that we are free from it. We must be Israelites indeed, and without any allowed guile. And O ! what a comfort is it when we can say with Job, " O God, thou knowest I am not wickedg!" Such was the comfort enjoyed by Paid; "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in sim- plicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world h." When indeed we can make that appeal to God, we should do it with holy fear and jealousy, lest there should, after all, be some sin undiscovered by us. We should say with Paul, " Though I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby jus- tified ; but he that judgeth me is the Lord1." We may see in the instance of Pilate how awfully a man may deceive his own soul : he washed his hands before the multitude, and said, " I am free from the blood of this just person:" but his reluctance to commit sin could not excuse the actual commission of it ; any more than the washing of his hands could cleanse his soul. Nevertheless we should labour to " keep a conscience void of offence," and so to have every evil disposition mortified, as to be able constantly to say with David, " I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord, and so will I compass thine altar V]
3. The efficacy of united faith and prayer —
[Great as the guilt of murder was, the Lord declared that it should not be imputed to the land, if this ordinance were duly complied with. And what sin is there that shall be im- puted to us, if we look by faith to that great Sacrifice which was once offered for sin, and implore mercy from God " as his redeemed people ? " Not even murder itself should be excepted, if the forgiveness of it were diligently sought in this manner. Hear how David prayed, after the murder of Uriah: "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation ; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness ! Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin ! Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow1." O glorious truth ! "Though our sins be as crimson, they may be made white as snow." Beloved Brethren, see your guilt as already irrevocably con- tracted: see the judgments of God hanging over you: see death ready to execute its commission, and the jaws of hell opening to swallow you up. And now turn your eyes to the " heifer slain in the rough valley," and averting from you the wrath of an offended God : in that heifer, see the Lord Jesus Christ, who has " redeemed you from the curse of the law, being made a curse for you." To you, even to you, that
s Job x. 7. h 2 Cor. i. 12. j 1 Cor. iv. 4.
k Ps. xxvi. 6. i Ps. li. 2, 7, 14.
214.1 BENEVOLENCE TOWARDS GOD's ANCIENT PEOPLE. 389
blessed Redeemer says, " Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ! " O look to Him, plead with him, trust in him ! and " he will in no wise cast you out." This is " the violence by which the kingdom of heaven is taken," even the violence of faith and prayer ; and this force shall never be exerted in vainm.]
m Matt. xi. 12.