THE GOD OF ZION

A SERMON

by MISTER JAMES WELLS

by MISTER JAMES WELLS

Preached on Sunday Morning 20th, February 1870

VOLUME 12 Number 589

“For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death.” Psalm 48:14

The Lord God Almighty is the God of a believing people in a way that he is the God of none other; that while he is the Father of us all, all creatures, for all are the offspring of his creative power as a God of creation, yet that relation in which we stand to him and the relation meant in our text are two very different things. There are a people called spiritually the seed of Abraham, and to these God is a Father in a way that he is to none others; to these he is a Savior in a way that he is to none others; and he is, as our text says, their God for ever and ever, and will be their guide even unto death. Oh, what a great and noble end shall I instrumentally attain this morning even if I go no farther than this, to say something that shall bring some of you that are doubting and fearing as to whether you are born of God, whether you really are saved souls, and whether this God is your God, if the Lord shall enable me to say something that shall bring such discouraged ones out of their discouragement; and if the word should come with such savor and power as to make you feel sure in your own soul that if the Lord meant to destroy you he would not have shown you what he has; for I shall say nothing this morning which you will not be able clearly to understand. And then again, what a great end will be attained if there should be only one here this morning that knows not the Lord, and has never yet obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, if the eyes of such a one should be opened to see eternity apart from Christ, to see death apart from Christ, to see sin apart from Christ, and to see the law of God apart from Christ; then such an one would be convinced that he is in an evil case, and he would be led to see that whatever he now possesses must soon depart from him, and that there is but one people, and that is a Christian people, that are really, substantially, and truly a happy people; happy is that people, and that people only, whose God is the Lord. If there be any here this morning spiritually dead, may the Lord awaken you, and lead you to seek the God of Zion, lead you to seek salvation by what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. So then, those that know their need of mercy know that to call the Lord their God is one of the highest honors that can be conferred upon any soul while on earth, to be blessed with the divine spirit of adoption, whereby to cry, “Abba, Father.”

Our text is a very great text; indeed, and I shall occupy your time chiefly upon two parts, though there are really more than two contained in the text. First, the representation which is here given of the Lord; Secondly, the privilege here expressed, “he will be our guide even unto death.”

First, the representation which is here given of the Lord. “This God.” It is a note of distinction. There are various ways in which the Lord is pleased to reveal himself to his children, and there are five things which we are commanded to do in the preceding verses; and if we can do those five things this morning, it will lead us into something like the meaning of this text. “This God.” It is a note of distinction; it means God in some particular relation or relations to men; and if we can enter somewhat into those relations, I am sure each will then say, “Be this God my God, my portion, and that forever.” Our text is nothing else but the summing up of the preceding commands. We are commanded to walk about Zion; secondly, to go round about her; thirdly, to tell the towers thereof; fourthly, to mark well her bulwarks; and fifthly, to consider her palaces; because in all these we learn what the Lord is to his people, and it gives emphasis to the declaration here made. “This God,” who has thus manifested himself, “is our God for ever and ever, he will be our guide even unto death.” Now the first thing is, then, we are to walk about Zion; and the first thing presented when we come to Zion is that of peace. The very word Jerusalem, connected with Zion, signifies “the vision of peace; so, the first thing in coming to Zion that we meet with is that of peace, reconciliation to God. Let us take the Lord's word as our guide. It stands thus: “Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities.” Just glance for one moment at the three great typical solemnities and see how it brings us to the thought which is there presented in the next words, “Look upon Zion, the city of cur solemnities.” First, there is the paschal lamb; that is one solemnity. There is our escape from sin, and guilt, and wrath, curse, and hell, by the paschal lamb. Our confidence must be in the Paschal lamb, our confidence must be in Christ, the paschal lamb. Ah! what a lovely, beautiful way of escape. While you have nothing but sin in yourselves, do you not find it hard work to believe that you shall really escape simply, exclusively, and entirely, by the Lord Jesus Christ, by the blood of Christ? That is the first great solemnity. The second great solemnity was that of the first fruits. In the first solemnity, you have your escape from the sword, and in the second solemnity you have acceptance with God. As the first fruits were accepted, the whole harvest was accepted by the first fruits. Ah, sweet Redeemer! just look at him in this character. Here are we, as sinners, repulsive to every perfection of the Most High God, a deadly antagonism between what we are and what God is, and none but Christ could take away that deadly antagonism, could destroy that enmity that existed between us and God. Christ has destroyed that, brought in everlasting righteousness. The first fruits were accepted, and all the harvest accepted by the first fruits; so, the sweet words, “approved in Christ,” not in self, “accepted in Christ,” not in self, “complete in Christ,” not in self, we have all in Christ, there is our acceptance with God. Ah, my hearer, never seek for any confession, for any prayer, or for your person to be now accepted, or for you to be received at a dying hour, or at the last day to be received to glory, but by Jesus Christ; and you want nothing but him, he is all-sufficient. Then the third great solemnity was that of the feast of tabernacles, when the harvest and the vintage so filled their garners as to afford all manner of store. There should be no lack of anything, they should eat in plenty, and praise the name of the Lord their God; no breaking in, no going out, no complaining in the streets. This is Zion. Here, then, friends, we walk about Zion, and the very first feature is that of peace; here is peace. Jesus has destroyed the antagonism, taken away by the sacrifice of himself; we were born of a new nature; that new nature, that incorruptible seed, is exactly the same as Christ.

