especially the treatment they have shewn to his Church and people : and then they will find, that it would have been " better to have had a millstone tied round about their necks, and to have been cast into the sea, than to have offended one of his little ones." The Lord grant, that men may no longer make Christ a stone of stumbling, lest " it fall upon them, and crush them to powder!"
2. Those who are looking for redemption in Jeru- salem—
[It may be that some are discouraged, because they have not yet experienced deliverance to the extent they wish : they seem to themselves as if their long and willing captivity to sin and Satan precluded them from the hope of mercy : and they are ready to say with Israel of old, " Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered ? " But our answer is, like that of the prophet, " Yes ; thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered : for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children1." Be not afraid : though you are but as " a worm, yet shall you thresh the mountains k :" and the weaker you feel yourselves to be, the stronger in reality you are, because God has pledged himself to " perfect his own strength in your weakness." Ex- pect then deliverance, with all its attendant benefits : and rest assured, that none shall pluck you out of the hands of your great Deliverer. God has sworn, that " he will plant you in the hea- venly land, assuredly with his whole heart, and with his whole soul :" and " what he hath promised, he is able also to perform." " Faithful is He that hath called you ; who also will do it."]
1 Isai. xlix. 25, 26. k Isai. xli. 14, 15.