was chosen king over all the house of Israel. And his kingdom gradually advanced in prosperity and in power.

"Soon after David was proclaimed king over all the tribes, I roused the Philistines against him. I had often brought the house of Israel low, by exciting against them that hostile nation. The lords of the Philistines were particularly vindictive against David. The fame he had acquired by Goliath's overthrow was still to them a source of grief and mortification. But though they now invaded the country once and again, they were repulsed with great loss, and the kingdom of David continued to grow in strength.

"He now determined to exert the influence he possessed in order to give an impulse to the cause of religion among his people. Indeed, I may specify this as one of the great characteristics of David, that in the worship of Jehovah he was firm and uncompromising. Temptations to go after idols, in whole or in part, so often successful with others, were entirely lost on him. In the worship of the God of Israel, he was steadfast and immovable. In this respect especially, he was long held up as a pattern to the kings of Israel and Judah. The ark of the covenant of God,' which Moses erected at Mount Sinai, was now at Kirjath-jearim. It had remained there since the day it was brought back from the country of the Philistines. David resolved to bring it up to Jerusalem, the capital of his kingdom. His design was to honor the name of his God, to remind all the people of the great covenant at Mount Sinai, and to direct the public mind more generally to the worship of Jehovah.

"I dreaded this movement," said Belial.

"Well you might dread it!" exclaimed Lucifer, abruptly, in a voice that startled the assembly. "When public attention is strongly directed to the claims of God, and the duties of religion, then let devils tremble."

"I know it," answered Belial: "long experience has convinced me that we should oppose to the utmost all such measures as are calculated to call the attention of men to the subject of religion."

cause.

"For that reason," said Lucifer, "those great annual feasts, appointed by Moses, were so disastrous to our Those feasts were, in fact, great religious meetings, of seven days' continuance. Three of them, appointed by law, came regularly every year. I have often thought, that had it not been for the mighty impulse given to the interests of religion in these great assemblies, I should have succeeded in my attempts to extinguish the light of revelation in Israel."

"You remember the great celebration of the feast of the passover, in the days of Hezekiah," said Belial.

"Yes, indeed," answered Lucifer; "they continued their public solemnities for fourteen days. The passover in the time of Josiah also, and the feast of tabernacles in the time of Ezra, produced astonishing results. Thus the public mind was waked up to attend to the things of God. The policy of hell is to induce men to forget God,' to 'neglect the great salvation.' We should guard with all possible vigilance against every thing that is calculated to direct the attention of men to the law and the gospel of God."

"For that reason," said Belial, "I much regretted

this undertaking of David, to bring up the ark of God from an obscure part of the country, and give it a station in the city of David, at Jerusalem. But he was intent on the accomplishment of his design. He 'gathered together all the chosen men of Israel,' and marched to Kirjath-jearim. The prophets, and the heads of the tribes throughout all Israel, identified themselves with this enterprise. As the ark was moving in the direction of Jerusalem, the king and the princes, the priests and the prophets, in long procession led the way. 'And all the house of Israel played before the Lord on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.' Thus 'David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.'

"The prophets availed themselves of this occasion to address the people on the subject of their peculiar relation to Jehovah. They spoke of the call of Abraham to be the friend of God. They expatiated on the divine mission of Moses, and rehearsed the history of the release of their fathers from the house of bondage in Egypt. They spread before the congregation the solemnities of that covenant ratified in the wilderness, in which Jehovah promised to be their God, and they engaged to be his people; and told of the works of the Lord when he brought them over Jordan, and gave them the land of Canaan for an inheritance.

"These public services, when the ark was brought to Jerusalem, made a deep and lasting impression on the great multitude assembled there. Indeed, the impression spread throughout the entire kingdom, for all the tribes were represented in that assembly. The book

of the law was read, with increased attention, from Dan even to Beersheba, and great numbers were brought to realize the relation in which they stood, as the peculiar people of God.

"I have often noticed," said Belial, "that those worshippers of Jehovah, who frequently call to mind the circumstances and solemnities of their first covenant with him, are generally the most active and steadfast in his service."

"True," answered Lucifer, "but I must repeat that other remark that all the powers of darkness should particularly guard against those things which awaken general attention to the claims of religion. I have never known religion to prevail extensively among any people, where it was not, at some period in the year, connected with great solemn assemblies, of several days' continuance. Hence I abhorred those great religious meetings, ordained by the law of Moses the passover, (2 Chron. xxx. 1-27; xxxv. 1-19;) the feast of tabernacles, (Neh. viii. 1-18;) and the feast of pentecost, (Acts ii. 1—11.) There were periods when these great solemnities sent terror and trembling to the very heart of the empire of hell. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was the first that took decisive measures against such meetings, (1 Kings xii. 26-30;) and I am anxious to have many others copy his example. I dread to have religion exalted and made prominent.

"Guard against that, ye powers of hell!" he exclaimed; "exalt earthly objects in the view of menpolitics, commerce, pleasure; but suffer not religion to become the great object of attention and concern."

CHAPTER XIV.

DAVID'S TRANSGRESSION.

BELIAL now resumed his narrative.

"David," said His armies

he, "continued to prosper on every hand. were victorious in every field, and surrounding nations were subdued. Moab and Ammon, Edom and Syria, with many other nations, became tributary. His riches and grandeur had now become great. He was riding on the high tide of unexampled prosperity.

"The kindness which, about this period, he showed to Mephibosheth, for his father Jonathan's sake, has been mentioned in another connection; I will not enlarge upon it at this time. A number of years had now gone by, without presenting any favorable opportunity for the powers of darkness to accomplish much against David. He appeared to be growing in piety, and in favor with God and man. But now his riches, and honors, and magnificence had become so abundant, and the contrast so great between his former condition, when he kept his father's sheep, or when hiding in dens and caves from the wrath of Saul, and his present life of ease and luxury, that I resolved to try him with the snares that beset the great. And this may be called number third of the principal schemes I projected for his ruin.