moment in danger of being discovered and destroyed by his potent enemy, King Saul. But there was also a spiritual bondage to which he was reduced by means of the persecutions he endured ; and hence he offers the petition in my text, " Bring my soul out of prison ! " And for what end did he desire this deliverance ? Was it merely on account of the relief which it would afford to him ? No : he had higher and nobler feelings ; and was actuated by a concern for God's honour far more than by any personal consideration whatever.
That I may mark this peculiarity in David's expe- rience, I will shew,
I. Under what circumstances we may well offer this petition —
It is not needful that we should be immured in a dun- geon, or shut up in a cave, from whence there seems to be no way of escape. We may offer this petition,
1. Under the pressure of unpardoned guilt — [Truly, a soul under the dread of God's everlasting wrath
is in a state of sore bondage. All in an unforgiven state are said to be " concluded," or shut up, " under sin*:" and, in fact, there are no bonds so painful as those which sin has forged for a guilty conscience. Hear David, under a sense of guilt: " When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me : my moisture is turned into the drought of summer b." Indeed, whoever has felt the burthen of sin, and how impossible it is for any but God to take it off, will pant for " the glorious liberty of the children of God," and rejoice from his inmost soul in that promise, that " the Son, even the Lord Jesus Christ, will make us free c."]
2. Under those various trials to which, as Chris- tians, we are exposed —
[All are more or less under 'persecution from man. And what bondage that brings, the psalm before us will abundantly declare. In truth, the embarrassment occasioned to children by their ungodly parents, to servants by their oppressive masters, and to subjects by persecuting magistrates, exceeds all that can be conceived: for, who can draw the precise line between our duty to God and to man, when their conflicting orders seem to render a resistance to the one or to the other of
a Rom. xi. 32. b Ps. xxxii. 3, 4. See also Ps. xl. 11, 12.
c John viii. 32, 36.