St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-11-02

and he soon forgot the matter in
his eagerness to be back in the thick
Of the fight against the stronghold OF
Rabbah.
The king, on the other hand, sat
silent and alone, his face distorted
and beclouded by the evil passions
that famed within.
There was no other way" he ex.
claimed under his breath. "Had he
not been so Internally obstinate all
would have been well, and now-all
will be we'll. anyway, hazard"
That had been an awful night for
him. No sleep had come to still the
rage or quiet the fears which filled
his heart. But amidst all the con.
f1icting emotions which surged like
the restless sea back and forth with.
in his heart there was the one settled
purpose to cover up and hide the
sin which had come to blacken and
scar his life.
To hide that sin had seemed like
a simple and easy thing at first, but
as his every plan had been BAT
fed it made him almost mad with
Impotence and a bitter hatred sprang
up against the man whom he had SO
grievously wronged. At first he had
only felt good-natured contempt for
him, and it was with rather feeling
of condescension on his part that he
had dealt with him at all But David
was too high-minded a man, and had
too clear conception of right and
wrong not to be conscious way down
deep in his heart that he had COM
| mitted a grieyous sin, and yet there
was present the stubborn purpose
to justify and palliate his offense. He
took refuge behind his kingly pre-.
| negatives and power, and found com.
! fort in the thought that the kings OF
| other nations did even worse things
| than he had done.
| And yet, notwithstanding this feel.
ing which he tried to encourage.
namely, that the king could do no
wrong, he did not want his sin to be-
come known, and determined from
| the first that 1t should not. Thus he
was led to send for Uriah, and when
his plans miscarried, as we have said,
| it threw him into rage of fear and
anger. The very loyalty and faith
| fulness which Uriah displayed toward
him and the nation served to intensi'
| fly and aggraWate his vexation OF
| spirit, and on that last night, as
we have said, no sleep came to re-
lieve the stress of mind and body.
- And then had come a new fear to
ve&>~him. Could it be that Uriah' s
refusal to return home was due to the
fact that he had some suspicion as
| to the true state of affairs? All night
| long the question had rank1ed in his
bosom, and a dark resolve began to
form itself within.
Uriah must be put out of the way.
When the thought first flashed
| across his mind like an evil message
| from the king Of darkness, he trem-
| bled as an aspen and turned from 1t
with sickening dread, but each time
| as he came face to face with the al
|
he entertained more willingly the evil
| thought, and at last found himself
planning how it might be carried out.
At first David thought to pay big
money to some base fellow who would
secretly fall upon Uriah and take his
life, but even IN the fear and confu-
sion Of his mind he quickly saw the
dangers attending such a course.
What then was he to do? How could
he accomplish his purpose? The
seeming impossibilities in the way
served to intensity the evil purpose
of his heart.
All, how often the better impulses
| came! How repeatedly the inner con-
science spoke against doing such evil
| thing, and each time there came back
the challenge from his fear-stricken
heart, but your SIN and the exposure
which is certain to follow"
| And then came the irrevocable de.
| cision to take this other step in the
/ course of sin, in order that the first
sin might be covered up. And was
there no thought or fear that the eye
/ of God saw and knew? Yea, there
came the feeting remembrance and
then the cloud Of sin in which the
heart was euveloped settled down
again, and David, steeling his heart
against God and the better prompt
ings, plunged on in his evil course.
No. Uriah must die.
The decision had been made, the
message written and even now Uriar
was bearing his death warrant tc
Joab. Anxious days followed, but
David knew that Joab would not fail
him.
1t was not many days after this
that tidings came of a disastrous de
feat to the army of Israel. The bat
tie had been pressed to the very walls
of the stronghold of Rabbah, and
many of the Israelites had fallen. II
/ was sad news to the nation, and
/ there was mourning in many house
hold, but David, who received the It'd
| ings from the lips of Joab's messen
GER. cared not for this thing, wher
the messenger added:
"And Uriah, the Hittite, is dead
ALSO"