{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_8068/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_8068","id":"gutenberg_8068","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8068","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Heptateuch -- Commentaries","Bible. Historical Books -- Commentaries","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity"],"text":"Produced by Charles Franks, Anne Folland and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  EXPOSITIONS OF\n  HOLY SCRIPTURE\n\nALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D.\n\n\nDEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH, AND FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL\n\nSECOND SAMUEL, FIRST KINGS, AND SECOND KINGS _CHAPTERS I to VII_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY\n\n\n  GOD'S FAITHFULNESS (Deut. vii. 9)\n  THE LESSON OF MEMORY (Deut. viii. 2)\n  THE EATING OF THE PEACE-OFFERING (Deut. xii. 18)\n  PROPHETS AND THE PROPHET (Deut. xviii. 9-22)\n  A CHOICE OF MASTERS (Deut. xxviii. 47, 48)\n  THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW (Deut. xxx. 11-20)\n  GOD'S TRUE TREASURE IN MAN (Deut. xxxii. 9; TITUS ii. 14)\n  THE EAGLE AND ITS BROOD (Deut. xxxii. 11)\n  THEIR ROCK AND OUR ROCK (Deut. xxxii. 31)\n  GOD AND HIS SAINTS (Deut. xxxiii. 3)\n  ISRAEL THE BELOVED (Deut. xxxiii. 12)\n  'AT THE BUSH' (Deut. xxxiii. 16)\n  SHOD FOR THE ROAD (Deut. xxxiii. 25)\n  A DEATH IN THE DESERT (Deut. xxxiv. 5, 6)\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF JOSHUA\n\n\n  THE NEW LEADER'S COMMISSION (Joshua i. 1-11)\n  THE CHARGE TO THE SOLDIER OF THE LORD (Joshua i. 7, 8)\n  THE UNTRODDEN PATH AND THE GUIDING ARK (Joshua iii. 4)\n  'THE WATERS SAW THEE; THEY WERE AFRAID' (Joshua iii. 5-17)\n  STONES CRYING OUT (Joshua iv. 10-24)\n  THE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD'S HOST (Joshua v. 14)\n  THE SIEGE OF JERICHO (Joshua vi. 10, 11)\n  RAHAB (Joshua vi. 25)\n  ACHAN'S SIN, ISRAEL'S DEFEAT (Joshua vii. 1-12)\n  THE SUN STAYED (Joshua x. 12)\n  UNWON BUT CLAIMED (Joshua xiii. 1-6)\n  CALEB-A GREEN OLD AGE (Joshua xiv. 6)\n  THE CITIES OF REFUGE (Joshua xx. 1-9)\n  THE END OF THE WAR (Joshua xxi. 43-45; xxii. 1-9)\n  THE NATIONAL OATH AT SHECHEM (Joshua xxiv. 19-28)\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF JUDGES\n\n\n  A SUMMARY OF ISRAEL'S FAITHLESSNESS AND GOD'S PATIENCE (Judges ii. 1-10)\n  ISRAEL'S OBSTINACY AND GOD'S PATIENCE (Judges ii. 11-23)\n  RECREANT REUBEN (Judges v. 16, R.V.)\n  'ALL THINGS ARE YOURS' (Judges v. 20; Job v. 23)\n  LOVE MAKES SUNS (Judges v. 31)\n  GIDEON'S ALTAR (Judges vi. 24)\n  GIDEON'S FLEECE (Judges vi. 37)\n  'FIT, THOUGH FEW'(Judges vii. 1-8)\n  A BATTLE WITHOUT A SWORD (Judges vii. 13-23)\n  STRENGTH PROFANED AND LOST (Judges xvi. 21-31)\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF RUTH\n\n\nGENTLE HEROINE, A GENTILE CONVERT (Ruth i. 16-22)\n\n\nTHE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL\n\n\n  THE CHILD PROPHET (1 Samuel iii. 1-14)\n  FAITHLESSNESS AND DEFEAT (1 Samuel iv. 1-18)\n  REPENTANCE AND VICTORY (1 Samuel vii, 1-12)\n  'MAKE US A KING' (1 Samuel viii. 4-20)\n  THE OLD JUDGE AND THE YOUNG KING (1 Samuel ix. 16-27)\n  THE KING AFTER MAN'S HEART (1 Samuel x. 17-27)\n  SAMUEL'S CHALLENGE AND CHARGE (1 Samuel xii. 1-15)\n  OLD TRUTH FOR A NEW EPOCH (1 Samuel xii. 13-25)\n  SAUL REJECTED (1 Samuel xv. 10-23)\n  THE SHEPHERD-KING (1 Samuel xvi. 1-13)\n  THE VICTORY OF UNARMED FAITH (1 Samuel xvii. 32-51)\n  A SOUL'S TRAGEDY (1 Samuel xviii. 5-16)\n  JONATHAN, THE PATTERN OF FRIENDSHIP (1 Samuel xx.1-13)\n  LOVE FOR HATE, THE TRUE _QUID PRO QUO_ (1 Samuel xxiv.4-17)\n  LOVE AND REMORSE (1 Samuel xxvi. 5-12; 21-25)\n  SAUL (1 Samuel xxviii. 15)\n  'WHAT DOEST THOU HERE?' (1 Samuel xxix. 3; I Kings xix. 9)\n  THE SECRET OF COURAGE (1 Samuel xxx. 6)\n  AT THE FRONT OR THE BASE (1 Samuel xxx. 24)\n  THE END OF SELF-WILL (1 Samuel xxxi. 1-13)\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY\n\n\nGOD'S FAITHFULNESS\n\n'Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God,\nwhich keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him.'--DEUT. vii.\n9.\n\n\n'Faithful,' like most Hebrew words, has a picture in it. It means\nsomething that can be (1) leant on, or (2) builded on.\n\nThis leads to a double signification--(1) trustworthy, and that because\n(2) rigidly observant of obligations. So the word applies to a steward,\na friend, or a witness. Its most wonderful and sublime application is\nto God. It presents to our adoring love--\n\nI. God as coming under obligations to us.\n\nA marvellous and blessed idea. He limits His action, regards Himself as\nbound to a certain line of conduct.\n\n1. Obligations from His act of creation.\n\n'A faithful Creator,' bound to take care of those whom He has made. To\nsupply their necessities. To satisfy their desires. To give to each the\npossibility of discharging its ideal.\n\n2. Obligations from His past self.\n\n'God is faithful by whom ye were called,' therefore He will do all that\nis imposed on Him by His act of calling.\n\nHe cannot begin without completing. There are no abandoned mines. There\nare no half-hewn stones in His quarries, like the block at Baalbec. And\nthis because the divine nature is inexhaustible in power and\nunchangeable in purpose.\n\n3. Obligations from His own word.\n\nA revelation is presupposed by the notion of faithfulness. It is not\npossible in heathenism. 'Dumb idols,' which have given their\nworshippers no promises, cannot be thought of as faithful. By its grand\nconception of Jehovah as entering into a covenant with Israel, the Old\nTestament presents Him to our trust as having bound Himself to a known\nline of action. Thereby He becomes, if we may so phrase it, a\nconstitutional monarch.\n\nThat conception of a Covenant is the negation of caprice, of arbitrary\nsovereignty, of mystery. We know the principles of His government. His\nmajestic 'I wills' cover the whole ground of human life and needs for\nthe present and the future. We can go into no region of life but we\nfind that God has defined His conduct to us there by some word spoken\nto our heart and binding Him.\n\n4. Obligations from His new Covenant and highest word in Jesus Christ.\n\n'He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.'\n\nII. God as recognising and discharging these obligations.\n\nThat He will do so comes from His very nature. With Him there is no\nchange of disposition, no emergence of unseen circumstances, no failure\nor exhaustion of power.\n\nThat He does so is matter of fact. Moses in the preceding context had\npointed to facts of history, on which he built the 'know therefore' of\nthe text. On the broad scale the whole world's history is full of\nillustrations of God's faithfulness to His promises and His threats.\nThe history of Judaism, the sorrows of nations, and the complications\nof national events, all illustrate this fact.\n\nThe personal history of each of us. The experience of all Christian\nsouls. No man ever trusted in Him and was ashamed. He wills that we\nshould put Him to the proof.\n\nIII. God as claiming our trust.\n\nHe is faithful, worthy to be trusted, as His deeds show.\n\nFaith is our attitude corresponding to His faithfulness. Faith is the\ngerm of all that He requires from us. How much we need it! How firm it\nmight be! How blessed it would make us!\n\nThe thought of God as 'faithful' is, like a precious stone, turned in\nmany directions in Scripture, and wherever turned it flashes light.\nSometimes it is laid as the foundation for the confidence that even our\nweakness will be upheld to the end, as when Paul tells the Corinthians\nthat they will be confirmed to the end, because 'God is faithful,\nthrough whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son' (1 Cor. i.\n9). Sometimes there is built on it the assurance of complete\nsanctification, as when he prays for the Thessalonians that their\n'whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the\ncoming of our Lord' and finds it in his heart to pray thus because\n'Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it' (1 Thess. v.\n24). Sometimes it is presented as the steadfast stay grasping which\nfaith can expect apparent impossibilities, as when Sara 'judged Him\nfaithful who had promised' (Heb. xi. 11). Sometimes it is adduced as\nbringing strong consolation to souls conscious of their own feeble and\nfluctuating faith, as when Paul tells Timothy that 'If we are\nfaithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself' (2 Tim. ii.\n13). Sometimes it is presented as an anodyne to souls disturbed by\nexperience of men's unreliableness, as when the apostle heartens the\nThessalonians and himself to bear human untrustworthiness by the\nthought that though men are faithless, God 'is faithful, who shall\nestablish you and keep you from evil' (2 Thess. in. 2, 3). Sometimes it\nis put forward to breathe patience into tempted spirits, as when the\nCorinthians are comforted by the assurance that 'God is faithful, who\nwill not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able' (1 Cor. x.\n13). Sometimes it is laid as the firm foundation for our assurance of\npardon, as when John tells us that 'If we confess our sins, He is\nfaithful and just to forgive us our sins' (1 John i. 9). And sometimes\nthat great attribute of the divine nature is proposed as holding forth\na pattern for us to follow, and the faith in it as tending to make us\nin a measure steadfast like Himself, as when Paul indignantly rebuts\nhis enemies' charge of levity of purpose and vacillation, and avers\nthat 'as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay' (2\nCor. L 18).\n\n\n\n\nTHE LESSON OF MEMORY\n\n'Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these\nlofty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to\nknow what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His\ncommandments, or no.'--DEUT. viii.2.\n\n\nThe strand of our lives usually slips away smoothly enough, but days\nsuch as this, the last Sunday in a year, are like the knots on a\nsailor's log, which, as they pass through his fingers, tell him how\nfast it is being paid out from the reel, and how far it has run off.\n\nThey suggest a momentary consciousness of the swift passage of life,\nand naturally lead us to a glance backwards and forwards, both of which\noccupations ought to be very good for us. The dead flat upon which some\nof us live may be taken as an emblem of the low present in which most\nof us are content to pass our lives, affording nowhere a distant view,\nand never enabling us to see more than a street's length ahead of us.\nIt is a good thing to get up upon some little elevation and take a\nwider view, backwards and forwards.\n\nAnd so now I venture to let the season preach to us, and to confine\nmyself simply to suggesting for you one or two very plain and obvious\nthoughts which may help to make our retrospect wise and useful. And\nthere are two main considerations which I wish to submit. The first\nis--what we ought to be chiefly occupied with as we look back; and\nsecondly, what the issue of such a retrospect ought to be.\n\nI. With what we should be mainly occupied as we look back. Memory, like\nall other faculties, may either help us or hinder us. As is the man, so\nwill be his remembrance. The tastes which rule his present will\ndetermine the things that he likes best to think about in the past.\nThere are many ways of going wrong in our retrospects. Some of us, for\ninstance, prefer to think with pleasure about things that ought never\nto have been done, and to give a wicked immortality to thoughts that\nought never to have had a being. Some men's tastes and inclinations are\nso vitiated and corrupted that they find a joy in living their\nbadnesses over again. Some of us, looking back on the days that are\ngone, select by instinctive preference for remembrance, the vanities\nand frivolities and trifles which were the main things in them whilst\nthey lasted. Such a use of the great faculty of memory is like the\nfolly of the Egyptians who embalmed cats and vermin. Do not let us be\nof those, who have in their memories nothing but rubbish, or something\nworse, who let down the drag-net into the depths of the past and bring\nit up full only of mud and foulnesses, and of ugly monsters that never\nought to have been dragged into the daylight.\n\nThen there are some of us who abuse memory just as much by picking out,\nwith perverse ingenuity, every black bit that lies in the distance\nbehind us, all the disappointments, all the losses, all the pains, all\nthe sorrows. Some men look back and say, with Jacob in one of his\nmoods, 'Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life!' Yes!\nand the same man, when he was in a better spirit, said, and a great\ndeal more truly, 'The God that fed me all my life long, the Angel which\nredeemed me from all evil.' Do not paint like Rembrandt, even if you do\nnot paint like Turner. Do not dip your brush only in the blackness,\neven if you cannot always dip it in molten sunshine.\n\nAnd there are some of us who, in like manner, spoil all the good that\nwe could get out of a wise retrospect, by only looking back in such a\nfashion as to feed a sentimental melancholy, which is, perhaps, the\nmost profitless of all the ways of looking backwards.\n\nNow here are the two points, in this verse of my text, which would put\nall these blunders and all others right, telling us what we should\nchiefly think about when we look back, and from what point of view the\nretrospect of the past must be taken in order that it should be\nsalutary. 'Thou shalt remember all the way by which the Lord thy God\nhath led thee.' Let memory work under the distinct recognition of\ndivine guidance in every part of the past. That is the _first_\ncondition of making the retrospect blessed. 