gathered from those records, for your own conduct
And know, that God is as ready to " perfect his own strength in your weakness," as he has been in any instance from the
foundation of the world Oi^ly I'eaHze the thought of
his universal agency in the government of the world, and of his watchful care over the interests of his peculiar people ; and then " you need not fear, though the earth be moved, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea''." See David's composure amidst such troubles as drove his friends to despair: " In the Lord," says he, " put I my trust : how say ye then to my soul. Flee as a bird to your mountain ; for, lo ! the wicked bend their bow ; they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart ; and, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do ?" What? " The Lord is in his holy temple : the Lord's throne is in heaven:" and that is ample security for me"^. Such compo- sure may you also, even the least and weakest of you, enjoy, if you confide in God : for " there is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord^ ;" but " his counsel shall stand ; and he will do all his wilF."]
<= Ps. xlvi, 2. ^ Ps. xi. 1 — 4.
e Prov. xxi. 30. <" Isai. xlvi. 10.
Isai. xix. 20. They shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a Saviour, and a great One, and he shall deliver them.
GOD usually vouchsafes his mercies when we are reduced to the greatest straits. This is manifest in his most remarkable dispensations of providence and of grace. In the greatest extremity God promised to send a deliverer to Egypt ^ But there is a further reference to Christ as the Saviour of the Gentile
* In this view it seems applicable to the angel who slew 185,000 of Sennacherib's anny : for, though that deliverance was more imme- diately vouchsafed to the Jews under Hezekiah, yet in its conse- quences it extended to Egypt. Sennacherib had before conquered and ravaged Egypt ; and it was most probable that if he had taken Jerusalem he would have again proceeded thither with his victorious army, and reduced that already desolated kingdom to the lowest ebb of misery. But perhaps there may l)e a further reference to some other deliverers.