hilitios or inactivity. It is more probable that duty to his people in the central seat of authority found him more in his place at Jerusalem than in the field of battle. That which reads confessedly as a rather peremptory style of summons on the part of Joab, in the fuller account of 2 Sam. xii. 28, cannot be relied upon as any sufficient indication t.o the disadvantage of David in such a direction. It is more naturally explainable in other ways. Joab's message at the crisis which affairs had somewhat suddenly reached may have been either an act of obedience to strict orders of imperial sort, or in yet nobler obedience to the instincts of strict loyalty. The "tarrying at Jerusalem," however, boded anything but good (2 Sam. x.i. 1, 2). The words of simplicity in which the mere historical fact is announced, provoke inevitably the memory of other words, where it is written on page yet more sacred, of the "greater Son" of David on a certain occasion," And the child Jesus tarried behind at Jerusalem." But beyond the irre- sistible suggestion of the words, thought declines to go. There is no room for comparison. The case is one the opposite of analogy. And even contrast should seem too gratuitous, and to threaten dishonour to the latter occasion, breathing upon it with an unholy breath, and not with the breath of the Spirit most holy. To this interval, anyway, belonged the greatest blots on all the life of David, the sorest stains on his 'scutcheon, and wounds that went direct and deep to the soul. And we are taught here something in general of the uncertainty, the untractableness of human nature; but may rather take the instruction of the passage in this more particular form-the strength and blinded headstrong way that "one cunning bosom sin" has with it. L THE Th"'TERVAL OP' REST IS SET AT NOUGHT BY IT, Granted that David did not atay behind at Jerusalem in order to escape all work and elude the activity of duty; granted that business of government, the government of his city and his nation, occu- pied him ; yet the very change of occupation, and the fact that it was at home, was a rest. It was very different from camp life and milita.ry superintendence. The hand that holds the pen knows how great the change is, after it has been rather holding the sword and wielding the sword for months, ay, for years past. The greatest warrior, the most successful general, the bravest soldier must surely awhile feel the repose sacred and delicious which permits him to sheathe the sword, forsake the field, and do the works of peace rather than of war. Yet this privilege as soon as enjoyed is abused; this interval as soon as given becomes the mournful and miserable occasion of inde- lible disgrace and shame. II. THE SAN=IEB OP' HOME ARE BET AT NOUGHT BY IT. Nothing will ever divest home of its sacred claims. They dwell in it, they haunt its retreats, they pervade its air. Not truer that " the heart knoweth his own bitterness," than that home k.noweth its own ineffable sweetness. The nursery of purest affections, the school of sound instruction, the point of departure for young ambition, the beacon of good prin- ciple to the ends of the earth, the incentive to honourable effort and noble exploit, and 1i.non as age grows, the realm and very throne of most benign authority,-it is this home which the cunning bosom sin of passion discredits, dishonours, disgraces. David knew what the blessing of home we.s. He often shows it by the way he speaks directly e.nd indirectly of home and of" father and mother." But he knew the blessing yet more certainly by evidence of the too reliable aphorism that we then first best know our blessing when it is taken from us. And for years the blessing had been a lost one tc David. How he hungered and thirsted and craved for it! And now he has it, fear- fully to desecrate it, because he is led captive, blinded by what he saw, headstrong by what he felt-reason and goodness and conscience all dragged in cha.ins behind the triumph of passion I JII. THE INSPIRATION OP' THE ASSOCIATIONS OP' JERUSALEM IS SMOTHERED BY IT, It is the metropolis of the country, but sacred beyond the sacredness of any other metro- polis, and to David beyond what it was to any other king. How he thought of Jeru- salem! How he spoke and sang of it, with the joy that was growing brighter and brighter to perfect day, and loug before those strains which others sang to minor key, plaintive wail, and exquisitely saddened memories I How much he had lately joyed in it! What honour had been his to bring to it the ark I Whe.t glorious heart-stirring festival of the whole kincrdom had centred within its walls thereupon I Pince has ever bad its quantum of influ~nce. 'l'he hardest heart and most callous insensibility will be touched by it. The tender heart and sensitive nature will be responsive to it as to but OB, xx. l-8.] THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 323
a lower grade of inspiration And now, almost for the first time, David has the oppor- tunity of surrendering himself to the religion of the place, of giving undivided thanks and grateful praise in the place, and enjoying in it some earnest of the Jerusalem above. But no; lust smears the sight of his eye, which sees no longer even the J eru- salem that is below, its fame and glory and pride. IV, THE IMPERIAL CLAIMS OF DUTY, CONSCIENCE, OF RELIGION AND HUMANITY, ARE BET AT NOUGHT BY IT. To the hot fire of passion these are but as straws. They resist nothing at all. They do serve to bystanders to increase the show of the disastrous, destructive fire. The pride of imperial position and the throne stoop for the time without a struggle, and come down from their exaltation to do homa.ge to creature- lust. So much, then, human nature has to say of itself, and so little! So much we aro taught do we ever need watchfulness and prayer! The high plateau of honour, glorious opportunity, religion, restfulness, and home enjoyment may be the accursed ground of our own worst dereliction of duty, devotion, and even decency. Unsafe when we are left to self, we are not more safe when we are left by ourselves. "Let him alone" is the darkest doom that even Divine judgment and justice can decree. But when left alone (and that our wish and petition) only for an hour, we shall not be safe, however secure, unless we can take back the words as Jesus on so signal an occasion did, and say," And yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.n