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1. Man's ignorance of himself is the result of man's ignorance of God; and the knowledge of God comprehends the knowledge of man. If a man would "understand his errors," he must first know Him who can forgive, correct, and prevent them. A capacity of spiritual discernment is essential to man knowledge of himself.

2. Man's knowledge of his ignorance is the first stage in his educational progress towards the possession of wisdom, and the first expression of that knowledge is prayer.

3. A tendency to err in thought, in word, and in action, combined with the inherent deceitfulness of sin, is the secret of the unfathomable mystery of human error, — unfathomable, that is, by any sounding line of mere human intellect or human conscience. A tendency to err produces error. A biassed ball cannot run straight. The deceitfulness of sin, however, rather than this tendency, is the preponderating element in the unknowableness of one's own errors. Sin usually wears a disguise, and often a man does not know his own sin. The sinful heart is a cunning logician.

4. To "understand one's errors," one must know the fact of the universal defilement of sin consequent upon the fall.

5. The "errors" of a man include "secret faults" and "presumptuous sins." To sin knowingly is to sin presumptuously. A secret fault is one unknown to others or ourselves — to either or to both. It is a mockery for a man who has not searched himself to ask God to search him.

6. All true wisdom, possessed or attainable by any one of the human race on earth, involves constant self-scrutiny and constant prayer. Men must be advised to look both within and without. It is because we look within that we also look without.

7. All true wisdom is increasing wisdom, for it involves increasing sanctification, and included in sanctification ,is the joy of a heavenly fellowship.

(T. Easton.)

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KJV: Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

WEB: Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.