DAVID. 
felf at Jerufalem, where he confined pee that he might be 
perpetually under his infpe€tion, and bound him never to 
go farther out ae it Pes the brook Ridron ; telling him, 
ed it, he fhould furcly die? Shi- 
ve him, promifing him, upon oath, 
ubedienee to the eed, on which his life was afterwards 
to de 
David died at Jerufalem in about the Foth year of his 
ge, B.C. 1015, having reigned over Ju ah 40, and over 
al Ifrael 33 ee Although his character was far from 
ing God, in oppofition to the idolatry of furrounding nations, 
a th which the Ifraeli tes = been but too often infeed. 
own hear 
phet, and rejected 
he crown in his family, on account of his folly, prefump- 
tion, and difobedience. And it therefore means ove, who 
fhould a& prudently, and obey the commandments of God 
éelivered to him by his prophets, and whom, therefore, God 
Thus Ene 
rerivs .. the man who doth my will; and - 
St. Paul to the Jews at Antioch, who fays (Adis xiii. 22.) 
‘have found David, the effe, a man after my 
be ie objet of bis appobston, 
of thefe fenfes, the expreffion is always ufed. 
:d by it; but to reprefent him as one, who, 
in his public character, as king of Ifracl, was fit for the 
purpofes to which God advanced him, and who he knew 
would faithfully execute the commands he fhould give i 
by his prophets ; and who, on this account, fhou a- 
voured and approved of i and eftablifhed, nimfelf ud 
amily, on the throne of Ifr 
The particular purpofes ior ‘which God advanced him to 
the throne were, that by his nce to the one 
impious rites 
which they performed in honour of There was 
another end of providence, in David’s appointment to be 
king over Ifrael ; that, ee to God’s promife con- 
cerning him (2 Sam. iii. o.} he might ¢* fave his Lag If. 
rael out of the hands of the Philiitines, and out of the 
hand of all their enemies ;’’ and farther, that by him he 
might accomplifh the more ancient promifes (Gen. xv. 18. 
which God had made to Abraham, in their full extent, of 
Vou, XI 
giving to his feed “the whole country, from the river of 
unto the great riv And 
71, 72. 
a See then, the true portrait of ‘the man after 
God’s own oe “ whe fulfilied all his pleafure ! A princes 
who, amidft all the icolatrics of the nations around him, 
never wickedly apoftatized from the worfhip of his God, 
aed was an amiable example of a fleady oa to thofe 
forms of religion, whichy God had prefcribed, to all the 
princes his fucceffors; who, though king, Tubjeet ed him. 
felf to God, the fupreme king of Ifrael, and faithfully exe. 
cuted the cemnands he received from has ; who made his 
people triumph in the numerous victories he obtained, by 
the direGtions, and under the conduc of God himfelf ; aio 
enlarged their ae and put them into poffeffion of all 
the gaara God promifed to their forefathers ; and 
who, amidft all the facile that were grante 
men riches he had oT from the {poils his con- 
ered enemies, and n power with which he 
tyran 
rity 1 
ely diftributed juftice, left an eftablifhed coals cae 
and fixed the whole adminiftration, both civil and re ligious, 
upon the moft fubftantial and durable foundation, In thefe 
inftances he was the true vicegerent of God, on whofe 
throne he fat, and all whofe eae in thefe great in- 
vate moral c waey was W 
to be, he might 
in the proper encael fenfe of the exprefiton ; and the at- 
tempt to prove that he was not 'pofleffed of i height of 
moral purity, is an impertinent ee mpt to prove David 
nor 0 be, what the facred hiftory never jie him to 
‘As a jolt delineation of the chara&ter of David, and of 
the ay ae aden of his life, is of great importance in its 
connection with a due regard to the facred writings, and 
with aon we have extended i 
length; and we fhall clofe it with the following abftra 
his hiftorys with which we are furnifhed by a learned writer: 
A fhepherd youth, David, the youngeft fon of Jcile, was 
chofen of God to be king of Ifrael, and at his command 
anointed to this dignity by the hands of Samuel, a venera~ 
Je prophet, in the room of Saul; who had been rejected 
his difobedience to the divine orders, in felonioufly feiz- 
ing to his own ule, the prey of an enemy, which God, the 
{upreme king of Ifrael, had devoted to deftrution. He 
is jae dueed to court as aman exp i 
valiant man, a mano 
perfon, and one favoured o call i 
fic, he cle d Saul under a Facbacuoly ndifpfiton chat 
had feiz 2 him was highly beloved fe his royal ma 
and made o of his guards. Inaw es on Ph iliftines 
ie seeps ne challenge of a ee mpion, who 
defied the armies of Ifrael, and being filfal at ae fling, he 
flew him with a ftone, returned fafely with his head, and 
thus fecured to his prince an eafy victory over his country’s 
enemies. ‘The reputation he gained, by this glcrious ac- 
oe raifed an incurable jealoufy and refentment againft him, 
nthe mind of the king his mafter; who, after two unfuc- 
0 his 
younger daughter, fhe might o him, aud 
that he might cafe him to fall by the hands oF the poe 
T 
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a coats 
om 
