ined: "I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my
right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my
glory rejoiceth." (Psa. xvi. 8, 9.)

Thus endowed, he moved among men with that irresistible fascination
which only the greatest exercise. From the day when he stole like a
sunbeam into the darkened chamber where Saul wrestled with the evil
spirit, he bows all hearts that come under his spell. The women of
Israel chant his name with song and timbrel, the daughter of Saul
confesses her love unasked, the noble soul of Jonathan cleaves to him,
the rude outlaws in his little army peril their lives to gratify his
longing for a draught from the well where he had watered his father's
flocks; the priests let him take the consecrated bread, and trust him
with Goliath's sword, from behind the altar; his lofty courtesy wins the
heart of Abigail; the very king of the Philistines tells him that he is
"good in his sight as an angel of God;" the unhappy Saul's last word to
him is a blessing; six hundred men of Gath forsake home and country to
follow his fortunes when he returns from exile; and even in the dark
close of his reign, though sin and self-indulgence, and neglect of his
kingly duties, had weakened his subjects' loyalty, his flight before
Absalom is brightened by instances of passionate devotion which no
common character could have evoked; and even then his people are ready
to die for him, and in their affectionate pride call him "the light of
Israel." It was a prophetic instinct which made Jesse call his youngest
boy by a name apparently before unused--David, "Beloved."

The Spirit of God, acting through these great natural gifts, and using
this diversified experience of life, originated in him a new form of
inspiration. The Law was the revelation of the mind, and, in some
measure, of the heart, of God to man. The Psalm is the echo of the law,
the return current set in motion by the outflow of the Divine will, the
response of the heart of man to the manifested God. There had, indeed,
been traces of hymns before David. There were the burst of triumph which
the daughters of Israel sang, with timbrel and dance, over Pharaoh and
his host; the prayer of Moses the man of God (Psa. xc.), so archaic in
its tone, bearing in every line the impress of the weary wilderness and
the law of death; the song of the dying lawgiver (Deut. xxxii.); the
passionate paean of Deborah; and some few briefer fragments.