God's Marking Iniquity
The general frame of a gracious soul, in its perplexi* ties about sin, has been declared. Its particular actings are next represented unto us in verse 3: ‘’If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall standi”
“If thou. Lord.” He here fixes on another name of God, which is Jah: a name from the same root with the former, but used to intimate and express the terrible majesty of God: “He rideth on the heavens, and is extolled by his name Jah.”’ Psalm 68: 4. He is to deal now with God about the guilt of sin j and God is represented to the soul as great and terrible, that he may know what to expect if the matter must be tried according to the demerit of sin.
“If thou shouldst mark iniquities:” that is, so consider and observe them, as to reserve them for punishment and vengeance. In opposition to this marking, God is said not to see sin, to overlook it, to cover it, to remember it no more; that is, to forgive it, as the next verse declares.
I need not show that God so far marks all sins in all persons, as to see them, know them, disallow them, and to be displeased with them. This cannot be denied, without taking away all the grounds of fear and worship. To deny it is equivalent to denying the very being of God 5 deny his holiness and righteousness, and you deny his existence. But there is a day appointed wherein all men shall know that God knew, and took notice of, all and every one of their most secret sins. There is then a double marking of sin in God, neither of which can be denied in reference unto any sms, in any persons.
The first is natural, consisting in his omniscience, whereunto all things are open and naked. Thus no sin is hid from him; the most secret is before the light of his countenance: all are marked by him. The other, moral, in a displeasure against every sin, which is inseparable from the nature of God on account of his holiness. And this is declared in the sentence of the law, and that equally to all men. But the marking here intended implies animadversion, and punishment according to the tenor of the law. Not only the sentence of the law, but a will of punishing according to it, is included in it. ‘’If,” saith the Psalmist, ‘’thou, the great and dreadful God, who art extolled by thy glorious name Jah, shouldst take notice of iniquities, so as to recompense sinners that come unto thee according to the severity of thy holy law:” what then 1 It is answered by the proposal, “Who can standi” that is, none can so do. No man, not one in the world can stand or abide the trial. Every one, on this supposition, must perish, and that eternalh/. This, the desert of sin and the curse of the law, which is the rule of thus marking their iniquity, require. There is great emphasis in the form of this interrogation. When the Holy Ghost would show the certainty and dreadfulness of the perdition of ungodly men, he does it by such a kind of expression, wherein there is a deeper sense intimated than any words can well clothe or declare: “What then shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospell” 1 Peter, 4:17 5 and verse 18, ‘’Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1” So here, “Who can standi” There is a deep insinuation of a dreadful ruin, as to all with whom God shall so deal as to mark their iniquities. See Psalm 1: 5.
The Psalmist then, addressing himself to deal with God about sin, lays down, in the first place, in general, what the result must be, not to himself only, but to all the world, should God mark iniquity. This is not my
Forgiveness.”
case only, but it is so with all mankind — every one v:h.o is partaker of flesh and blood, whether their guilt answer that which I am oppressed with or not; guilty are they all, and all must perish. How much more must that be my condition, who have contracted such guilt as I have done. Here, then, he brings a great argument against himself. If none, not the holiest, the humblest, the most believing soul, can abide the trial, how much less can I, who am the chief of sinners, the least of saints, who come unspeakably behind them in holiness, and have equally gone beyond them in sin 1
This is the sense and import of the words. Let us now consider how they are expressive of the actings of the soul whose state is here represented, and what direc’ tions they afford for them who are fallen into this state.
We may here observe that, in Gods marking sin according to the tenor of the law, the case is the same with all classes of sinnei’s vjheihev before conversion, or in relapses and entanglements after conversion. There is a likeness between conversion and recoveries. They are both wrought by the same means, and have the same effects upon the souls of sinners, although in sundry things they differ. The considerations we now presenS may be applied both to those who are yet unconverted, and to those who are really delivered from their natural state; but especially to those who know not which state they are in, that is, to all guilty souls. The law will put in its claim upon all. It will condemn the sin, and try what it can do against the sinner. There is no shaking it off; it must be fairly answered, or it will prevail. The law issues an arrest for the debt; and it is to no purpose to bid the officer begone, or to entreat him to spare. If payment be not made, and an acquittance produced, the soul must be sent to prison. I am going to God, saith the soul; he is great and terrible, a marker of sin, and what shall I say unto him This makes him god’ 6 MAUKlxNG IMCiUITY. 51
tremble, and cry out, “O Lord, who shall standi” Hence we lay down this proposition:
In a sin-perplexed soul’s addresses to God, the first thing that presents itself is Gods marking sin according to the tznor of the lau which is likely to Jill the soul with
DREAD AND TERROR.
