4.16.2012 PSALM 19.12 CLEANSE THOU ME FROM SECRET FAULTS

'cleanse Thou me from secret faults'.
it is the desire of a holy person to be cleansed, not only from public, but also from private and secret sins. romans 7.24, 'o wretched man (saith paul) that i am, who shall deliver me?' why, o blessed apostle! what is it that holds thee? what is it that molests thee? thy life, thou sayest, was unblamable before thy conversion, and since (note; where?) thy conversion. philippians 3.4-6. Thou hast exercised thyself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men. acts 24.16. and yet thou criest out, 'o wretched man', and yet thou complainest, 'who shall deliver me?'

verily, brethren, it was not sin abroad, but at home: it was not sin without, but at this time sin within; it was not paul's sinning with man, but paul's sinning within paul: oh! that 'law of his members warring (secretly within him) against the law of his mind'; this, this made that holy man so to cry out, so to complain. as rebekah was weary of her life, not as we read for any foreign disquietments, but because of domestic troubles: 'the daughters of heth' within the house made her 'weary of her life'; so the private and secret birth of corruption within paul -the workings of that - that was the cause of his trouble, that was the ground of his exclamation and desires, 'who shall deliver me?' i remember that the same paul adviseth the ephesians as 'to put off the former CONVERSATION' so 'to put on the renewed spirit of the mind (ephesians 4.22-3)

conversation-latin con+versor - to be turned; to be turned to or with; keep company, be intimately acquainted; talk familiarly.

intimating that there are sins lurking within as well as sins walking without; and that true christians must not only sweep the door, but wash the chamber; my meaning is, not only come off from sins which lie open in the conversation,but also labor to be cleansed from sin and sinning which remain secret and hidden in the spirit and inward disposition. obadiah sedgwick


'cleanse Thou me from secret faults.' learn to see thy spots. many have unknown sins, as a man may have a mole on his back and himself never know it. Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults. but have we not spots whereof we are not ignorant? in diseases sometimes nature is strong enough to put forth spots and there she cries to us by these outward declarations that we are sick. sometimes she cannot do it but by the force of cordials (a stimulating medicine). sometimes conscience of herself shows us our sins; sometimes she cannot but by medicines, arguments that convince us out of the holy word.
some can see, and will not, as balaam;
some would see, and cannot, as the eunuch
some neither will nor can, as pharaoh;
some both can and will, as david....we have many spots which God does not hear from us, because we see them not in ourselves. who will acknowledge that error, whereof he does not know himself guilty? THE SIGHT OF SIN IS A GREAT HAPPINESS, for it causeth and ingenuous (candid, sincere) confession. thomas adams


'cleanse Thou me from secret faults'. the law of the Lord is so holy that forgiveness must be prayed for, even for hidden sins. (this was a principal text of the reformers against the auricular confession of the roman catholics.) t.c. barth's 'bible manual' 1865

'secret faults' sins may be termed secret either,
1. when they are coloured and disquised - thou they do fly abroad, yet not under that name, but apparelled with some semblance of virtues.
2. when they are kept off from the stage of the world
3. when they are kept, not only from the public eye, but from any mortal eye
4. when it is subconscious, not even known to the conscious mind obadiah sedgwick


'secret faults' 'secret sins' are more dangerous to the person in some respects than open sins. for a man doth, by his art of sinning, deprive himself of the help of his sinfulness. like him who will carry his wound covered, or who bleeds inwardly, help comes not in because the danger is not descried nor known. if a man's sin breaks out there is a minister at hand, a friend near, and others to reprove, to warn, to direct; but when he is the artificer of his lusts, he bars himself of all public remedy and takes great order and care to damn his soul, by covering his 'secret sins' with some plausible varnish which may beget a good opinion in others of his ways. a man does by his secrecy give the reins unto corruption; the mind is fed all the day long either with sinful contemplations or projectings, so that the very strength of the soul is wasted and corrupted. nay, secret actings do but heat and inflame natural corruption. as in shouldering in a crowd, when one hath got out of the door, two or three are ready to fall out after; so when a man hath given his heart leave to act a secret sin, this begets a present and quick and strong flame in corruption to repeat and multiply and throng out the acts. sinful acts are not only fruits of sin, but helps and strengths, all sinning being more sinful by more sinning, not only in the effects but in the cause: the spring and cause of sin will grow mad and insolent hereby and more corrupt; this being a truth, that if the heart gives way for one sin, it will be ready for the next; if it will yield to bring forth once at the devil's pleasure, it will bring it forth twice by its own motion. a man by 'secret sins' doth but polish and square the hypocrisy of his heart: he doth strive to be an exact hypocrite; and the more cunning he is in the palliating (lessen) of his sinnings, the more perfect he is in his hypocrisy. obadiah sedgwick

'secret faults' beware of committing acts which it will be necessary to conceal. there is a singular poem by hood, called 'the dream of eugene aram' -a most remarkable piece it is indeed, illustrating the point on which we are now dwelling. aram had murdered a man and cast his body into the river - 'a sluggish water, black as ink, the depth was so extreme.' the next morning he visited the scene of his guilt -

'and sought the black accursed pool,
with a wild misgiving eye;
and he saw the dead in the river bed,
for the faithless stream was dry.'

next he covered the corpse with heaps of leaves, but a mighty wind swept through the wood and left the secret bare before the sun -

'then down i cast me on my face,
and first began to weep,
for i knew my secret then was one
that earth refused to keep;
on land of sea though it should be
ten thousand fathoms deep.

in plaintive notes he prophecies his own discovery. he buried his victim in a cave and trod him down with stones. but when years had run their weary round, the foul deed was discovered and the murderer put to death.

guilt is a grim chamberlain', even when his fingers are not bloody red. secret sins bring fevered eyes and sleepless nights, until men burn out their consciences and become in very deed ripe for the pit. hypocrisy is a hard game to play at, for it is one deceiver against many observers; and for certain it is a miserable trade, which will earn at last, as its certain climax, a tremendous bankruptcy. ah! ye who have sinned without discovery, 'be sure your sin will find you out'; and bethink you, it may find you out ere long. sin, like murder, will come out; men will even tell tales about themselves in their dreams. God has made men to be so wretched in their consciences that they  have been obliged to stand forth and confess the truth. secret sinner! if thou wantest the foretaste of damnation upon earth, continue in thy secret sins; for no man is more miserable than he who sinneth secretly and yet trieth to preserve a character. yon stag, followed by the hungry hounds, with open mouths, is far more happy than the man who is pursued by his sins. yon bird, taken in the fowler's net and labouring to escape, is far more happy than he who hath weaved around himself a web of deception and labours to escape from it, day by day making the toils more thick and the web more strong. oh the misery of secret sins! one may well pray, 'cleanse thou me from secret faults'
spurgeons sermon (no. 116), on 'secret sins'