hurtful; as they prove an encouragement to others to tread in their steps. Hence even a heathen could say, "The more elevated any person is, the less liberty he has to do any thing wrong; "* for many eyes are upon him, and many will be emboldened by his evil conduct. But David's punishment being severe and manifest, would operate, in turn, as a powerful check; and he was now willing to vindicate the divine proceedings, and to teach transgressors the ways of God, that sinners might be turned out of their destructive course, and might be truly converted and brought back to God. In the Fourteenth Verse he again prays in fervent language for deliverance from guilt: Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing * aloud of thy righteousness. The guilt of shedding the blood of Uriah and of others who fell with him, still harassed his soul: the artful covering under which it had been done, was now drawn aside; and he heard the voice of their blood, as it were, calling to heaven for the vengeance of God. No crime had been so awfully forbidden by divine authority as the shedding of human blood.e There was no expiation appointed for it under the law, when e Cæsar in Sallust. Gen. ix. 6.-Exod. xxi. 12.--Lev.xxiv. 17. it should be wilfully done. David therefore cries unto God as the supreme Governor, in whose hands are life and death, that he would deliver him from blood-guiltiness, as being the God of his salvation, or God his salvation, the only one who could release him from such a dreadful charge. It was indeed a sin of a crimson die, and none could deliver him from this oppressive guilt, this grievous stain, but the God of his salvation, against whom it had been committed. God graciously watches over the lives of all his people, and he hath expressly declared, "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." There is also one consideration in the case of David which seems to render his crime still more aggravated; he was God's vicegerent, and had been especially appointed by him to rule over his people in truth and righteousness. The Jewish Government has been called a Theocracy, as God was their King in a peculiar sense; and their rulers were only as stewards who acted in his name. Therefore any instance of tyranny or oppression, under such a government, was extremely offensive in the eyes of God, who had signally manifested his presence among that people as his peculiar inheritance. f 1 Sam. xii. 12. David promised, that if God would deliver him from the guilt of blood, his tongue should sing aloud of his righteousness. By the righteousness of God we may here understand his justice and truth; his justice in punishing him for his heinous crimes notwithstanding his eminent rank; and his truth in vindicating the honour of his law, which declared his holiness and divine sovereignty as the governor of the world. If he might now be relieved from the terror of that guilt which haunted his mind, his tongue should sing aloud of the righteousness of JEHOVAH, he would humbly acknowledge the justice of the sentence which denounced the heavy judgments that would shortly overtake him and while he participated in God's mercy and goodness, he would thankfully and cheerfully submit to those heavy afflictions by which his righteousness and purity would be clearly manifested in the sight of the nation. : In the next place he says, Verse the Fifteenth, O Lord open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. Having promised in the preceding verse to sing aloud of God's righteousness, he seems here to correct himself, and to confess his own insufficiency to set forth the praises of God; and therefore, he prays unto him to open his lips that with his mouth he might praise him in a suitable manner. His lips had been closed by a feeling sense of guilt, he could utter his confessions and prayers, but his mind was filled with grief; his spirit was depressed, and he was unable to move his lips in setting forth the praise of his merciful deliverer. He is desirous of praising God, and he prays for ability to do it in a way that might be acceptable to him. His lips had been defiled, but God could make them clean by touching them, as it were, with a coal from his own altar: his mouth had been closed as long as iniquity had kept possession of his heart, but God could open it by the influence of his grace, and could cause him to send forth the accents of praise after his humble expressions of grief and sorrow. By the power of sin his heart had been frozen; his feelings had been benumbed; and his lips had been closed in darkness and gloom; even those lips that had been accustomed to pour forth the sweetest streams of sacred eloquence. But if the Lord would open his lips, by giving him the joy of his salvation, by assuring him of mercy and peace, then his mouth should set forth his praise: his heart would overflow with love and gratitude, and his lips would pour forth a stream of joy and gladness: the confessions of penitential grief should be followed also with the voice of melody and the songs of praise. This beautiful Verse has been very properly interwoven in the Liturgy of our own Church. Before we enter on the recitation of the Psalms, we are taught to make use of the prayer of David; the Minister says, "O Lord, open thou our lips;" the Congregation reply, "And our mouth shall show forth thy praise." On the Passage which has thus far been explained we may further remark, 1. How necessary it is that those persons should have an experimental knowledge of the nature and efficacy of repentance who are publicly set apart to teach transgressors the ways of God, and to admonish sinners in order to their conversion! There is a material difference between that knowledge of divine things which exists merely in theory, and that which makes a deep impression on the heart, and which produces a lively charity which truly edifies. A minister may describe in the clearest manner the evil of sin and the excellence of moral virtues; he may persuade men by the arts of rhetoric "to flee from the wrath to come," and may set before them, in a striking view, the judgments of God. But if he himself has never had a feeling sense of the corruption Matt. iii. 7. H |