This
chapter continues and concludes the prophecy against Gog and Magog, in whose
destruction God crowns his favour to his people
Israel, which shines very brightly after the
scattering of that black cloud in the close of this chapter. Here is, I. An
express prediction of the utter destruction of Gog and Magog, agreeing with
what we had before, ver. 1-7. II. An illustration of the vastness of that
destruction, in three consequences of it: the burning of their weapons (ver.
8-10), the burning of their slain (ver. 11-16), and the feasting of the
fowls with the dead bodies of those that were unburied, ver. 17-22. III. A
declaration of God's gracious purposes concerning his people Israel, in this
and his other providences concerning them, and a promise of further mercy
that he had yet in store for them, ver. 23-29.
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The
Judgment of Gog and Magog.
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B.
C. 585.
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1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy
against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech
and Tubal: 2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth
part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will
bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: 3 And I will smite thy
bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy
right hand. 4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel,
thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will
give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of
the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field:
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in
the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I
will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen
shall know that I am the LORD,
the Holy One in Israel.
This prophecy begins as that before (ch. xxxviii. 3, 4, I am
against thee, and I will turn thee back); for there is need of line upon
line, both for the conviction of Israel's enemies and the comfort of
Israel's friends. Here, as there, it is foretold that God will bring this
enemy from the north parts, as formerly the Chaldeans were fetched
from the north, Jer. i. 14 (Omne malum ab aquilone--Every evil comes from
the north), and, long after, the Roman empire was overrun by the
northern nations, that he will bring him upon the mountains of Israel
(v. 2), first as a place of temptation, where the measures of his
iniquity shall be filled up, and then as a place of execution, where his
ruin shall be completed. And that is it which is here enlarged upon. 1. His
soldiers shall be disarmed and so disabled to carry on their enterprise.
Though the men of might may find their hands, yet to what purpose,
when they find it is put out of their power to do mischief, when God shall
smite their bow out of their left hand and their arrow out of
their right? v. 3. Note, The weapons formed against Zion shall
not prosper. 2. He and the greatest part of his army shall be slain in the
field of battle (v. 4): Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of
Israel; there they sinned, and there they shall perish, even upon the
holy mountains of Israel, for there broke he the arrows of the
bow, Ps. lxxvi. 3. The mountains of Israel shall be moistened, and
fattened, and made fruitful, with the blood of the enemies. "Thou shalt
fall upon the open field (v. 5) and shalt not be able even
there to make thy escape." Even upon the mountains he shall not find a
pass that he shall be able to maintain, and upon the open field he shall not
find a road that he shall be able to make his escape by. He and his
bands; his regular troops, and the people that are with him that
follow the camp to share in the plunder, shall all fall with him.
Note, Those that cast in their lot among wicked people (Prov. i. 14),
that they may have one purse with them, must expect to take their
lot with them, and fare as they fare, taking the worse with the better.
There shall be such a general slaughter made that but a sixth part shall
be left (v. 2), the other five shall all be cut off. Never was
army so totally routed as this. And, for its greater infamy and reproach,
their bodies shall be a feast to the birds of prey, v. 4. Compare v.
17, Thou shalt fall, for I have spoken it. Note, Rather shall
the most illustrious princes (Antiochus was called Epiphanes--the
illustrious) and the most numerous armies fall to the ground than
any word of God; for he that has spoken will make it good. 3. His
country also shall be made desolate: I will send a fire on Magog (v.
6) and among those that dwell carelessly, or confidently, in the
isles, that is, the nations of the Gentiles. He designed to destroy the
land of Israel, but shall not only be defeated in that design, but shall
have his own destroyed by some fire, some consuming judgment or other. Note,
Those who invade other people's rights justly lose their own. 4. God will by
all this advance the honour of his own name, (1.) Among his people Israel;
they shall hereby know more of God's name, of his power and goodness, his
care of them, his faithfulness to them. His providence concerning them shall
lead them into a better acquaintance with him; every providence should do
so, as well as every ordinance: I will make my holy name known in the
midst of my people. In Judah is God known; but those that know much of
God should know more of him; we should especially increase in the knowledge
of his name as a holy name. They shall know him as a God of perfect purity
and rectitude and that hates all sin, and then it follows, I will not let
them pollute my holy name any more. Note, Those that rightly know God's
holy name will not dare to profane it; for it is through ignorance of it
that men make light of it and make bold with it. And this is God's method of
dealing with men, first to enlighten their understandings, and by that means
to influence the whole man; he first makes us to know his holy name, and so
keeps us from polluting it and engages us to honour it. And this is here the
blessed effect of God's glorious appearances on the behalf of his people.