Hence, we are said to have the spirit of Christ, the likeness of Christ, the truth of Christ, and the mind of Christ. We thus become reconciled to God by these three great solemnities, the paschal lamb to take away our sin; Christ is the first fruits, that gives us acceptance; Christ having brought in the vintage and the harvest, infinite and eternal plenty, so that we can never come to want. No, said David, “I have not seen the righteous forsaken,” righteous as they stand in Christ, “nor his seed begging bread;” that never did and never can take place. The children of God have begged bread literally, but none has ever been sent away to beg bread spiritually; there always was, is now, and ever will be, bread enough in our Father's house and to spare for every poor coming sinner that feels his need of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. “Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; your eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.” All is fixed, all settled, all peaceful. And notice the language, “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.” Here, then, is peace by these solemnities of Zion, Zion expressive of that order of things where the Lord has commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. “you shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation;” that is, the city of God. Who can disturb its foundation? who can stop the flow of its mighty waters? who can scale its jasper walls? who can shake those bulwarks we presently have to notice? who can undermine her towers? Mount Zion cannot be removed; these things remain and remain eternally. So, then, the city is in this respect made like God himself; no, the people are made like God himself in this respect, for “they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion that cannot be removed, but abides forever.” Now come, before I go any further, what do you say, little ones? Do you say that this God is your God, at least in a way of choice; that you are led to choose this God as your hope, that you are led to choose this God in a way of approbation, that you do approve of this glorious way of saving a sinner, because nothing else could save you? Well, then, come, let us, the Lord enabling us, take a little courage. “Blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me.” Our God loves Zion; and if we love Zion too, then we belong to Zion, and shall never be sent away from Zion. See what the Lord will be unto us in this Zion; he will be unto us “a place of broad rivers.” Now these broad rivers mean the broad blessings and broad mercies of the Lord by which he covers all the desert. Ah! the soul is a desert, and we are as a desert; but these broad rivers which the Lord is cover all the desert. I cannot perhaps do better than quote the words of Dr. Watts here,

“It rises high, and drowns the hills,

Has neither shore nor bound;

Now if we search to find our sins,

Our sins can ne'er be found.”

