secret iniquity could not elude, did not he himself in pity voluntarily avert it.

But you will know what is our propitiatory, what the covering of the mercy-seat, even Jesus who was typified by that Caporeth in the temple, which the Septuagint render ἱλαςήριον ἐπίθεμα, a propitiatory covering; by which title our great Redeemer is marked out, Rom. iii. 25. as the same Hebrew word Caphar signifies both to cover and to expiate*. But that the thing may be more evident and certain, the thought is repeated again in the second verse.

Ver. 2. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

ABEN-EZRA paraphrases it, of whose sins God does not think, does not regard them, so as to bring them into judgment; reckoning them as if they were not, & un λoyilerai, do not count or calculate them, or charge them to account; do not require for them the debt of punishment. To us the remission is entirely free, our Sponser having taken upon him the whole business of paying the ransom. His suf

*It is to be observed the Hebrew word Eschol haccopher, which some render a cluster of camphire, Cant. i. 14. may with a little variation in the reading, i. e. reading it Ish col haccapher, be rendered, a man of all kinds of redemption, or of all expiation: so the Targum interprets it by expiation, and by the way some assert that this Psalm used to be sung on the day of expiation.

fering is our impunity, his bond our freedom, and his chastisement our peace; and therefore the Prophet says, The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. Distracted creatures that we are, to indulge those sins which brought death upon our dear Redeemer, and to be so cold in our affections to that Redeemer who died for these sins!

This weighty sentence, of itself so admirable, Paul renders yet more illustrious, by inserting it into his reasonings on the topic of justification, as a celebrated testimony of that great article of our faith. David, says he, thus describeth the blessedness of that man, saying, Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven: So that this is David's opinion concerning true happiness; he says not, blessed are those that reign over kingdoms: blessed are those generals who are renowned for their martial bravery and success, though he himself had both these titles to boast of. It is not the encomiums of the greatest multitudes, nor the breath of popular applause, nor any other degree of human honour, which entitles a man to this character. It is not said, blessed is he who ploughs many thousand acres of land, or who has heaped together mountains of gold and silver; not he who has married a beautiful and rich woman, or, which in his age, or even now in these eastern countries might be the case, he who was possessed of many such; nor blessed is he who understands the secrets of nature, or even the mysteries of religion: But oh! happy man

whose sins are pardoned, and to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile! whose breast is full, not of feigned repentance, but of a fervent love of holiness, and hatred of sin. This makes life happy, nay absolutely blessed But alas! when we inculcate these things, we sing to the deaf. The ignorance and folly of mankind will not cease to pronounce the proud and the covetous happy, and those who triumph in successful wickedness, and who, in chace of these lying shadows of happiness, destroy their days and their years, and their souls.

"Alas, says the wise Roman, how little do some who thirst most impatiently after glory, know what it is, or where it is to be sought*;" which is equally applicable to that true calm and serenity of mind which all pursue, but few are able to attain. But as for us who enjoy the celestial instruction of this sacred volume, if we are ignorant of it, our ignorance is quite inexcusable, obstinate and affected, since we are wilfully blind in the clearest and most refulgent light. This points out that good which can completely fill all the most extended capacities of the human soul, and which we generally seek for in vain on all sides, catching at it where it is not to be found, but ever neglecting it where alone it is. But is it then possible at once to be solidly and completely happy? You have not merely the

* Quam ignorant homines gloriæ cupidi, quæ ea sit aut quemadmodum petenda! SEN.

ideas of it, but the thing itself, not only clearly pointed out, but most freely offered, with divine munificence; so that if you do not obstinately reject the offer, it must be your own; and this happiness consists in returning to the favour and friendship of God, who most mercifully grants us the free pardon of all our sins, if we do with unfeigned repentance, and a heart free of all guile, not only humbly confess and lament them, but entirely forsake, and with implacable hatred, for ever renounce them. ὦ μάκαρ ἐυδάιμων τε και ὂλβιος. All the names, all the variety of felicities, bliss and happiness are accumulated on that man who has known this change of the right hand of the most high*, on whom this bright day of expiation and pardon has beamed. He easily looks down from on high on all the empty titles and false images of earthly happiness; and when he is bereaved of them all, yea, and beset on every side with what the world calls misfortunes and afflictions, ceases not to be happy. In sorrow he is joyful, in poverty rich, and in chains free; when he seems buried deep, so that not one ray of the sun can reach him, he is surrounded with radiant lustre; when overwhelmed with ignominy, he glories; and in death itself he lives, he conquers, he triumphs. What can be heavy to that man, who is eased of the intolerable burden of sin? How animated was that saying of Luther, "smite, Lord,

* Alluding to Psal. lxxvii. 10. where the vulgate renders Seuih change, mutatio dextræ Excelsi, and several other versions nearly agree with it.

smite, for thou hast absolved me from my sins*.” Whose anger should he fear who knows that God is propitious to him, that supreme King, whose wrath is indeed the messenger of death, but the light of his countenance is life; who joys all by the rays of his favour, and by one smile disperses the darkest cloud, and calms the most turbulent tempest?

But we must now observe the complication of a two-fold good, in constituting this felicity; for we have two things here connected, as conspiring to make the person spoken of blessed: The free remission of sin, and the inward purification of the heart. This simplicity, apeλórns, is a most excellent part of purity, opposed to all wickedness and arts of deceit and in common speech, that which is simple, and has no foreign mixture, is called pure. Pardon presents us as just and innocent before our Judge, and that sanctity is not to be regarded, as constituting any part of our justifying righteousness before God, nor as only the condition or sign of our felicity, but truly and properly a part of it. Purity is the accomplishment of our felicity, begun on earth, and to be consummated in heaven: That purity, I say, which is begun here, and shall there be consummated. But if any one think he can divide these two things, which the hand of God has joined by so inseparable a bond, it is a vain dream. Nay, by attempting to separate these two parts of happiness, he will in fact only exclude himself from the whole. Jesus, our victorious Saviour, has

* Feri, Domine, feri; nam a peccatis absolvisti me.