3. Much to the same pui-pose may be s})bken about that signal provision that is made against such sins as these in the covenant of grace, as hath been already declared; but I shall. not fiu'ther carry on this discourse.
And this may suffice as to the state and condition of the soul in this psahn represented. We have seen what the depths are wherein it is entangled, and by what ways and means any one ma}' come to be cast into them. The next thins that otfers itself unto our con-
Yer.1,'2.] duty OF BELIEVERS IN DISTRESS, 349
sideration is the deportment of a gracious soul in that state or con- dition, or what course it steers towards a delivery.
The duty and actings of a believer under distresses from a sense of sin — His application unto God, to God alone — Earnestness and intension of mind therein.
II. The words of these two first verses declare also the deportment of the sold in the condition that we have descrihed; that is, what it doth, and what course it steers for relief " I have cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications."
There is in the words a general application made in a tendency unto relief; wherein is first to be considered to whom the application is made ; and that is Jehovah : " I have cried unto thee, Jehovah." God gave out that name to his people to confii-m their faith in the stability of his promises, Exod. iii. He who is Being himself will assuredly give being and subsistence to his promises. Being to deal with God about the promises of grace, he makes his application to him under this name : I call upon thee, Jehovah.
In the application itself may be observed, — First, The anthropop- athy of the expression. He prays that God would cause his ears to be attentive ; after the manner of men who seriously attend to what is spoken to them, when they turn aside from that Avhich they regard not. Secondly, The earnestness of the soul in the Avork it hath in hand; which is evident both from the redviplication of his request, "Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications;" and tlie emphaticalness of the words he maketh use of: " Let thine ears," saith he, " be ^i^t^)"?, — diligently attentive." The Avord signifies the most diligent heedfulness and close attention : "Let thine ears be very attentive." And unto Avhat? ''l^'^^^ ?ip?, — " To the voice of my supplications." " Deprecationum mearum," generally say interpreters; — " Of my deprecations," or earnest prayers for the avert- ing of evil or punishment. Bat the Avord is from I^C, " Gratiosus fuit," to be gracious or merciful ; so that it signifies properly supplication for grace. " Be attentive," saith he, " O Lord, unto my supplica- tions for grace and mercy, Avhich, according to my extreme neces- sity, I noAV address myself to make unto thee." And in these words doth the psalmist set forth in general the frame and Avorking of a gracious soul being cast into depths and darkness by sin.
The foundation of Avhat I shall farther thence pursue lies in these tAvo propositions: —
350 AN EXPOSITION UPON rsALM cxxx. [Ver.1,2.
First, The only attemjjt of a sinful, entangled soul for relief lies in an aiyplication to God alone: "To thee, Jehovah, have I cried; Lord, hear."
Secondly, Depths of sin-entanrjlements will put a gracious soul on intense and earnest applications unto God: "Lord, hear; Lord, attend." Dying men do not use to cry out slothfully for rehef.
What may be thought necessary in general for the direction of a soul in the state and condition described, shall briefly be spoken unto from these two propositions : —
1. Trouble, danger, disquietment, arguing not only things evil, hut a sense in the mind and sotd of them, will of themselves put those in whom they are upon seeking relief Every thing would naturally be at rest. A drowning man needs no exhortation to endeavour his own deliverance and safety; and spiritual troubles will, in like manner, put men on attempts for relief To seek for no remedy is to be senselessly obdurate, or wretchedly desperate, as Cain and Judas. We may suppose, then, that the principal busi- ness of every soul in depths is to endeavour deliverance. They can- not rest in that condition wherein they have no rest. In this endea- vour, what course a gracious soul steers is laid down in the first pro- position, negatively and positively. He applies himself not to any thing but God ; he applies himself unto God. An eminent instance we have of it in both parts, or both to the one side and the other, Hos. xiv. 8, " Asshur," say those poor, distressed, returning sinners, " shall not save us ; we will not ride upon horses : neither will we say any more to the work of our hands. Ye are our gods: for in tliee the fatherless findeth mercy." Their a2:iplication unto God is attended with a renunciation of every other Vv-ay of relief
Several things there are that sinners are apt to apply themselves unto for relief in their perplexities, which prove unto them as .waters that fail. How many things have the Romanists invented to deceive souls withal ! Saints and angels, the blessed Virgin, the wood of the cross, confessions, penances, masses, pilgrimages, dirges, purgatories, papal pardons, works of compensation, and the like, are made entrances for innumerable souls into everlasting ruin. Did they know the terror of the Lord, the nature of sin, and of the mediation of Christ, they would be ashamed and confounded in themselves for these abomina- tions ; they would not say unto these their idols, " Ye are our gods ; come and save us." How short do all their contrivances come of his that would fain be offering " rivers of oil, yea, the fruit of his body, for the sin of his soul, his first-born for his transgression," Micah vi. 7, who yet gains nothing but an aggravation of his sin and misery thereby! yea, the heathens went beyond them in devotion and ex- pense. It is no new inquiry, what course sin-perplexed souls should