262 THE soul's conflict.
generations to come shall be witness of, ' we should see Zion in her perfect beauty,' Ps. 1. 2. The generations of those that came out of Egypt saw and enjoyed the pleasant land which their progenitors were shut out of ; who by reason of their munnuring and looking back to Egypt, and forget- fulness of the wonders which God had done for and before them, perished in the wilderness.
Use. There is little cause, therefore, of envying the present flourishing of the enemies of the church, and of joining and colluding =:= with them ; for it will prove the wisest resolution to resolve to fall and rise with the church of Christ, considering the enemies themselves shall say, God hath done great things for them ; kings shall lay their crowns at ' Christ's feet,' and ' bring all their glory to the church,' Rev. xxi. 24.
And for every Christian this may be a comfort, that though their light for a time may be eclipsed, yet it shall break forth. David at this time was accounted an enemy of the state, and had a world of false imputations laid upon him, which he was very sensible of ; yet we see here, he knew at length God would be ' the salvation of his countenance.'
Ohj. But some, as Gideon, may object, ' If God intend to be so gracious, why is it thus with us ?' Judges vi. 13.
Ans. The answer is, salvation is God's own work, humbling and casting down is his strange work, whereby he comes to his own work. For, when he intends to save, he will seem to destroy first ; and when he will justify, he wiU condemn fij'st ; whom he will revive, he will kill first. Grace and goodness cotmtenanced by God, have a native inbred majesty in them, which maketh the face to shine, and borroweth not its lustre fi'om without, which God at length will have to appear in its own likeness, howsoever malice may cast a veil thereon, and disguise it for a time. And though wickedness, as it is base born, and a child of darlmess, may shelter itseK under authority a while, yet it shall hide itself and run into corners. The comfort of comforts is, that at that great day, the day of all days, that day ' of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,' the righteous shall then shine as the sun in the firmament, Dan. xii. 3 ; then Christ will come to be glorious in his saints, and will be the salvation of the countenance of all his. Then all the works of darkness shall be driven out of countenance, and adjudged to the place from whence they came. In the mean time, let us, with David, support om'selves with the hopes of these times.
Chapter XXX. — Of God, our God, and of ^particular application.
My God.
These words imply a special interest that the holy man had in God, as his God, being the ground of all which was said before ; both of the duty of trusting, and of praising, and of the salvation that he expected from God. He is my God, therefore be not disquieted, but trust him. He is my God, therefore he will give me matter to praise him, and will be the salvation of my countenance. God hath some special ones in the world, to whom he doth as it were pass over himself, and whose God he is by virtue of a more special covenant ; whence we have these excellent expres- sions, ' I will be your God, and you shall be my people,' Jer. xxxi. 33 ; * I will be your Father, and you shall be my sons and daughters,' 2 Cor. * That is, ' falling in with.'— G.
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vi, 18. Since the fall, we having lost our communion with God the chief good, our happiness stands in recovering again fellowship with him. For this end we were created, and for this redeemed, and for efiecting of this the word and sacraments are sanctified to us ; yea, and for this end God himself, out of the bowels of his compassion, vouchsafed to enter into a gracious covenant with us, founded upon Jesus Christ, and his satisfaction to divine justice ; so that by faith we become one with him, and receive him as offered of his Father to ' be all in all to us,' Col. iii. 11.
Hence it is that Christ hath his name Immanuel, God with us. Not only because he is God and man too, both natures meeting in one person, but because being God in our nature, he hath undertook this office to bring God and us together. The main end of Christ's coming and suffering was to reconcile, and to gather together in one ; and, as Peter expresseth it, ' to bring man again to God,' 1 Pet. iii. 18. Immanuel is the bond of this happy agreement, and appears for ever in heaven to make it good. As the comfort hereof is gi'eat, so the foundation of it is sure and everlasting. God will be our God so long as he is Christ's God, and because he is Christ's God, John xx. 10. Thus the father of the faithful, and all other holy men before Christ, apprehended God to be their God in the Messiah to come. Christ was the ground of their interest. He was yesterday to them as well as to-day to us, Heb. xiii. Hence it is that God is called the portion. Psalm Ixxiii. 26, of his people, and they his jewels, Mai. iii. 25 ; he is their only rock and strong tower, Psalm Ixxi. 3, and they his peculiar ones.