Chapter 15. Your sins are hidden. Hide thy face from my sins. Psalm 51 9a. Hide thy face from my sins. David expresses in a new way what he wanted the grace of God to do for him. He expects God to hide his face from his sin and not see it anymore. This was also his aim in the prayer. Have mercy upon me, O God. Our sins are before God. This blessing is in total agreement with what the Word of God teaches us. As long as our sins are not forgiven, they stand before the face of God in order to accuse us. He hears the accusation which they bring against us. He looks at them in all their wickedness as a transgression of his law, and they awake his anger and disapproval. God's Word says, Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. Psalm 98. Also in Jeremiah 2.22 it says, For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. In David's bitter experience, this thought became a terrible truth. He feels not only what he confessed, my sin is ever before me, but what is more terrible, that his sin was ever before God. He saw his sins and he was terrified, but he also says that God saw them. Every sin he had committed was there before the face of God. When you understand this fact, you will feel that every sin, as soon as it is committed, goes to lengthen the list of your accusers before the face of God. Once a sin is committed, it is no longer in man's power. You cannot recall or annul it. No repentance, tears, or promise of new obedience can cover it or take it away. Only an act of God's free grace can give you the blessed certainty that your sin is no longer before God's face. Our sins are hidden from God. What is this act of God? David calls it, hide thy face from my sin. To hide the face from anything means not to see it. David's prayer is the same as what is said elsewhere in the scriptures. For example, in Numbers 23, 21 it says, He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. Hezekiah also prays, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Isaiah 38, 17. The prophet Micah also says, he will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea, Micah 7, 19. In like manner, the Lord speaks to the prophet Jeremiah. In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. For I will pardon them whom I reserve, Jeremiah 50, 20. These words of scripture help us to understand the forgiveness of God He casts our sins behind His back. He throws them into the depths of the sea so that they can never be found. He turns His face from them and sees them no more. This is blessedness, to know that our sins are forgiven. Christ has eliminated them. Our sins can no longer stand against us. The face of God that was turned away from our sins is now turned toward us in favor. God no longer sees our sin in anger. He looks at us in mercy. This is nothing different from what the New Testament calls justification. When the sinner is released from all his sins, then he is a justified soul in the eyes of God. His former sins are no longer found. God has hidden his face from them. When the holy judge no longer sees them, then the acquitted soul can rejoice in the assurance of his favor and love. At this point, however, someone may ask, how can the omniscient faithful God, who knows my sin, shut his eyes to them and not notice them? He is always the perfectly righteous one. It is impossible for him to look upon sin and notice it. When God turns His eyes from your sins, hides His face, and casts your sins behind His back, He does this because satisfaction for them has been made through Jesus. When He receives from Jesus the assurance that you belong to Him and have a part in the unknowing of guilt by His blood, then God no longer has to deal with your sin. They have been put away. Then it is just his righteousness which demands that he should no longer remember your sins, but hide his face from them. As long as your sins are before him, God must look at them. But when they are charged to Jesus, with the satisfaction of him as your payment, God cannot look at them anymore. They have been accounted for and discarded. Look to Jesus. We also learn in what spirit you are to make David's prayer your own. Hide thy face from my sins. Look at the Lord Jesus when he bore your sins to the cross and annulled the guilt of them. Look at him with the complete atonement which he brought about and offered to you by God. Look at him as given for you by God so that you can receive him with confidence and come to God in him. Yes. Look at Him as also waiting for you. Look at Him until your faith comes alive and you can say, Jesus is also for me. God hides His face from my sins. Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. This is a matter of great concern and amazing interest. All your sins are before the face of God. They cry out for vengeance. Day and night their cry ascends to God. This sinner has angered you. He is worthy of the curse, O holy God. Hide not thy face from his sins. The law of God supports their plea. O holy God, they have transgressed your law. Hide not thy face from their sins. The sinner who must experience this is distressed. For this reason, let your prayer go up to God. Hide thy face from my sin. Plead the promise of God and the blood of Jesus. Ask Jesus to become your intercessor. You will see that God hears this prayer. The blood of Jesus has great power. He is in a position to cover your sins and to take them away from before God. Chapter 16 Receiving Forgiveness and blot out all mine iniquities. Psalm 51 9b. And blot out all mine iniquities. This prayer is heard for the second time. It was the first word David used after he began to pray for mercy in order to say what he wanted from it. He has already expressed his desires by other expressions, such as wash me, cleanse me, purge me, cause me to hear joy and gladness, hide thy face from my sin. Once again, he expresses them in these words, blot out all mine iniquities. For an explanation of this statement, we refer to what has already been said in verse one. It is important for us to use this word to reflect on the preceding portion of the psalm. Also, this is the last time this point is referred to in the psalm. In the following three verses, David asks for an inward renewal of his heart by the Spirit of God. And from verse 13 to the end of the psalm, he speaks of the fruits of the thanksgiving which God's redemption brings. Understanding forgiveness. Before he proceeds, David once again repeats the prayer, blot out all mine iniquities. In this way he shows us he was sincere about this matter. He knows that this is the root and beginning of all the rest. If there is no clear understanding between God and the sinner regarding the forgiveness of sins, there can be no further question about a new life. Therefore, friend, I will also deal with you on this matter earnestly, definitely, and with all sincerity. I want to ask you some questions concerning this all-important matter. Do you thoroughly understand what the forgiveness of sins, the blotting out of iniquities is? There are many earnest Christians who do not thoroughly understand that this is the foundation of our redemption. Do you understand that the blotting out of all sins is the first blessing God wants to give to the one who longs to be saved? Do you understand that God is prepared to give it immediately to everyone who receives it trustfully? God offers it to us continually. Do you understand that if you sincerely take the Savior with His blood, you can receive it as a gift of God? Along with Jesus, you actually receive, by faith, the blotting out of your sins. Do you know that, by faith, you can know that your sins are blotted out of God's book? The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Faith, bears witness to you of this forgiveness. Do you understand that this blotting out is perfect and complete? Your soul appears before God whiter than snow and can look to God as a God who is no longer angry with you? Do you understand all this or is it still unclear to you? When we talk about these things, do you feel like someone who is still groping in the dark? See that you come to a clear understanding of these points, my friend, because your salvation depends on it. Seeking forgiveness. Are you really seeking forgiveness and the blotting out of your sins? I am asking if you need to be saved, if you are restless, if you sometimes pray, Maybe you pray forgive us our sins every day in the presence of God, the searcher of hearts. Can you say that you are known to him as one who really seeks for forgiveness? Can God declare that you are hungering and thirsting for it? Can you say that day by day you are seeking and striving for this grace as something that is of vital importance? Have you given up sin and forsaken the world to obtain this forgiveness? And are you earnestly pleading before God to give you the one blessing which he has to give you? Yes, and are you really seeking it in church, in God's word, in your prayer time, as the one thing for which you are willing to consider everything as lost? It is worth seeking after. God wants us to seek it. Only he who seeks it will obtain it. Are you really seeking it this way? Praying for forgiveness. I have another question. If you have been seeking forgiveness, have you found it? Are your sins forgiven? Do you know that you are now clean in God's sight because he blotted out all your sins? When David prayed for mercy, he was not content with indefinite ideas about the goodness of God. He knew what goodness wanted to do for him. He expected it to do something real for him. He prays for the blotting out of his sins with the hope of obtaining an answer to that prayer. He also prays in the hope that the joy and power of a new life will be fulfilled in him. so often has he sung of it in later Psalms. For example, in Psalm 103, 2 and 3, he says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Therefore I ask you, are your sins blotted out? If this is not the case, then you are not where you ought to be. You still do not have a part in God's salvation. I say to you, hurry to God. Do not remain standing far off. Believe. This blessing really can be found. This blessing is also for me. Sin can be destroyed. Let your whole soul become fixed on this one aim, blotting out sin. Without this blessing, there is no salvation. Only God can give it. He desires to give it. He will give it. God will perform this divine deed for you. He will take away all your sins. Just let this prayer be heard from the depths of your heart. Block out all mine iniquities. Let faith look on Christ. The Son of God can save sinners. He that believes in him will not be ashamed. Chapter 17. Creating a Clean Heart. