~ucrour the soul need~ in its day of trouble is found in God, and found completely-for the soul's guilt, pardon (Isa. i. 16; xliii. 26); for its pollution, cleansing (Ezek, :xxxvi. 25); for its :mxiety, peace (Isa.. xni. 3; Matt. xi. 28); for its weakness, strength (Isa. xk. 24); for its darkuss, light (Ps. cxnii. 27; 1 Pet. ii. 9; 1 John I. 5); for it~ death, life (Isa. xxv. 8; Rom. iv. 17). III. h, HIS KNOWLEDGE. "He knoweth them that put their trust in him." He kno,veth them: 1. Collectively. All that belong to the body of bis believing people be exactl_v and always knows, so that he can think and speak of them as his people (ha. x:xxii. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 19), as Christ docs of those who are his (John x. 14). 2, Individmilly. Not in the mass merely, but separately and singly, he knows them (2 Sam. ,·ii. 20; Ps. cxxxix. 1; 1 Cor. viii. 3 , Hcb. iv. 13), as Christ also calls his own sheep by name (John x. 3). 3. Thoroughly. (1) Their characters-seeing that he searches the heart (1 Kings viii. 39; Jer.xvii.10; Ps. cxx.xix.2; Lukexvi.16; Acts i. 24; xv. 8 ; 1 Thess. ii. 4). Hence be can never err as to their persons. (2) Their conditions--since nothing can be bid from him, neither person (Jer. xxiii. 24; Hos. v. 3) nor thing (Ps. cxxxix. 15; Jer. xvi. 17), but both alike are manifest in his sight (Heb. i-v. 13). Hence be can never mistake as to their circumstances, but must always understand precisely what they need. 4. Ejficuntiy. Different from the wicked, whom he knows afar off (Ps. cxxxviii. 6), i.e. as persons estranged from and hostile to him elf, them that put their trust in him he knows appreciatively and helpfully, so as to love, cherish, prot.ect, and assist them. "Though the Lord be high, yet bath he respect unto the lowly"-to their persons to love them, to their characters to admire them, to their wants to supj:>ly them, to their souls to save them. CoNCLUSION. Note: 1. The characters of those for whom this consolation exists- they put their trnst in God. Remark upon the simplicity and efficacy of faith. 2. The evil fate of them who, being destitute of faith, are bis enemies-they shall be destroyed by an overrunning flood, their habitations swept away, their persons engulfed, their hopes disappointed, their projects defeated, their ambitions scattered to the winds; they shall be pnrsned by (or into) darkness (dee next homily). •
Ver. 8.-Pursued by (Authorized Version), into (Revised Version), darkness. I. A WOEFUL FATE. 1. The picture. That of a defeated enemy pursued by a victorious general who comes up behind bis foes like the shades of night upon a wearied and dispirited traveller stumbling forward upon au uncertain and perilous way, as Abraham fell upon the kings by night and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah (Gen. xiv. 15); or, who drives them on before him into the gloom of night, where they encounter unforeseen dangers and perish, as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah did when chased by Chedorlaomer's troops (Gen. xiv. 10). 2. The interpretation. The defeated enemy is the sinner; the pursuing conqueror is either darkness, meaning those calamities which God bas ordained to follow sin, or God himself, by whom the sinner shall be chased into such disastrous overthrow. In either case, with darkness behind or darkness before-and, in reality, it is both behind and before-the condition of God's enemy is pitiful indeed. II. A CERTAIN DOOH. Pursued by or into darkness. There is no "peradventure" about the lot of the ungodly. What is here predicted ie not contingent, but absolute; not what ought to be merely, or what may be only, but what shall be. 1. God's Word hath declared it. "The wicked shall be silent in darkness," etc. (1 Sam. ii. 9); "The eyes of the wicked shall fail," etc. (Job :z:i. 20); "He shall 1.,e driven from light into darkness" (Job xviii. 18); "Let their way be darkness and slippery places" (Ps. mv. 6); "The candle of the wicked shall be put out" (Prov. xxiv. 20); "The children of the kingdom [ who have become God's enemies] will be cast into outer dark• ness,'' etc. (Matt. viii. 12)-" And the Scripture cannot be broken" (John x. 35). 2. God'11 character requires it. If his love and mercy make it sure that none who return to him will be rejected (Isa. lv. 7; Jer. iii. 22; Hoe. xiv. 4), hie holiness and justice render it equally imperative that the impenitent and unbelieving, the rebellious and disobedient, should be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of God and from the glory of his power (Rom. i. 18 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9 ; 1 Pet. iii. 12). 3. Sin i,tael,/ ensure, ,t. Every action that a man performs carries in its own bosom it.a reward en. 1. 1-lli.] THE BOOK OF NAHUM. 9