to our aid, and say, " The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan." Let us never doubt the power of our Almighty Friend to succour us, or his faithfulness to preserve us. If we look to ourselves, or if we look to our great adversary, there is nothing but discour- agement: but if we look unto Jesus, there is no ground for fear : he can overcome the strong man armed, and liberate us from his yoke. He who " spoiled principalities and powers upon the cross," and "led captivity captive" in his ascension, can he not bruise Satan under our feet now ? He can ; he will: and the weakest believer who trusts in him shall " be more than conqueror" over earth and hell. ft Faithful is He who hath promised ; who also will do it."]
Zech. iv. 6. This is the ivord of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by potver, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.
MANY parts of the prophetic writings are ex- tremely dark : but many, which appear dark, would become clear, if we were contented to explain their main scope, without descending to every particular contained in them. Indeed they are, for the most part, explained by God himself; so far, at least, as to leave us in no doubt respecting their general import. The vision before us appears to be of difficult inter- pretation : to the Jews, methinks, it was altogether inexplicable; but the design of it was plainly de- clared in the words which we have just read : and, indeed, the declaration of its chief design reflects no inconsiderable light on every part of it. Perhaps we may say, that the lamps are the Church of God ; the oil which feeds them is the Holy Spirit ; the pipes conveying it are the ordinances ; the bowl which supplies those pipes is the Gospel ; and the olive- trees, which pour continually their sacred stores into the bowl, are the Lord Jesus Christ, in his offices of Priest and Prophet3. But, supposing we are mis- taken in the precise meaning which we have assigned to these several parts, the import of the whole to- gether is perfectly clear. You perceive that these
a See this more fullv treated, in the Discourse on ver. 11 — 14.