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the altar, and would not ftir thence, 'till Solomon fhould fwear to spare his life: upon hearing of which, Solomon immediately declared, That if he behaved himself, for the future, as a worthy man, a hair of his head fhould not be touched; but if wickedness were found in him, he should die.

UPON this affurance, Adonijah waited upon the king, and fubmitted himself to him and Solomon fent him to his own houfe in peace.

CHA P. XXI.

A fhort Digreffion, being an Essay upon the Character of Bathsheba.

PON perufing the history of David's

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fall, I found almost every commentator I met with, fevere upon the character of Bathfbeba: fome treating her (at least in their infinuations) as a light and lewd woman; others, as fwayed by ambition in her commerce with David; and all, as an hypocrite, in mourning for her husband.

ON

On the other hand, I found her, after this, the wife of a great and wife king; the mother of a great and wife king; and remotely the mother even of the MESSIAH. Upon further inquiry, I found her honoured by that great and wife king, her husband, with the surest marks of true friendship and esteem, in the decline of life, when paffion could make no part of their commerce. I found her honoured, in a very distinguished manner, by that great and wife king her fon *, when he was in full poffeffion of the fupreme power; and confequently when no suspicion of intereft could abate the merit of his duty †. I found that father commanding his fon to liften to the wife and falutary monitions of his mother and I found precepts, faid to be of that mother,

1 Kings ii. 19. And the king rofe up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and fat down on his throne, and caufed a feat to be fet for the king's mother; and she fat on his right-hand.

If it be urged, that Solomon's fubfequent behaviour to his mother, in relation to her petition in favour of Adonijah, is not respectful; I answer, by owning, that he there breaks out into a paffion, which neither became him as a king, or as a fon: but it must at the fame time be admitted, that this paffion was fubfequent to a treatment of his mother full of diftinguished respect and esteem.

and

and recorded by that fon, perfectly tallying with those monitions. And from thence I concluded, as all antient critics, and most moderns have done, that the mother of Lemuel was Bathsheba. Is it poffible, I then meditated with myself, that such a father, and fuch a fon, could be deceived in the character of that woman, for a course of years? Or if they were, could the eye of Providence mistake her?

I THEN revolved her history from the beginning, with the utmost care and exactnefs I was capable of; and seriously acknowledge, (it may be, to the fhame of my fagacity) that I never could find any thing in it, on which to ground the least cenfure or fufpicion of levity or lewdness, of hypocrify or ambition.

Ir was not her fault, that fhe was fair; it was no crime, in a hot clime, and in the close of the day, to bathe herself, for coolnefs and cleanliness, if not for legal pollutions. Suppose she did this in her garden, (which I verily believe she did not) the history of SuJan na, alady no way blemished in her character of chastity, fhews this uncustomary in that country,

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practice not

nor any way

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accounted criminal. Doth it appear, that she was feduced by inordinate appetite, or by any views of ambition, to violate her duty to GOD, and her husband? Not in the least. Had these been her incitements, quite other measures had been taken; the intercourfe had then been tranfacted in fecrecy, and by a fingle meffenger. The truth is, David's paffions were too unruly to brook delay: the text tells us, he fent messengers, and took * ber (there was no time allowed either for temptations or terms); and had criminal commerce with her. More than this we know not; but that she fanctified herself from her pollution, and returned to her house In the original it is, And she fanctifying her. Self, &c. And it is remarkable, that this action is expreffed in a form of conjugation, which implies diligence and folicitude. Now, fuppofe this word to fignify no more than her care and anxiety to be purified from the legal pollution of her commerce with David, is there no prefumption of religious impreffions, of a sense and abhorrence of

*A word that fometimes implies force, in the Scriptures, and always an incapacity of resistance in the thing taken.

guilt,

guilt, in that folicitude? Confidering it merely as a ceremonial, David was bound to it, as well as the: Why then are the Scriptures filent upon this head, with regard to him? Certainly they would not, if he had expreffed the fame folicitude. The reader will make his own inferences.

It is evident enough, that David's paffion was not indulged to fatiety, nor followed with averfion; he forced her not from him, as Amnon did Tamar. Had pleafure or ambition been her purpose, she could not have wanted pretences, fufficiently plaufible, for continuing it longer; perhaps for going no more to her own house.

WHAT followed next? Bathsheba found herself pregnant: Did fhe take that occafion to tempt David anew, to continue or repeat the criminal commerce? (Did ever a fairer occafion offer?) Quite otherwife; fhe feems carefully to have kept out of his fight; and only fent to let him know her condition: Could modefty do more? For my own part, I fee not the leaft traces of levity or lewdness in this conduct: I imagine I fee in it the fure marks of injured and diftreffed innocence,

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