blind-ed by sin, he was glad of the death of U-ri-ah, and on-ly sent Jo-ab word to "make the bat-tle more strong a-gainst the ci-ty, and to over-throw it."

Bath-she-ba mourn-ed for her husband a cer-tain num-ber of days, as the cus-tom was, and then Da-vid fetch-ed her to his house. "But the thing that Da-vid had done dis-pleased the Lord."

"Jo-ab fought a-gainst Rab-bah, and took part of the ci-ty. He then sent to tell Da-vid to come him-self and take the rest, that he might have the glo-ry of the war. "Da-vid gather-ed all his peo-ple to-geth-er and went to Rab-bah, and fought a-gainst it, and took it. He took the beau-tiful gold crown from the king of the Am-mo-nites, and the spoil of the

town, and he de-stroy-ed the peo-ple of Rab-bah and of all the o-ther cities. "So Da-vid and all the people re-turn-ed to Je-ru-sa-lem.”

Bath-she-ba bare Da-vid a son. All this time Da-vid was liv-ing in a fear-ful state. His heart was far from God, his con-science was a-sleep, and he seem-ed har-den-ed in sin. If God had left Da-vid to him-self, as he de-serv-ed, he would have grown worse and worse. But "the Lord is ve-ry pi-ti-ful." "His mer-cy en-dureth for e-ver," and He now stretch-ed forth His hand to save His poor servant. "The Lord sent Na-than unto Da-vid, and he came un-to him, and said un-to him, There were two men in one ci-ty; the one rich, and the o-ther poor. And the rich man Lad ex-ceed-ing ma-ny, flocks and

herds but the poor man had nothing, save one lit-tle ewe lamb, which he had brought and nour-ish-ed up: and it grew up to-ge-ther with him and with his chil-dren; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bo-som, and was un-to him as a daugh-ter. And there came a tra-vel-ler un-to the rich man, and he spar-ed to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the way-far-ing man that was come un-to him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dress-ed it for the man that was come un-to him."

This story was told to bring Da-vid's sin to his mind. He was the rich man, U-ri-ah the poor man, and Bath-she-ba the lit-tle ewe lamb. But Da-vid was still blind. He thought that Na-than had

come to tell him of some man in his king-dom who had done this cru-el thing. "His an-ger was great-ly kindled a-gainst the man, and he said, As the Lord liv-eth, the man that hath done this thing shall sure-ly die: and he shall re-store the lamb fourfold, be-cause he did this thing, and be-cause he had no pi-ty.”

"And Na-than said to Da-vid, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Is-ra-el, I a-noint-ed thee king o-ver Is-ra-el, and I de-liver-ed thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy mas-ter's house, and gave thee the house of Is-ra-el and Ju-dah; and if that had been too lit-tle for thee, I would more-o-ver have giv-en un-to thee such and such things. Where-fore hast thou despis-ed the com-mand-ment of the

Lord to do e-vil in his sight? Thou hast kill-ed, U-ri-ah the Hit-tite with the sword, and hast ta-ken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the chil-dren of Ammon. Now there-fore the sword shall ne-ver de-part from thine house; be cause thou hast des-pis-ed me, and hast ta-ken the wife of U-ri-ah the Hit-tite to be thy wife." Na-than told him al-so that he should have much sor-row from his own fa-mi-ly, and that, though his sin had been a se-cret one, his pu-nish-ment should be be-fore all Is-ra-el and be-fore the sun."

That mo-ment must have been a dread-ful one to Da-vid. He now saw what he had done in all its black-ness. Da-vid said to Na-than, "I have sin-ned a-gainst the Lord." And Na-than said un-to Da-vid, "The