Ps. li. 10. Create in me a clean heart, 0 God, and renew a right
spirit within me.
PARDON and peace are the first blessings which a penitent will seek. But no true penitent will be satisfied with them : he will desire with no less ardour
the renovation of his soul in righteousness and true
holiness The psalm before us gives a just
epitome of the penitent's mind. David begins with fervent supplications for pardon : " Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness; accord- ing to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions ! " He comes afterwards to implore a sense of God's forgiving love : " Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice." He then desires a restoration of his soul to the divine image : " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
In these words we may see, I. The great constituents of true piety —
A mere reformation of life, however exemplary, will be no better than the painting of a sepulchre, which is " full of rottenness and all uncleanness." If we would be approved of our God, we must have,
1. A clean heart —
[" The heart of fallen man is full of evil*;" and from it, as from its proper source, all manner of evil proceeds^. God himself has testified respecting it, that " aU its thoughts and imaginations are e\dl*^." Hence there is an indispensable ne- cessity, that it shoidd be renewed by grace : for, if left in an unrenewed state, it could not enjoy heaven, even if it were admitted there. Being altogether corrupt, it could not delight itself in the presence of a holy God, or find satisfaction in those exercises of praise in which the glorified saints and angels are incessantly engaged. To find happiness in God and holy exercises, it must acquire a totally different taste ; or rather, it must be wholly changed : it must be cleansed from all its corrupt propensities : it must be made averse from sin : and all its powers must be sanctified unto the Lord.]
2. A right spirit —
[By a " rigid'' spirit is meant a " constant'' spirit. A man, even after he is once cleansed, is yet prone to sin. He is beset with temptations both from without and within : and he needs to "be strengthened with might in his inner man," in order that he may be able to withstand them. It vdll be in vain that he has been once " cleansed from the pollutions of the world : if he be ever again entangled with them and overcome,
a Eccl. ix. 3. ^ Mark vii. 21 — 23. '^ Gen, vi. 5.