geance, standing in mid-air, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. It is probable that the elders saw him also; for we are told that both David and they, as if in terror at the sight, prostrated themselves on the earth, with their faces to the ground.

In this attitude of fear and penitence, the king cried unto the Lord. "Lo! I have sinned," he exclaimed," and I have done wickedly; but these sheep," (alluding to his people,) "what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house, but not on thy people, that they should be plagued."

The prophet Gad, then, at the command of the Angel, who, it seems, stood all the while near the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, directed David to go thither, and set up an altar unto the Lord. Ornan and his four sons who were threshing wheat, had also seen the angel, and struck with fear hid themselves. But David approaching, with his attendants, in obedience to the direction of the prophet, was perceived by Ornan, who came forth and rose to meet him, and prostrated himself before the king in respectful obeisance.

David made known the object of his coming, and proposed to buy the threshing-floor at its full value, that he might erect there an altar to the Lord, and have the plague stayed.

But Ornan declined receiving any thing. "Take

it to thee," was his generous offer, "and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo! I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all."

David refused the gift, saying that he would not take what belonged to Ornan without paying for it, nor offer a sacrifice to the Lord which cost him nothing. He then bought the place for six hundred shekels of gold, and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver, and proceeded to build the altar, and offer up the burnt offerings and peace offerings, calling upon the Lord and imploring his mercy. He was answered by the miraculous descent of fire from heaven upon the altar, consuming the sacrifice; the destroying Angel was commanded to put up his sword again into the sheath; and the plague was stayed.

Having obtained this favorable answer to his prayers and offerings, David seems to have concluded that the place which he had just purchased of Ornan was the one which was pointed out by God himself for his worship in future; and here he continued to offer up sacrifices, no longer resorting to the tabernacle which was at Gibeon. He had feared to go thither to inquire of the Lord, when he saw the sword of the angel, threatening Jerusalem with the plague, (the emergency for bidding such delay,) and now he adopted this new and propitious spot for the public worship of Je

hovah, saying to his people, "This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel." This place, supposed to have been Mount Moriah, was thus consecrated by David for the erection of the intended temple, the materials for which he soon began to collect.* In connection with the events which have just been described, the inquiry very naturally presents itself, why such an appalling judgment as that of the pestilence was sent upon the whole people on account of the transgression of their king?

The general answer to this is, that not only in the sacred history, but in the usual course of God's providence, we find it to be a settled principle of his moral government, that the conduct of parents materially affects the condition of their children, and even their later posterity, for good or for evil, as does also that of rulers, those over whom they are placed in authority. At the same time, those who suffer are themselves sinners, and obnoxious to punishment, and with regard to infants and others, who may seem to be involved beyond their deserts in the general calamity, there is no more difficulty attending the subject in view of their being carried off by thousands during the prevalence of the plague among the Israelites, than if they had died at various times,

* David is supposed to have written Psalm 30 on the occaion of dedicating the threshing-floor of Ornan.

and by various diseases, or by some sudden accı dents. Death has ever been doing his work of destruction in our world. God sends this terrific messenger to call us hence, under ten thousand forms, and the manner in which he executes his commission is no part of the difficulty to be solved, nor does this difficulty press any more heavily upon the believer in divine revelation than upon the infidel or the atheist. The wages of sin is death, is the short and comprehensive reply to this difficulty, and we know that the Judge of all the earth will do right, however far our finite capacities may fall short of ascertaining the reasons which his infinite mind perceives to be the sure grounds of his unerring wisdom and justice.

We know, too, that at the time the pestilence was sent upon the Israelites they had, as a nation, been grievously offending God; so that while the transgression of David in numbering the people was the immediate occasion of their suffering so severely, their sufferings were no greater than their own sins deserved.

In seasons of general distress, when God seems to be sending his judgments upon the nation to which we belong, let us take care lest we seek to excuse ourselves from our share in the transgressions that have provoked these judgments. If we are faithful in the duty of self-examination, we shall find that we have individual sins enough to repent of, although we may not be guilty of some

peculiar ones which go to make up the mass of general guilt. Others, too, let us bear in mind, are innocent in some respects in which we have sinned in the most inexcusable and aggravated

manner.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

David makes preparations for the building of the temple. His charge to Solomon and the princes. Adonijah's rebellion. David orders Solomon to be anointed king.

The preparations for the building of the temple were now made by David with great earnestness. The plan of this magnificent building, with its various internal arrangements and utensils, was probably about this time conveyed to his mind by some divine communication. For he speaks afterwards of "the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit," and says, "the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern."

He ordered the strangers that were in the land to be assembled, (those who were not Israelites but yet residing among them,) to be employed in hewing the stones; and he began, also, to get ready in great abundance the iron, the brass, and