which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; and enquired not of the Lord: therefore He slew him."

Nor was it only in his desire for guidance and counsel that David shewed this affiance in God. Under all circumstances he retained a constant sense of the Divine Presence, as if God had spoken to him as to Moses aforetime, and said, "My Presence shall go with thee." Thus when Abigail propitiated him with gifts, he said, "In very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth which hath kept me from hurting thee, except thou hadst come to me, I should have destroyed the house of Nabal." And when he heard of his death, his first thought was to thank God, who had kept him from doing that evil. So the thought of God's presence mingled with the grief he felt when Abner was slain by Joab and Abisha; "I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord for ever from the blood of Abner." How different from the ordinary manner of men, which is to justify themselves in the sight of their fellow-men, when any calamity has

occurred for which they may possibly be blamed, or suffer loss. He had the same feeling under prosperous circumstances. When now, after taking Jerusalem from the Jebusites, he waxed greater and greater, the Lord being with him, it is expressly recorded that "David perceived in his heart that the Lord had established him King over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel's sake." When that grief came upon him at Perez-uzza because of the misfortune which befel the ark there, it is written, "David was afraid of the Lord that day." He feared, and was amazed; lest haply God's face should be turned away from him. In his woeful flight from Jerusalem when Shimei cursed him at Bahurim, he still recognised the hand of the Lord chastening and correcting him, saying to Abishai, "Let him alone, and let him curse: for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day." It is not necessary to multiply instances; but it is necessary to note the words of Holy Scripture in these

cases, that we may estimate the character of David at its full and proper value, not seeing in him merely the romantic friend or the chivalrous leader, but the man after God's own heart, in whom God saw that which was well-pleasing in His sight.

Another strong evidence of David's devotion to God is to be found in the reverence he manifested towards the persons of His servants. In the Psalm which he delivered into the hand of Asaph and his brethren to sing on the day of bringing back the ark of the covenant, occur those well-known words recording God's mercies to the chosen race:

"He suffered no man to do them wrong,
Yea, He reproved kings for their sakes,
Saying, Touch not Mine anointed,

And do My Prophets no harm."

It was the composer of this Psalm who, when he had Saul's life in his hand in a cave at Engedi, said, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord." It was the composer of this Psalm

who said to the Amalekite who brought Saul's crown and bracelet, and confessed that he had slain him in Mount Gilboa, "How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? Thy blood be upon thine head." We may see the same principle at work in David's mind when he meditated with himself how to bring the ark from the house of ObedEdom to the place he had prepared for it: "None ought to carry the ark of God,” he said, "but the Levites for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister before Him for ever." And he summoned the chief of the fathers of the Levites into his presence, and charged them that they should sanctify themselves, both they and their brethren, "for because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought Him not after the due order." What a lesson for some in the present day, who make light of holy ministrations and appointed ordinances, and this because they have fallen into a habit of disregarding the words of Holy Scripture, treating them as

ordinary words; aiming at a general conception of the spirit of the inspired record, instead of duly weighing the value of every part of it to them who seek to know the knowledge of the Most High. But the great desire of the King's heart which haunted him continually, and the denial of which, and the disappointment he felt, may have soured his spirit and laid him open to the snare of the tempter, was to build an house for the Lord God of Israel. He could not endure, as he said, to dwell in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord remained under curtains. It may have been unconsciously his own aggrandisement that he sought thereby. But whether that were so or not, the prohibition came from God. "This thou canst not do, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood. But behold a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest. He shall build an house for My name." And from that time David set himself to make provision for the building; gold and precious stone, and wood and silver, and brass and iron, in great abundance, which he and all the people