and understanding are infinite. If men are reckoned wife who poffefs extenfive acquaintance with im portant fubjects, who govern with prudence their paffions, who manage their affairs with difcretion, and pursue the beft ends by the most proper means; furely the Moft High also is wife, from whom proceeds all the wifdom and kill which is difperfed throughout the creation. Be it then, as you fay, that the people from whom you ask affiftance are wife and prudent, yet you cannot deny that God alfo is wife, infinitely wifer than men, who are indebted to him for all the penetration and fagacity they poffefs. He can eafily defeat both you and those whom you call to your aid, and baffle all your beft concerted schemes. He, who with confummate fkill, directs the whole course of nature, the actions of all his creatures, and the events that happen throughout the universe, can never want inftruments to execute his purposes, and to fruftrate the defigns of those who contemn his direction and fupport.-Let us then acknowledge God in all our ways, not only in dubious and perplexing circumftances, and in arduous interprizes; but in the ordinary bufineffes of life. Confcious that the way of man is not in himself, that we cannot aright direct our fteps; let us afk his conduct and bleffing in all our affairs, and commit our works unto the Lord, and our thoughts fhall be established. And will bring evil, &c. In place of the good that you expect fhall accrue from the wisdom and power of your confederates. The evil predicted is not what is called moral evil, or fin, which doth not proceed from God; but that which is known by the name of natural evil, affliction, and calamity; the proper confequence and juft punishment of tranfgreflion. Of all the diftreffes comprised in this fort of evil, Almighty God is the fovereign wife difpofer, to whose permiffion and agency they must be afcribed. Can a bird,' (faith the Prophet Amos) 'fall ' into a fnare upon the earth, where no gin is laid for him? It must be planted for that purpose by a a fkilful hand. He again inquires, as the proper application and inference to be deduced from this fi gure, Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it *?' Affliction doth not spring out of the ground, like those herbs and plants which grow without labour and cultivation; it is not cafual, nor doth it come by accident. It proceeds from the all-wife righteous appointment of the fupreme Lord of all; it is difpenfed by infinite wifdom to individuals and societies, as the fruit and punishment of fin. It is the rod whereby the Lord chaftens, the furnace in which he refines his people. From the nature of this painful, but falutary medicine, we may often collect the kind of diftemper it was intended to cure; from the threatened or inflict ed evil, we may discover the procuring cause that brought it on. And will not call back his words. 'God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent; hath he faid, and fhall he not do it? hath he spoken, and fhall he not make it good +?' He will not retract what he hath faid. • His word that goeth forth out of his mouth, fhall not return to him void; but it shall accomplish that which he pleases, and it fhall profper in the thing whereto he fends it ‡.' No good reafon can be affigned, why Jehovah fhould recal his words. Our natural inftability, our want of forefight, our incapacity to execute our refolutions, frequently give rife to a change in our fentiments, and obligeus to alter our purposes: But God is of one mind, and none can turn him; all his works are known to him from the beginning; for him nothing is impoffible; and therefore what he hath spoken with his mouth, he will accomplish with his hand. In vain then do those who look to men for help, expect that God will alter his determined purposes, and allow them to perfift in wickednefs, and pafs unpunifhed. The expreffion before us plainly intimates, that * Chap. iii. 56. + Numb. xxiii. 19. Ifa. lv. 11. that God, who is faithful, would certainly inflict the judgments threatened by his fervants on the Ephraimites and their allies, though they might flatter themselves with impunity. Many ftriking inftances of the truth I am illuftrating occur in fcripture, to which I would have you carefully to advert; that you may be fully convinced that the word of God fhall ftand, and thall never fail of being accomplished, notwithstanding every intervening obstacle. But will arife against the house of evil doers. Every one that doeth evil is not included under this description, but those only who obftinately persist in evil-doing, and refuse to be restrained by the authority, the clemency, and the judgments of God. Such incorrigible tranfgreffors were the house of Ifrael at the time this prophecy was delivered, concerning whom the Lord afterward declared by his fervant Jeremiah, Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil as thou couldeft *.