intervention in that instance, that, whilst in every other house, throughout all the land of Egypt, the first-born both of man and beast was slain, in the houses of the Hebrews died not so much as oneq. And, when was so much as one true believer ever left to perish ? We are expressly told, that " it is not the will of our Father that one of his little ones should perish1." No : however sifted his people be, " not the smallest grain shall ever fall upon the earth8." Behold the Apostle Paul: no less than forty persons had bound themselves, by an oath, to mur- der him : and so well were their plans laid, that there did not appear the slightest chance for his escape. But God so ordered it, that Paul's own nephew overheard the plot, and, by a timely mention of it to the governor, defeated it : and thus was that valuable life preserved4. Peter too, according to all human appearance, was consigned to death, there being only a few hours to elapse before he was to be brought forth from prison for execution. But with irresistible power did God cause the irons, with which his servant was bound, to fall off; and the prison doors to open, as it were of their own accord : and thus was the stroke averted in the very instant that it was about to fall". What dangers have awaited us, we shall never know till we stand before our God in judgment: but then it will be found, that God has been our shield from numberless assaults ; and that, through the agency of his holy angels, we have "been kept, on ten thousands of occasions, from dashing our foot against a stone x."]
Such being the security promised to us, let us con- sider,
II. Our duty resulting from it —
This merciful care, which God vouchsafes to us, doubtless calls for corresponding feelings on our part. If he affords us such marvellous protection, we ought to surrender up ourselves to him in a way of,
1. Affiance — [The fault of the Hebrews was, that they leaned on an arm of flesh, instead of relying solely upon God. And we must be on our guard against this sad propensity. We are "not to say, ' A confederacy, A confederacy,' with them that say, ' A confederacy ;' but to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and to make Him our fear and Him our dread y." The language of David should, under any emergency whatever, be the lan- guage of our hearts : " Shall I lift up mine eyes unto the
<i Exod. xii. 29, 30. r Matt, xviii. 14. s Amos ix. 9.
1 Actsxxiii. 12 — 24. u Acts xii. G — 11. x Ps. xci. 11, 12. y Isai. viii. 12, 13.