kindletli." Walk humbly, then, before God ; and cry to him day and night, " Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not ! "]
Ps. li. 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest he justified ivhen thou sj)eakest, and he clear when thou judgest.
THE occasion of this psalm is well known : it refers to one of the most melancholy transactions that ever took place in the world. In point of enor- mity, the deed is almost without a parallel ; because it was performed by a man who till that time had made the highest professions of religion, and had been characterized even by God himself as " the man after God's own heart ^" But it is not the crime which David committed, but only the repentance which followed it, that is the subject of our present consideration. For a long time his heart was har- dened : but after that Nathan had come from God to accuse and condemn him, he yielded to the convic- tion, and humbled himself before God in dust and ashes. In this psalm is recorded the prayer which David offered unto God on that occasion : and it was given by David to the Church, that it might be a pattern, and an encouragement, to penitents in all future ages. The particular declaration in our text is introduced as an aggravation of his guilt. We are not however to interpret it so strictly, as if the crime which David had committed were really no offence against man ; for in that view it was as hei- nous as can possibly be conceived : it was a sin against Bathsheba, whom he had defiled : against Uriah, whom he had murdered ; against Joab, whom he had made an instrument to effect the murder ; against all the soldiers, who were murdered at the same time ; against the friends and relatives of all
^ If this were the subject of a Magdalen Sermon, it would be proper in a delicate manner to enlarge somewhat on the crime itself.