The Lord speaks of some, who, when they hear the words of the curse, yet bless themselves, and say they shall have peace. Deut. 29: 19. Let men preach and say what they will of the terror of the Lord, they will despise it. This conduct God threatens with utter extermination. Generally it is with sinners as it v.’as with Gaal the son of Ebed, when he was fortifying Sichem against Abimelech, Zebul tells him that Abimelechwill come and destroy him. Let him come, saith Gaal, I shall deal well enough with him; let him bring forth his army, I fear him not: but upon the very first appearance of Abimelech’s army he trembled for fear. Tell obdurate sinners of the wrath of God, and that he will come to plead his cause against them; for the most part they take no notice of what yo’<i say, but go on as if they were resolved they should deal well enough with him Notwithstanding all their stoutness, a day is coming wherein fearfulness shall surprise them, and make them cry out, “Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire, who among us shall inhabit everlasting burnings V Yea, if the Lord be pleased in this life, in an especial manner, to draw nigh to any of them, they quickly see that their ‘* hearts cannot endure, nor can their hands be strong.” Ezek. 22: 14. Their hands hang down, and their stout hearts tremble like an aspen-leaf.
He who first sinned was a striking instance of what we have affirmed. ‘’ He heard the voice of God.” Gen. 3:8. So he had done before, without the least trouble or consternation: he was made for communion with
52 ForvGIVExXESs OF SIX*
God; and that he might hear his voice was part of his blessedness. But now, saith he, “I heard thy voice, and was afraid, and iiid myself.” He knew that God was coming on the inquest of sin, and he was not able to bear the thoughts of meeting him j could he have gone into the bowels of the earth, from whence he was taken, and have been there hid from God, he would have done it. Things are now altered with him: in that God whom he loved before, as a good, holjr, powerful, righteous Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, and Rewarder, he now sees only wrath, indignation, vengeance, and terror. This draws from him those dreadful words, ‘’ I heard thy voice, and was afraid, and hid myself.”
The giving of the law evinces what effects the consideration of God’s proceeding with sinners according to the tenor of it must produce. ‘’AH the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the .mountain smoking.” Exodus, 20: 18, 19y Heb. 12: 18^* In this manner came forth from the Lord that fiery law. Deut. 33: 2. So that all who were concerned in it did exceedingly quake and tremble. And yet all this respects but the severity of the law in general, without the application of it to any soul in particular. There is a solemnity that carries an awe with it, in the preparation of an assize to be kept and held by poor worms like ourselves; but the dread of it is peculiar to the malefactors for whose trial and execution the preparation is made. When a soul comes to think that all this dreadful preparation, this appearance of terrible majesty, these streams of the fiery law, are pointed towards him, it will make him cry out, ‘’ Lord, Vv’ho can stand 1” And this law is still in force towards sinners, even as it was on the day wherein it was given on Mount Sinai. Though Moses grew old, yet his strength never failed; nor has the law given by him lost any thing of strength, power, or authority towards sinners.
It is still accompanied with thunderings and lightnings as of old; and it will not fail to represent the terror of the Lord to a guilty soul.
Among the saints themselves I could produce instances to show that they have found it to be thus. The cases of Job and David are known; I shall only consider it in Christ himself. From himself, he had no occasion of any discouraging thought; being holy, harmless, undefiled. He fulfilled all righteousness, did his Father’s will in all things, and abode in his love. This must be attended with the highest peace and most blessed joy. In the very entrance of his trials he had a full persuasion of a comfortable issue and success; as we may see, Isaiah, 50: 7, 8. But yet, when his soul was exercised with thoughts of God’s marking our iniquities upon him, it was sorrowful unto death. He was ‘’amazed, and very heavy.” His agony, his bloody sweat, his strong cries and supplications, his reiterated prayers, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” his last and dreadful crj’-, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me V all manifest what apprehensions he had of what it was for God to mark iniquities. Well may poor sinners cry out, ‘’ Lord, who shall standi” when the Son of God himself so trembled under the weight of it.
In serious thoughts of God marking sin, he is represented to the soul under all those glorious terrible attributes and excellences which beget dread and terror in the hearts of sinners when they have no relief from any covenant-engagements in Christ. The soul looks upon him as the great Lawgiver, (James, 4: 12,) able to revenge the breach of it, by destroying body and soul in hell; as one terrible in holiness, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; the living God, into whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall; as attended with vindictive justice, saying, ‘’ Vengeance is mine, I will recompense.” Heb. 10: 30. Now, for a soul to consider God clothed with all those dreadful and terrible excellences, coming to deal with sinners according to the tenor of his fiery law, can- .Jt but make him cry out with Moses, “I exceedingly quake and tremble.” These things work in their minds the conckision that God’s markino- sin accordino to the tenor of the law, and man’s salvation, are utterly inconsistent; a conclusion that must shake a soul when pressed under a sense of its own guilt.
