THE SON OF JESSE ON THE THRONE.

"How blest the sacred tie that binds,

In union sweet, according minds;-
How swift the heavenly course they run,

Whose heart, whose faith, whose hopes are one.

"Nor shall the glowing flame expire,

When nature drops her sick'ning fire ;

Then shall they meet in realms above,

A heaven of joy, because of love."

Mrs BARBAULD.

Grandfather. On Mount Gilboa armies were ranged for battle; the hosts of the Philistines and of the Israelites fought there. It went hard with the sons of Jacob ;-many fell, and many fled. Three of the princes, sons of the king, were slain, and Saul himself was sorely wounded. Afraid of the insults of his enemies, the wounded king requested of his armour-bearer to put an end to his miserable existence. His follower feared to do this; so the king took a sword and cast himself upon it. Thus he died, poor miserable man! The wretched end of this weak and jealous sovereign teaches us to pray that we may not die the death of the wicked. His whole care in dying was for his body.

The mortal part seemed to his earthly mind of more importance than his immortal soul.

George. But he would have been killed at any rate, grandfather, and the Philistines might have made him die a very disgraceful death.

Grandfather. It is not in the power of any one to disgrace us; whatever they may do, no real disgrace can attach to us unless we bring it upon ourselves. At the hands of the Philistines Saul might have met with torture and abuse; he might have suffered a death of lingering pain, but in all that there would have been no dishonour. He dishonoured himself by his cowardice.

George. Cowardice, grandfather! It seems to me a brave thing for a man to kill himself when he knows that he must die soon at any rate.

Grandfather. You know, my boy, that he is a cowardly man who is afraid of anything which cannot do him real harm. It is fear of man which causes selfmurder, and fear of man is cowardice; for what does our blessed Saviour say?" Fear not them which, after they have destroyed the body, have no more that they can do; but fear him who is able to cast both soul and body into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him." The fear of God will make a man brave: the fear of man will make him a coward. The taking away of one's own life is caused by the latter fear entirely overpowering the former. It is committed by those who, aware that they cannot face death calmly, choose to rush upon it madly. This, George, is cowardice. Saul's last rash

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act was the cause of sin in another: his armour-bearer, when he saw him fall, followed his example. But the poor king did not save his body from being abused. The Philistines cut off his head, and fastened his body, and the bodies of his three sons, on the walls of Bethshan. Terror came on the men of Israel after this disastrous battle; they forsook the cities in the neighbourhood, and the Philistines took possession of them. But there were brave hearts in Israel yet. When the men of JabeshGilead heard how the remains of their sovereign and his sons had been treated, they travelled all night, crossed the Jordan by its fords, and took down the bodies from the walls of Bethshan. They carried them to Jabesh-Gilead, where they treated them with all respect, burning and burying them according to custom. They made a mourning for them, and a seven days' fast.

Johnnie. The people surely could not do without food for seven days, grandfather?

Grandfather. Fasting for seven days means that they tasted no food until sunset. Such was their practice in times of mourning.

Marianne. You did not tell us, grandfather, the names of Saul's three sons who fell in battle?

Grandfather. Their names were Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.

Marianne. Then Jonathan was among them. I am sorry for that. I thought that he had not been killed

so soon.

George. It would not have done for him to have lived longer, now that the kingdom was David's, although Jonathan was heir-at-law.

Marianne. But Jonathan did not care for the kingdom; he liked David better; he would not have thought of opposing him.

Grandfather. Certainly he would not, yet the people might. As it was, years passed before the great body of the Israelites submittted to David. They adhered to a son of Saul, who appears to have had nothing to recommend him save his connection with royalty. Had Jonathan lived he would have had a difficult part to act, to satisfy a people to whom he was deservedly so dear, and yet make no attempt to gain the throne on which they wished him to sit.

Johnnie. Where was David now?

Grandfather. At the time of the battle he was in Ziklag. On the third day after, a man came with torn clothes, and earth upon his head; he bowed to the ground before David. "From whence comest thou?" the son of Jesse asked. "Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped," was the reply. "How went the matter?" was the question that naturally followed. The man's answer was, "The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also." "How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son be dead?" David demanded. The young man's answer was to this effect, that he happened to come near when the sovereign was

in great distress, afraid to live, and unable to end his life. He called on this young man, the Amalekite who was telling this, and asked him to kill him. The son of Amalek obeyed, and took from him his crown and bracelet. In proof of this he produced these, and offered them to David.

Marianne. But that story was not true, grandfather, for Saul killed himself.

Grandfather. It is possible that the story may have been true, for Saul's strength may have failed him when he tried to take away his own life, and he may have got

the Amalekite to do the deed which baffled him. At all events, David had no reason for doubting the truth of it. In great displeasure he said to the young man, “How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?" Then he ordered one of his followers to put him to death, which was done. "Thy blood be upon thy head," were the last words of David to the Amalekite, " for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed." The son of Jesse then made a lamentation for his greatest enemy, and for his greatest earthly friend, teaching us, by the way in which he speaks of the former, that we ought to forgive and forget the injuries we have received. The successor of Saul also shewed his loyalty by sending messengers to Jabesh-Gilead, to tell the men of that place how highly he approved of what they had done, in the respect shewn by them to the memory of the late king.