2. All anxious fears —
[The ungodly imagine that they can prevail against the Lord's people : but they are no more than an axe or saw in the hands of him that useth it : they can do more than our God and Father is pleased to do by them". Now who will tremble at a sword that is in his father's hands ? If indeed our God were ever weary, or absent, or disinclined to interpose for us, or if the creature could effect any thing without his special permission, there were some reason for fear : but when he is as " our shade upon our right hand ;" when he is as " a wall of fire round about us, and the glory in the midst of us p ;" whom shall we fear? " Who can have access to harm us^," if we be hid under the shadow of His wings? " If He be for us, who can be against us "^ ?" Whatever confederacies then may
' Job xxxiv. 29. ^ 2 Cor. i. 5. " Ps. xvi. 5, 6.
o Isai. X. 15. P Zech. ii. 5. <• 1 Pet. iii. 13 — 15.
>■ Rom. viii. 31.
be against us, whether of men or devils, we need not fear : in Him, as our sanctuary, we may deride their efforts, and defy their malice^. What should be the state of our minds, the holy Psalmist has shewn us; " Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up : he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up : for they be many that fight against me, O thou Most High. But, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God will I praise his word : in God I have put my trust : T will not fear what flesh can do unto me. When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back : this I know ; for God is for me. In God will I praise his word ; in the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust ; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me*."]
See then from hence,
1. Of what importance it is to treasure up the promises in our minds —
[The promises of God are our great support under trials, and at the same time our great encouragements to fulfil our duty ; since they assure us of all needful aid, both for the sus- taining of the one, and the performance of the other. It is by them that we are enabled to cleanse ourselves from sin " ; and by them to attain the image of God upon our souls''. Let us then lay hold of them ; and, to whomsoever they may have been spoken in the first instance, appropriate them to ourselves. Let us rest upon them, and plead them before God, as Jacob did^: and know that " in Christ they are all yea, and amen V' as unchangeable as God himself. O what a treasure does that man possess who has laid up in his mind the most comprehensive promises of his God ! He can be in no trouble, wherein he has not abundant consolation ; and in no want, wherein he has not an adequate supply. O beloved, let the woi'd of Christ, and the promises of your God, " dwell in you richly in all wis- dom." Mark the emphatic manner in which they are pronounced. Look at that before us in particular : as recorded in our trans- lation, it is strong : but as it is in the original, its force exceeds the powers of our language to express : there are no less than five negatives to confirm the negation*. When will God violate that promise — " Heaven and earth shall pass away ; but not one jot or tittle of that promise shall ever faiP?"]
2. How truly blessed is a life of faith —
[What a source of misery to mankind is a covetous and dis- contented spirit ! and what a prey are they to trouble, who have