promise must yet be respected; but as Joab, who had slain Absalom, contrary to the command of the king, and most treacherously put to death two princes of Israel, "who were better than himself"-had obtained no such exemption, he ought to suffer the punishment due to his aggravated crimes.

Soon after these regulations were finished, David, the great king of Israel," died in a good old age, full of days, riches and honour," says his historian-having obtained the high designation of "a man after God's own heart," and leaving, in a life of seventy years, forty of which he had reigned, a volume of instructions to posterity, both in his writings and his actions.* (B. C. 1015.)

CATHERINE. The whole life of David is indeed interesting, but I am at a loss to know how he who was far from being perfcct-could be called a "man after God's own heart."

MRS. M. These words have abundantly provoked the derision of infidels, who choose to apply to them a meaning which some of their number at least, are aware, they were never intended to convey. They are analogous to those which I lately explained to you. "The Spirit of the Lord came upon him”—that is, enabled him to perform the duty required at the time. In like manner it was the Heart or the Will of God, that a man should be invested with royal

The history of David to the death of Samuel, is believed to have been written by that eminent eye-witness of his actions. From thence it was probably continued by Gad or Nathan, both contemporary.—The prophets in the several ages of the Jewish church, certainly wrote some annals of their own times;-from these the canon of Scripture was finally settled by Ezra, and th Sanhedrim, or grand Jewish council.

authority, from whom, in a lineal descent, the Messiah should come-that in his reign the whole country," from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates," which had been promised to the posterity of Abraham, should be subdued; and the civil and ecclesiastical government of the Israelites reduced to a regular and permanent form. Now, for all these purposes, David was qualified by his wisdom, his valour, and his eminent piety. His character is not without blemishes; and these are not extenuated by his annalist; but his integrity, his meekness, his benevolence, but above all, his activity in the cause of religion, and his faithful adherence to one God in the midst of the most debasing idolatry, into which the chiefs of his nation, both before and after him, unhappily fell, render him worthy of the sublime destiny to which he was called. His deep penitence and self-abasement for his sins-his disinterested loyalty to Saul, whose family he knew to be set aside in his favour; and his moderation in prosperity-devoting the great riches he had acquired in his wars, to the service of the divine Giver-are the indubitable evidences of a noble disposition. His inimitable compositions are the transcript of a genius, deep, fervid and comprehensivethey are the genuine effusions of a pious soul, sometimes bowed down by the heavy stroke of affliction-sometimes transported with joyful gratitude for some communication of divine favour, some unexpected deliverance or unmerited success. They are still applicable to the ever-varying circumstances of our mutable state, and will ever remain the enjoyment and consolation of every saint whilst the world endures !

CATHERINE. Yet the curses which he invokes on his enemies are not like the breathings of a saint-how do you

reconcile such expressions with the character of a pious. man?

MRS. M. As the whole life of David exhibits a mild and forgiving disposition, we are warranted in saying, that the expressions to which you allude, are not imprecations on his enemies: but, as he was a prophet," the Spirit of the Lord," says he, spake by me, and his word was in my tongue"-they may be understood as denunciations of God's wrath upon such men as he describes.

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CHARLES. I am glad to hear it. Your exposition is a relief to me, for I have often thought with pain of this vindictive trait in David's character-so very inconsistent with his general piety. Was he the author of all the

Psalms ?

MRS. M. Let your sister recite to us a versification she has attempted of the hundred and thirty-seventh psalm, and you will find your question answered.

CATHERINE.

PSALM 137.

1. Far from the land that gave us birth,
The captives of a heathen king;
Shall we give up one hour to mirth,
Shall we the songs of Zion sing?

2. Sing us a song—our masters say,
While sad and silent we remain :
Our weeping hearts reject the lay,
Our tongues refuse the sacred strain.

3. No-rather let our harps unstrung,
Our harps unus'd to mortal themes,
Upon the willow boughs be hung,
That droop o'er cruel Babel's streams!

4. O Canaan ! land of high behest!
The light of hope still beams on thee!
If I forget thy promis'd rest,

Then let my right hand palsied be!

5. If I forget thy olive bowers,

Thy vine-girt hills-thy daughters slain-
Thy holy temple's prostrate towers-
My tongue then ever dumb remain !

6. O Babylon! who raz'd our walls,

Who mock'd us in our days of woe;
Our ruin'd state for vengeance calls,

And thou in turn shalt be laid low!

MRS. M. Here you see the bard is a captive in Babylon, while his native land was in ruins-and that land was Canaan. David never saw Babylon, nor was his country. laid waste by a conqueror until ages after his death, consequently this ode is not his. The book of Psalms is the work of many hands, and they were composed in different times and circumstances of the Jewish church, even ages apart. They illustrate the Jewish history. Some of these beautiful hymns are of a date as early as the days of Moses, of Deborah, and of Hannah, the mother of Samuel; and some are as late as the Babylonian captivity. Some are the composition of Asaph, a distinguished Levite, and chief of the choir which David appointed, and organised for the public worship of the Temple; and many are anonymous. Something more than one-third are inscribed with the name of the royal prophet. These are evidently connected with the various events of his life, both adverse and prosperous. But the whole collection has received the

title of the Psalms of David, most probably because he set them to music, and directed their use in the temple service. In some ancient manuscripts it is called the Psalter, from the Psaltery, one of the instruments which accompa nied the singers.

"The Book of Psalms presents every possible variety of Hebrew poetry. They may all, indeed, be termed poems of the lyric kind, that is, adapted to music, but with great variety in the style of composition. Thus some are simply odes. An ode is a dignified sort of song, narrative of the facts either of public history or of private life, in a highly adorned and figurative style. But the figure in the psalms is that which is peculiar to the Hebrew language, in which the figure gives its meaning with as much perspicuity as the plainest speech. Others, again, are ethic, or didactic, delivering grave maxims of life, or the precepts of religion, in solemn, but, for the most part, simple strains. To this class we may refer the hundred and nineteenth and the other alphabetical psalms, which are so called, because the initial letters of each line or stanza followed the order of the alphabet. Nearly one-seventh part of the psalms are elegiac or pathetic compositions on mournful subjects. Some are enigmatic, delivering the doctrines of religion in enigmatic sentences, contrived to strike the imagination forcibly, and yet easily to be understood; while a few may be referred to the class of idyls, or short pastoral poems. But the greater part, according to bishop Horsley, is a sort of dramatic ode, consisting of dialogue between certain persons, sustaining certain characters."

*«Introduction to the critical study and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures," a late very extensive and excellent work, by Thomas Hartwell Horne, London,