So are children of the youth.'

Cast forth lightning, and scatter them;

Shoot out thine Arrows, and destroy them.m
For I will not trust in my Bow,

Neither shall my sword save me."

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the Bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire."

There brake he the Arrows of the Bow,

The shield, and the sword, and the battle.P

They turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers:

They were turned aside like a deceitful Bow.9

And Elam bare the quiver

With chariots of men and horsemen,

And Kir uncovered the shield."

He gave them as dust to his sword,

And as driven stubble to his Bow.s

And (he hath) made me a polished shaft ;

In his quiver hath he hid me.t

Thus saith the Lord of hosts: "Behold, I will break

the Bow of Elam,

The chief of all their might."

Their Arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man ;

None shall return in vain.

Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about : All ye that bend the Bow,

Shoot at her, spare no Arrows;

For she hath sinned against the Lord.

Call together the archers against Babylon;

All

ye

that bend the Bow,

Camp against it round about;

Let none thereof escape.

Behold a people shall come from the north, and a great nation,

And many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

They shall hold the Bow and the lance;

They are cruel, and will not shew mercy.▾

He (the Lord) hath bent his Bow like an enemy, he stood with his right hand as an adversary."

He hath bent his Bow, and set me as a mark for the Arrow.

He hath caused the Arrows of his quiver to enter into my veins.x

I will smite thy Bow out of thy left hand,

And will cause thine Arrows to fall out of thy right hand.y

I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by Bow, nor by sword nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen,

I will break the Bow and the sword, and the battle out of the earth,

And will make them to lie down safely.a

Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift,
And the strong shall not strengthen his force,
Neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
Neither shall he stand that handleth the Bow;

And he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself:
Neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.
And he that is courageous among the mighty,
Shall flee away naked in that day.b

Thy Bow was made quite naked,

According to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word.
The sun and moon stood still in their habitation :
At the light of thine Arrows they went,

And at the shining of thy glittering spear.c

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim,

And the horse from Jerusalem,

And the battle Bow shall be cut off:

And he shall speak peace unto the heathen :

His dominion shall be from sea even to sea,

And from the river even to the ends of the earth.
Out of him came forth the corner,

Out of him the nail,

Out of him the battle Bow,

Out of him every oppressor together.

The foe assails them day and night,
Assails them to the last.

But let us still remember this,

To faith it stands disclos'd,
The Lord, who saves us, greater is
Than all who are oppos'd.

We need not flee, we need not fear,
Since he who reigns above,
In all our conflicts will be near
The people of his love.

Our foes are strong, and many too,
Yet why these doubts and fears?
For while we keep our Lord in view,
Our strength is more than theirs.
If thus we face the adverse powers,
If thus we meet the strife,

The victory will then be ours,

And ours a crown of life.

KELLY.

Doctrinal Enstruction.

The Christian's strength lies in the Lord, not in himself. The strength of the general, in other hosts, lies in his troops: he flies, as a great commander once said to his soldiers, upon their wings; if their feathers be clipped, their power broken, he is lost. But in the army of saints, the strength of every saint, yea, in the whole host of saints, lies in the Lord of Hosts. God can overcome his enemies without their hands, but they cannot so much as defend themselves without his arm.

It is one of God's names, "The Strength of Israel.”g He was the strength of David's heart; without him this valiant worthy, that could, when held up in His arms, defy him that defied a whole army, behaves himself strangely for fear, at a word or two that dropped from the Philistine's mouth. He was the strength of his hands; "He taught his fingers to fight," and so is the strength of all his saints in this war against sin and Satan. Some propound a question, whether there be a sin committed in the world, in which Satan hath not a part? But if the question were, whether there be any holy action performed without the special assistance of God concurring? that is resolved, "Without me ye can do nothing."h Thinking strength of God, "Not that we are sufficient as of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."i We apostles, we saints, that have habitual grace, yet this lies, like water at the bottom of a well, which will not ascend with all our pumping, till God pour in his exciting grace, and then it comes. To will is more than to think; to exert our will into action, more than both; these are of God, "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.' "k He makes the heart new, and having made it for heavenly motion, setting every wheel, as it were, in its right place, then he winds it up by his actuating grace, and sets it on going, the thoughts to stir, the will to move, and make towards the holy object presented; yet here the chariot is set, and cannot ascend the hill of action till God puts his shoulder to the wheel. "To will is present with

1 Sam, xv. 29.

h John xv. 5.

i2 Cor. iii. 5. k Phil. ii. 13.