I will deliver thee, and thou 16 But God unto the wicked saith, Why should'st thou mention make Of my commands? how dar'st thou in thy mouth my cov❜nant take? 17 Sith it is so that thou dost hate And sith thou cast'st behind thy back 18 When thou a thief didst see, then straight 19 Thy mouth to evil thou dost give, thy tongue deceit doth frame. 20 Thou sitt'st, and 'gainst thy brother speak'st, thy mother's son to shame. 21 These things thou wickedly hast done, Thou thought'st that I was like thyself, Thy sins and thy transgressions, 22 Consider this, and be afraid, PSALM LI. A Psalm of David, after Nathan the prophet had come to him, and manifested to his conscience his guilt in reference to Bathsheba. THIS Psalm is a model of penitence to every believer. Its statements are so true, and its language so suitable, that the man who enters into its spirit and breathes it from his heart must have experienced the power of the Holy Ghost. In verse 1, the penitent addresses himself not to angel or to saint, but to God himself, and implores mercy and pardon, not according to his own deserts, or earnestness, or any thing on earth, but according to "God's loving-kindness." What is the measure and expression of God's loving-kindness?-It is this, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," &c. In verse 2, he entreats to be justified through Christ, and sanctified through the Holy Spirit, and confesses fully and unreservedly his sins, remembering the declaration—" If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." In verse 4, he owns that though he had sinned against the brave and good Uriah, yet the main dye of his guilt lay in its being perpetrated against the God that had enriched him with every experience of spiritual and temporal blessings. In verses 5, 6, he traces his actual sin to his fountain-original corruption. Could we but believe that there is a radical ungodliness at the root of all our sins, we should see that no partial remedies, that nothing but an all-sufficient Saviour, would do. In verse 7, he prays expressly to be washed in the blood of Christ. In verse 8, he prays for a revival of his experience of communion with God; and in verse 9, along with remission of sins, he implores that full and best of gospel blessings, a new heart." In verses 11-13, he entreats, in the most suppliant terms, the sparing mercies of God, and promises henceforth to consecrate himself a living sacrifice to him. In verses 14-17, he implores again pardon for the sin that lay heaviest on his conscience, and proclaims the emptiness of all outward ceremonies, if these are not accompanied with a broken, a believing, and penitent heart. It is not by devoutness of attitude or expression that God is acceptably worshipped-" God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." In verses 18, 19, the penitent, knowing the value of the communion of saints, prays for the whole body, which is the church. Dearly beloved brethren, we are all sinners, some of us more guilty than David; let us seek the Holy Spirit, that we may feel David's sorrow, and use David's language, and thus through the precious blood of Christ Jesus receive and rejoice in forgiveness. Without the Holy Spirit, these deep and pathetic words are but as the " tinkling cymbal and the sounding brass; "-"it is the Spirit that giveth life." [BLOW'S CHANT, ST. MARY'S, WINDSOR.] 1 AFTER thy loving-kindness, Lord, have mercy upon me: For thy compassion's great; blot out all mine iniquity: 2 Me cleanse from sin, and throughly wash from mine iniquity: 3 For my transgressions I confess ; my sin I ever see. 4 'Gainst thee, thee only have I sinn'd, in thy sight done this ill; That when thou speak'st thou may'st be just, and clear in judging still. 5 Behold, I in iniquity was form'd the womb within ; My mother also me conceiv'd in guiltiness and sin. 6 Behold, thou in the inward parts And wisdom thou shalt make me know 7 Do thou with hyssop sprinkle me, I shall be cleansed so; Yea, wash thou me, and then I shall 8 Of gladness and of joyfulness 9 All mine iniquities blot out; thy face hide from my sin. 10 Create a clean heart, Lord, renew a right sp❜rit me within. 11 Cast me not from thy sight, nor take thy Holy Sp'rit away. 12 Restore me thy salvation's joy; with thy free Sp'rit me stay. 13 Then will I teach thy ways unto And those that sinners are shall then 14 O God of my salvation, God, Set free; then shall my tongue aloud 15 My closed lips, O Lord, by thee Then shall thy praises by my mouth 16 For thou desir❜st not sacrifice, Nor wilt thou with burnt-offering 17 A broken spirit is to God a pleasing sacrifice : A broken and a contrite heart, 18 Shew kindness, and do good, O Lord, The walls of thy Jerusalem build up of thy good will. 19 Then righteous off'rings shall thee please, and off'rings burnt, which they With whole burnt-off'rings, and with calves, shall on thine altar lay. SECOND OR BIBLE VERSION.-[ Blow's Chant.] 1 HAVE mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine i-niquity, And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my trans-gressions : And my sin is ever be-fore me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in i-niquity; And in sin did my mother con-ceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the in-ward parts: And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; That the bones which thou hast bro-ken may re-joice. |