who were slain ; against his own army, who were hereby weakened and discouraged ; against the whole nation, whose interests were hereby endangered ; against the Church of God, who were hereby scan- dalized ; and the ungodly world, who were hereby hardened in their iniquities. It was " a sin also against his whole body''." We must therefore under- stand the expression rather as comparative; as if it had been said, " Against thee, thee chieflij, have I sinned." Nevertheless, as an offence against God, the enormity of the crime is so great, as almost to swallow up and annihilate every other consideration of it, as the meridian sun reduces to non-existence, as it were, the twinkling of a star. It is from this con- sideration of it that every sin derives its chief enor- mity. Dropping therefore any further reference to David's crime, we shall endeavour to shew in general,
I. The malignity of sin as an offence against God —
Men in general think little of sin, except as it affects the welfare of society : as an offence against God, it is scarcely ever deemed worthy of notice. But every sin, of whatever kind, necessarily strikes at God himself: it implies,
1 . A forgetfulness of his presence —
[He is omnipresent; nor is any thing hid from his all- seeing eye But, when we commit sin, we lose all
recollection that God's eye is upon us : we say in our hearts, " The Lord shall not see; neither shall the God of Jacob regard it'':" "How shall God know? Is there knowledge with the Most High*^ ?" " Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he cannot see''." This is no deduction of ours, but the declaration of God himself: and the truth of it is evident : for, if even the presence of a fellow-creature is sufficient to overawe men, so that they cannot perpetrate crimes to which they are most strongly tempted ; so much more would the presence of Almighty God restrain us, if we were conscious that he was inspecting and witnessing all the secrets of our hearts.]
2. A contempt of his authority —
[God, as the great Lawgiver, requires obedience to his laws, every one of which bears the impress of divine authority
"o 1 Cor. vi. 18. c Ps. xciv. 7.
d Ps. Ixxiii. 11. e Joi) xxii. 13, 14.