ON HOSEA XIV. -VERSE 8. 249 truth, the constant promise, the immutable purpose, the invincible power, the free love, the absolute grace, the omnipotent wisdom and working of God, who doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in heaven and earth, and worketh all things by the counsel of his own will, " I the Lord change not, therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed," Mal. iii. 6. We poor and weak men change with every wind; strong to -day, and weak to- morrow ; fixed and resolute to -day, shaken and stag- gering to- morrow ; running forward to -day, and re- volting as fast to-morrow ; no hold to be taken of our promises, no trust to be given to our covenants. Like Peter on the water, we walk one step, and we sink another. All our comfort is this, our strength and standing is not founded in ourselves, but in the rock whereon we are built, and in the power of God, by which we are kept through faith unto salvation, out of whose hands none are able to pluck us ; our very actions are wrought in us, and carried on unto their end by the power of Christ, who hath mercy, wisdom, and strength enough to rescue us, as from the power of hell and death, so from the danger of our own sickly and froward hearts. To see a man when he is half a mile from his enemy draw a sword to encounter him, or take up a stone to hit him, would be but a ridiculous spectacle : for what could he do with such weapons by his own strength at such a distance ? But if he mount a cannon, and point that . level against the enemy, this we do not wonder at, though the distance be so great : because though the action be originally his, yet the effect of it proceedeth from the force of the materials and instruments which he useth, to wit, the powder, the ball, the fire, the cannon. It seemed absurd in the eye of the enemy, for little David with a shepherd's bag, and a sling,
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