MOUNT ZION.

SAMUEL was now an old man. The Israelites, who had been governed for many years by judges, wished for a change of rulers, and they asked Samuel to give them a king. Now this was not right. God himself was their King. He appointed their laws; he led their armies to battle; he gave them victory, and took care of them at all times; and therefore it was re bellion against him to desire this change. God was angry with their

discontent, and their pride, and their ingratitude; yet still he gave them their wish, and directed Samuel to anoint Saul, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, to be the first king of Israel. The account of this you may read in 1 Sam.

viii.-X.

He

Saul at first reigned well; but he was not really a holy man. was very different from Moses, and Joshua, and Samuel, and others, who had led and ruled the Israelites in past times; he did not live in the faith and fear of God, as they had done, and therefore he could not have God's favour and blessing, which had made them so successful and so happy. Saul forsook God, and then God forsook him, and took away the kingdom

it to

from his family, and gave another and better man. This man was David, of whom you have very often heard. He is called, in Scripture," the man after God's own heart," because, unlike Saul, he sought, in everything he did, to please God, and asked his grace to enable him to do so. David is also called "the sweet singer of Israel," because he wrote so many of those beautiful songs of praise, which we now call the "Psalms of David." He was anointed by Samuel, a little time before the death of that holy man, but he did not become king at once. Saul reigned during his life; and then, when he was dead, David succeeded to the throne.

Saul knew, for many years be

fore his death, that God had appointed David to be king after him, and this made him feel angry and jealous, so that he hated David, and made many attempts to kill him. God preserved his chosen servant from the hand of Saul; but David was obliged to live in exile during a great part of Saul's reign, and often to take refuge in caves, among the rocky hills of Judah, to hide himself from his cruel enemy.

Saul's death was a very awful one. He was defeated in battle by the Philistines, and ended his life by falling on his own sword. So Saul died, and then David became king, first of a part, and afterwards of all the country; for there was a long war between his

friends and those of Saul's family, before he was quite settled in his kingdom.

David's was a long reign, but I am not going to tell you all the different events which happened in it. These, as well as his early history, you must read for yourselves in the books of Samuel and 1 Chronicles. I shall only mention a few things which king David did, and explain some particulars about him which, perhaps, you will not so easily understand alone.

A great part of David's reign was spent in fighting against his enemies, and subduing them. These enemies you have heard of already, for they had often oppressed Israel in former days. They were the Philistines, the Moabites, the Am