Thus he completes his favours, thus he sanctifies them, thus he makes them
blessings indeed; by them he instructs his people and reforms them. When
the Almighty scattered kings for her she was white as snow in Salmon,
Ps. lxviii. 14. (2.) Among the heathen; those that never knew it, or would
not own it, shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.
They shall be made to know by dearbought experience that he is a God of
power, and his people's God and Saviour; and it is in vain for the greatest
potentates to contend with him; none ever hardened their heart against him
and prospered.
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The
Judgment of Gog.
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B.
C. 585.
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8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith
the Lord GOD;
this is the day whereof I have spoken. 9 And they that
dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn
the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and
the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven
years: 10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field,
neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the
weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob
those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a
place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of
the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there
shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The
valley of Hamongog. 12 And seven months shall the house of
Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. 13
Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to
them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the
land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the
earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any
seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have
buried it in the valley of Hamongog. 16 And also the name of the
city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD;
Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble
yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I
do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of
Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. 18 Ye shall eat
the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of
rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken,
of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20 Thus ye
shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and
with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see
my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon
them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the
LORD
their God from that day and forward.
Though this prophecy was to have its accomplishment in the latter days, yet
it is here spoken of as if it were already accomplished, because it is
certain (v. 8): "Behold it has come, and it is done; it
is as sure to be done when the time shall come as if it were done already; this
is the day whereof I have long and often spoken, and, though it
has been long in coming, yet at length it has come." Thus it was
said unto John (Rev. xxi. 6), It is done. To represent the routing of
the army of Gog as very great, here are three things specified as the
consequences of it. It was God himself that gave the defeat; we do not find
that the people of Israel drew a sword or struck a stroke: but,
I. They shall burn their weapons, their bows and arrows, which
fell out of their hands (v. 3), their shields and bucklers,
their javelins, spears, leading staves, truncheons, and half-pikes,
every thing that is combustible. They shall not lay them up in their
armouries, nor reserve them for their own use, lest they should be tempted
to put a confidence in them, but they shall burn them; not all at once, for
a bonfire (to what purpose would be that waste?) but as they had occasion to
use them for fuel in their houses, instead of other fire-wood, so that they
should have no occasion to take wood out of the field or forests for seven
years together (v. 10), such vast quantities of weapons shall
there be left upon the open field where the enemy fell, and in the roads
which they passed in their flight. The weapons were dry and fitter for fuel
than green wood; and, by saving the wood in their coppices and forests, they
gave it time to grow. Though the mountains of Israel produce plenty of all
good things, yet it becomes the people of Israel to be good husbands of
their plenty and to save what they can for the benefit of those that come
after them, as Providence shall give them opportunity to do so. We may
suppose that when those who dwelt in the cities of Israel came forth to spoil
those who spoiled them, and make reprisals upon them, they found upon
them silver, and gold, and ornaments; yet no mention is made of any thing
particularly that they converted to their own use but the wood of the
weapons for fuel, which is one of the necessaries of human life, to teach us
to think it enough if we be well supplied with those, though we have but
little of the delights and gaieties of it and of those things which we may
very well live without. And every time they put fuel to the fire, and warmed
themselves at it, they would be put in mind of the number and strength of
their enemies, and the imminent peril they were in of falling into their
hands, which would help to enlarge their hearts in thankfulness to that God
who had so wonderfully, so seasonably, delivered them. As they sat by the
fire with their children about them (their fire-side), they might from
it take occasion to tell them what great things God had done for them.
II. They shall bury their dead. Usually, after a battle, when many are
slain, the enemy desire time to bury their own dead. But here the slaughter
shall be so general that there shall not be a sufficient number of the
enemies left alive to bury the dead. And, besides, the slain lie so
dispersed on the mountains of Israel that it would be a work of time to find
them out; and therefore it is left to the house of Israel to bury them as a
piece of triumph in their overthrow. 1. A place shall be appointed on
purpose for the burying of them, the valley of the passengers, on the
east of the sea, either the salt sea or the sea of Tiberias, a valley
through which there was great passing and repassing of travellers between
Egypt and Chaldea. There shall be such a multitude of dead bodies,
putrefying above ground, with such a loathsome stench, that the travellers
who go that way shall be forced to stop their noses. See what vile
bodies ours are; when the soul has been a little while from them the smell
of them becomes offensive, no smell more nauseous or more noxious. There
therefore where the greatest number lay slain shall the burying-place be
appointed. In the place where the tree falls there let it lie. And it shall
be called, The valley of Hamon-gog, that is, of the multitude of
Gog; for that was the thing which was in a particular manner to be had
in remembrance. How numerous the forces of the enemy were which God defeated
and destroyed for the defence of his people Israel! 2. A considerable time
shall be spent in burying them, no less than seven months (v.
