which just before importuned liim to accept of mercy, now bids him "depart accursed:" and from that moment his doom is fixed in everlasting burnings. Now can any man reflect on this, and not see the need of crying earnestly for mercy ? Can our petitions be too earnest, or too constant, when they are the appointed, and the only means of escaping all this misery ?]
But in our application for mercy, we must be careful to use,
III. His Plea—
The Psalmist derived all his hope of mercy from God himself —
[He pleaded not the smallness of his offences or the mul- titude of his services, the depth of his penitence, or the fervour of his petitions. He knew that name, which had long before been proclaimed to Moses, to which, as to "a strong tower, the righteous runneth and is safe ; " and to that he fled for refuge ; from that he derived his only hope, his only plea.]
Nor can we present any other plea than the name, the sacred name of Jesus —
[Under the Gospel we are taught more clearly to ask in the name of Jesus, and are assured that petitions so offered shall never fail of acceptance^. But it is no easy matter to offer that plea in sincerity. Perhaps there is not any thing in the world more difficult. We naturally prefer any other -plea that can he devised : and, even when we find that we have not in ourselves any worthiness on which we can rely, we are still averse to rest on the name of Jesus. We either deem it in- sufficient to procure acceptance for our prayers, or viake our tmworthiness a reason for declining to urge it as our plea with any confidence before God. But, unless we renounce every other hope, and rest entirely on the mediation and intercession of Christ, our prayer will never enter into the ears of our heavenly Father.]
Observations —
1. The vilest of smners has no reason to despair —
[The confession, petition, and plea, which David presented at the throne of Grace, are suited to the very chief of sinners : nor, as the subsequent experience of David proves, can there be any state in which they shall not prevail. Let none then despond. Be it so, our iniquities are great; but are they greater than Christ's merits, or beyond the reach of God's mercy ? If not, let us exalt our adorable Saviour, and determine, if we perish, to perish crying for mercy in the name of Jesus.]
' John xiv. 13, 14. VOL. v. M