is lost," cried the agonized mother. "My child is lost," repeated the distressed father; and they sat down together to lament her fate. But what was their loss in comparison with the loss of parents whose child, or one of whose children, dies in sin,-dies in an unconverted state, dies without an interest in the blood of Christ? Such parents may well weep. And yet even their loss is not so great as the loss of that child himself. He loses all, the world, heaven, his soul, and even hope, and sinks into irremediable woe. Youthful reader, take the warning which the history of Absalom presents before you. Beware of sin, of the sin of dishonouring your parents, -of the sin of rebellion against God. Remember David's sorrow, and never let your fond father have to say, "My son, my son! would God I had died for thee, my son, my son!" London: R. Needham, Printer, Paternoster-Row. "Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter: To what shall their rarity be likened? What price shall Perfect, and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches, TUPPER. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY J. MASON, 14, CITY-ROAD ; SOLOMON. "If Solomon for wisdom pray'd, The Lord before had made him wise, And ask'd for what the worldlings prize. "Thus He invites His people still. He first instructs them how to choose, OLNEY HYMNS. I.-A PROCLAMATION. "GOD save King Solomon!" Such is the cry which is heard in Gihon, a place outside the city of Jerusalem, as the youthful Solomon rides upon David's mule, and as Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet blow the trumpet before him, according to the command given them by his father. Adonijah, another son of David, aspired to the throne, and said, "I will be King;" but David had already sworn that Solomon should succeed him in the government of the kingdom; and, being informed of the proceedings of Adonijah, he commanded Zadok and Nathan to anoint him King over Israel, and to proclaim him King in the hearing of the people. They did so, and brought him to Gihon, riding on the mule; when Zadok "took an horn of oil” and poured it on his head, whilst "the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them." (1 Kings i. 32—40.) Gihon was probably situated on the western side of Jerusalem; whilst En-rogel, where Adonijah's followers were assembled, was on the eastern side. Dr. Robinson is of opinion that there was originally a fountain at Gihon, which flowed through the valley on the west of the city and it is probable that this was one of the fountains afterwards stopped by Hezekiah; for Hezekiah "took counsel with his Princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city.” (2 Chron. xxxii. 3; xxxiii. 14.) The fountain have been stopped, and its may |