When a person who is really guilty, and knows himself to be guilty, is brought to his trial, he has but these four grounds of hope that his safety and his trial may be consistent. He may think that either, 1. The Judge will not be able to discover his crimes; or, 2. That some one will powerfully intercede for him with the Judge; or, 3. That the rule of the law is not so strict as to notice his errors; or, 4. That the penalty is not so severe but there may be a way of escape. Cut him short of his expectations from some one or all of these, and all his hopes must of necessity perish.
1. Of the Judge we have spoken somewhat already. The present inquiry is. Whether any thing may be hid
m him, and so a door of escape be opened to a sinner! The apostle tells us, ‘^ That all things are naked and open unto Him,” Heb. 4: 13; and the Psalmist, that there ‘^ is not a thought in our hearts nor a word in our tongue but he understandeth it afar off, and knoweth it altogether.” Psalm 139: 2, 4. What the sinner knows of himself which may cause him to fear, thai God knows; and what he knows not of himself that deserves his fear, thai God knows also: “He is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things.” 1 John, 3: 20. When God shall not only set in order before the sinner the secret sins which he retains some remembrance of, but also bring to mind that world of abominations of which either he never took any notice or hath utterly forgotten, it will trouble, yea, confound him.
2. But may not this Judge be entreated to pass by what he knows, and deal favorably with the sinner ‘{ May not an intercessor be obtained, to plead in behalf of the guilty soul 1 Eli determines this matter, 1 Samuel, 2; 25, ‘’ if any one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him 1” There is not, saith Job, between us one that might argue the case in pleading for me, and so make up the matter, “laying his hand upon us both.” Job, 9: 33. We now consider a sinner purely under the administration of the law, which knows nothing of a Mediator, In that case, who shall take upon him to intercede for the sinner ] Besides that all creatures in heaven and earth are eno-aored in the contest of God against sinners ] and besides the greatness and terror of his Majesty, that will certainly deter all, or any of them, from undertaking any such work; what is the request that, in this case, must be put up to Godl Is it not that he would cease to be holy, cease to be righteous, relinquish his throne, deny himself and his sovereignty, that a rebel, a traitor, his cursed enemy may live and escape his justice 1 Js this request reasonable 1 Is he fit to intercede for sinners that would make it 1 Would he not, by so doing, prove himself to be the greatest of them 1 The sinner cannot then expect any door of escape to be opened to him. All the world is against him; and the case must be tried out nakedly, between God and him. But,
3. It may be, the rule of the law whereby the sinner is to be tried is not so strict, but that in the case of such sins as he is guilty of, it may admit of a favorable interpretation: or that the good he has done may be laid in the balance against his evil, and so some relief be obtained. But the matter is quite otherwise; there is no good action of a sinner, though it were perfectly good, that can lie in the balance with, or compensate the evil of the least sin committed: for all good is due on another account, though no guilt were incurred. As the payment of money that a man has borrowed makes no satisfaction for what he has stolen; no more will our duties compensate for our sins. Nor is there any good action of a sinner but it has evil and guilt enough attending it to render itself unacceptable; so that men may well cease from thoughts of supererogation, or doing more than duty requires. Besides, where there is any one sin, if all the good in the world might be supposed to be in the same person, yet, in the indispensable order of our dependance on God, nothing of that good could come into consideration till the guilt of that sin were answered for to the utmost. The penalty of every sin being the eternal ruin of the sinner, all his supposed good can avail him nothing. And for the law itself, it is an issue of the holiness, and righteousness, and wisdom of God; so that there is not any evil, great or small, but is forbidden and condemned by it. ‘^ Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” Psalm 14-3: 2. That is, if things are to be tried and determined by the law, no sinner can be acquitted. Rom. 3: 20. Gal. 2: lo. But yet,
4. It may be, the sentence of the law is not so fierce and (Ireadfulj but that, though guilt be found, there may be yet a way of escape. But the law speaks not one word on this side death to an offender. There is a greatness and an eternity of wrath in the sentence of it; and it is God himself who hath undertaken to see the vengeance of it executed. So that, on all these accounts, the conclusion mentioned must be fixed in the soul of a sinner that entertains thoughts of drawing nigh to God.
