Ps. li. 1 — 3. Have mercy upon me, 0 God, according to thy loving-kindiiess ; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions ! Wash me throughly from mine hiiquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknow- ledge my transgressions ; and my sin is ever before me.
SIN is, for the most part, thought a hght and venial evil, especially amongst the higher ranks of society : as though the restraints of religion were designed only for the poor ; and the rich had a dispensation gi-anted them to live according to their own will. But sin, by whomsoever committed, will, sooner or later, be as the gall of asps within us ; nor can all the charms of royalty silence the convictions of a guilty conscience. View the Psalmist. He had been elevated, from the low condition of a shepherd's boy, to a throne : yet, when he had offended God in the matter of Uriah, there was not found in his whole dominions a more miserable wretch than he. Before his repentance became deep and genuine, " his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day long : for day and night God's hand was heavy upon him ; and his moisture was turned into the drought of sum- mer ^" Even in his penitence we may see how heavy a load was laid upon his mind. This psalm was writ- ten on that occasion : and the words before us, whilst they declare the workings of his mind, will serve to shew us, in a general view, the true penitent :
I. In his occasional approaches to the throne of grace —
" Mercy" is the one object of his desire and pur- suit. Observe,
1. His petitions —
[" Have mercy upon me, O God ; blot out my transgres- sions ! wash me throughly from mine iniquities ; and so cleanse me from my sin," that no stain of it may remain upon my soul ! Here he views his sins both individually and collectively ; and, spreading them before the Lord with conscious guilt, he im- plores the forgiveness of them : dreading lest so much as one
^ Ps. xxxii. 3, 4. and xxxviii. 2 — 8.