such Psalms as David has, whose soul was not deeply imbued with the spirit of holiness. Love for the holy law of God, is a sign of grace; and he possessed this love in the highest degree. There was a rare union of qualities in his character. He was a consummate and unequaled hero, a skillful and fortunate captain, a steady patriot, a wise ruler, a faithful, generous, and magnanimous friend; and what is yet rarer, a no less generous and magnanimous enemy. But the highest merit of David, and that which seems to have been almost exclusively his own, was his poetic genius. As a Divine poet, even God himself had created none greater, either before or since. In this science and gift he is therefore the chef-d'oeuvre of the Almighty. Others have given occasional specimens of profound poetical genius, but there is no whole like that of David. He has left us elegies, odes, triumphal songs, descriptive pieces, and sacred lyrics, in which every chord of the human heart-every emotion of the soul-every aspiration of the spirit, is touched with a master hand. So deeply does he sound the depths of man's nature, so loftily does he soar to the gates of light-that no poet has ever lived whose ideas have become so much the common property of nations,-none in whose beautiful words the hopes, the fears, the joys, the griefs of the spiritual man have found such adequate expression. Men of all nations find in these compositions a language at once suitable to their feelings, and expressive of their highest joys and deepest sorrows, as well as of all the endlessly varied wishes and desires of their hearts. The sublimity, the depth, the excursive fancy, the discursive power, the vast compass of thought, the knowledge of heaven and earth, of God and nature, the work of the Spirit, the endlessly varied temptations of Satan, the knowledge of the human heart, the travail of the soul, the immense grasp of thought embodying and arranging, and afterward clothing in suitable language, the vast assemblage of ideas furnished by the natural and spiritual world, are all unrivaled. It is not the fiction of inventive genius; but the production of truth, hidden before in the bosom of God and nature, and exhibited in the most pleasing colors, with the most impressive pathos, and irresistible harmonic diction; these qualities, -these supra-mundane excellencies, are found in no other poet that ever graced the annals of the world; they exist in their perfection only in David, king of Israel. What is peculiarly remarkable, he has succeeded to the very highest degree in every species of poetic composition that has for its object the glory of God, and the welfare of man; and there is not one poet who has succeeded him, that has not failed when he attempted to sing of God, the punishment and rewards of the future world, and the unsearchable riches of Christ. His heart and his treasure were evidently in heaven, and thither, we trust, he has long since ascended; there to join in a "nobler, sweeter strain" than earth could afford,-strains to which the most exquisite melodies his harp ever produced, bear not even a faint comparison. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." CHAPTER IX. Elijah. BIRTH-PLACE; HUMBLE ORIGIN; SUDDEN APPEARANCE ON THE STAGE OF HE history of this great man is introduced very abruptly. He appears at once upon the stage, the whole man, living and moving, in spirit and conduct. He His origin is enveloped in obscurity. was born among the mountains of Gilead, on the other side. of Jordan. His birth-place, Tishbe, may be considered as only a mean and obscure village in the mountains; and the prophet in his childhood could not have known much of schools, or seats of learning, or the great world. He owed not his greatness to high birth or station, or a native place of renown, but rather to the distinguishing grace of Him who gave him his commission. The first act of Elijah is to give the fearful announcement to the idolatrous people about him, that rain and even dew should be withheld from the earth for years. In zeal for the honor of God, he had prayed that it might not rain, and being assured of an answer, he declared the judgment, and it immediately followed. Was the prophet to have no share in the common calamity? The Lord interposed to comfort and rescue him, in a way which should glorify his name, and exercise the faith of Elijah. He bade him depart to the brook Cherith, where by an especial Providence his wants should be supplied. For twelve months he staid in the dreary wild, near the banks of the Jordan, happy, as we may suppose, in obeying the Divine intimation. At length the flow of the brook began to diminish, and when its waters were well nigh spent, the Lord summoned him from his quiet retreat to a distant city, where he had again made provision for him, at the house of a poor widow. It is a noble testimony that is here borne of him:-"he arose and went." Directed by the spirit he came to the appointed place,the widow's home,-where both were long sustained by the miraculous increase of the scanty store. Delightful, undoubtedly, was the situation of Elijah and the devout widow at Zarephath. But, unexpectedly a heavy cloud darkens the peaceful cottage. Death comes and claims the only child of the widow. In her bereavement she appeals to the prophet, who retires to his room and earnestly implores that life may again be imparted to the inanimate form. It was granted, and the child restored in such a manner as to give unmistakable proof of the power of God, and authority of his messenger. |