like manner we also may go forth with confidence against all our enemies, saying with him, " I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me8."]
4. By the inviolableness of his promise —
[To all his people is that word addressed, " I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee*? " And can we find one instance wherein he has ever violated that blessed promise ? May we not then adopt that inspired inference, and say, " I will not fear what flesh can do unto meu?" If the Apostles, when almost overwhelmed in a storm, were blameworthy for entertaining fears while Christ was with them in the vessel x, much more must we be faulty, if we give way to discouraging apprehen- sions of ruin, when the word of Christ is pledged for our secu- rity. Relying on his word, we have an anchor which will keep us steadfast in the midst of all the storms and tempests that can assault our souls y.]
Application —
[Let every one then seek to know this "Prince of Peace." To " acquaint ourselves with him is the way to be at peace2." If we know him not, we cannot flee to him for refuge : but if we " trust m him, he will keep us in perfect peace."]
s Phil. iv. 13. t Josh. i. 5, u Heb. xiii. 5, 6.
x Mark iv. 38—40. v Heb. vi. 19. z Job xxii. 21.
Micah v. 7. The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
IN this chapter we have as explicit a prophecy respecting Christ, as any that is to be found in all the sacred volume. His person is described in terms that can belong to none but Jehovah himself: "His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting1." The place of his nativity is expressly foretold, and so plainly mentioned, that all the Scribes and Pha- risees at the time of our Saviour's birth considered it as an indisputable point, that their Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem; and not in the Bethlehem that was
a ver. 2.