is one of their triumphant utterances: 'Thou wilt bless the righteous;
with favour wilt Thou compass him as with a shield.' That crystal
battlement, if I may so vary the figure, is round a man, keeping far
away from him all manner of real evil, and filling his quiet heart as
he stands erect behind the rampart, with the sense of absolute
security. That is one of the blessings that God's favour or goodwill
will secure for us. Again, we read: 'By Thy favour Thou hast made my
mountain to stand strong.' He that knows himself to be the object of
the divine delight, and who by faith knows himself to be the object of
the divine activity in protection, stands firm, and his purposes will
be carried through, because they will be purposes in accordance with
the divine mind, and nothing has power to shake him. So he that grasps
the hand of God can say, not because of his grasp, but because of the
Hand that he holds, 'The Lord is at my right hand; I shall not be
greatly moved. By Thy favour Thou hast made our mountain to stand
strong.' And again, in another analogous but yet diversified
representation, we read: 'In Thee shall we rejoice all the day, and in
Thy favour shall our horn be exalted.' That is the emblem, not only of
victory, but of joyful confidence, and so he who knows himself to have
God for his friend and his helper, can go through the world keeping a
sunny face, whatever the clouds may be, erect and secure, light of
heart and buoyant, holding up his chin above the stormiest waters, and
breasting all difficulties and dangers with a confidence far away from
presumption, because it is the consequence of the realisation of God's
presence. So the goodwill of God is the chiefest good.

Now, if we turn to the remarkable designation of the divine nature
which is here, consider what rivers of strength and of blessedness flow
out of the thought that for each of us 'the goodwill of Him that dwelt
in the bush' may be our possession.