'To humble thee and to\nprove thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest\nkeep His commandments, or no'; let us look back with a clear\nrecognition of the fact that the use of life is to test, and reveal,\nand to make, character. This world, and all its outward engagements,\nduties, and occupations, is but a scaffolding, on which the builders\nmay stand to rear the true temple, and when the building is reared you\nmay do what you like with the scaffolding. So we have to look back on\nlife from this point of view, that its joys and sorrows, its ups and\ndowns, its work and repose, the vicissitudes and sometimes contrariety\nof its circumstances and conditions, are all for the purpose of making\n_us_, and of making plain to ourselves, what we are. 'To humble thee,'\nthat is, to knock the self-confidence out of us, and to bring us to\nsay: 'I am nothing and Thou art everything; I myself am a poor weak rag\nof a creature that needs Thy hand to stiffen me, or I shall not be able\nto resist or to do.' That is one main lesson that life is meant to\nteach us. Whoever has learnt to say by reason of the battering and\nshocks of time, by reason of sorrows and failures, by reason of joys,\ntoo, and fruition,--'Lord, I come to Thee as depending upon Thee for\neverything,' has wrung its supreme good out of life, and has fulfilled\nthe purpose of the Father, who has led us all these years, to humble us\ninto the wholesome diffidence that says: 'Not in myself, but in Thee\nare all my strength and my hope.'\n\nI need not do more than remind you of the other cognate purposes which\nare suggested here. Life is meant, not only to bring us to humble\nself-distrust, as a step towards devout dependence on God, but also to\nreveal us to ourselves; for we only know what we are by reflecting on\nwhat we have done, and the only path by which self-knowledge can be\nattained is the path of observant recollection of our conduct in daily\nlife.\n\nAnother purpose for which the whole panorama of life is made to pass\nbefore us, and for which all the gymnastic of life exercises us, is\nthat we may be made submissive to the great Will, and may keep His\ncommandments.\n\nThese thoughts should be with us in our retrospect, and then our\nretrospect will be blessed: First, we are to look back and see God's\nguidance everywhere, and second, we are to judge of the things that we\nremember by their tendency to make character, to make us humble, to\nreveal us to ourselves, and to knit us in glad obedience to our Father\nGod.\n\nII. And now turn to the other consideration which may help to make\nremembrance a good, viz., the issues to which our retrospect must tend,\nif it is to be anything more than sentimental recollection.\n\nFirst, let me say: Remember and be thankful. If what I have been saying\nas to the standard by which events are to be tried be true; if it be\nthe case that the main fact about things is their power to mould\npersons and to make character, then there follows, very plainly and\nclearly, that all things that come within the sweep of our memory may\nequally contribute to our highest good.\n\nGood does not mean pleasure. Bright-being may not always be well-being,\nand the highest good has a very much nobler meaning than comfort and\nsatisfaction. And so, realising the fact that the best of things is\nthat they shall make us like God, then we can turn to the past and\njudge it wisely, because then we shall see that all the diversity, and\neven the opposition, of circumstances and events, may co-operate\ntowards the same end. Suppose two wheels in a great machine, one turns\nfrom right to left and the other from left to right, but they fit into\none another, and they both produce one final result of motion. So the\nmoments in my life which I call blessings and gladness, and the moments\nin my life which I call sorrows and tortures, may work into each other,\nand they will do so if I take hold of them rightly, and use them as\nthey ought to be used. They will tend to the highest good whether they\nbe light or dark; even as night with its darkness and its dews has its\nministration and mission of mercy for the wearied eye no less than day\nwith its brilliancy and sunshine; even as the summer and the winter are\nequally needful, and equally good for the crop. So in our lives it is\ngood for us, sometimes, that we be brought into the dark places; it is\ngood for us sometimes that the leaves be stripped from the trees, and\nthe ground be bound with frost.\n\nAnd so for both kinds of weather, dear brethren, we have to remember\nand be thankful. It is a hard lesson, I know, for some of us. There may\nbe some listening to me whose memory goes back to this dying year as\nthe year that has held the sorest sorrow of their lives; to whom it has\nbrought some loss that has made earth dark. And it seems hard to tell\nquivering lips to be thankful, and to bid a man be grateful though his\neyes fill with tears as he looks back on such a past. But yet it is\ntrue that it is good for us to be drawn, or to be driven, to Him; it is\ngood for us to have to tread even a lonely path if it makes us lean\nmore on the arm of our Beloved. It is good for us to have places made\nempty if, as in the year when Israel's King died, we shall thereby have\nour eyes purged to behold the Lord sitting on the Royal Seat.\n\n               'Take it on trust a little while,\n                  Thou soon shalt read the mystery right,\n                In the full sunshine of His smile.'\n\nAnd for the present let us try to remember that He dwelleth in the\ndarkness as in the light, and that we are to be thankful for the things\nthat help us to be near Him, and not only for the things that make us\noutwardly glad. So I venture to say even to those of you who may be\nstruggling with sad remembrances, remember and be thankful.\n\nI have no doubt there are many of us who have to look back, if not upon\na year desolated by some blow that never can be repaired, yet upon a\nyear in which failing resources and declining business, or diminished\nhealth, or broken spirits, or a multitude of minute but most disturbing\ncares and sorrows, do make it hard to recognise the loving Hand in all\nthat comes. Yet to such, too, I would say: 'All things work together\nfor good,' therefore all things are to be embraced in the thankfulness\nof our retrospect.\n\nThe second and simple practical suggestion that I make is this:\nRemember, and let the memory lead to contrition. Perhaps I am speaking\nto some men or women for whom this dying year holds the memory of some\ngreat lapse from goodness; some young man who for the first time has\nbeen tempted to sensuous sin; some man who may have been led into\nslippery places in regard to business integrity. I draw a 'bow at a\nventure' when I speak of such things--perhaps some one is listening to\nme who would give a great deal if he or she could forget a certain past\nmoment of this dying year, which makes their cheeks hot yet whilst they\nthink of it. To such I say: Remember, go close into the presence of the\nblack thing, and get the consciousness of it driven into your heart;\nfor such remembrance is the first step to deliverance from the load,\nand to your passing, emancipated from the bitterness, into the year\nthat lies before you.\n\nBut even if there are none of us to whom such remarks would specially\napply, let us summon up to ourselves the memories of these bygone days.\nIn all the three hundred and sixty-five of them, my friend, how many\nmoments stand out distinct before you as moments of high communion with\nGod? How many times can you remember of devout consecration to Him? How\nmany, when--as visitors to the Riviera reckon the number of days in the\nseason in which, far across the water, they have seen Corsica--you can\nremember this year to have beheld, faint and far away, 'the mountains\nthat are round about' the 'Jerusalem that is above'? How many moments\ndo you remember of consecration and service, of devotion to your God\nand your fellows? Oh! what a miserable, low-lying stretch of\nGod-forgetting monotony our lives look when we are looking back at them\nin the mass. One film of mist is scarcely perceptible, but when you get\na mile of it you can tell what it is--oppressive darkness. One drop of\nmuddy water does not show its pollution, but when you have a pitcherful\nof it you can see how thick it is. And so a day or an hour looked back\nupon may not reveal the true godlessness of the average life, but if\nyou will take the twelvemonth and think about it, and ask yourself a\nquestion or two about it, I think you will feel that the only attitude\nfor any of us in looking back across a stretch of such brown barren\nmoorland is that of penitent prayer for forgiveness and for cleansing.\n\nBut I dare say that some of you say: 'Oh! I look back and I do not feel\nanything of that kind of regret that you describe; I have done my duty,\nand nobody can blame me. I am quite comfortable in my retrospect. Of\ncourse there have been imperfections; we are all human, and these need\nnot trouble a man.' Let me ask you, dear brother, one question: Do you\nbelieve that the law of a man's life is, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy\nGod with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy\nstrength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself'? Do you\nbelieve that that is what you ought to do? Have you done it? If you\nhave not, let me beseech you not to go out of this year, across the\nartificial and imaginary boundary that separates you from the next,\nwith the old guilt upon your back, but go to Jesus Christ, and ask Him\nto forgive you, and then you may pass into the coming twelvemonth\nwithout the intolerable burden of unremembered, unconfessed, and\ntherefore unforgiven, sin.\n\nThe next point that I would suggest is this: Let us remember in order\nthat from the retrospect we may gain practical wisdom. It is\nastonishing what unteachable, untamable creatures men are. They learn\nwisdom about all the little matters of daily life by experience, but\nthey do not seem to do so about the higher. Even a sparrow comes to\nunderstand a scarecrow after a time or two, and any rat in a hole will\nlearn the trick of a trap. But you can trick men over and over again\nwith the same inducement, and, even whilst the hook is sticking in\ntheir jaws, the same bait will tempt them once more. That is very\nlargely the case because they do not observe and remember what has\nhappened to them in bygone days.\n\nThere are two things that any man, who will bring his reason and\ncommon-sense to bear upon the honest estimate and retrospect of the\nfacts of his life, may be fully convinced of. These are, first, his own\nweakness. One main use of a wise retrospect is to teach us where we are\nweakest. What an absurd thing it would be if the inhabitants of a Dutch\nvillage were to let the sea come in at the same gap in the same dyke a\ndozen times! What an absurd thing it would be if a city were captured\nover and over again by assaults at the same point, and did not\nstrengthen its defences there! But that is exactly what you do; and all\nthe while, if you would only think about your own past lives wisely and\nreasonably, and like men with brains in your heads, you might find out\nwhere it was that you were most open to attack; what it was in your\ncharacter that most needed strengthening, what it was wherein the devil\ncaught you most quickly, and might so build yourselves up in the most\ndefenceless points.\n\nDo not look back for sentimental melancholy; do not look back with\nunavailing regrets; do not look back to torment yourselves with useless\nself-accusation; but look back to see how good God has been, and look\nback to see where you are weak, and pile the wall, higher there, and so\nlearn practical wisdom from retrospect.\n\nAnother phase of the practical wisdom which memory should give is\ndeliverance from the illusions of sense and time. Remember how little\nthe world has ever done for you in bygone days. Why should you let it\nbefool you once again? If it has proved itself a liar when it has\ntempted you with gilded offers that came to nothing, and with beauty\nthat was no more solid than the 'Easter-eggs' that you buy in the\nshops--painted sugar with nothing inside--why should you believe it\nwhen it comes to you once more? Why not say: 'Ah! once burnt, twice\nshy! You have tried that trick on me before, and I have found it out!'\nLet the retrospect teach us how hollow life is without God, and so let\nit draw us near to Him.\n\nThe last thing that I would say is: 'Let us remember that we may hope.\nIt is the prerogative of Christian remembrance, that it merges into\nChristian hope. The forward look and the backward look are really but\nthe exercise of the same faculty in two different directions. Memory\ndoes not always imply hope, we remember sometimes because we do not\nhope, and try to gather round ourselves the vanished past because we\nknow it never again can be a present or a future. But when we are\noccupied with an unchanging Friend, whose love is inexhaustible, and\nwhose arm is unwearied, it is good logic to say: 'It has been,\ntherefore it shall be.'\n\nWith regard to this fleeting life, it is a delusion to say 'to-morrow\nshall be as this day, and much more abundant'; but with regard to the\nlife of the soul that lives in God, that is true, and true for ever.\nThe past is a specimen of the future. The future for the man who lives\nin Christ is but the prolongation, and the heightening into superlative\nexcellence and beauty, of all that is good in the past and in the\npresent. As the radiance of some rising sun may cast its bright beams\ninto the opposite sky, even so the glowing past behind us flings its\npurples and its golds and its scarlets on to the else dim curtain of\nthe future.