"David faid unto the Lord, I have "finned greatly in that I have "done and now I beseech thee, "O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy fervant; for I have done

4

very foolishly." And then, when he heard the tremendous message from God, by the mouth of his prophet, how piously does he refign himself to the divine will! "And

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David faid unto Gad, I am in a

great ftrait Let us fall now into "the hand of the Lord (for his mer"cies are great) and let me not fall "into the hand of man." And, laftly when he faw the havock, which the peftilence had made amongst his people, how tender and affectionate is his exclamation to God!

i

..

Lo,

"I have finned, and I have done "wickedly; but these fheep, what

have they done? Let thine hand, "I pray thee, be against me, and * against my father's house.”

So that if David was, on the one hand, a deplorable inftance of vanity, and human frailty; fo was he, on the other hand, a splendid example of integrity of heart; of fincere piety; and of kingly affection.

But no comment or paraphrase can do justice to this paffage of scripture; for which reason I have only felected the words of the text for our present meditation, and that on account of the ftrength and beauty of expreffion; for they emphatically declare

ift, The great mercy of God, in these words, "Let us fall now into

"the hand of the Lord (for his mer

2. The cruelty of man, in these words," and let me not fall into the hand of man."

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As if he had thus expressed himfelf in modern language: "In what difficulties hath my folly involved "me! Three things are proposed to

''

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my choice, either of which I know

must be extremely pernicious to

my people; and yet, one of them "I must choose. Shall feven years "of famine devour the ftrength of

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my people? Then the whole na

tion must suffer! Shall we basely

turn our backs, and be pursued "three months by our enemies?

Muft I then choose the plague, " which levels thousands at a blow? "Dreadful disease! But ftill, thou art the executioner of heaven!

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And heaven, we know, is gracious, and admits of a pardon !---"But man, cruel man, is eternally

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vindictive; his thirst for blood in

fatiable; nor is he ever to be pa

cified, but with the total deftruc• tion of his enemy.”

These fentiments of David, at the fame time that they place the goodnefs of God in the most amiable light, caft a dark fhade upon man: the juftness of which, in both respects, I fhall endeavour to vindicate by a comparison betwixt the behaviour of God in this case, and what we may reasonably suppose,

from the general tenor of our aĉe tions, would have been the behavi our of man, in the like circumstances. From whence the wisdom of David's choice, which was juftified by the event, will appear more confpicuous.

And here the first thing to be obferved, is, first, That all offences against God, as he is infinite in his nature, and in his goodness to mankind, deserve an infinite degree of punishment; fo that it must be a great mercy whenever he takes off his afflictions, and that he does not put an end to our being.

Whereas the offence of one man against another can bear no proportion to fuch infinite guilt. We are

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