sets himself to seek the Lord. Where shall we find one who has not many difficulties to contend with ; and that too, not only from avowed enemies, but from professed friends. But here we are, this day, monuments of God's tender care ; and, I would hope too, of his effectual grace. Let us not overlook this great transcendent mercy. Let us remember to whom alone we are indebted, if we have not long since fallen by the devices of our great adversary, and made shipwreck of our faith : and let us give glory to God, as a faithful and promise- keeping God.]
2. What ground we have of hope, prospectively, in the time to come —
[" The name of the Lord is a strong tower; to which, if we run, we shall be safe." Let no confederacy then, of men or devils, alarm us. " Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world." Our enemies may be mighty; but our Friend is Almighty. He can do every thing for us, and every thing in us. Only let us look to Him, and rely on Him, and " no weapon that is formed against us shall ever prosper."]
god's sympathy with his people. Zech. ii. 8. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
GOD makes use of the wicked as his rod, where- with to chastise his own children. But while he accomplishes his own gracious ends with respect to them, he is not indifferent to the conduct of his agents, who unwittingly fulfil his will ; he notices their motives, and will call them into judgment for the dispositions they have manifested11: and because they exceed their commission, and seek the destruc- tion, rather than the benefit, of his people, he will vindi- cate the cause of the oppressed, and recompense upon their own heads the wickedness of their oppressors b. This assurance the prophet gave to those who yet remained in Babylon after that the greater part of the captive Jews had returned to Jerusalem : he exhorted them instantly to come forth from that wicked city ; for that God had tenderly sympathized with them in
a Isai. x. 5, 6, 7, 12. b Isai. xlyii. 6 — 9.
1241.] god's sympathy with his people. 447
the midst of all his chastisements, and had determined to visit with very signal judgments the Babylonish nation for the needless and excessive severities they had exercised towards them0.
From these remarkable words we may observe,
I. God sympathizes with his people in all their troubles — No terms can more strongly convey this idea than those used in the text —
[The eye is the tenderest part of the whole body ; it not only is susceptible of injury from the smallest accident, but it feels most acutely any injury it may sustain. What exquisite concern then must God feel for his people, when their afflic- tions pierce him in so deep a manner ; yea, when even that, which is but as a slight " touch" to them, inflicts on him so severe a wound ! Can our imagination conceive a more ex- pressive image, a more astonishing declaration?]
Nor is there any truth more abundantly confirmed
in the Holy Scriptures —
[Look we for examples of it ? how pitifully did he regard the afflictions of his people in Egyptd, and how was " his soul grieved for the misery of Israel" (though they were but ill-deserving of such mercy) when the Ammonites came up to fight against theme! Nor does he sympathize with them under temporal troubles only, but still more under spiritual afflictions. When Ephraim bemoaned his guilty state, how attentively did God listen to his complaints, and how compas- sionately did his bowels yearn over himf! Look we for 'pro- mises of similar regard ? how does God represent himself to us as " the comforter of them that are cast down," yea, as a " God of all comfort5!" He calls himself the "God that pleadeth the cause of his people11:" He assures us that he pitieth them even as a father pitieth his own children1, and he illustrates his compassion by the most tender image that the whole uni- verse affords, even by that of " a mother dandling upon her knee her suckling child," and striving by all possible methods to soothe and please itk. Nor is he ever more ready to hear and answer our petitions, than when we plead like the Church of old, " Where is thy zeal, and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies towards me? Are they