\n\nRemember that you may hope. A paradox, but a paradox that is a truth in\nthe case of Christians whose memory is of a God that has loved and\nblessed them whose hope is in a God that changes never; whose memory is\ncharged with 'every good and perfect gift that came down from the\nFather of Lights,' whose hope is in that same Father, 'with whom is no\nvariableness, neither shadow of turning.' So on every stone of\nremembrance, every Ebenezer on which is graved: 'Hitherto hath the Lord\nhelped us,' we can mount a telescope--if I may so say--that will look\ninto the furthest glories of the heavens, and be sure that the past\nwill be magnified and perpetuated in the future. Our prayer may\nlegitimately be; 'Thou hast been my help, leave me not, neither forsake\nme!' And His answer will be: 'I will not leave thee until I have done\nthat which I have spoken to thee of.' Remember that you may hope, and\nhope because you remember.\n\n\n\n\nTHE EATING OF THE PEACE-OFFERING\n\n'But thou must eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the\nLord thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy\nmanservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy\ngates: and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou\nputtest thine hands unto.'--DEUT. xii. 18.\n\n\nThere were three bloody sacrifices, the sin-offering, the\nburnt-offering, and the peace-offering. In all three expiation was the\nfirst idea, but in the second of them the act of burning symbolised a\nfurther thought, namely, that of offering to God, while in the third,\nthe peace-offering, there was added to both of these the still further\nthought of the offerer's participation with God, as symbolised by the\neating of the sacrifice. So we have great verities of the most\nspiritual religion adumbrated in this external rite. The rind is hard\nand forbidding, the kernel is juicy and sweet.\n\nI. Communion with God based on atonement.\n\nII. Feeding on Christ.\n\nWhat was sacrifice becomes food. The same Person and facts, apprehended\nby faith, are, in regard to their bearing on the divine government, the\nground of pardon, and in regard to their operation within us, the\nsource of spiritual sustenance. Christ for us is our pardon; Christ in\nus is our life.\n\nIII. The restoration to the offerer of all which he lays on God's altar.\n\nThe sacrifice was transformed and elevated into a sacrament. By being\noffered the sacrifice was ennobled. The offerer did not lose what he\nlaid on the altar, but it came back to him, far more precious than\nbefore. It was no longer mere food for the body, and to eat it became\nnot an ordinary meal, but a sacrament and means of union with God. It\nwas a hundredfold more the offerer's even in this life. All its savour\nwas more savoury, all its nutritive qualities were more nutritious. It\nhad suffered a fiery change, and was turned into something more rich\nand rare.\n\nThat is blessedly true as to all which we lay on God's altar. It is far\nmore ours than it ever was or could be, while we kept it for ourselves,\nand our enjoyment of, and nourishment from, our good things, when\noffered as sacrifices, are greater than when we eat our morsel alone.\nIf we make earthly joys and possessions the materials of our sacrifice,\nthey will not only become more joyful and richer, but they will become\nmeans of closer union with Him, instead of parting us from Him, as they\ndo when used in selfish disregard of Him.\n\nNor must we forget the wonderful thought, also mirrored in this piece\nof ancient ritual, that God delights in men's sacrifices and surrenders\nand services. 'If I were hungry, I would not tell thee,' said the\nPsalmist in God's name in regard to outward sacrifices; 'Will I eat the\nflesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?' But he does 'eat' the\nbetter sacrifices that loving hearts or obedient wills lay on His\naltar. He seeks for these, and delights when they are offered to Him.\n'He hungered, and seeing a fig tree by the wayside, He came to it.' He\nstill hungers for the fruit that we can yield to Him, and if we will,\nHe will enter in and sup with us, not disdaining to sit at the poor\ntable which we can spread for Him, nor to partake of the humble fare\nwhich we can lay upon it, but mending the banquet by what He brings for\n_our_ nourishment, and hallowing the hour by His presence.\n\n\n\n\nPROPHETS AND THE PROPHET\n\n'When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,\nthou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10.\nThere shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his\ndaughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an\nobserver of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11. Or a charmer, or a\nconsulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12. For\nall that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because\nof these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before\nthee. 13. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. 14. For these\nnations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times,\nand unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered\nthee so to do. 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet\nfrom the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye\nshall hearken; 16. According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy\nGod in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again\nthe voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any\nmore, that I die not. 17. And the Lord said unto me, They have well\nspoken that which they have spoken. 18. I will raise them up a Prophet\nfrom among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His\nmouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. 19.\nAnd it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto My words\nwhich He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him. 20. But the\nprophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My name, which I have\nnot commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other\ngods, even that prophet shall die. 21. And if thou say in thine heart,\nHow shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? 22. When a\nprophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor\ncome to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the\nprophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of\nhim.'--DEUT. xviii. 9-22.\n\n\nIt is evident from the connection in which the promise of 'a prophet\nlike unto Moses' is here introduced that it does not refer to Jesus\nonly; for it is presented as Israel's continuous defence against the\ntemptation of seeking knowledge of the divine will by the illegitimate\nmethods of divination, soothsaying, necromancy, and the like, which\nwere rampant among the inhabitants of the land. A distant hope of a\nprophet in the far-off future could afford no motive to shun these\nsuperstitions. We cannot understand this passage unless we recognise\nthat the direct reference is to the institution of the prophetic order\nas the standing means of imparting the reliable knowledge of God's\nwill, possessing which, Israel had no need to turn to them 'that peep\nand mutter' and bring false oracles from imagined gods. But that\nprimary reference of the words does not exclude, but rather demands,\ntheir ultimate reference to Him in whom the divine word is perfectly\nenshrined, and who is the bright, consummate flower of the prophetic\norder, which 'spake of Him,' not only in its individual predictions,\nbut by its very existence.\n\nA glance must be given to the exhaustive list of pretenders to\nknowledge of the future or to power of shaping it magically, which\noccurs in verses 10,11, and suggests a terrible picture of the burdens\nof superstition which weighed on men in these days of ignorance, as the\nlike burdens do still, wherever Jesus is not known as the one Revealer\nof God, and the sole Lord of all things. Of the eight terms employed,\nthe first three refer to different means of reading the future, the\nnext two to different means of influencing events, and the last three\nto different ways of consulting the dead. The first of these eight\nproperly refers to drawing lots, but includes other methods; the second\nis an obscure word, which is supposed by some to mean a 'murmurer,' and\nmay refer rather to the low mutterings of the soothsayer than to the\nmethod of his working; the third is probably a general expression for\nan interpreter of omens, especially of those given by the play of\nliquid in a 'cup,' such as Joseph 'divined' by.\n\nTwo names for magicians follow, of which the former seems to mean one\nwho worked with charms such as African or American Indian 'medicine\nmen' use, and the latter, one who binds by incantations, or one who\nties magic knots, which are supposed to have the power of hindering the\ndesigns of the person against whom they are directed. The word employed\nmeans 'binding,' and maybe used either literally or metaphorically. The\nmalicious tying of knots in order to work harm is not dead yet in some\nbackward corners of Britain. Then follow three names for traffickers\nwith spirits,--those who raise ghosts as did the witch of Endor, those\nwho have a 'familiar spirit,' and those who in any way consult the\ndead. It is a grim catalogue, bearing witness to the deep-rooted\nlonging in men to peer into the darkness ahead, and to get some\nknowledge of the purposes of the awful unseen Power who rules there.\nThe longing is here recognised as legitimate, while the methods are\nbranded as bad, and Israel is warned from them, by being pointed to the\nmerciful divine institution which meets the longing.\n\nIt is clear, from this glance at the context, that the 'prophet'\npromised to Israel must mean the order, not the individual; and it is\ninteresting to note, first, the relation in which that order is\npresented as standing towards all that rabble of diviners and\nsorcerers, with their rubbish of charms and muttered spells. It sweeps\nthem off the field, because it is truly what they pretend to be. God\nknows men's longings, and God will meet them so far as meeting them is\nfor men's good. But the characteristics of the prophet are set in\nstrong contrast to those of the diviners and magicians, and lift the\norder high above all the filth and folly of these others. First, the\nprophet is 'raised up' by God; the individual holder of the office has\nhis 'call' and does not 'prophesy out of his own heart.' The man who\ntakes this office on himself without such a call is _ipso facto_\nbranded as a false prophet. Then he is 'from the midst of thee, of thy\nbrethren,'--springing from the people, not an alien, like so many of\nthese wandering soothsayers, but with the national life throbbing in\nhis veins, and himself participant of the thoughts and emotions of his\nbrethren. Then he is to be 'like unto' Moses,--not in all points, but\nin his receiving direct communications from God, and in his authority\nas God's messenger. The crowning characteristic, 'I will put My words\ninto his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command\nhim,' invests his words with divine authority, calls for obedience to\nthem as the words of God Himself, widens out his sphere far beyond that\nof merely foretelling, brings in the moral and religious element which\nhad no place in the oracles of the soothsayer, and opens up the\nprospect of a continuous progressive revelation throughout the ages\n('all that I _shall_ command him'). We mutilate the grand idea of the\nprophet in Israel if we think of his work as mainly prediction, and we\nmutilate it no less if we exclude prediction from it. We mutilate it\nstill more fatally if we try to account for it on naturalistic\nprinciples, and fail to see in the prophet a man directly conscious of\na divine call, or to hear in his words the solemn accents of the voice\nof God.\n\nThe loftiness and the limitations of 'the goodly fellowship of the\nprophets' alike point onwards to Jesus Christ. In Him, and in Him\nalone, the idea of the prophet is fully realised. The imperfect\nembodiments of it in the past were prophecies as well as prophets. The\nfact that God has 'spoken unto the fathers by the prophets,' leads us\nto expect that He will speak 'to us in a Son,' and that not by\nfragments of His mighty voice, but in one full, eternal, all-embracing\nand all-sufficient Word. Every divine idea, which has been imperfectly\nmanifested in fragmentary and sinful men and in the material creation,\nis completely incarnated in Him. He is the King to whom the sins and\nthe saintlinesses of Israel's kings alike pointed. He is the Priest,\nwhom Aaron and his sons foreshadowed, who perfectly exercises the\nsympathy which they could only feel partially, because they were\ncompassed with infirmity and self-regard, and who offers the true\nsacrifice of efficacy higher than 'the blood of bulls and goats.' He is\nthe Prophet, who makes all other means of knowing the divine will\nunnecessary, hearing whom we hear the very voice of God speaking in His\ngentle words of love, in His authoritative words of command, in His\nilluminating words of wisdom, and speaking yet more loudly and\nheart-touchingly in the eloquence of deeds no less than divine; who is\n'not ashamed to call us brethren,' and is 'bone of our bone and flesh\nof our flesh'; who is like, but greater than, the great lawgiver of\nIsrael, being the Son and Lord of the 'house' in which Moses was but a\nservant. 'To Him give all the prophets witness,' and the greatest of\nthem was honoured when, with Moses, Elijah stood on the Mount of\nTransfiguration, subordinate and attesting, and then faded away when\nthe voice proclaimed, 'This is My beloved Son, hear Him,'--and they\n'saw no one save Jesus only.'\n\n\n\n\nA CHOICE OF MASTERS\n\n'Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with\ngladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48. Therefore shalt\nthou serve thine enemies ... in want of all things: and He shall put a\nyoke of iron upon thy neck, until He have destroyed thee.'