afcended an eminence oppofite to it, (probably the fame from whence they had before obferved it) David called out, as loud as he could, to Abner, that the king and the whole camp might hear him, upbraiding him with a failure in his duty, and neglect in guarding the king as he ought, who but now had a narrow efcape, inafmuch as there had been one in his camp with a full purpose to deftroy him; a neglect for which thofe who had the care of his facred perfon well deferved to die:-Art not thou (lays he to Abner) a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Ifrael? Wherefore then haft thou not kept thy lord the king? For there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord, &c. As the Lord liveth ye are worthy to diet, becaufe ye have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed. And now fee where the Spear is, and the crufe of water that was at his bol fter.

MILITARY men, who are the best judges, will, I believe, agree, that this fpeech is in the true fpirit of a good foldier, a brave man, and a faithful fubject. The crufe and the fpear were at once fufficient proofs of the king's danger and deliverance but David was above mentioning the author of either; he would not betray his friend, and he fcorned to boaft himself.

Saul had now the fame excufe that Philip urged for himself for fleeping in his camp: Iflett, faid he, because I knew Antipater waked.

Epaminondas, finding a foldier afleep upon his guard, flew him; and defended himself by barely faying, He left him as he bad found him.

SAUL

1

SAUL knew David's voice; and it is obvious to think, that he could not but know at the fame inftant who was his deliverer. Who could be author of this fecond unheard-of generofity, but the author of the firft? This generofity, the piety and magnanimity that govern'd it, and the bafe, hellish returns that were made to it, crouded into his mind at once, and overwhelmed him with fhame and forrow.

IN. this condition he cried out, Is this thy voice, my fon David! And David answered, It is my voice, my lord, O king! He then added, (the reader must take it from the original; for I can find no other words to express it by) Wherefore doth my lord thus purjue after his fervant? For what have I done? or what evil is in my hand? Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his fervant? If the Lord hath stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering; i. e. if GOD hath excited you against me, on the fcore of any guilt for which I deferve to die; behold, here I am, ready to be facrificed in atonement for it: but if they be the children of men, curfed be they before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day from abideing in the inheritance of the Lord, faying, Go Serve other gods*. Now, therefore, let not my

* Driving a man among idolaters, was, in effect, forcing him to become an idolater; and a man's forcing another to be fo, was as criminal, as if he were himself an idolater. It is very remarkable, that David here laments no prefent lofs, or exclufion from juft right, other than that of being fhut out from the divine ordinances, and forced among the worshippers of idols.

blood

blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord: for the king of Ifrael is come out to feek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.

THIS reasoning, this duty, this fubmiflion, not only foftened, but even humbled, the haughty and obdurate heart of Saul; humbled it, if not into a thorough penitent confeffion, yet, at least, into an open acknowledgment of guilt and folly: I have finned (says he): return, my fon David; for I will no more do thee harm, because my foul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly,

UPON which David defired, he would please to order one of his fervants to come to him, and take back the king's fpear; and then added this folemn prayer and appeal to GOD; The Lord render to every man his righteouf nefs, and his faithfulness: for the Lord delivered thee into my hand to-day; but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed. And behold, as thy life was much fet by this day in mine eyes; fo let my life be much fet by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me but of all tribulation.

AFTER Which Saul concluded with this kind and prophetic farewel: Bleffed be thou, my fon David: thou shalt both do great things, and alfo fhalt ftill prevail.

So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

4

СНАР.

CHAP, XX.

Mr. Bayle's Objections to this Part of the Sacred Hiftory confidered.

TH

HE reader, who hath been converfant in fome late fafhionable writings, will not, I believe, be furprised to find this part of the Sacred Hiftory varioufly objected to; nor will he, I hope, be displeased to see those objections confuted, and caft down in their full ftrength.

IN the first place, it is objected, That David was at too great a distance for this converfation, which is faid to have followed after the taking away of Saul's fpear; for the text exprefly fays, that when he began it, he stood upon the top of an hill, afar off.

I ANSWER, Ift, That this expreffion, afar off, may admit of two very plain, and yet very different fenfes. Saul now ftood on the top of one hill, and David on the top of another contiguous to it: the distance, then, from Saul to David, reckoning the defcent of the one hill, and the afcent of the other, might really be confiderable, efpecially in a country where the hills are high, fteep, and precipitous, and both the defcent and afcent winding and difficult, which is the cafe of Judea; and yet the real diftance in a right line between thofe fummits very inconfiderable. And this I take to have been the cafe. David therefore

B. r. might at the fame time be near enough to Saul to hear, and to be heard by him; and yet, with regard to the distance and danger of a pursuit from him, really afar off.

I ANSWER, 2dly, That this conversation, as appears from the tenor of the relation, was held in the calm and filence of the morning; at which time it is almost incredible to say at what distance the human voice may be heard with clearness and diftinction, especially in a clear, elastic air, such as that of Judea: and it is beyond all doubt, that men have often heard. even the crowing of a cock at a much greater distance than is neceffary to be fuppofed in this conference. And yet, many of these founds united are not equal to the force of one human voice exerted in all its articulate strength.

THE intelligent reader will, I am sure, gladly fave me the trouble of a fuller confutation, THE next objection is of more weight, as it comes from a man of allowed learning and parts; I mean Mr. Bayle. But, perhaps, it may lofe fome of its weight, when the reader fhall please to confider, that it comes from a great broacher of paradoxes, an induftrious diffenter from men of learning, and a known patron of all the errors that ever obtained in the world from its foundation; a defender even of contrary and contradictory errors. However, let his reafons, not his authority, be weighed in this difpute.

His main objection is, That thefe accounts of Saul's danger, and David's generofity, in the cave, and in the camp, are in reality but

two