Though what has been spoken may be of general use to sinners of all classes, whether called home to- God, or yet strangers to him; yet I shall not insist upon any general improvement of it, because it is intended only for one special end or purpose. What is aimed at is, to show that in the first thoughts that arise in the heart of a poor entangled soul when he begins to endeavor a return to God, the law immediately puts in its claim against him. God is represented to him as angry, and his terror besets him round about. This fills him with fear and confusion, so that he knows not what to do. These troubles are greater or less, according as God sees it best for the poor creature’s present humiliation and future safety. What then does the sinner 1 What are his thoughts on this subject 1 Does he think to fly from God, and to give over all endeavors of recovery 1 Does he say. This God is a holy and terrible God, I cannot serve him; it is to no purpose for me to look for any thing but fury and destruction from him, and therefore I may as well give over as persist in my design of drawing nigh to him. It cannot be denied that thoughts of this nature will be suggested by unbelief, and sometimes great perplexities arise to the soul. But this is not the issue and final product of this exercise of the soul: it produces another effect; it calls for that which is the first particular working of a gracious soul, arising out of its sin-entanglements: viz. 1, a sincere sense of sin j and, 2, the acknowledgment of it; with, 3, self-condemnation in the justification of God.
I. A sixXCEEE SENSE OF SIN. There is a twofold sense of sin: the one general and intellectual, whereby a man knows what sin is, that he is a sinner, that he is guilty of this or that, these or those sins; but his heart is not affected proportionally to his knowledge. The other is active and efficacious, in which the soul being acquainted with the nature of sin and its own guilt, is influenced by that apprehension to suitable affections and acts.
Of both these we have an instance in the same person. David, before Nathan’s coming to him, had the former; afterwards he had the latter also. It cannot be imagined but that, before the coming of the prophet, he had a general knowledge of the nature of sin, and that he was a sinner, and guilty of those very sins for which afterwards he was reproved. But yet this wrought not in him any one afiection suitable to his condition; and the same may be said of most sinners in the world. But now, vrhen Nathan comes to him and gives him the latter efficacious sense of which we speak, we know what effects it produced. It is the latter only that is under consideration; a deep and practical apprehension, wrought in the mind and heart by the Holy Ghost, of sin and its evils, in reference to the law and love of God, the cross and blood of Christ, the communion and consolation of the Spirit, and all the fruits of love, mercy or grace that it has been made partaker of, or on gospel-grounds has hoped for.
1. The principal efficieni cause of it is the Holy Ghost: he it is who “convinceth of sin.” John, 16:8. He v’orks indeed by means. He wrought it in David by the ministry of Nathan, and he wrought it in Peter by the look of Christ. But his work it is. No man can work it upon his own soul. It will not spring out of men’s rational considerations. Though men may exercise their thoughts about such things as one would think were enough to break the hearts of stones; yet if the Holy Ghost put not forth a peculiar efficacy of his own, this sense of sin will not be produced. As the waters at the pool of Bethesda were not troubled but when an angel descended and moved them, no more will the heart be for sin without a saving entrance of the Holy Ghost.
2. It is a deep apprehensicn of sin, and the evils of it. Slight transient thoughts amount not to the sense of which we speak. ‘’ My sorrow,” saith David, ‘’ is continually before me.” Psalm 38: 17. It pressed him always, and greatly. Hence he compares this sense of sin, wrought by the Holy Ghost, to ‘’arrows that stick in the flesh.” verse 2. They pain sorely, and are always perplexing. Sin, in this sense of it, lays hold on the soul so that the sinner cannot “look up;” and it abides with him, making ‘’his sore run in the night without ceasing,” and deprives the soul of rest: “My soul,” saith he, “refused to be comforted.” This apprehension of sin lies down and rises with him.
3. It is practical. It is not seated merely in the speculative part of the mind, hovering in general notions; but it dwells in the practical understanding, which effectually influences the will and affections; such an apprehension, that sorrow and humiliation are inseparable from it.
4. It has respect to the laio of God. There can be no due consideration of sin in which the law has not its place. The more a man sees of the excellency of the law, the more he sees of the vileness of sin. This is true of a soul in its first endeavor for a recovery from the entanglements of sin. He labors thoroughly to know his disease, that he may be cured. It will do him no good, he knows, to be ignorant of his disease or his danger. He knows that if his wounds be not searched to the bottom they will fester and destroy him. To the law, then, he brings himself and his sin; and by it learns his vileness and danger. Most men lie in their depths because they wish to avoid the first step of their rising: from the bottom of their misery they would fain at once be at the top of their felicity. The soul, led in this work by the Holy Ghost, does not so. He converses with the law, brings his sins to it, and fully hears its sentence. As ever you desire to come to rest, avoid not this entrance of your passage unto it. Weigh well what the law speaks of your sin and its desert, or you will never make a due application to God for forgiveness. As ever you would have your souls justified by grace, take care to have your sins judged by the law.