12), which is a further intimation that the slain of the Lord in this
action should be many and that great care should be taken by the house of
Israel to leave none unburied, that so they might cleanse the land
from the ceremonial pollution it contracted by the lying of so many dead
corpses unburied in it, for the prevention of which it was appointed that
those who were hanged on a tree should be speedily taken down and
buried, Deut. xxi. 23. This is an intimation that times of eminent
deliverances should be times of reformation. The more God has done for the
saving of a land from ruin the more the inhabitants should do for the
cleansing of the land from sin. 3. Great numbers shall be employed in this
work: All the people of the land shall be ready to lend a helping
hand to it, v. 13. Note, Every one should contribute the utmost he
can in his place towards the cleansing of the land from the pollutions of
it, and from every thing that is a reproach to it. Sin is a common enemy,
which every man should take up arms against. In publico discrimine
unusquisque homo miles est--In the season of public danger every man becomes
a soldier. And whoever shall assist in this work it shall be to them
a renown; though the office of grave-makers, or common scavengers of the
country, seem but mean, yet, when it is for the cleansing and purifying of
the land from dead works, it shall be mentioned to their honour. Note, Acts
of humanity add much to the renown of God's Israel; it is a credit to
religion when those that profess it are ready to every good work; and a good
work it is to bury the dead, yea, though they be strangers and enemies to
the commonwealth of Israel, for even they shall rise again. It shall be a
renown to them in the day when God will be glorified. Note, It is
for the glory of God when his Israel do that which adorns their profession;
others will see their good works and glorify their Father, Matt. v.
16. And when God is honoured he will put honour upon his people. His glory
is their renown. 4. Some particular persons shall make it their business to
search out the dead bodies, or any part of them that should remain unburied.
The people of the land will soon grow weary of burying the pollutions
of the country, and therefore they shall appoint men of continual
employment, that shall apply themselves to it and do nothing else till
the land be thoroughly cleansed; for, otherwise, that which is every one's
work would soon become nobody's work. Note, Those that are engaged in public
work, especially for the cleansing and reforming of a land, ought to be men
of continual employments, men that will stick to what they undertake and
go through with it, men that will apply themselves to it; and those that
will do good according to their opportunities will find themselves continually
employed. 5. Even the passengers shall be ready to give information to
those whose business it is to cleanse the land of what public nuisances they
meet with, which call for their assistance. Those that pass through the
land, though they will not stay to bury the dead themselves, lest they
should contract a ceremonial pollution, will yet give notice of those that
they find unburied. If they but discover a bone, they will set up a sign,
that the buriers may come and bury it, and that, till it is buried,
others may take need of touching it, for which reason their sepulchres among
the Jews were whitened, that people might keep at a distance from them.
Note, When good work is to be done every one should lend a hand to further
it, even the passengers themselves, who must not think themselves
unconcerned, in a common calamity, or a common iniquity, to put a stop to
it. Those whose work it is to cleanse the land must not countenance any
thing in it that is defiling; though it were not the body, but only the
bone, of a man, that was found unburied, they must encourage those who
will give information of it (private information, by a sign, concealing the
informer), that they may take it away, and bury it out of sight. Nay, after
the end of seven months, which was allowed them for this work, when all
is taken away that appeared at first view, they shall search for
more, that what is hidden may be brought to light; they shall search out
iniquity till they find none. In memory of this they shall give a new
name to their city. It shall be called Hamonah--The multitude. O what
a multitude of our enemies have we of this city buried! Thus shall they
cleanse the land, with all this care, with all this pains, v. 16.
Note, After conquering there must be cleansing. Moses appointed those
Israelites that had been employed in the war with the Midianites to purify
themselves, Num. xxxi. 24. Having received special favours from God, let
us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness.
III. The birds and beasts of prey shall rest upon the carcases of the slain
while they remain unburied and it shall be impossible to prevent them, v.
17, &c. We find a great slaughter represented by this figure, Rev. xix.
17, &c., which is borrowed from this.
1. There is a general invitation given, v. 17. It is to the fowl
of every wing and to every beast of the field, from the greatest
to the least, that preys upon carcases, from the eagle to the raven, from
the lion to the dog; let them all gather themselves on every side; here is
meat enough for them, and they are all welcome. Let them come to God's sacrifice,
to his feast; so the margin reads it. Note, The judgments of God,
executed upon sin and sinners, are both a sacrifice and a feast, a sacrifice
to the justice of God and a feast to the faith and hope of God's people.
