a friend on returning with him expressed some regret | that he had not given way to the invitation, as he would have liked to remain. So should I too,' said Dr Bateman; but I had said that I would be at home at twelve o'clock, and I could not break my word, if it were to a chambermaid.'” neglect of God and religion. This led to a conversa. tion, in the course of which he observed that medical men were very generally sceptical, and that the mischief arose from what he considered a natural tenden. cy of some of their studies to lead to materialism. I replied, that the mischief appeared to me to originate rather in their neglect to examine into the evidences of the truth of the Bible, as an actual revelation from God; because, if a firm conviction of that were once established, the authority of the Scriptures must be paramount, and the tendency of all inferior studies, in opposition to their declarations, could have no weight. He said, he believed I was right, and that he had, in fact, been intending to examine fully into the subject, when the complaint in his eyes came on and shut hima out from reading. Our conversation ended in his permitting me to read to him the first of Scott's Essays on some of the most Important Subjects in Religion," which treats of The Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures.' He listened with intense earnestness, and, when it was concluded, exclaimed, This is demonstration! complete demonstration!' He then asked me to read to him the account given in the New Testament of the resurrection of our Saviour: which I did from all the four evangelists. I read also many other pas sages of Scripture, with some of which he was ex ་ Having completed his medical studies, young Bateman took the degree of doctor in medicine at Edinburgh, and returned to London, where he commenced business as a physician in the year 1801. As might have been anticipated, he speedily rose to eminence in his profession, and became possessed of a very laborious and extensive practice. For many years his varied employments, both in literature and medicine, called for almost overwhelming unintermitted exertion. At length his health began to fail in the year 1815, and although he still persevered, with frequent interruptions, in prosecuting his different avocations, he was evidently declining, until, in July 1819, he was taken ill on the road from London to Middleton, in Durham, whither he was proceeding for the benefit of the mineral waters of that place, and with difficulty reached Bishop Burton, a village near Beverley, in Yorkshire, the abode of a near relative. Hopes were entertained for some time by his relatives that it might be possible to remove him to Whitby, his native town; this, however, was at length given up as impracticable. The state of weak-tremely struck; especially with that declaration, that ness to which Dr Bateman now felt himself reduced, led him to surrender all the official situations which he held in London in connection with different medical hospitals. It was but too evident, both to himself and all his relatives, that his professional life was at an end. Accustomed for many years to the most active exertion in the discharge of his multifarious duties, his spirit began to droop-now that he felt himself shut out from the business and pleasures of the world. As yet he knew no higher enjoyment than that which was afforded by the things of earth. He had never found the blessings and the consolations of Religion, because he had never sought them. There is no more melancholy spectacle, in fact, which could meet the eye, than that which the man presents who, amid severe sufferings and accumulated sorrows, is insensible to his true condition in the sight of God, as an "alien from the commonwealth of Israel, and a stranger to the covenant of promise." Yet such was Dr Bateman up to that period of his history which we have now reached. He was far from God, and still in his sins. Now, however, he began to reflect upon subjects of greater moment than those which had hitherto engaged his attention. During the course of his medical studies he had acquired a leaning towards materialism, and a disbelief of the truth of Revelation. His employments and his associates, throughout the whole of his professional career, had strengthened instead of diminishing this sceptical spirit. And even for four years after his health had become delicate, the trials, painful and varied, to which he was subjected, including the almost total loss of sight, were unavailing to melt his obdurate heart. At length, however, in the gracious providence of God, the hour arrived, that happy hour which was destined to realize the declaration of Scripture, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." It is interesting to trace the progress of this change in Dr Bateman's mind, showing as it does the power of the Spirit in calling him out of darkness into God's marvellous light. "It was on a Sabbath evening," says the friend who attended him during his sickness, "he first spoke to me on the subject