5. There is in this sense of sin a respect to the love of God. And this breaks the heart of the poor returning sinner. Sorrow from the law shuts itself up in the soul nnd strangles it. Sorrow from thoughts of the love of (lod opens it and causes it to flow forth. Thoughts of sinning against the love of God, managed by the Holy Ghost — what shall I say their effects in the heart are not to be expressed. This made Ezra cry out, “Q my God, I blush and am ashamed to lift up my face to thee — What shall we say after this!” After what 1 why, all the fruits of love and kindness they had been made partakers of. Thoughts of love and sin laid together, make the soul blush, mourn, and be ashamed and confounded in itself. So Ezekiel, 36: 31; “Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good.” When shall they do so 1 when thoughts and apprehensions of love shall be brought home to them; then “shall you loathe yourselves in your own sight.” The soul now calls to mind what love, what kindness, what mercy, what grace, what patience has been exercised towards it. The thoughts of all these now come in upon him as streams of water. Such mercy, such communion, such privileges, such hopes of glory, such tastes of heaven, such peace, such consolation, such joy, such communications of the Spirit, all to a poor, wretched, cursed, lost, forlorn sinner; and all this despised, neglected; the God of them all provoked, forsaken! Ah! saith the soul,” whither shall I cause my sorrow to go V This fills him with shame and confusion of face; makes him mourn in secret, and sigh to the breaking of the loins.
6. The blood and cross of Christ is also brought to remembrance by the Holy Ghost. Ah! saith the soul, have I thus requited the wonderful love of my Redeemer 1 Is this the return, the requital I have made to him 1 Arc not heaven and earth astonished at the despising of such love 1 This broke Peter’s heart, on the look of Christ. Such words as these from Christ will, in this condition, sound in the ears of the soul: “Did I love thee, and leave my glory to become a scorn and reproach for thy sake 1 Did I think my life, and all that was dear to me, too good for thee, to save thee from the wrath to come ] Have I been a wilderness unto thee, or a land of darkness 1 What could I have done more for thee 1 When I had nothing left but my life, it went for thee, that thou mightest live by my death, be washed in my blood, and be saved through my soul’s being made an offering for thee! and hast thou thus requited my love, to prefer a lust before me, the world before me, or by mere sloth and folly to be turned away from me 1 Go, unkind, unthankful soul, and see if thou canst find another Redeemer.” This overwhelms the soul, and even drowns it in tears and sorrow. And then the bitterness of the sufferings of Christ are brought to mind. “They look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn.” Zech. 12: 10. They remember his gall and wormwood, his cries and tears, his agony and sweat, his desertion and anguish, his blood and death, the sharpness of the sword that was in his soul, and the bitterness of the cup that was put into his hand. Such a soul now looks on Christ, bleeding, dying, wrestling with wrath and curse for him, and sees his sins in the streams of blood that issued from his side; and all this increases the sense of sin of which we speak.
7. It relates to the communion and consolations of the Holy Ghost, with all the privileges and fruits of love we are by him made partakers of. The Spirit is given to believers, upon the promise of Christ, to dwell in them. He takes up their hearts to be his dwelling-place: to what ends and purposes 1 that he may purify and sanctify them, make them holy, and dedicate them to God; furnish them with graces and gifts, interest them in privileges, guide, direct, comfort them, and seal them unto the day of redemption. Now this Spirit is grieved by sin, Ephes. 4: 30; and his dwelling-place defiled thereby. 1 Cor. 6: 19, and 3: 17. Thoughts of this greatly sharpen the spiritual sense of sin in a recovering soul. He considers what light, what love, what joy, what consolation, what privileges he has been made partaker of; what warnings to keep him from sin he has received from the Spirit; and says within himself, ‘’ What have I donel whom have I grieved 1 whom have I provoked 1 what if the Lord should now, for my folly and ingratitude, utterly take his Holy Spirit from me ] what if I should have so grieved him that he will dwell in me no more, delight in me no more ] What dismal darkness, yea, what utter ruin should I be left unto! And what shame and confusion of face belong to me for my wretched ingratitude towards him!”
