The psalmist thc\i addressing himself to deal with God about sin,
Ver.o.] PEOPOSITIONS FROM THE VERSE. 361
lays down in the first place, in the general, how things must go, not with himself only, but with all the world, upon the sujoposition he had fixed : " This is not my case only; but it is so with all mankind, every one who is partaker of flesh and blood. Whether their guilt answer that which I am oppressed withal or no, all is one; guilty they are all, and all must j)erish. How much more must that needs be my condition, who have contracted so great a guilt as I have done!" Here, then, he lays a great argument against himself, on the supposition before laid down: " If none, the holiest, the humblest, the most believing soul, can abide the trial, can endure; how much less can I, who am the chiefest of sinners, the least of saints, who come unspeakably behind them in holiness, and have equally gone beyond them in sin ! "
This is the sense and importance of the words. Let us noAv consider how they are expressible of the actings of the soul whose state and condition is here represented unto us, and what directions they will afford unto us, to give unto them who are fallen into the same state.
What first presents itself to a soul in distress on the account of sin — This opened in four propositions — Thoughts of God's marking sin according to the tenor of the law full of dread and terror.
What depths the psalmist was in hath been declared; in them what resolution he takes upon himself to seek God alone for relief and recovery hath been also showed; and what earnestness in gene- ral he usetli therein. Addressing himself unto God in that frame, with that purpose and resolution, the first thing he fixeth on in par- ticular is the greatness of his sin and gniilt, according to the tenor of the law. It appears, then, that, —
First, In a sin-perplexed soul's addresses unto God, the first thing that presents itself unto him is God's mai'king sin according to the tenor of the lata. The case is the same in this matter with all sorts of sinners, whether before conversion or in relapses and en- tanglements after conversion. There is a proportion between con- version and recoveries. They are both wrought by the same means and ways, and have both the same effects upon the souls of sinners, although in sundry things they differ, not now to be spoken unto. What, then, is spoken on this head may be applied unto both sorts, — to them that are yet unconverted, and to them who are really delivered from their state and condition; but especially unto those who know not whether state they belong unto, that is, to all guilty souls. The law will put in its claim to all. It will condemn the
oG2 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. [Ver.S.
sin, and try wliat it can do against the sinner. There is no shakmg of it off; it must be fairly answered, or it will prevail. The law issues out an arrest for the debt; and it is to no purpose to bid the sergeant be gone, or to entreat him to spare. If payment be not pro- cured, and an acquaintance produced, the soul must to prison. " I am going unto God," saith the soul ; " he is great and terrible, a marker of sin, and Avhat shall I say unto him?" This makes him tremble, and cry out, " O Lord, who shall stand?" So that it ap- pears hence that, —
Secondly, Serious thoughts of God's marking sin according to ihe tenor of the law is a thing full of dread and terror to the soul of a sinner. But this is not all ; he is not swallowed up in this amazement, crying out only, " Who can stand?" There is included in the words a thorough, sincere acknowledgment of his own sin and the guilt tliereof Mentioning the desert of sin, in his own case, he acknowledgeth his own. So that, —
Thirdly, Sincere sense and acknowledgment for sin, with self condemnation in the justification of God, is the first pecidiar, espe- cial working of a gracious soid rising out of its entanglements. All this is included in these words. He acknowledgeth both his own guilt and the righteousness of God if he should deal with him ac- cording to the demerit of sin.
And these things lie in the words absolutely considered. But the state of the soul here represented carries us on farther. He rests not here, as we shall see in the opening of the next verse, the chief thing aimed at in the whole. And as a transition from the one to the other, that we may still carry on the general design at the entrance laid down, we must take along with us this farther observation : —
Fourthly, Though self-condemnation he an eminent preparation for the discovery of forgiveness in God, yet a p>oor distressed soid is not to rest in it, nor to rest upon it, but to 2Jctss on to the embrac- ing of forgiveness itself.
There is yet a general proposition l}ang in the words that Ave may make use of in our passage, and it is this: — God's marking of ini- quities and man's scdvation are everlastingly inconsistent. I mean his marking them in the persons of sinners for the ends before men- tioned.