of religion. He had been expressing to me his conviction that he could not live much longer, and complaining of the dreadful nervous sensations which continually harassed him; and then he added, but all these sufferings are a just punishment for my long scepticism, and the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." my "For two or three days he showed increasing interest in the subject of religion; and I read to him continually the Scriptures, and other books which seemed to me best calculated to give him the information Le thirsted for. When I went into his room a few mornings after, he said, It is quite impossible to describe to you the change which has taken place in mind; I feel as if a new world was opened to me, and all the interests and pursuits of this have faded into nothing in comparison with it. They seem so mean, and pal try, and insignificant, that my blindness in living long immersed in them, and devoted to them, is quite inconceivable and astonishing to myself.' He often expressed, in the strongest terms, and with many tears. his deep repentance, and his abhorrence of himself for his former sinful life and rebellion against God; but!. seemed to have from the first so clear a view of the all-sufficiency of the Saviour's atonement, and of the Christian scheme of salvation, as freed him at one from that distrust of forgiveness which is so apt to a flict persons on the first sight of their sins, and of th purity and holiness of Him with whom they have t do.' The self-abasing views which he entertained himself necessarily enhanced his sense of the pardon ing love and mercy of God in Christ Jesus, thus ciously extended to him; and which he felt so stron ly, that he was filled with the liveliest emotions of g titude and joy, and in this happy state continued several days. "He soon, however, experienced an afflicting rever of feeling. One evening I left him to visit a near lative, at that time confined to her room in a precario state of health; and his mother, who had been in tendance upon her, took my place at the bedside of h son. Dr Bateman told her that I had been reading him various detached portions of Scripture, and that now wished to hear the New Testament read regula through from the beginning. She consequently be to read, and had proceeded as far as the tenth chap of St. Matthew, when he suddenly exclaimed, that could not believe in the miracles of the Saviour, & that therefore he must perish for ever. It needs scar ly be pointed out how much more properly this mis be called temptation to unbelief, than unbelief its While the difficulty of believing was felt, the aw consequences of not believing were fully admitted, that is, were firmly believed. This suggestion of his spiritual enemy threw him into a state of the most dreadful anguish, and I was immediately sent for to his bedside. On my arrival he had become a little more composed, but was still in great agitation, and was praying in agony to be saved, and not to be given up to this dreadful state of unbelief.' To comfort his mind, we said what we could from Scripture, and from the experience of other Christians; and he was a little relieved by hearing some passages from an Essay in the volume before mentioned, On the Warfare and Experience of Believers; finding that his was not, as he had supposed, a case of new occurrence; but that the author of that work was already acquainted with its symptoms, and augured favourably of them as often accompanying the progress of religion in the soul,-still the idea that his death was fast approaching, and that there was no hope of his mind being convinced before it arrived, quite overwhelmed him. Feeling ourselves to be very inadequate guides and comforters in these afflicting circumstances, we gladly adopted the suggestion of a friend, that we should request a neighbouring clergyman, of piety and judgment, to visit him. Dr Bateman himself grasped eagerly at the proposal, and I wrote immediately to the clergyman in question; but he was from home, and was not expected to return for two or three weeks. A few days after this unwelcome intelligence, Dr Bateman told me he had no doubt this disappointment was for his good; and that it was better for him to be left to himself, as he did not think anything could have convinced him so fully of the efficacy of prayer, as the sensible relief which he experienced from it during those conflicts of doubt and unbelief with which his mind continued to be harassed. He added, that he now spent whole nights in prayer. He felt perfectly assured that his doubts were the suggestions of the great adversary of souls; and remarked, that they were vividly and manifestly darted, as it were, into his mind, instead of arising from his own reflections, or resulting from any train of reasoning; and the absurdity of them, in many instances, was so obvious, that his judgment detected it at once, though he still had not the power to drive them from the hold they took of his imagination, or to banish them, for the time, from his thoughts. These paroxysms of