thought himself entitleil, not only to disbelieve the announcement, but to pour contempt upon it. "It is too often the case that high-born and apparently well-bred men at court, take pleasure in mockeries of the \Vord of God and of its declarations with~ut reflecting that tbev thereby bear testimony to their own inner rudeness, vulg~rity, and want of breeding" (Bii.br). They think it a proof of their own cleverness and supe- riority to superstitious terrors, to mock and ridicule whnt they know to be reverenced by others. For the most part God allows them to. escape punishment in this world, but now and then he signally vindicates his honour in the sight of all, by a manifest judgment upon the scoffers. An Elymas the sorcerer is struck blind (Acts xiii. 11) suddenly, an Arius perishes in the dead of night, or an Israelite "lord" suffers the penalty due to his rash words by being "trampled underfoot." God can at any time "arise to judgment," and "reward tbe proud after their deserving." Let men see to it that they provoke him not by "spe.aking unadvisedly with their lips." If they cannot receive his Word and bold fast bis truth, let them at least "keep still silence," refrain themselves, and not draw down bis vengeance upon them by profane scoffs and idle jesting. Vers. S-15.-The plenitude of God's power to deliver from the extremest danger,. It is impossible to conceive a. peril greater than that of Samaria at this time. 'l'he Syrians were masters of all the open country. - They had for months surrounded the town and strictly blockaded it. The store of provisions within the walls was almost wholly exhausted, and there was no possibility of obtaining a supply from without. J ehoram had no ally who could be expected to come to his aid. Human wisdom, as per- sonified in the "lord on whose hand the king leaned," might well view the end as certain, not seeing from what quarter deliverance could possibly come. But man's extremity is God's opportunity. With God nothing is impossible. Nothing is even hard. He has a thousand resources. He can send forth his angel into a camp at nightfall, and in the morning they shall be "all dead men" (eh. xix. 35). He can make brotht1rs-in-arms to fall out, and turn their swords one against another (2 Cbron. xx. 23). He can send a groundless panic upon the largest and best-appointed host, and cause them to flee away and disappear, "like the chaff of the su=er threshlng-floor." He can make two men, like Jonathan and his armour-bearer (1 Sam. xiv. 6-16), victorious over 11 multitude. "A thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one," if God so wills it. Panic he can cause in a hundred ways. " It is only necessary that in the darkness a wind should blow, or that water should splash in free course, or that an echo should resound from the mountains, or that the wind should rustle the dry leaves, to terrify the godless, so that they flee as if pursued by a sword, and fall though no one pursues them " (Lev. xxvL 86). In the present case, the Syrians heard a sound, how caused we know not, and instantly,imagined that a danger threatened them, which could only be escaped by immediate flight. Israel had hired against them, they thought, two armies, one of Egyptians and the other of Hittites; the armies bad arrived, and would fall upon them at dawn of day. So they hastily fled in the darkness, casting away arms and vessels and garments as they went (ver. 15), and leaving behind them their camp standing, with all its stores intact, its flour and barley, its gold and silver, its rich raiment, its war-horses and beasts of burden. The Samaritans were called upon to do nothing- they bad but to "sta. .d still, and see the salvation of God" (Exod. xv. 13). In one 0
day, without any exertion of their own, their deliverance was complete. And so it is with God always. L GoD lIAS POWER TO DELIVER FROJII ALL EARTHLY PERILS, In an hour, in a moment, if be pleases, God has power t-0 deliver: 1. From disease. He can cleanse the leper; give eight to the blind; heal malignant ulcers; infuse strength and vigour into the palsied; make plague, or fever, or any other mortal sickness to pass away. 2. From poverty. He can cause the poorest man to find a treaeure,or put it into the heart of a rich man to leave him one, or so bless his little store that it becomes abundance (eh. iv. 1- 7), or give him favour in the sight of a monarch (Esth. vii. 6-11), or put the wealth of thousands at his disposal (Acts iv. 34-37). 3. From oppression. He can destroy or cast clown the oppressor, cut him off suddenly, release hie victims, break the chains from off their neck, "lift them up out of the mire, and set them with the princes of his pe:ople." 4. From shame. He can raise from the dungeon to the palace (Gen. xli. 14; Dan. vi. 23-28); can make men ready to worship one whom a moment before they OB. VII, l-20,) THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 153
denounced ILB II murderer (Acts xxviii. 3-6); can "set on thrones" those who have been treated as "the offscouring of all things" (1 Cor. iv. 14). II. Goo BAB ALSO POWER TO DELIVER FROM SPIRITUAL PERJLB, 1. He can preserve from the power of Satan," deliver from the evil one," quench all his fiery darts, abate his pride, rescue men from his dominion when they seem on the point of submitting to it. 2. He can deliver from the guilt of sin; can accept atonement; can put away men's sins from them, so that," though they were as scarlet, they shall become white as enow; though they were red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isa. i. 18). 3. Ancl he can deliver from the power of sin. He can" strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees" (foa. xxxv. 3), can take away the evil out of men's hearts, and put his Holy Spirit within them; can enable them to resist the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; can make of them "new creatures." God, and God alone, can do this; and to him we must look for this deliverance; to him we must pray for this deliverance; to him, when we have obtained it, we must be eternally grateful for this deliverance. "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable Gift!"