' Num. xxiv. 5. He speaks both by way of interrogation and admiration : their tents are so comely, and their tabernacles so lovely, that their grand enemy was affected and ravished with them. But whence is it that Israel is so formidable and terrible in his eye ? How comes this about, that he who came to fight against them thinks them beyond all compare ; nay, doth himself admire their postures and order, their great glory and brave gallantry ? Why, all is from the presence of their Lord- General with them : * The Lord their God is with them ; the shout of a king is amongst them,' Num. xxiii. 21. It is thti highest honour, renown, and dignity of a people to have God in the midst of them, to have God near unto them. Thus Moses sets out the honour and dignity of the Jews : Deut. xxvi. 18, * The Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people :' ver. 19, ' To make thee high, above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour.' When God reckons up the dignities of his people, this is the main, the top, of all : Ps, Ixxxvii. 5, ' And of Zion it shall be said, Tliis and that man was born in her ; and the Highest himself shall establish her.' If you would keep your honour and dignity, keep the presence of God in the midst of you. When God is departed from Israel, then you may write Ichabod upon Israel ; ' The glory is departed from Israel,' 1 Sam. iv. 21, 22. But,
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 561