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ings and whole Burnt-offerings; then shall they offer Bullocks upon thine Altar. Having thus taken an exact View of this Pfalm, I hope the attentive Reader difcerns the Purport and Defign of it, and is convinced, that the Author of it was touched with the deepest Sorrow and Concern for the Sins he had been guilty of.

Who then that has read this Pfalm, and is in the least acquainted with the Occafion on which it was wrote, can in the least doubt the Sincerity of the Author. For how fuperlatively wicked must we imagine David to be, if we can fuppofe he could address the Divine Majefty in this devout Strain for Pardon of his Sins upon his fincere Repentance, if at the fame Time he conceived no Remorfe for them, but was ftill refolved to pursue them? And how indifferent likewife muft we fuppofe the Almighty to be, whether we reform our Lives or no, if fo be we do but promise them? What is this elfe but to make him take Delight only in our formal Proteftations, and that a few Prayers will atone for the Sins of a whole Life? What unworthy Notions are these to entertain of God? How derogatory not only to his infinite Wisdom, but his Purity and Holiness? How contrary to the exprefs Declaration of his Word? Here the Pfalmift declares, that a broken and contrite Heart is the most acceptable

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Sacrifice to God, which, if his Repentance be not fincere, is very impious and profane. To prove this, viz. that a broken and contrite Heart is the most acceptable Sacrifice to God, there are many Paffages recorded both in the Old and New Teftament. Thus Ifaiah i. II to 17. Here the Almighty is introduced, expoftulating with the Jews, and afking them, To what Purpofe is the Multitude of your Sacrifices unto me? I am full of the Burnt-offerings of Rams, and the Fat of fed Beafts, and I delight not in the Blood of Bullocks, or of Lambs, or of He-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who bath required this at your Hands to tread my Courts? Bring no more vain Oblations; Incenfe is an Abomination unto me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of Affemblies I cannot away with; it is Iniquity, even the folemn Meeting. Your New Moons, and your appointed Feafts my Soul bateth: They are a Trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them: And when ye Spread forth your Hands, I will hide mine Eyes from you: Yea, when ye make many Prayers, I will not hear. Now what Reason can be alledged for God's being thus unwilling to hearken unto the Prayers his People should offer unto him? He himfelf fubjoins it, and tells them it was because their Hands were full of Blood. If therefore they would have their Addreffes become acceptable, they must reform their

Lives and Converfations. Wash ye, fays he, make ye clean, put away the Evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes; ceafe to do Evil, learn to do well, feek Judgment, relieve the Oppreffed, judge the Fatherlefs, plead for the Widow. Had David's Repentance now been deficient in this Particular, how justly might the Jews have replied to God, and faid, Thou acceptedst of these in thy Servant David, tho' he repented not, why wilt thou not then accept of us? And the Difpofition of these People was such, that had this been the Cafe, they would in all Probability have retorted it upon him.

Again, in the 58th Chap. of the fame Prophecy, the Jews are introduced enquiring of God, why he did not regard their Fafts and folemn Humiliations. Wherefore have we fafted, fay they, and thou feeft not? Wherefore have we afflicted our Soul, and thou takeft no Knowledge? In answer to which, God alledges this Reason; Behold, in the Day of your Faft you find Pleasure and exact all your Labours. Bebold ye faft for Strife and Debate, and to fmite with the Fift of Wickedness; ye shall not fast as ye do this Day, to make your Voice to be heard on high. He then appeals to them for the Equity of his Proceedings, by propofing to them the following Question. Is it fuch a Faft, fays he, that I have chofen? A Day for a Man to afflict his Soul? Is it to bow down his Head as a Bul

a Bulrush, and to Spread Sackcloth and Afbes under him? Wilt thou call this a Faft and an acceptable Day to the Lord? Is not this the Faft that I bave chofen, to loose the Bands of Wickedness, to undo the heavy Burdens, and to let the Oppreffed go free, and that ye break every Yoke? Is it not to deal thy Bread to the Hungry, and that thou bring the Poor that are caft out to thy Houfe? When thou feeft the Naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyfelf from thine own Flesh? But had the Almighty accepted of David without Repentance, why fhould he be thus ftrict with the Jews? Why were not their Fasts as acceptable to him, as David's was? The Reason speaks itself, that David's was attended with a fincere Sorrow and Remorse, which the Jews were not. For God is the fame yesterday, To-day, and for ever. Agreeable to this our bleffed Lord informs his Difciples and Followers, That not every one that faith unto him, Lord, Lord, fhall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he only who doeth the Will of his Father which is in Heaven. For many, fays he, will fay unto me, in that Day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophefied in thy Name, and in thy Name have caft out Devils, and in thy Name done many wonderful Works? And then will 1 profefs unto them, I never knew you: Depart from me, ye that work Iniquity. From these Authorities of Scripture, that no Man that doth M

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wickedly fhall be accepted by God, but that his Prayer fhall be an Abomination to him, and yet David being accepted by him, upon his earneft Supplication and Tears, is, I think, an inconteftable Proof of the Sincerity of his Repentance, and therefore that from his Example, no Man can have any Hopes that by finning Grace hould abound; but that the only Way to obtain the Divine Favour, with which we can have no Grounds to hope for the Affiftance of his Holy Spirit, is by conceiving in our Minds an utter Abhorrence of Sin, as it is difpleafing to God, and expreffing thereupon a hearty Sorrow for having of fended him; this will caufe us to take Heed to our Ways, and by ceafing to do Evil, to learn to do well.

I proceed now to confider the 38th Pfalm, which is couched in the fame penitential Strain with the former, and is thought by many learned Men to have been composed by David, when driven. from his Kingdom by the Rebellion of his Son Abfalom, which drew after it a Train of many other Calamities, Afflictions that he esteemed to be inflicted upon him by God, as a Punishment for his Sins, and thereby to recal him again to his Duty. It begins with an humble Deprecation of the Divine Wrath, and a Prayer for Mercy. O Lord, fays he, rebuke me not in thy Wrath, neither

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