who now amounted to six hundred, with the spoil which he took from the aggressors.

Continually on the watch for the blameless object of his unfounded jealousy, the restless monarch exulted when his spies informed him, that David had raised the siege of Keilah, and reposed with his men within its walls. Thither therefore he hastened-but David happily received intelligence of his approach, and learning in answer to his pious inquiry, by means of his prophet Abiather, that the ungrateful inhabitants were prepared to deliver him up to the king-he escaped to the wilderness of Ziph. From Ziph he was again driven by the hostile disposition of the people, who gave notice to the king of the place of his re treat; before his flight, however, he had the consolation of a visit from Jonathan, who supported him by the reassurance of his own unalterable regard-and his steady. trust that his friend would one day fill the throne of Israel, notwithstanding the determined hatred of the king.

CATHERINE. A wilderness I understand to be a barren wild, unfit for habitation of man-how then did David find enemies in Ziph?

MRS. M. The tracts, to which the Israelites gave the name of wilderness, or desert, were not altogether of that description; they were extensive plains, uncultivated, but affording pasturage for their sheep and camels. Trees, shrubs and springs were found in some-though others were sterile, mountainous and sandy. Such appears to have been the desert of Maon, to which David had fled before the arrival of Saul in the wilderness of Ziph. An invasion of Judah by the Philistines, now obliged the king to turn his arms against them, and gave David an opportunity of escaping from Maon, where he had been nearly

surrounded by the royal bands, to a shelter more secure in the caves of Engeddi.

These caverns, so often mentioned in Scripture, abounded in the mountainous parts of Canaan. Some of them were immense, and were used by the people as places of refuge for themselves and their effects, during the incursions of their neighbours-an instance of which you will recollect in the time of Gideon-from which it would seem that the wretched Israelites were sometimes obliged to dig out and enlarge them, for this very purpose.

They are still seen by travellers in the "Holy Land." One who has given us a most delightful account of that ever-interesting portion of the earth, says, he found in one of these caves a grateful retreat from a sun so intensely hot, that not one of his party had sufficient resolution to abandon his umbrella and descend from his horse, to collect the rare plants which sprung up in their path, although they were such as had not been described by former travellers.*

In the spacious chambers of Engeddi, the persecuted fugitive, with all his followers, remained during the war with the Philistines; when that was finished, Saul again sallied out with three thousand men in search of David, and halted in their excursive march at the mouth of Engeddi; but David and his army lay within its deep recesses undiscovered!

Thus, for several years, was the king-elect of Israel pursued from one hiding place to another-sometimes in the depths of the forests-sometimes in the rocky clefts of the mountains. Twice in the course of this miserable

* Clarke.

warfare, the life of Saul was in his hand; yet, although urged by his adherents to rid himself of his inveterate enemy, he spared him.

CHARLES. Who could have blamed him for taking the life of a man, whose groundless jealousy had made him so wretched, and who was in continual pursuit of his life?

MRS. M. In both instances the king was unconscious of David's approach. In one, he carried away his spear; which stuck in the ground, near his head, while he sleptand, in the other, cut off the skirt of his robe. Both were returned not vaunted, as trophies of his boldness or generosity, but as the unquestionable evidences of his loyalty; accompanied with an affecting remonstrance on the hard treatment he received. Had they met in open battle, David would have been equally tender of the life of Saul, whose person he held sacred; not merely as his rightful sovereign, but as the "anointed of the Lord." Obdurate as the heart of Saul had become, he was touched with these instances of the magnanimity of his servant, and, confessing his prophetic fears that David should reign over Israel, he required of him an oath that he would not exterminate his family.

But David was too well acquainted with Saul to confide in the transient starts of a tormenting conscience, which induced this seeming submission to his fate. Knowing himself insecure in any part of Saul's dominions, he passed over to Gath, and respectfully solicited an asylum for himself and his followers. Achish was pleased with the accession of a chief of David's high character, and readily bestewed on him Ziklag, a town near the border of Judah. Here they settled: David, with his two wives, and his people, each with his own household, in a regular manner.

CATHERINE.

You had not before mentioned the two wives of David. Pray was the king's daughter one of those who was reduced by her father to lead this wandering miserable life?

MRS. M. Saul had denied even this poor consolation to David; Michal had been given, in his absence, to another. David had married Abigail and Ahinoam, during the years of his exile. The circumstances which introduced him to the former, who was a beautiful woman, are worth our notice, because they exemplify the ìnfluence of prudence and gentleness in the character of a wife.

A descendant of Caleb, whose name was Nabal, had large possessions, particularly in flocks, which fed on. Mount Carmel, in the neighbourhood of one of David's wild fortresses. The festive season of sheep-shearing coming on, when great plenty abounded, he sent messengers to Nabal, who was found dispensing a princely entertainment, requesting some provisions for his men, who, indeed must often have been in want during their wandering life. But Nabal's churlish disposition was not touched by the misfortunes of the son of Jesse, nor yet by the intimation that his soldiers had not supplied their necessity from his innumerable herds; but had rather guarded them from the depredations of robbers, or the wild beasts of the wilderness. The messengers were not only refused a participation in the feast, but sent back to their chief with the insulting charge of following a man who had run away from his master!

The proud spirit of conscious innocence could not brook such ingratitude-two hundred men were left to take care of the camp, while the remaining four hundred, with

M

their affronted leader, hastened to chastise the miserable Nabal. But, happily for all parties, before they reached his fields they were met by Abigail, the fair wife of Nabal, attended by servants, bearing refreshments of all sortsraisins and wine, sheep ready dressed, corn, bread and oil-to the camp of David. No sooner had she heard of the morose behaviour of her husband, than she set out, without consulting him, to prevent the evils his folly might occasion. More than her well-timed present, her graceful petition, that David would pardon the transgressions of her husband, induced him to reconsider his rash enterprise. Accepting her present, he confessed that she had been the providential means- of preventing him from destroying every thing that belonged to Nabal! When she returned home, the intoxication of her husband, from his continued revels, prevented her from relating to him the cause of her absence. His sudden death, however, in a few days, relieved her from the ill-suited bondage, and she became, soon after, the wife of David.

Let us now return to the unhappy king, whom we shall find involved in difficulties more serious than the fancied rebellion of David.

The Philistines had audaciously penetrated into the heart of his dominions, in such strength, that Saul, though naturally valiant, beheld them with dismay. Samuel, his faithful counseller, had descended to the grave, amidst the lamentations of all Israel; and David, his invincible captain, had been driven by his dishonourable suspicions to take refuge with strangers! The Oracle of the Covenant returned no answer to his inquiries, nor was his clouded path enlightened by cheering dreams! Abandoned thus on every side to his own erring inclinations, he now listen