days, in the generations of old," is there made the very pattern of what shall be done for all the Lord's people. A similar assurance is given in reference to the water that issued from the rock; and we are told "not even to remember or consider the former things," since God will repeat them again and again, doing them "anew," so that "every body shall know" and observe it: "I will give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen." As for the manna, you all are taught by our blessed Lord to pray, "Give us day by day our daily bread." The matter then is plain: for, if such things as these are to be realized in our experience, there is nothing which was ever done for mortal man, which we are not authorized to expect, as far as our necessities require it. Miracles indeed we are not to expect: but what was formerly done by visible exercises of a miraculous. power, shall now, in effect, be done by the invisible agency of God's providential care. The mode of effecting our deliverance shall be varied; but the deliverance itself shall be secured.] Now we come to,

II. What it affirms

The proverb is express: "In the mount the Lord shall be seen:" that is,

1. He will interpose for his people in the hour of necessity

[This is its plain import: and to the same effect it is elsewhere promised, "The Lord will judge his people, and repent himself for his servants; when he seeth that their power is gone, and that there is none shut up or left." If it be asked, In what way will he interpose?' I answer, 'This must be left to him: he is not limited to any particular means: he can work by means, or without them, as he seeth fit: the whole creation is at his command: the wind shall divide the sea; and the sea shall stand up as a wall on either hand, when he is pleased to make a way through it for his people: and the waters shall resume their wonted state, when he gives them a commission to overwhelm his enemies: and both the one and the other shall be done at the precise moment of Israel's necessity. If confederate armies come against his people, his enemies shall defeat their own sanguinary purpose, and be the executioners of God's vengeance on each other". Is the destruction of a faithful servant menaced and expected by blood-thirsty persecutors? an angel becomes the willing agent

i Isai. xliii. 18-20. Cite the whole. 1 Deut. xxxii. 36.

k Luke xi. 3. See the Greek. m Exod. xiv. 10-14.

n 2 Chron. xx. 1, 10-13, 16, 17, 22—24.

of Jehovah for his deliverance. Sometimes he will defeat the enterprises of his enemies by the very means which they use to carry them into effect. This was the case with respect to Joseph, whose exaltation sprang from the very means used by various instruments for his destruction". As for means, we may safely leave them to God. Two things we certainly know; namely, that he will interpose seasonably; and that he will interpose effectually: for he is, and ever will be, a very present help in trouble."]

2. We may confidently trust in Him in seasons of the greatest darkness and distress

[God may not come to our help at the moment that our impatient minds may desire. On the contrary, he may tarry, till we are ready to cry, like the Church of old, "The Lord hath forsaken us, and our God hath forgotten us'." But he has wise and gracious purposes to answer by such delays. He makes use of them to stir us up to more earnest importunity; to render us more simple and humble in our dependence upon him; to display more gloriously before our eyes the riches of his power and grace", and to teach both us and others to wait his time. Sometimes he suffers the enemy so far to prevail as that to all human appearance our case shall be irremediable: whilst yet those very enemies are instruments in his hands to accomplish unwittingly the very ends which they are labouring to defeat; disappointing thus the devices of the crafty, and taking the wise in their own craftiness. The history of Joseph will of necessity occur to every mind in illustration of this point". But what does all this say to us? Its language is precisely that of the prophet: "The vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarrya."] ADDRESS,

1. Those who have never yet been brought into deep waters

[Do not imagine that because you have hitherto experienced but little trouble, your path shall always be smooth and easy. No: it is a thorny wilderness that you have to pass through, and a troubled ocean that you have to navigate, ere you can reach the desired haven. The mariner when scarcely launched upon the deep does not expect that the breeze shall be alike gentle to the end of his voyage: he prepares for

o Acts xii. 4-10. r Isai. xlix. 14.

u John xi. 6, 15, 40. y Acts xxiii. 12—17.

P Gen. 1. 20.

s Matt. xv. 22-27.

x Ps. xl. 1-3.

z Gen. 1. 20.

q Ps. xlvi. 1.

t 2 Cor. i. 8-10.

Luke xviii. 1.

a Hab. ii. 3.

storms, that he may be ready to meet them when they come. In like manner you also will do well to prepare for seasons of adversity and trial. The seaman takes with him his compass, his chart, his quadrant; and makes his daily observations, that he may know where he is, and not be driven from his course. So likewise do you take with you this proverb; which will ever be of use to you in the most trying hour, and enable you to steer your course with safety to the haven of rest.]

