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he came forth, and And he cast stones at

And when the king came to Bahurim, behold, there came out thence a man of the house of Saul, Shimei by name; cursed still as he came. David, and at all the servants of king David,” saying, "The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son : and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man." Then said Abi

shai, the son of Zeruiah, unto the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord, the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head." But the king said, if his own son were seeking his life! how much more might this Benjamite do it! "Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him."

In the mean time Hushai joined Absalom, crying, "God save the king! God save the king!" Absalom was surprised, and said, “Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Why wentest thou not with thy friend?" For Absalom knew that Hushai had loved his father. He accepted his homage, however, and Hushai took his place among Absalom's counsellors. Of these, the foremost was Ahithophel, who urged an immediate pursuit after David; offering himself to go that very night, if he might choose out 12,000 men: saying, I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only and I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace. And the saying

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pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel."

This good counsel (in a bad cause) would certainly have been followed, but for the plausible representations of Hushai; who reminded Absalom of the valour of David and his men, and represented to him how fatal to his cause any failure in this first attack would be, concluding with these words, "Therefore I counsel, that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person." "And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, the counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom." And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and hanged himself.

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Informed of all that had taken place, by Jonathan and Ahimaaz, who narrowly escaped falling into the hands of Absalom's servants, David and his men passed quickly over the river: By the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan." David came to Mahanaim, where Shobi an Ammonite, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, (in whose house Jonathan's son Mephibosheth had found refuge, till David sought him out;) and Barzillai the Gileadite, Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, and honey, and

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butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness."

LONDON

THE FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONGST THE JEWS. THE Lord Bishop of Oxford preached the Anniversary Sermon, at Christ Church, Newgatestreet, on Thursday evening, May 4th, to a very large congregation. The text was "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Matt. xxiii. 39.

The Great Meeting was held in Exeter Hall, on Friday, the 5th of May. from one end to the other.

The room was full Before the business

of the meeting began, the boys and girls of the Society's Schools in London, sang very sweetly various hymns in English and Hebrew.

As

One of the former was written for the music of :-" Sound the loud timbrel, o'er Egypt's dark sea.' most of our readers are unacquainted with this hymn, and many of them may be glad to have it,

we here insert it :

THE SONG OF SALVATION.

SWELL the full chorus with heart and with voice,
In Jesus, Messiah, let Israel rejoice!

Sing with the Spirits, made perfect, in glory,
Who gaze on the great, the Eternal I AM.
For the theme of their strain is Redemption's sweet
story!

The dying and rising and reign of the Lamb.
Swell the full chorus with heart and with voice,
In Jesus, Messiah, let Israel rejoice!

Praise to the Victor who conquered the grave;
Who speaketh in righteousness, mighty to save;
Blessing and honour, dominion and power,

To him that hath suffer'd for sin to atone ;

For he bowed his meek head, on the Cross, in Death's hour,

Then burst its dark bands, and went up to his throne! Swell the full chorus with heart and with voice, In Jesus, Messiah, let Israel rejoice!

The Right Honourable Lord ASHLEY was Chairman of the meeting, and during its proceedings was appointed President of the Society in the place of the late lamented Sir Thomas Baring, Bart. In his Lordship's appointment, the friends of Israel may well rejoice.

In his address to the Meeting, Lord Ashley said:

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'Ladies and gentlemen, I must first announce to you that His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury was requested to take the chair; but it was not from any disinclination, from any unwillingness to serve the cause of this great Society that His Grace declined; he wrote to me to say that the pressure of business was so great, and so many engagements had been previously entered into, that it was quite impossible for him to take the chair on this occasion. I have also received a note from the Lord Bishop of Oxford, in which he says that he finds it impossible to be with us this morning, and begs me to express for him, that he is heartily with us in our great and blessed work, which he prays God with all his heart, to prosper. The occasion upon which we are here assembled, is an occasion that furnishes matter both for mournfulness and rejoicing; and I am sure it will be quite in unison with your feelings if, before we proceed to the business of this day, we allude

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with affection to the memory of that good and pious man, who for so many years held the high honour of President of this Society. Now, for him we have nothing to deplore, because he died in a good old age, and, we doubt not, in the faith and fear of God; but for you it is a different matter, because you will find it difficult to provide a substitute; and I can only say for myself, that, having been nominated, though not as yet elected to be his unworthy successor, I shall indeed be happy if, at the close of a long life, it might be said of me, as will be said of Sir Thomas Baring, and as was said of Jehoiadah, that, he had done good in Israel both towards God and towards his house.' But now we will turn to a brighter part of the picture; and we will look at that which is matter of rejoicing on the present occasion. I do think it matter of rejoicing that the way for your great and good operations seem to be more than ever open in the present day. Those very convulsions of Europe, that throw all the rest of the world into disorder, only methodise and forward the great work in which you are engaged. If there are kingdoms to be overturned, are there no kingdoms to be restored? And if the times of the Gentiles are drawing to a close, is it not possible that the times of the Hebrews are about to be revived? There is one other matter of rejoicing on this present occasion, and it is an important matter. You have obtained the recognition, by the Ottoman Porte, of Protestants as a distinct and constituent part of the subjects of the Ottoman Empire. And this is one of the first fruits that you have derived from the appointment of a Protestant Bishop; because, such is the rule of the Ottoman dominion, that they will re

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