strength into keeping fast hold of Israel, and no one can pluck His
people from His hands.

Then, with a sudden and striking change of metaphor, the prophet passes
from a picture of the extreme of fierceness to one of the extreme of
tenderness. 'As birds flying'--mother birds fluttering over their
nests--'so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem,' hovering over it
and going from side to side to defend with His broad pinions, 'passing
over, He will preserve it.' These figures are next translated into the
plain promise of utter discomfiture and destruction, panic and flight as
the portion of the enemies of Israel, and the whole has this broad seal
set to it, that He who promises is 'the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and
His furnace in Jerusalem.'

We shall not understand these great words if we regard them as only a
revelation of destructive and terrible power. They are that indeed, but
they are far more than that. It is the very beauty and completeness of
this emblem that has a double aspect, and is no less rich in joy and
blessing than pregnant with warning and terror. As Isaiah says in
another place, Jerusalem is 'Ariel,' which probably means 'the hearth of
God.' His presence in the city is as a fire for the comfort and defence
of the happy inhabitants, and at the same time for the destruction of
all evil and enemies. Far more truly than He dwelt in the city of David
does God dwell in the Church, and His presence is its security. What,
then, of instruction and hope may we gather from this wonderful emblem?

I. In the Church, God is present as a great reservoir of fervid love.

Every language has taken fire as the symbol of love and emotion. We
speak so naturally of warm love, fervent feeling, glowing earnestness,