all real Benefits are Derived, and to Whom, therefore, all obedience, as wel as praise, is due.

To pray to God, and not to be Heard of Him, or rather to have our prayers Rejected, for it cannot be but that, Humanly speaking, His Ear is every where and ever Open, is indeed the most awful state that in this Life the Soul can be subjected to-it is the forerunner of that state of horror which awaits those, who are Rejected from DIVINE Mercy in the Life to Come; and that too with the full consciousness that they are so, as the bitter but Predicted Consequences of their own folly. Saul's aim in his prayer was to confirm himself in his temporal power; he offered no contrite spirit, which is so Acceptable unto GOD; or, great as his sins were, he might have been Favourably Heard: he pledged himself to no newness of conduct, whereby alone, if sincerely proffered, he could reasonably hope to regain The DIVINE Favour alienated as his affections were from his GOD and His Holy Law, it was not consistent with DIVINE Wisdom that DIVINE Power should be Manifested in him; his Soul had become the willing Votary of Satan, and Heaven and Hell cannot unite. If, therefore, we would pray, that we may be Favourably Heard by Him, Who Heareth prayer, we must pray, whether in the day of trouble or the hour of death, with another heart and disposition than those of Saul; for otherwise though we may be afraid and our hearts tremble, yet when we inquire of The LORD, The LORD will Answer us not, neither by His Word nor by His SPIRIT.

Miraculous as the history of the appearance of the Spirit or Ghost of Samuel is, yet if it be considered as the Appointment of The LORD, it may be easily reconciled to us by being referred to the Source of all other Miracles, the Universality of GOD'S Power: as far as David's history is affected by it, or observations to any practical purpose are to be drawn from it (beyond the general consideration that the appearance of Samuel's Spirit after death is one amongst the many proofs of the Immortality of the Soul, and of the Spirit's existence in some intermediate state, in the interval of its separation from the body between the death and resurrection of the latter), the answer of Samuel prophetically confirmed the Faithfulness of GOD'S Promises, and that His Eye is over the Righteous, and ever Open to his prayer: that GOD Regardeth disobedience as the sin of witchcraft; and, though He may be Slow to Anger in the Punishment of that offence (as was indeed verified in the instance of Saul's commission of it), yet it assuredly shall not go unpunished if unrepented of. The effect of Samuel's prophecy, that Saul's death was near at hand, exemplifies that sorrow of heart is not always repentance, or that repentance may be such as to need to be repented of, or that it may come too late, when the Door of Mercy is Closed for ever, and DIVINE Justice must Take Its Course. Had Saul listened to the first admonitions of this holy Prophet, The LORD would not have been his Enemy in this awful crisis of his fate; and as we have a Samuel in the warning voice of our Conscience and in the Revealed Law of our GOD, it behoves us to take heed that we walk whithersoever it directeth us, lest we stray irrecoverably into the path of the Destroyer.

What a melancholy picture is here presented of fallen Human Nature! The Chosen of GOD driven from his propriety by the abject fear of death! The Anointed of The LORD Forsaken by That LORD, and seeking refuge in the Father of lies, though himself so lately striving to exterminate the Minions of that Evil One, in the Wizards and Familiar Spirits with necromancy from his Kingdom.

"Now the Philistines gathered together all their Armies to Aphek; and the Israelites pitched by a fountain, which is in Jezreel and the Lords of the Philistines passed on by Hundreds and by Thousands but David and his Men passed on in the rereward with Achish. Then said the Princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here?' And Achish said unto the Princes of the

Philistines, 'Is not this David, the Servant of Saul, the King of Israel, which hath been with me these days or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?? And the Princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the Princes of the Philistines said unto him, 'Make this Fellow return, that he may go again to his place, which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle; lest in the battle he be an Adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his Master? should it not be with the heads of these Men? Is not this David, of whom they sang One to Another in dances, saying, 'Saul slew his Thousands, and David his Ten Thousands?' Then Achish called David, and said unto him, 'Surely, as The LORD Liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out, and thy coming in with me in the Host is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day nevertheless the Lords favour thee not: wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou displease not the Lords of the Philistines!' And David said unto Achish, 'But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy Servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the Enemies of my Lord the King?' And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an Angel of GOD: notwithstanding, the Princes of the Philistines have said, "He shall not go up with us to the battle." Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy Master's Servants, that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart!' So David and his Men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the Land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel."-1 Sam. xxix.

