the word of God could not fail; that what He had said would certainly come to pass. He had hoped against hope in the case of his infant son; but, notwithstanding his long-continued and earnest prayers, the sentence was executed: the child died.

Taking the Psalms of this period in connexion with its history, there can be scarcely a doubt that the sufferings which David had to endure were greatly aggravated by the malicious acts and efforts of his enemies. It must be frankly admitted that we have no notice in the narrative of the way or manner in which this malignity was manifested; but it is a notorious fact, that in every other season of calamity through which David was called to pass, he found enemies prepared to add greater sorrow to his affliction, and to aggravate his danger by intense hatred and opposition. It was so when he was hunted by Saul, as it was afterwards when flying before Absalom, and also when returning after the defeat of that treason to take possession of his kingdom. And as on these occasions the victim of persecution was blameless, what may not be expected when he is found guilty of the foulest crimes and sins?

The adultery of David and Bathsheba was known; his true friends mourned over his fall; his enemies availed themselves of this occasion to harass and distress him to the utmost. In what manner they did this, as already observed, we do not know; but why should they not have called for his punishment according to law? The private communication of Nathan to the king would probably never reach them; or, if it did, would be disregarded. This opposition, if David had been innocent, and in health, he would have disregarded, or regarded with contempt. But now the case was different. Condemned by his conscience and

HIS DEEP AND CONTINUED DISTRESS.

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by God's law, crushed in his spirit by intense anguish and a sense of the Divine anger, weak in his body by fasting, and watching, and sorrow, David was now prostrate, unable to bear up against the accumulation of evils. His only resource, therefore, was in supplication to God. The extent of his sufferings, and the humble and ardent prayers which he addressed to heaven for pardon and deliverance, may be seen in the following passages taken from some of his penitential Psalms -

PSALM XXXVIII.

"O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath:

Neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure.

For Thine arrows stick fast in

me,

And Thy hand presseth me sore.

There is no soundness in my flesh because of Thine

anger;

Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

For mine iniquities are gone over my head:

As a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

My wounds stink and are corrupt

Because of my foolishness.

I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly;

I go mourning all the day long.

For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease:

I am feeble and sore broken:

I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my

heart.

Lord, all my desire is before Thee;

And my groaning is not hid from Thee.

My heart panteth, my strength faileth me:

As for the light of mine eyes, it is also gone from

me.

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; And my kinsmen stand afar off.

They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things,

And imagine deceits all the day long.

But I, as a deaf man, heard not;

And I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.

Thus I was as a man that heareth not,

And in whose mouth are no reproofs.

For in Thee, O Lord, do I hope :

Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.

For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me:

When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.

For I am ready to halt,

And my sorrow is continually before me.

For I will declare my iniquity;

I will be sorry for my

sin."

PSALM VI.

"O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger,
Neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak:
O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
But Thou, O Lord, how long?

Return, O Lord, deliver my soul:

O save me for Thy mercies' sake.

For in death there is no remembrance of Thee:

THE KING'S PENITENCE.

In the grave who shall give Thee thanks?
I am weary with my groaning;

All the night make I my bed to swim;
I water my couch with my tears.
Mine eye is consumed because of grief;
It waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

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Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.

The Lord hath heard my supplication;

The Lord will receive my prayer.

Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: Let them return and be ashamed suddenly."

All this language-and more of similar tenor might be given-goes to prove that this royal offender was made fully sensible of the enormity of his transgression, and of his guiltiness before God. Nor does a careful perusal of these, and other penitential Psalms, leave any doubt of the depth and sincerity of his repentance. His sorrow was a godly sorrow; his heart turned to God for deliverance. "Lord, all my desire is before Thee; and my groaning is not hid from Thee for in Thee, O Lord, do I hope; Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God." "He is worn away by grief; day and night he feels a mighty hand heavy upon him; his soul is parched up as with the drought of an eastern summer. But he rises above the present in his passionate hopes for the future. His prayers are the simple expressions of one who loathes sin because he has been acquainted with it, who longs to have truth in his innermost self, to have hands thoroughly clean, to make a fresh start in life with a spirit free and just and new. This is the true Hebrew, Christian, idea of

Y

repentance :—not penance, not remorse, not mere general expressions of human depravity, not minute confessions of minute sins dragged out by a too scrupulous casuistry; but change of life and mind. And in this, the crisis of his fate, and from the agonies of grief, a doctrine emerges, as universal and as definite as was wrung out of the like struggles of the apostle Paul. Now, if ever, would have been the time, had his religion led him in that direction, to have expiated his crime by the sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual. It would seem as if for a moment such a solution had occurred to him. But he at once rejects it. He remains true to the prophetic teaching. He knows that no substitution of dead victims, however costly, can fill up the gulf between himself and God. He knows that it is another and higher sacrifice which God approves. 'Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee; but Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.'"*

But David not only saw the unsatisfactory character of mere ritual or ceremonial expiation; he also knew that no humiliation, sorrow, or penitential suffering on account of sin, could atone for his iniquities. Like Abraham, he too saw the day of Christ; and while he distrusted the virtue of mere rites, he knew that his deepest sorrow would be equally unavailing. He knew that in the Divine purpose a body was prepared for one who would come to make propitiation for the sin of the world; and on this better sacrifice, on the atonement to be made by Him who for this purpose

* DEAN STANLEY'S Lectures on the Jewish Church, Second Series, p. 113.