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Psalm 51, 10a. In a preceding verse, David had prayed, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. He said that a man becomes clean when he is sprinkled with the blood of Jesus and is purged and set free from his sin. In this verse, David again prays to be made clean. But the cleanness comes in another way. He prays that the Lord create within him a clean heart. He wants the Lord to make a new heart for him that is clean by his divine power. David feels that there are two ways the unclean person can become clean before God. One is when he is washed and cleansed from his guilt. in the blood of Jesus, he is judicially acquitted. The other happens when he is renewed, inwardly changed, and receives a new and clean heart in place of the old, unclean one. If you want to understand the way of salvation and the work of grace, strive to clearly understand this twofold purity. Pronounced not guilty. First, you must understand how the soul becomes acquitted by the blood of Jesus. By the acquittal and forgiveness of God, a man is entirely freed from the guilt on him. Thus he is legally clean. That is to say, I have fulfilled the demands of the law. I have paid my guilt by myself or by another as my sacrifice. In that case, the law has nothing more to demand from me. I stand guiltless and clean. The law asks only about what I have done and what I have been. It does not ask what I still am or what I will do. A judge on earth can acquit or pronounce clean without implying that the heart of the acquitted man is clean or that he is beyond the possibility committing the very same sin again. In like manner, the sinner is acquitted and pronounced clean from all the sins he has committed without it being implied that his heart is pure from the thought of future sins. Even though God knows the heart is inwardly impure as far as its sinful nature is concerned, the sinner is pronounced clean by the law as soon as all the demands of the law are fulfilled. These demands have been fulfilled by the precious Savior's obedience and suffering. Therefore, the appropriation of Jesus has as its result the blessing of being pronounced clean in his blood. This is the purity David spoke of in the first half of the psalm. It is the complete forgiveness of sins, the being made whiter than snow. Cleansing the heart. But this purity is not all he needs. There is a second cleanness, the fruit and consequence of the first. An earthly judge can acquit a man or pronounce him clean even though his heart continues to hold on to his sins. He may leave the courtroom and commit them again, but God does not do this. He acquits the sinner and pronounces him clean only for Jesus' sake. He does not take into consideration the inward condition of his heart. He does not, however, leave him that way. As soon as he equips him, he begins the work of inward purification. The very same grace which teaches him to pray for the judicial cleansing from the acquittal of the law also teaches him. to desire the second purity, the inward cleansing that comes through the renewing of the spirit. Therefore David, after he had prayed, purge me and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow, again prays, create in me inwardly also a clean heart, O God, The one is as necessary as the other. The two are one. They are merely two different ways by which the purity of Jesus comes to man. As soon as a man believes, the righteousness of Christ is totally his and he is welcomed to God as one who is clean. The inward communication of the purity of Jesus to the soul takes place by degrees. These two are one, but they should not be mixed together. This confusion takes place too frequently, and souls are lost. The one cleanness is a root. The other is a fruit. The one goes first. The other follows after. Pay particular attention to this. David has first prayed for the one, verse 7 through 9. Then he asks for the other. Never forget that the first, the cleansing of the blood of Christ, is granted before you can inwardly receive the second. Only if you receive and accept the first will you have the power to obtain the second. Let this be your prayer. Have mercy upon me, O God. Blot out my transgressions. Create in me a clean heart. Now we understand the place this prayer occupies in this psalm. It has better prepared us to feel its meaning and power. May God teach us to offer up this prayer earnestly and with our whole heart. Desire a clean heart. We must desire above all things to go on toward inward purity. David is not content simply praying for the forgiveness of his sins. No, he felt that his whole nature was inwardly corrupt. He also wants to