power and of terrible majesty ;" and when he riseth up, who then can resist him1? or who can stand in his sight when he is angry s? Verily, " He is a consuming fire1." Who then would set briers and thorns against him in battle ? He would go through them, and burn them up together. " Seek ye, then, his face :" seek him as he is revealed to you in the. Gospel of his Son : seek him as reconciled to you by the blood of the cross : seek him also speedily, and with your whole hearts : for I must declare to you, that " there is no escape to those who neglect his great salvation";" and that, " though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished x."]
2. As an encouragement to those who desire his favour —
[Many are ready to despond on account of their own weakness, and of the power of their enemies. But if God be our strength and our salvation, whom need we fear? " If he be for us, who, with any prospect of success, can be against us?" Hear how he chides the indulgence of a desponding thought : " Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding ? He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary ; they shall walk and not faint*." Let not any one then shrink back from the contest, how weak soever he himself may be, or however potent his enemies. Aided by God, " a worm shall thresh the moun- tains2:" and the weakest creature in the universe may say with Paul, " I can do all things through Christ who strength- eneth mea." In truth, a sense of weakness, so far from being any ground of discouragement, is rather a ground of hope ; because " God will perfect his own strength in our weakness." We are told that God 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." But whom does he employ in this work? The strong and mighty? No: it is added, " The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy V Whoever then ye be,
r Job xxxi. 14. s Deut. iv. 24. * Ps. lxxvi. 7.
u Heb. ii. 3. x Prov. xi. 21. y Isai. xl. 27 — 31.
z Isa. xli. 14, 1.5. a Phil. iv. 13. b Isai. xxvi. 5, G.