parricide; and accordingly Absalom pursued his father with a determined resolution to murder him. A battle ensued between the royal army and the rebels, in which the latter were defeated, and Absalom fled. The kindness of David to his graceless son continued to the last. He gave express orders to his soldiers," that they should deal gently with Absalom ;" and when he heard of his death, he mourned for him with a grief which may be considered as excessive. The pathetic expressions uttered by him on this occasion show the deep agony of his mind; and though they cannot be wholly vindicated, they undoubtedly exhibit the most favourable picture of a good and benevolent heart, "O, my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom,' he exclaimed, "would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son !" The ingratitude of this unnatural youth was forgotten, all his wickedness was passed over, and David considered not the rebel but the son. The tenderness of his grief may also have had this to excuse it, that the father was concerned at the untimely fate of his son, and his being cut off in the midst of his sins without repentance.

The people, who had shown their loyalty to David, were dissatisfied with his uncommon concern for the loss of a worthless son, and his keeping himself retired on that account from the administration of public affairs. Joab freely told the king of the danger that would result from this conduct, in weaning the affections of his subjects from his person and government; which remonstrance had its effect, and David returned to the discharge of his public duty.

Shortly after this another insurrection was raised against him by the artifices of Sheba, a factious Israelite; but though it portended more alarming consequences than that of Absalom, yet by the zealous loyalty of the men of Judah, this rebellion was also quelled, and the misguided Israelites returned to their duty.

Civil dissensions frequently produce want and misery. When men's minds are alienated from the government, and feuds and contentions arise, industry slackens, the regular course of business is broken, and the earth itself is cursed through the pride and wickedness of man. Two rebellions had disturbed the peace of David's government, and the perverseness of his subjects was punished by a grievous famine. The sacred history does indeed represent this visitation of Providence as the consequence of Saul's breach of faith to the poor and oppressed Gibeonites. This will not, however, invalidate the assertion that these civil wars were leading causes of the natural evil. They were parts of the same chain ordered by heaven for the punishment of a rebellious nation.

The latter years of this great monarch were exceedingly prosperous. He saw faction and discontent expire within his territories, foreign enemies subdued, many powerful nations become tributary to him, and others courting his alliance.

But prosperity is oftentimes as dangerous to the virtue and peace of nations as to individuals. David, like many other eminent men, shone with more lustre in the cloudy and tempestuous season of adversity, than in the full blaze of ease and worldly glory.

When he found his dominions established in security, and his enemies vanquished on every side, a principle of vanity prompted him to number his people. The measure itself does not carry any appearance of impropriety, but the searcher of hearts judges by the motives, and not by the actions which result from them. The conduct of David was evidently wrong, and it appeared so even to the ungodly Joab, who remonstrated against it; but the king was obstinate, and the people were numbered throughout the land. The guilt of the monarch was punished by a pestilence which threatened to extirpate the whole nation; but his penitence was accepted, and the progress of the destroying angel was stopped. On the

very spot where the plague was stayed, David offered a solemn sacrifice, and there did his successor erect a magnificent temple to the glory of the God of Israel.

At the close of his life, David was greatly afflicted with bodily disease, which, from the symptoms mentioned, appears to have been the dead palsy. To restore the animal heat, his physicians proposed a measure which, though witlings and libertines may ridicule, injures neither the reputation of the monarch, nor of the history, He married a young woman named Abishag, not from any sensual motive, but, according to the science of that age, in hopes that thereby the animal strength might be restored. Whether the remedy adopted proved successful, is not told us; but of this we are assured, that the mental faculties of the aged king remained unimpaired, and that his zeal both for the glory of GoD and the good of his people was unabated. He wisely took care to settle the succession of his crown, fearing that by leaving this material point undetermined, the most serious evils might result from the rivalship of his sons. The necessity of this measure soon appear ed; for Adonijah, the brother of Absalom, and resembling him both in person and disposition, being impatient to gain the throne, collected his partizans, and declared himself king. When David was informed of this rebellion, he caused Solomon to be proclaimed, and he was accordingly accepted by the people with such universal acclamations of joy, that his opponent yielded up his pretensions and submitted himself to his brother.

Perceiving his end drawing near, David called for his son, and gave him a charge respecting the building of the temple. The work was great; but the good old king encouraged Solomon to persevere in it, by an assurance that the Divine blessing would prosper his labours. This charge was delivered in the presence of the princes of Israel, whom he also exhorted to assist in this good work, and so great was the im

pression of his discourse, that their contributions exceeded David's expectations.

It was a solemn and an affecting scene. All were anxious to express their gratitude to GOD, and their veneration for his aged servant. The king himself was invigorated, and his soul was filled with the Divine spirit. He proclaimed aloud the praises of his GOD, and he predicted an effusion of blessings to his He called upon the whole congregation to join him in an act of worship; and in the midst of this joy and festivity, Solomon was crowned the second tinie.

son.

This was the concluding scene of David's life, and it was such as became a man of his rank and piety. He had no uneasiness at leaving a flourishing kingdom, with all its wealth and dignity; but he carefully prepared for his entrance into the invisible world, by disencumbering himself of all that belonged to this corrupt and perishable state. He resigned his throne with becoming ease and cheerfulness; and it gave him satisfaction to invest his son with the royal robes, and to see him received with the universal approbation and joy of the kingdom.

In thus laying down the diadem before death could wrest it from him, we cannot but admire his truly heroic mind. But that which raised David above the vanities of the world, and animated him in the sight of death, was the firm conviction of his interest in the covenant God of his Salvation: "Although," says he, "my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." 2 Samuel xxiii. 5. The Messiah was all his hope, though he was sensible that the advent of that glorious Redeemer was even yet at a remote distance.

This faith was that which supported David in all the troubles of his life; and it now strengthened himin his sickness, enabling him also at last to meet death without terror. What can be more triumphant than this beautiful declaration: "Though I

walk through the valley of the shadow of death, T will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me!" Psalms xxiii. 4.

He died at the age of seventy years, forty of which he reigned over Israel.

In David's character we behold a mixture of excellencies and defects---great virtues, and lamentable failings. But though his infirmities were many, and his offences enormous, yet we see him returning to GOD with deep contrition of heart, and sincere confession of his guilt. If then in his fall we have a warning set before us; in his repentance and amendment we behold an example which it will be well for us to imitate. We may not indeed be sinners exactly in the same way as David was; but sinners we are, and there is no other method of gaining the Divine favour but by the means which this royal penitent obtained it, namely, by genuine humiliation, and by faith in the merits of the Redeemer.

He had a clear and distinct view of that Divine person who, "according to the flesh," was to descend from him; and in various psalms he celebrates his dignity, incarnation, voluntary humility, sufferings, resurrection, and ascension. Those sublime compositions are full of the Messiah, and of his work of redemption; and unless considered with this refe rence, they are, in many parts, at least, confused, obscure, and perplexing. Even those which have a plain relation to the circumstances of David, are not to be confined to them only; but they have a farther and a more important illustration in the life and death of the Redeemer. The Book of Psalms is an exhibition of the great scheme of salvation throughout; and if the reader will only enter into the evangelical sense of them, his edification and comfort will be greater than any language can express. David was not only a prophet who foretold, under various striking characters and images, the coming of the Son of Righteousness; but he was himself, in many leading points, an illustrious type of that bless