his sins without an opportunity of repentance. Let this awful example be a warning both to parents and children: to the former, not by a foolish partiality and indulgence to encourage them in vicious habits and connexions, and to the latter, in making them repress every inordinate desire and ambitious principle, and in making them sensible that the want of duty to their parents is the sure way of bringing down upon them the vengeance of God. The people, who had shown their loyalty to David, in opposing and quelling this dangerous rebellion, were greatly dissatisfied with his uncommon concern at the loss of a worthless son, and at his keeping himself retired from the administration of public affairs. Joab freely told the king of the danger that might result from this conduct, in weaning the affections of his subjects from his person and government. This remonstrance had its effect, and David returned to the discharge of his public duty, and to the favor of his people. On his passage over Jordan to Jerusalem, in triumph, Shimei, the cowardly Israelite called Sheba, but though it portended more alarming consequences than that of Absalom, yet by the zealous loyalty of the men of Judah this rebellion was 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 under which they live, 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, be found to invalidate the assertion that the civil wars were leading causes of this natural evil. They were parts of the same chain, ordered by Heaven for the punishment of a rebellious nation. When David inquired of the LORD concerning the cause of the famine which desolated his kingdoms, he was told that the crime of Saul remained unexpiated, and the sacrifice appointed consisted of seven of that monarch's descendants. These persons accordingly were delivered to the Gibeonites and executed. This is one of those mysterious transactions on which much conjecture might be spent without any satisfactory conclusion being formed. Upon principles of human policy it would be condemned, but we are now contemplating a procedure out of the way of man's judgment, and necessarily involved in clouds and thick darkness. The ALMIGHTY can neither do nor command that which is wrong, and if we are to believe that he ordered this atonement to be made, that an offence might be removed from Israel, we must conclude that the measure was wise and good. And that the offering was made in consequence of God's command, cannot well be doubted, when we consider the unparalleled generosity of David to Saul and his posterity. We have already had frequent occasions to admire his forgiving spirit, and his great liberality to the family of his persecutor; it cannot, therefore, be supposed that at such a distance of time David would have acted in this instance from any other motive than a pure submission to the will of GoD clearly revealed to him. The latter years of this truly great king 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, shines with more lustre in the cloudy and tempestuous season of adversity, than in the full blaze of ease and worldly glory. When he found that his dominions were established in security, and that his enemies were vanquished on every side, a principle of vanity seems to have prompted him to number his people. The measure itself does not carry any appearance of impropriety, but the ALMIGHTY 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 devouring 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. When we read of these awful judgments falling upon a whole people for the wickedness of their rulers, we are apt to wonder, and some perhaps will be disposed to murmur at the rectitude of the proceeding, or to disbelieve the fact as it is related. But if we look to the history of modern nations, though the writers may have omitted to notice the agency of Providence in the events recorded by them, we shall often see evident proofs of this great truth, that public and crying enormities produce evils of the most destructive kind. The sin of David in numbering his people is stated as the cause of the pestilence, but it is not, therefore, to be inferred that the people themselves were innocent. Though his crime only is mentioned, we may justly conclude that the cup of national iniquity was so full as to call for a heavy punishment. It is not uncommon in Scripture to represent the judg ment which falls upon a guilty nation, as an act of justice inflicted upon it for the offence of their rulers. At the close of his life, David was much afflicted with bodily disease, and from the symptoms recorded, it has been conjectured that he was stricken with a dead palsy. He, therefore, 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 appeared, for Adonijah, the brother of Absalom, and much like him both in person and disposition, being im patient to regain the throne, collected his partisans and declared himself king. When David was informed of this rebellious conduct of Adonijah, he caused Solomon to be proclaimed, and he was 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 to be drawing near, David called for his son, and gave him a strict charge respecting the building of the temple, on which his heart had been set for many years. 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 labors. This charge was delivered in the presence of the princes of Israel, whom he exhorted to assist in this good work, and the influence of his example and solicitations so far prevailed that their contributions exceeded David's most sanguine 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 the praises of his GOD, and he predicted an effusion of blessings to his son. He called upon the whole congregation to join in an act of worship, and in the midst of this joy and festivity, Solomon was crowned the second time. This was the concluding scene of David's life, and it was such a one as became a man of his exalted rank and piety. He had no uneasiness at leaving a flourishing kingdom, and wealth and dignity, but 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. It gave him satisfaction to invest his son with the royal robes, and to see him received with the |