testation. "Is this thy kindness to thy friend?" he exclaimed; "why wentest thou not with thy friend?"

Hushai was prepared with a reply; "Nay, but whom the Lord, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide. And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence." It was an ambiguous answer, intended to deceive him to whom it was addressed, and not to be justified on the inflexible principles of truth and integrity. But it had its desired effect. It satisfied Absalom who now reckoned Hushai among his adherents, and admitted him into his counsels.

At this time, or very soon after, Absalom called upon Ahithophel and his other counsellors, who were assembled for the purpose, to advise him what course to take, Ahitophel proposed bold, and what appeared to him to be decisive measures. In doing this, he showed how utterly destitute he was, not only of all moral principle, but even of common decency. He wished Absalom to do that which would cause him to be abhorred of his father, and so completely cut off every hope of reconciliation between them, that all now in the rebellion might remain true to the cause, as their own safety must then, as they would see, depend on their success.

He advised Absalom, therefore, to treat all the inferior wives of David, who were left to take care of the palace, as if they were his own, without any restraints of fear or shame. The atrocious crime was perpetrated in the most public manner. For the counsel of Ahithophel, we are told, was in those days "as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God," and this counsel, wicked and abominable as it was, had not only the influence of him who gave it, but the base and detestable passions of him who received it, to give it weight.

Thus was there a literal fulfilment of the prophecy of Nathan, when he came to reprove David for his sin, in the case of Uriah and his wife, and when he declared that the Lord would raise up evil against David out of his own house. "Thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing," said the Lord, "before all Israel, and before the sun." How heavily still did the chastisements of the divine hand fall upon this unhappy monarch, and how truly did he find that the way of transgressors is hard.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Hushai's counsel prevails over that of Ahithophel. David goes to Mahanaim. Absalom's forces are defeated by those of David. Absalom is caught in the boughs of an oak.

Another part of the counsel of Aihthophel, was, that Absalom would permit him, at the head of twelve thousand brave men, selected for the pur pose, to pursue after David that very night. "I will come upon him," said he, while he is weary

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and

and weak-handed and will make him afraid all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only;" adding, that, in this way (for he thought it would strike them with so much dismay) the people would all be brought into submission to Absalom, and the civil contest

cease.

This prompt and decisive step, had it been taken, would probably have been attended with success. When proposed it was received with great favor, both by Absalom and all the elders of Israel who were with him. What a sad proof of the desperate progress in wickedness which the ambition of this depraved son had led him to make, and of the cold-blooded, fiend-like deliberation with which he was ready to enter into a plot for the murder of his own father!

Before adopting this measure, however, Absa lom thought it advisable to get the opinion of Hushai with regard to it. For the latter, he thought, was probably acquainted with the condition and strength of David and his men, and what degree of resistance to the proposed attack they would be able to make. Hushai, being sent for, and his advice asked, saw at once the opportunity which was afforded him of rendering timely and signal aid to his friend the king.

The counsel that Ahithophel hath given,' said he, "is not good at this time.”

He then went on to say, that Absalom well knew that his father, and those who were with him, were men of tried valor and mighty in battle; that they were enraged and desperate, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field; that it would be difficult for Ahithophel to find David, who was too wary to lodge with his men in their tents, and was probably concealed in some secure retreat; and that the pursuers after the king meeting, as they doubtless would, with some discomfiture at the first attack, the slaughter of such would strike terror into the rest. Thus, he added, "he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.'

Having thus adroitly excited the fears of Absalom with regard to the course pursued by Ahitho

phel, Hushai recommended another one as the safest and best, and which he thought, at the same time, would gratify the ambitious views of Absalom and his thirst for glory. "I counsel," said he, "that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person. So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one." He added, that if David had taken refuge in any fortified city, Absalom's forces would be able to demolish it, and secure their victim.

Such was the advice of Hushai, the secret friend of David. It carried with it the appearance of great wisdom. It was immediately adopted by Absalom and his adherents, as decidedly preferable to the plan of Ahithophel. Providence had so ordered it that such should be the result. "For the Lord," we are told, "had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom." Mysterious co-operation of the sure purposes of God, with the free and accountable agency of man! The Almighty determines to succor David through the instrumentality of Hushai, while the latter is responsible for the decep