Here this salvation rolls abundant, free, and clear; a place of broad rivers and streams, that branch out to wherever the scattered, solitary ones are; and if you be ever so far in the wilderness, and a long way from God apparently, in the wilderness shall waters break out and Satan shall be sent off, your soul brought near to God, and you may well say that the Lord has given a wise command in saying, “Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities;” for there it is we see the glory of God, there it is, our hearts are constrained to say, “Be this God our God for ever and ever, and our guide even unto death.” Here is peace, then, a quiet habitation; everything peaceful, and everything healthful. That is a sweet promise, “The inhabitant shall no more say, I am sick.” Now nearly all of us will have to go out of the world by sickness, by disease; we shall hardly know ourselves when we get to heaven; there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing, no pain; and we shall hardly know ourselves when we rise at the last great day; but there stands the promise, “the inhabitant shall no more say, I am sick” And why not? Because all cause of sickness is gone; for they shall be forgiven their iniquity by the solemnities that we have noticed. So then, “walk about Zion;” and if we walk about Zion, the more extensive our acquaintance with it is, the more it endears the Lord. In walking about Zion, we see all is firm, all is tranquil, all is peaceful; nothing can break down. This is the new covenant Zion, this is that Jerusalem which is from above; it is all peaceful, there is no adversary, no evil; the people in that city are, as it were, sitting from Dan to Beersheba, eating and drinking, and making merry, for there is no sorrow in Zion, there is no grief in Zion, that is to say, not in Zion abstractedly considered; the people of God are spoken of as being in Zion, and the Lord will give beauty for ashes to them that mourn in Zion, but their mourning is in themselves; they are in Zion, but the mourning is in themselves; there is nothing to mourn there, nothing to grieve about.

But not only are we to recognize the peace of God by that state of things which he has established, we are to “go around about Zion, and see how it is outside.” Well, suppose I go around about it, what shall I find then? I shall find this; that “as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people henceforth and forever.” This God is our God “for ever and ever.” So then, in going around about Zion, I learn the protection I have.

“A sovereign Protector I have,

Unseen, yet forever at hand.”

So, the Lord is round about mount Zion for ever and ever; he has removed all reasons why he should forsake the people. Never mind what men say about these great things; you must not listen to them, or you might do nothing else. And Satan is sometimes pleased with us when we descend from our royal dignity to notice what persons say against God's truth. We know we must do sometimes, for the sake of disentangling a little one that may be in danger of being led astray, as the apostle did in his Epistle to the Galatians; but as a general rule our better way is to keep to God's truth, and let us see what it is to us. Here, then, the Lord has removed every reason why he should forsake his people. No sin of which they are the subjects before called by grace can form a reason why he should forsake them; for while we were in a state of nature, the Lord then held us as objects of his love and choice; he then held us free from sin by the work of his dear Son, and therefore there was no reason why he should leave or forsake us then.

In our state by nature,

“See how heaven's indulgent care

Attends our wanderings here and there.”

And there is nothing that can overtake the Lord's people after called by grace that can form any reason why he should forsake them. If I could receive the doctrine that the Lord's continuing with me depends upon something, in a way of merit, good in me, I should not have hope any longer. But so far from the Lord's continuing with me depending upon anything good in me, my continuing with him depends upon the good that is in him. Hence the Lord says, “I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me.” And besides, I hope we mean what we say most deeply, most solemnly and decisively when we sing these words, and you generally seem to sing them as if you did.

“Tis grace that kept me to this day,

And will not let me go.”

Hence, then, “this God,” not only as a God of peace, but of protection, “is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death.” We want more faith in God, more confidence in God, and that would give us more love and more devotion to him. Faith that does not devote us to God is no faith at all. Whatever assurance a man may boast of, if that assurance does not devote him to God it is a false assurance, it is presumption, it is something self-assumed, and rather an insult upon God. Therefore, it is that the more faith we have, the more we shall be devoted to God; the more assurance we have, the more we shall be devoted to him, the more we shall love his people, his truth, his name, his cause, his ways, and the more we shall see and feel that the very essence of all the blessedness of our existence lies in eternal and indissoluble oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ.

