ourselves, we need not fear but that our Lord will soon come to our help : " He will never break a bruised reed or quench the smoking flax, but will bring forth judgment unto victory." The sighs and groans of a contrite soul will surely enter into his ears, and call forth his almighty aid. He may indeed for wise purposes suffer the pressure to be heavy and of long con- tinuance3', insomuch that the weeping penitent may be ready to say, " The Lord will not hear, neither will the Almighty regard me:" but at the fittest season he will interpose to revive the drooping spirit, and to " make the bones which he hath broken to rejoice :" " he will take the beggar from the dunghill to set him among the princes y."]
3. To "the righteous" who are delivered from the power of sin —
[They are justly deemed " righteous," who, in the habit of their minds, and the general tenour of their lives, are devoted to God. Allowed sin, of whatever kind it were, would exclude us from this number, and mark us as children of the devil2: but if we be really clothed with the Redeemer's righteousness, and " walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," we need not fear to take to ourselves this honourable appellation3. And if this character be ours, the Lord loves us, not merely as he does sinners in general, with a love of pity, but with a love of complacency: " he joys over us with joy, he rests in his love, he joys over us with singing V There is not any blessing which our souls can want, but his love will bestow it. We say not, That he will forbear to chasten us (for that would be a mark of hatred rather than of lovec) but, That he will deal with us in all things as a wise and tender parent, administering to us such things, in such a measure, at such a time, and in such a manner, as his unerring wisdom knows to be best for us.]
But we cannot rightly appreciate the Saviour's love, unless we notice particularly,
II. Its unremitted exercise —
Long before David existed in the world, our Lord had shewn forth all his love to his people in the wil- derness ; nor did he ever leave that ungrateful nation without abundant tokens of his regard. In the days of his sojourning on earth his whole life was spent in doing good to the most indigent and most unworthy. Nor has he yet suspended the exercise of his grace ;
x Ps. xxxviii. 2, 4, 6, 8, 21, 22. and cxlii. 6, 7.
y 1 Sam. ii. 7, 8. z 1 Johniii. 8. a Rom. viii. 1.
b Zeph. iii. 17. c Heb. xii. 6—8.