thee in thy land ? or, wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or, that there be three days' pestilence in thy land ? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.”

David replied unto Gad, and said, “I am in a great strait. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are very great: and let us not fall into the hand of man." David felt as one stripped of all power, of all wealth, and of all self-righteousness. Three years' famine he knew would have consumed his gold; three months' flight before his enemies, over whom he had lately triumphed, would have been distressing; he, therefore, prudently decides, and petitions to “fall into the hand of the Lord,” knowing how “

very great are his mercies,” and “not fall into the hand of man.” The feelings of David on this momentous occasion, oh, how acute! how distressing! The pestilence which the Lord sent, swept off no less than seventy thousand men! The daily and hourly intelligence that was brought unto him of the death of one and another whom he knew, must have pierced his soul through and through, and this all arising from his ambitious views, which had hurried them to an untimely grave.

The sacred historian informs us, that while the angel was destroying, the Lord beheld, and repented him of the evil; and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” (1 Chron. xxi. 15.)

David, on lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord, standing between the earth and the heavens, having a drawn sword in his hand, stretched over

Jerusalem. Then David, with the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces; and David, grieved, expostulating with God, said, “ Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered ? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.” This open avowal of transgression turned away God's wrath. Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that he should set up an altar unto the Lord by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

With what cheerful feet must David have gone up, at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord, to purchase the threshing-floor of Ornan. The historian is particularly minute in his details of what transpired : he says, “Ornan, on looking round, saw the angel, as did his four sons, who were with him, but who from fear hid themselves.” Ornan, it appears, was engaged in threshing wheat. As David approached, Ornan went out of the threshing-floor and bowed himself to David, with his face to the ground. David said to Ornan, “Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar thereon unto the Lord : thou shalt give it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people." Ornan replied, "Take it to thee; 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.” There is something truly noble in the conduct of Ornan, with regard to his threshing-floor; no demur is made as regards its value, or the importance it was of to him as part of his estate; it were as if he said, “ If my lord the king wants it for an altar for the Lord, whom I worship, take it; if that meet not thy views, take it at thy own price. If thus appropriated, and it should be the means of staying the plague, take it without delay.” To further the devout object of the king, and that no time may be lost in procuring the necessary sacrifices, Ornan proposes the taking of his oxen, and wheat, with the threshing instruments, that a sacrifice may at once be offered, that the plague may forthwith be stayed. Oh, what liberality and nobleness of soul do men, who enjoy the fear of the Lord, often manifest!

David replied to Ornan, “ Nay, but I will verily buy it of thee for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.” So David gave to Ornan for the place, six hundred shekels of gold by weight. “ Honour the Lord with thy substance,” is a maxim worthy of being recorded. He who has a religion that costs him nothing, has a religion that is worth nothing; nor will any man esteem the ordinances of God, if those ordinances cost him nothing. Had Ornan’s whole offer been accepted, it would have been Ornan's sacrifice, not David's; it would not have answered the end of turning away the displeasure of the Most High ; for it was David that had sinned, and not Ornan, therefore David must offer sacrifice at his own expense.

So David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord: the Lord answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. “And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword into

an

the sheath thereof.” David could now say, “Though thou wast angry with me, thy anger is turned away.” When David repented of his sin, God repented of his judgınent, and ordered the destroying angel to “ stay his hand, and sheath his sword.” God's commanding David to build an altar, was a blessed token of his reconciliation; for if God had been pleased to slay him, or had delighted in destroying the people, he would not have required a sacrifice at David's hand. It is well especially to notice how manifestly God testified his acceptance of David's sacrifice, for it is recorded, He “ swered him by fire from heaven," which consumed the sacrifice, and thereby spared the sinner. The whole narrative of David's numbering Israel, and the punishment that followed it, leaves a painful lesson against pride, which ought never to be forgotten.

At the time of which we are now treating, the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar for the burnt offerings, were in the high place at Gibeon. The historian informs us that David could not go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord. On receiving the command of the Lord to build an altar, had David repaired to Gibeon, he would have again fallen under the displeasure of the Most High, when the sword of God's judgment might have fallen on Jerusalem. The case now was urgent; he, like Aaron, must go quickly; nay, he must run to make atonement. Ornan's threshing floor is the nearest and most convenient place. The gracious manner in which God was pleased to accept the sacrifice, decided the mind of David, as to the site on which the future house of the Lord God should be erected.

David's minh loc3 acted on to the calamity he had brought on his people, and witnessing the great condescension of God to accept of his sacrifice, was intent on building a house for the Lord God He informs us that he made great preparations for the building, although he knew that he himself should not superintend its erection; but, knowing that his son Solomon was young and tender, and that the house must be exceeding magnificent, and be the admiration of people of every nation, Darið said, “I will, while I have health, and before I leave the world, make preparations for it;" and he prepared abundantly. This was both prudent and necessary; for as Solomon was young, had he not found materials ready prepared to his hand, he might not at first have applied himself to the work with great rigour.

The historian informs us that David, previously to Solomon being crowned, on gathering together the strangers, cunning artisans, proselytes, who were in the land of Israel, set masons to hew stones, and obtained both iron and brass, and cedar trees in abundance. Then it was that he called Solomon his son, and charged him to build the house for the Lord God of Israel, saying, “My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God: but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He