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And is all this nothing! Is it nothing to be loved of God as they are, to be kept always by Him as the apple of an eye and hidden under the shadow of His wings? Is it nothing that even here He should "hide them in His tabernacle," and keep them safe from "the stormy wind and tempest" which rage around us?
No! my brethren, it is much in itself; though it be but little compared with that "better thing,"[1] which He has provided for us, when after showing us great troubles and adversities—as He does to all, though He shelter some from their effects—He shall at the last turn again to comfort us and compass us about with songs of deliverance, and bring us to great honour on every side: "when He shall take His poor out of the mire of this sinful world and set them with His princes, even with those that stand before His throne."[2] For observe how many of our blessings here consist in defence, and shelter, and protection, and circumstances generally, which betoken a state of imperfection. Yea, and with them all, it is ofttimes sore travail for the soul; so mightily does temptation beset us, "the enemy cometh on so fast!"
And therefore doth our Father oft, in very tenderness and mercy, gather in His chosen at a time which men think premature; taking them from the "evil to come,"[3] lest wickedness should pervert their
