hands d." In themselves they remain weak as ever, as both David and Peter have clearly shewn ; but in Christ they are strong : and in the Covenant which is made with them in Christ, and " which is ordered in all things and sure," it is engaged, on the part of God, that they shall never be moved, and that " the gates of hell shall never prevail against theme."]
2. Protection —
[The hills that were round about Jerusalem protected it on every side ; so that the Romans, it was confessed, would not have been able to subdue it, if the garrison themselves had not madly assisted them by their mutual contentions. But far more effectually does the Lord protect his people, being to them " a wall of fire round about themf ;" a wall which will not only ward off the assaults of their enemies, but will itself destroy their assailants. In fact, " he keeps them even as the apple of his eye^:" and " sooner shall the ordinances of heaven and earth pass away, and the foundations of the world be searched out," than any one of them shall be left to perish h. To assure them of this, " he has confirmed his covenant with an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, they might have strong consolation1," and live "assured that nothing shall ever separate them from his loveV]
To all of you, then, I say,
1. Get just views of your God and Saviour —
[Be not satisfied with a general acknowledgment of him ; but study his nature as revealed in the inspired volume, and acquaint yourselves with his dispensations as exhibited in the sacred records. See him delivering his people Israel out of Egypt, and supporting them in the wilderness, and establish- ing them in the land of Canaan ; and then rest assured, that he is the same God, alike powerful, alike gracious, and alike faithful to all his engagements — ]
2. Let your expectations from him be to the utmost extent of your necessities —
[There should be no limit to them, provided only they do not contravene the Lord's will, and tend to the subversion of his glory. " However wide you open your mouth, he will fill it ;" and however " large your desires be, he will fulfil them1." Listen not, under any circumstances, to flesh and blood, like Asa, who in his sickness sought to the physicians : but even though sense should stand in direct opposition to faith, as in Abraham's call to sacrifice his son Isaac, " be strong in
d John x. 28, 29. e Matt. xvi. 18. f Zech. ii. 5.
e Deut. xxxii. 10. h Jer. xxxi. 35 — 37. and Isai. liv. 9, 10.
1 Heb. vi. 17, 18. k Rom. viii. 34—39. ' Ps. cxlv. 19.