Psalms 80:9

20. But because these things are known to men, in that they are done by men, they may well meet with reverence as being holy things, but they cannot cause wonder as being miracles. And therefore those things which are done by angels are the more wonderful to us, in that they are more difficult and more known; but they are known and easy to them as being their own actions. An angel speaks in the person of God to man, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;” the Scripture having said just before, “The angel of the Lord appeared to him.” And a man also speaks in the person of God, saying, “Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee, O Israel: I am the Lord thy God.” A rod was taken to serve as a sign, and was changed into a serpent by angelical power; but although that power is wanting to man, yet a stone was taken also by man for a similar sign. …

10. “In tribulation thou didst call on Me, and I delivered thee” ( ver. 8 ). Let each Christian conscience recognise itself, if it have devoutly passed the Red Sea, if with faith in believing and observing it hath heard a strange language which it knew not, let it recognise itself as having been heard in its tribulation. For that was a great tribulation, to be weighed down with loads of sins. How does the conscience, lifted from the earth, rejoice. Lo, thou art baptized, thy conscience which was yesterday overladen, to-day rejoiceth thee. Thou hast been heard in tribulation, remember thy tribulation. Before thou camest to the water, what anxiety didst thou bear on thee! what fastings didst thou practise! what tribulations didst thou carry in thy heart! what inward, pious, devout prayers! Slain are thine enemies; all thy sins are blotted out. …

“Hear, O My people, and I will speak, and will bear witness unto thee”( ver. 8 ). For it is not to a strange people, not to a people that belongs not to the press: “Judge ye,” He saith, “between Me and My vineyard.”