SAUL APPOINTED KING.

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sustained the chosen people, Samuel was displeased with their request, yet he consented to lay it before the Supreme Ruler. He did so, and returned with permission to make them a king, but he was commanded to warn them previously, of the consequences of their impiety.

Fanny. I confess, mother, I cannot perceive the impiety of asking for a king. In America, we choose a republican form of government, but we do not charge those who prefer a monarchy, with impiety.

Mother. Neither are they impious. The case of the Israelites was altogether singular. With a code of laws given by Jehovah himself, and governed by Him in a visible manner, they had abundant evidence that prosperity would continue to be, as it ever had been, the reward of obedience. To remain under the institutions of His choice was their obvious duty; but in vain were they admonished that their wilful dereliction would be its own punishment; in vain were they reminded, that Jehovah was, in fact, their king-that Jehovah, not Samuel, was rejected!" that the king whom they should set over them would oppress them to aggrandize himself—that he would raise armies of their sons, and involve them in wars-that their free-born daughters would be his cooks, and his bakers, and his confectionaries-that he would take their fields and their vineyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants-that he would take the tenth of the produce of their lands for his officers-that he would take the tenth of their sheep-and their goodliest young men to do the meanest of his work-and, after all, when the cries of their servitude ascended to heaven, no answer would be given." The reproof, and the warning, and the menace, were alike unavailing "Nay, but we will have a king, like the nations," was their obstinate determination; and Samuel was accordingly commanded to take Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, and anoint him privately, and afterwards to take him, by lot, at Mizpeh, from the tribes and the families of Israel, in the presence of all the people. Thus the government of Israel, which had been administered by judges for more than three centuries, was now changed into a monarchy. (B. C. 1095.)

Catherine. Was it no longer then a theocracy?

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AMMONITES ATTACK JABESH-GILEAD.

Mother. It was still a theocracy, for the king had no power to make a new law, or to alter those delivered to Moses. He was but the vicegerent of the Most High, and distinguished above the judges by the appendages of roy alty, which they never assumed, and by the transmission of regal authority to his children.

The person of the new king was remarkably tall, and his countenance noble. His princely appearance presaged the future glory of the nation, and acclamations of "God save the king," resounded through the air when Samuel presented him to the people.

Catherine. So it is then from this early example that the invocation on a reigning monarch is handed down to the present day?

Mother. This is the first example upon record, and, probably, the first occasion on which it had been used. It would be well for us to retain every good lesson derived from the Scriptures, with equal tenacity. But, notwithstanding the delight of the people on the gratification of their inconsiderate desire to be assimilated "to the nations," there were among them some turbulent spirits who beheld with envy the elevation of an equal to the unprecedented honour of a crown. These men refused to do him homage in the customary manner of bringing presents, and scornfully exclaimed, "how shall this man save us?" Saul prudently took no notice of the affront, but rather strove to allay their angry feelings, by modestly retiring, for the present, to his residence at Gibeah. An occasion, however, soon offered, to unite all hearts in his favour. Their old enemies, the Ammonites, came up and encamped over against Jabesh-gilead. The inhabitants, weak and defenceless, offered to make terms, and thereby encouraged their assailants to demand the liberty of putting out the right eye of every man in the city! This unexpected insolence convinced them that a war was not to be avoided. They obtained, however, à respite of seven days, and instantly despatched messengers to all the tribes on the other side of Jordan, entreating them to come to their assistance. The news had just arrived at Gibeah, and had thrown the city into a tumult, as Saul entered from his customary occupations in the field. "The Spirit of the Lord" came

SAUL CONQUERS THE AMMONITES.

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suddenly upon him, and he entered promptly and zealously on the public duties of his station.

Fanny. What is implied in these words, "The Spirit of the Lord" came upon him?

Mother. They are used here as they are in the cases of Gideon, of Samson, and others, to signify that the courage and wisdom displayed in their subsequent actions, were inspired by the Lord, from whom every excellent quality must emanate, because He is the source of all. Thus Saul, when his people required his protection, was animated to the exercise of his authority without diffidence.

Justly indignant at the disgraceful condition exacted of the men of Jabesh, he took a yoke of oxen, hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all Israel, with this message: "Whoever refuses to follow Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen :" in the mean time he assured the anxious Gileadites that they should have help. Three hundred and thirty thousand men were speedily marched to their relief, and the Ammonites driven back with a great slaughter.

