Christ for refuge, and living in the constant observance of pubhc and private ordinances, according to God's command, they are supine and careless, as if nothing at all was to be done by them as evidential of their faith. Now I would ask, what would have been the event, if the Jewish army had proceeded on this plan? Suppose they had said, ' We think it absurd to look for the destruction of this fortress by faith alone : we will form a trench round the city, and batter it down with the implements of war :' would they have succeeded ? Or suppose they had said, ' We will expect the city to fall, as God has said ; but to what purpose are these repeated processions ? We shall spare ourselves that fruitless trouble, which will only ex- pose us to the derision of our enemies :' Or suppose they had said, ' We will use the appointed means ; but in order to make success doubly sure, we will form a trench, which shall both add to our security, and prevent their escape :' Do we imagine that on any one of these plans they would have been crowned with success ? We feel no hesitation in saying, that they would have been disappointed of their hope ; because they proceeded not according to the commands of God : yea, we doubt not but that the wrath of God would have broke forth against them, as it did on Uzza, because David in carrying up the ark was inattentive to the order that Moses had prescribed ■". Know then that, however confident our expectations of heaven be, they will end in disappointment, if we presume to alter, or neglect, or add to, the means which God himself has ordained. I pray you all to consider this : you especially, who have never yet repented in dust and ashes ; you who have never given yourselves to reading, and meditation, and prayer; you who are not yet daily prostrating yourselves at the foot of the cross, and relying on Christ as your only hope ; I beseech you to consider, how awfully you delude your own souls, whilst you promise yourselves the enjoyment of the heavenly Canaan. The same too I must say to those, who, whilst they profess to rely on Christ, are making their own works either a joint ground of their hope, or a warrant for their faith in Christ. Your victory can be gained only in the way that it was gained at Jericho : you must use all the means which God has en- joined, without either taking from them or adding to them : but you must expect success from God alone, and be content that he alone be glorified.]
2. In a way of encouragement —
[Many are discouraged because of their own extreme weakness, and because, though they have diligently used the appointed means, they seem not to have advanced at all, or to
>■ 1 Chron. xv. 13.