This is the first thing that appears in the returning soul: a sincere sense of sin wrought in it by the Holy Ghost. And this a soul ia the depths described must come to, if ever it expects deliverance. Let not such persons expect to have a renewed sense of mercy without a revived sense of sin.
n. Hence proceeds an ingenuous, free, gracious acknowledgment of sin. Men may have a sense of sin, and yet suffer it to lie burning as a fire shut up in their bones, to their continual disquietude, without coming to a free, soul-opening acknowledgment. Yea, confession may be made in general, with the mention of that very sin in which the soul is most entangled, and yet the soul come short of a due performance of this duty. Consider how the case stood with David: “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long.” Psalm 32: 3. How could David keep silence, and yet roar all the day long ] What is that silence which is consistent with roaring 1 It is a mere negation of the duty expressed, verse 5, that is intended: “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquities I have not hid.” It was not a silence of submission and waiting on God: that would not have produced a wasting of his spiritual strength, as he complains this silence did; nor yet was it a sullen, stubborn, contumacious spirit. He implies, as Calvin well says, ^’ an affection between patience and stubbornness, bordering on the one and the other:” that is, he had a deep sense of sin; this disquieted and perplexed him all the day long, which he calls his roaring; it weakened and wearied him, making his bones wax old, or his strength decay. Yet was he not able to bring his heart to that ingenuous, gracious acknowledgment which, like the opening of a festered wound, would have given at least some ease to his soul. God’s children are often, in this matter, like ours: though they are convinced of a fault, and are really troubled at the thought of it, yet they will hardly acknowledge it. So do God’s people: they will go up and down, sigh and mourn; but an evil and untoward frame of spirit, under the povv’er of unbelief and fear, keeps them from this duty.
Now that this acknowledgment may be acceptable to God, it is required that it he free, and that it he full.
1. It must be free and spiritually ingenuotLs. Cain, Pharaoh, Ahab, Judas, came all to an acknowledgment of sin; but it was whether they would or not. It was pressed out of them: it did not willingly flow from them. The confession of a person under the convincing terrors of the law or dread of threatening judgments, is like that of malefactors on the rack, who speak out that for which they and their friends must die. What they saj’, t)4 FORGIVENESS OF SIX.
though it be truth, is a fruit of force and torture, not of any ingenuousness of mind. So is it with merely convinced persons; they come not to the acknowledgment of sin with any more freedom; and the reason is, because all sin has shame! and for men to be free to shame is naturally impossible, shame being nature’s shrinking from itself. But now the returning soul has never more freedom, liberty and aptitude of spirit, than when he is in the acknowledgment of those things whereof he is most ashamed. And this is no small evidence that it proceeds from the Spirit, which is attended with liberty; for ‘’ where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty.” 2 Cor. 3:17. When David was delivered from his silence, he expresses this spirit in the performance of this duty: “I acknowledged my sin, and mine iniquity I have not hid: I said, I w confess my transgression.” Psalm 32: 0. His mouth is now open and his heart enlarged; and he multiplies one expression upon another, to manifest his enlargement. So doth a soul, rising out of its depths, in the beginning of this address to God. Having the true sense of sin wrought in him by the Holy Ghost, his heart is made free, and enlarged unto an ingenuous acknowledgment of his sin before the Lord. He pours out his soul unto God; and hath not more freedom in any thing than in confessing that of which he is most ashamed.
2. This acknowledgment must also bey//. Reserves ruin conversion. If the soul have any secret thought of rolling a sweet morsel under its tongue, as bowing in the house of Rimmon, it is like part of the price kept back, which makes the whole a robbery instead of an offering. If there be remaining a bitter root of favoring any one lust or sin, or any occasion of or temptation to sin, let a man be as open, free and earnest as can be imagined in the acknowledgment of all other sins, the whole duty is rendered abominable. Some persons, when
SELF-COr^DEM.NATION. 65
they arc brovight into depths and anguish about any sin, n!»d are forced to the acknowledgment of it, are at the same time little concerned for their other follies and iniquities, which, it may be, are no less provoking to God; “let not such a man think that he shall receive any thing from God.” It must be full and comprehensive, as well as free and ingenuous. Of such importance is the right performance of this duty, that the promise of pardon is often peculiarly annexed to it, as that which certainly carries along with it the other duties which make up a full returning unto God. Prov. 28:13 5 1 John, 1:9; Job, 33: 27, 2S.
III. There yet vemi’msself-condemndion, with the jvsiificaiion of God, which lies expressly in the words of the verse under consideration. And in this are two parts.
1. Self-abhorrence or dislike. The soul is now wholly displeased with itself, and reflects upon itself with regret and trouble. So the apostle declares it to have been with the Corinthians, when their godly sorrow was working in them. 2 Cor. 7:11. Among other things, it wrought in them indignation and revenge; or a reflection on themselves, with all manner of dislike and abhorrence. In the winding up of the controversy between God and Job, this is the point he rests in. As he had come in general to a free, full, ingenuous acknowledgment of sin, chap. 40: 4, 5; so in particular he gives up his whole contest in this abhorrence of himself, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” “What a vile wretched creature have I been,” saith the soul, “I blush and am ashamed to think of my folly, baseness, and ingratitude; is it possible that I should deal thus with the Lord I abhor, I loathe myself, I would fly any where from myself, I am so vile; a thing to be despised of God angels and men.”
