was eminently endowed with the spirit of prophecy. He was much feared and respected by the whole nation, and was a great blessing to the Church. He doubtless wrote the book of Ruth, and the greater part of the first book which bears his name. It is supposed he died about the 98th year of his age.

The most remarkable event in his life, connected with the history of the Church, was the establishment of the School of the prophets.

Prophecy or the power of foretelling future events, belongs solely to God. The government of the universe is in his hands. He determines, in his own infinite mind, what shall be. He has control of the volitions and actions of men; and he only therefore can tell what will come to pass. The accomplishment of prophecy is one of the most striking proofs of the divine unity and of the inspiration of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. The heathen nations have ever been filled with diviners, who have professed to derive from their gods, a knowledge of futurity; and who have, in this way, been the chief supporters of pagan idolatry. But their whole system has been a system of lies;—an abominable imposition upon the ignorance and credulity of mankind.

By dreams, by flights of birds, by the entrails of beasts, by throwing dice, did the Grecian oracles, the most cunning the world ever saw, give their answers; and these were always so ambiguous, as to admit of different interpretations and save their credit if they failed of the truth.

We have seen that divine revelations were made to mankind in the earliest periods; and that, through Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Jacob, God was pleased, from time to time, to foretel future events. We have also contemplated Moses as a prophet, whom the Lord knew face to face. But no regular order of men, bearing the prophetic office, existed in the Church until this period. We now find schools of them established at Bethel, Gilgal, Najoth, Jericho and Jerusalem, and "Samuel standing as appointed over them.". In these schools of the prophets, young men of piety were collected, who were instructed by some eminent teacher in divine things, and fitted for the high stations of prophets, as God should call them. Their dress was plain and coarse; their food, pottage and herbs. They were designed to reprove, rebuke and reform a stupid and backsliding nation; and, by lively admonitions of impending judgments, by bold predictions of future events, to cause kings and priests and people, to turn with fasting and

mourning to the Lord. Many of them may have risen no higher than the business of composing and singing hymns to the divine honour, and instructing the people in the common principles of religion; but some of them were exalted to the very highest rank in the nation, and made the most powerful princes tremble before them.

Their predictions were not confined to the Jewish nation, but extended to the rise and fall of all the great empires of the earth, and constantly directed the Church to Him who was to redeem her by his blood; overturn all the kingdoms of men ; and establish a spiritual dominion, which should never be destroyed. These extraordinary men were continued in the Church from the days of Samuel to Malachi-a period of about 700 years; when the prophetic spirit was withdrawn for about 400 years, until John the Baptist, the last of the prophets in the Jewish dispensation.

The Israelites having departed from God, demanded of Samuel a king, that they might be like the nations around them. Such ingratitude to Him, who, for centuries, had been their sovereign and had kindly directed all their concerns, might well have provoked immediate destruction; but, for his promise to their fathers, he bore with them and gave them Saul. About 2923 A. M. the monarch was publicly crowned, and God endued him with suitable qualifications for government. But he soon departed from the Lord and showed himself unworthy of his exalted station. God therefore determined to dethrone him and his family; and, since the Hebrews would have a king to reign over them, He was pleased to advance the work of redemption and exalt the Church, by raising that family to the throne from which the Messiah, the promised seed, should descend. David, the youngest son, was selected and anointed by Samuel to succeed to the government, and be the distinguished ancestor and type of Christ. God brought him to the notice of the nation, to influence and royalty by a series of wonderful providences. He sanctified him early by his Holy Spirit; endued him with the power of prophecy; and excited him to celebrate, in a vast variety of beautiful songs, the divine character and government, and the glorious scheme of redemption by Jesus Christ.

David was the man after God's own heart. But, in common with all the ransomed of the Lord in this world, he was far from perfection. He sinned in numbering the people. He was guilty also of a gross violation of the sixth and seventh commandments. That sin was of a scarlet dye and crimson hue ;

most offensive to God, and injurious to his own soul, and has been the sport of thousands of mockers and scoffers, from that day to this. His heart too was greatly hardened. No man dared directly tell him his sin. Nathan declared it by a parable. It came upon him like a thunderbolt. Out of his own mouth was he condemned. And, upon conviction, he manifested, as every child of God will, a spirit of holiness. He did not, like a proud man, resent the charge. He did not, even as a self-righteous man, plead his meritorious services for a balance to his evil deeds; but he cast himself, in deep repentance, upon the mercy of God for pardon and life. The fifty-first Psalm, written on that occasion, exhibits the deepest penitential feelings.

With this eminent saint, did God solemnly renew the covenant of grace ;-that covenant which had been established with Adam, with Noah, with the patriarchs and with the Church in the wilderness: and, in his zeal for God, David subdued the holy city, Zion-Jerusalem; brought into it, with joyful acclamation, the Tabernacle; perfected the national worship, especially its sacred music, and gathered materials for a Temple, which should fill the earth with its glory.

