fore shall he be slain?" said Jonathan ; "what hath he done?" "And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him whereby

Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David."

Deeply grieved, he went, at the time appointed, to the spot where David was to wait, and a little lad with him. David is there, and presently he sees an arrow fly; and in the next instant hears Jonathan calling to the lad,

"Is not the arrow beyond thee?" This was the sign that Saul meditated evil; and now the lad is sent home, and David and Jonathan meet. It is a solemn meeting. They fall on each other's neck, and weep; but Jonathan encourages David, and they then separate.

It must be remembered that Jonathan was heir to his father's throne; and Saul was anxious that he should succeed him. But he was willing to forego the honour for the sake of his beloved friend. "Thou shalt be King over Israel," said he, on one occasion to David, "and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth." (1 Sam. xxiii. 17.) What disinterestedness was here! We scarcely

know which to admire most, the conduct of Jonathan or that of David. The one was as a brother, "born for adversity;" the other was a gentle spirit, that found consolation on the bosom of his friend. But they were soon separated by the hand of death; for ere David came to the throne, Jonathan fell on the field of battle, together with his father and his two brothers. (1 Sam. xxxi. 2, 3.) A bitter stroke to David was the death of Jonathan; and he wept for him, and said, "O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." (2 Sam. i. 25, 26.)

But though friendships such as these are interrupted by death, they are renewed and perpetuated in a brighter world. David and Jonathan are, we doubt not, reunited, and love each other now even more tenderly than they did before. Theirs was a spiritual affection, and, as disembodied spirits, they hold communion in the realms of light.

London: R. Needham, Printer, Paternoster-Row.

Till the last echo died; then throwing off
The sackcloth from his brow, and laying back
The pall from the still features of his child,
He bow'd his head upon him, and broke forth
In the resistless eloquence of woe,-

'O Absalom, my son, my son; would God

I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son! my son!""

WILLIS.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY J. MASON, 14, CITY-ROAD; SOLD AT 65, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

ABSALOM.

"The sons of earth

Who, vex'd with vain disquietude, pursue
Ambition's fatuous light through miry pools,
That yawn for their destruction, stray, foredoom'd,
Amid delusive shadows, to their end."

W. HERBERT.

I-A FATHER'S ANXIETY.

"Is the young man Absalom safe?" asks David the King, as a messenger approaches, bringing the news of a successful battle. "Is the young man Absalom safe?" he asks again, as a second messenger draws near. "All is well!" said Ahimaaz, the first messenger; but David was not satisfied with the issue of the battle, he wanted to know the fate of Absalom.*

And who was Absalom, that the King should be so anxious about him? that the intelligence

* 2 Samuel xviii. 29-32.