language of the prophet, " Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust and not be afraid ; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song: he also is become my salvation g." Yes; the veriest stripling, with his sling and his stone, may go forth against all the Goliaths in the universe, assured of victory : for " he can do all things, through Christ who strength eneth him." Yet, because the Christian's enemies are far too strong for an arm of flesh, and he is apt, notwithstanding the strength imparted to him, to be discouraged ; God further engages to aid him with,]
4. His co-operation —
[Fear not ; for " I will help thee," says God : " I will help thine infirmities11." In this expression there is something de- serving of especial notice. The term used imports, that when our burthen is so heavy and cumbersome that we cannot with all our exertions support it, God promises that he will take hold of it at the opposite end, and bear it together with us. Be it so then, that our burthen is too heavy for us : but is it too heavy for him also ? "Is there any thing too hard for the Lord? " " If he be for us, not all the powers of earth and hell combined can with any effect exert themselves against us1."
Still, as long as any thing depends on him, the trembling believer cannot dispel his fears : and therefore, to complete the consolation afforded him, God assures him of,]
5. His effectual support —
[" I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteous- ness." What can the believer want more than this ; to have the eternal God for his refuge ; and to have " underneath him his everlasting arms?" " O! happy indeed art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thine excellency k ? " After this promise, we wonder not at the assurances added to our text, " Behold! all that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded ; they shall be as nothing ; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee : they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. Fear not, thou worm Jacob : thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small as chaff, so that the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them1."]
And now, if, after this, any of you entertain unbe- lieving fears, let me expostulate with you, as God himself does —
s Isai. xii. 2. h Rom. viii. 26. See the Greek.
1 Rom. viii. 31. k Deut. xxxiii. 27—29. l ver. 11—16.