standing he himself had received his Kingdom from the hand of Samuel, and had besought Samuel to turn with him to The LORD, that The LORD'S Anger might be Turned away from him, yet did he madly dare the imprecations of that same Prophet for the Infliction of DIVINE Chastisement upon his head, choosing rather to risk the immediate Sentence of his Soul to everlasting Punishment, than avoid gratifying his malicious hatred by visiting a temporal death on its Object. But how vain is the help, or the aim, or the device of Man, in a war against the Will of GOD! ***"And when they (the Messengers) saw the Company of the Prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, The SPIRIT of GOD was upon the Messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied and when it was told Saul, he sent other Messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent Messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well, that is in Sechu; and he asked and said, 'Where are Samuel and David?' And One said, 'Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah.' And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah; and The SPIRIT of GOD was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner; and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the Prophets?'"-1 Sam. xix., last part of 20 to 24.

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It is charity only that never faileth, but prophecies cease, and in their exercise are profitless to their Utterers, if the hearts of those, by whom they are delivered, are not right with The LORD. Balaam took up his parable, and said, May I die the death of the Righteous, and may my latter end be like his!" but he lived not afterwards the life of righteousness, and therefore he could not be expected to repose on the pillow of Spiritual Consolation in the hour of death. "Prophesying serveth not for them, that believe not, as saith St. Paul to the Corinthians, and this whether Hearers or Deliverers of Prophecy; for prophesying, to be available as a demonstration of the inward Working of Grace over the Soul, should be, as prayer, with the Spirit and with the understanding; and thus only is it that, “if we all prophesy One by One (as contemplated by St. Paul), we may all learn, and may all be comforted.""-1 Cor. xiv. 31.

"And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy Father, that he seeketh my life?'"-1 Sam. xx. 1.

In the inscrutable Counsels of The MOST HIGH, doubtless, was it that David left the seemingly unassailable asylum afforded him by the presence of the Prophet, and seized the moment of the King's absence from his Court, to interest his Princely Friend, on his behalf, to renew his efforts at changing in Saul the unhallowed purpose of destruction. It is thus that secondary causes may, with propriety, be resorted to, and it would be even presumptuous not to avail ourselves of them, since it is too much to expect that PROVIDENCE should unnecessarily Interpose by Miracle for our temporal salvation. The consciousness of innocence prompts David to stake his life upon the proof of it. And yet conceiving that Saul could not be actuated to such unremitting and merciless persecution of him without some imaginary cause, David modestly asks, What is the guilt with which the King charges me, and which he deems worthy even of death? "And he (Jonathan) said unto him, GOD Forbid! thou shalt not die: behold, my Father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will shew it me and why should my Father hide this thing from me? it is not so.' And David sware moreover, and said, 'Thy Father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes: and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this! lest he be grieved.' But truly as The LORD Liveth, and as thy Soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death."-1 Sam. xx. 2, 3. Possessed, as he conceived

himself to be, of the entire confidence of his Father, Jonathan unhesitatingly exclaimed against the perpetration of an act so hostile to his disposition, so revolting to his feelings and, considering from the seemingly unreserved intercourse on all matters of general policy and private interest between his Father and himself, that such a step would not be taken without his being previously apprized of and sanctioning it—feeling, moreover, that nothing but the total extinction in his breast of DIVINE Light could make the Father instrumental to his Son's most cherished Friend's destruction, he bursts forth into the short but comprehensive apostrophe, "GOD Forbid!" for he knew that if GOD do Forbid the evil Spirit from taking possession of the Soul of Man, and let His Grace fully Flow in upon it, then, indeed, can no deed of wickedness find the heart prepared to execute it. With such a qualification, and under such an expectation of his Father's consulting him upon the measure, Jonathan might safely say, "Thou shalt not die." Continuing, however, his meditations upon the subject, he conceives that David must have been misinformed, and as every thing in Human policy, as well as religious rule, would operate against the measure, he concludes, "that it is not so," as David had represented. But the persecuted David knew by too sad experience, and unquestionable authority, that so it was, and, therefore, endeavours to awaken the fire of Jonathan's friendship for him by the solemn assurance, that without its exertion, the band of their friendship would be irrecoverably broken by his destruction..

