a support under his present trials ! what an antidote against any future calamities !
Thus it is that God interposes on the behalf of his people, and " repents himself for them, when their strength is gone, and there is none shut up or lefte." When the contrite soul is bowed down under a sense of guilt, and ready to say, There is no hope ; then does God speak peace unto it, saying, " Be of good cheer, I am thy salvation." Just as, in Hagar's ex- tremity, God sent his angel to point out to her a spring, whereby the life of her child was unexpectedly preserved, so in ten thousand instances he appears for us, when we are ready to despair of help : and though his interpositions on our behalf are less visible than these, yet every one of us has reason to acknowledge the truth of that proverb, " In the mount of the Lord it shall be seenf." Let us but review our lives, and call to mind the aids of his Spirit under temptations, trials, diffi- culties ; let us see how marvellously we have been upheld when conflicting with sin and Satan, and we shall confess indeed, that " he is a present, a very present, help in trouble."]
III. He imparts them suitably —
[It is probable that Jacob's reply to the advice of his mother was now, in his apprehension, about to be verified ; and that he expected a curse rather than a blessing. His evil conscience now might well suggest to him such thoughts as these: ' God has forsaken me, and some great evil will come upon me. I can never hope to return again to my father's house in peace, or to enjoy the blessing which I have so treacherously gained.' To remove these apprehensions, God vouchsafed to him exactly such tokens of his regard, as were best calculated to allay his fears. In the vision, God shewed to him both his providential care, and his redeeming love : for doubtless, while he discovered to him the ministry of angels who were commissioned to protect him, he also shewed him that promised Seed, who was in due time to spring from him, and whom at that very instant he typically represented g. In the promise, he assured him, that his presence should follow him ; that his power should preserve him ; that he would bring him back again to that very land ; and that not one of all the promises that had been ever made to him, should fail of accomplishment.
In this respect also we may trace the tender mercies of our God towards all his people. His manifestations of himself to them, and his application of promises to their souls, are won- derfully suited to their several necessities. We cannot indeed
e Deut. xxxii. 36. f Gen. xxii. 14.
s This is more fully opened in the preceding Discourse.
q2