in a manner more modest than was customary with him; but the king's orders were positive, upon which Joab, assisted by some of the king's principal officers, sat out on the expedition. They began on the east side of the river Jordan, went round by the north parts of Canaan, and returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. By the estimate Joab brought there appeared to be 800,000 men fit to bear arms, and 500,000 in the tribe of Judah only; exclusive of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, whom he had not numbered.

David had no sooner received the account of the number of his people than his heart misgave him. He knew he had offended the Almighty in what he had done, and entreated pardon by the most fervent prayers and supplications. I have sinned, said he, greatly in that I have done: and now I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

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The next morning the prophet Gad was sent to David with an offer of three things for his choice; namely, a seven years famine; persecution by his enemies for three months; or a pestilence for three days. The choice of such great evils exceedingly perplexed and confounded David, who, knowing he must accept of one of the three, argued with himself to this effect: "If, says he, I chuse the famine, it will appear as if I had more care for myself than my people, as "it is very unlikely I should be distressed for the want of "bread. If I chuse a course of unsuccessful battles with "the enemy, it will apppear the same, having strong holds "or castles, to which I can fly for safety. But for the last, "it is a calamity common as well to kings as subjects, and "which strikes terror into all without distinction. I had "rather fall into the hands of God than those of my ene"mies." Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.*

* This was as much as if he had said, "I am now fully convinced "of the great provocation I have given to the Lord my God, by break"ing his law in numbering the people from motives of ostentation, ❝and not with a view of supporting the temple service, for which numbering was originally intended. I am likewise, in the most "humble manner, forced to acknowledge that I have put my trust in "the arm of flesh, and not in the Lord Jehovah, who was at all times "ready to help me. But still let me fall into the hands of that Divine Being, for I know that his tender mercies are over all his works,

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David having made choice of the pestilence, God was pleased to send it immediately among the people, and it raged with such irresistible violence, that within the three days it took off no less than 70,000 men. It began in the extreme part of the kingdom, and made hasty advances towards Jerusalem, which when the king and inhabitants heard, they clothed themselves in sackcloth, and, with all humility, cried unto God for mercy. A little before the evening sacrifice (or before the time of evening prayer) there appeared an angel over Jerusalem, brandishing a flaming sword, as if going to destroy it. As soon as David saw this Divine messenger, he broke out into an exclamation to this effect: "Lord, punish the shepherd, but preserve the sheep; pour down thy wrath on me and my "family, but let me beseech thee to spare the innocent "people, for 'tis I alone who have offended thee." I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and my father's house.*

It may not be improper to make a short digression, in order to put to rights such (and many no doubt, there are) as may think it strange that the people should be involved in the same punishment with David, who, at first view, appears to have been the only person that had committed the offence. It is to be observed, that kings in general are no otherwise to be punished in their regal capacities, nor, oftentimes, to be brought to account for the errors of their administration, but by public calamities; by famine, pestilence, foreign wars, domestic convulsions, or some other like distresses, that affect their people. If, therefore, it pleases God to shew his displeasure against princes for the public errors of their administration, it must be right and

"the mercies of my enemies are, at best, little more than cruelty. "Let God chastise me, for surely he is my friend, and will be so both "in time and in eternity."

*The judgment against David for his transgression was sufficiently visible, otherwise he could not have seen the form that the destroying angel assumed; but here we find, that as a most pious man and a good sovereign, he repents of those sins he had committed in the most voluntary manner, and while he looks upon himself as the procuring cause of all the evils that had happened, he begs that God would wreak his vengeance upon him, and not upon his people, who were innocent.

fit for him to afflict their people; and, indeed, this is nothing more than what frequently happens in the common course of Providence. If this be a difficulty, it affects natural religion as well as revealed: and the same considerations that will obviate the difficulty in one case will solve it also in the other. Besides, in this case, the people even themselves were very culpable; for the command was absolute: When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul. And therefore, as they knew, or might have known, that, upon being numbered, they were to pay the prescribed ransom, which yet they neglected or refused to do; as partners in the offence, they justly shared in the penalty inflicted. It is allowed, that the tax was not at this time demanded by David; and this was his sin, in setting aside a positive command of God. The demanding this tax by his own authority might have created a national disturbance, and therefore should have prevented him from numbering his people. But they submitted to be numbered, and were therefore bound to pay the tax, whether David demanded it of them or not, for the law did not exempt them from the payment, if he who numbered them did not demand it. They were to pay it as a ransom for their lives, and to exempt themselves from the plague; and were therefore punished with a plague for their neglect and disobedience.