distress and conflict, which sometimes lasted many hours, he continued subject to for about a fortnight; but they gradually became less long and violent, and he experienced increasing relief from prayer during their continuance, till at length they subsided entirely, and left his mind satisfied on all those points which had before presented so many obstacles to his belief." In the course of the summer which followed this blessed change in Dr Bateman's whole views and feelings, he gradually gained strength, so that in the beginning of winter he was able to remove to Whitby. Here, however, he relapsed into his former state of weakness and languor. His appetite forsook him, and he became more emaciated. But as the outward man decayed, the inward man waxed stronger and stronger every day. Though the natural reserve of his disposition prevented him from freely expressing his feelings, still, his faith and patience were strikingly conspicuous. He always spoke of his long bodily afflictions with the most devout thankfulness, as having been instrumental in bringing him to God; and he considered his total blindness as a special mercy, because, by excluding external objects, it had enabled him to devote his mind more entirely to spiritual and divine things. Up to his latest moments he maintained a firm reliance on that Saviour whom he had so long despised. His death-bed experience cannot be more vividly described, than in the language of the friend to whom we have already referred. "He bore his bodily afflictions with the most exemplary patience, and even cheerfulness, and continually expressed his thankfulness, that they were not greater; sometimes saying, what a blessing it is to be allowed to slip gently and gradually out of life as I am doing!' He would not allow any one to speak of his sufferings, always saying, they did not deserve a stronger name than inconveniences.' He neither com. plained himself, nor would permit others to complain for him. Once, when the nurse who attended him said, Oh that cough! how troublesome it is!' he replied, Have a little patience, nurse; I shall soon be in a better world; and what a glorious change that will be !' Indeed, the joy of his mind seemed to have absorbed all sense of his physical sufferings. I once remarked to him, that he appeared to have experienced no intermission of these joyful feelings; and he answered, For some months past never, and never the smallest rising of any thing like impatience or complaint.' His mind, naturally active and ardent, retained all its powers in full vigour to the last moment of his life, and was never once clouded or debilitated even in the most depressing nervous languors. Indeed, after the whole current of his tastes and affections had been turned into a new channel, its ardour and activity rather increased than diminished, from the deep conviction which he felt of the superiority of his present views and pursuits to all that had hitherto engrossed him. During the last week of his life, especially, the strength and clearness of his intellect and of his spiritual perceptions were very remarkable; and on its being one day observed to him, that as his bodily powers decayed, those of his soul seemed to become more vigorous, he replied, "They do, exactly in an inverse ratio: I have been very sensible of it.' 6 "He conversed with the greatest animation all the day, and almost all the night, preceding his death, principally on the joys of heaven, and the glorious change he was soon to experience; often exclaiming, What a happy hour will the hour of death be!' He dwelt much on the description of the New Jerusalem in the Revelation of St. John, and listened with great delight to several passages from Baxter's Saint's Rest,' and some of Watts's Hymns on the same subject. Once in the night he said to his mother, Surely you are not in tears! Mine is a case that calls for rejoicing, and not for sorrow. Only think what it will be to drop this poor, frail, perishing body, and go to the glories that are set before me!' Not more than an hour before his death, when he had been expressing his faith and hope in very animated terms, I remarked to him, how striking the uniformity of faith and of feeling expressed by believers in the same circumstances, at every distance of time and place! and spoke of it as an indisputable evidence that these graces are wrought in all by 'one and the self-same Spirit,' and as a proof of the truth of the Bible, the promises and descriptions of which are thus so strikingly fulfilled and exemplified. He entered into the argument with his accustomed energy, and assented to its truth with delight. It seemed remarkable, that though he had during his whole illness been very sensible of his increasing weakness, and had watched and marked accurately all its gradations, yet he spoke, in the last moments of his life, of going down stairs as usual (he had been carried up and down for several days,) and said it could not require more than a very few weeks now to wear him out;' not appearing to be at all aware that his end