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SERMON XXV.

2 SAM. XII. 13.

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; Thou shalt not die.

IN Holy Scripture, not only the great and good actions of pious persons are written for our learning*, that we may admire, and, as far as we are concerned, imitate them; but their chief transgressions also are recorded, for a caution to be on our guard, and a direction, if, like them, we have done amiss, like them, to repent and reform. Amongst all the instances of this kind, there is none more fruitful of instruction, than that well-known history of David's being seduced from a religious course of life to most dreadful wickedness, and continuing regardless of his guilt till the Prophet Nathan at length having awakened him to a sense of it, by a home application of the parallel case of the poor man and the ewe lamb, brought him to the confession, and administered to him the comfort expressed in the text.

There are many circumstances in this narration, which may and ought to remind us of truths, in which we are too nearly interested. But the principal of them will be comprehended, if we learn from it the following points of doctrine.

Rom. xv. 4.

I. That without continual care, the best of men may be led into the worst of crimes.

II. That we are all very apt to overlook our own faults, and yet to be extremely quick-sighted and severe in relation to those of others.

III. That as soon as ever we are, by any means, made sensible of our offences, we should acknowledge them with due penitence.

IV. That, on doing this, the greatest sins will be forgiven us. Yet,

V. That sins even after they are forgiven, produce frequently such lamentable consequences, that, on this account, amongst others, innocence is greatly preferable to the truest repentance.

I. That without continual care the best of men may be led into the worst of crimes.

David, we are told in Holy Writ, was a man after God's own heart*: who did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him, all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite↑. Such high expressions are never to be interpreted of any mere man in the utmost rigour: but the lowest meaning must be, that he was, on the whole, to a very high degree, innocent of known deliberate sin; and exemplary for piety and virtue, to the age he lived in when even they, who in some things were favoured with revelations from above, were in others, being left to their own reason, less enlightened than common Christians are now, and therefore intitled to a more favourable judgment. But independently on this consideration, David's eminence in goodness appears from many excellent actions, related * 1 Sam. xiii. 14. Acts xiii. 22.

+ 1 Kings xv. 5.

throughout the book of Samuel: and the Psalms, written by him, are everlasting instances of his fervent devotion, his reverent esteem of God's law, his watchfulness over his own spirit. Nay, indeed, there is one instance in which he appears to have been scrupulous even to an extremity of delicacy: when his. heart smote him, that he had cut off the skirt of Saul's garment*. Suppose, now, the Prophet Nathan had foretold concerning such a man as this, that in a little time he would commit the capital sin of adultery; and, when the scheme which he had framed to hide it was frustrated, would calmly contrive to murder by treachery the man whom he had injured, intrust others with his purpose, execute it by their means, and triumphantly take his wife home to himself: who could possibly have believed the prediction; or how could David have received the most respectful warning against such enormities, but with contempt or indignation? Yet so it was: even this good man, even when grown old in religion, was guilty of deeds, which many habitual sinners, though prompted by youthful passion, and unrestrained by the fear of God, would still have abhorred.

And if this was the case of David, then let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall t. Few, it may be doubted, have the same warmth of right resolution; but all have the same deceitful nature: and therefore we must all be continually attentive; or we know not into what abominations we may be drawn. Every man bath within him the principles of every bad action, that the worst man ever did. And though in some they are languid, and seem scarce alive; yet, if fostered by indulgence, they will soon grow to incredible strength: nay, if only left to themselves, t1 Cor. x. 12.

* 1 Sam. xxiv. 5.

will in seasons favourable to them, shoot up, and overrun the heart, with such surprising quickness, that all the good seed shall be choaked on a sudden by tares, which we never imagined had been within us. And what increases the danger is, that each of us hath some wrong inclination or other, it is well if not several, beyond the rest natural to us, and the growth of the soil. These, therefore, we must be especially diligent to keep under, and weed out the least fibres of them that we can perceive: else we shall find them roots of bitterness, continually springing up to trouble and defile us*. Then, besides all our inward weaknesses, the world about us is thick set around with snares, differently formed: some provoking us to immoderate passion, or envious malignity; some alluring us with forbidden pleasures, or softening us into supineness and indolence, or overcharging our hearts with the cares of this lifet, or bribing us with hopes of unlawful gain to do ill, or terrifying us with a prospect of sufferings for doing well. Delusive suggestions, indeed, every one of them: but of specious appearance, unless we examine them thoroughly, unless we look beyond them. And as more or fewer of these temptations are almost constantly, and often suddenly, attacking us, to which the wicked one will not fail to superadd his own secret insinuations, as far as ever he is permitted; the hazard of our situation is very evident, and our watchfulness ought surely to be in proportion to it.

Not that, with all this, we have the least cause to be disheartened, but only on our guard. He that imagines himself to be safe, never is so: but they, who keep in their minds a sense of their danger, and pray for, and trust in, help from God, will always be

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able to avoid or go through it. Temptation hath no power, the great tempter himself hath no power, but that of using persuasion. Forced we cannot be, so long as we are true to ourselves. Our own consent must be our own giving and without it, the rest is nothing. For then only, in effect, St. James tells us *, is every man tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed. That we are liable to sin, therefore, ought to be no discouragement, and can be no justification, to us: for, by the assistance of Heaven, though not else, we may escape it if we will: and that assistance is expressly promised to our endeavours and our prayers. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you: draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to yout. But to the strictest vigilance it must be a powerful incitement, to consider, how often we, how often persons much better than we, have merely through want of vigilance, been guilty of such transgressions as could never have been suspected. But, indeed, when once we allow ourselves to go wrong, we can neither know nor guess how far we shall go.

David at first violated only the rules of decency, which he might easily have observed, and have turned away his eyes from an improper object. This, which doubtless he was willing to think a very pardonable gratification of nothing worse than curiosity, carried him on far beyond his first intention, to the heinous crime of adultery. There, undoubtedly, he designed to stop, and keep what had passed secret from all the world. But virtue hath ground to stand upon; vice hath not and if we give way at all, the tendency downward increases every moment. Sometimes the treacherous pleasantness of the path invites us to stray a little farther, though we are sensible it ↑ James iv. 7, 8.

* James i. 14.

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