Let us then " believe his declaration ; so shall we prosper ; and believe his promises; so shall we be established:" " we shall be even as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but standeth fast for ever1'."]
d 2 Chron. xx. 20. Ps. cxxv. 1.
Isai. xxxiii. 23. The lame take the prey.
IT is impossible to read the Scriptures with attention, and not be struck with the amazing condescension of God, towards the poor, the weak, the desponding. I think we may say, that if God had permitted them to dictate to him what he should say for their en- couragement, they could never have ventured to put into his mouth what he has really spoken ; so incon- ceivably gracious and condescending are the promises which he has given them. Let us only look at one or two which are recorded by the Prophet Isaiah. Speaking of his enemies, who thought to injure his people with impunity, he says, "He bringeth down them that dwell on high ; the lofty city, he layeth it low ; he layeth it low, even to the ground ; he bringeth it even to the dust : the foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the feet of the needy a." And again : " Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain b ;" that is, if there were not one of my people whom they had not imprisoned or slain, the prisoners should come forth from their dungeons, and the slain should arise from their graves, to crush and to destroy them. Indeed God assumes this as his very name whereby he is to be known : " The Lord is his name, that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress0." It is with this view that the words of my text were uttered. The Assyrians menaced Jerusalem with an immense, and, as they supposed, an irresistible army; and God comforted his people by an assurance, not
a Isai. xxvi. 5, 6. b Isai. x. 4. c Amos v. 8, 9.