[3.] A third consideration for every day's meditation is, That it is very destructive and dangerous for the powers of this luorld to engage against the saints of God. Right Honourable, I abhor pleading for any particular interests ; I plead for all saints which Jesus Christ hath stamped his image upon, that he hath taken into union and com- munion with himself ; I plead for them all ; for your Honours, and thousands more do know, that those men that go under different names, yet for abilities and holiness they are as precious as any that breathes : for those I plead. And I say it hath been an old design of the devil to dash the powers of this world in ])ieces, by engaging them against the saints and servants of Christ. Little did Pharaoh know that the devil was in that design when he pursued Israel, ' I will rise and pursue and overtake, my lust shall be satisfied ;' but this was Pharaoh's destruction. His engaging against Israel was his overthrow. Haman engaged against the Jews, but this engagement against them was Hainan's destruction, as you know.
Those princes (Dan. vi.) that engaged against Daniel, and found nothing against him but in the matter of his God, you know their very engagement against him was their destruction. It is dangerous and destructive to the powers of this world for them to engage against the saints of God. I will only point at two or three scriptures : Isa. viii. 8-10, ' Associate yourselves together, 0 ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces.' Rognu, li'"), from roang, it signifies ' to be broken in pieces, as an army is shattered and broken in pieces \nth. fear.'
The word ' broken ' in your English Books i is tAAdce more repeated, ' You shall be broken in pieces, you shall be broken in pieces ; ' but in tlie Hebrew it is three times more repeated, Vahoftu, vahottu, vahottu, ' Ye shall be thrown down, ye shall be thrown down, ye shall be thrown down ;' or ' Ye shall be confounded, ye shall be confounded, ye shall be confounded,' — Why ? ' For God is with us,' ver. 10. So in Zech. xii. 2, 3, ' Jerusalem shall be a cup of trembling ;' or ' a cup of poison to all the nations round about ; and though all the people of the earth should gather together against her, they shall be dashed in pieces:' Isa. liv. 17, 'No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper ; and every tongue that riseth in judgment against thee shalt thou condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord ; and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.'
[4.] Again, Right Honourable, a fourth consideration for your daily meditation is this, TJiat tltc poiver of godliness infnitchj transcends and excels all forms of godliness. Alas ! what is the shadow to the substance ? what is the shell to the kernel ? what is the box to the jewel that is in it ? No more are forms of godliness to the power of godliness. Wiiat is darkness to light ? what are counters to gold ? what is earth to heaven ? No more are forms of godliness to the power of godliness ; which doth bespeak you to cherish, nourish, and countenance the power of godliness, and not so to advance forms of godliness as to throw down the power and the glory of holiness.
Right Honourable, it is the power of godliness that is the honour of a nation, it is the power of godliness that is the beauty of a nation, it is the power of godliness that is the safety of a nation. Right ' Brooki'e usual way of designating the ' Authorised (English) Version.' — (!.
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Honourable, as you would have joy in life, and peace in death, and boldness before Christ's judgment-seat, oh look to this, that you advance the power of godliness, that you countenance the power of godliness, that you cherish and nourish the power of godliness. Take heed. Eight Honourable, of stamping jus divinurn on anything that Christ hath not in capital letters stamped jus divinurn upon. Oh take heed of giving a two-edged sword into the hands of any that are hot for forms of godliness, and that love to lord it over the faith and consciences of the saints, lest they, like the giant,^ cut off all that are higher than themselves in spiritual enjoyments of God, and stretch out all that are shorter than themselves in forms of godliness. I am apt to think that if such men were more careful and skilful in using the sword of the Spirit, they would not be so hot for a temporal sword, neither would they be so angry for the want of it, as they are. A spiritual sword is most suitable to spiritual men, and most suitable to all that spiritual work that God requires of them.
Eight Honourable, God is most exalted, Christ is most honoured, the Spirit is most rejoiced, the mouths of the wicked are most stopped, and the saints are most gladded by the power of godliness, by countenancing, advancing, and cherishing of that. Therefore, as you would have the Lord exalted and lifted up, and made famous and glorious, oh let the power of godliness be countenanced and cherished throughout the kingdom !
The way of instructing the people of the nation, I leave it with you whom it most concerns, desiring the Lord to direct you into such ways as may be most for the honour of his name, and for the happiness and comfort of the land we live in. That is another consideration.
[5.] One thing more, beloved, and so I shall draw to a close. In the next place, consider this, God hath, and God loill save his people atid ruin their enemies, hy very iveak, imlikely, and contemptible means, and hy very hidden and 7nyste7-ious ivays. He hath done it : witness his leading of Israel by the hand through the Eed Sea, and overthrowing their enemies in a mysterious way. Witness his de- stroying of that mighty army of the Midianites — which were as grass- hoppers, and for multitude without number— by Gideon's three hun- dred that lapped water like a dog. The story you have in Judges vi. and vii., compared. Witness his delivering his people and ruining their grand enemy, Haman, by Esther s attempting that which was directly against the law of the land, Esth. iv. 10, 16. Haman had plotted the ruin of the Jews ; all was agreed on ; the writings were signed ; there was but a step between death and the Jews. Esther adventures and throws herself upon God's providence, and comes to the court, directly cross to the law of the land, to the letter of the law; and by this untrodden way, which one would have thought might have enraged the king to have cut her and her people off, yet, by this un- trodden way, God delivered his poor people. And whether he hath not done the same for his people who were sold to slavery, by poor, despised instruments, in our own land, I leave your Honours to judge. I will give you but only two or three texts: Isa. xli. 14-16, ' Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel.' ' Fear not, thou worm ' The reference is to the famous bed of Procrustes. — G.
362 god's delight in the [Ps. XLIV. 18.