II.

The Pardon of Sin.

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.-Verse 3.

HAVING roused his soul and all its powers, to celebrate the goodness of his God, the Psalmist proceeds immediately to set before it many signal proofs and instances of that goodness. His grateful mind could not feel satisfied with general expressions of thankfulness. The mercy of the Lord had exhibited itself in special acts of kindness; David, therefore, testifies his thankfulness in special terms of acknowledgment. Anxious that not a single blessing should be overlooked, he makes up a list and catalogue of the various benefits which he had received. Delighting to expatiate on the loving-kindness of his Saviour, he occupies the whole body of this Psalm with a glad summary of the tokens of His love. From the beginning of the third verse, and onward to the end of the nineteenth, one blessing after another is specified. He rehearses their several names and natures, that he may the more readily and indelibly impress them upon his remembrance. Thus the Psalmist enjoys his mercies over again by a thankful enumeration of their ex

lencies, and makes himself doubly blessed by this joyous re

capitulation.

The first benefit for which David calls upon his soul to bless the Lord, is the "forgiveness of sin." Pardon is the blessing which the son of Jesse places at the head of his list as the greatest of all the mercies which he had received from his Redeemer. Such, indeed, it is. The greatest amount of temporal benefits is but of little avail, if this one grace be wanting. What are health and wealth, when the wrath of God abides on their possessor? What are honors and the pleasures of the world, when the poor sinner that enjoys them lives and dies in his sins? John viii. 24. But, on the contrary, to have our iniquities forgiven-to have the great debt blotted out from between us and God-to have the full remission of all our sins in the blood of atonement; this is happiness indeed-this is the foundation and the earnest of all true blessedness--it is the soul's sweet foretaste of heavenly bliss.

David had bitterly felt the exceeding sinfulness of sin. "Mine iniquities," he says, "have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me." Psa. xl. 12. These were not hasty expressions of inordinate and morbid sorrow; they were the deliberate declarations of a conscience enlightened by the Word and Spirit of the living God. It was not a mere article of knowledge, and of bare belief, to David, that he had broken the holy law :-it was a matter of painful, self-abhorring consciousness. He possessed not only a conviction of the guilt, but also a painful sense

of the pollution, of sin, and he therefore loathed himself as unholy and defiled in the sight of Infinite Purity. Job exclaimed, "Behold I am vile," ch. xl. 4.; and again, "I abhor myself," ch. xlii. 6. Isaiah also declared, "I am a man of unclean lips." Isa. vi. 5. And again the same holy prophet testified, "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Isa. lxiv. 6. David, in like manner, gives frequent utterance to his soul's deep sense of sin; "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. My life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed." Psa. xxxi. 9, 10. And again he confesses, “There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me." Psa. xxxviii. 3, 4.

Those who have thus most bitterly felt the guilt and the loathsomeness of sin, will be most ready to welcome and to celebrate its forgiveness. So does David in this Psalm. He had felt sorely grieved that he had sinned, and now he felt truly joyous that he had been forgiven.

Forgiveness of sin is one of the Lord's marvellous methods to turn us from its commission. A frank and unexpected pardon makes an appeal to the best part of our nature. The generous declaration touches us to the quick with a deep sense of our transgression. We are made to feel that we cannot forgive ourselves for having offended a Lord so gracious and so forgiving. This principle is recognized

by the Lord Himself; for He thus describes the effect which His intended mercy to Israel shall have upon their minds in the latter day: "That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God." Ezek. xvi. 63. "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations," Ezek. xxxvi. 31.

David understood this principle, and felt its power: "There is forgiveness," he says, "with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared." Psa. cxxx. 4. In this Psalm he gratefully acknowledges that forgiveness, and exhibits the reverential "fear" and love, with which it had inspired him. Being forgiven much, he loved much," and therefore he hastens to celebrate the pardoning mercy of his Redeemer, with the earliest note of his awakened lyre.

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Oh what a change! to pass from the gloom of guilt into the sunshine of the Divine favor-to be delivered from the convictions and the forebodings of conscience, and to be introduced into the liberty and the peace of acceptance with God-to have the gnawings of remorse done away, the burden of sin removed, the fear of death dispelled, Heb. ii. 15, and the dread of judgment dissipated, 1 John iv. 17. Well might David, and every believer who partakes with him of the same blessed faith, burst forth in the joyous thanksgiving of this Psalm, and say, "Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me bless His Holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits : who forgiveth all thine iniquities."

The knowledge of forgiveness is regarded by many as one of the most exalted and remote attainments of religious experience. Not clearly understanding the Divine method of forgiveness, and hindered by what they conceive to be a becoming humility, they say, "Such a state can never be ours in this life. It is high; we cannot attain unto it." But did they rightly understand salvation by Suretyship, as revealed from heaven, they would perceive that pardon is not directly a matter of religious experience, but of re ligious faith. Pardon is not a state to which the believer raises himself by a long and holy course,-it is an act of God's free mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. A full and free forgiveness is granted unto us the moment that we be lieve in Jesus. Even the "little children," to whom St. John writes in his first epistle, enjoyed this blessing from the commencement of their Christian course, 1 John ii. 12. All other Christians are equally welcome with these youthful believers, and with the Psalmist before us, to the immediate enjoyment of this privilege.

The forgiveness of sin flows from the death and sacrifice of the Son of God, as our Surety: "It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul," Lev. xvii. 11; and, "without shedding of blood there is no remission" of sins, Heb. ix. 22. The Psalmist was well acquainted with this law. He had learned it in his childhood, he had obeyed it in his manhood, and he had constantly believed that the blood he offered in sacrifice was doubly typical, first of his