When God broke the head of leviathan, he gave him to be meat to
Israel, Ps. lxxiv. 14. The righteous shall rejoice as at a feast when
he sees the vengeance, and shall wash his foot, as at a feast, in
the blood of the wicked. This sacrifice is upon the mountains of
Israel; these are the high places, the altars, where God has been
dishonoured by the idolatries of the people, but where he will now glorify
himself in the destruction of his enemies.
2. There is great preparation made: They shall eat the flesh of the
mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, v.
18, 19. (1.) It is the flesh and blood of men that they shall be treated
with. This has sometimes been an instance of the rebellion of the inferior
creatures against man their master, which is an effect of his rebellion
against God his Maker. (2.) It is the flesh and blood of great men, here
called rams, and bullocks, and great goats, all of them
fatlings of Bashan. It is the blood of the princes of the earth
that they shall regale themselves with. What a mortification is this to the
princes of the blood, as they call themselves, that God can make that blood,
that royal blood, which swells their veins, a feast for the birds and beasts
of prey! (3.) It is the flesh and blood of wicked men, the enemies of God's
church and people, that they are invited to. They had accounted the Israel
of God as sheep for the slaughter, and now they shall themselves be
so accounted; they had thus used the dead bodies of Gods' servants
(Ps. lxxix. 2), or would have done, and now it shall come upon themselves.
3. They shall all be fed, they shall all be feasted to the full (v.
19, 20): "You shall eat fat, and drink blood, which are
satiating surfeiting things. The sacrifice is great and the feast upon the
sacrifice is accordingly: You shall be filled at my table."
Note, God keeps a table for the inferior creatures; he provides food for
all flesh. The eyes of all wait upon him, and he satisfies
their desires, for he keeps a plentiful table. And if the birds and
beasts shall be filled at God's table, which he has prepared for them, much
more shall his children be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his
house, even of his holy temple. They shall be filled with horses and
chariots; that is, those who ride in the chariots, mighty men and men
of war, who triumphed over nations, are now themselves triumphed over by
the ravens of the valley and the young eagles, Prov. xxx. 17.
They thought to make an easy prey of God's Israel, and now they are
themselves an easy prey to the birds and beasts. See how evil pursues
sinners even after death. This exposing of their bodies to be a prey is
but a type and sign of those terrors which, after death, shall prey upon
their consciences (which the poetical fictions represented by a vulture
continually pecking at the heart), and this shame is but an earnest of the
everlasting shame and contempt they shall rise to.
IV. This shall redound very much both to the glory of God and to the comfort
and satisfaction of his people. 1. It shall be much for the honour of God,
for the heathen shall hereby be made to know that he is the Lord (v.
21): All the heathen shall see and observe my judgments that I
have executed, and thereby my glory shall be set among them. This
principle shall be admitted and established among them more than ever, that
the God of Israel is a great and glorious God. He is known to be so even
among the heathen, that have not, or read not, his written word, by the
judgments which he executes. 2. It shall be much for the satisfaction of
his people; for they shall hereby be made to know that he is their God (v.
22): The house of Israel shall know, abundantly to their comfort,
that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. (1.) He will
be so from that day and forward. God's present mercies are pledges and
assurances of further mercies. If God evidence to us that he is our God he
assures us that he will never leave us. This God is our God for ever and
ever. (2.) They shall know it with more satisfaction from that day and
forward. They had sometimes been ready to question whether the Lord was with
them or no; but the events of this day shall silence their doubts, and, the
matter being thus settled and made clear, it shall not be doubted of for the
future. As boasting in themselves is hereby for ever excluded, so boasting
in God is hereby for ever secured.
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Mercy
Promised to Israel.
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B.
C. 585.
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23 And the heathen shall know that the house
of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed
against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand
of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. 24 According to
their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto
them, and hid my face from them. 25 Therefore thus saith the
Lord GOD;
Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole
house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; 26 After
that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have
trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them
afraid. 27 When I have brought them again from the people, and
gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the
sight of many nations; 28 Then shall they know that I am
the LORD
their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but
I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any
more there. 29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them:
for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
This is the conclusion of the whole matter going before, and has reference
not only to the predictions concerning Gog and Magog, but to all the
prophecies of this book concerning the captivity of the house of Israel, and
then concerning their restoration and return out of their captivity.