was so very near, till about half an hour before his death. Finding himself extremely languid, he took a little milk, and desired that air might be admitted into the room; and on being asked if he felt relieved at all, said Very little: I can hardly distinguish, indeed, whether this is languor or drowsiness which has come over me; but it is a very agreeable feeling.' Soon after, he said suddenly, I surely must be going now, my strength sinks so fast, I have almost ་ lost the power of moving my limbs;' and on my making | witness and recorder of all your thoughts, words, and some observation on the glorious prospect before him, actions; but these truths were rather received by you he added, 'Oh yes! I am GLAD to go, if it be the Lord's as doctrines to be acknowledged, than as practical prinwill!' He shut his eyes, and lay quite composed, and by and by said,What glory! the angels are waiting ciples, which, if really believed in, must fill your heart, for me!'-then, after another short interval of quiet, and regulate your conduct. The same thing, I preadded, Lord Jesus, receive my soul!' and to those sume, may be said of your belief in a Saviour. You who were about him, Farewell' These were the last were told that he died for sinners, and that as you, like words he spoke he gradually and gently sunk away, other descendants of Adam, were a sinner, he died for and in about ten minutes breathed his last, calmly and you. You therefore felt that you were bound by duty without a struggle, at nine in the morning of the 9th to love him who first loved you. But you did not of April, the very day on which, twelve months before, his mind had first been awakened to the hopes and joys realize any part of these important truths to your mind. You never perhaps thought very seriously on the subject, and, not being accustomed to examine your own heart, and to compare your character with the requirements of God's revealed Word, you were not at all aware, either to what extent, or even in what sense you were a sinner. Your religion, in short, was chiefly, if not altogether, a religion of speculation; and you secretly cherished worldly views and motives, as the real and governing principles of your conduct. of the ever-blessed Gospel. "What a contrast did his actual departure form with what I had reason to apprehend, when I watched over his couch in London, expecting that every moment would be his last; and when, with a hard indifference and insensibility, he talked only of going to his 'last sleep!' And how can I worthily acknowledge the goodness of Almighty God, who effected such a change in his state!" It is proper to remark, in closing the biography of an individual circumstanced as Dr Bateman, that though, in the inscrutable providence of God, he was called in a manner at the eleventh hour, such instances of deathbed repentance are very rare indeed. It is impossible, no doubt, to limit the operations of God's Spirit, but in the ordinary arrangements of the divine plans, the sinner who has resisted the innumerable appeals made to his conscience during a long series of years is doomed to feel the awful reality and force of that declaration of the Bible, "My Spirit will not always strive with man, saith the Lord." He may, like Dr Bateman, be permitted to pass through the furnace of affliction, so as to come out of it seven times purified; but where is the man who can venture to say, that though in the days of health and prosperity he forget God, yet God | will be pleased to visit him in mercy, when stretched on the bed of sickness and of death? Presumptuous thought! What saith the Scripture?"They that seek me early shall find me." "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." TO A LADY IN DISTRESS OF MIND. BY THE REV. HENRY DUNCAN, D. D., Minister of Ruthwell. DEAR MADAM,-The interest I feel in the state of your mind will not suffer me to deny myself the satisfaction of writing to you, though I am urged to do so rather by my inclination than by any conviction of my ability to be of service. Alas, in such a case as yours, it is not human aid that is required. Yet God is often pleased to make use of very humble instruments for the accomplishment of his gracious purposes; and it does not become one who professes to be a minister of the Gospel to shrink from duty, under a sense of his own incapacity, especially when he remembers that he serves a Master who has said, "my grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness." If I rightly understand your case, it is this:-You were, from early infancy, educated, like most individuals of your station, in a general knowledge of the truths of Christianity, and in a decent and regular observance of its outward ordinances, without having been induced to bring them home very intimately to your heart, or to regard them very steadily as a rule of life. You were taught to believe in God as your creator, preserver, and lawgiver, as constantly present with you, and as the Such I know to be the character of many highly amiable and interesting persons, who are the