Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Scofield Reference Notes

[2] Hyssop

Hyssop was the little shrub 1Ki 4:33 with which the blood and water of purification were applied. Lev 14:1-7 Num 19:1-19. Cleansing in Scripture is twofold:

(1) Of a sinner from the guilt of sin; the blood ("hyssop") aspect;

(2) of a saint from the defilement of sin--the water ("wash me") aspect;

(3) Under grace the sinner is purged by blood when he believes Mt 26:28 Heb 1:3 9:12 10:14. Both aspects of cleansing, by blood and by water, are brought out in Jn 13:10 Eph 5:25,26.

"He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet"; "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it [redemption by "blood, "hyssop," the "bath"] that He might sanctify and cleanse "it with the washing by the word": answering to the "wash me" of verse 7.Psalm 51:7 Parallel Commentaries

Unimpeachable Justice
There is now agitating the public mind something which I thought I might improve this day, and turn to very excellent purpose. There are only two things concerning which the public have any suspicion. The verdict of the jury was the verdict of the whole of England; we were unanimous as to the high probability, the well-nigh absolute certainty of his guilt; but there were two doubts in our minds--one of them but small, we grant you, but if both could have been resolved we should have felt more easy …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Wordless Book
"Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."--Psalm 51:7. I DARESAY you have most of you heard of a little book which an old divine used constantly to study, and when his friends wondered what there was in the book, he told them that he hoped they would all know and understand it, but that there was not single word in it. When they looked at it, they found that it consisted of only three leaves; the first was black, the second was red, and the third was pure white. The old minister used to gaze upon …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 57: 1911

Transcriber's Note.
There are significant differences in the numerous reprints of Isaac Watts' "Psalms." The first generation of this Project Gutenberg file was from an 1818 printing by C. Corrall of 38 Charing Cross, London. The Index and the Table of First Lines have been omitted for the following reasons: 1. They refer to page numbers that are here expunged; and 2. In this electronic version key words, etc., can be easily located via searches. Separate numbers have been added to Psalms that have more than one part …
Isaac Watts—The Psalms of David

How God Answered Donald's Prayer
God often uses children to win grown folks for Christ. Little children not only have a deep faith but a childlike trust in believing that God answers their prayers. "All that ye ask in my name, believing, that ye shall receive." As a young girl, I went to Sunday School and learned about Jesus. Although I knew about my Savior and what He had done to save me, yet I never accepted Him as my own Redeemer and Friend. As years went by, I went into sin and shared in the common sins of worldly people. …
S. B. Shaw—Touching Incidents and Remarkable Answers to Prayer

David and Nathan
'And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin.'--2 SAMUEL xii. 13. We ought to be very thankful that Scripture never conceals the faults of its noblest men. High among the highest of them stands the poet- king. Whoever, for nearly three thousand years, has wished to express the emotions of trust in God, longing after purity, aspiration, and rapture of devotion, has found that his words have been before him. And this man …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Out of the Deep of Sin.
Innumerable troubles are come about me. My sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up; yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me.--Ps. xl. 15. I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.--Ps. li. 3. I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; and so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin.--Ps. xxxii. 6. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, and …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

Cleansing.
As there are conditions requiring to be complied with in order to the obtaining of salvation, before one can be justified, e. g., conviction of sin, repentance, faith; so there are conditions for full salvation, for being "filled with the Holy Ghost." Conviction of our need is one, conviction of the existence of the blessing is another; but these have been already dealt with. "Cleansing" is another; before one can be filled with the Holy Ghost, one's heart must be "cleansed." "Giving them the Holy …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

All are Sinners.
Some time ago we overheard from a person who should have known better, remarks something like these: "I wonder how sinners are saved in the Lutheran Church?" "I do not hear of any being converted in the Lutheran Church," and such like. These words called to mind similar sentiments that we heard expressed long ago. More than once was the remark made in our hearing that in certain churches sinners were saved, because converted and sanctified, while it was at least doubtful whether any one could find …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

God the Holy Spirit the Love which Dwells in the Heart.
"It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments." --Psalm cxxxiii. 2. The fact that love can radiate within man does not insure him the possession of true and real Love, unless, according to His eternal counsel, God is pleased to enter into personal fellowship with him. So long as man knows Him only from afar and not near, God is a stranger to him. He may admire His Love, have a faint sense of it, be pleasantly …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit