XVIII. Observation. Ko creatures, seas nor floods, greater or lesser ivaters, shall be able to obstruct or hinder God's people's deli- verance, when he hath undertaken it.
Is the sea against them? it shall be parted. Is Jordan in the way? it shall be driven back. Both sea and Jordan shall tremble before him. Euphrates shall be dried up, to give the kings of the east a passage. Rev. xvi. 12. Waters in the Scriptures are sometimes afflic- tions, sometimes people and nations. Be they seas (kmgs and princes), or be they rivers (inferior persons), they shall not be able to oppose. God has decked his house, and made it glorious with the spoils of all opposers. There you have the spoils of Pharaoh, gathered up on the shore of the Red sea, and dedicated in the house of God, Exod. xv. There you have all the armour of Sennacherib's mighty host, with the rest of their spoils, hung up to show, 2 Chron. xxxii. 21. Thei'e you have the glory, and throne, and dominion of Nebuchadnezzar, himself being turned into a beast, Dan. iv. S3. There you shall have the carcases of Gog and Magog, with all their mighty hosts, for coming to encamp against the city of God, Ezek. xxxix. There you have the imperial robes of ^ Diocletian and his comj)anion, abdicating them- selves from the empire for very madness that they could not prevail against the church. Kings of armies shall fly apace; and she that tarries at home shall divide the spoil, Ps. Ixviii. 12. All opposers, though nations and kingdoms, shall perisli and be utterly destroyed, Isa. ix. 12, Rev. xix. 18.
God will not exalt any creature unto a pitch of opposition to him- self, or to stand in the way of his workings. The very end of all tilings, in their several stations, is to be serviceable to his purposes towards his own. Obedience in senseless creatures is natural, even agninst the course of nature, in the season of deliverance. " Sun, ' iMiscb. Vit. Con. Coust. Orat.
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stand thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon," Josh. X. 12. " Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain," Zech. iv. 7. The most mountainous op- posers shall be levelled, when the Spirit of God sets in for that pur- pose. There is a strength in every promise and engagement of God unto his people, that is able to carry the whole frame of heaven and earth before it. If they can believe, all things are possible to them that believe. When the decree is to bring forth the fruit of the pro- mise, it will overturn empires, destroy nations, divide seas, ruin annies, open prisons, break chains and fetters, and bear down all before it; as the wind shut up in the earth will shake the pillars, as it were, of its mighty bod}^, but it will find or make a passage. The least pro- mise of deliverance, if the season thereof be come, though it were shut up under strong and mighty powers, crafty counsels, dungeons, and jirisons, like the doors and lasting bars of the earth, the truth and power of God shall make them all to tremble, and give birth to his people's deliverance.
Use 1. Have we seen nothing of this in our days?— no seas divided? no Jordans driven back? no mountains levelled? no hills made to tremble? Whence, then, was the late confusion of armies? casting- down of mighty ones? reviving of dead bones? opening of pnson doors? bringing out the captives appointed to be slain? Is it not from hence, that nothing can stand against the breaking out of a prom.ise in its appointed season? " Was the Lord displeased with the rivers?" ^\'as his anger against the walls and houses, " that he rode upon his horses, and chariots of salvation?"
Use 2. ■ Let faith be strengthened in an evil time. Poor distressed soul, all the difficulty of thy deliverance lies in thine own bosom ! If the streams of thy unbelief within be not stronger than all seas of opposition without, all will be easy. 0 learn to stand still with quiet- ness, between a host of Egyptians and a raging sea, to see the salvation of God ! Be quiet in prison, between your friends' bullets and your enemies' swords; God can, God will, make a way. If it were not more hard with us to believe wonders than it is to the promise to effect wonders for us, they would be no wonders, so daily, so conti- nually, would they be wrought.
XIX. Observation. God can make use of any of his creatures to he chariots of salvation.
This is the other side of that doctrine which we gathered from verse 5, "Winds and clouds shall obey him." Ravens^ shall feed Elijah, that will not feed their o^^^3 young. The sea shall open for Israel, and return upon the Egyptians. And this both in an ordinary
1 'F.xliaXX'.i Tohf norroui o y/cipDi.%. — Arist. llist. Anima., vi. " Pellunt nidispullos sicut et Corvi." — Plin. Nat. Hist.
112 A MEMORIAL OF THE DELIVERANCE
way, as Hos. ii. 21, 22; and in an extraordinary way, as before. So many creatures as God hath made, so many instruments of good hath he for his people. This is farther confirmed, verse 9.