-And against the help of them that work iniquity. The Egyptians, whofe afliftance was expected by the Ephraimites, in their prefent hazardous condition, seem to have been the perfons primarily intended by this defcription. After the manner of a great offended monarch, Jehovah declares, that he would go forth against both these nations, to inflict righteous vengeance upon them, for the injuries they have done to him and his kingdom-That he would arife, not merely to oppose their progrefs by moral restraints, fuch as commands and threatenings, but effectually to give check to their acts of hoftility, by the exertion of his Omnipotence, and feverely to punish them for contempt fhewn to him and his laws. All refiftance, therefore, fhould prove altogether unavailing to counteract the purposes he had determined to accomplish.If any thing prevent or ftop the progrefs of threatened evil, it is prayer and penitence. Thefe peaceful meffengers have often arrefted divine judgments in their courfe, and hindered them from being inflicted Chap. iii, 5. flicted. The Lord would have deftroyed Ifrael, had ⚫ not Mofes his chofen ftood before him in the breach, *to turn away his wrath, left he should have destroy⚫ed them. In fome inftances prayers and tears may prove ineffectual to avert impending calamities; for thus faid the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, Though Mofes and Samuel ftood before me, yet ⚫ my mind could not be toward this people: caft 'them out of my fight, and let them go forth+.' The words plainly intimate,, that the interpofition and fupplications of God's most faithful fervants, in the cafe referred to, could not prevail to avert that me rited deftruction, from which the pofterity of Jacob had enjoyed a long reprieve. 3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horfes flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD fhall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth fhall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fall together, The extreme folly and danger of those who pla ced dependence on Egypt is here farther reprefented. The propofition contained in the first part of the verse is incontrovertible, fo evident, that it must be univerfally acknowledged. The plainest truths, however, fuch as that which lies now before us, muft not be overlooked or difregarded. Men, though wife and powerful, are but men; weak, frail, mortal creatures, whofe exiftence, faculties, and actions, depend entirely on divine Providence. They can do nothing more than God gives them ability to perform, nor can they execute any enterprise, but what he enables or permits them to accomplish. Hence the important advice given by our Prophet, Cease ye from man whofe breath is in his noftrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?' It is better to * Pfal. cvi. 23. + Chap. xv. I. truft truft in God than to put confidence in man. Had the Ifraelites attended to this fimple remark, they would not have confided in the Egyptians, but in the living God, who is omnipotent, invincible, and immortal.-Their horfes are flesh, and not fpirit; of which they poffeffed neither the nature nor the properties. Though they might be celebrated on account of their excellence and their numbers, they were fubject to diftempers, to decay, to accidents, to fatigue in confequence of long marches, they were liable to be wounded and flain in battle. They were therefore a vain thing for prefervation, neither could they deliver by their great firength. As faith the proverb, The horfe is prepared against the day ' of battle, but safety is of the Lord.'-Some trust in chariots, and fome in horfes, but let us remember the name of the Lord our God, the ftrong tower to which the righteous run and are fafe. Of the truth of the preceding remark, the children of Ifrael were to receive convincing proof. When the Lord fhall ftretch out his hand, &c. In prophetic language God is faid to ftretch out his hand, when he inflicts righteous judgment upon men for their fins. ' Behold, therefore,' (faith he by the prophet Ezekiel) I have ftretched out my hand over thee-and have delivered thee unto the will ⚫ of them that hate thee *. The expreffion is metaphorical, and alludes to the practice of those who extend their arm, when about to perform any arduous work. It plainly intimates, that Jehovah was to exert his Almighty power in punithing his ungrateful people, and thofe on whom they trufted for affiftance, whilft they neglected to repofe confidence in him, who had often helped and delivered their fathers. In confequence whercof-Both he that helpeth, &c. The overthrow both of the Egyptians and of the Ephraimites, who requested their fuccours, is clearly foretold in these words. Though you have called to your aid and protection, a powerful VOL. II. nation B |