god's regard for the least of his saints.
Ps. cxlvii. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
IN the Psalms of David we have innumerable ex- hortations to praise our God. At the same time, we have innumerable grounds of praise set before us. In the psalm before us we are told how abundant he is in mercy both to the Church and to the whole creation ; and that, whilst there is nothing of created excellence that merits his regard3, " he takes plea- sure" in those who manifest the very smallest symp- toms of a new creation within them.
The words of my text are, in this view, worthy of peculiar attention. In them we see,
I. How low God stoops to the objects of his favour —
Had he spoken of himself as noticing angels, it would have been a wonderful mark of his condescen- sion and grace : for " he humbleth himself when he beholds the things that are in heaven b," and "chargeth even his angels with folly c." But the persons whom he speaks of here, as objects of his favour, are of the lowest possible order of saints. In point of regard for God, they rise no higher than " fear ;" and in point of confidence in God, they go not beyond a " hope in his mercy."
What can be lower than the mere " fear" of God?
[A person destitute of this has not the smallest evidence whatever of the divine approbation. He cannot have it. A man without the fear of God is a decided enemy to God ; and God is, and must be, an enemy to him. A person, the very instant he is born of God, must of necessity fear to offend him, and endeavour, by a holy conformity to his will, to please him. After having made a progress in the divine life, he will attain to higher exercises of grace : but in this the lowest state of conversion, God will regard him as an object of his favour.]
And what lower attainment can we conceive, than a mere " hope in his mercy ?"
[This supposes that a man feels himself a sinner, justly
a ver. 10. b Ps. cxiii. 6. e Job iv. 18.