spiritual progress since the time when it required the pnra.ble of Nathan, and the prn- phetlc announcement,' Thou art the m1m,' to awaken him from his spiritual slumber. At this period of his life ho examined himself and weighed his own actions in private, eRpecinlly at night-time; and no sooner we.s the census of the men of war reported to him than, instead of being elated with self-confidence and puffed up with vain-glory, • his heart smote him,"' etc. (Wordsworth). "Night and sleep bring us times of revision or moral -reflection, such as greatly promote the best uses of existence. Whatever wrong has been committed stalks ioto the mind with an appalling tread. All tho~e highest thoughts o.nd most piercing truths that most deeply concern the great problem of life will often come nigh to thoughtful men in the dusk of their evenings, and their hours of retirement to rest. 'l'he night is the judgment-bar of the day. About all the reflect.ion there is in tho world is due, if not directly to the night, to the habit prepared and fashioned by it. Great thoughts and wonderfully distinct crowd in, stirring great convictions-all the more welcome to o. good man; to the bad, how terrible! ' Thon hast visited me in the night,' says David ; 'thou bast tried me;' and again, 'My reins instruct me in the nif!ht season.' What lessons of wisdom have every man's reins given him in the depths of the night !-things how high, bow close to other worlds! reproofs how piercing in authority, how nearly Divine I" (Bnsbnell, 'Moral Uses of Dark 'l'hings '). 3. The operation of Divine grace (in connection with a man's own thoughts), which visits the upright in heart., dispels every illusion, and strengthens ever_v holy and God:..ward aspiration. Did the Lord in judgment move David to number Israel? His judgment was founded on love, and his goodness led him to repentance. III: THE EFFECT OF ITS RENEWED ACTIVITY. "And David said unto Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in that I have done," etc. 1. A right knowledge of himself and a correct judgment of his conduct. 2. A painful sense of his guilt and folly. In the truly penitent: 3. A humble confession before the Lord (1 Sam. vii. 6); and: 4. Fervent prayer for forgiveness (eh. xii. 13). Of the way ot forgiveness and its own pacification, indeed, conscience is unable to declare anything; the knowledge thereof is afforded by the Word of God alone (ver. 18). Nevertheless, its awakening tests and manifests the character, and results in-peace and righteousness, or in increased "hard- ness of heart,":confirmed rebellion, remorse, and despair. The hour of its awakening comes to all; but it may come too late, when there is found "no place for repentance" (ver. 16).-D. ' ')
Vers. 9-13, 18, 19 (1 Cbron. xxi. 9-1:t, 18, 19).-The Propliet Gad. "And when David, was up in the morning," etc. Gad !lad formerly giv_en ·valuable direction to David (1 Sam. xxii. 6); and he must have been now far advanced in life. He was "David's seer;" or spiritual .counsellor; a true prophet of God (1 Sam. ii. 27 ; iii. 19 ; oh. vii. 3) ; assisted in the arrangements for the templo service (1 Chron. b:. 22), aod (like Samuel and Nathan) wrote a (theocratic) history of bis time (1 Cbron. x.xb:. 29). "The most celebrated representatives of special prophecy in David's period were Nathan the prophet and Gad the seer. As Nathan connected Messianic prophecy for ever with the house of David, so Gad was instrumental in moulding the l,istory of salvation even till the period of the New Testament, since, by directing David to build an altar on the threshinp;-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he laid the foundation of the temple upoo Mount Moriah, in which Israel, by prayer and sacrifice, honoured bis God for more than a thousand years" (Delitzsch). He was fully acquainted ,-:ith the king's purpose, the remonstrance of Joab, the completion of the census; and may possibly already, from his intimacy with David, have observed misgivings in him concerning the measure, and surmised his present state of mind. "He said nothing to him about bis sin, but spoke only of correction for it; which confirms it that David was made sensible of his sin before he came to him" (Gill). N olice: 1. His Divine missior.. "The word of Jehovaji came unto the prophet," etc. (1) It came to him directly, by inward intuition, when "in a state most nearly related to communion with God in prayer" (Oehler). (2) With the irresistible assurance of its Divine origin. "'l'be prophets themselves had the clearest and most profound consciousness that they did not utter their own thoughts, but those revealed to them by God" (Riehm). (3) With a powerful impulse to give it utterance, in "fulfilment of a definite duty lai,l upon him by God." (4) Aud it proved whence it came, by its manifest adaptation and actual 616 THE SEcom, BOOK OF SAMUEL. [01!. :!:XIV, 1-26.