David, indeed, takes the guilt upon himself, and declares his people innocent of it: These sheep, what have they done? And it is true that the order to number the people was David's, of which his people were wholly innocent: but they should have remonstrated against it to the king, or voluntarily to have paid the capitation tax required of them, and as they did neither, they could not plead innocence as a reason for their exemption from punishment. And even supposing they were free from all blame in this affair, can we suppose they were so entirely free from all other transgressions, as that it was injustice in God to visit them with a pestilence? Were not many of them concerned in the rebellion of Absalom? Is it not expressly said that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel? And can we suppose that the righteous Lord, whose mercy is over all his works, could be angry with the people if innocent. -If not, God did them no injustice by sending the pesti

lence; and therefore none by sending it at that time, and as an immediate punishment of David's sin. God, by virtue of his supreme authority over mankind, may resume life whenever he pleases. If there be no sin, the immediate resumption of life will be no punishment; if there be, a resumption of life will not be unjust, though the immediate reason of that resumption may be, for the punishment of another; especially as all such instances have a real tendency to promote the public good, and to preserve alive in the minds both of princes and people, that reverence for the Deity, without which neither public or private virtue can subsist, nor the prosperity of kingdoms ever be secured and established upon solid and lasting foundations.

We shall only just add, to what we have already observed, that it is very plain the Israelites were punished, not altogether because David numbered the people, but because they had offended the Lord, and, by their vices, called down their punishment upon them: nor can we, upon a review of what has been related, want proofs of their criminality. Can any thing be more shameful and sinful than the rebellion we have mentioned in this and the preceding chapter? rebellion against a good and pious king, established over them by the immediate choice of God himself? Doubtless such conduct justly merited chastisement from the hand of God: and it may, perhaps, be thought not unworthy of observation, that other nations, after rebellions against their lawful monarchs, have suffered the like punishment with the Israelites in the present case. The latter part of David's exclamation to God, let thine hand be against me, &c. is a noble instance of his generous concern for the welfare of his people. The language is tender and pathetic: it is the real language and spirit of a genuine, a true father of the people, devoting himself and family as sacrifices to God for the preservation of his subjects.-But to return.

In consequence of David's solemn humiliation and intercession with God for his people, the prophet Gad was sent to him the same day, with an order that he should erect an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.* David immmediately set about obeying the

*This threshing-floor was on Mount Moriah, where Cain and Abel are said to have offered up their sacrifices; where Abraham in

Divine commands, and when he came to the place, Araunah, seeing him at a distance, ran to meet him, and, after paying reverence, asked him, Why he came there, and what commands he had for his servant? David told him he came to purchase his threshing-floor, in order to raise an altar on it, and to offer sacrifices to God. Araunah replied in words to this effect: "Not only my threshing-floor, but all that I have is at my lord's service; and I humbly "beseech God that he will be pleased to accept your "sacrifice." David thanked him for his generous offers, but told him, he could not accept of them, for that it must be a purchase, and not a gift, as it would not be right to offer a sacrifice at another's expense. He therefore gave him fifty shekels of silver for the threshing-floor and some oxen, and immediately offered up sacrifices to God, who, in consequence thereof, was pleased to reinstate him in his favor. The Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel, the city of Jerusalem being mercifully spared, and exempted from this dreadful calamity.

After this David, encouraged by the Divine protection in having removed the pestilence from his people, continued to offer up sacrifices on the altar he had erected in this place; and publicly declared, This is the house of the Lord God, this is the altar of the burnt-offering, for Israel ;* hereby consecrating the spot for the erection of the intended temple, and to be the seat and center of public worship for all the tribes of Israel. †

tended offering up his son Isaac, and where the temple of Solomon was afterwards erected.

* See 1 Chron. xxii. 1.

It is not improbable, that God, at this time, revealed to David the exact frame and fashion of the temple; that from the acceptableness of his sacrifices he perceived that this threshing-floor was the place which God had designed for the situation of his temple, and that he not only purchased that, but the whole top of Mount Moriah likewise, for the ground-plot of the intended building.