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wonder not. We rather wonder that, tried by such extremes, his mighty spirit should not more often have burst control, and done vengeance on the conqueror, the avenger, and the destroyer.

To conceive aright the gracefulness and strength of King David's character, we must draw him into comparison with others in a similar condition, and then we shall see what hero in the world can vie with him. Conceive a man who had saved his country and clothed himself with gracefulness and renown in the sight of all the people by the chivalry of his deeds, won for himself intermarriage with the royal line, and by unction of the Lord's prophet been set apart to the throne itself; conceive such a one driven with fury from house and hold, and through tedious years deserted of every stay but Heaven, with no soothing sympathies of quiet life,— harassed forever between famine and the edge of the sword, and kept in savage holds and deserts, and tell us, in the annals of men, of one so disappointed, so bereaved and straitened, maintaining not fortitude alone, but a sweet composure; inditing praise to no avenging Deity, and couching songs in no revengeful mood, according with his outcast and unsocial life, but inditing praises to the God of mercy,-not, indeed, without the burst of sorrow and the complaint of solitariness, and prophetic warnings to his bloodthirsty foes, but ever closing in sweet preludes of good to come, and desire of present contentment. Find us such a one in the annals of men, and we yield the argument of this

controversy. Men there have been, driven before the wrath of kings to wander outlaws and exiles, whose musings and actings have been recorded to us in the minstrelsy of their native land. Draw these songs of the exile into comparison with the Psalms of David, and know the spirit of the man after God's own heart; the stern defiance of the one, with the tranquil acquiescence of the other; the deep despair of the one, with the rooted trust of the other; the vindictive imprecations of the one, with the tender regret and forgiveness of the other. Show us an outlaw who never spoiled the country which had forsaken him, nor turned his hand in selfdefence or revenge against his persecutors,-yea, lifted up his arm in behalf of that mother who had cast her son away from her bosom, and held him at a distance from her love, and raised the rest of her family to hunt him to the death; in the defiance of that thankless, unnatural mother-country, find us such a repudiated son lifting up his arm and spending his vigor in smiting and utterly discomfiting her enemies, whose spoils he kept not to enrich himself and his ruthless followers, but dispensed to comfort her and her happier children. Find us, among the Themistocles and Coriolani and Cromwells and Napoleons such a man, and we will yield the argument of this controversy which we maintain for the peerless son of Jesse.

But we fear that no such other man is to be found in the recorded annals of men. Though he rose from the peasantry to fill the throne, and enlarge

the borders of his native land, he gave himself neither to ambition nor to glory; though basely treated, he gave not way to despondency or revenge; though of the highest genius in poetry, he gave it not license to sing his own deeds, nor to ennoble any worldly sentiment or attachment of the human heart, however virtuous or honorable, but constrained it to sing the praises of God and the victories of the right hand of the Lord of hosts, and His admirable works which are old from everlasting.

The force of his character was vast, and the scope of his life was immense. His harp was full-stringed, and every angel of joy or of sorrow swept over the chords as he passed, but the melody always breathed of Heaven. And such oceans of affection lay within his breast as could not always slumber in their calmness; for the hearts of a hundred men strove and struggled together within the narrow confines of his single heart. And will the scornful man have no sympathy for one so conditioned, but scorn him. because he ruled not with constant quietness the unruly host of divers natures which dwelt within his soul? Of self-command he surely will not be held deficient who endured Saul's javelin to be so often launched at him, while the people without were willing to hail him king; who endured all bodily hardships and taunts of his enemies when revenge was in his hand, and ruled his desperate band, and restrained them from their country's injury. But that he should be able to enact all characters without a fault, the simple shepherd, the

conquering hero, and the romantic lover; the perfect friend, the innocent outcast, and the royal monarch; the poet and the prophet; and withal the man, the man of vast soul, who played not these parts by turns, but was the original of them all, and wholly present in them all,-oh! that he should have fulfilled this high-priesthood of humanity, this universal ministry of manhood, without an error, were inore than human! With the defence of his backslidings, which he hath himself more keenly scrutinized, more clearly discerned against, and more bitterly lamented than any of his censors, we do not charge ourselves; but if, when he became convinced of these acts, he be found less true to God, and to righteousness; indisposed to repentance, and sorrow, and anguish; exculpatory of himself; stout-hearted in his courses; a formalist in his penitence, or in any way less worthy in those than in the rest of his infinite moods, then let his Psalms become legends or what you please. But if those penitential Psalms lay bare the iron ribs of misery whereon the very heart dissolveth, then, we say, let us keep these records of the Psalmist's grief and despondency as the most precious of his utterances.

EDWARD IRVING

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SOLOMON AND HIS SAGES

One day the Queen of Sheba gave Solomon a ring, with many score of oxen. She bade him bestow it on the wisest of his sages. So Solomon commanded his wise men to appear before him on the feast of the full moon. They came from Bethel and Dan, the court and the school of the prophets.

Then King Solomon, arrayed in his regal robes, sat on his throne, the sceptre of Israel in his right hand. The Queen of Sheba sat beside him. He commanded his sages to speak. Many opened their mouths, and discoursed most eloquently; they told of many things. The eyes of the queen shone like dew-drops which quiver at sunrise on the peachblossoms. Solomon was sad.

At last one arose of courtly mien. He told of wondrous cities in far-off lands; how the sun scalds the dew in Sahara; how it forsakes the chill North for whole months, leaving the cold moon in its place; he spoke of the fleets that go down to the sea; he told how they weave wax at Tyrus, spin gold at Ophir; of the twisted shell that comes from Oroba, and the linen in Egypt that endures the fire; he spoke of fleets, of laws, of the art that makes men happy.

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'Truly, he is wise," said the king. "But let others speak."

Another came forth; he was young in years, his cheek was burning with enthusiasm, the fire of

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