Introduction and Acknowledgement of the Need for Lowliness before God
Of the Second Part of Prayer, which is Confession of Sin, Complaints Regarding Ourselves, and Humble Professions of Repentance
Having ascribed glory to God, which is his due, Psalm 29:2(ESV) we must next take shame to ourselves, which is our due, and humble ourselves before him in the sense of our own sinfulness and vileness; and herein also we must give glory to him, Joshua 7:19(ESV) as our Judge, by whom we deserve to be condemned, and yet hope, through Christ, to be acquitted and absolved.In this part of our work,
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We must acknowledge the great reason we have to lie very low before God and to be ashamed of ourselves when we come into his presence and to be afraid of his wrath, having made ourselves both odious to his holiness and obnoxious to his justice.O our God, we are ashamed and blush to lift our faces to you, our God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our head, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. Ezra 9:6(ESV)
To us belongs open shame, because we have sinned against you. Daniel 9:8(ESV)
Behold we are of small account, what shall we answer you? We lay our hand on our mouth, Job 40:4(ESV) and put our mouth in the dust, for there may yet be hope, Lamentations 3:29(ESV) crying with the convicted leper under the law, “Unclean, unclean.” Leviticus 13:45(ESV)
You put no trust in your holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in your sight; how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, man who drinks injustice like water! Job 15:15-16(ESV)
When our eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts, we have reason to cry out, “Woe to us, for we are lost!” Isaiah 6:5(ESV)
Dominion and fear are with you; you make peace in your high heaven: Is there any number to your armies? Upon whom does your light not arise? How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? Job 25:2-4(ESV)
But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? Psalm 76:7(ESV) You, our God, are a consuming fire; Hebrews 12:29(ESV) and who considers the power of your anger? Psalm 90:11(ESV)
If we claimed to be in the right, our own mouth would condemn us; if we said, “We are blameless,” you would prove us perverse; Job 9:20(ESV) for if you contend with us, we could not answer you once in a thousand times. Job 9:3(ESV)
If we were not aware of anything against ourselves, yet we are not thereby acquitted, for he who judges us is the Lord, 1 Corinthians 4:4(ESV) who is greater than our hearts and knows everything. 1 John 3:20(ESV) But we ourselves know that we have sinned, Father, against heaven and before you, and are no longer worthy to be called your children. Luke 15:21(ESV)
ITIES well fortified have broad walls, and so had Jerusalem in her glory. The New Jerusalem must, in like manner, be surrounded and preserved by a broad wall of nonconformity to the world, and separation from its customs and spirit. The tendency of these days break down the holy barrier, and make the distinction between the church and the world merely nominal. Professors are no longer strict and Puritanical, questionable literature is read on all hands, frivolous pastimes are currently indulged, and a general laxity threatens to deprive the Lord's peculiar people of those sacred singularities which separate them from sinners. It will be an ill day for the church and the world when the proposed amalgamation shall be complete, and the sons of God and the daughters of men shall be as one: then shall another deluge of wrath be ushered in. Beloved reader, be it your aim in heart, in word, in dress, in action to maintain the broad wall, remembering that the friendship of this world is enmity against God. The broad wall afforded a pleasant place of resort for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from which they could command prospects of the surrounding country. This reminds us of the Lord's exceeding broad commandments, in which we walk at liberty in communion with Jesus, overlooking the scenes of earth, and looking out towards the glories of heaven. Separated from the world, and denying ourselves all ungodliness and fleshly lusts, we are nevertheless not in prison, nor restricted within narrow bounds; nay, we walk at liberty, because we keep His precepts. Come, reader, this evening walk with God in His statutes. As friend met friend upon the city wall, so meet thou thy God in the way of holy prayer and meditation. The bulwarks of salvation thou hast a right to traverse, for thou art a freeman of the royal burgh, a citizen of the metropolis of the universe.