delight of the circle in which they move, and are regarded as the ornaments of society; and if I have not misinterpreted the account which you, with so much candour, gave me of your former feelings and sentiments, to that very numerous class, up to a recent period, you belonged. There is something exceedingly seductive, and, to use a Scripture word, " blinding," in this species of nega tive Christianity. It falls in so agreeably with that self-love, and that train of worldly sentiment which is incident to our fallen nature, and it finds so much to cherish it in the sympathies and examples of our friends and associates, that it is doubly deceitful. It is probably to such a state of mind that our Saviour alludes in the Revelations, when he says to the Church of Laodicea, "I would that thou wert either cold or hot;" as if lukewarmness were even a more dangerous state of mind than absolute infidelity. However this may be, I think you are fully aware that you were in a dangerous state, and stood in need of affliction to rouse you from a false security; and I trust also you see the hand of a kind and judicious Father, in the discipline which his paternal regard has been pleased to inflict on you. To your case, I trust that most consolatory and cheering sentiment of the apostle applies :-" Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth," and "though no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Not only have your afflictions, my dear Madam, been severe, but, as if one blow were not enough, that blow has been repeated with double force. The loss of an innocent and beloved infant was a painful bereavement, but it had many alleviations; the loss, however, of your husband, I can easily conceive to have been quite overwhelming, under the circumstances which you partly stated to me, and partly left me to infer. But when you look into your own heart, you are probably convinced that you stood in need, even of this privation, to open your eyes to your real coudition, to wean you from a world to which you were bound by too many and too endearing ties, and to rouse you to a sense of your best interests. You see in this awful and mysterious dispensation, the hand of Him who never afflicteth willingly, nor grieveth unnecessarily. You are therefore convinced that, if you improve it aright, it will, in the end, prove a real and substantial blessing to your soul. But all our blessings may be abused by our own folly and perverseness; and if abused, only tend to aggravate our unhappy condition. Now, such dispensations may be abused in two ways; the lessons they are intended to teach may be neglected altogether, or they may be dwelt on too exclusively and too intensely. In the farmer case, our spiritual condition is rendered greatly more hopeless; in the latter, the energies of our mind may be weakened, and our judgment may be so impaired as to mistake a selfish indulgence of inordinate grief for devotional feeling, and an ascetic estrangement from the common affairs of life for duty. I fear, my dear Madam, that it is this latter abuse into which you have a tendency to fall; and that unless you combat against it by all the means which Providence has so liberally afforded you, the afflictive dispensations which have been the means employed by a mereful Providence for rousing you from a state of lukewarmness, may hurry you into an opposite extreme, and end in materially affecting the health, both of your body and mind. You allow your mind to expatiate too freely and too entirely on past scenes and events; you indulge in these overpowering recollections, till they absorb your whole feelings, and injure the energies of your mind, and till they become magnified to your apprehension far beyond their due proportions. You are then apt to cry out, "Was there ever so sinful and so unhappy a being as I am? How can there be forgiveress for such an one as I?" and thus the horror of despar gathers around you, and you become unfit either for Christian consolation or for Christian duty. This is your disease, and I think it is not difficult to point out the remedy, as well as the means by which that remedy may be applied. I need not remind you that the first duty of a Christian is to believe, that is, to realize to his mind the great truths of the Gospel, that they may be practically applied to the ordinary, as well as extraordinary, duties of life. Now, at the foundation of all these truths, is that of the presence and superintending providence of the Almighty. For a proper belief in him, it is essential that you become acquainted with his character, as exhibited in the Gospel. How unspeakably amiable and gracious is that character! He is our Father, a name that involves a thousand tender and endearing views. He is more than a Father:-" Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget; yet will not I forget thee!" On this character, so unspeakably sublime, but lovely, you would do well to dwell; and I cannot but think that, were you to do so in the spirit of dependence and prayer, the exercise would be blessed