88 A MEMORIAL OF THE DELIVERANCE
of tliis experience? — " In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us," 2 Cor. i. 10. It was a particular mercy with its circumstances, as you may see verse 9, which he made the bottom of his dependence. In the favours of men Ave cannot do so; they may be weary of helping, or be drawer dry, and grow helpless. Ponds may be exhausted, but the ocean never. The infinite fountains of the Deity cannot be sunk one hair's breadth by everlasting flowing blessings. Now, circum- stances of actions, time, place, and the like, ofttimes make deep impres- sions ; mercies should be remembered with them. So doth the apostle again, 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18, " He did deliver me from the mouth of the lion," — Nero, that lion-like tyrant. And what then? " He shall deliver me from every evil work." David esteemed it very good logic, to argue from the victory God gave him over the lion and the bear, to a confidence of victory over Goliath, 1 Sam. xvii. 37.
Use. The use of this Ave are led unto, Isa. xliii. 16-18, " Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a Avay in the sea, and a path in the mighty Avaters; which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army, and the power; They shall lie doAvn together, they shall not ri,se: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember ye not the fonner things, neither consider the things of old." Let former mercies be an anchor of hope in time of present distresses. Where is the God of Marston Moor, and the God of Naseby? is an acceptable expostula- tion in a gloomy day. 0 Avhat a catalogue of mercies hath this nation to plead by in a time of trouble ! God came from Naseby, and the Holy One from the west. Selah. " His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise." He Avent forth in the north, and in the east he did not withhold his hand. I hope the poor toAvn wherein^ I live is more enriched with a store-mercy of a few months, than with a full trade of many years. " The snares of death com- passed us, and the floods of ungodly men made us afraid," Ps. xviii. 4; but " the Lord thundered in the heavens, the Highest gave his voice ; hailstones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his aiTOAVs, and scattered them ; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. He sent from above, he took us, he drcAv us out of many waters. He delivered us iVom our strong enemy, and from them Avhich hated us : for they Avere too strong for us," verses 13, 14, 16, 17. Hoav may Ave say Avith the same Psalmist, in any other distress, " O my God, my soul is cast doAvn Avithin me: therefore Avill I remember thee from the land of Jordsm, and of the Hormonitcs, from the hill Mizar!" Ps. xlii. 6. " Where is the LoRD God of Elijah," — Avho divides ancAv the AvaterS of Jordan? 2 Kings ii. 14,
' No place in the county so threatened; no place in the county so preserved: small undertakings there blessed; great, opposition blasted. Non nobis, Domine, non nobis.
OF ESSEX COUNTY, AND COMMITTEE. 89.
The following verses set forth, the glory and power of God, in the accomplishment of that great work of bringing his people into the promised land, with those mighty things lie performed in the wilder- ness.
Verse 4, if I mistake not, sets out his glorious appearance on Mount Sinai ; of which the prophet affirms two things : —
1. That "his brig-htness was as the licjht."
2. That " he had horns coming out of his hand, and there Avas the hiding of his power."
1. For the first. Is it not that brightness which appeared when the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, Deut. iv. 11, — a glorious fire in the midst of clouds and thick darkness? The like description you have of God's presence, Ps. xviii. 11, 12, " He made darkness his secret place," and brightness was before him: as the light, the sun, the fountain and cause of it, called " light," Job xxxi. 26. Now, this glorious appearance holds out the kingly power and majesty of God in governing the world, which appeareth but unto iew. " The LoED reigneth; let the earth rejoice. Clouds and darkness are round about him. A fire goeth before him ; his lightnings enlightened the world," Ps. xcvii. 1-4.
2. " He had horns coming out of his hand." So the words most properly, though by some otherwise rendered. That horns in Scrip- ture are taken for strength and power,^ needs no proving. The mighty power of God, which he made appear to his people, in that glorious representation of his majesty on Mount Sinai, is by this phrase ex- pressed. There his chariots were seen to be twenty thousand, even many thousands of angels ; and the Lord among them in that holy place, Ps. lx\dii. 1 7. There they perceived that " he had horns in his hand ; " — an almighty power to do what he pleased. Whence it is added, " And there was the hiding of his power." Though the appearance of it was very great and glorious, yet it was but small to the everlasting hidden depths of his omnipotency. The most glorious appearance of God comes infinitely short of his own eternal majesty as he is in himself; — it is but a discovery that there is the hiding of infinite perfection; or, there his power appeared to us, which was hidden from the rest of the world.