But we are also to “tell the towers thereof.” In the first case, we have a peaceful city, in the second case we have protection, and now we are to tell the towers. What are we to understand by the towers? We may understand four things; they are all expressive of what the Lord is in the dear relations in which he stands to his people. We may in the first place by the tower understand the Lord himself; as David said in the 61st Psalm, “you have been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.” Ah, look at it for a moment, I am afraid I shall not do justice to this part. “Tell the towers thereof.” Let us begin with God: let us view him first as the tower. David said, “you are my high tower, my strong tower.” So then if God himself be the tower, how by him may we defy everything. Who can move God our Father from us? We may stand in the love and power of God our Father, for none shall pluck us, said the Savior, out of his Father's hands. We may stand there and defy every foe: we may stand there and look down upon all the attempts of hell, and the world, and tribulation, and smile at the whole of it. He is therefore the tower. So, Jesus Christ, he is the tower: he must be overcome before we can be moved; and so, the Holy Spirit is the tower: in other words, God in a covenant ordered in all things and sure, this immutable God must be moved before the people can be fatally moved. Here then is the first tower to begin with, God himself. Secondly, the relation in which he stands. “The name of the Lord,” alluding, no doubt, to the dear Savior, “is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe.” The righteous: no man can run to that tower unless he is a righteous man; and how is he a righteous man? By faith in Christ and therefore, being a righteous man by faith in Christ, that very fact brings him to God, that very truth brings him to Christ. If we were righteous by someone else, we should be drawn there; if we were saved by someone else, we might be drawn there; if we had life in some other way, we might be drawn there; but no, it is by Jesus Christ we have safety, for he is the Surety of the covenant, and as we derive everything from him we are drawn to him. So, look at our God as standing by us with all the firmness of an immoveable tower; look at the dear Redeemer's name as standing by us with all the firmness of an immoveable tower. Then, thirdly, he is called “the tower of the flock.” In the first case there is safety; in the next case there is attraction; “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe.” Then in the 4th of Micah Christ is called “the tower of the flock;” the association of the tower there is that of dominion, “And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto you shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” So, if we take our stand here, by faith in Christ, that is the way the kingdom is to come to us. There is a tower that defies the enemy, there is a tower of strength by which the people reign; and the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem; that is, by faith in Christ the kingdom shall come: the kingdom shall be given to the saints of the Most High, and they shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever. Now lest I should confuse your minds here, let me again remind you that our text is simply a summary of all this. In the first case the Lord appears to us as a God of peace; and does not that endear him? In the second case he appears as a God of protection; and does not that endear him? In the third case he appears here in various forms as our refuge and strength, and does not that endear him? “This God,” then, who has taken this position, and made us citizens of this glorious and heavenly city, “is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death.” And I am sure if we are right-minded, we shall have no desire to part with such a God as this.

But we are also to “mark well her bulwarks.” What are the bulwarks? The Holy Scriptures are clear upon what the bulwarks are. It is carrying out the same idea, namely, not only peace, but the great care which the Lord takes of us, and the way in which he takes that great care of us. See how Isaiah was led into this beautiful truth. “In that day” some have wondered when that day shall be. Why, friends, that day pointed especially to the New Testament dispensation, and of course goes on to all eternity. “In that day shall this song be sung” so as the people recognize this eternal and immoveable mercy and goodness of God, they are made happy. “In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah” not the land of Judah literally, but the land of Judah spiritually, “we have a strong city: salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.” Cannot you catch the idea, friends? It simply means that the blessed God abides by you by the salvation of Christ; that he abides by you on every side by the salvation of Christ. “Mark you well her bulwarks.” Now is there any weak part in this salvation? I have never found one yet. If there were a weak part somewhere, we might be a little suspicious over that weak part. It strikes me there would have been a weak part if what some divines tell us be true. It is really surprising how men go on with that mistake. I was looking at a sermon yesterday, in which the author, speaking of a minister a little bit discouraged, says, “But the minister happened to open the Bible at that scripture where it says that Jesus Christ fainted under his cross, and so they compelled Simon, a Cyrenian, to bear his cross.” Well, for the life of me I never could find any scripture that said Jesus Christ fainted; but so, they go on; and I was told, not long ago, by a good Christian person, “You know Jesus Christ fainted under his cross.” Well, I said, I never heard of it: heard of it among men I have, but it does not say so in the Bible, not in my Bible, the authorized version, as they say. What! the Lord Jesus Christ faint under a piece of wood! Why, he could have taken the whole globe upon his shoulders without fainting under it. He sweat great drops of blood, but never fainted; he bore our sins, but never fainted; he bore the tremendous weight of the curse of the law, but never fainted; he bore upon him all the responsibilities of the eternal welfare of a number that none but God can number, but he never fainted. That would have been a weak part. Why, the enemy might have said, What a Savior yours is! You expect him to bear your sins away, swallow up death in victory, bring the perfections of God together, magnify God's law, and bring you to heaven, and yet he could not carry a piece of wood without fainting! There would have been a weak part then. Jesus Christ faint! Isaiah would have made a mistake if he had; and Isaiah spoke by the infallible inspiration of the eternal Spirit of God: “He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” Have you ever seen any weakness in any word he said, in any miracle he wrought, in any act he ever did? And was he not the same Almighty Person when he yielded up the ghost that he was at the first? Yes, was he not God Almighty even when he was in the manger? Mister Hart is right when he says:

