and wicked plans to conceal this illicit intercourse, he deliberately plotted the life of Uriah, and ordered Joab to place him in the fore-front of the battle, and then retire from him and suffer him to be slain. The disgraceful and criminal plan was executed. The brave Uriah fell; and Bathsheba after a short time became the wife of David.

What shall we say to this conduct? Shall we with some well-intentioned but injudicious commentators extenuate the crimes of David? No; he himself, when his eyes were opened to behold the depth of the abyss into which he was fallen, would not attempt to diminish the horror of his transgressions. He was guilty of crimes than which none more enormous are to be found in the black list of sins. The murder was premeditated, deliberate, concerted; he immolates a faithful subject who was exposing his life for the service of his country and the glory of his king, and who was incapable of cowardice, or even the appearance of effeminacy. With Uriah he sacrifices the lives of those men who formed the party which he commanded. And all this was aggravated by his knowledge of the divine law; by the multiplied mercies which he had received from God; by the eminent station which he occupied; and by the many hours of communion that he had enjoyed with the Lord.

Such was the conduct of David. O virtues of the greatest saints, how frail are you when the Almighty withdraws the breath which animates you, and by which alone you subsist! when he suspends the communication of that grace by which alone you are supported!

Are there any who are ready to justify their enor mities from the example of David? Who are saying

to themselves, "If David, notwithstanding these enormous crimes, was a saint of God, and obtained pardon, I am safe?" Let such consider his habitual conduct, his splendid virtues, and his deep repentance. In examining his habitual conduct, we behold a heart devoted to God. He fell into acts of the greatest wickedness; but these were not permanent, but diametrically opposite to his general walk and conversation. Justice requires also that we should contrast his murder and adultery with the splendid actions of his life. 66 David," says the sacred historian, (1 Kings xv. 5.) " did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." Not that he was free from human infirmities; but this was the only occasion in which he was guilty of one of those atrocious crimes, which hinders us from perceiving in the midst of his weaknesses the characters of a solid piety. Think of his confidence in God; of his trust in the everlasting covenant; of the inagnanimity and clemency that he so often displayed; of his zeal for the glory of God; of his humility; of his acquiescence in the severest dispensations of providence; of the pious emotions which glow in his psalms, and were felt in his heart; and after taking this general review of his life, say if there are many who from the bed of death can look back to more numerous or more splendid monuments of piety and virtue. Consider too the depth of his repentance. Behold him prostrate in the dust, dissolved in tears, pleading for the life of his soul; looking back with unutterable anguish to his conduct; bearing the agonized remembrance of it to the grave; never palliating his crimes; fleeing for pardon to unmerited

grace.

Read his penitential psalms; every word appears a groan, every sentence the sound of a broken heart. To deepen his humiliation and his penitence, he eternizes in his writings the memory of his excesses; he presents to ages to come the account of his guilt. He thinks that he would rob the All-merciful of his glory, if in concealing his crimes he lost the opportunity of blessing, of adoring that grace which had forgiven them. He seizes the same harp which has soothed his griefs when he celebrated the praises of his Creator, and the mercies he had received from him, that by its mournful tones it may now reproach him with his rebellion and ingratitude. After these considerations, say, thou sneering infidel, thou careless sinner, thou unsound professor, whether the crimes of David can justify thy iniquities.

My brethren, this subject surely cries to us in a voice of thunder, "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." Whatever may be your situation in life, your attainments, your experience, you still have within you a corrupt nature, which if not restrained may conduct you to the greatest enormities. When you see a David falling into such sins, after all his past prayers and past fellowship with God; a Solomon indulging in the grossest idolatry, after the wisdom he had received from God; a Peter denying his Lord with execrations, after he had left all to follow the Redeemer, and had so often testified his attachment to him-when you see these melancholy examples, let them lead you to fear and distrust yourselves, and cause you to exercise a holy jealousy over your own hearts. Walk then humbly and dependently, if you would walk safely. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;

and happy is he that feareth always." Let not the proud thought arise in your soul, "I am incapable of committing such open and gross enormities." Such pride will go before a fall; God will punish thee for this self-confidence, by leaving thee to thyself, and showing thee thy utter weakness and inability to resist temptation. Seek help therefore from God; and pray with David not only against smaller iniquities, but also against presumptuous sins, lest they obtain dominion over you.

This subject teaches us that one sin gradually leads us to another; that he who enters upon a criminal course knows not where he shall stop in his course; that he who indulges impetuous passions and inordinate appetites will shortly be deprived of the power of saying to them, "Hitherto shall ye come and no farther;" and that therefore our only safety is to be found in resisting the first approaches to crime, and "abstaining from all appearance of evil." Had David been previously informed of the complicated depravity of which he was guilty, he would have recoiled with horror; he would probably have cried with Hazael, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do these things?" But he was led on by degrees; each step more hardened his heart and stupified his conscience; each sin appeared to render a new one necessary to conceal it; till he was so enfettered in the chains of sin and Satan that nothing but an Almighty power could have liberated him again. Oppose then the beginnings of evil; beware of cherishing one sinful thought; you know not to what lengths of guilt and shame it may carry you; you cannot tell where its destructive consequences will end.

This subject addresses those who, like David, have departed from the ways of the Lord; have violated their engagements; have wounded their consciences; have grieved the Spirit of God and his saints. When the Holy Ghost shows such persons the deep guilt and aggravations of their offences, they are ready to abandon themselves to utter despair; to suppose that there can be no mercy for them; and to think that they have committed that sin which is unpardonable. Your situation is indeed melancholy, but it is not desperate; look at David, and learn the infinitude of the mercy of your Father; listen to the forgiven and restored Psalmist, singing aloud of the righteousness and grace of the Lord, and feel that there is hope even for you. Only return unto Him from whom you have deeply revolted! There is a sacrifice which has sufficient virtue to expiate all your accumulated guilt. By the application of the blood of Jesus, and the communication of his Spirit, you shall obtain the restoration of peace with God, and strength to serve him in time to come; like David and like Peter recovered from your falls, you shall again participate of his favour and love.

Are there any presumptuous offenders who are ready to abuse these consolatory truths; who are saying to themselves, If sin can thus easily be pardoned, then there is little danger in committing it; I will therefore indulge in iniquity, and on my repentance I shall be as happy as the greatest saints ?' Such reasoning displays a deeply corrupted soul. That man never knew the grace of God, who makes it a plea for his continuance in sin. Besides, are you certain that you will repent? Will God assuredly, notwithstanding this ungrateful resolution, give you grace to turn unto him? Even should you escape.