Nathan's parable.
2 Sam. xii. 1 — 7. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were ttvo men in one city ; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: hut the jmor man had nothing, save one little etce lamb, which he had bought and nourished uj) : and it greiv up together tvith him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and loas unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his oion flock and of his oivn herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor mans lamb, and dressed it for the man that ivas come to him. And David's anger ivas greatly kindled against the man ; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die : and he shall restore the lamb four-fold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.
GOD, in the disposal of his gifts, does not conduct himself by any such laws as are necessary for the regulation of human actions. He is a Sovereign who may deal with his creatures as he pleases, without *'' giving account to us of any of his matters." Ac- cordingly we find that sometimes he has exercised a severity beyond what we, with our limited appre- hensions, might have expected: and at other times he has shewn mercy, where we could have expected nothing but the heaviest judgments. We have lately seen him striking Uzzah dead for a well-meant error, and taking the kingdom from Saul for not waiting quite so long for Samuel as he should have done :