1. Humiliation. The best man, when he cometh to compare him- self with the law of God, will be forced to blush and acknowledge more faults than ever he took notice of before. Too short an exposition of liie law begets a large opinion of our own righteousness ; that the ell
VOL. XXI. Y
338 SERMONS UPON PSALM XIX. 13. [SeR. I.
may be no longer than the cloth. Men have a gross notion of the law of God, as if it did only require externals ; but when they look upon it as reaching to the soul, the act as well as the aim,^ every thought and every desire and motion of the heart, they have other manner of conceits of themselves ; then they cry out, as David, * Who can understand his errors ? '
2. That this is not all the use that David maketh of the purity of the law, to beg pardon of what is past, but also grace to prevent future en- ormities, to get sin prevented as well as pardoned ; otherwise we mock God, and mind our own interest rather than the offence done to him. There is the same method in the Lord's prayer, ' Forgive us our tres- passes;' and then, 'Lead us not into temptation.' One petition con- cerneth the guilt of sin, and the other the reign and power of it. The text falleth in with this latter branch of the use, ' Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins,' &c.
In the words observe — (1.) A prayer ; (2.) Arguments to enforce it.
In the first take notice —
1. The mischief he desireth to be freed from, * Presumptuous sins.'
2. The quality of the person that maketh the prayer, ' Thy servant.'
3. The prayer itself is twofold ; for one part of the request is simple and absolute, to be kept from them ; the other upon supposition, and by way of reserve ; yet in case God should suffer him to fall into these kind of sins, yet at least that they might not have dominion over him.
[1.] He prayeth absolutely : Arm me by the special assistance of thy grace, that I may not fall into any of these sins.
[2.] That they may not get a full power over his will, so that, in- stead of a servant of the Lord, he should become a slave to sin.
[3.J The reasons are taken from the fruits or the consequent benefit and advantage of this preservation. They are two —
(1.) The testimony of his conscience concerning his integrity, * Then shall I be upright.'
(2.) His avoiding further guilt, ' And shall be innocent from the great transgression.'
I shall now pitch upon the first part of the prayer, ' Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.'
Doct. That God's best servants need earnestly to beg grace to be kept from presumptuous sins.
The point will be best explained by a view of the circumstances of the text.
1. The mischief he would have prevented, ' Presumptuous sins.'
2. The person praying, David, God's servant.
3. The mercy asked, ' Keep back.'
1. The mischief or evil feared, ' Presumptuous sins.' I shall show — (1.) Their nature ; (2.) The heinousness ; (3.) The danger of thera.
First, The nature, ' from prides,' so the Hebrew word signifies, which we render sins of presumption. The term must be a little explained. We are said to presume when we take more ujwn us than is meet. In these kind of sins men doubly presume.
1. That they shall be safe, and do well enough, though they continue in their impenitency and hardness of heart : Dent. xxix. 19, 20, ' And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless
^ Qu. ' the aim as well as the act ' ? — Ed.
VeR. 13.] SERMONS UPON PSALM XFX. 13. 339
himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the inaagination of mine heart, and add drunkenness to thirst. The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy- shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.' And so take a liberty to sin upon the presumption that he shall find mercy after all. But —
2. It is rather a presumption upon God's power than God's mercy. They carry on their sins against God as if they could make their party good against him : 1 Cor. x. 22, ' Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy ? Are we stronger than he ? ' This is the presumption, that they undertake to contend with and resist God : Num. xv. 30, ' But the soul that doth aught presumptuously, whether he be born in the land or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among the people.' They that live in a professed or clearly implied opposition to God : Job xv. 25, ' For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.' And it is expressed, Lev, xxvi. 21, by walking contrary to God, and so falleth in with the Hebrew expression of prides. Sins against knowledge, with full consent of will and pride of heart. To under- stand this more fully, you must consider there are two sorts of sins —