2. Those who are under any great and heavy calamity

[The Lord's people are no more exempt from trouble than others. When most in the path of duty, storms and tempests may overtake you, and menace your very existence: yea, and in the midst of all, your Lord and Saviour may seem regardless of your trouble. But remember, that, embarked as you are with him, you can never perish. In the fittest moment, he will arise and rebuke the storm; and both winds and waves shall obey him. Go forward, as Abraham did, in the path of duty, and leave events to God. Do not be impatient because God does not appear for you so soon as you could wish. Perhaps you have not gone above one day's journey yet in the path assigned you: if so, you have another and another day yet to go. Possibly you may have been long tried, and are got to the very mount: but you are not yet got to the top of that mount: much less have you bound your Isaac, and lifted up your hand to slay him. If not, the time for the Lord's interposition is not yet come. See how it was with David. He fled from Saul-The Ziphites came and informed Saul of the place where he was hid-Saul blessed them for the intelligence they had brought him: and set out immediately and encompassed with his army the very spot where David was. Alas! David, thy God hath forsaken thee! No: not so: in that critical moment, a messenger comes to Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land." And thus was the snare broken, and the persecuted saint delivered. Thus also shall it be with you. Only stay till the critical moment has arrived, and you shall find the proverb true: "In the mount the Lord shall be found." Whatever you may imagine, the Lord is not an inattentive observer of your state.

66

He may suffer you to be cast into the tempestuous ocean, and to be swallowed up by a whale, and yet bring you up again. from the very depths of the sea, and advance his own glory the more in proportion to the greatness of your deliverance. Trust then in the Lord, and let your mind be stayed on him.

b Mark iv. 35-39.

c 1 Sam. xxiii. 19, 21, 26, 27.

d Jon. ii. 1-9.

This is the direction which he himself gives you: "Who is among you that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." And if the time for your deliverance seem to be utterly passed, go with the Hebrew youths into the fiery furnace, taking God's express promise with you, and say with Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him."]

e Isai. 1. 10.

f Isai. xliii. 2, 3.

8 Job xiii. 15. See the whole subject illustrated in Ps. xxx. 1-12.

XXXVII.

ABRAHAM'S PROMISED SEED.

Gen. xxii. 18. In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

THERE is nothing in man which can merit the divine favour: the promises of God to us are altogether free, resulting wholly from his sovereign grace: yet does God frequently manifest his love towards us in consequence of something done by us. Abraham, it should seem, was an idolater, when God first made himself known to him in his native land: and then did the Almighty promise, that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed. But, in the passage before us, Abraham is recorded to have performed the most extraordinary act of obedience that ever was known from the foundation of the world: and God takes occasion from that to renew his promise, and, for his more abundant consolation, to confirm it with an oath. To ascertain the full import of this glorious prophecy, it will be proper to inquire, I. Who is the seed here spoken of—

It is not to all the natural descendants, or to that part of them that composed the Jewish nation, or even to the spiritual seed of Abraham, that these words refer they speak of one particular individual, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. To him all the types direct our attention

[The temple with all its utensils, the priests with all their habits and services, the sacrifices and oblations of every kind,

all shadowed forth his work and offices. The principal events in the Jewish history, together with the great persons engaged in them, their lawgiver, their commanders, judges, kings, and prophets, prefigured him in different points of view, and, as so many lines, meet in him as their common centre. On this account we have reason to think that the prophecy before us relates to him.]

2. In him all the prophecies receive their accomplishment

[However some of the prophecies might be partially fulfilled in Solomon or others, it is certain that all of them together were never accomplished in any one but Jesus. They were intended to designate HIM, that, when he should arrive, there might be no doubt of his being the very person fore-ordained of God to be the Saviour of the world. The minute description of the promised Messiah, together with the marvellous combination of circumstances that marked Jesus as the person foretold, lead us further to believe that the text had particular respect to him.]

3. To him exclusively the text is applied by God himself—

[St. Paul tells us that the blessing of Abraham was to come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christa; and that the words of the text related, not to others, but to Christ alone.]

This point being ascertained, let us inquire, II. In what respect all nations are blessed in him—

The full accomplishment of the text will not take place till that glorious period when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea. Yet, in a limited sense, all nations have experienced the truth of this prophecy already.

1. They are reconciled to God through him

[Christ died not for one nation only; he was a propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Many of all nations have already believed in his name, and rejoiced in his salvation: and in every place they who believe in him shall find acceptance with their God.]

2. They are united in one body in him

[He has broken down the middle wall of partition that divided the Jewish and Gentile world, and, having reconciled both unto God in one body by the cross, he has slain the b Gal. iii. 16. c Col. i. 20-22.

a Gal. iii. 14.