made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. When the surging of temptation is at its height, and the anguish so bitter, the spirit dies as it were in the soul, it seems as if all its efforts had been without any saving efficacy. The Philistines triumph and deride: "This is the man who declared we must keep God's commandments; and see what it has all come to! See how he has fallen; see how hopeless he is, how prostrate, how sunk!" They cut off Saul's head; that is, they declared there was neither intelligence, sense, nor power in such a state. The severe depression in which he was, shewed the utter fallacy of all effort to walk according to God's holy will. It was published in the house of their idols; that is, it was exultingly proclaimed to be a confirmation of their fallacies, a triumph for their delusions, as the Pharisees thought when the Saviour was crucified. But the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Jesus was crucified, but He rose glorified. Saul died, but David took his place. External religion expires; but internal religion rises, conquers the Philistines completely, and reigns. They put Saul's armour in the temple of Ashtaroth, the moon-goddess, and fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan. Bethshan was about six miles from Gilboa, and its name signifies the house of the tooth, or the sharp rock. The significance of this bestowal of Saul's armour and his body, it is not difficult to perceive. When a good man is dejected in temptation the Philistines regard it as a tribute to their idol of faith alone, the moon-goddess. The moon is the symbol of faith, and when made an idol it represents faith alone, faith not with love and good works, but a substitute for them. The men of Jabesh-Gilead came and took away the bodies, and buried them respectfully under a tree. They remembered how Saul had saved them in his early days (1 Sam. xi.). Jabesh Gilead was outside the Jordan, a part of Manasseh. The name signifies the mourners of the covenant, and they represent such as know and feel the immense difference between those who live and labour for heaven, though they stumble, and those who make it a dogma that struggling with sins has no saving efficacy at all. These mourn, but they are comforted. They mournfully bury Saul, then hopefully turn to David. They rise above the letter of religion, and pass now for ever to its spirit and its life. SERMON XVII. DAVID MADE KING AT HEBRON. "And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. "And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they that buried Saul."-2 SAM. ii. 3, 4. IN the midst of the mountains of Judah, surrounded by magnificent scenery and by fertile lands, about eighteen miles from Jerusalem, is the ancient city of Hebron. Poor as this city is now, perhaps no spot in the world is more distinguished for its associations, than is this old capital of Judah. It is said to have been built before Zoan, the capital of Lower Egypt (Num. xiii. 22). It was in the neighbourhood of Hebron that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob chiefly lived; and there is the cave of Machpelah, where their remains were buried, and where their tombs are preserved and jealously guarded even to the present day. The country is dotted with ruined towns, which had been famous in their days of vigour, and where successive churches had flourished and decayed. About ten miles from Hebron was Debir, whose name signifies "the Oracle," and whose still earlier name, Kirjath-Sepher, meant the METROPOLIS OF THE Book, intimating in a most significant manner that it had been the centre of a former divine revelation. Right and left of Hebron, before and behind, were rich slopes covered with vineyards and oliveyards, fields of corn and magnificent prospects, all forming a rich reminder of that heavenly Father and Friend, from whom descend all the glories of earth, as well as all the perfections of heaven. The first time Hebron is mentioned in the Word is in the history of Abraham (Gen. xxiii. 2). It is there called KirjathArba, or the chief city of Arba; for Kirjath means metropolis or chief city. Arba is described as the father of a race of giants, the Anakim (Josh. xiv. 15; xxi. 11). The inhabitants seem to have been very kind and gentle in the time of Abraham; afterwards they partook of the corruption of the Canaanites in general, and, being strongly intrenched, they presented a formidable obstacle to Joshua when he was completing the settlement of the Promised Land. He gave it into the hands of the noble Caleb, who drove out the three sons of Anak, and with the assistance of the brave Othniel, secured for the tribe of Judah not only Hebron, but also Kirjath-Sepher, with its highly valued upper and lower springs of water (Josh. xv. 13-19). Hebron, then, rich in its sacred recollections, rich in its prospects and productions, rich in being the very centre, the very metropolis, of the great tribe of Judah, became the seat of David's sovereignty; and for seven years and a half his rule extended but little beyond. In its early associations, in its subsequent possession by giants, and in its adoption of David for its king, Hebron was the representative of the centre of the church among the Jews when the Lord Jesus came into the world, and their becoming the nucleus of the new, the Christian Church. In an individual soul, Hebron, whose name signifies friendship, represents the good dispositions implanted in our voluntary nature, their enslavement to lusts for a