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The jealousy of the Philistines was natural, and the force of their reasoning against the policy of trusting to David under such circumstances strong; indeed from part at least of the past conduct of David, during his continuance with Achish, in the destruction of the Geshurites, the Gezerites, and the Amalekites, before adverted to, notwithstanding Achish had not even a suspicion of it, some doubt may well arise whether David would not in reality have done as the Princes of the Philistines foreboded of him. The valour of David, and his former zeal in the cause of his Country, are here testified of by his very Adversaries, and but for the unnatural and insatiable persecution, to which he was exposed through the malignant and envious disposition of Saul, he might have continued even without reproach in his Generation, true to his King, his Country, and his GOD, contented with the portion of good allotted to him in the endearments of one Wife, and in the opportunities of communicating public good, which his public station afforded him. it is in trials and temptations that the heart reveals the secrets of its composition; and cautious and circumspect, therefore, should Others be in the visitation of their judgments upon the conduct of their Fellow-Creatures, lest being tempted in all respects like them, they may still be found not without sin. In a strange and Heathen Land it is conspicuously observable that David did not depart from the worship of The True GOD, and of this the testimony of Achish, in assimilating him to an Angel of That Almighty POWER, is strongly corroborative. Though David's trials were indeed fiery, he being ungraciously treated by his own Brethren, whom he tenderly loved, being assailed with the weapons of death by his own King, whom he had faithfully and essentially served, having the arms of his own Country arrayed against him, though to that Country, at the peril of his own life, he, under GOD, had administered salvation from its most formidable and otherwise seemingly invincible Foe, being driven from the endearments of social and domestic life, the relation of Husband and Father at once broken in upon, and the affections of her, he so ardently loved, diverted to Another; doomed, moreover, to give countenance and support to the Profligate and Dissatisfied, and to receive them into his confidence ; yet withal never withdrawing his allegiance from his GOD, but patiently waiting,

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and piously trusting in His Gracious Providence: in no instance reflecting upon HEAVEN for the hardness of his destiny, but continuing in hope even against hope, as it were, that the Acceptable Time of The LORD, for His Servant's Deliverance, would assuredly once come, however long it might tarry: when these things are duly considered, it is not, or it should not be in sober-minded Man, at least, severely to pass sentence on the occasional weaknesses that overtook an Individual, having the infirmities of his nature in common with his Fellow-Mortals. And our object should be rather to try ourselves by his standard of merit and demerit, than eagerly to find fault with his errors; but, at the same time, it is just and necessary that those errors we should both see, and understand, and meditate upon, that we may strive not to fall into the like failings and condemnation; but the bright parts of the portrait should we as anxiously and deeply contemplate, that according to our respective spheres and abilities, we may strive to exhibit the same or equal graces. And it came to pass, when David and his Men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag; and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire: and had taken the Women Captives, that were therein; they slew not Any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So David and his Men came to the City, and behold, it was burned with fire; and their Wives, and their Sons, and their Daughters were taken Captives! Then David, and the People that were with him, lifted up their voice, and wept, until they had no more power to weep: and David's two Wives were taken Captives, Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, the Wife of Nabal, the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed for the People spake of stoning him, because the Soul of all the People was grieved, every Man for his Sons and for his Daughters. But David encouraged himself in The LORD, his GOD."1 Sam. xxx. 1, 6.

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Deep as had been the measure of David's calamity until this period, yet he seems now to have had Administered to him the very dregs of the cup of bitterness and sorrow his house demolished, all his ornaments prostrated, his Wives, his Daughters torn from him, and become the prey of an infuriated and merciless Enemy-his little Ones looking in vain for Parental consolation; the Companions, and hitherto faithful Companions of his fortunes, overwhelmed with the torrent of grief which thus equally bore down upon them, as on their Master, yet absorbed in the contemplation of their own misery, without heeding the woes of David, rising rebelliously against him, and openly conferring on the means of exterminating him, to whom they attributed all their sorrows (reasoning, perhaps, that as from Ziklag, which Achish had humanely given David and his Followers for a City to dwell in, he influenced them to go forth and destroy the Amalekites, who were friendly if not tributary to Philistia, this was now but retributive justice, and that, at all events, David was criminally rash as a General in leaving his own Territories unguarded, whilst engaging unnecessarily in a foreign war); but though thus destitute of all earthly hope, and desolate and forsaken of All, yet did he not forsake his GOD, nor was faithless of His Promised Salvation, thus manifesting a constancy in piety; a principle which may be and should be fondly cherished by us in every occurrence of adversity; and only the more applicable and consoling, as the extent of that adversity becomes the greater and more trying, for here we should never faint; but even if our life be required of us by our most inveterate Enemy, still put our trust in The LORD, and in the Power of His Might, that, though He may Give us over unto death, since it is appointed unto all Men once to die, yet that, if we have faith, He will not Leave our Souls to Destruction, but Awaken us to Glory Everlasting in the Day of Universal Resurrection.