"Then said Jonathan unto David, 'Whatsoever thy Soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.' And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to-morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the King at meat; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even. If thy Father at all miss me, then say, 'David earnestly asked leave of me, that he might run to Beth-lehem, his City: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the Family.' If he say thus, It is well,' thy Servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy Servant for thou hast brought thy Servant into a covenant of The LORD with thee. Notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself! for why shouldest thou bring me to thy Father?"-1 Sam. xx. 4, 8. Jonathan does not continue incredulous, but, in all the spirit of the friendship he professed for David, pledges himself, without reserve, to do whatever the fears of David might suggest; thus giving implicit faith to the prudence of his Friend, even at the hazard of incurring his royal Father's displeasure. David had meditated, perhaps, beforehand, on the contrivance that should be resorted to, and the scheme seems equally to have had in view his own protection and his Friend's conviction that his fears were but too strongly founded in truth; and he naturally goes on to excite to a continuance of that active friendship, if the necessity for its exertion should continue; appealing in the piety of his Soul to the All-Seeing Eye of GOD, That witnessed the mutual dedication of their hearts to Each Other in a solemn covenant of love, in subserviency to the Will and in pursuit of the Ways of GOD. And knowing that Jonathan's attachment to him must have arisen from his regarding him as free, not only from the commission, but the contemplation of such guilt, he invites Jonathan to sit in judgment on him, and if he should be found to have done iniquity, to mete out himself the measure of the punishment even unto death. For David feared not a righteous judgment, since neither his heart nor his GOD could condemn him as the King's Enemy; but, with the earnestness that is natural in Self-preservation, he deprecates the being given over to the power of his relentless though uninjured Enemy.

"And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee! for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my Father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?' Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what, if thy Father answer

thee roughly?' And Jonathan said unto David, 'Come and let us go out into the field!' And they went out Both of them into the field. And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD GOD of Israel, when I have sounded my Father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee, The LORD Do So, and much more to Jonathan ! But if it please my Father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace! and The LORD Be with thee, as He hath been with my Father: and thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the Kindness of The LORD, that I die not: but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my House for ever; no, not when The LORD hath Cut off the Enemies of David every One from the face of the Earth.' So Jonathan made a Covenant with the House of David, saying, 'Let The LORD even Require it at the hand of David's Enemies.' And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own Soul."-1 Sam. xx. 9, 17.

In the warmth of friendship, and under a conviction of its operating influence on his heart, Jonathan, in effect, prays that no such evil may befal David: and goes on to ask, in all the condescension of ingenuous feeling, if David could suppose that he would keep him in ignorance of what so vitally affected him, were David's suspicions just, and had Jonathan been otherwise than through him made acquainted with the cause. In the considerateness of real regard and as a further proof of the strength of his love for David, Jonathan forbears explaining his scheme of prevention in the house, lest, perhaps, the ears of Others, unfriendly to David's peace, should bear tidings of it to Saul and thwart the project. He adjourns, therefore, with him to a field, and before the Ear and under the Eye of HEAVEN alone, Whose Attention and Observation he piously invokes, vows that he will deal faithfully with David; and having adopted the plan suggested by David, acquaint him early and fully of the result; calling down the Vengeance of HEAVEN on his own head, if he fail: and contemplating the possibility of a separation between them, should the displeasure manifested by the King confirm the fears of David, without asking another interview which might be fatal to his peace (an object which Jonathan proves to have at heart), he supplicates That Blessing,-than Which Friendship cannot ask a greater,—the Visitation of DIVINE Protection and Favour on the head of David, equal in measure to That Dealt out to Jonathan's Father; though, doubtless, expecting, though not expressing, that a more pious use would be made of It in the one case, than unfortunately had been in the other. And then, in the spirit of Prophecy, looking into the events of future times, in pious submission to the Will of GOD, and in acknowledgment that His Promise never Faileth, he avails himself of the favourable opportunity, and foreknowing or fully believing that in the Acceptable Time of The LORD David would be highly Exalted, Jonathan pre-engages the employment of that power to the protection of his own life and the lives of his Offspring in future ages; binding him thereto by a solemn covenant, not unnatural, however unnecessary it might have been from such a Character as David. It is hardly in words to convey more briefly, and, at the same time, more forcibly the power of David's influence over the heart of Jonathan than these, a power springing, evidently, from the excellence of David's qualities and the intrinsic merit of his actions.

"Then Jonathan said to David, To-morrow is the new moon; and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty: and when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself, when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel: and I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark ; and, behold, I will send a Lad, saying, 'Go, find out the arrows!' If I expressly say unto the Lad, 'Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them! then come

thou! for there is peace to thee; and no hurt; as The LORD Liveth. But if I say thus unto the young Man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee!' go thy way! for The LORD hath Sent thee away. And as touching the matter, which thou and I have spoken of, behold, The LORD Be between thee and me for ever!'"-1 Sam. xx. 18, 23.

With all the considerateness of the deepest counsel, and with all the anxiety of the sincerest affection, and with all the condescension of a mind labouring to do good, Jonathan thus organizes a plan of operations by which, without the hazard of an exposure of his Friend by a direct conference between them, the mind of David might be sufficiently informed of what related to or threatened his peace; whilst his body was reserved in concealment. And in the conditional farewell that Jonathan takes of him, he again dwells on the covenant that had been made between them, thereby, indirectly, and with all the delicacy of exalted feeling, consoling the spirit of David with the assurance that his dearest Friend was not faithless, but believing that The LORD of All Might was his PROTECTOR, and the Word which the Prophet Samuel had spoken concerning him would surely come to pass, a source of consolation than which nothing was more likely to support David under every trial and difficulty, and to bring him peace even amidst persecution.

