THE KING'S MIRROR 339 



my neck than that more of God's people shall now be 

 slain, and that my Lord's wrath may fall upon me, who 

 am guilty and worthy of punishment, and upon my 

 family rather than that God's people shall be rooted 

 out on my account." As soon as God saw David's regret 

 and heard his very acceptable prayer, He commanded 

 the angel to desist from slaying the people, and forth- 

 with the plague ceased everywhere in the kingdom.* 



From these and many other similar instances you 

 will now observe how full of grace and goodness David 

 was toward all men v And just as God saw kindliness, 

 mercy, and humility in his heart, He saw avarice, feroc- 

 Jty, and unmeasured pride in Saul's heart; consequently 

 every fault was graver before God in Saul's case than 

 in David's; for the men were unlike. David was the 

 meekest and the most merciful of men, and whenever 

 he fell into any fault he implored God to spare him; but 

 Saul grew fiercer and more envious the more sins he fell 

 into and the nearer he saw God's wrath approaching. 

 Now if you think that these answers have led you to 

 a clearer understanding of the matters that you have 

 asked about, I believe it will not be necessary to discuss 

 these subjects any further. 



LXIV 



ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE JUDGMENTS OF SOLOMON 



Son. I see clearly now from what you told in your 

 last speech that the judgments were lenient in David's 

 case, because he regretted the sins into which he fell, 



* Cf . II Samuel, xxiv. 



