hills (to any earthly powers) ? From whence then cometh our help? Our help cometh from the Lord, who (is not only above them all, but made them all, yea,) made heaven and earth2." It is not possible for our confidence in God to be too strong, provided we leave to God the time and manner of fulfilling his promises. He may, as he did in the case of Je- rusalem, suffer matters to proceed to the greatest extremity : but " the vision will come at its appointed timea:" and, in a full assurance that it shall not tarry beyond that time, we should say, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in himb."
The well-known boast of the Apostle should be oursc
And in dependence upon God, we should hurl defiance on all our enemies, even as Hezekiah was taught to do in the very depth of his extremity*1.] 2. Gratitude —
[" If the Lord had not been on our side, now may Israel say, If the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us, they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us : then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul6." Never, till all the wonders of God's love shall be revealed, shall we have any idea of the deliverances that have been vouchsafed unto us, and of our obligation to God on account of them. " Satan, that subtle adversary, who beguiled our first parents in Paradise, has, on thousands of occasions, sought to draw our minds from the simplicity that is in Christ*:" yea, " as a roaring lion, also, he has been seeking to devour us^." And is it owing to our own wisdom or strength that we have not fallen a prey unto his teeth ? No : the Lord has interposed to screen us from his fiery darts ; and has again and again rescued us from the snares which he had laid for our feet. See how David was kept from shedding bloodh, and Peter from utter apostasy1! and who can tell what evils you might have perpetrated, and what your state might have at this moment been, if God had not " kept you as the apple of his eye," and " borne you, as on eagle's wings," throughout this dreary wilderness k ? I tell you, Brethren, that his visible interpositions for his people of old have been only shadows of what he has invisibly done, and is at this moment doing, for you, if only you place your trust in him : and that David's acknowledgment is that which it becomes every one of you to make : " The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall
z Ps. cxxi. 1,2. Bishop Home's translation.
a Hab. ii. 3. b Job xiii. 15. c Rom. viii. 35—39.
•' Isai. xxxvii. 22. e Ps.cxxiv. 1 — 4. f 2 Cor. xi. 3.
g 1 Pet. v. 8. h 1 Sam. xxv. 32, 33.
> Luke xxii. 31,32. k Deut. xxxii. 10, 11.