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boufe. So comes the finner by faith to Chrift; being perfuaded there is security in his house, and no where else; and the Saviour is called David, Ezek. xxxvii. 25; and his church is called the boufe of David to this day, Zech. xii. 10. Thirdly, fhe affigns a reason for this, because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, even as Chrift overcame the world: Yet a man is rifen up to pursue thee, and to feek thy foul,-as Judas and the Pharifees did the Saviour's. But the foul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy Godas representing the union between the Saviour's human nature and his godhead. And the fouls of thine enemies, them fhall be fling out as out of the middle of a fling-as the Saviour will one day caft away the enemies of his crofs.

Thus fhe came to David with fpiritual language; and every one that hath learned of the Father cometh unto me (fays Chrift). Rabbi, thou art the fon of God; thou art the king of Ifrael (faith Nathaniel). Thou art Christ the Son of God (fays Peter). Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee (fays the Saviour), but my Father which is in heaven. Abigail now concludes with a perfuafion of the king's exaltation, and a petition in her own favour: And it shall come to pass, when the Lord fhall have done to my lord according to all the good that be bath spoken concerning thee, and shall bave appointed thee ruler over Ifrael; as Chrift was to be afterwards upon the throne of David, to

order it and establish it with justice and judgment for ever, Ifaiah ix. 7; but when the Lord fhall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid: as the poor thief upon the crofs faid unto the Saviour, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. The answer that Abigail got contains a bleffing on the Lord for his goodness, a bleffing on Abigail whom the Lord had fent, and a cordial acceptance of her perfon: And David faid to Abigail, Bleed be the Lord God of Ifrael, which Jent thee this day to me; and bleed be thou, which baft kept me this day from coming to fhed blood, and from avenging myself with my own band. So David received of her band that which she had brought him, and faid unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; fee, I bave bearkened to thy voice, and accepted thy person. I Sam. xxv. 35. These bleffings may typify the bleffings the Lord gave on the mount. David's not avenging himself, fhews how the Saviour left his Father to take away Judas, and every other branch in him that beareth not fruit; and thirdly, it fhews the prevalent interceffion which believing fouls make for the wicked;-as Abraham's interceffion for Lot and the inhabitants of Sodom was a ftaying of the Lord's hand, for a time, from the four cities of the plain; and as Abigail's interceffion kept the fword of David from Nabal and all his boufe.

Abimaaz. It is faid of Abigail, that she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful

countenance;

countenance; but the man was churlish and evil in his doings. 1 Sam. xxv. 3. I wonder that a gracious woman fhould fubmit to be fo unequally yoked together with an unbeliever; and efpecially with fuch an evil churl as he was,

Cufbi. We are all as closely wedded to the law, as a covenant of works, as fhe was to Nabal; and the law is as churlifh as ever Nabal was; for it not only threatens us with the anger of God, but with hell alfo; hence it is faid to be an adverfary, Luke xii. 58, and against us, Col. ii. 14. And as Abigail was barren to Nabal, fo is the finner to God under the law; but when Nabal was dead, then he married David. So when we see the law to be a killing letter, and that it cannot give life or fruitfulnefs, Gal. iii. 21, then we may go and be efpoufed to the fpiritual David, who is to be a prince for ever, Ezek. xxxvii. 25, as Abigail was to typical David. Paul is very plain upon this: Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law), bow that the law bath dominion over a man as long as be liveth? For the woman which bath an bufband is bound by the law to her husband fo long as be liveth; but if the bufband be dead, fhe is loofed from the law of her bufband; fo then, if while her bufland liveth fhe be married to another man, fhe fhall be called an adulterefs; but if ber bufband be dead fhe is free from that law, fo that he is no adulterefs though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren,

ye alfo are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye fhould be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Rom. vii. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Abimaaz. David certainly was a moft eminent type of the Mefliah; and blessed be God I can fee a deal of choice gospel matter and experience where I never expected to find any; and I find that the humble approach of Abigail to David, her interceffion for her household, her humble petition for herself, her free-will offering to feed his followers, and her earnest defire of being remembered in future by him, tallies with my own experience; for I could have put my mouth in the duft, if fo be there might be hope for me in the dear Redeemer. Lam. iii. 29. And I wrestled hard with the Lord for my friends alfo, as fhe did for hers; and as for the followers of Chrift, I took pleasure in relieving them when I could; and, like unto her, I then begged, and still beg to be remembered in future by the Lord; and I am fure I have often obtained as fweet an answer from David's Lord, as fhe did from David; and fome of the fame words in it, Go in peace, I have accepted thee, has often been a fenfible answer to my prayers.

If David was fo fweet a type of the Meffiah, then his ambassadors, that he sent to great Nabal in his name, must be typical of the ambassadors of Chrift; for they faid to Nabal, Peace be unto all that thou haft. And this agrees with the Saviour's meffage

meffage fent by his ambaffadors: Into whatsoever boufe you enter, fay, Peace be to this house; and if the Son of Peace be there, your peace fhall come upon it, and there abide, eating and drinking fuch things as are fet before you. Luke x. 5, 6, 7. What do you think of this? do not you think it is right? for they were to carry peace from David, and receive victuals from Nabal, but he gave them none.

Cufbi. I think you are very right; and they fared juft as many of the Lord's ambaffadors do in our days; they neither receive their meffage, nor afford them relief, but impiously rail on them as Nabal did, afking, Who is David? fhall I give my victuals unto men whom I know not whence they be? Thus he fent the ambaffadors away, both empty and ashamed. But what was the confequence? why you fee that the meffage of peace was received by a daughter of peace, namely Abigail; and the fword was drawn against every male in all the house, 1 Sam. xxv. 13. 22. And though, by the interceffion of the daughter of peace the fword was fheathed for a time, yet the Lord God of recompençes will furely requite. Jer. li. 56. And that many our legal felf-righteous worldlings will find, one day or other, as Nabal and Ifrael of old did, when there will be no fon or daughter of peace left to Stand in the gap. Abigail's interceffion prolonged Nabal's life but a few days; and Ifrael of old, at one time, found no interceffor, and confequently no refpite. And the Lord God of their fathers fent

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