as the means of dissipating the gloom of your spirits, and gradually, but certainly, infusing better and more comfortable feelings into your mind. You would soon be enabled to regard God in the light, hot of a stern task-master, but of a most generous benefactor; and the confidence arising from this view would be unspeakably increased, when you looked up to him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, in him, your Father and your God. Under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, you would own him, as, through the death of his own beloved Son, "reconciling the world unto himself, and not imputing unto men their trespasses;" and whilst you perceived that it was only by means of the accepted sacrifice of Christ that you could be accepted, you would also be led practically to understand how it is that he employs the discipline both of joy and sorrow in the present life, to prepare you for being introduced into the eternal enjoyments of the world of Spirits. You would thus be led to cast your eyes over the whole scheme of salvation, and to contemplate, with admiration and delight, the wonders of redeeming love. I do not know how it is possible for any person to do this habitually and in faith, without being freed from the gloom of despondency, and being blest with a portion of that peace of mind which our Saviour himself has promised as the result of belief in his Gospel. You will then perceive, that, sinner though you are, an ample provision is made for pardon and acceptance to you, as well as to the worst of sinners, if only they are duly impressed with a sense of their sinfulness, and accept of the offer of salvation, so bountifully made to them. You will appropriate these blessings to yourself by an act of faith; and trusting in his divine mercy and grace, will cast yourself unreservedly on the merit of your Redeemer, the affecting and unanswerable reasoning of the apostle filling your heart with humble confidence," He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things." It is so delightful to dwell on these views, that I am forgetting I have much still to say on other subjects; but I trust that the practical effects of these Christian principles are already anticipated by you. You see how utterly uncongenial with the spirit of the Gospel is a habit of gloom and despondency. That spirit is active, cheerful, and full of hope. It will lead you to trust implicitly in that goodness and mercy with which it overflows, and will induce you to imitate those virtues and graces which are so beautifully delineated in the life and character of the Saviour. Instead of suffering you to dwell perpetually on past sins, it will lead you to look forward to new attainments, and incite you to seek out and walk in the path of duty. You are aware that there are duties incumbent on all Christians, and that besides these, there are peculiar duties which belong to individuals, arising from the station in which they are placed, and the circumstances with which they are surrounded. As a mother as a relation and friend-as one whom Providence has blest with affluence, and has thus rendered the steward of his bounties to those within the sphere of her influence, in a thousand ways active duties lie before you, which I am well assured, if through that divine energy which is the portion of the Christian, you can only rouse yourself to the task, you will find delightful. But I do not know a greater burden-alas, I speak from experience than that of known duties neglected from indolence, or from want of a habitual and practical view of their importance. Much fortitude, perseverance, and selfdenial will be necessary before you can succeed in establishing these habits, and acquiring a relish for these occupations; and let me add, also, much watchfulness and many prayers. But never forget that it is not your own strength in which you are sent to the discharge of | to recollect occasions on which he might have been these arduous duties. Need I remind you again, that there is a divine hand stretched out to support youthat there is a Holy Spirit waiting to guide you and that there are promises of endless blessings which never fail those who trust in them. liable to such suspicions and unfounded aspersions. Let us advert, for example, to the period at which David, in consequence of Saul's death, was called to the throne, and was actually proclaimed King in Hebron, over the house of Judah. Immediate You cannot but feel it to be a great cause of thank-ly upon that event, a rival claim to the throne was fulness, that it has pleased the merciful Disposer of events to place you at this moment among friends, at once so anxious and so well qualified to promote your best interests. Let me earnestly advise you to listen to the friendly counsel of Mrs, and to associate yourself with her and her excellent husband in those schemes of benevolence in which they so actively engage. You complained to me that the neighbourhood of E- was not well calculated for giving scope to your benevolent feelings. This may be