Until we make Christ our conscience, bringing everything to be judged by the Light, we shall keep confusing the issues, and disguising our sins, and finding all manner of self-escape, excuses, and counter-charges. But if we will have the same mind in us that was in Christ, looking at the world and Kfe and self with His eyes, we shall see ourselves as we are ; and when conscience says to us, in unmistakable tones, " Thou art the man," our one prayer
2 SAMUEL XII. 7 325
will not be self -justification, but : " Search me, 0 God, and know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts : and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
5. And this self-discovery is essential. We have no standing in the spiritual world till we see ourselves as we are. We cannot go on for ever refusing to face up to the facts, refusing to lay bare to ourselves what we fear to be there ; like a spendthrift who will not look into his affairs till the crash comes, and excuses himself that he did not know that he had gone so far into debt, and is surprised to find his affairs in such a bad way. The excuse is not valid; for the reason why he did not look into his affairs was because he knew that they were not right, and was afraid to find out. So, in religion, men fear to uncover their hearts to them- / selves, because they are afraid of what they will find there. Their judgment would be David's judgment on the rich neighbour of the parable ; but they, like David, will not make the application. We are all right on the general principles of religion, but personal religion begins exactly where we leave off.
^ Eigorous self-judgment is the first requisite of the moral life — to turn the light in on self. Socrates made self-knowledge the basis of all knowledge. A deeper self-knowledge still is the very beginning of all personal religion. Sanctification is only a name till we translate the general into the particular, and apply to ourselves the demands of the law. We need to cease to talk about sin in the mass and come to details, and deal with the specific sins, and unmask them. Many religious people are worms of the earth, with their whole nature corrupt in their general confession, and very fine gentlemen in detail — never dealing with self in any direct fashion, never hearing once the searchicg word, " Thou art the man." 1
» H. Black.
Kepentance and Retribution.
Literature.
BosanqiTet (C), 27i« Man after God's own Heart, 298.
Brooks (P.), Sermons for Festivals atid Fasts, 184.
Cox (S.), Expositions, 1st Ser., 143.
Goodwin (H.), Parish Sermons, 5tli Ser., 139.
Hort (F. J. A.), Village Sermons in Outline, 15.
Krummacher (F. W.), David : the King of Israel, 373, 388.
Liglitfoot (J. B.), Sermons in St. Paul's Cathedral, 16.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : 2 Samuel and Kings, 64.
Moule (H. C. G.), From Sunday to Sunday, 211.
Oosterzee (J. J. van). The Year of Salvation, ii. 457.
Trench (R. C.), Sermons preached in Westminster Abbey, 351.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), x. No. 833 ; xi. No. 834.
Wilkinson (G. H.), The Heavenly Vision, 25.
Christian Age, xxxi. 38 (Brooks).
Church Pulpit Year Book, vi. (1909) 104.
Churchman's Pulpit : Sixth Sunday after Trinity, x. 358 (Trench).
Clergyman's Magazine, New Ser., i. 185.
Contemporary Pulpit, Ist Ser., iv. 29 (Cox).
3*8
Repentance and Retribution.
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin ; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. — 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14.
1. David has been triumphant as a monarch. And not only has he been triumphant as a monarch ; his private designs also have been crowned with success. At this very moment he is enjoying the fruits of a secret and cherished project which was carefully planned and has been prosperously executed. An object very near to his heart has been attained. The risks v/ere great, but they have been surmounted. Obstacles have been removed ; publicity has been avoided ; no scandal -has been created. Uriah has been slain fighting valiantly in the hottest of the battle ; and Uriah's wife has become the wife of David.
2. At this crisis, when success culminates and satisfaction is complete, the blow comes. His tower of pride is crumbled into dust by some unseen hand. Henceforth he is a changed man. He is no more light-hearted and joyous and hopeful. He has tangled a coil of difficulties about him, from which he can never again extricate himself. He has loaded himself with a burden of sorrow under which he must stagger through life, only to bury it finally in the grave. Troubles gather thick upon him, troubles the most acute and numbing — gross crimes and irregularities in his own family, the rebellion of his sons, even of a favourite son, annoyances and perplexities and trials of all kinds. He has placed himself at the mercy of an unscrupulous and arrogant relative — the agent in his stratagem and the master of his secret. Everything goes wrong henceforth. From this time onward " the sword never departs from his house."