it lives, nor to exhaustion because it energises, nor to emptiness
because it bestows, but after all times is the same; lives by its own
energy and is independent. 'I am that I have become,'--that is what men
have to say. 'I am that I once was not, and again once shall not be,'
is what men have to say. 'I am that I am' is God's name. And this
eternal, ever-living, self-sufficing, absolute, independent, unwearied,
inexhaustible God is the God whose favour is as inexhaustible as
Himself, and eternal as His own being. 'Therefore the sons of men shall
put their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings,' and, if they have
'the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush,' will be able to say,
'Because Thou livest we shall live also.'

What more does the name say? He 'that dwelt in the bush' dwelt there in
order to deliver; and, dwelling there, declared 'I have seen the
affliction of My people, and am come down to deliver them.' So, then,
if the goodwill of that eternal, delivering God is with us, we, too,
may feel that our trivial troubles and our heavy burdens, all the needs
of our prisoned wills and captive souls, are known to Him, and that we
shall have deliverance from them by Him. Brethren, in that name, with
its historical associations, with its deep revelations of the divine
nature, with its large promises of the divine sympathy and help, there
lie surely abundant strengths and consolations for us all. The
goodwill, the delight, of God, and the active help of God, may be ours,
and if these be ours we shall be blessed and strong.

Do not let us forget the place in this blessing on the head of Joseph
which my text holds. It is preceded by an invoking of the precious
things of Heaven, and 'the precious fruits brought forth by the sun...
of the chief things of the ancient mountains, and the precious things
of the lasting hills, and the precious things of the earth and the