reference to them we may say, " You shall hear a voice behind you, saying, Tins is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand or turn to the lefta." If your situation be pain- ful at the present, or even contrary to what you have expected, do not hastily conclude that God has forsaken you. The way in which the Israelites were led was circuitous ; but it was " the right way V Commit yourselves then to Him, and he shall accomplish for you that which shall ultimately be best for youc. " He will lead you by a way that you know not ; He will make darkness light before you, and crooked things straight. These things will he do unto you, and not forsake youd." He will guide you by his counsel; " even to hoar hairs he will carry youe;" and after that " receive you to glory f."]
a Isai. xxx. 21. b Ps. cvii. 7. c Ps. xxxvii. 5.
d Isai. xlii. 16. e Isai. xlvi. 4. f Ps. lxxiii. 24.
Exod. xiii. 21, 22. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the tvay ; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
IN reading the Holy Scriptures, we cannot but be struck with the suitableness and seasonableness of the divine interpositions. It might be thought indeed that the Israelites at their departure out of Egypt, amounting to six hundred thousand fighting men, without one single invalid amongst them, would be irresistible : but if we consider, that they were with- out discipline, without arms, without stores either of clothing or provision, and without any knowledge of the way through " a great and terrible wilderness/' and without any possibility of obtaining even so much as bread or water for their sustenance, we shall see, that they needed only to be left to themselves, and they must all quickly perish in the wilderness. But in the hour of need, God came down in a pillar of a cloud by day and of fire by night to guide them in their way, and never left them till they arrived at the promised land. This mercy, and the continuance of it, are the two points to which at present we would call your attention.