seek him in a way of penitential sorrow : for he will be " the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel"1." Only pour out your complaints into his bosom, and your prayer shall not go forth in vain. He will give you to eat of the bread of life and be satisfied, and turn all your sorrows into joyn.]
2. To those who have experienced any great de- liverance—
[Be not unmindful of your great Deliverer, but praise and
magnify him with your whole hearts0 Learn also to
confide in him. Fresh troubles may arise, even heavier than you have ever yet experienced : but there is the same gracious God for you to go unto ; and he will hear and answer you, as in the days of old. Nor is it to this world only that he will confine the tokens of his love : he will bear you, as on eagles' wings, throughout all this dreary wilderness ; and finally put you into the full and everlasting fruition of the promised land, where neither want nor pain shall be any more experienced to all eternity.]
m Joel iii. 16. n Isai. lxi. 3. ° Isai. xii. 4 — 6.
Joel ii. 28—32. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions : and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days, will I pour out my Spirit. And I ivill shew wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke. Tlie sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And, it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.
IT is much to be regretted that the obscurities which occur in the prophetic writings (especially those of the lesser prophets) deter many from reading so large a portion of the inspired volume. If there are some parts hard to be understood, there are some parts plain and highly instructive : and the very figures, which from their boldness and sublimity appear intricate, will be found easy and intelligible,