His character can never be contemplated, but with admiration and love. His writings have been a most precious inheritance to the Church. Here saints have, in all ages, read their own experience. Here, they have found their joys and sorrows accurately portrayed; and, as the delineation has passed before their eyes, their soul has been melted and comforted within them. Here, in multitudes of songs, the character and offices of Christ, his glorious work on earth and in heaven, the blessedness of the Church, and its future enlargement and perfection are sweetly sung ;-and the pious have been furnished from that day to this, and will be furnished from this to the latest period of time, with the language and sentiments of devout praise. Forty years did David reign. He was a man of war, and he subdued all the nations around him; but he lived solely for the glory of God, and he advanced that glory beyond any monarch that ever sat on a throne. Having made the most magnificent preparations for the national Temple, and appointed his son. Solomon his successor, he died A. M. 2985, "full of days, and riches and honour."

Soon after Solomon's advancement to the throne, God ap, peared to him in a dream, and promised him wisdom and knowledge, and riches, and wealth and honour, granted to none of the kings that had been before, or should come after him. He

was accordingly a prince of great wisdom, splendour and glory. He reigned forty years; and, while he walked in the steps of David, his father, he in like manner promoted the divine glory; but in the latter part of his life, he was led by his strange wives into idolatry, and brought upon himself the wrath of Jehovah. There is reason, however, to believe that he became a penitent before his death, as the book of Ecclesiastes appears to be the production of a mind which had tasted the bitterness of sin, and been reclaimed to duty.

His reign was chiefly distinguished for the erection of the Temple on which David had" set his affection."

The tabernacle had remained the place of sacrifice. For about forty-six years it was kept at Shiloh. During the reign of Saul, it was removed to Nob. In the time of Eli, the ark was taken from it and carried into the army; was captured by the Philistines, and afterwards sent back to the city of Kirjathjearim. About seventy years after, it was carried to mount Sion, by David. His object in building the Temple was, to provide for it a permanent and noble abode. This building was probably the most magnificent and costly temple the world had ever seen. It was not so remarkable for its size, being but about one hundred and fifty feet in length, and one hundred and five in breadth,* nor would it probably compare with modern architecture. But the costliness of its materials, and the splendour of its furniture almost exceed belief. David and his princes consecrated to it 108,000 talents of gold, and 1,017,000 talents of silver. About 180,000 men were employed in its formation. It was erected on Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham offered up Isaac, and was seven years in building; but every thing was prepared at a distance, so that the sound of the hammer was not heard upon it. It looked towards the East; and had a porch in front, twenty cubits wide, ten deep and one hundred and twenty in height. On each side of its entrance was a pillar eighteen cubits high and twelve in circumference, adorned with chapiters and two hundred pomegranates. Beyond this porch was the sanctuary or Holy place; which was forty cubits in length, twenty in breadth and thirty in height, containing ten golden candlesticks, ten tables, with twelve loaves of shew-bread on each, the

* Prideaux. Some say 90 feet by 30, and 45 in height.

A talent of gold is computed at £5475, and a talent of silver at £342 3.9. If this be a correct computation, it was indeed an immense sum.

golden altar of incense, the silver trumpets, the standards of weight and measure, and the sacred treasures. Beyond this, in the west end of the temple, and separated from the Holy place by a fine veil, and a two-leaved door of olive tree, was the Oracle, or Holy of holies, into which only the High Priest might enter on the day of atonement. This was twenty cubits square, and contained the ark with its furniture. Solomon made two new cherubims of olive tree, which overshadowed the mercy seat, and reached to the sides of the house This Holy of holies had no windows, and was always dark. The walls of the temple were of fine cedar and polished marble. On the inside were carved figures of palm trees and cherubims, and every part within and without was overlaid with pure gold.

In front of the Temple was the court for the priests and Levites. It was surrounded by a low wall of about four feet in height, and contained the brazen altar twenty cubits long, twenty broad and ten high; and the brazen sea and lavers. Beyond this was the outer court, surrounding the whole, and enclosed by a high wall, into which every clean Hebrew and proselyte of the covenant might enter, and see over the low wall, the operations of the priests on the altar.

When the building was finished, the ark and golden utensils were placed in it; and the Shechinah or cloud of glory entered it, to take up its abode between the cherubims. It was then dedicated by Solomon, in presence of all the tribes of Israel, to Almighty God, in a prayer, which, for comprehensiveness, solemnity and true devotion, has rarely been surpassed ;-by seven days' feasting, and by a peace offering of 20,000 oxen, and 120,000 sheep, which was consumed by fire from heaven. It then became the regular place for the worship of God; which consisted of sacrifices, songs and prayer.

The dedication of the temple took place 30 00 yers from the foundation of the world, and 1004 years before the birth of Christ.

This building was a beautiful type of the body of Christ, in which dwelt the fulness of the Godhead ;-of the gospel Church reared up with lively stones, and the residence of the Holy Spirit;-of the heavenly world, the literal Holy of holies, where our great High Priest appears for us before the eternal majesty, and where God is worshipped by an innumerable company of angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. John saw no temple in heaven, for the Lord God and the Lamb are the Temple thereof.

The promises of earthly prosperity made by God toAbraham,