This covenant God had engaged never to break r ; and therefore the prophet urged the inviolability of it as a motive with God to fulfil to his people, notwithstanding their unworthiness, all which of his own grace and mercy he had promised to them. In this view God himself had promised to regard his covenant8: and in this view the plea in our text may be considered as ex- pressing what is more diffusely stated by the Prophet Isaiah1.]
Having stated what may be considered as the im- port of the prayer, we proceed,
II. To point out some important lessons contained in it —
We shall confine ourselves to two ;
1. The true nature of a sinner's humiliation —
[Nothing can give us a more just idea of humiliation than the prophet's expression of it in our text. It necessarily im- plies an ingenuous confession of our sins, and of our desert on account of them. Think of the expression, " Abhor us not :" what a sense of extreme unworthiness does it convey ! Yet is it not at all too strong : we are all, both by nature and prac- tice, exceeding vileu; and ought, like Job, to " abhor ourselves in dust and ashes x." Indeed this will be the state of every one that is truly penitent : he will look upon himself as " filthy and abominable y," and will " lothe himself for all his iniquities, and for all his abominations2." Every attempt to cloke or palliate our offences argues a want of humility, and operates to the exclusion of our souls from the Divine favour. We must be like convicted lepers in our own estimation, and justify our God in whatever sentence he may denounce against usa.]
2. The proper grounds of a sinner's encourage- ment —
[Though we may justly acknowledge the work of Divine grace in us, and may give glory to God for whatever change he may have wrought in our hearts, yet we must not regard any thing of our own as a ground for our confidence in God : we must look for all our grounds of encouragement in God alone, even in his infinite perfections, and in the covenant which he has made with us in the Son of his love. When David was overwhelmed with trouble, we are told, " he encouraged him- self in the Lord his God." And this is what we are to do. In the prayer which the prophet offered, he drew all his pleasures from the honour and fidelity of his God. And what
r Ps. lxxxix. 35. s Lev. xxvi. 41, 42. l Isai. lxiii. 15 — 19. u Job xl. 4. x Job xlii. 6. v Ps. xiv. 3.
z Ezek. xxxvi. 31. a Ps. li. 4.