--DEUT.\nxxviii. 47, 48\n\n\nThe history of Israel is a picture on the large scale of what befalls\nevery man.\n\nA service--we are all born to obedience, to depend on and follow some\nperson or thing. There is only a choice of services; and he who boasts\nhimself free is but a more abject slave, as the choice for a nation is\neither the rule of settled order and the sanctities of an established\nlaw, or the usurpation of a mob and the intolerable tyranny of\nunbridled and irresponsible force.\n\nI. The service of God or the service of our enemies.\n\nIsrael was the servant in turn of Egypt, Philistia, Edom, Assyria,\nBabylon, Syria, and Rome. It was every invader's prey. God's invisible\narm was its only guard from these, and an all-sufficient guard as long\nas it leaned on Him. When it turned from Him it fell under their yoke.\nIts lawful Lord loved it; its tyrants hated it.\n\nSo with us. We have to serve God or enemies. Our lusts, our passions,\nthe world, evil habits--in a word, our sins ring us round. God is the\nonly defence against them.\n\nThe contrast between the one and the many--a king or an ochlocracy. The\ncontrast of the loving Lord and the hostile sins.\n\nII. A service which is honour or a service which is degradation.\n\nGod alone is worthy of our absolute submission and service. How low a\nman sinks when he is ruled by any lesser authority! Such obedience is a\ncrime against the dignity of human nature, and the soul is not without\na galling sense of this now and then, when its chains rattle.\n\nIII. A service which is freedom because it is rendered by love, or a\nservice which is hard slavery.\n\n'With joy for the abundance of all things.' How sin palls upon us, and\nyet we commit it. The will is overborne, conscience is stifled.\n\nIV. A service which feeds the spirit or a service which starves it.\n\nThe soul can only in God get what it wants. Prison fare is what it\nreceives in the other service. The unsatisfying character of all sin;\nit cloys, and yet leaves one hungry. It is 'that which satisfieth not.'\n'Broken cisterns which hold no water.'\n\nV. A service which is life or a service which is death.\n\nThe dark forebodings of the text grow darker as it goes on. The grim\nslavery which it threatens as the only alternative to joyful service of\nGod is declared to be lifelong 'penal servitude,' and not only is there\nno deliverance from it, but it directly tends to wear away the life of\nthe hopeless slaves. For the words that follow our text are 'and he\nshall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.'\nThat is dismally true in regard to any and every life that has shaken\noff the service of God which is perfect freedom, and has persisted in\nthe service of sin. Such service is suicidal; it rivets an iron yoke on\nour necks, and there is no locksmith who can undo the shackles and lift\nit off, so long as we refuse to take service with God. Stubbornly\nrebellious wills forge their own fetters. Like many a slave-owner, our\ntyrants have a cruel delight in killing their slaves, and our sins not\nonly lead to death, but are themselves death.\n\nBut there is a bright possibility before the most down-trodden vassal\nof sin. 'The bond-servant abideth not in the house for ever.' He is not\na son of the house, but has been brought into it, stolen from his home.\nHe may be carried back to his Father's house, and there 'have bread\nenough and to spare,' if a deliverer can be found. And He has been\nfound. Christ the Son makes us free, and if we trust Him for our\nemancipation we 'shall be free indeed,' 'that we, being delivered out\nof the hand of our enemies, should serve Him without fear, in holiness\nand righteousness before Him all our days.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE SPIRIT OF THE LAW\n\n'For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden\nfrom thee, neither is it far off. 12. It is not in heaven, that thou\nshouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us,\nthat we may hear it, and do it? 13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that\nthou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto\nus, that we may hear it, and do it? 14. But the word is very nigh unto\nthee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 15. See,\nI have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16.\nIn that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in\nHis ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His\njudgments, that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God\nshall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17. But\nif thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be\ndrawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18. I denounce unto\nyou this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not\nprolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go\nto possess it. 19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against\nyou, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:\ntherefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20. That\nthou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice,\nand that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the\nlength of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord\nsware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give\nthem.'--DEUT. xxx. 11-20.\n\n\nThis paragraph closes the legislation of this book, the succeeding\nchapters being in the nature of an epilogue or appendix. It sums up the\nwhole law, makes plain its inmost essence and its tremendous\nalternatives. As in the closing strains of some great symphony, the\nthemes which have run through the preceding movements are woven\ntogether in the final burst of music. Let us try to discover the\ncomponent threads of the web.\n\nThe first point to note is the lofty conception of the true essence of\nthe whole law, which is enshrined here. 'This commandment which I\ncommand thee this day' is twice defined in the section (vs. 16, 20),\nand in both instances 'to love Jehovah thy God' is presented as the\nall-important precept. Love is recognised as the great commandment.\nLeviticus may deal with minute regulations for worship, but these are\nsubordinate, and the sovereign commandment is love. Nor is the motive\nwhich should sway to love omitted; for what a tender drawing by the\nmemories of what He had done for Israel is put forth in the name of\n'Jehovah, _thy_ God!' The Old Testament system is a spiritual system,\nand it too places the very heart of religion in love to God, drawn out\nby the contemplation of his self-revelation in his loving dealings with\nus. We have here clearly recognised that the obedience which pleases\nGod is obedience born of love, and that the love which really sets\ntowards God will, like a powerful stream, turn all the wheels of life\nin conformity to His will. When Paul proclaimed that 'love is the\nfulfilling of the law,' he was only repeating the teaching of this\npassage, when it puts 'to walk in His ways,' or 'to obey His voice,'\nafter 'to love Jehovah thy God.' Obedience is the result and test of\nlove; love is the only parent of real obedience.\n\nThe second point strongly insisted on here is the blessedness of\npossessing such a knowledge as the law gives. Verses 11-14 present that\nthought in three ways. The revelation is not that of duties far beyond\nour capacity: 'It is not too hard for thee.' No doubt, complete\nconformity with it is beyond our powers, and entire, whole-hearted, and\nwhole-souled love of God is not attained even by those who love Him\nmost. Paul's position that the law gives the knowledge of sin, just\nbecause it presents an impossible elevation in its ideal, is not\nopposed to the point of view of this context; for he is thinking of\ncomplete conformity as impossible, while it is thinking of real, though\nimperfect, obedience as within the reach of all men. No man can love as\nhe ought; every man can love. It is blessed to have our obligations all\ngathered into such a commandment.\n\nAgain, the possession of the law is a blessing, because its\nauthoritative voice ends the weary quest after some reliable guide to\nconduct, and we need neither try to climb to heaven, nor to traverse\nthe wide world and cross the ocean, to find certitude and enlightenment\nenough for our need. They err who think of God's commandments as\ngrievous burdens; they are merciful guide-posts. They do not so much\nlay weights on our backs as give light to our eyes.\n\nStill further, the law has its echo 'in thy heart.' It is 'graven on\nthe fleshly tables of the heart,' and we all respond to it when it\ngathers up all duty into 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,' and our\nconsciences say to it, 'Thou speakest well.' The worst man knows it\nbetter than the best man keeps it. Blurred and illegible often, like\nthe half-defaced inscriptions disinterred from the rubbish mounds that\nonce were Nineveh or Babylon, that law remains written on the hearts of\nall men.\n\nA further point to be well laid to heart is the merciful plainness and\nemphasis with which the issues that are suspended on obedience or\ndisobedience are declared. The solemn alternatives are before every man\nthat hears. Life or death, blessing or cursing, are held out to him,\nand it is for him to elect which shall be realised in his case. Of\ncourse, it may be said that the words 'life' and 'death' are here used\nin their merely physical sense, and that the context shows (vs. 17, 18)\nthat life here means only 'length of days, that thou mayest dwell in\nthe land.' No doubt that is so, though we can scarcely refuse to see\nsome glimmer of a deeper conception gleaming through the words, 'He is\nthy life,' though it is but a glimmer. We have no space here to enter\nupon the question of how far it is now true that obedience brings\nmaterial blessings. It was true for Israel, as many a sad experience\nthat it was a bitter as well as an evil thing to forsake Jehovah was to\nshow in the future. But though the connection between well-doing and\nmaterial gain is not so clear now, it is by no means abrogated, either\nfor nations or for individuals. Moral and religious law has social and\neconomic consequences, and though the perplexed distribution of earthly\ngood and ill often bewilders faith and emboldens scepticism, there\nstill is visible in human affairs a drift towards recompensing in the\nworld the righteous and the wicked.\n\nBut to us, with our Christian consciousness, 'life' means more than\nliving, and 'He is our life' in a deeper and more blessed sense than\nthat our physical existence is sustained by His continual energy. The\nlove of God and consequent union with Him give us the only true life.\nJesus is 'our life,' and He enters the spirit which opens to Him by\nfaith, and communicates to it a spark of His own immortal life. He that\nis joined to Jesus lives; he that is separated from Him 'is dead while\nhe liveth.'\n\nThe last point here is the solemn responsibility for choosing one's\npart, which the revelation of the law brings with it. 'I have set\nbefore thee life and death, the blessing and the curse, therefore\nchoose life.' We each determine for ourselves whether the knowledge of\nwhat we ought to be will lead to life or to death, and by choosing\nobedience we choose life. Every ray of light from God is capable of\nproducing a double effect. It either gladdens or pains, it either gives\nvision or blindness. The gospel, which is the perfect revelation of God\nin Christ, brings every one of us face to face with the great\nalternative, and urgently demands from each his personal act of choice\nwhether he will accept it or neglect or reject it. Not to choose to\naccept _is_ to choose to reject. To do nothing is to choose death. The\nknowledge of the law was not enough, and neither is an intellectual\nreception of the gospel. The one bred Pharisees, who were 'whited\nsepulchres'; the other breeds orthodox professors, who have 'a name to\nlive and are dead.' The clearer our light, the heavier our\nresponsibility. If we are to live, we have to 'choose life'; and if we\ndo not, by the vigorous exercise of our will, turn away from earth and\nself, and take Jesus for our Saviour and Lord, loving and obeying whom\nwe love and obey God, we have effectually chosen a worse death than\nthat of the body, and flung away a better life than that of earth.\n\n\n\n\nGOD'S TRUE TREASURE IN MAN\n\n'The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His\ninheritance.'--DEUT, xxxii.9.\n\n'Jesus Christ (Who) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from\nall iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people.'--TITUS ii. 14.\n\n\nI choose these two texts because they together present us with the\nother side of the thought to that which I have elsewhere considered,\nthat man's true treasure is in God. That great axiom of the religious\nconsciousness, which pervades the whole of Scripture, is rapturously\nexpressed in many a psalm, and never more assuredly than in that one\nwhich struggles up from the miry clay in which the Psalmist's 'steps\nhad well-nigh slipped' and soars and sings thus: 'The Lord is the\nportion of my inheritance and of my cup; Thou maintainest my lot,' 'The\nlines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly\nheritage.'\n\nYou observe the correspondence between these words and those of my\nfirst text: 'The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His\ninheritance.' The correspondence in the original is not quite so marked\nas it is in our Authorised Version, but still the idea in the two\npassages is the same. Now it is plain that persons can possess persons\nonly by love, sympathy, and communion. From that it follows that the\npossession must be mutual; or, in other words, that only he can say\n'Thou art mine' who can say 'I am Thine.' And so to possess God, and to\nbe possessed by God, are but two ways of putting the same fact. 