HELPLESSNESS OF MAN. 297 did the faith of the saints of old flourish under a darker dispensation, through all the clouds and ignorance which obscured their views ofGod ! " They looked unto Him and were enlightened !" How do their slender means and high attainments reproach us ! David found that the strength and spirit of nature which had enabled him to resist the lion and the bear, did not enable him to resist his outward tempta- tions, nor to conquer his inward cor- ruptions. He therefore prayed, not only for deliverance " from blood-guiltiness," for a grievously remembered sin, he prayed for the principle of piety, for the fountain of holiness, for " the creation of a clean heart," for " the renewing of a right spirit," for "truth in the inward parts," that the " comfort of God's help might be granted him." This uniform avowal of the secret workings of sin, this uniform dependence on the mercy ofGod to pardon, and the grace of God to assist, render his precatory addresses, though O 5
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