spirits." Indeed, hypocrisy is not a whit less hateful to him than open sin. Let us hear the testimony of holy Job : " What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him"?" Even the most uninstructed of men, who had been born blind, and had had his eyes just re- cently opened, could say, " We know that God heareth not sinners" :" and so self-evident was that truth, that not one of his most subtle and malignant enemies could gainsay or resist it. There is, in fact, a general conviction of it in the con- sciences of all, insomuch that God himself appealed to his hypocritical adversaries respecting it ; " Shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel ? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you? :" Whether " the idol" be in the house or " in the heart," it is equally hateful in the sight of God, who " requireth truth in the inward parts i," and will accept none but " those who worship him in spirit and in truth '^."]
On the other hand, no language can express,
II. His condescension to sinners who are truly up- right before him —
David, though a sinner of no common stamp, was yet upright before God, as a penitent : for he bitterly bewailed his sins, and sought deliverance from them with his whole heart. There was no iniquity which he desired to hide from God, or to retain within his own bosom. Hence he found acceptance with God, and could bear testimony that God had heard and answered his petitions. And thus, wherever there is a true penitent, we are warranted to assure him,
1. That God will be merciful to his sins —
[It is not sin lamented, but sin retained, or " regarded with complacency in the heart," that wiU provoke God's indig- nation against us. A weeping sinner he will receive to mercy, " even though his sins may have been of a crimson or a scarlet dye." Never, from the foiuidation of the world, was one cast out who sought him with real penitence and faith. Manasseh was, perhaps, of all the children of men, the most criminal ; yet was not even he rejected, when he truly humbled himself before the Lord his God^ And we are authorized to assure the whole world, that if they seek the Lord with their whole hearts, " he will not turn away their prayer, nor his mercy
n Job xxvii. 8, 9. ° John ix. 31. P Ezek. xx. 3, 31.
1 Ps. 11. 6. ' John iv. 24. ^ 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 13, 19.