The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 271

the drift of the godless man (ver. 5): "He abhorreth not evil." The issue of a materialistic denial of God, and of a materialistic view of man, must be the denial of ovil as evil, Evil cannot exist if atoms of matter be all. For molecules never break the ranks, and can never get out of harness. And he who first abhors not evil, out of senseless bravado, will come to deny evil altogether, and will let his passions hurry him whither they will, on the inward plea that he is "acting according to nature." 3. There are equally terrible positive evils in the godless man's life. First., evils in thought (ver, 3). 'l'he psalmist means either that, in spite of his godlessness, he has a very good opinion of himself, or else th:rt he flatters himself his sins will never come out to light, and be found out in all their naked ugliness. Nor is this all. But he positively deviseth mischief upon his bed (ver, 5). Even in the night he is pursuing schemes of self-gratification, altogether regardless of righteousness or of the good or others. A second form of positive ill is found in his words (ver. 4). Truthlessness will soon follow godlessness, And when in his eye God ceases to be, it will not be long ere right ceases to be right, and truth to ho truth. And a third form of ill will develop itself. "He setteth himself in a way that is not good." He pfouts his feet, he takes a determined stand, in the direction of gratifying self rather than in the direc- tion of pleasing God. And will aim at ·nothing but "utility," in the narrow sense of hedonism. Right as right will have disappeared from the gaze of his eye, and will cease to govern either deed, word, or thought. How terrible a picture is this of unchecked human depravity I II. WHAT PllACTICAL USE SHOULD BE MADE IN OUR DAY OF SUCH A TERRIBLE EXPOSURE OF THE SECRETS OF DEPRAVED HEARTS? 1. It is a very solemn thought that we are thus being inspected, at every moment, by an all-searching gaze, It is only where Divine revelation has been vouchsafed that sin is dealt with so very seriously, and that the heart is thus depicted so minutely. 2. How fearful the descent of sin, and how encroaching are its inroads on character I Yet, o.fter all, we need not fall iuto the error of supposing that the Word of God regards all as equally guilty or as equally corrupt. Yet, as the Apostle Paul shows in the second and third chapters of his Epistle to the Romans, where he is handling the indictment which stands in God's Law against us, we are" all under sin." If the Jew has sinned against a written Law, the Gentile has sinned against an unwritten law. Hence both are "guilty before God;" although the measure of each one's guilt, and tho depth of each one's corrup- tion, can be judged accuro.tely by God alone. 3. Let us be devoutly thankful that we may know the worst of ourselves by comparing what we o.re with the pure and holy Law of God. To know the disease is an importo.nt step in seeking for a cure. 4. Even if we have not gone such lengths in guilt and maddened sin as are here desr:ribed, let us thaokrully acknowledge that we owe it to the restraining provi,lence of God. For, alas I the germs of all ill are in each of us. 5. We need a deliverance from oursefoes. ,ve need forgiveness for guilt, and cleansing from corruption. 6. Since all are under sin, how righteous is the requirement of the gospel l "God comnrnudoth o.11 men every- where to repent." No man is ns good as he ought to be, nor yet as good as he knows he ought to be, And for this he ought to be sorry and to mourn his guilt persistently before God. When he is thus ready to put sin away by repenting of it, God is ready to put it away by forgiving it. 7. It is the glory of the gospel that it fokes into account all our needs, from every possible point of view. In Christ we have pardon fur the penitent's sin, and cleansing from the foulest corruption. Yea, throLtgh the Spirit of God we may be regenerated, nod ee.nctificd, and snatched from the po wcr of tlarkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son, 8. It is only in that very Word which loo!cs at sin most seriously, that man is regarded most hopefully. Mao and his sins aro not inseporablo, 'l'hey may be parted, .And when this blessed e!Tect is brought obout, "being made free from sin, e.nd become servants unto God," they will" h:ive their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."-C. Vere, 5-12.-God's revelation of himself to man. Tho reason for so sudden a transition in t-bo theme of this psalm does not cloarly appear. It is, indeed, possible that portions of two may be pieced together; but we he.vo no proof of that. The rem:uk of Calvin is very striking, "Arter having spoken of the great depravity of men, the prophet, nfraid lest he should be infectc,l by it, or be c:mir•,l t\\\'ay by the 280 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [re. xxxvt. 1-12.