be inwardly purified. He simply will not be content with acquittal from punishment. Unfortunately, many are quite content with this. No, he also wants to be free from the power and indwelling of sin. He feels that only according to the measure of his holiness can he enjoy God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5, 8. Let this be your desire. This clean heart must also be your expectation. God the Creator is also God the Renewer. He can do this. Just like the work of the first creation was completed step by step, so also will it be with the Renewal. The Holy God can perform this work. He can make the unclean heart clean. It is not too hard for him. This is what grace will do for you. Let your expectation reach for this blessing. When you pray for forgiveness, let it be a step to becoming holy. God is pure, holy, and no prayer will be more welcomed by him than that he make you holy also. Create in me a clean heart. O God. Chapter 18 Having a Steadfast Spirit and Renew a Right Steadfast Spirit Within Me Psalm 51 10b When God creates a clean heart, then man is born again. He is a new creature. He has received the new life, the love of God. Nevertheless, it is not enough for a man to receive a new life. He must grow and be strengthened. A weak child is a living human creature, and much has to be done for him to preserve, nourish, and lead that life until he becomes an adult. A weak child can stand and run, but he must also learn to stand fast. His behavior must also be established. the importance of being steadfast. This is what David prays for now. He not only wants a new life with a clean heart, but also a right or a steadfast spirit. At the beginning, that new life and purity of heart are weak and tender. Much has to be done to make it grow. The creation of God was not completed in one day, so also in the creation of a clean heart, time is needed before everything is finished and man enters into his divine rest. After God has implanted the first principle of life in the new creation, man must willingly cooperate with God. He must, with a right spirit, surrender himself to the Lord and His work. The beginning of the new creation does not depend upon a steadfast spirit, but the progress of it does. The greater or less glory with which the creation shall be brought to completion also depends on it. Great loss may be brought about by separating these two prayers from one another. They are inwardly bound up with one another. The person who is simply satisfied that he has received a new heart does not persevere with a steadfast spirit to guard what he has received. If he does not try to use and increase what God has given him, the joy of the clean heart will become lost. On the other hand, the one who works faithfully and prays for this right spirit will have this purity of heart revealed within him. He will receive the full certainty and power of his heavenly birth. We must also pray that God will give us a steadfast spirit Steadfast is the opposite of weak, uncertain, changeable, variable. What stands fast cannot be moved or overthrown. Such a spirit must be asked from God in prayer. At the same time, we must also observe in what ways God works and gives this blessing. This is the first thing that strikes us. Faith is a sure foundation. He who stands on it will not be moved. Therefore we read in Psalm 112, 8, of the righteous man. His heart is established. He shall not be afraid. Peter writes in 1 Peter 5, 9, steadfast in the faith. Paul also writes in Colossians 1, 23, if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Stand fast on the word of God. In Hebrew, the word believe comes from a word which means to be steadfast, to stand fast. And the word believe simply means to continue steadfast since God is a steadfast rock the foundation of all certainty and reliability, man becomes steadfast by faith or clinging to God. The more you hold on to God and commit yourself to his word and counsel, the more faithful you will stand. If you want to know how God will give you this steadfast spirit, it is by the word. Let the word of God be your food. Inwardly absorb and appropriate it. Let it penetrate you and be flesh and blood to your spirit. Strive to think what God thinks and will what God wills. In everything be of the same mind that God is. Grow by his word and have it dwell in you. Then you will be established in all your wishes, expectations, desires, and efforts. Let what God has said be your rule, and a firm spirit will be renewed in you. If the Word of God is the rock of your confidence, you will not be moved, just like there is no variableness or shadow of turning with God. How did Abraham become strong in faith in the midst of so many severe trials? The root of his steadfastness was the promise of God? And why was it that Caleb and Joshua stood so firmly in the midst of the people of Israel? They held fast to the Word of God. And how did many other believers do it? The answer is simple. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. Psalm 125.1. The spirit obtains its steadfastness and strength from God in his word. A steadfast will. If you want to know how a steadfast spirit will manifest itself, the answer is not difficult. It is in the purpose of a steadfast will, exercising dominion over the spirit and the walk. The great flaw in many believers who have a new heart is that they do not set themselves with a steadfast and resolute choice to cast out sin and do the will of God. They do not obey the orders of their conscience, the inward voice of the spirit and the word. They do not surrender themselves to do the will of God as soon as they know it. there should be in every believer the holy purpose of doing the will of God without delay, as soon as it is known. On this point I hope no uncertainty exists, for there are many double-hearted souls who are unstable in all their ways. A divided heart makes them waver continually. It is necessary to remember that along with a new heart and a sense of sin and good desire, there must also be a steadfast spirit which will be determined. It must set itself positively to fulfill all the commands of God. This steadfast spirit must be a matter of much prayer. Renew a right, steadfast spirit within me. At the same time, it must strengthen our battle against sin. He who seeks it in prayer will certainly receive it and be able to join in David's song of deliverance in Psalm 42. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. In the prayer for grace, in the life of grace, the steadfast spirit must have a place. the young tree not only must be planted, but must also become deeply rooted. Otherwise it can bear no fruit. Therefore let it be a continual prayer with you. Make my footsteps steadfast in thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Observe what the fruit of this prayer will be. Chapter 19 in God's presence. Cast me not away from thy presence. Psalm 51, 11a. In his prayer, David proceeds to seek the blessings of the new life and also teaches us, by the Holy Spirit, what we may expect from grace. The clean heart and the steadfast spirit are great blessings. But there is still something more which David desires. The light of God's countenance. He prays for the blessed experience of always walking in the presence of God as his friend. The joy of God's presence. The promise of this blessing in the Word of God is very clear. It is frequently named as one of the privileges of God's children. For example, in Psalm 89.15 it says, Blessed is the people who know the joyful sound They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. It cannot be otherwise. What is the greatest joy of a child on earth? It is when his father or mother is pleased with him. We often see that the little child plays quietly and contentedly when he is with his mother in the room. The mother is busy and the child is busy. Just seeing his mother's face and knowing she is near is the joy of the child. God gives this privilege to those who receive from him the name and the rights of children. In this world, he always wants us to live before his face in the light of his eyes and with the assurance and experience of his love. The value of this blessing is easily understood. What a heavenly joy it is to walk in the land of the living before the face of the Lord. What a joy it is to do all our work and carry on our conflict at the feet of our Father, knowing that He looks down upon me with good pleasure. What a power it gives to be able to look up in every difficulty and in the middle of severe conflict and refresh myself with a glance at him and be encouraged by his divine friendship. What a comfort it is in sorrow. How can this blessing be enjoyed? The answer is not difficult. The child does not always need to be looking at his mother to enjoy being near her. The child is busy with his play or work, yet he immediately observes when his mother goes out In the midst of all his work and play, he always has a hidden sense of her nearness. So it is with a true Christian. He can be so closely knit to his God that he cannot miss his presence. In the midst of all his activities on earth, there always remains the blessed feeling that, my God sees me and I can look up to him. He works under the eyes of God. Through this living and active faith, he beholds the invisible one and abides in his light. Just like one walks and works in the light on earth without always thinking about it, so there flows around him the spiritual experience of the presence of God as the light of his soul. We must understand what a vital part this experience makes in our spiritual life. Do not forget. that God's aim in His grace and your redemption is to restore the broken bond of fellowship and love between you and Him. True Christianity consists of the soul finding its highest happiness in personal communion with God. Daily unbroken fellowship between God and you is what grace gives. Every day you must try to walk in the light of God's presence If you want to know how to get to the point of living so that you can enjoy this blessing, this psalm gives you the answer. How to live in God's presence. In the first place, be aware of the forgiveness of your sins. Hold on to the grace which has blotted out your