2. There is self -judging in it also. This the apostle invites the Corinthians to, “If we wouid judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” 1 Cor. 11: 31. This is a persons pronouncing sentence on himself, according to the tenor o( the law. The soul brings not onlyits sin, but itself also, to the law. It puts itself, as to merit and desert, under the stroke and severity of it. Hence arises a full justification of God, in what sentence soever he shall be pleased to pronounce in the case before him.
These three things to which attention has now been called, show the state and first actings of a gracious soul rising from its depths. They are all of them signally expressed in Hosea, 14<: 1-4, where we have a signal recovery exemplified. And this makes way for the exaltation of grace, the great thing in all this dispensation aimed at by God. Ephes. 1:6. That which he is now doing, is to bring the soul to ‘^ glory in him,” which is all the return he hath from his large and infinitely bountiful expense of grace and mercy. Now, nothing can render grace conspicuous and glorious until the soul come to this. Grace will not lie high, until the soul be laid very low. And this also prepares the soul for receiving mercy in a sense of pardon, the great thing aimed at on the part of the sinner; and it prepares it for every incumbent duty. This brings the soul to wait on God with diligence and patience. If things presently answer not our expectation, we are ready to think we have done what vv’e can; if it will be no better, we must bear it as we are able; which spirit God abhors. The soul in this state waits the pleasure of God, as we shall see in the close of the psalm. Oh! says such a one, if ever I obtain a sense of love, if ever I enjoy one smile of his countenance more, it is unspeakable grace, ft is good for me quietly to wait and hope for his salvation: and it drives the 60ul to prayer; yea, a soul always in this frame, prays always. And there is nothing more evident, than that the want of a thorough engagement in the performance of these duties, is the great cause why so few come off clear from their entanglements all their days. Men heal their wounds slightly; and therefore, after a newpainful festering, they are brought into the same condition of restlessness and trouble which they were in before.
But the soul is not to be left in the state just described. There is other work for it, if it intend to come to rest and peace. It hath obtained an eminent advantage for the discovery of forgiveness, in a just sense of sin, the acknowledgment of it, and self-condemnation. But there are two evils which often attend men when they are brought into this state. Some rest in it, and press no farther; some rest upon it, and suppose that it is all which is required of them.
1. By resting or staying in it, I mean the soul’s desponding, through discouraging thoughts that deliverance is not to be obtained. Being made deeply sensible of sin, it is so overwhelmed with thoughts of its own vileness and unworthiness as to sink under the burden; such a soul is “afflicted and tossed with tempests, and not comforted;” as in a storm at sea, when all means of contending are gone, men give up themselves to be driven and tossed by the wind and seas at their pleasure. This brought Israel to cry out, “My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God,” Isa. 40 :27; and “Zion said. The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten mc,” chap. 49: 14. The soul begins secretly to think there is no hope; God regardeth it not; it shall one day perish; relief is far away, and trouble nigh at hand. These thoughts so oppress’ them, that though they forsake not God utterly to their own destruction, yet they
68 roRGivE^;nss of sin.
draw not nigh to Lira effectually to their consolation.
This is the first evil that the soul, in this condition, is enabled to avoid. We know how God rebukes it in Zion: “Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” Isa. 49: 14-. But how foolish is Zion, how froward, how unbelieving in this matter! what ground hath she for such sinful despondencies, such discouraging conclusions’! ‘’ Can a woman,” saith the Lord, ‘’ forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb! yea, they may forget, but I will not forget thee.” Such a reproof he gives to Jacob upon a similar complaint, chap. 40: 28, 29, 30. There is nothing more provoking to the Lord, or more disadvantageous to the soul, than such sinful despondency.
