and a right and constant spirit renewed within liim," if ever he would " see the face of God in peace." Yet I would add, that there is nothing impossible with God ; and that he who magnified his mercy in the salvation of an adulterous and murderous David, will " cast out none who come to him " in humility and faith, as David did.]
Ps. li. 14. Deliver me from hlood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation! and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy right- eousness.
THIS psalm is full of encouragement to a real penitent ; but in particular the petition before us. Consider the crime committed — murder ; the most atrocious murder that ever was committed. Con- sider by whom it had been committed — the man after God's own heart, who had experienced from God more signal interpositions than almost any other man that ever breathed. Consider the long and incon- ceivable obduracy which he had indulged since the commission of it, even to the very hour when his guilt was charged upon him by the Prophet of the Lord. Could such a sin as this be forgiven ? Could such an offender dare to ask forgiveness, or entertain the remotest hope of obtaining it ? Surely, if David could approach his God under such circumstances as these, with the smallest hope of acceptance, then may we see in this passage, I. The privilege of a contrite soul —
There is not a sinner in the universe who may not go to God, as " a God of salvation " —
[Were there only a hope that mercy might be a consti- tuent of the divine character, and an attribute which might by some possibility be displayed, it were a sufficient encourage- ment to the vilest sinner upon earth to call upon his God. But the title here assigned to the Most High, opens to us a most wonderful view of his character. He is " a God of salva- tion ; " as ha\dng devised a way of salvation for a ruined world ; as having given us his only dear Son to effect it ; as having accepted the sacrifice of his Son in our behalf; and, as apply- ing that salvation to those whom " he has chosen in Christ