gifts and virtues, though alas! not exempt from the crimes of kings, from unbridled self-indulgence and pride of power (2 Sam. xi.; 1 Chron. xxi. 1-17): most of all royal perhaps at that moment of agonizing self-reproach when he solemnly invoked Divine vengeance on himself and on his nearest and dearest, rather than let the destroying angel deal death to his people.

At the noble name of Friend we recall Jonathan, more than royal in his disregard of that throne on which he delighted to install one whom he loved with a love wonderful, passing the love of women (1 Sam. xviii. 1-4, XX. 11-17, 41, 42, xxiii. 16-18; 2 Sam. i. 26). Thus centuries later St. John Baptist claimed for himself no title nobler or dearer than that of Friend of the Bridegroom, to hear Whose voice was the fulfilment of his joy (St. John iii. 29). For another aspect of friendship we may study Hiram who was ever a lover of David, and whose intimacy with Solomon led to his assisting in building God's Temple; a marvellous privilege indeed if we must assume (in default of any record

to the contrary) that he lived and died an alien from the commonwealth of Israel (1 Kings v.): so vast a profit may there accrue from a wise friendship. A sadder, yet in the end by no means a discouraging, lesson is taught us by Job and his three friends: for surely these three did genuinely love him, or else they would scarcely have approached him with an outburst of grief, sat down with him in dust, maintained towards him a week-long sympathetic silence; nevertheless rash judgment in the long run spake unadvisedly with its lips, prejudice waxed imperious, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar reviled where at most they should have endeavoured to restore in a spirit of meekness, considering themselves lest they also should be tempted: yet all is retrieved and hallowed when Job, praying for his friends, is likewise himself accepted and is brought to a latter end better than his beginning (Job, the entire Book). Solomon in his Proverbs celebrates in choice sentences the excellence of friendship: "A friend loveth at all times,""There is a friend that sticketh closer than a

brother," "Faithful are the wounds of a friend,""Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend;" and leaves us the precept, "Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not." And our Lord Jesus Christ, the "Greater than Solomon," amid many other gracious words spake these: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you" (St. John XV. 13-15).

David the typical king was not without typical subjects. Such were the three mighty men who broke through the Philistine host and drew water from the well of Bethlehem to slake their monarch's thirst; though whether their zeal was altogether according to knowledge appears questionable from David's subsequent conduct (2 Sam. xxiii. 13–17).

Of the mutual love and kindness which should characterize the relation of Master and Servant we obtain at least a one-sided glimpse in the affection which Naaman's household, beginning from the "little maid" and ending with the retinue in attendance upon his chariot, lavished upon their hasty but (we may reasonably conclude) warm-hearted and kind-hearted master; indeed, the manner in which he received and acted upon his servants' remonstrance suggests a proportionate good feeling on his side; how highly blessed the sequel shows (2 Kings v. 1-19).

Or we may quote an older instance, that of Boaz and his reapers; perhaps representing the position of Employer and Employed as at least partially distinguished from that of master and servant, and exhibiting an intercourse replete with religious dignity and benevolence and the lordly freedom of men essentially equal because all alike "children of the stock of Abraham." "And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you.

F

And they answered him, The Lord bless thee (Ruth ii. 3-17).

Now as we found that Disinclination vitiates if it does not nullify any observance of the First Commandment, so I think we may remark that a subordinate species of Distaste will inevitably nullify, or, at the least, vitiate our observance of the Fifth Commandment: I mean DISTASTE for our own relative posture towards any individual contemplated; akin to which is all false shame as to to circumstances, position, calling, family, or any other personal concern.

For frequently it is scarcely either positive fault or positive weak point which grates upon us at every turn; let our neighbour undergo the very same trial and we feel at once how lofty and imperturbable a sweetness befits him, and how unreasonable is his resentment of mere passing trifles and matters of taste. But ourselves touched, we wince; we even think well of ourselves if we do not kick and rebel. In fact we do kick and rebel a hundred times under cover of silence, too often of sullen or contemp