'The\nLord is the portion of His people, and the Lord's portion is His\npeople,' are only two ways of stating the same truth.\n\nThen my second text clearly quotes the well-known utterance that lies\nat the foundation of the national life of Israel: 'Ye shall be unto Me\na peculiar treasure above all people,' and claims that privilege, like\nall Israel's privileges, for the Christian Church. In like manner Peter\n(1 Pet. ii. 9) quotes the same words, 'a peculiar people,' as properly\napplying to Christians. I need scarcely remind you that 'peculiar' here\nis used in its proper original sense of belonging to, or, as the\nRevised Version gives it, 'a people for God's own possession' and has\nno trace of the modern signification of 'singular.' Similarly we find\nPaul in his Epistle to the Ephesians giving both sides of the idea of\nthe inheritance in intentional juxtaposition, when he speaks (i. 14) of\nthe 'earnest of our inheritance ... unto the redemption of God's own\npossession.' In the words before us we have the same idea; and this\ntext besides tells us how Christ, the Revealer of God, wins men for\nHimself, and what manner of men they must be whom He counts as His.\n\nTherefore there are, as I take it, three things to be spoken about now.\nFirst, God has a special ownership in some people. Second, God owns\nthese people because He has given Himself to them. Third, God\npossesses, and is possessed by, His inheritance, that He may give and\nreceive services of love. Or, in briefer words, I have to speak about\nthis wonderful thought of a special divine ownership, what it rests\nupon, and what it involves.\n\nI. God has special ownership in some people.\n\n'The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His\ninheritance.' Put side by side with those other words of the Old\nTestament: 'All souls are Mine,' or the utterance of the 100th Psalm\nrightly translated: 'It is He that hath made us, and to Him we belong.'\nThere is a right of absolute and utter ownership and possession\ninherent in the very relation of Creator and creature; so that the\nbeing made is wholly and altogether at the disposal, and is the\nproperty, of Him that makes him.\n\nBut is that enough for God's heart? Is that worth calling ownership at\nall? An arbitrary tyrant in an unconstitutional kingdom, or a\nslave-owner, may have the most absolute right of property over his\nsubject or his slave; may have the right of entire disposal of all his\nindustry, of the profit of all his labour; may be able to do anything\nhe likes with him, may have the power of life and death; but such\nownership is only of the husk and case of a man: the man himself may be\nfree, and may smile at the claim of possession. 'They may '_own_' the\nbody, and after that have no more than they can do.' That kind of\nauthority and ownership, absolute and utter, to the point of death, may\nsatisfy a tyrant or a slave-driver, it does not satisfy the loving\nheart of God. It is not real possession at all. In what sense did Nero\nown Paul when he shut him up in prison, and cut his head off? Does the\nslave-owner own the man whom he whips within an inch of his life, and\nwho dare not do anything without his permission? Does God, in any sense\nthat corresponds with the longing of infinite love, own the men that\nreluctantly obey Him, and are simply, as it were, tools in His hands?\nHe covets and longs for a deeper relationship and tenderer ties, and\nthough all creatures are His, and all men are His servants and His\npossession, yet, like certain regiments in our own British army, there\nare some who have the right to bear in a special manner on their\nuniform and on their banners the emblazonment, 'The King's Own.' 'The\nLord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.'\n\nWell, then, the next thought is that the special relationship of\npossession is constituted by mutual love. I said at the beginning of\nthese remarks that as concerns men's relations, the only real\npossession is through love, sympathy, and communion, and that that must\nnecessarily be mutual. We have a perfect right to apply the human\nanalogy here; in fact, we are bound to do it if we would rightly\nunderstand such words as those of my text; and it just leads us to\nthis, that the one thing whereby God reckons that He possesses a man at\nall is when His love falls upon that man's heart and soaks into it, and\nwhen there springs up in the heart a corresponding emotion and\naffection. The men who welcome the divine love that goes through the\nwhole world, seeking such to worship it, and to trust it, and to become\nits own; and who therefore lovingly yield to the loving divine will,\nand take it for their law--these are the men whom He regards as His\n'portion' and 'the lot of His inheritance.' So that God is mine, and\nthat 'I am God's,' are two ends of one truth; 'I possess Him,' and 'I\nam possessed by Him,' are but the statement of one fact expressed from\ntwo points of view. In the one case you look upon it from above, in the\nother case you look upon it from beneath. All the sweet commerce of\nmutual surrender and possession which makes the joy of our hearts, in\nfriendship and in domestic life, we have the right to lift up into this\nloftier region, and find in it the last teaching of what makes the\nspecial bond of mutual possession between God and man.\n\nAnd deep words of Scripture point in that direction. Those parables of\nour Lord's: the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son, in their\ninfinite beauty, whilst they contain a great deal besides this, do\ncontain this in their several ways; the money, the animal, the man\nbelong to the woman of the house, to the shepherd, to the father. Each\nis 'lost' in a different fashion, but the most clear revelation is\ngiven in the last parable of the three, which explains the other two.\nThe son was 'lost' when he did not love the father; and he was 'found'\nby the father when he returned the yearning of the father's heart.\n\nAnd so, dear brethren, it ever is; the one thing that knits men to God\nis that the silken cord of love let down from Heaven should by our own\nhand be wrapped round our own hearts, and then we are united to Him. We\nare His and He is ours by the double action of His love manifested by\nHim, and His love received by us.\n\nNow there is nothing in all that of favouritism. The declaration that\nthere are people who have a special relationship to the divine heart\nmay be so stated as to have a very ugly look, and it often has been so\nstated as to be nothing more than self-complacent Pharisaism, which\nvalues a privilege principally because its possession is an insult to\nsomebody else that has it not.\n\nThere has been plenty of Christianity of that sort in the world, but\nthere is nothing of it in the thoughts of these texts rightly looked\nat. There is only this: it cannot but be that men who yield to God and\nlove Him, and try to live near Him and to do righteousness, are His in\na manner that those who steel themselves against Him and turn away from\nHim are not. Whilst all creatures have a place in His heart, and are\nflooded with His benefits, and get as much of Him as they can hold, the\nmen who recognise the source of their blessing, and turn to it with\ngrateful hearts, are nearer Him than those that do not do so. Let us\ntake care, lest for the sake of seeming to preserve the impartiality of\nHis love, we have destroyed all in Him that makes His love worth\nhaving. If to Him the good and the bad, the men who fear Him and the\nmen who fear Him not, are equally satisfactory, and, in the same\nmanner, the objects of an equal love, then He is not a God that has\npleasure in righteousness; and if He is not a God that 'has pleasure in\nrighteousness,' He is not a God for us to trust to. We are not giving\ncountenance to the notion that God has any step-children, any petted\nmembers of His family, when we cleave to this--they that have welcomed\nHis love into their hearts are nearer to Him than those that have\nclosed the door against it.\n\nAnd there is one more point here about this matter of ownership on\nwhich I dwell for a moment, namely, that this conception of certain men\nbeing in a special sense God's possession and inheritance means also\nthat He has a special delight in, and lofty appreciation of, them. All\nthis material creation exists for the sake of growing good men and\nwomen. That is the use of the things that are seen and temporal; they\nare like greenhouses built for the great Gardener's use in striking and\nfurthering the growth of His plants; and when He has got the plants He\nhas got what He wanted, and you may pull the greenhouse down if you\nlike. And so God estimates, and teaches us to estimate, the relative\nvalue and greatness of the material and the spiritual in this fashion,\nthat He says to us in effect: 'All these magnificences and magnitudes\nround you are small and vulgar as compared with this--a heart in which\nwisdom and divine truth and the love and likeness of God have attained\nto some tolerable measure of maturity and of strength.' These are His\n'jewels,' as the Roman matron said about her two boys. The great Father\nlooks upon the men that love Him as His jewels, and, having got the\njewels, the rock in which they were embedded and preserved may be\ncrushed when you like. 'They shall be Mine,' saith the Lord, 'My\ntreasures in that day of judgment which I make.'\n\nAnd so, my brother, all the insignificance of man, as compared with the\nmagnitude and duration of the universe, need not stagger our faith that\nthe divinest thing in the universe is a heart that has learnt to love\nGod and aspires after Him, and should but increase our wonder and our\ngratitude that He has been mindful of man and has visited him, in order\nthat He might give Himself to men, and so might win men for Himself.\n\nII. That brings me, and very briefly, to the other points that I desire\nto deal with now. The second one, which is suggested to us from my\nsecond text in the Epistle to Titus, is that this possession, by God,\nof man, like man's possession of God, comes because God has given\nHimself to man.\n\nThe Apostle puts it very strongly in the Epistle to Titus: 'The\nglorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who\ngave Himself for us that He might purify unto Himself _a people for a\npossession_.' Israel, according to one metaphor, was God's 'son,'\nbegotten by that great redeeming act of deliverance from the captivity\nof Egypt (Deut. xxxii. 6-19). According to another metaphor, Israel was\nGod's bride, wooed and won for His own by that same act. Both of these\nfigures point to the thought that in order to get man for His own He\nhas to give Himself to man.\n\nAnd the very height and sublimity of that truth is found in the\nChristian fact which the Apostle points to here. We need not depart\nfrom human analogies here either. Christ gave Himself to us that He\nmight acquire us for Himself. Absolute possession of others is only\npossible at the price of absolute surrender to them. No human heart\never gave itself away unless it was convinced that the heart to which\nit gave itself had given itself to it.\n\nAnd on the lower levels of gratitude and obligation, the only thing\nthat binds a man to another in utter submission is the conviction that\nthat other has given himself in absolute sacrifice for him. A doctor\ngoes into the wards of an hospital with his life in his hands, and\nbecause he does, he wins the full confidence and affection of those\nwhom he treats. You cannot buy a heart with anything less than a heart.\nIn the barter of the world it is not 'skin for skin,' but it is 'self\nfor self'; and if you want to own me, you must give yourself altogether\nto me. And the measure in which teachers and guides and preachers and\nphilanthropists of all sorts make conquests of men is the measure in\nwhich they make themselves sacrifices for men.\n\nNow all that is true, and is lifted to its superlative truth, in the\ngreat central fact of the Christian faith. But there is more than human\nanalogy here. Christ is not only self-sacrifice in the sense of\nsurrender, but He is sacrifice in the sense of giving Himself for our\nredemption and forgiveness. He has not only given Himself to us, He has\ngiven Himself for us. And there, and on that, is builded, and on that\nalone has He a right to build, or have we a right to yield to it, His\nclaim to absolute authority and utter command over each of us.\n\nHe has died for us, therefore the springs of our life are at His\ndisposal; and the strongest motives which can sway our lives are set in\nmotion by His touch. His death, says this text, redeems us from\niniquity and purifies us. That points to its power in delivering us\nfrom the service and practice of sin. He buys us from the despot whose\nslaves we were, and makes us His own in the hatred of evil and the\ndoing of righteousness. Moved by His death, we become capable of\nheroisms and martyrdoms of devotion to Him. Brethren, it is only as\nthat self-sacrificing love touches us, which died for our sins upon the\nCross, that the diabolical chain of selfishness will be broken from our\naffections and our wills, and we shall be led into the large place of\nglad surrender of ourselves to the sweetness and the gentle authority\nof His omnipotent love.\n\nIII. The last thought that I suggest is the issues to which this mutual\npossession points. God owns men, and is owned by them, in order that\nthere may be a giving and receiving of mutual services of love.\n\n'The Lord's portion is His people.' That in the Old Testament is always\nlaid as the foundation of certain obligations under which He has come,\nand which He will abundantly discharge. What is a great landlord\nexpected to do to his estate? 