so, though I believe in no situation can a mind imbued with Christian charity find any want of means for its exercise if only it be rightly directed. It is in the want of right direction that an inexperienced individual may find difficulty, and hence the inestimable value of a kindred mind for supplying the means at once of advice and support. But while you remain with Mr and Mrs -, you will not find any deficiency of this greatest of earthly blessings; and I trust, my dear Madam, you will enter with all your heart into the plans which these deeply interested friends may point out for the useful occupation of your time; and that you will thus be induced to combine with the study of your Bible, and the religious improvement of your understanding and affections, a course of active and enlightened benevolence, which, if entered upon from Christian motives, and pursued in a Christian spirit, seems to be one of the best means of removing the present morbid state of your feelings, and of restoring you to the enjoyments of this life; while in the exercise of these important duties, you may hope to be preparing for enjoyments of an infinitely higher nature, when it shall please God to call you from your present state of trial into his own eternal presence, and the society of the just made perfect, where all earthly graces but that of charity shall fail. DISCOURSE.* BY THE REV. Robert Gordon, D.D., One of the Ministers of the High Church, Edinburgh. "I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord."-PSALM XXVI. 6. It appears from the first verse, and, indeed, from the general tenor of this Psalm, that it was composed at a time when David had reason to believe that he was lying under unfounded suspicions, if not actually exposed to injurious calumnies; for he begins with appealing to God, as the searcher of hearts, to bear witness to his integrity; and throughout, he asserts his innocence of having associated with vain persons, or taken counsel with the ungodly, in such a way as evidently implies that he had been suspected, or accused, of sanctioning the deeds at least, if not courting the aid of bloody and deceitful men. And none who are familiar with the history of the Psalmist, can fail • Preached preparatory to the celebration of the Lord's Supper. : set up, for Ish-bosheth, one of Saul's sons, who was in fact acknowledged as king by the other tribes of Israel, through the influence of Abner, who had been captain of the host of Saul, his father; and for about seven years this claim cortinued to be asserted, there being " long war," we are told," between the house of Saul and the house of David." It was found, however, that in this conflict, while "David waxed stronger and stronger, the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker ;" and at length Abner, who was in reality the ruler of Ish-bosheth, though Ish-bosheth was nominally the King of Israel, made proposals to David to relinquish in his favour all pretensions to the throne, and to bring the other tribes of Israel to acknowledge him as king. But while this negotiation was going on, Joah, the captain of David's host, treacherously slew Abner in revenge for his brother Asahel's death, whom Abner had slain and immediately after, two of Ishbosheth's servants, captains of hands, slew their head to David, hoping thereby to ingratiate themmaster while he lay upon his bed, and carried his selves with the king as having cut off his rival and enemy. Now, it is plain, that such deeds might give occasion to David's enemies to allege that he had some share in the perpetration of them, and that if he did not directly instigate those who were immediately concerned, he did at least approve of, or wink at, them as the readiest means of securing his accession to the undisturbed dominion of all the other tribes of Israel, as well as that of Judah. And that such suspicions were entertained at least, if not openly expressed, appears very probable from his history, as recorded in the 3d and 4th chapters of 2 Samuel; for never was David more anxious about any thing than he was to clear himself of all participation in those crimes, and to manifest his righteous abhorrence of them. But while he sought to vindicate himself and his cause, which was the cause of truth and righteousby publicly disavowing all participation in crimes ness, from the suspicions and calumnies of men, his advantage, he felt it necessary for his which might seem to have been perpetrated for mind, and for his having confidence to engage peace the solemnities of the sanctuary worship, that he should stand vindicated also to his own conscience, by finding, after a solemn trial of himself as in the very presence of the heart-searching God, not only that he was innocent of all actual share in the deeds which had been committed, but that he had deeds with the view of extending or establishing never entertained or conceived the idea of such his authority. Accordingly, he appeals to God whether he was not innocent of the charges brought against him, and whether he had not of in |