of Sheep. The most celebrated Comman ders were anciently taken from the Plough, or from feeding Sheep, as Pliny obferves (Nat. Hift. lib. xviii. cap. 5.) Fortiffimi Viri,

The

Milites ftrenuiffimi ex agricolis gignuntur. And Vegetius accordingly declares, Aptiorem armis rufticam plebem. plebem. Samuel, upon this Information, immediately ordered David to be fent for; who, as foon as he appeared before the Prophet, he was ordered by God to arife and anoint him; upon which, he took the Horn of Oil, and anointed him before his Brethren. Prophet, however, did not actually invest David with the regal Power by this Ceremonial; but it was only a Defignation of him to fucceed to the Throne after the Death of Saul: And David always underftood it with this Limitation, and confidered Saul as the Lord's Anointed as long as he lived. Which likewife tends to remove all Imputation of Difloyalty in Samuel towards Saul, fince in this whole Tranfaction no Step was taken to dethrone him. Thus have I taken a View, as I propofed, of the State of the Jewish People, from their firft Call in Abraham, to that Time when the Government was fixed in the Family of David; which I thought to be neceffary, as it might be a Means of explaining to us many of the Actions of David, whofe Life and Character I now proceed

to

to confider; and fhall endeavour to clear him of thofe vile Afperfions, which, by the fober and thinking Part of Mankind, are thought to be as cruel as they are unjust, and to fhew a manifeft Contempt of Him, who has declared him to be the Man after his own Heart.

REFLECTIONS

ON THE

MORAL and RELIGIOUS CHARACTER

O F

DAV I D,

King of ISRAEL and JUDAH, &c.

SECTION THE FIRST.

I

N treating of the Character of David, I propofe to confider him in three Particulars: Firft, With Refpect to his Conduct towards Saul and his Family; Secondly, His Behaviour in the many Wars he was engaged in with the Enemies of Ifrael; and, Thirdly, His Repentance on Account of the Crime he had committed in the Affair of Uriah the Hittite: In all which feveral Particulars I hope to fhew, that the Character of the Royal Patriarch was truly

C 3

de

deferving of that distinguished Title with which he was honoured by the Almighty himself, of being the Man after his own Heart. The Reafon for my not confidering his Character more at large, but confining myself to these Particulars only, is, that other Writers, who have before treated of this Subject, have already faid what is fufficient to vindicate the other Parts of his Conduct, and have therein clearly demonftrated how little Ground they had to cenfure him on their Account: Befides, these being the principal ones, wherein he is thought by many, Friends as well as Enemies, to be hardly capable to be exculpated. To enter therefore upon the firft.

After God had rejected Saul from being King over Ifrael on Account of his Difobedience, the divine Historian informs us, that the Spirit of the Lord departed from him, and an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him. Many and various have been the Opinions of learned Men concerning this Paffage of Scripture: Some have imagined, that the Mind of this unhappy Prince was agitated by malignant Impreffions from fome Dæmon; while others have maintained, and I think, not without fome Reason, that he was afflicted only with a gloomy, penfive Melancholy, which infufed imaginary Horrors into his Mind; which fometimes rendered him timorous and diftruftful, at other Times fu

rious