"And David said to Abiathar the Priest, Ahimelech's Son, I pray thee, bring me hither the Ephod!' And Abiathar brought thither the Ephod to David ;

and David inquired at The LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this Troop? shall I overtake them?' And He Answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all?' So David went, he and the six hundred Men that were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where Those, that were left behind, stayed. But David pursued, he and four Hundred Men; for two Hundred abode behind, which were so faint, that they could not go over the Brook Besor. And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins; and, when he had eaten, his Spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. And David said unto him, 'To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou?' And he said, 'I am a young Man of Egypt, Servant to an Amalekite; and my Master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. We made an invasion upon the South of the Cherethites, and upon the Coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.' And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this Company?' And he said, 'Swear unto me by GOD, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my Master and I will bring thee down to this Company.' And when he had brought him down, Behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating, and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the Land of the Philistines, and out of the Land of Judah. And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a Man of them, save four hundred young Men, which rode upon camels and fled. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away; and David rescued his two Wives: and there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great; neither Sons nor Daughters; neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David recovered all."-1 Sam. xxx. 7, 19. David, still retaining his religious belief in the Power and Providence of GOD, thus manifests its prevalence in his heart by resorting to the Appointed Means of its demonstration, and, in conformity with the Levitical Institutes, making the Priest the Mediator of his peace with his GOD, and the Sacerdotal Emblem the Instrument by which he consults The DIVINE Oracles. On the Spiritual Communication consequent upon that intercessory operation, David, in all the humility of a devout heart, confidently relies, and unhesitatingly goes forward, nothing doubting of the Fulfilment of The DIVINE Promise and Benediction; nor did the falling away of so large a proportion as one Third of his Followers operate as a dissuasive from his purpose: for he knew that The LORD JEHOVAH was his Strength, and that He could Save equally by Few as by Many. The incident of the deserted and fainting Egyptian, revealing the route of his Companions, is an instance of the extraordinary Providences of GOD being often Brought about by the most ordinary and simple operations of Nature, and that GOD, as a Wise MASTER BUILDER, Uses the means and materials that are most ready and fitting for His Purpose. The skill of David in the language of Egypt, which may be inferred as the obvious sense of the Text, is a further proof of the industry and talent of One, whose occupation was primarily the simple one of tending on sheep, and who had since been exposed to the busy perils of war, or to the bustling politics of the State.

"And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, 'This is David's spoil.' And David came to the two Hundred Men, which were so faint, that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the Brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the People, that were with him: and, when David came near to the People, he saluted them. Then answered all the wicked Men, and Men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, 'Because they went not with us,

we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every Man his Wife and his Children, that they may lead them away, and depart.' Then said David, 'Ye shall not do so, my Brethren, with that which The LORD hath Given us, Who hath Preserved us, and Delivered the Company, that came against us, into our hand; for who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.' And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day."-1 Sam. xxx. 20, 25. The Amalekites had deserted their Sick; and so would the Heathen-Israelites theirs, but David had studied a different rule of humanity, and the Divine Precept of Brotherly love operated religiously within him. The cause of the two Hundred of his Followers not participating in the labours and perils of the conflict was not criminal in them; they had been disabled by previous exertion, and it would have been almost injustice, and absolute inhumanity, to have visited such infirmity with the principle of exclusion, such as was proposed; more especially as These had equally with the Others suffered in the burning and plunder of all that belonged to them; and humanity, whose movements are always congenial with true policy, dictated to David a generous dealing by these Sufferers. Feeling, as experience invariably realizes, that "it is more blessed to give, than to receive," and that, however general, philanthropy is a duty to be practised to the utmost limit of our individual sphere, we should do good unto All, but especially unto Them that are of the Household of faith, being Partners of the same Spiritual hopes, and Heirs of the same DIVINE Promises with Ourselves. It is especially observable that the benevolence of David's heart was not a self-assumed and self-originating moral influence he does not set it up as a doctrine emanating solely from his own mind, and disclaim all Assistance from Superior Wisdom in the formation of his judg ment, but, in the spirit of the truest piety, acknowledges not only the Miraculous Interposition of DIVINE Power in the attainment of a victory so signal and productive of benefit, but points to the Peculiar Bounty of GOD (from Whom indeed every good and perfect Gift Cometh), as a Principle to be sacredly imitated. "It was not their own sword, nor their own strength, that had gotten them the victory, but The LORD, The GOD of Hosts, That Repaid Vengeance on their Enemies, Recompense to their Adversaries ;" and Who, having abundantly Blessed them, even beyond their hearts' expectations, if not desires, had a Right to Expect, that they, in their turn, would give with a liberal hand, gathering from His Own Example that "The LORD doth Love a liberal Giver." And in all recoveries, as well as acquisitions of property, we shall do well not to overlook the case of the Distressed, but to give freely unto Such of our Brethren as have need; and if this principle, as applied to temporal goods, is thus sacredly commended and enjoined, in how much higher a sense is it deserving of adoption when embracing Spiritual and everlasting interests.

"And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the Elders of Judah, even to his Friends, saying, 'Behold a present for you of the spoil of the Enemies of The LORD!' To them which were in Beth-el; and to them which were in South Ramoth; and to them which were in Jattir; and to them which were in Aroer; and to them which were in Siphmoth; and to them which were in Eshtemoa; and to them which were in Rachal; and to them which were in the Cities of the Jerahmeelites and to them which were in the Cities of the Kenites; and to them which were in Hormah; and to them which were in Chor-ashan; and to them which were in Athach; and to them which were in Hebron; and to all the Places where David himself and his Men were wont to haunt."-1 Sam. xxx. 26, 31. David thus continues to shew himself the Child of GOD, following the Great Example That was Set before him, he overcometh evil with good; and not