8888

DISCOURSE III.

PSALM Xix. 12.

Who can understand his Errors? Cleanfe thou me from fecret Faults.

T

CHE only Method of coming to the distinct Knowledge of our

Sins, and to a due Senfe of them, is Self-examination; and therefore it is, that you are fo frequently exhorted to enter into yourselves, to converse with your own Hearts, and to fearch out the Evil which is in them. But often it happens that this Method, after the fincerest and most laborious Inquiry, leaves Men under great Diffatisfaction of Mind, and fubject to the frequent Returns of Doubts and Mifgivings of Heart; left something very bad may have escaped their Search, and,

for

for want of being expiated by Sorrow and Repentance, should remain a Debt upon their Souls at the great Day of Account. As in temporal Concerns, Men often know, that by a long Course of Prodigality, and many expenfive Vanities, they have contracted a great Debt upon their Eftates, and have brought themselves to the very Brink of Poverty and Distress, and yet, when they try to think and confider of their Condition, find themselves utterly unable to ftate their Accounts, or to fet forth the Particulars of the Debt they labour under; but the more they endeavour to recollect, the more they are convinced that they are mere Strangers at home, and ignorant of their own Affairs : So in fpiritual Concerns likewife, Men who have been long acquainted with Vice, and long Strangers to Thought and Reflection, when they come to be fenfible of the Danger of their Condition, and to fet themselves seriously to repent, know in general that they have a heavy Weight of Sin and Guilt upon their Souls; but yet the Particulars, though many and heinous, which they are able to recollect and charge themselves with distinctly, fall very short of the Sense they have of their Condition, and do by no means fill

up

that

that which they know to be the Measure of their Iniquities. And hence it is, that after the most careful Examination of themselves, and the most folemn Repentance for all their known Sins, they do not always enjoy that Peace and Tranquillity of Soul which they expected, and had promised themselves, as the bleffed Fruits of Contrition; but fuffer extremely under uncertain Hopes and Fears, not being able to fatisfy themselves that their Repentance was perfect, which they know was formed upon a Knowledge of their Sins that was very imperfect.

The holy Pfalmift had this Sense of his Condition, and felt how unable he was fufficiently to acknowledge his own Guilt before God, when he broke forth into the Complaint with which the Text begins, Who can understand his Errors? or, as it runs in the Translation which is more familiar to us, Who can tell how oft he offendeth? In this Distress his only Refuge was to the Mercy of God, confeffing, with the greatest Humility of Heart, that his Tranfgreffions were not only more than he could bear, but even more than he could understand: Cleanfe thou me from my fecret Faults. Whenever Men entertain Doubts of their own Sincerity and due Performance of reli

gious Acts, it is extremely difficult to reafon with their Fears and Scruples, and to difpofsess them of the Misapprehenfions they have of their own State and Condition. Such Suggestions as bring Eafe and Comfort to their Minds come fufpected, as proceeding from their own or their Friends Partiality; and they are afraid to hope, left even to hope, in their deplorable Condition, fhould prove to be Prefumption, and affuming to themselves more than in Reafon or Juftice belongs to them. But when we can fhew them Men of approved Virtue and Holinefs, whose Praise is in the Book of Life, who have struggled with the fame Fears, and waded through even the worst of their Apprehenfions to the peaceful Fruits of Righteousness; it helps to quicken both their Spirits and their Understanding, and at once to adminifter Knowledge and Confolation. And for this Reason we can never fufficiently admire the Wisdom of God, in fetting before us the Examples of good Men in their lowest and most imperfect State. Had they been fhewn to us only in the brightest Part of their Character, Defpair of attaining to their Perfection might incline us to give over the Purfuit, by throwing a Damp upon our best Resolutions: But

when

when we see them rifing to Virtue and Holinefs from the fame wretched Condition which we are in, and labouring under the fame Difficulties, the fame Anxieties and Torments of Mind; when we fee their very Souls convulfed with the Pangs of Repentance, and their Faith almost finking under the Doubtfulness of their Condition; when we hear them cry to God in the Words of Anguish, not knowing how to pray, or in what Terms to lament their Sins; when we fee this Nakednefs of their Souls, and find that they are like one of us, what secret Comfort must it give to an afflicted Spirit, what Support to a Mind oppreffed with the Sense of Guilt, to find in these great Examples, what heavenly Joy and Peace often fpring from the lowest Depths of Sorrow

and Woe!

And there is indeed, with respect to the Comfort and Security of a Sinner, a great Difference between Arguments drawn from general Reasonings and Reflections, and those which are fuggefted from the Experience and Practice of holy Men. In the Cafe before us, if we confider the Words of the Text without Regard had to the Person who spoke them, we may raise many Reflections

from