“He held up heaven and earth,

While many held up him.”

“Mark you well her bulwarks.” See the stability of his life; see the stability of his doings; see the stability of his atonement; see the stability of his triumphant resurrection; see the stability of his ascension. He ascended to come no more until he shall come to take his wanderers home to the glorious mansions that he has prepared for them, for he is not ashamed to be called their God; he has prepared for them a city; and that they may come to it he will be their God for ever and ever, and their guide even unto death. “Mark you well her bulwarks.” See how firm they are, how immoveable; see how they stand. They are called jasper walls because of their richness and called high because of their loftiness. “you shall call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.” Here is a God of peace, a God of protection, a God to be a refuge, and a God of strength. Isaiah would not allow any weak part, and therefore in connection with this, in his 26th chapter, says, “Trust you in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” So then, “Mark well her bulwarks.” You Wesleyans, you have never marked well her bulwarks yet; or if you have, you have not understood them. According to your doctrine, some may fall through somewhere or another; there is a weak part somewhere. But no, friends, there is no weakness with him. “have you not known, have you,” at least, “not heard, that the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not?” He died, but never fainted; he laid down his life, but never fainted; he could have shed the last drop of his blood, which no mere creature could have done, without fainting; he could do what none but such a person could do. And the more you see of the stability of his work, the less confidence you will have in the flesh, and the less doubts and fears you will have about your own salvation. Why, ten thousand of our doubts and fears arise from want of a knowledge of what God's salvation is. There is the legal bias of your old nature, a notion that you must do something, must be this, that, and the other, whereas Christ came into the world to save sinners, and sinners only. As Mister Hart says, a convinced sinner, really and truly convinced,

“A sinner is a sacred thing,

The Holy Ghost has made him so”

