After the death of Uriah, David took her (Bathsheba) to wife, and Jehovah made up the matter with him; first, by destroying the child, the innocent victim who had no part in the murder; and, secondly, by saving and pardoning David for crimes of the deepest dye: and, also, the Lord told him, that because of his wickedness he should have discord in his family:—“_Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee, out of thine house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun._” To destroy the innocent child, who had no participation in the crime of the father, is too shocking to be admitted, when it is recorded as the sentence of the just and impartial God. I know Christians will reply, that the ways of God are not as our ways, and that it is wicked in mortals to find fault with what is done by a Being of infinite power, wisdom, and Goodness. In reply, it is contended that the conduct pursued on this occasion by Jehovah, is shocking when ascribed to a God impartial and just, and that it is more becoming mortals, like ourselves, to reject the whole story as a vile falsehood, than to father it on that Being, or that Cause, who: “Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees.” To conclude these remarks on David’s life and conduct, we ask, which is the more reasonable supposition, that the whole account, so far as it implicates a God of Justice, is, from beginning to end untrue? or, that a Being of unbounded power, wisdom and goodness, should in any way associate with so abandoned a character as King David? For myself, I prefer the latter. I have omitted another account in the life of David, that requires to be noticed. It is recorded in 2 Samuel, chapter xxiv., that David ordered the people to be numbered. One account says that Satan, and another account says that the Lord, moved David to number the people: no doubt it was done to get the number of the fighting men of Israel; for doing which, the Lord was angry with David; and three modes of punishment were submitted for the choice of the King:—“_Seven years’ famine, or to flee three months before his enemies, or to have three days’ pestilence in the land._” The last was chosen, and it is recorded that seventy thousand men died of the pestilence, as a punishment for the offence of David. It is a libel on the Supreme Being to charge him with the authorship of such injustice and cruelty. That thousands of persons may have been cut off by plague, or pestilence, at times, and in different nations, is highly probable—but not by a judgment for other men’s sins.