The people now, exulting in the prowess of their king, called aloud for the men who had refused to acknowledge Saul, that they might be put to death; but Saul forbade the bloody expiation on a day when their arms had been so signally prosperous.

Pleased with this instance of meekness and piety, Samuel proposed to the army to repair to Gilgal, and again proclaim their king. No murmurs interrupted their harmony, but, joyfully proceeding to Gilgal, peace-offerings were sacrificed, and Saul again solemnly recognized as the King of all Israel.

Fanny. Why did an amiable Prince choose so revolting a manner of assembling his subjects, as sending mangled flesh amongst them?

Mother. You are not to consider the act as an evidence of his disposition, but of the customs which prevailed. Emblems were used, in the infancy of language, to express ideas. When that became more copious, they were still retained in the East.

Although the desire of the Israelites to be governed by a king, had been sanctioned by the divine nomination of

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SAUL DESTROYS THE AMALEKITES.

the person, and although that person had already evinced the possession of talents suited to his station, yet Samuel would not neglect the opportunity offered him by their immoderate exultations at Gilgal, to remind them, that the introduction of a royal government was an act of rebellion against their rightful Sovereign, and an evidence of the same guilty disposition to apostacy which had often involved their forefathers in trouble. That they might not impute his reproof to envy, or any other interested motives, he called upon them to witness before God, and their king-whether he had not administered the government with uniform uprightness. With one accord, they attested his integrity; he then assured them that an immediate judgment would convince them that they had displeased the Almighty-not him, in asking for a king. Thunder, and unseasonable rain upon their fields, now, in the time of harvest, reduced the inconsiderate people to a sense of their sin, and they earnestly besought their prophet to pray for them. "God forbid," he replied, "that I should sin against him by ceasing to pray for and instruct you; nor will He abandon you; if ye serve him in sincerity and truth, He will preserve both you and your king."

The flattering anticipations indulged by the nation from the indications of excellence in their royal ruler, were in a short time reversed: he continued, indeed, active and successful in repelling the invaders of his country on every side; but in the prosecution of his wars he was guilty of disobedience to the Divine law-and in his private character he became jealous, arbitrary, and cruel.

Among the heathens by whom Israel was encompassed, the Amalekites, a powerful people, had manifested their enmity so early as in the beginning of the passage through the wilderness, when the feeble emigrants were without confidence either in themselves or in their Divine leader, and had continued their hostility to the present time. For their opposition in the first, instance, judgments had been denounced, and now that their cup of iniquity was running over with the most abominable idolatry, complete extermination, both of themselves, and of every living creature in their possession, was commanded. In the prosecution of this awful decree, the Hebrew monarch was prompt and

successful-so far as he went: for he presumed to execute his own will in part. Instead of obeying the express decree that every living creature should die, he not only reserved the best of the captured flocks, but spared the life of Agag, the king, of whose ruthless warfare we may form some idea from the reproach of Samuel when he afterwards inflicted the death the tyrant had well meritedThy sword hath made women childless."

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This palpaple act of disobedience, aggravated by the pretext of religious zeal, that he had reserved the cattle for sacrifice, received a reproof not less instructive to us, than to him to whom it was addressed-for we are all prone to excuse our transgressions, by some plausible apology, whilst an honest conscience would detect the deceit, and remind us, with Saul, that, " to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken, than the fat of rams."

To this reproof, the prophet added a repetition of the sentence which he had before announced; "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath rejected thee from being king”—and “hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou."

Charles. Was Saul then immediately deprived of the crown?

Mother. No. The rejection of Saul was the exclusion of his house from the succession: the pitying prophet, therefore, when he professed himself sensible of his sin, yielded to his entreaty "not to dishonour him before the elders and the people," and continued near him for a time; but at length he retired to his own house at Ramah, and left the fallen king to his own counsels. At Ramah he remained, in melancholy reflection on the defection of Saul and the disappointment of his country-until he was aroused by a command to grieve no more for Saul, but hasten to Bethlehem, where, in the family of Jesse, he would find him whom he should anoint in the place of the rejected monarch.

Taking, therefore, an heifer for an offering, he went to Bethlehem, and after he had invited the elders of the town to attend at the sacrifice which he was come to celebratehe went to the house of Jesse, and desired that he and his