in all ages refreshed and strengthened God’s people in their journey heavenward “through this dark vale of tears.”  Nor was the fountain of sacred poetry confined to him alone.  God opened it also in the souls of such men as Asaph, Ethan, Heman, and the sons of Korah; nor did its flow wholly cease till after the captivity.  The Psalms of David and his coadjutors were from the first dedicated to the service of the sanctuary; and thus arose our canonical book of Psalms, although (as will be hereafter shown) it did not receive its present form and arrangement till the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

15.  After David came Solomon in the sphere of practical wisdom.  This, according to the divine record, he received as a special endowment from God, though doubtless he had in a peculiar measure a natural capacity for such an endowment.  In Gibeon the Lord appeared to him in a dream by night, and said:  “Ask what I shall give thee.”  Passing by wealth, long life, and the death of his enemies, the youthful monarch besought God to give him “an understanding heart,” that he might be qualified to judge the great people committed to his care.  The answer was:  “Behold, I have done according to thy word:  lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” 1 Kings 3:5-12.  Thus divinely qualified, he embodied, in a vast collection of proverbs, his observations on human life, and the course of human affairs.  Our canonical book of Proverbs is a selection from these, with some additions at the end from other sources.  For notices respecting the arrangement of these proverbs in their present form, as well as respecting the books of Ecclesiastes and Canticles, which are also ascribed to Solomon, the reader may consult the introductions to these books.

V. THE COMPLETION OF THE CANON.

The subject thus far before us has been the growth of the materials which constitute our canonical books.  The question of their preservation and final embodiment in their present form remains to be considered.

16.  Respecting the preservation of the sacred books till the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, our information is very scanty.  Each king was required to have at hand for his own personal use a transcript of the law of Moses (Deut. 17:18), the original writing being carefully laid up in the inner sanctuary, where Hilkiah, the high priest, found it in the reign of Josiah. 2 Kings 22:8.  We cannot doubt that such kings as David, Solomon, Asa, and Hezekiah complied with this law:  though after the disorders connected with the reign of Manasseh and his captivity, the good king Josiah neglected it.  Jehoshaphat, we are expressly told, sent men to teach in the cities of Judah, who had “the book of the law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.” 2 Chron. 17:7-9.