'What ought I to have done to my\nvineyard?' the divine Proprietor asks through the mouth of His servant\nthe prophet. He ought to till it, He ought not to starve it, He ought\nto fence it, He ought to cast a wall about it, He ought to reap the\nfruits. And He does all that for His inheritance. God's honour is\nconcerned in His portion not being waste. It is not to be a 'garden of\nthe sluggard,' by which people who pass can see the thorns growing\nthere. So He will till it, He will plough it, He will pick out the\nweeds, and all the disciplines of life will come to us, and the\nploughshare will be driven deep into the heart, that 'the peaceable\nfruit of righteousness' may spring up. He will fence His vineyard.\nRound about His inheritance His hand will be cast, within His people\nHis Spirit will dwell. No harm shall come near thee if thy love is\ngiven to Him; safe and untouched by evil thou shalt walk if thou walk\nwith God. 'He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of Mine eye.' The\nsoul that trusts Him He takes in charge, and before any evil can fall\nto it 'the pillared firmament must be rottenness, and earth be built on\nstubble.' 'He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him\nagainst that day.' 'The Lord's portion is His people,' and 'none shall\npluck them out of His hand.'\n\nAnd on the other side, we belong to God in Christ. What do we owe Him?\nWhat does the vineyard owe the husbandman? Fruit. We are His, therefore\nwe are bound to absolute submission. 'Ye are not your own.' Life,\ncircumstances, occupations, all--we hold them at His will. We have no\nmore right of property in anything than a slave in the bad old days had\nin his cabin and patch of ground. They belonged to the master to whom\nhe belonged. Let us recognise our stewardship, and be glad to know\nourselves His, and all events and things which we sometimes think ours,\nHis also.\n\nWe are His, therefore we owe absolute trust. The slave has at least\nthis blessing in his lot, that he need have no anxieties; nor need we.\nWe belong to God, and He will take care of us. A rich man's horses and\ndogs are well cared for, and our Owner will not leave us unheeded. Our\nwell-being involves His good name. Leave anxious thought to masterless\nhearts which have to front the world with nobody at their backs. If you\nare God's you will be looked after.\n\nWe are His, therefore we are bound to live to His praise. That is the\nconclusion which one Old Testament passage draws. 'This people have I\nformed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise' (Isaiah xliii. 21).\nThe Apostle Peter quotes these words immediately after those from\nExodus, which describe Israel as 'a people for God's own possession,'\nwhen he says 'that ye should show forth the praise of Him who hath\ncalled you.' Let us, then, live to His glory, and remember that the\nservants of the King are bound to stand to their colours amid rebels,\nand that they who know the sweetness of possessing God, and the\nblessedness of yielding to His supreme control, should acknowledge what\nthey have found of His goodness, and 'tell forth the honour of His\nname, and make His praise glorious.' Let not all the magnificent and\nwonderful expenditure of divine longing and love be in vain, nor run\noff your hearts like water poured upon a rock. Surely the sun's flames\nleaping leagues high, they tell us, in tongues of burning gas, must\nmelt everything that is near them. Shall we keep our hearts sullen and\ncold before such a fire of love? Surely that superb and wonderful\nmanifestation of the love of God in the Cross of Christ should melt\ninto running rivers of gratitude all the ice of our hearts.\n\n'He gave Himself for me!' Let us turn to Him and say: 'Lo! I give\nmyself to Thee. Thou art mine. Make me Thine by the constraint of Thy\nlove, so utterly, and so saturate my spirit with Thyself, that it shall\nnot only be Thine, but in a very deep sense it shall be Thee, and that\nit may be \"no more I that live, but Christ that liveth in me.\"'\n\n\n\n\nTHE EAGLE AND ITS BROOD\n\n'As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth\nabroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings.'--DEUT.\nxxxii. 11.\n\n\nThis is an incomplete sentence in the Authorised Version, but really it\nshould be rendered as a complete one; the description of the eagle's\naction including only the two first clauses, and (the figure being\nstill retained) the person spoken of in the last clauses being God\nHimself. That is to say, it should read thus, 'As an eagle stirreth up\nhis nest, fluttereth over his young, _He_ spreads abroad His wings,\ntakes them, bears them on His pinions.' That is far grander, as well as\nmore compact, than the somewhat dragging comparison which, according to\nthe Authorised Version, is spread over the whole verse and tardily\nexplained, in the following, by a clause introduced by an unwarranted\n'So'--'the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with\nhim.'\n\nNow, of course, we all know that the original reference of these words\nis to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and their training\nin the desert. In the solemn address by Jehovah at the giving of the\nlaw (Exodus xix. 4), the same metaphor is employed, and, no doubt, that\npassage was the source of the extended imagery here. There we read, 'Ye\nknow what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings,\nand brought you unto Myself.' The meaning of the glowing metaphor, with\nits vivid details, is just that Jehovah brought Israel out of its fixed\nabode in Goshen, and trained it for mature national life by its varied\ndesert experiences. As one of the prophets puts the same idea, 'I\ntaught Ephraim to go,' where the figure of the parent bird training its\ncallow fledglings for flight is exchanged for that of the nurse\nteaching a child to walk. While, then, the text primarily refers to the\nexperience of the infant nation in the forty years' wanderings, it\ncarries large truths about us all; and sets forth the true meaning and\nimportance of life. There seem to me to be three thoughts here, which I\ndesire to touch on briefly: first, a great thought about God; then an\nilluminating thought about the true meaning and aspect of life; and\nlastly a calming thought about the variety of the methods by which God\ncarries out our training.\n\nI. Here is a great thought about God.\n\nNow, it may come as something of a shock if I say that the bird that is\nselected for the comparison is not really the eagle, but one which, in\nour estimation, is of a very much lower order--viz. the carnivorous\nvulture. But a poetical emblem is not the less fitting, though, besides\nthe points of resemblance, the thing which is so used has others less\nnoble. Our modern repugnance to the vulture as feeding on carcasses was\nprobably not felt by the singer of this song. What he brings into view\nare the characteristics common to the eagle and the vulture; superb\nstrength in beak and claw, keenness of vision almost incredible,\nmagnificent sweep of pinion and power of rapid, unwearied flight. And\nthese characteristics, we may say, have their analogues in the divine\nnature, and the emblem not unfitly shadows forth one aspect of the God\nof Israel, who is 'fearful in praises,' who is strong to destroy as\nwell as to save, whose all-seeing eye marks every foul thing, and who\noften pounces on it swiftly to rend it to pieces, though the sky seemed\nempty a moment before.\n\nBut the action described in the text is not destructive, terrible, or\nfierce. The monarch of the sky busies itself with tender cares for its\nbrood. Then, there is gentleness along with the terribleness. The\nstrong beak and claw, the gaze that can see so far, and the mighty\nspread of wings that can lift it till it is an invisible speck in the\nblue vault, go along with the instinct of paternity: and the fledglings\nin the nest look up at the fierce beak and bright eyes, and know no\nterror. The impression of this blending of power and gentleness is\ngreatly deepened, as it seems to me, if we notice that it is the male\nbird that is spoken about in the text, which should be rendered: 'As\nthe eagle stirreth up _his_ nest and fluttereth over _his_ young.'\n\nSo we just come to the thought that we must keep the true balance\nbetween these two aspects of that great divine nature--the majesty, the\nterror, the awfulness, the soaring elevation, the all-penetrating\nvision, the power of the mighty pinion, one stroke of which could crush\na universe into nothing; and, on the other side, the yearning instinct\nof Fatherhood, the love and gentleness, and all the tender ministries\nfor us, His children, to which these lead. Brethren, unless we keep\nhold of both of these in due equipoise and inseparably intertwining, we\ndamage the one which we retain almost as much as the one which we\ndismiss. For there is no love like the love that is strong, and can be\nfierce, and there is no condescension like the condescension of Him who\nis the Highest, in order that He may be, and because He is ready to be,\nthe lowest. Modern tendencies, legitimately recoiling from the\none-sidedness of a past generation, are now turning away far too much\nfrom the Old Testament conceptions of Jehovah, which are concentrated\nin that metaphor of the vulture in the sky. And thereby we destroy the\nlove, in the name of which we scout the wrath.\n\n                    'Infinite mercy, but, I wis,\n                     As infinite a justice too.'\n\n'As the vulture stirreth up his nest,'--that is the Old Testament\nrevelation of the terribleness and gentleness of Jehovah. 'How often\nwould I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth\nher chickens under her wing?'--that is the New Testament modification\nof the image. But you never could have had the New unless you first had\nhad the Old. And you are a foolish man if, in the name of the sanctity\nof the New, you cast away the teaching of the Old. Keep both the\nmetaphors, and they will explain and confirm each other.\n\nII. Here we have an illuminating thought of the meaning of life.\n\nWhat is it all for? To teach us to fly, to exercise our half-fledged\nwings in short flights, that may prepare us for, and make it possible\nto take, longer ones. Every event that befalls us has a meaning beyond\nitself; and every task that we have to do reacts upon us, the doers,\nand either fits or hinders us for larger work. Life as a whole, and in\nits minutest detail, is worthy of God to give, and worthy of us to\npossess, only if we recognise the teaching that is put into picturesque\nform in this text--that the meaning of all which God does to us is to\ntrain us for something greater yonder. Life as a whole is 'full of\nsound and fury, signifying nothing,' unless it is an apprenticeship\ntraining. What are we here for? To make character. That is the aim and\nend of all--to make character; to get experience; to learn the use of\nour tools. I declare it seems to me that the world had better be wiped\nout altogether, incontinently, unless there is a world beyond, where a\nman shall use the force which here he made his own. 'Thou hast been\nfaithful in a few things; behold I will make thee ruler over many\nthings.' No man gets to the heart of the mystery of life or has in his\nhand the key which will enable him to unlock all the doors and\ndifficulties of human experience, unless he gets to this--that it is\nall meant as training.\n\nIf we could only carry that clear conviction with us day by day into\nthe little things of life, what different things these, which we call\nthe monotonous trifles of our daily duties, would become! The things\nmay be small and unimportant, but the way in which we do them is not\nunimportant. The same fidelity may be exercised, and must be brought to\nbear, in order to do the veriest trifle of our daily lives rightly, as\nneeds to be invoked, in order to get us safely through the crises and\ngreat times of life. There are no great principles for great duties,\nand little ones for little duties. We have to regulate all our conduct\nby the same laws. Life is built up of trifles, as mica-flakes, if there\nbe enough of them, make the Alpine summits towering thousands of feet\ninto the blue. Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it\nis made in the small ones. So, life is meant for discipline, and unless\nwe use it for that, however much enjoyment we get out of it, we misuse\nit.\n\nIII. Lastly, there is here a calming thought as to the variety of God's\nmethods with us.\n\n'As the eagle stirreth up his nest.' No doubt the callow brood are much\nwarmer and more comfortable in the nest than when they are turned out\nof it. The Israelites were by no means enamoured with the prospect of\nleaving the flesh-pots and the onions and the farmhouses that they had\ngot for themselves in Goshen, to tramp with their cattle through the\nwilderness. They went after Moses with considerable disinclination.\n\nHere we have, then, as the first thing needed, God's loving compulsion\nto effort. To 'stir up the nest' means to make a man uncomfortable\nwhere he is;--sometimes by the prickings of his conscience, which are\noften the voices of God's Spirit; sometimes by changes of\ncircumstances, either for the better or for the worse; and oftentimes\nby sorrows. The straw is pulled out of the nest, and it is not so\ncomfortable to lie in; or a bit of it develops a sharp point that runs\ninto the half-feathered skin, and makes the fledgling glad to come\nforth into the air. We all shrink from change. What should we do if we\nhad it not? We should stiffen into habits that would dwarf and weaken\nus. We all recoil from storms. What should we do if we had them not?