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"So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the King sat him down to eat meat; and the King sat upon his seat as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day; for he thought Something had befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean." -1 Sam. xx. 24, 26. David yielded, and justly so, his confidence to Jonathan, and did as he directed: how sweet and salutary is the counsel of pious Friendship! how studiously, therefore, should it be cultivated! how much should it be longed after! For Saul, bent on the fiend-like and hell-directed purpose of his malignant heart, though with all his wonted energy and circumspection about him, takes his accustomed seat in the celebration of a solemn festival to The LORD; but, alas! with a mind how little congenial with such a Service. From the absence of David he is led to conclude that David was outwardly unclean, and, therefore, unfitted for attendance at the Sacrifice; the Levitical law prescribing that "the Soul that should touch any unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the Sacrifice of peace-offerings, which pertain unto The LORD, even that Soul should be cut off from His People" (Lev. vii. 21): and various causes of bodily uncleanness are enumerated, which any One suffering is not, though "he bathe himself in water, absolved from until the even"-Lev. xv. 5, &c. But what a mockery of The DIVINE Law, what blasphemy against The HOLY GHOST was this admission by Saul of the outward and ceremonial rite as respected David, and his own dreadful neglect of that cleanness of his own heart on the same solemn occasion, without which, in an infinite degree less, could he hope to render an acceptable Sacrifice to GOD. This, indeed, should he have done, and not have left the other undone but what a miserable Slave to weakness, and folly, and absurdity, and stupidity, and grossest darkness does the mind of Man become when it refuses the Light of DIVINE Truth for its Guide, preferring darkness to light; but this it does, only because its deeds are evil intended.

"And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty; and Saul said unto Jonathan, his Son, Wherefore cometh not the Son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor to-day?' And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem: and he said, "Let me go, I pray thee; for our Family hath a sacrifice in the City and my Brother, he hath commanded me to be there; and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my

Brethren!" Therefore he cometh not unto the King's table.' Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou Son of the perverse rebellious Woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the Son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy Mother's nakedness? for as long as the Son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy Kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me! for he shall surely die.' And Jonathan answered Saul, his Father, and said unto him, 'Wherefore shall he be slain? What hath he done?' And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him : whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his Father to slay David.”1 Sam. xx. 27, 33.

The Feast of the New Moon was Ordained by the Mosaical Institution for “a Burnt Offering of sweet savour, a Sacrifice made by fire unto The LORD."-Num. xxviii. 11, 13. And Saul could not but have known, had he consulted his own conscience, that vain must be the Sacrifice, when the heart was destitute of devotion and DIVINE Grace-nay it must be, as the Prophet Isaiah afterwards proclaimed it to be (ch. i. 13 to 15,)" an abomination unto The LORD, and that the New Moons and appointed Feasts His SOUL Hateth, when the hands of the Offerer are full of blood.' Saul had passed a day in the celebration of this Festival, but with a Soul so little inwardly harmonizing with the outward ceremony, that the destruction of David seems to have been the only object of his thoughts. Had he but sought for the Light of Truth, instead of labouring to find a reason for David's absence, in that of his uncleanness, he would himself have retired from the Solemnity, and "washed himself and made himself clean, by putting away the evil of his doings from before The LORD'S Eyes; by ceasing to do evil and learning to do well."—Is. i. 16, 17. And this is an instance, which forcibly exposes the insufficiency of an approach to The LORD with the lips, even in His Holy Temple, if the heart be not right with Him;-That not every One that saith, "LORD! LORD !” though in the House of GOD, shall be Saved; but he, that doeth the Will of The LORD, Which is in Heaven. The language and the manner of Saul's first inquiry after David, of Jonathan, were those of gentleness and seeming affection-nothing that could in themselves have awakened suspicion in the mind of Jonathan, and which, on the contrary, had not distrust been before planted there, might have made Jonathan, however innocently, accessory to the snare that was laid for the destruction of him whom he "loved as his own Soul:"how doubly deep did this render the dye of Saul's iniquity! True to his promise, Jonathan gives, not only in substance, out in spirit, the answer that had been previously agreed upon, extending it with additional circumstances, as the countenance of Saul, changing with the rising passion, foretold the anger that was raging within him at the disappointment of his purpose. This act of Jonathan, excusable and even amiable as it may seem, and still more the suggestion of it by David, who had tasted of the Goodness and Protection of The LORD, must not, perhaps, be called in for an example, since it is not right to do evil that good may ensue and here a departure from the truth, was made by Man the foundation of Salvation from the power of the Spirit of evil; but such are the miserable subterfuges of Human policy when Men trust to their own devices, and seek not by prayer the Guidance of The HOLY SPIRIT, Even David, the "Man after GOD'S Own Heart," and Peter, for whom CHRIST Especially Interceded by Prayer to The FATHER, were not exempt from the influence of such weakness, when resting upon their own fancied sufficiency and strength. Let us take heed, lest whilst thinking we stand by the power of our own counsel, we fall into that error, which as a gulph will swallow up both Soul and body in Hell. Jonathan, knowing the respect that was due from David to his King, knew also that Saul, the Anointed of The LORD, could not but acknowledge that higher reverence was due from him to