2. As existing under his peculiar circumstances —
[He was a young man, and at a tune of Hfe when contrary dispositions most generally prevaD. This therefore rendered it the more pleasing to God, who, as the Father of his whole family, loves " the new-born babes" as truly, if not as ardently, as those who have attained to riper years. Besides, he was a youth of high distinction, the son of a king. Now, though " God is no respecter of persons," but loves the poor as well as the rich, yet, inasmuch as the maintenance of holy principles is far more difficult in high life than it is in a hiunbler sphere, he approves most eminently that, which exerts itself under circumstances of greatest difficulty. Above all, he cultivated holy principles in a family and a nation sunk in all manner of iniquity. Now to withstand such a torrent, and to exhibit even the feeblest light in a place of such gross darkness, was a most honourable distinction ; and it rendered him, who in another situation would have been undeserving of notice, a proper object of God's approbation.
In this view his character is peculiarly deserving the atten- tion of the yoimg, and especially of those in the higher circles of life, and in places where impiety abounds : and happy will
» Rom. viii. 7. c c 2
they be who have grace to seek such a distinction as his, and courage to maintain it ]
Small as his stature was in grace, he, even in this world, met with,
II. His reward —
The reward bestowed on him seems, like his attainments, of little value ; for, as the body is in- sensible after death, and the soul is unconscious either of the honours that may be paid to the mortal frame, or the indignities it may suffer, it seems to signify very little, whether our body be committed to the grave, or be devoured by beasts. But there is in all of us a desire to have the customary respect paid to our body, after the departure of the soul from it : and, if we knew beforehand that after death it would be treated with all manner of indignities, we should feel hfe itself considerably embittered to us : we may therefore regard the distinction con- ferred on young Abijah, as of great value ; more especially as it was intended to express the divine approbation of him, in opposition to the displeasure exercised towards his offending family. In this, at all events, it was of great use, in that it served to shew,
1. That God loveth piety wherever he beholds it —
[God himself is not only holy, but *' The Holy One ;" and wherever he beholds his own image, he delights in it. There is not a grace without some appropriate expression of God's high regard for it. The poor, the meek, the contrite have all their peculiar promises, and are represented as possessing " ornaments, which in the sight of God are of great price"
and such is the estimation in which he beholds these
dispositions, that he looks with peculiar complacency upon every person in whom they are found ; nor can all the glorious angels aromid his throne divert his attention from them ; yea rather, the angels themselves participate the pleasure, and derive new joys, even in the very presence of their God, from such a sight''.]
2. That he will reward it, wherever it is found in the lowest degree —
^ Isai. Ixvi. 2. Luke xv. 10.
341. J abijah's piety rewarded. 389
[When God himself asks, " Who hath despised the day of small things'^?" we may be sure that he himself does not. The smallest gift to a person for his sake, even " a cup of cold water, shall not lose its reward." In like manner the silent thoughts of the heart are noticed by him with a view to their ultimate reward. The prophet tells us that not only they who spoke one to another, but they also " who thought upon his name," had their thoughts recorded in the " book of his re- membrance, and were to be his, in the day that he should count up his jewels'^." Nor can we doubt but that David's desire to build the temple was as much accepted of God, and as liberally rewarded also, as was the actual raising of the edifice by Solomon.]