of Jehovah for his deliverance0. Sometimes he will defeat the enterprises of his enemies by the very means which they use to carry them into effect. This was the case with respect to Joseph, whose exaltation sprang from the very means used by various instruments for his destruction p. As for means, we may safely leave them to God. Two things we certainly know ; namely, that he will interpose seasonably ; and that he will interpose effectually : for he is, and ever will be, a very present help in trouble*1.']
2. We may confidently trust in Him in seasons of
the greatest darkness and distress —
[God may not come to our help at the moment that our impatient minds may desire. On the contrary, he may tarry, till we are ready to cry, like the Church of old, " The Lord hath forsaken us, and our God hath forgotten usr." But he has wise and gracious purposes to answer by such delays. He makes use of them to stir us up to more earnest importunity s ; to render us more simple and humble in our dependence upon him* ; to display more gloriously before our eyes the riches of his power and grace11, and to teach both us and others to wait his timex. Sometimes he suffers the enemy so far to prevail as that to all human appearance our case shall be irremediable : whilst yet those very enemies are instruments in his hands to accomplish unwittingly the very ends which they are labouring to defeat ; disappointing thus the devices of the crafty, and taking the wise in their own craftiness y. The history of Joseph will of necessity occur to every mind in illustration of this point2. But what does all this say to us? Its language is pre- cisely that of the prophet : " The vision is yet for an appointed time ; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie : though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry3."]
Address,
1. Those who have never yet been brought into deep waters —
[Do not imagine that because you have hitherto expe- rienced but little trouble, your path shall always be smooth and easy. No : it is a thorny wilderness that you have to pass through, and a troubled ocean that you have to navigate, ere you can reach the desired haven. The mariner when scarcely launched upon the deep does not expect that the breeze shall be alike gentle to the end of his voyage : he prepares for
0 Acts xii. 4 — 10. i> Gen. 1. 20. q Ps. xlvi. 1.
r Isai. xlix. 14. s Matt. xv. 22 — 27. l 2 Cor. i. 8 — 10.
» John xi. 6, 15, 40. x Ps. xl. 1 — 3. Luke xviii. 1.
y Actsxxiii. 12 — 17. z Gen. 1. 20. a Hab. ii. 3.