time, and their ultimate reception of the Lord as king within, although there is much unsubdued and unsanctified in us, which can only gradually be brought into the order of heaven. The centre, the best part of a church, in the sight of God, is often very different from the chief part as it would appear in the sight of men. The humble, the pure in heart, the good and the true, whether among the poor or the rich, are the centre of the Church in the sight of the Lord. "The Lord seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Sam. xvi. 7). Those genuine and sincere souls who had been waiting for deliverance by a coming Saviour were such as Anna the prophetess, Simeon, the parents of John the Baptist, Nathanael, Zaccheus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the disciples of the Redeemer generally. These felt that Jesus, the divine David, was their true king, and they exalted Him and enthroned Him in their hearts. They were Jews spiritually as well as naturally, and they made Him King of Judah in Hebron. To be king of this spiritual kingdom the Lord Jesus came into the world. Hence, when Pilate demanded of Him, Art thou a king then? "Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice" (John xviii. 37). We know that He was not a literal king; no earthly diadem encircled His brow, no earthly sceptre was the symbol of His royalty. He came, however, to be the King of the wise and the good. And this kingdom was far more extensive and enduring than the kingdom of any earthly monarch. It is a kingdom embracing heaven as well as earth: it is everlasting; for truth and goodness, the bases of this kingdom, never perish, and have no limits either of time or space. They take in all worlds and all ages. He who is King in these respects, is King of kings, and Lord of lords. David, then, crowned king at Hebron, was the type of Jesus as Divine Truth, enthroned in the hearts of angels and men. It was that which He Himself announced, when He declared, "All power is given unto me, in heaven and on earth” (Matt. xxviii. 18). This Kingship of the great Redeemer forms a prominent feature in all the prophecies respecting Him, and is only compatible with His being Divine Wisdom in human form, God Himself incarnate, and thus justly the Supreme Ruler of the wise and the good. The Jews expected their Messiah to be a king, but a king with the pomp, the power, the trappings of earthly splendour. It is true that He was to be a king; but a king with attributes truly divine, not encumbered with things so poor as those. An earthly monarch passes by in grand parade, and is greeted by the acclamations of the multitude; but ere the roar of applause dies away, the sneer of envy shows how superficial it all was. The hosannas of to-day are often turned into the " Crucify Him" of to-morrow. But when Wisdom becomes King of the hearts of the truly humble, the penitent, the spiritual, that is a kingdom that lives and grows and blesses for ever. This was the kingdom of the Lord Jesus. This was meant by David, in the representative Israel, becoming King at Hebron. When we take this interior view of the Lord's kingdom, the grand terms of the prophecies can be truly understood. Thus, when Isaiah has proclaimed the future Redeemer to be the Child once born, the Son once given, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace, he adds, "Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be NO END: upon the throne of DAVID, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from hence 66 forth, even for ever" (Isa. ix. 7). How plain is it that the throne of David which was in Jesus to exist for ever was the throne of justice and judgment, or goodness and truth, which are everlasting. In Jeremiah we have the same grand lesson. 'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD (OR, JEHOVAH) OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6). Viewed as an outward fulfilment of this sublime prophecy, nothing could be more unlike than the life of the Lord Jesus; but regarded in its spirit, what fulfilment more precise can be thought of, than that reign of the Lord in the hearts first of a few, then of an increasing number, in nation after nation, in age after age, of those who are truly Judah, because Jews inwardly, as the apostle Paul says, and truly Israel, in whose hearts are no guile, and whom He saves and governs because He is Jehovah our Righteousness. This reign will never cease. It will ebb and flow; but through ages and dispensations it will widen and deepen and spread, until one Lord shall be king over all the earth. "In that day there shall be one Lord (Jehovah), and His name One" (Zech. xiv. 9). "Till o'er our ransomed nature, The Lamb for sinners slain, The vicissitudes of earth will all conspire to bring in that great consummation of which it is written, "The seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. xi. 15). But Hebron, and David's entering upon His kingdom there, form an equally suggestive theme if we regard it as an emblem of the heart, and of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus acquiring its inner sovereignty therein. Hebron in its early days will represent the heart, especially as to the good the Lord implants there, and which is so beautiful and attractive in the days of childhood. Hebron was said to be built before Zoan in Egypt. Before there is any science in the mind, there are loving emotions, traits of heaven, smiles of sweetest tenderness, embraces in which soft arms entwine around our necks, soft |