lawful object of his love, he yet so far forgot his duty to God, and to his neighbour, as to take advantage of the husband's absence with the army; and to seduce her to commit adultery. From this great sin, the natural consequence followed. Bathsheba, for that was the name of his unfortunate partner in iniquity, soon found herself with child; and sent to tell David, and to demand, in all probability, his advice, and protection, in that her great danger. Her danger, indeed, was great; inasmuch as for such a crime the law of the Jews inflicted death without remission ; and since David himself, though king of the land, had no power to stop the course of justice; or to act in opposition to the commands of Moses and of God. What then could be done to save the reputation, and the life, of this unhappy woman? It was yet possible; if her husband were brought home soon enough, that the king's child might pass for his : and Uriah was, accordingly, sent for from the army, and by various artifices pressed into his wife's society. The snare, however, did not answer. either suspecting the truth, for the tongue of slander may be well supposed to have whispered some suspicion of Bathsheba's visit to the king, or else from a display of soldierly zeal in his monarch's service, refuses to return to his own house at all; and remains in the guard room

Uriah,

of the palace. This hope having failed, the discovery and ruin of the adulteress seemed unavoidable; unless the husband, who would not be deceived, were, by some means, got rid of. The indulgence of one wicked passion had now made murder necessary; and David, to save Bathsheba from deserved shame and punishment, now sealed his own guilt by a treacherous and bloody plot against the life of his brave and zealous servant. By his contrivance, Uriah died in battle; Bathsheba became at liberty; and her sin, and David's were likely to remain concealed, and, as they fondly hoped, unpunished.

There was one eye, however, by which their deeds of darkness were perceived;

one

dreadful judge, from whose anger neither art, nor power, could shield them. The prophet, Nathan, was sent by God with a message to David; and by the eloquent artifice of first kindling his anger, and his natural feelings of justice, by a supposed case of oppression,

not

altogether unlike the sin, which the king had committed, though of a nature far less flagrant - he proves to him, more than by ten thousand arguments, the exceeding atrocity of his conduct; and speaks to him, as with a voice of thunder, "Thou art the man,"- this very criminal, whom thou thyself hast justly denounced worthy of death ! "Thus saith the Lord God

of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel; and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom ; and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and, if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; and hast taken his wife to be thy wife; and hast slain him, with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, behold I will raise up evil against thee, out of thine own house; and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour; and he shall lie with thy wives, in the sight of the sun. For thou didst it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord hath also put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child, that is also born unto thee, shall surely die." How fully and how shortly

all these things were accomplished may be seen by the following chapters of the 2nd book of Samuel. Though David's life was spared, the rest of his days were made miserable by the death of some of his children, and by the sins of others. His own son, Absalom, conspired against his life; and treated his wives even more infamously, than he had himself treated the wife of Uriah: and the sword may be truly said never to have departed from his house, till all the members of his family, who were then alive, had perished from the face of the earth. Nevertheless, so great was his sin, and so wonderful was the forgiveness extended to him, when his own life and soul were spared, and he was not cut off in his sins; that we lose all sight of his remaining and temporal punishment, in the contemplation of the mercy shown him, in points of more importance.

Such is the outline of David's story. It now remains, that I shortly apply it to the practical improvement of us all.

"that kings

The first observation, which I am led to make on it, is the perilous mischief of idleness. "At the time," says the sacred writer, go forth to battle, David sent Joab, and all his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon; and besieged Rabbah but David tarried still in Jerusalem. And it came to pass, in an even tide, that David arose from off his bed; and walked upon the

roof of the king's house: and, from the roof, he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." What reason, if any good one, David might have for remaining idle in his palace, while his people went forth to war, is not told us in the Scripture. And the picture, which follows, of a king sleeping during the noonday, and rising from his bed in the evening, though the practice be not uncommon in those hot countries, does not give us the idea of one actively employed in the service of his country, or in the important duties of his station. Had David, it may be thought, been fighting the Lord's battles against the heathen, or had he been duly anxious for the happiness and good government of the people, whom God had placed under his care, he would have been far removed from the temptation, which overpowered him, and have had other thoughts to occupy his mind, than the beauty of a stranger. Let us then always remember, that, as the only method of destroying weeds, is by ploughing deep, and diligently labouring the soil, so is it that, by honest labour and rational occupation, we are best able to keep away evil thoughts, from the soul. It is when men are idle, and slumbering, that the devil sows tares in their hearts; and our hearts, if not employed, will as soon gather defilement, as the sword gathers rust, when suffered to hang idle on the wall.