\nSea and air would stagnate, and become heavy and putrid and\npestilential, if it were not for the wild west wind and the hurtling\nstorms. So all our changes, instead of being whimpered over, and all\nour sorrows, instead of being taken reluctantly, should be recognised\nas being what they are, loving summonses to effort. Then their pressure\nwould be modified, and their blessing would be secured when their\npurpose was served.\n\nBut the training of the father-eagle is not confined to stirring up the\nnest. What is to become of the young ones when they get out of it, and\nhave never been accustomed to bear themselves up in the invisible ether\nabout them? So 'he fluttereth over his young.' It is a very beautiful\nword that is employed here, which 'flutter' scarcely gives us. It is\nthe same word that is used in the first chapter of Genesis, about the\nSpirit of God '_brooding_ on the face of the waters'; and it suggests\nhow near, how all-protecting with expanded wings, the divine Father\ncomes to the child whose restfulness He has disturbed.\n\nAnd is not that true? Had you ever trouble that you took as from Him,\nwhich did not bring that hovering presence nearer you, until you could\nalmost feel the motion of the wing, and be brushed by it as it passed\nprotectingly above your head? Ah, yes! 'Stirring the nest' is meant to\nbe the precursor of closer approach of the Father to us; and if we take\nour changes and our sorrows as loving summonses from Him to effort, be\nsure that we shall realise Him as near to us, in a fashion that we\nnever did before.\n\nThat is not all. There is sustaining power. 'He spreadeth abroad his\nwings; he taketh them; beareth them on his wings.' On those broad\npinions we are lifted, and by them we are guarded. It matters little\nwhether the belief that the parent bird thus carries the young, when\nwearied with their short flights, is correct or not. The truth which\nunderlies the representation is what concerns us. The beautiful\nmetaphor is a picturesque way of saying, 'In all their afflictions He\nwas afflicted; and the Angel of His presence saved them.' It is a\npicturesque way of saying, 'Thou canst do all things through Christ\nwhich strengtheneth thee.' And we may be very sure that if we let Him\n'stir up our nests' and obey His loving summons to effort, He will come\nvery near to strengthen us for our attempts, and to bear us up when our\nown weak wings fail. The Psalmist sang that angels' hands should bear\nup God's servant. That is little compared with this promise of being\ncarried heavenwards on Jehovah's own pinions. A vile piece of Greek\nmythology tells how Jove once, in the guise of an eagle, bore away a\nboy between his great wings. It is foul where it stands, but it is\nblessedly true about Christian experience. If only we lay ourselves on\nGod's wings--and that not in idleness, but having ourselves tried our\npoor little flight--He will see that no harm comes to us.\n\nDuring life this training will go on; and after life, what then? Then,\nin the deepest sense, the old word will be true, 'Ye know how I bore\nyou on eagle's wings and brought you _to Myself_'; and the great\npromise shall be fulfilled, when the half-fledged young brood are\nmatured and full grown, 'They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they\nshall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.'\n\n\n\n\nTHEIR ROCK AND OUR ROCK\n\n'Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being\nJudges.' DEUT. xxxii. 31.\n\n\nMoses is about to leave the people whom he had led so long, and his\nlast words are words of solemn warning. He exhorts them to cleave to\nGod. The words of the text simply mean that the history of the nation\nhad sufficiently proved that God, their God, was 'above all gods.' The\nCanaanites and all the enemies whom Israel had fought had been beaten,\nand in their awe of this warrior people acknowledged that their idols\nhad found their lord. The great suit of 'Jehovah _versus_ Idols' has\nlong since been decided. Every one acknowledges that Christianity is\nthe only religion possible for twentieth century men. But the words of\nthe text lend themselves to a wider application, and clothe in a\npicturesque garb the universal truth that the experience of godless men\nproves the futility of their objects of trust, when compared with that\nof him whose refuge is in God.\n\nI. God is a Rock to them that trust Him.\n\nWe note the singular frequency of that designation in this song, in\nwhich it occurs six times. It is also found often in the Psalms. If\nMoses were the singer, we might see in this often-repeated metaphor a\ntrace of influence of the scenery of the Sinaitic peninsula, which\nwould be doubly striking to eyes accustomed to the alluvial plains of\nEgypt. What are the aspects of the divine nature set forth by this name?\n\n(1) Firm foundation: the solid eternity of the rock on which we can\nbuild.\n\nPetra: faithfulness to promises, unchanging.\n\n(2) Refuge: 'refuge from the storm'; 'my rock and my fortress and my\nhigh tower.'\n\n(3) Refreshment: rock from which water gushed out; and (4) Repose:\n'shadow of a great rock'; 'shadow from the heat.'\n\nTrace the image through Scripture, from this song till Christ's parable\nof the man who 'built his house on a rock.'\n\nII. Every man's experience shows him that there is no such refuge\nanywhere else.\n\nWe do not assert that every man consciously comes to that conclusion.\nAll we say is that he would do so if he rightly pondered the facts. The\nhistory of every life is a history of disappointment. Take these\nparticulars just stated and ask yourselves: What does experience say as\nto the possibility of our possessing such blessings apart from God?\nThere is no need for us to exaggerate, for the naked reality is sad\nenough. If God is not our best Good, we have no solid good. Every other\n'rock' crumbles into sand. Else why this restless change, why this\ndisquiet, why the constant repetition, generation after generation, of\nthe old, old wail, 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity'? Why does every\nheart say Amen to the poet and the dramatist singing of 'the fever and\nthe fret,' the tragic fare of man's life?\n\nOur appeal is not to men in the flush of excitement, but to them in\ntheir hours of solitary sane reflection. It is from 'Philip drunk to\nPhilip sober.' We each have material for judging in our own case, and\nin the cases of some others. The experiment of living with other\n'rocks' than God has been tried for millenniums now. What has been the\nissue? You know what Christianity claims that it can do to make a life\nstable and safe. Do you know anything else that can? You know what\nChristian men will calmly say that they have found. Can you say as\nmuch? Let us hear some dying testimonies. Hearken to Jacob: 'The God\nwhich hath fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which\nredeemed me from all evil.' Hearken to Moses: 'The Rock, His work is\nperfect, for all His ways are judgment, a God of faithfulness and\nwithout iniquity, just and right is He.' Hearken to Joshua: 'Not one\ngood thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God\nspake.' Hearken to David: 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want\n.... Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my\nlife.' Hearken to Paul: 'The Lord stood by me and strengthened me, and\nI was delivered ... the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and\nwill save me unto His heavenly kingdom.' What man who has chosen to\ntake refuge or build on men and creatures can look backward and forward\nin such fashion?\n\nIII. Every man's own nature tells him that God is his true Rock.\n\nAgain I say that here I do not appeal to the surface of our\nconsciousness, nor to men who have sophisticated themselves, nor to\npeople who have sinned themselves, into hardness, but to the voice of\nthe inner man which speaks in the depths of each man's being.\n\nThere is the cry of Want: the manifest want of the soul for God.\n\nThere is the voice of Reason.\n\nThere is the voice of Conscience.\n\nIV. Yet many of us will not take God for our Rock.\n\nSurely it is a most extraordinary thing that men should be 'judges,'\nbeing convinced in their deepest consciousness that God is the only\nFoundation and Refuge, and yet that the conviction should have\nabsolutely no influence on their conduct. The same stark, staring\ninconsequence is visible in many other departments of life, but in this\nregion it works its most tragic results. The message which many of my\nhearers need most is--follow out your deepest convictions, and be true\nto the inward voice which condenses all your experience into the one\ncounsel to take God for the 'strength of your hearts and your portion\nfor ever,' for only in Him will you find what you need for life and\nstrength and riches. If He is 'our Rock,' then we shall have a firm\nfoundation, a safe refuge, inexhaustible refreshment and untroubled\nrest. Lives founded on aught beside are built on sand and will be full\nof tremors and unsettlements, and at last the despairing builder and\nhis ruined house will be washed away with the dissolving 'sandbank and\nshoal of time' on which he built.\n\n\n\n\nGOD AND HIS SAINTS\n\n'He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down\nat Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words.'--DEUT. xxxiii. 3.\n\n\nThe great ode of which these words are a part is called 'the blessing\nwherewith Moses blessed the children of Israel before his death.' It is\nmainly an invocation of blessing from Heaven on the various tribes, but\nit begins, as the national existence of Israel began, with the\nrevelation of God on Sinai, and it lays that as the foundation of\neverything. It does not matter, for my purposes, in the smallest\ndegree, who was the author of this great song. Whoever he was, he has,\nby dint of divine inspiration and of his own sympathy with the inmost\nspirit of the Old Covenant, anticipated the deepest things of Christian\ntruth; and these are here in the words of our text.\n\nI. The first thing that I would point out is the Divine Love which is\nthe foundation of all.\n\n'He loved the people.' That is the beginning of everything. The word\nthat this singer uses is one that only appears in this place, and if we\nregard its etymology, there lies in it a very tender and beautiful\nexpression of the warmth of the divine love, for it is probably\nconnected with words in an allied language which mean the _bosom_ and a\n_tender embrace_, and so the picture that we have is of that great\ndivine Lover folding 'the people' to His heart, as a mother might her\nchild, and cherishing them in His bosom.\n\nStill further, the word is in a form in the Hebrew which implies that\nthe act spoken about is neither past, present, nor future only, but\ncontinuous and perpetual. Thus it suggests to us the thought of\ntimeless, eternal love, which has no beginning, and therefore has no\nend, which does not grow, and therefore will never decline nor decay,\nbut which runs on upon one lofty level, with neither ups nor downs, and\nwith no variation of the impulse which sends it forth; always the same,\nand always holding its objects in the fervent embrace of which the text\nspeaks.\n\nFurther, mark the place in this great song where this thought comes in.\nAs I said, it is laid as the beginning of everything. 'We love Him\nbecause He first loved us' was the height to which the last of the\nApostles attained in the last of his writings. But this old singer,\nwith the mists of antiquity around him, who knew nothing about the\nCross, nothing about the historical Christ, who had only that which\nmodern thinkers tell us is a revelation of a wrathful God, somehow or\nother rose to the height of the evangelical conception of God's love as\nthe foundation of the very existence of a people who are His. Like an\norchid growing on a block of dry wood and putting forth a gorgeous\nbloom, this singer, with so much less to feed his faith than we have,\nhas yet borne this fair flower of deep and devout insight into the\nsecret of things and the heart of God. 'He loved the people'--therefore\nHe formed them for Himself; therefore He brought them out of bondage;\ntherefore He came down in flashing fire on Sinai and made known His\nwill, which to know and do is life. All begins from the tender,\ntimeless love of God.\n\nAnd if the question is asked, Why does God thus love? the only answer\nis, Because he is God. 'Not for your sakes, O house of Israel ... but\nfor Mine own name's sake.' The love of God is self-originated. In it,\nas in all His acts, He is His own motive, as His name, 'I am that I\nam,' proclaims. It is inseparable from His being, and flows forth\nbefore, and independent of, anything in the creature which could draw\nit out. Men's love is attracted by their perception or their\nimagination of something loveable in its objects. It is like a well,\nwhere there has to be much work of the pump-handle before the gush\ncomes. God's love is like an artesian well, or a fountain springing up\nfrom unknown depths in obedience to its own impulse. All that we can\nsay is, 'Thou art God. It is Thy nature and property to be merciful.'\n\n'God loved the people.' The bed-rock is the spontaneous, unalterable,\ninexhaustible, ever-active, fervent love of God, like that with which a\nmother clasps her child to her maternal breast. The fair flower of this\ngreat thought was a product of Judaism. Let no man say that the God of\nLove is unknown to the Old Testament.\n\nII. Notice how, with this for a basis, we have next the guardian care\nextended to all those that answer love by love.