guilt. Every day bring each new sin to the blood of Jesus so that you can be washed from it again. Every day seek a living certainty of the grace which sees you in righteousness of Jesus as being whiter than snow. Look to the Holy God who, for Jesus' sake, pronounced you righteous and loves you. Without this, it will be impossible to walk in the light of God's presence. Remain secure in the faith that God is your God and your Father. Only by this faith can you continue in the enjoyment of the light and the love of God. In the second place, strive to keep your heart pure. Let the passion of your soul burn strongly against all inward impurity and sin. Guard against negative or unholy attitudes. Remember, you must hate sin as God hates it. Keep in mind that you are redeemed to be holy as God is holy. Let this be your fervent and earnest prayer, a clean heart, oh my God, a clean heart. Knowing that the work of the new creation is not finished at once, ask God to accomplish his work in you. A redeemed soul who remains content with what he has and does not earnestly desire to be holy cannot walk in the light of God's presence. His worldly thinking and his carnal attitudes are a cloud which separate him from God. In the third place, maintain a steadfast spirit. You must have a steadfast determination of the heart, a firm choice of a strong will to walk in God's presence. While you hold on to forgiveness and desire purity of heart, determine not to rest until you have experienced the blessing of always abiding in the pleasure of God's presence. Begin every morning with this steadfast purpose and seal it with believing prayer that God will keep you from everything that might turn you away from his presence. Let this be your will because it is also the will of God. Then you will obtain the blessing. You will find that grace will do this for you. God will hear your prayer. Cast me not away from thy presence. In this blessed experience, you will be able to say with joy, Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. Thou shalt hide them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. Psalm 31, 19 through 21. Chapter 20, Asking for the Holy Spirit. And take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Psalm 51, 11b. David has sought a great blessing, a very gracious gift from God. He asks that he may always walk before his presence and in the light of it. He has asked that his whole life be illumined by the immediate presence of God, living under his eye and in his favor. David wants his whole life on earth to be spent in conversation with his God in heaven. Grace is prepared to give us this glorious life. Walking on earth in fellowship with God in heaven is a wonderful experience, but that the Most High would come down from his heaven to dwell in my heart and consecrate it to be his temple. Certainly this is the full glory of what grace has destined for us. This is what David craves in the prayer, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. He yearns for the conscious indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The first work of the Spirit. Some may think that this petition is not in the proper place. Nothing has ever worked in us except by the Spirit. Even the first conviction of sin and the desire to pray for grace must come from Him. Should prayer for the Spirit then precede everything else? The answer to this question should be given several considerations. The working of the Holy Spirit in a sinner who desires salvation is indeed essential. But it is a hidden and unconscious desire. He does not know that the anxiety arising from the conviction of sin and his earnest pleas for mercy are the result of the Spirit's operations. On the other hand, when at a later time he does accept the Lord, he has the promise that he will know the Spirit. The Spirit will not only work in him, but will establish his presence in him so that he will know and feel it. This, for example, is the promise given to those who were baptized on the day of Pentecost. They had already, at the outset, experienced the operation of the Spirit. Repent, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2, 38. The Lord himself said to his disciples, after they had experienced the first workings of the Spirit, If ye love me, keep my commandments. and I will pray the Father and He will give you another comforter." John 14, 15 and 16. The Believer's Pledge. David's prayer here is not a petition for the first operation of the Spirit, which is conversion. Such a prayer is necessary according to the will of God and must be prayed. But the petition here in Psalm 51 asks for that indwelling of the Spirit of God, which is the privilege of the believer. The Spirit dwells in us to teach us, see John 16, 13 and 14, to seal us and give us the assurance of sonship, see Romans 8, 15 and 16. The Spirit comes to sanctify and prepare us for heaven, see Romans 8, 11. This is the lesson taught to the believer in this petition This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. 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And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.