It insensibly weakens the soul and disables it both for present and future endeavors. Hence some poor creatures mourn, and even pine away in this condition, never getting one step beyond a perplexing sense of sin all their days. Some have dwelt so long upon it, and have so entangled themselves with a multitude of perplexing thoughts, that at length their natural faculties have been weakened, and rendered utterly useless; so that they have lost sense of sin and every thing else. Against some Satan hath taken advantage to cast so many entangling objections into their minds, that their whole time hath been taken up in proposing doubts and objections against themselves; with these they have gone up and down, to one and another, and, being never able to come to a consistency in their own thoughts, have spent all their days in a fruitless, withering, comfortless condition. Some, with whom things come to a better issue, are yet for a season brought to such discomposure of spirit, or are so filled with their own apprehensions, that when things which are most proper to their condition are spoken to them, they make no imgod’s marking imquitv. 69
pression upon them. Thus the soul is weukened by dwelling too long on these considerations j until they cry with those in Ezekiel, 33: 10, ‘’ Our sins are upon us, we pine away in them, and how shall we then live V
This state of mind will insensibly give countenance to hard thoughts of God, and so to repining, and weariness in waiting on him. At first, the soul neither apprehends nor fears any such issue: it supposes that it shall condemn and abhor itself, and justify God, and that for ever j but when relief comes not, this resolution begins to weaken; secret thoughts arise in the heart that God is inexorable J and it sometimes utters such complaints as will bring the soul into new depths before it has an issue of its trials. Here, in humiliation preceding conversion, many convinced persons perish; they cannot wait God’s season, and perish under their impatience. Of what the saints of God themselves have been overtaken with in their depths and trials, we have many examples. Delight and expectation are the grounds of our abiding with God; both these are weakened by a conquering prevailing sense of sin, without some relief from the discovery of forgiveness, though at a distance; and therefore our perplexed soul stays not herCj but presses on towards that discovery.
2. There is a resting on this sense of sin that is noxious and hurtful. Some finding it, with other things that attend it, v.Tought in them in some measure, begin to think that, now all is well, this is all that is required. They will endeavor to make a life of comfort from such arguments as they can take from their trouble; they think this a ground of peace, that they have not peace. Here some rest before conversion, and it proves their ruin. Because they are convinced of sin, and troubled about it, and burdened whh it, they think it shall be v.-ell with them. But were not Cain, Esau, Saul, Ahab, Judas convinced of sin, and burdened with it Did this profit “JO FOrxGIVENESS OF Sl.
Iheml Did it interest them in the promises’? Did not the wrath of God ovcrttike them notwithstanding 1 So it is with many daily; they think their conviction is conversion, and that their sins are pardoned, because they have been troubled.
But this is really a fruit of self -righteousness. For a soul to place the spring of its peace or comfort in any thing of its own, is to fall short of Christ. We must not only be justified, but glory in him also. Isaiah, 45: 25. Men may make use of the evidence of their graces, but only as means to a farther end j not as the rest of the soul in the least, for this deprives men’s very humiliation of all gospel-humility. True humility consists more in believing than in being sensible of sin. In believing the soul truly empties and abases itself. A sense of sin may consist with an obstinate resolution to scramble for something upon the account of self-endeavors.
Though an evangelical sense of sin be a grace, yet it is not the uniting grace which interests us in Christy it is not that which peculiarly and in its own nature exalts him. There is in this sense of sin that which is natural, and that which is spiritual. The former consists in sorrow, trouble, self-abasement, dejection, anxiety of mind: of these I may sa, as the apostle of afflictions, they are not joyous, but grievous. In their olxw nature they are no more than the soul’s retreat into itself, with an abhorrence of the objects of its sorrow and grief. To stop here is to sit down short of Christ, whether it be for life or consolation.
Let there be no mistake. There can be no evangelical sense of sin, and humiliation, where there is no union with Christ. Zech. 12: 10. The sense of sin in itself, and in its own nature, is not availing. Christ is the only rest of our souls. In any thing, for any end or purpose to take up short of him, is to lose it. It is not enough that we be ‘’prisoners of hope,” but we must
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“turn to our strong-hold,” Zech. 9: 12; not cnouo-h that we are “weary and laden,” but we “must come to Him.” Matt. 11: 28, 29. It will not suffice that we are weak, and know that we are weak, but we must “take hold on the strength of God.” Isaiah, 27: 5.
Indeed, pressing after forgiveness is the very life and power of evangelical humiliation. How shall a man know that his humiliation is evangelical, that his sorrow is according to Godl He does not do as Cain did, who cried his sins were greater than he could bear, and so departed from the presence of God j nor as Judas did, who repented, and hanged himself; nor as Felix did, tremble for a while, and then return to bis lusts; nor as the Jews did, in the prophet, ‘’pine away imder their iniquities,” because of vexation of heart; nor doth he divert his thoughts to other things, thereby to relieve his soul in his trouble; nor fix upon a righteousness of his own; nor slothfully lie down under his perplexity; but in the midst of it he applies himself to God in Christ for pardon and mercy. And it is the souVs application unto God for forgiveness and not its sense of si7i, that gives to God the glory of his grace.