CHAPTER I. "DAVID AND JONATHAN." "A friend loveth at all times." HE beautiful history of Jonathan and David has been an oft-told tale, and yet, if closely studied, there may be found delicate work ings and bright gleams of excel lence shining through the narrative, not always observed, and which if reflected on some characters would greatly improve them. At the first meeting of these two young men, their positions were widely different. Jonathan was the son of a king; David, the keeper of his father's sheep. We can have no hesitation in affirming that Jonathan was a pious prince, and he must have been struck by the simplicity as well as the strength of David's faith and devotion, when he saw him approach the giant with no other weapon than the missive of a rustic. David, it appears, possessed external attractions, and in the opening of the account given of this friendship, we learn, that "the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and he loved him as his own soul." The next thing which follows is the description of how Jonathan delighted to prove his affection by bestowing upon David the most pleasing gifts, such as bespoke the intimate regard of a brother. "And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments even to his sword, and his bow, and his girdle." Now it is frequently the case that two people begin a friendship in the same manner as this, but do we often find that such disinterested faithfulness as Jonathan's lasts to the end? The sudden emotions which might fill the heart, and call forth deep affection from any person towards a certain object of attraction, would naturally produce the desire of pleasing and benefiting that object in every possible way; and so far it would be well, if such a fresh spring of delight eventually subsided into a settled. attachment of a more sober kind. But suppose a man unconsciously winning the regard of another, be pursued by personal attentions, and loaded with unsought favours, then, after a while (the fever of feeling having passed away, and the charm of no |