r fortune to that of the wild outlaw, and
becomes his wife to wander by wood and wold.

But amid all the simple and sacred beauty of that scene, we cannot
forget, we must not forget that Abigail is but one wife of many;
that there is an element of pure, single, all-absorbing love absent
at least in David's heart, which was present in the hearts of our
forefathers in many a like case, and which they have handed down to
us as an heirloom, as precious as that of our laws and liberties.

And all this was sin unto David; and like all sin, brought with it
its own punishment. I do not mean to judge him: to assign his
exact amount of moral responsibility. Our Lord forbids us
positively to do that to any man; and least of all, to a man who
only acted according to his right, and the fashion of his race and
his age. But we must fix it very clearly in our minds, that sins
may be punished in this life, even though he who commits them is not
aware that they are sins. If you are ignorant that fire burns, your
ignorance will not prevent your hand from suffering if you put it
into the fire. If you are of opinion that two and two make five,
and therefore spend five pounds while you only possess four, your
mistake will not prevent your being in debt. And so with all mortal
affairs.

Sin, [Greek], means first, it seems to me, a missing the mark, end,
or aim of our existence; a falling short of the law, the ideal, the
good works which God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in; and
every such sin, conscious or unconscious, must avenge itself by the
Divine laws of the universe, whether physical or spiritual. No
miracle is needed; no intervention of God with his own laws. His
laws are far too well made for him to need to break them a second
time, because a sinner has broken them already. They avenge
themselves. And so does polygamy. So it did in the case of David.
It is a breach of the ideal law of human nature; and he who breaks
that law must suffer, as David suffered.

Look at the latter history of David, and at what it might have been.
One can conceive so noble a personage under such woman's influence
as, thank God, is common now, going down into an honoured old age,
and living together with a helpmate worthy of him in godly love and
honesty to his life's end; seeing his children Christianly and
virtuously brought up, to the praise and honour of God.

And what was the fact?

The indulgence of his passions--seemingly