I. God will let the heathen know the meaning of his people's troubles, and
rectify the mistake of those concerning them who took occasion from the
troubles of Israel to reproach the God of Israel, as unable to protect them
and untrue to his covenant with them. When God, upon their reformation and
return to him, turned again their captivity, and brought them back to their
own land, and, upon their perseverance in their reformation, wrought such
great salvations for them as that from the attempts of Gog upon them, then
it would be made to appear, even to the heathen that would but consider and
compare things, that there was no ground at all for their reflection, that
Israel went into captivity, not because God could not protect them, but
because they had by sin forfeited his favour and thrown themselves out of
his protection (v. 23, 24): The heathen shall know that the house
of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, that iniquity which
they learned from the heathen their neighbours, because they trespassed
against God. That was the true reason why God hid his face from them
and gave them into the hand of their enemies. It was according to
their uncleanness and according to their transgressions. Now the
evincing of this will not only silence their reflections on God, but will
redound greatly to his honour; when the troubles of God's people are over,
and we see the end of them, we shall better understand them than we did at
first. And it will appear much for the glory of God when the world is made
to know, 1. That God punishes sin even in his own people, because he hates
it most in those that are nearest and dearest to him, Amos iii. 2. It is the
praise of justice to be impartial. 2. That, when God gives up his people for
a prey, it is to correct them and reform them, not to gratify their enemies,
Isa. x. 7; xlii. 24. Let not them therefore exalt themselves. 3. That no
sooner do God's people humble themselves under the rod than he returns in
mercy to them.
II. God will give his own people to know what great favour he has in store
for them notwithstanding the troubles he had brought them into (v.
25, 26): Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob.
1. Why now? Now God will have mercy upon the whole house of
Israel
, (1.) Because it is time for him to stand up for his own glory,
which suffers in their sufferings: Now will I be jealous for my holy
name, that that may no longer be reproached. (2.) Because now they
repent of their sins: They have borne their shame, and all their
trespasses. When sinners repent, and take shame to themselves, God will
be reconciled and put honour upon them. It is particularly pleasing to God
that these penitents look a great way back in their penitential reflections,
and are ashamed of all their trespasses which they were guilty of when
they dwelt safely in their land and none made them afraid. The
remembrance of the mercies they enjoyed in their own land, and the divine
protection they were under there, shall be improved as an aggravation of the
sins they committed in that land; they dwelt safely, and might have
continued to dwell so, and none should have given them any disquiet or
disturbance if they had continued in the way of their duty. Nay, therefore
they trespassed because they dwelt safely. Outward safety is often a
cause of inward security, and that is an inlet to all sin, Ps. lxxiii. Now
this they are willing to bear the shame of, and acknowledge that God has
justly brought them into a land of trouble, where every one makes them
afraid, because they had trespassed against him in a land of peace, where
none made them afraid. And, when they thus humble themselves under humbling
providences, God will bring again their captivity: and,
2. What then? When God has gathered them out of their enemies' hands, and
brought them home again, (1.) Then God will have the praise of it: I will be
sanctified in them in the sight of many nations, v. 27. As God
was reproached in the reproach they were under during their captivity, so he
will be sanctified in their reformation and the making of them a holy people
again, and will be glorified in their restoration and the making of them a
happy glorious people again. (2.) Then they shall have the benefit of it (v.
28): They shall know that I am the Lord their God. Note, The
providences of God concerning his people, that are designed for their good,
have the grace of God going along with them to teach them to eye God as the
Lord, and their God, in all; and then they do them good. They shall eye him
as the Lord and their God, [1.] In their calamities, that it was he who caused
them to be led into captivity; and therefore they must not only submit
to his will, but endeavour to answer his end in it. [2.] In their comfort,
that it is he who has gathered them to their own land, and left none
of them among the heathen. Note, By the variety of events that befal us, if
we look up to God in all, we may come to acquaint ourselves better with his
various attributes and designs. (3.) Then God and they will never part, v.
29. [1.] God will pour out his Spirit upon them, to prevent their
departures from him and returns to folly again, and to keep them close to
their duty. And then, [2.] He will never hide his face any more from
them, will never suspend his favour as he had done; he will never turn
from doing them good, and, in order to that, he will effectually provide
that they shall never turn from doing him service. Note, The indwelling of
the Spirit is an infallible pledge of the continuance of God's favour. He
will hide his face no more from those on whom he has poured out his
Spirit. When therefore we pray that God would never cast us away from
his presence we must as earnestly pray that, in order to that, he would never
take his Holy Spirit away from us, Ps. li. 11.
