solemn Commination Service, which is enjoined to be rehearsed in our Church on the first day of Lent. It is indeed peculiarly well adapted for this purpose, as no words can be more suitable than those of this Psalm to express the feelings of the humble and contrite, who sincerely acknowledge their transgressions and are sorry for their sins. It may perhaps conduce to our conviction and humiliation; to our comfort and establishment in righteousness; if we enter into a more particular examination of the whole of this Psalm; if we follow the Royal Penitent in his confession of guilt, in his supplication for mercy, in his godly sorrow for sin, in his prayer for pardoning grace, in his ardent desire to be reconciled to God, and to be guided and upheld by his free Spirit, that he might walk in the light of his countenance, that he might teach transgressors God's ways, and that sinners might be converted unto him, and that he might thus see his Zion, or Church, confirmed and established. We shall here be able to see the source, the nature, and the effects of genuine Repentance. This discussion will extend to the length of six Discourses. And may the divine Spirit of grace and supplication rest upon us, that we may feel that "godly sorrow" for sin "which worketh repentance unto

salvation not to be repented of," and may so mourn now that afterwards we may rejoice.

The Title of the Psalm informs us that this is "a Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet came unto him, after that he had gone in to Bathsheba." The history of David's great and deplorable fall into gross sin, is well known. After he had been advanced to great honour and dignity, and had received innumerable mercies from the hands of God, being the man after God's own heart, he became remiss and unwatchful. His prosperity was a snare to him, and he who had served God faithfully amongst the mountains of Israel, exposed as he was to numberless calamities and imminent dangers, was not able to maintain his ground amidst the luxuries of a Court. He did not restrain his eyes from wandering after forbidden objects; he did not carefully withstand the beginnings of evil; he was tempted to commit sin, and he did not firmly withstand the temptation, in reliance, on divine grace. He was hurried on to commit the heinous sin of adultery, and afterwards those of base duplicity and murder, in causing the death of his faithful servant Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba.

Thus one sin

But

became an inlet to another, till his hands were defiled with blood, and his soul was involved in the deepest guilt. In this shameful and lamentable proceeding, he clearly proved the justice of the Apostle James's declaration : "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death." When an eminent servant of God grows remiss and unwatchful; when he neglects prayer, or prays without fervour; when he gives himself up to sensual indulgences, and ceases to meditate on the word of truth; then God may justly withdraw from him his restraining grace; the Spirit of holiness is grieved and departs from him, and he is left to feel his own weakness and the great infirmities of his corrupt nature. In this case, a spirit of delusion comes upon him, and he is persuaded to look upon sin as a trifling thing, perhaps as no sin at all, and he is led to "call evil good, and good evil; to put darkness for light, and light for darkness; and to put bitter for sweet, and sweet for

bitter." b

Mankind too frequently commit presumptuous sins, and rush forward in an evil course, though checked by their conscience; but on numberless occasions, they act under a strong delusion, and artfully persuade themselves that their conduct is right, though expressly contrary to the word of God.

We ought therefore to be thankful that there are so many warnings set before us in the Holy Scriptures; that the infirmities and sins, and even gross crimes, of the servants of God, are so minutely delineated, in order that we may learn prudence by their unhappy falls; that we may not be high minded but fear;" that "he who thinketh he standeth may take heed lest he fall," We are now admonished not to follow them in their devious wanderings, nor to steer our course amidst rocks and quicksands, lest we endanger our souls, and "make shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience."

We are not informed how long David continued in a state of insensibility, under the guilt of his heinous crimes; but probably in the course of the following year the Prophet Nathan was sent to him with a solemn message from the Lord his God. His conscience seems to

b

Isai. v. 20. Rom. xi. 20. d 1 Cor. x. 12. 1 Tim. i. 19.

have been laid asleep, and was under the hardening and deceitful influence of sin; he continued in a state of carnal security, and was not aware of the storm of divine wrath which was gathering around him. God was pleased, however, to rouse him to a sense of his danger, to show unto him the evil of his doings, and to restore his soul in humble penitence by the ministry of his Prophet Nathan,

This is indeed God's usual method; he calls men to repentance; he converts their souls; he turns them from darkness to light by the ministers of his word, by his Prophets and Apostles, and by those whom he commissions to go forth in his name. Although he could accomplish his purposes without any instruments, both in the natural and moral world, he still vouchsafes to make use of various means, in carrying on his works, in order to magnify his condescension and grace. And when God sends forth his servants to declare his message, they ought zealously and faithfully to discharge their duty even among the great and noble; and they must sincerely preach the word, "whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear." Yet this they must do in a manner the most likely to accomplish their object, that

Ezek. ii. 5.