III. THE WORSHIPPERS. David summoned "all the congregation " to worship, bless, and praise the Lord. 1. All men have abundant reasan to bless the Lord. He is "good unto a.II." His bounty, care, watchfulness, and long-suffering, have been experienced by all. No wonder that the psalmist in so many passages calls upon all people-all nations-to praise the Lord ; summons young men and maidens, old men and children, to praise the Name of the Lord. 2. All men are in the gospel encouraged to present acceptable worship to God through Jesus Christ. The Saviour reveals the Father as the Object of worship, and himself provides the new and living way of access, and offers the intercession which secures Divine acceptance and approval for the believin<> worshipper. "I will," says the Apostle Paul, " that men pray every- where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." . QUESTIONS. 1. Do you worship God yourselves? 2. Do you admonish and encourage others, especially the young, to bless and praise the Lord ?-T. Ver. 22.-(Jhurch and state. When Solomon was anointed to be chief governor, and Zadok to be priest, Israel acknowledged dependence upon God and loyalty to God in the two realms of civil and ecclesiastical life. The Hebrew nation was a theocracy, and however it may now be possible to separate between these two realms, it was not possible then. Without entering into any controversy, we may accept from this text the following suggestions : - 1. BoTH CIVIL AND ECCLESJASTIOAL LIFE ARE FROH Goo. Our Creator has con- stituted us social beings, and social we are and must be. By this necessity it is established that mutual help and due order and subordinatiou are from God. All attempts to violate these fllndamental principles of human nature have issued in disastrous failure. II. THE BAME PERSONS ARE =ITED TO BOTH ORGANIZATIONS ALIKE. A man's being a. citizen is not inconsistent with his being a member of a Christian Church. So far from there being any incompatibility between the two relations, they are mutually helpful each to the other. Ill. IN BOTH BELATIONS HEN NEED REPRESENTATIVES, LEADERS, ADMINISTRATORS. As in Israel there was king and priest, so in modern Christian society we not only need sovereigns, presidents, judges, legislators, etc., but we need also bishops, pastors, mode- rators, and officers of various kind~. IV. ORGANIZATIONS AND OFFICIALS, BOTH CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTIOAL, ARE INTENDED FOB THE PUDLIO GOOD. The end of such institutions and appointments is to he sought, not in private interests, or emolument, or power, but in the well-being of the body politic. V. CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL POWERS IIIA y BE HELPFUL TO EACH OTHER. States are bound to protect the Churches in the profession and propagation of religious faith with all possible liberty. And Christian Churches are under a sacred obligation to seek the order, welfare, and peace of the community. The relations between spiritual springs and political mechanism will often involve difficulty, but from the relations themselves there can be no escape, for they are divinely or<hined.-1'. Ver. 28.-David's death. Aristotle quotes Solon's saying that no man should be called happy until his end. One reason for this much-coutroverted dictum, no doubt, was this-that a human life may be marked by prosperity up to a certain point, at which fortune may turn her wheel. '!'his was, of course, not a Christian view of life ; we have learned to look at the problem as one rather of character than of fortune, and to sympathize with the estimate of the all-seeing and heart-searching Lord o.nd Judge. '!'he circumstances mentioned in the text must be taken in conjunction with the rest of the narrative, if we would have a scriptural view of David's prosperity and felicity. I. HIB AGL "A good old age" is not here what we should call such ; for David's lifa does not seem to have exceeded seventy years. Yet it was not cut short; and, as he was suffered to live for the appointed t.erm of life, he had opportunity to carry out hiij plans and to see their success. He was, in the expressive Hebraism, "full of days." II. HIB RICHES. These were acquire<l. by the industry of the population and by the spoils of war. They enabled him to adorn the metropolis which he had won by Lis 5word, and to make preparation for building the temple of his God. I, CBRONICLEB, 2 (l 450 THE FIRST IlOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cu. xx1x. 1-30.
III. His rroKoua. He had been raised from the sheepfold to the throne. He had been fortunate in his counsellors and his generals. His victories had given him a ''.·idespread reno_wn. And in his spiritual lyrics he had laid, all unwittingly, the founda- tions of a far wider and more honourable fame. As "the sweet singer of Israel " and "the man after God's heart," he is known throughout the Jewish and the Christian world. PRACTICAL LESSONS. 1. The life of David is one fitted to encourage our confidence in Divine providence. The man himself felt, and the sacred historians felt, that there never was a more signal instance of an individual being called forth by God's voice and qualified by Divine discipline for a great work in life. It gives peace and dio-nity to our life to be ever assured that "our times are in God's hands," and that he will use us for his glory. 2. The life of David is a warning against yielding to temptation. He gave way alike to sins of the flesh and to sins of the spirit, and again and ao-ain 0 1,roved his fallibility and infirmity. Well may each reader of his biography lay t.o heart the lesson : "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall;" "'Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation." 3. The life of David shows how possible it is to serve God in different ways. He was a soldier, a poet, a kino-, 0 a reli1!ious leader; and in all capacities he glorified God. We may have few gifts, but we may learn that the use of one gift i~ no excuse for the neglect of another. 4. 'l'he life of David reveals tbe true secret of happiness and usefulness. He was one whose followship was much with God ; hence his strength. Read his psalms, and you will be corn·inced that this was so. It is thus that strength and fortitude are to be sustained, 5. The life of David shows us that, during this earthly existence, a good man may begin a good work which shall continue after his death. David did not abide for ever, but be prepared a throne for his son; he did not build the temple, but he put all things in train with a view to the work. Let us live so that when we are no more here others may say, "He being dead yet speaketh."-T.