801 restrained from the commission of like transgressions in the future.” It is told on good authority that Voltaire once at tempted to burlesque this Psalm and what was the result? While carefully going through it that he might become familiar with the train of thought that he intended to caricature, he became so impressed and oppressed by its solemn ity and sanctity, that he threw down his pen and fell back half senseless on his couch in an agony of remorse. Every one must admit the depth and fervor of the penitence out of which such a prayer arose. There wai no attempt at Self vindication. There was no palliating plea, only the frank confession, “ I have sinned.” Many mock at David’s sin, who make nothing of his repentance. A man’s life is not reckoned by the num ber of times he falls but by the number of times he rises again. TUESDAY, Aug. 17. Psalm 32. The Blessing of Forgiveness. Chronologically the thirty-second Psalm follows the fifty-first. It is more jubilant in its tone as referring to for giveness actually possessed, the very gladness of its tone being a witness to the sadness for sin which had gone be fore. Luther called this a Pauline Psalm because it brought out Divine for giveness, which was the central part of Paul’s message. The first Psalm de scribes the blessedness of the man who walks with God. The thirty-second sets forth the blessedness of the man who is forgiven by God. Every man who knows the first of these must have known the second also. Some know the second, alas! who have not fully reached the first, “ Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” This fact of forgiveness fills his soul with rapture. Then he says, “ Thou art my hiding place.” Hiding from God in God! The sinner condemned and conscience-stricken but penitent finds refuge in the everlasting arms. Augus tine said, “ I am afraid of God, therefore I will run to his arms.” WEDNESDAY, Aug. 18. Matt. 6:5-15. Forgive and Be Forgiven. This injunction must apply to the children of God for the natural man can no more forgive an injury than he can love his enemies. Because he has been freely and fully forgiven by God, he finds it possible and even easy to treat other men as God has treated him. In other words he acts in grace because he has been an object of grace. Moreover
THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S neither right nor politic. If Absalom had committed a crime, he ought to have been punished for it. If there was ground for his recall from banishment, there was ground for his reception at court. The situation left Absalom in a position of antagonism to his father which at length ripened into rebellion. Civil war is always a calamity but when the standard of rebellion is raised by a son against his father, it is worst of all. Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel through flattery and guile and we finally see David himself crossing the brook Kedron barefoot, with his head covered, attended only by a faithful few, with the shout of rebels and traitors in his ears, “ Absalom reigneth in Hebron.” SUNDAY, Aug. 15. 2 Sam. 18:24-33. Absalom’s Death. When the disciplined forces of David met the hastily gathered troops of Absa lom in the wood of Ephraim, victory crowned the loyal army of the king. En- tanggled in the forests east of Jordan the fugitives were easily overcome. Ab salom did not escape. As he rode through the brush, his head was caught in the boughs of a tree. His mule run ning from beneath him, left him hang ing helpless, when Joab found and slew him. His body was thrown into a pit and a heap of stones piled upon it like the grave of a common malefactor. What a different tomb it was from that costly mausoleum which in his pride qf heart, he had builded for himself in the king’s dale! What a different end he might have had if he had chosen to walk in the path of filial love and devotion to God! He united the guilt of Reuben with the sin of Cain and haying broken every law, human and Divine, he put himself beyond the pale of mercy and richly merited his fate. Under the Mosaic law the disobedient son was to be stoned to death and the heap of stones above his grave became a monument of warning to succeeding generations of the retributive law of sowing and reaping. MONDAY, Aug. 16. Psalm 51. A Prayer for Pardon. A certain old writer has said, “ Let this Psalm be read without prejudice and no man of candor will suspect it to be the' dictate of hypocrisy, or that it could have been penned from any other motive than a strong conviction of the heinousness of his offense, an earnest desire for God’s forgiveness and being
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