will visit it according to its desert. In whomsoever it be found, whether he be a king on his throne, or a beggar on a dunghill, he will make no difference, except indeed to punish it in proportion to the light that has been resisted, and the aggrava- tions with which it has been committed. Doubtless the sins of David were of most transcendent enormity, and therefore might well be visited with peculiar severity : but we mubt not imagine that his are the only crimes that deserve punishment: disobedience to God, whether against the first or second table of the Law, is hateful in his sight, and will surely subject us to his " hot dis- pleasure " ^
1. The extent and depth of it—
[His soul was overwhelmed with a sense of God's wrath. *' God's arrows" pierced his inmost soul: and his hand was heavy upon him, and " pressed him sore." His iniquities, which, when they were yet only committed in desire and pur- pose, appeared light, now were an insupportable burthen to his soul ; insomuch that " he roared by reason of the disquietness of his heart." Here then we see what sinners may expect in this life. Verily such experience as this is little else than a foretaste of hell itself ]
But his hodtj also was afflicted with a grievous disease, which had been sent of God as an additional mark of his righteous in- dignation'^. And no doubt, if we could certainly discover the reasons of the Divine procedure, we should often see diseases and death inflicted as the chastisement of sin'^. David viewed his disorders in this light: and those, without any additional load, were heavy to be borne ; but, when added to the overwhelming troubles of his soul, they almost sunk him to despair. Let those wlio think lightly of sin, view this monarch in the state above described, and say, whether sin, however " sweet in the mouth, 1)6 not at last the gall of asps within us*:" yes, assuredly, it will sooner or later " bite like a serpent, and sting like an adder."]
But in the midst of all this trouble, he makes mention of,
11. His consolation — ^
Whilst deeply bemoaning his sin, he was assured that God was priv^y to dl the workings of his soul, beholding his desires, and hearing all his groans. Now this was a great consolation to him, because he well knew,
1 . That God, in the groanings of a penitent, recog- nizes the voice of his own eternal Spirit —
[Groans
•^ver. 3, 5,7. "^ 1 Cor. xi. 30. "^ Job xx. 12— 14.
359.J David's distress and consolation. 129
[Groans are the natural expressions of inward pain and an- guish ', and when they arise from a sense of sin, they are indica- tions of a penitent heart. But no pious disposition is found in man till it is planted there by the Holy Ghost. God is " the Author of every good and perfect gift," and must "give us to will, no less than to do" whatever is acceptable in his sight. As for groanings on account of sin, they are more especially said to be the fruits of the Spirit, who thus " helpeth our infir- mities, and enables us to express our feelings which are too big for utterance ^" To man such inarticulate sounds would convey no distinct idea; but God understands them perfectly, because " he knoweth the mind of the Spirit:" and he delights in them, because it is in this way that ^' the Spirit maketh intercession for us," and because these very intercessions are '^ according to the will of Gods."
What a consolatory thought is this to one that is overwhelmed with a sense of sin ! " He knows not what to pray for as he ought ; " and perhaps the load upon his spirit disables him for uttering what his unembarrassed judgment would dictate : but he recollects that God needeth not any one to interpret to him our desires : he understands a sigh, a tear, a look, with infal- lible certainty : he sees all the self-lothing and self-abhorrence that is contained in such expressions of the penitent's feelings ; and in answer to them, he will " do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think."]