It is with pleasure therefore that I proceed to set before you,
II. The notice which God takes of this disposition —
[It is impossible that there should be the smallest good in our hearts, and God not observe it : there was but " some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel" in the heart of young Abijah, and the Lord noticed it, and remembered him on ac- count of it. The Prophet Jeremiah sets this in a striking point of view: he represents Ephraima as mourning over his sins in secret, and God as listening to him, and at last as break- ing out into this soliloquy ; " I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus : " then, after repeating the substance of Ephraim's complaint, he adds, " Is not Ephraim my dear son ? is he not a pleasant child ? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still ; yea, my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy on himb." Exactly thus, in my text, God hears Ephraim saying, " What have I to do any more with idols?" and he adds immediately, "I have heard and observed him ; " I have had my eye fixed upon him, though he did not know it ; I have attended to every word he has been saying ; he has not uttered a sigh, but it has entered my ears ; he has not poured forth a groan, but it has pierced my heart ; he has not shed a tear, but I have treasured it up in my vial : he thinks I will not regard him, but I have heard and observed him all the while : there is not a thought of his heart that has escaped my notice ; and what is more, I now say respecting him, and respecting all that shall resemble him even to the end of the world, " I am, and will be, to him as a green fir-tree ; and of me shall his fruit be found."
I must here just observe, that the words of my text which are printed in different characters are not in the original, but are supplied by the translators ; and that therefore the verse may be read, and I think should be read, thus ; " Ephraim saith, What have I to do any more with idols ? I have heard him and observed him : I will be like a green fir-tree : of me shall thy fruit be found." The sense is the same indeed either way ; only in the latter it is more clear : and according to it we have two blessed promises of God to the penitent and contrite soul, namely, that he will afford him protection, and engage for his perseverance.
First, he promises protection to the repenting sinner, " I will be as a green fir-tree." The fir-tree affords a remarkably thick shade, which cannot be penetrated either by sun or rain ; so that it afforded a safe retreat, either from the rays of the meridian sun, or from the violence of the impending tempest. Conceive
a Chap. xxxi. 18. »> Chap. xxxi. 20.