1 . Of the Jewish Church —
[This was founded on the purposes, the perfections, and the promises of God ; and from them were derived her strength and her security.
In a season of great alarm and terror, the prophet being asked, " What shall we answer the messengers of the nation," who come to apprise us of the approach of the Philistine armies? His answer was, " Tell them that the Lord hath founded Zion, and that the poor of his people shall trust in if^." To this St. Paul adds, " The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his^." God had determined from all eternity that he would have a Church and people in the world : and hence it was that neither Pha- raoh in Egypt could prevent, nor all the nations of Canaan could obstruct, the establishment of Mount Zion: for " God's counsel must stand ; and he will do all his will^."
For the preservation of his Church, every perfection of the Deity was pledged. Whilst his wisdom was engaged to dis- concert, and his power to defeat, all her enemies, his truth and faithfulness formed a barrier that could not be broken through : so that, till by the iniquities of his people he was constrained to depart from them, he was " a wall of fire round about them, and the glory in the midst of them^:" and every attribute of his was " a chamber in which they might lie down in perfect peace '^."
Often it appeared as if his promise in relation to them would fail : but not a jot or tittle of his word ever did fail : for " he was not a man that he could lie, or the son of man that he could repent." And, after the people had been forty years established in the land of Canaan, Joshua appealed to them, that " not one good thing had failed of all that God had spoken concerning them, but that every thing had come to pass ac- cording to his promise \"]
2. Of the Christian Church —
[Our Zion also has " her towers and her bulwarks," even the finished ivork of Christ, and the office of the Holy Spirit, and the economy of Redemption from first to last.
The Lord Jesus undertook to purchase unto himself a peculiar people, even with the inestimable price of his own blood : and never did he cease from his work, till he could say, " It is finished^." Every thing that was necessary to expiate our guilt, every thing that was necessary to work out a righteous- ness for his redeemed people, every thing that was necessary
d Isai. xiv. 32. ^ 2 Tim. ii. 19. f Tsai. xlvi. 10.
s Zech. ii. .5. *> Isai. xxvi. 20. i Josh, xxiii. 14.
k John xix. 30.
581.] THE church's security IN GOD. 367
to satisfy the demands of law and justice, all he completed perfectly : and having fulfilled his covenant-engagements with the Father, it cannot be but that " he should see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied," even in the promised seed, who shovdd prolong their days, whilst " the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands ^"
True it is, that in vain would Christ have died for his Church and people, if the Holy Spirit had not undertaken to apply to their souls the redemption which he has wrought out for them. But from the day of Pentecost to this very hour, he has not failed " to glorify Christ, by taking of the things that are his, and shewing them unto men *"." He finds men dead indeed ; but he quickens them to a new and heavenly life : he gives them eyes, to see ; and ears, to hear ; and hearts to feel the truths which he has revealed to them : and " where he has begun a work of grace, he fails not to carry it on, and to per- fect it until the day of Christ"^." And hence it is that all the powers of hell have never been able to prevail against them.