DAVID. 
obey ying the dire&tion of his prophets, _wosfhippng him 
dca the whole of his life, making the 
t to a gana - worfhip a me fame Ged, 
ae Neath all ice eeding generations. 
An ee his pfalms, they tee the genuine difpofi- 
tion of ne hey are wr with a true f{pirit o poetry 5 
the fentiments ‘ be fand in nace are often the moft gra ole 
and fublime, which have nothing in pagan poetry to cx- 
ceed, or equal them; and which, had they been oe. on 
a exce oa t ee and his 
admirers would have wondered at the and {edate- 
nefs of his temper, who, amidft the multiplicity of his af- 
fairs, the variety of the perfecutions he fuffered, the immi- 
nent dangers that furrounded him, and the numerous wars 
he was e engaged in, could find any leifure hours, or tran uil 
difpofitions, wi the polite and delicate ete aca of 
poetry and m 
.Thefe, Cheiftians, are the out-lines of a Jewifh prince, 
ae! ou juflly extol as “a man after God’s own heart ;’” 
ae eee a to be king over Ifrael, who faith 
fully an{wered pofes for which God raifed him ; in 
2 vols. 8vo. paffim 
_The holy and royal pfalmift are have shila his ae 
in a great meafure to his mufical t He arft n 
ticed and fent for - ea when Seti with the evi iii 
as Farinelli was to the king of Spain, to medic 
wer of mufic. ‘ And it came to ae ies rhe evil 
ae from God was upon that David took an harp 
and played with his ge aul was aad < was 
well, and the evil ape departed on him,’ 
xvii. v.23. This vious to the prook 
prowefs in flaying Goliah, at which time, oa Saul 
did not recognize him as the mufician, le d put to 
flight the evil {pirit,; but inquired who he was? 
If it be poflible for mufic to operate aca cally with 
fie it may be piai a palliative, at leaft, if ie a 
cure, fora troubled fpirit. The an mind, under 
preflure of afl ion, or warped and agitated by ie € co nen 
a 
S 
3 
°F David’ 8 
as 
o 
the nfortu- 
nate prince, might be attributed to is “Teifal and afeaing 
manner of performing upon the harp. 
«¢ And Saul’s fervancs faid unto him, Behold now, an 
evil aes from God troubleth thee. Let our lord com- 
w thy _ which are before thee, to feek out 
man ee is a-cu player on a harp. nd i 
now a man 
eG can i well, and fos him to m Then an{wered 
of the fervants, and faid, Behold, T have feen a fon of 
ime the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a 
mighty valiant man, an 
matters, and a come 
§ r 
Jefle took an afs, laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, 
aad a. kid, and fent them by David his fon unto Saul. And 
David came to Sanl, and ftaod before him. And he loved 
him greatly, and he became his armour-bearer. And Saul 
fent to Jefle, faying, Let David, I pray thee, ~~ pede 
And i 
ook an har rp, a and played with his hand 
was ote ed, and ‘was well, and the evil {pirit departed 
him.” 
It was very natural for the saga! of this medicine to 
ceafe, when the patient had no n aith in him who 
miniftered it; moe on the coutray, regarded him tia a 
jealous eye, a a{piring at his crown; and who, if he 
did not ae ane his life, cat look upon it as an 
impediment to his exaltation, and aac anat wifh for 
its termination: for Saul not to have had thefe ideas forced 
e r 
The an peflions, thofe gales of 
have been annihilated, or fwblimed by angelic refinement. 
But the hiftory of this prince furnifhes too many inftances 
of human weaknefs and frailty, to allow us to fuppole ee 
either infenfible, or {uperior to his fituation. e mult 
ave — to 
OWe 
cured by human neue aush it ae at firlt given ‘way ta 
them 
Soon after David had manifefted by ye pe his mu- 
fieal fill, we find him in f Saul, 
and giving pala eae ee of his ee Sal. by 
his viGtory over Goliah, the champion of the Philiftines, 
who had pace fuch a pee into his countrymen, ee a“ 
all declined to accept his am Se regarding him as invin 
cible. a ee = field of battle cee ie 
victory over the giant, was y the women of all th 
cities TP lfrael, *¢ hae ad. dancing, with tabrets, with 
joy and with inftruments of mufic.” x Sam. xvill, 6. 
‘ And the women anfwered one aiciee as they played, 
and faid,” &c. This is an indubitable proof al a chant 
in dialogue, or, 4 dui cori, being in early ule: it was 
ae which prob the manner of Cicae 
the pfalms i athed Pfal. Ixviii. vers 255 
the damfels play with timbrels in the proceflion before the 
ark. Women, even, Don Calmet, whom the apoftle 
forbids to facet in church, had - Ol pibea to fing there 
But m eal 
r e of facre 1, chap. xxv. where 
the mufical eftablifhments for religious purpofes are all enu- 
“6 ve to Heman fourteen 
fons and three daughters. And a 
hands of their father for fong, in th houfe of hs Lord, 
with cymbals, pfalteries, ae harps.”? But Miri m, Debo- 
rah, Judith ‘a and Anne, mother of Samuel, ps all re» 
garde y. _ s ew ws, not aly as fingers, but as — 
eft imten ie the Hebrews. 
for mufic, and his attachment to the ftu Ny practice of 
it, as well as the great number of muficians appointed by 
him for the performance of religious rites monies, 
i: And David, and all the a of Ifrael, played oe 
