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Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide Thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O GOD; and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.

Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.

Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O GOD, Thou GOD of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.

O LORD, open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.

For Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it a Thou delightest not in burnt-offering.

The sacrifices of GOD are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build Thow. the walls of Jerusalem..

Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt-offering, and whole burnt-offering then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.

Let us suppose that we behold the greatest monarch upon earth thus humbled for his sins before God, con fessing his crime with contrition and confusion of face, calling

D. 5

calling out for mercy, and imploring pardon in the presence of his meanest subjects; and we cannot but feel the greatest abhorrence of guilt, which alone could reduce him to such a situation. Besides the displeasure of God, and the reproach he had brought on religion, David was scorned by his enemies, and insulted by his inferiors; surely no one will be encouraged to imitate him in his crimes; for supposing that they could even be certain of practising the same degree of penitence,what pleasure on earth can be worth so dear a purchase? But we shall be able to comprehend his accumulated distress better from his own words, than from any other description of it.

* I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my GoD.

:

O GOD, Thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from Thee.

Let not them that wait on Thee, O LORD GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek Thees be confounded for my sake, O GOD of Israel.

Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach: shame hath covered my face.

I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.

For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee, are fallen upon

me.

When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

I made sackcloth also my garment: and I became a proverb to them.

They that sit in the gate, speak against me : and I was the song of the drunkards.

But as for me, my prayer is unto Thee, O LORD, in an

* Psalm lxix.

acceptable

acceptable time: O GOD, in the multitude of Thy mercy hear me, in the truth of Thy salvation.

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep

waters.

Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O LORD, for thy loving kindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies.

And hide not Thy face from Thy servant, for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.

Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

Thou hast known my reproach and my shame, and my dishonour; mine adversaries are all before thee.

Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

SECTION XIV.

DAVID'S CHILD IS STRUCK WITH SICKNESS.

HIS SORROW ON THAT OCCASION, AND BEHAVIOUR WHEN HE DIETH.

From 2 Sam. Chap. xii.

AND Nathan departed unto his house: and the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.

David therefore besought GOD for the child, and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.

And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would net, neither did he eat bread with them.

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And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died: and the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?

But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said he is dead.

Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house, and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child while it was alive, but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.

And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GoD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? but now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and she bare a son, and called his name Solomon; and the LORD loved him.

And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

It was very natural for David, in his peculiar situation, to feel the most pungent sorrow on account of the sickness of his child, though it was so very young; for he suffered

on this occasion, as a sinner, as well as a parent, but when it was dead, we find he ceased to grieve, for he knew it was his duty to submit with patience and resignation to the Divine will; and to reconcile himself to the death of the child, since its sufferings were at an end, and it was no longer an object of tender commiseration. In this instance David set an excellent example to all parents, who meet with a similar affliction; but what superior consolation may Christians derive from the hope which the Gospel affords, that their beloved infants, when taken from them, are immediately received by their merciful Saviour, and admitted to a superlative degree of happiness in the regions of bliss! If then parents wish to meet again those whom they have resigned with such heart-rending pangs, let them have a more particular regard to regulate their lives by the rules of the Gospel, imitating little children in simplicity, humility, and purity of heart, that they may hereafter with them, always behold the face of their Father which is in heaven *.

How gracious was the LORD in sending Nathan with amessage of consolation, from which David derived hopes that his penitence was acceptable, and his prayer heard. He now resolved to bear all the temporal evils that had been threatened, with patience and resignation; since GOD had not cast him out from his presence, nor taken his Holy Spirit from him. In this particular, his behaviour affords another exemplary lesson to Christians.

*Matt. xviii.

+ As David's crime in respect to Uriah is a great subject of derision to SCOFFERS, I beg leave to refer my readers to his Life, written by Dr. Chandler and Dr. Delany, for a satisfactory discussion of the subjects, as the nature of my plan will not admit of my producing the arguments which are given by them in extenuation of his guilt.

SECTION

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