THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 157

to; there was no use in trying toevade it. Few words
sufficed to tell the tale of Israel’s disgrace. Thus the mes-
senger replied, “ Israel is, fled before the Philistines, and
there hath been also a great slaughter among the people,
and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead,
and the ark of God is taken.” The most disastrous
loss was related the last. Eli bore up under the others,
but when mention was made of the ark of God, his heart
died within him, he fainted away, fell from his seat
beside the city gate, and was killed by the fall.

Johnnie. Was Eli a good man?

Grandfather. He was a very good man, but he had
provoked the displeasure of the Lord, because his
sons were very wicked, and he did not punish them for
it. For this it had been declared to him from the Lord
that judgments were to come upon his house, that his
sons were to meet with an untimely fate, and that the
office of the high priest was to be taken from his family.
All these predictions came to pass at the time ap-
pointed.

George. Did the Philistines keep the ark long in their
country ?

Grandfather. They did not dare to keep it long, it
wrought such havoc among them. They took it first to
the town of Ashdod, and put it in the temple of Dagon
that was there. The next morning when they entered
the temple, they saw the image of Dagon lying flat on
its face before the ark of the Lord. They lifted their god,
and set him in his place again. The morning after, when