god's disposition towards the righteous and wicked.
1 Pet. iii. 1:?. The eyes of the Lord arc over the righteous, and
his cars arc open unto their prayers : but the face of the Lord is against then/ that do evil.
THERE is an error which obtains, to a conside- rable extent, amongst religious people, and which meets with too much encouragement also in the preaching of pious ministers ; namely, an idea that to insist on moral duties is legal. Suppose a servant of Christ were to address his audience in the words of David ; " Come, ye children, hearken unto me : I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good ? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good ; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous ; and his ears are open to their cry : but the face of the Lord is against them that do evila:" I say, suppose a minister of the Gospel were to address his people thus, he would be thought by many to be bringing them back to the law, and to be instructing them in a way contrary to the whole tenour of the Gospel. But this is a great mistake. Legality consists in principle only, and not in prac- tice. If we teach men to do good works in order to obtain justification by them, that is legality ; and thai subverts the Gospel : but if, whilst we make Christ the only foundation of a sinner's hope, we inculcate moral duties, we do nothing more than what Christian fidelity requires, and nothing but what the Apostles themselves continually did. It is remarkable that St. Peter, addressing the whole Christian Church, cites the entire passage which I have read to you from the Psalms, and applies it precisely as David himself did1'. In fact, we all need to be reminded, that " God will put a difference between those who serve him, and those who serve him not ;" and that,
a Ps. xxxiv. 11—16. b ver. 10 — 12.
2400.1 god's disposition towards the wicked. 221
whilst " his eyes are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers, his face is, and ever will be, against them that do evil."
In confirmation of this sentiment, I will shew,
I. God's tender regard for " the righteous" —
Here we must first state who " the righteous" are —
[We are not to understand this as relating to persons who are perfectly righteous, since there is no such a character to be found on earth. " There is not one that liveth and sinneth not :" " in many things we all offend." The term comprehends those who, in the prevailing habit of their lives, turn from iniquity to serve the living God. He, therefore, who has fled to the Lord Jesus Christ for refuge, and, through the operation of the Spirit of God, is endeavouring to fulfil the will of God, may justly consider himself as answering to this character, notwithstanding many infirmities yet cleave unto him ]
Over all such persons the eyes of the Lord are fixed —
[God " beholdeth all, as well the evil as the good." But on the righteous his eyes are fixed, with peculiar complacency. He delights to look upon them : " His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth," to shew himself strong in their
behalf; to protect them from every evil and to supply
them with every needful good ]
His ears, too, are open to their prayers —
[We all know with what a different feeling a parent be- holds the children of strangers and his own. If his own child be in a situation of danger, his eye is upon it, to interpose in the time of need ; and, if he were to hear its cry, all the ten- derest feelings of his soul would be called forth, and all the efforts which he could make would be exerted for its relief. The inarticulate cry of an infant does not fall unheeded on a mother's ear. So God hears, not the prayer only, but the sighs and groans of his people ; and will fulfil the unexpressed