But we are also to “consider her palaces.” What do the palaces mean? First, the temple of old is called a palace. “The palace is not for man, but for God.” And there were two compartments, the holy and the most holy; and those palaces are well worth considering; first, because of the candlestick and the shewbread, as a type of the truth that the people of God are brought into the light and brought to where the provision of Zion is; and then the holy of holies, into which the high priest entered once in the year, as a type of Christ entering into heaven for us. These palaces, then, where God dwelt are worth considering, but we will not stop this morning to consider them. The churches of Jesus Christ also are called palaces in the 5th of Micah; “This man,” see how it comes in with our subject; what beautiful harmony there is in the new covenant; there are plenty of verbal contradictions in the Bible, but when we come to view matters in their own light, all is harmonious. “This man,” Christ Jesus, “shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land; and when he shall tread in our palaces.” There the churches are called palaces. The Assyrian there represents persecutors, and they were very well suited for this representation, because the ancient Assyrians were great persecutors of the people of God, and you see how in Hezekiah's day the Assyrians were overcome. But the prophet there points to the apostolic age, when the enemy should come into our palaces; and he did; he came into the palaces by his agents, and martyred, destroyed a number which none of us know; we only know the number was very great indeed; yet Christ was their peace. “Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men;” that is, the testimonies of the prophets and apostles. That is the way the martyrs were supported, and could say, with the apostle, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Passing by many things, notice another clause, “that you may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever.” Now, look back at the city, and look at all the five points, and compare them with our text. There is the city of peace; “This God is our God for ever and ever;” that is, here is everlasting peace. Then the mountains round about; the Lord God is round about us for ever and ever. And then the towers, he is our high tower for ever and ever. Then the bulwarks; his salvation will be the bulwarks for ever and ever. And then the palaces heaven with its many mansions will be our palaces forever. That is a very mysterious scripture, “In my Father's house are many mansions.” It suggests an order; there is an order of residence in heaven, perfect order; all palaces; you shall have a palace, I shall have a palace, we shall all have a palace. Are you going to live by yourself, then? No, I am going to live with the Lord, and with you too; not in a way that will inconvenience you, nor you in a way that will inconvenience me. “In my Father's house are many mansions;” perfect order and these will be our palaces forever; “if it were not so, I would have told you.” I go to arrange everything for you; it will be ready by the time you are. And so the Lord is taking one and taking another just as the palaces are prepared, if I may so far speak after the manner of men; and then, by and by, when all the palaces are prepared, everything arranged, and all settled for us to come to eternity, he will come and put an end to this world, the top stone shall be brought home, the last shall be gathered in, and the city shall be peopled all at once, to the perfect satisfaction of the saints, and to God's infinite and eternal glory. I have been weak enough and wicked enough sometimes to wish I had been the apostle Paul. He kept it to himself for fourteen years. I should have said if I had been there, Well, Paul, just give us a hint or two. Oh, it is not lawful; I do think I should have tried to persuade him to tell something. How did you feel; what did you see? what did you hear? Ah, it is no use. I cannot describe what I saw. Well, what did you hear? Why, words that I could not imitate; the words were so eloquent, and so elegant, and so sublime, and so soft, and so soothing, and so lightning-like, and so penetrating, and so delightful, that every word sent a happiness through me; I do not know whether I was in the body or out of the body. Bless the Lord, it will not be long we shall have to wait; our eyes will by and by behold those crystal walls and streets of shining gold: the glory will break in ere long, and when we see that celestial city, what mean views we shall have of this poor clay cottage world, and of this poor mortal body, when clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. Now, this beautiful little paragraph, consisting of two verses, begins with “Zion,” and ends with “palaces,” in other words, it begins with peace, and ends with palaces. Reconciliation to God is everything; if brought into reconciliation with him, it must lead to everything that is both in the present and the future divinely good.

Secondly, a word upon the privilege here expressed, “He will be our guide even unto death.” I can say only just a word upon the Lord's guiding, and it is this, the foundation part of the Lord's guiding is, that he guides us to Christ, and he guides us by Christ; he takes us along by him. When once you are brought to receive Jesus Christ, everything will give way after that. So then, by him the Lord leads us along. I ought almost to apologize, because it is not long ago, I referred to that beautiful scripture, but it comes in very nicely here upon the Lord's guiding us. I mean that in the 11th of Exodus, when the Lord would guide the people to the paschal lamb, to the way in which they were to escape, do you know what he said when he instituted that? The words are beautiful. When he instituted the paschal lamb, he said, “There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” Ah, here it is; it is the Paschal Lamb that shuts the mouths of my sins, and they cannot even groan against me; it is the Paschal Lamb that shuts the mouths of my enemies; the Paschal Lamb that takes away the power of my adversities, takes away the power of death itself; the sting of death is gone. “Against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue.” So then, if the Lord be our guide, this will be the foundation of his goodness. “Everyone that has heard and learned of my Father comes unto me.” Now here is the Egyptian host. What signifies that? You have the paschal lamb, and God on your side by the paschal lamb. Here is the sea before us. What signifies that? You have the paschal lamb, and God on your side by the paschal lamb. Oh, here is a terrible desert before us. What signifies that? You have the paschal lamb, and God on your side by the paschal Iamb; and he can bring water out of the rock, and manna from heaven. But here are a great many enemies, Amalekites, and Amorites, and I don't know what all. What of that? You have the paschal Iamb, and God on your side by the paschal lamb. Well, but here is Jordan overflowing all its banks. What of that? You have the paschal lamb, and God on your side by the paschal lamb. Ah, but look at the giants, and highwalled cities that stand in the way of our gaining the promised land. What of that? You have the paschal lamb, and God.