\n\nThe singer goes on to say, mixing up his pronouns, in the fashion of\nHebrew poetry, somewhat arbitrarily, 'all _His_ saints are in _Thy_\nhand.' Now, what is a 'saint'? A man who answers God's love by his\nlove. The notion of a saint has been marred and mutilated by the Church\nand the world. It has been taken as a special designation of certain\nselected individuals, mostly of the ascetic and monastic type, whereas\nit belongs to every one of God's people. It has been taken by the world\nto mean sanctimoniousness and not sanctity, and is a term of contempt\nrather than of admiration on their lips. And even those of us, who have\ngot beyond thinking that it is a title of honour belonging only to the\naristocracy of Christ's Kingdom, are too apt to mistake what it really\ndoes mean. It may be useful to say a word about the Scriptural use and\ntrue meaning of that much-abused term. The root idea of sanctity or\nholiness is not moral character, goodness of disposition and of action,\nbut it is separation from the world and consecration to God. As surely\nas a magnet applied to a heap of miscellaneous filings will pick out\nevery little bit of iron there, so surely will that love which He bears\nto the people, when it is responded to, draw to itself, and therefore\ndraw out of the heap, the men that feel its impulse and its\npreciousness. And so 'saint' means, secondly, righteous and pure, but\nit means, first, knit to God, separated from evil, and separated by the\npower of His received love.\n\nNow, brethren, here is a question for each of us: Do I yield to that\ntimeless, tender clasp of the divine Father and Mother in one? Do I\nanswer it by my love? If I do, then I am a 'saint,' because I belong to\nHim, and He belongs to me, and in that commerce I have broken with the\nworld. If we are true to ourselves, and true to our Lord, and true to\nthe relation between us, the purity of character, which is popularly\nsupposed to be the meaning of _holiness_, will come. Not without\neffort, not without set-backs, not without slow advance, but it will\ncome; for he that is consecrated to the Lord is 'separated' from\niniquity. Such is the meaning of 'saint.'\n\n'All His saints are in Thy hand.' The first metaphor of our text spoke\nof God's bosom, to which He drew the people and folded them there. This\none speaks of His 'hand.' They lie in it. That means two things. It\nmeans absolute security, for will He not close His fingers over His\npalm to keep the soul that has laid itself there? And 'none shall pluck\nthem out of My Father's hand.' No one but yourself can do that. And you\ncan do it, if you cease to respond to His love, and so cease to be a\nsaint. Then you will fall out of His hand, and how far you will fall\nGod only knows.\n\nBeing in God's hand means also submission. Loyola said to his black\narmy, 'Be like a stick in a man's hand.' That meant utter submission\nand abnegation of self, the willingness to be put anywhere, and used\nanyhow, and done anything with. And if I by my reception of, and\nresponse to, that timeless love, am a saint belonging to God, then not\nonly shall I be secure, but I must be submissive. 'All His saints are\nin Thy hand.' Do not try to get out of it; be content to let it guide\nyou as the steersman's hand turns the spokes of the wheel and directs\nthe ship.\n\nNow, there is a last thought here. I have spoken of the foundation of\nall as being divine love, of the security and guardian care of the\nsaints, and there follows one thought more:--\n\nIII. The docile obedience of those that are thus guarded.\n\nAs the words stand in our Bible, they are as follow:--'They sat down at\nThy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words.' These two clauses make\nup one picture, and one easily understands what it is. It represents a\ngroup of docile scholars, sitting at the Master's feet. He is teaching\nthem, and they listen open-mouthed and open-eared to what he says, and\nwill take his words into their lives, like Mary sitting at Christ's\nfeet, whilst Martha was bustling about His meal. But, beautiful as that\npicture is, there has been suggested a little variation in the words\nwhich gives another one that strikes me as being even more beautiful.\nThere are some difficulties of language with which I need not trouble\nyou. But the general result is this, that perhaps instead of 'sitting\ndown at Thy feet' we should read 'followed at Thy feet.' That suggests\nthe familiar metaphor of a guide and those led by him who, without him,\nknow not their road. As a dog follows his master, as the sheep their\nshepherd, so, this singer felt, will saints follow the God whom they\nlove. Religion is imitation of God. That was a deep thought for such a\nstage of revelation, and it in part anticipates Christ's tender words:\n'He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His\nvoice.' They follow at His feet. That is the blessedness and the power\nof Christian morality, that it is keeping close at Christ's heels, and\nthat instead of its being said to us, 'Go,' He says, 'Come,' and\ninstead of our being bid to hew out for ourselves a path of duty, He\nsays to us, 'He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall\nhave the light of life.' They follow at His feet, as the dog at his\nmaster's, as the sheep at their shepherd's.\n\nThey 'receive His words.' Yes, if you will keep close to Him, He will\nturn round and speak to you. If you are near enough to Him to catch His\nwhisper He will not leave you without guidance. That is one side of the\nthought, that following we receive what He says, whereas the people\nthat are away far behind Him scarcely know what His will is, and never\ncan catch the low whisper which will come to us by providences, by\nmovements in our own spirits, through the exercise of our own faculties\nof judgment and common-sense, if only we will keep near to Him. 'Be ye\nnot as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose\nmouths must be held in with bit and with bridle, else they will not\ncome near to thee,' but walk close behind Him, and then the promise\nwill be fulfilled: 'I will guide thee with Mine eye.' A glance tells\ntwo people who are in sympathy what each wishes, and Jesus Christ will\nspeak to us, if we keep close at His heels.\n\nThey that follow Him will 'receive His words' in another sense. They\nwill take them in, and His words will not be wasted. And they will\nreceive them in yet another sense. They will carry them out and do\nthem, and His words will not be in vain.\n\nSo, dear brethren, the peace, the strength, the blessedness, the\ngoodness, of our lives flow from these three stages, which this singer\nso long ago had found to be the essence of everything, recognition of\nthe timeless tenderness of God, the yielding to and answering that\nlove, so that it separates us for Himself, the calm security and happy\nsubmission which follow thereon, the imitation of Him in daily life,\nand the walking in His steps, which is rewarded and made more perfect\nby hearing more distinctly the whisper of His loving, commanding voice.\n\n\n\n\nISRAEL THE BELOVED\n\n'The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord\nshall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His\nshoulders.'--DEUT. xxxiii. 12.\n\n\nBenjamin was his father's favourite child, and the imagery of this\npromise is throughout drawn from the relations between such a child and\nits father. So far as the future history of the tribes is shadowed in\nthese 'blessings' of this great ode, the reference of the text may be\nto the tribe of Benjamin, as specially distinguished by Saul having\nbeen a member of it, and by the Temple having been built on its soil.\nBut we find that each of the promises of the text is repeated\nelsewhere, with distinct reference to the whole nation. For example,\nthe first one, of safe dwelling, reappears in verse 28 in reference to\nIsrael; the second one, of God's protecting covering, is extended to\nthe nation in many places; and the third, of dwelling between His\nshoulders, is in substance found again in chap. i. 31, 'the Lord thy\nGod bare thee, as a man doth bear his son.' So that we may give the\ntext a wider extension, and take it as setting forth under a lovely\nmetaphor, and with a restricted reference, what is true of all God's\nchildren everywhere and always.\n\nI. Who are the 'beloved of the Lord'?\n\nThe first answer to that question must be--all men. But these great\nblessings, so beautifully shadowed in this text, do not belong to all\nmen; nor does the designation, 'the beloved of the Lord,' belong to all\nmen, but to those who have entered into a special relation to Him. In\nthese words of the Hebrew singer there sound the first faint tones of a\nmusic that was to swell into clear notes, when Jesus said: 'If a man\nlove Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father will love him, and We will\ncome unto him, and make Our abode with him.' They who are knit by faith\nand love to God's only-begotten and beloved Son, by that union receive\n'power to become the sons of God,' and share in the love which is ever\npouring out from the Father's heart on 'the Son of His love.'\n\nII. What are their blessed privileges?\n\nThe three clauses of the text express substantially the same idea, but\nwith a striking variety of metaphors.\n\n1. They have a sure dwelling-place.\n\nThere is a very slight change of rendering of the first clause, which\ngreatly increases its 'force, and preserves the figure that is obscured\nby the usual translation. We should read 'shall dwell safely _on_,'\nrather than '_by_, Him.' And the effect of that small change in the\npreposition is to bring out the thought that God is regarded as the\nfoundation on which His beloved build their house of life, and dwell in\nsecurity and calm. If we are sons through the Son, we shall build our\nhouses or pitch our tents on that firm ground, and, being founded on\nthe Rock of ages, they will not fall when all created foundations reel\nto the overthrow of whatever is built on _them_. It is not\ncompanionship only, blessed as that is, that is promised here. We have\na larger privilege than dwelling _by_ Him, for if we love His Son, we\nbuild _on_ God, and 'God dwelleth in us and we in Him.'\n\nWhat spiritual reality underlies the metaphor of dwelling or building\non God? The fact of habitual communion.\n\nNote the blessed results of such grounding of our lives on God through\nsuch habitual communion. We shall 'dwell safely.' We may think of that\nas being objective safety--that is, freedom from peril, or as being\nsubjective--that is, freedom from care or fear, or as meaning\n'trustfully,' confidently, as the expression is rendered in Psalm xvi.\n9 (margin), which is for us the ground of both these. He who dwells in\nGod trustfully dwells both safely and securely, and none else is free\neither from danger or from dread.\n\n2. They have a sure shelter.\n\nGod is for His beloved not only the foundation on which they dwell in\nsafety, but their perpetual covering. They dwell safely because He is\nso. There are many tender shapes in which this great promise is\npresented to our faith. Sometimes God is thought of as covering the\nweak fugitive, as the arching sides of His cave sheltered David from\nSaul. Sometimes He is represented as covering His beloved, who cower\nunder His wings, 'as the hen gathereth her chickens' when hawks are in\nthe sky. Sometimes He appears as covering them from tempest, 'when the\nblast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall,' and 'the\nshadow of a great rock' shields from its fury. Sometimes He is pictured\nas stretching out protection over His beloved's heads, as the Pillar of\ncloud lay, long-drawn-out, over the Tabernacle when at rest, and 'on\nall the Glory was a defence.' But under whatever emblem the general\nidea of a covering shelter was conceived, there was always a\ncorrelative duty on our side. For the root-meaning of one of the Old\nTestament words for 'faith' is 'fleeing to a refuge,' and we shall not\nbe safe in God unless by faith we flee for refuge to Him in Christ.\n\n3. They have a Father who bears them on His shoulders.\n\nThe image is the same as in chap. i. already referred to. It recurs\nalso in Isaiah (xlvi. 3, 4), 'Even to hoar hairs will I carry you, and\nI have made and I will bear, yea, I will carry, and will deliver'; and\nin Hosea (xi. 3), 'I taught Ephraim to go; I took them on My arms.'\n\nThe image beautifully suggests the thought of the favourite child\nriding high and happy on the strong shoulder, which lifts it above\nrough places and miry ways. The prose reality is: 'My grace is\nsufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'\n\nThe Cross carries those who carry it. They who carry God in their\nhearts are carried by God through all the long pilgrimage of life.\nBecause they are thus upheld by a strength not their own, 'they shall\nrun and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint,' and though\nmarches be long and limbs strained, they shall 'go from strength to\nstrength till every one of them appears before God in Zion.'\n\n\n\n'AT THE BUSH'\n\n'.. The goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush.'-DEUT. xxxiii. 16.\n\n\nI Think this is the only reference in the Old Testament to that great\nvision which underlay Moses' call and Israel's deliverance. It occurs\nin what is called 'the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God,\nblessed the children of Israel before his death,' although modern\nopinion tends to decide that this hymn is indeed much more recent than\nthe days of Moses. There seems a peculiar appropriateness in this\nreference being put into the mouth of the ancient Lawgiver, for to him\neven Sinai, with all its glories, cannot have been so impressive and so\nformative of his character as was the vision granted to him when\nsolitary in the wilderness. It is to be noticed that the characteristic\nby which God is designated here never occurs elsewhere than in this one\nplace. It is intended to intensify the conception of the greatness, and\npreciousness, and all-sufficiency of that 'goodwill.' If it is that 'of\nHim that dwelt in the bush,' it is sure to be all that a man can need.\nI need not remind you that the words occur in the blessing pronounced\non 'Joseph'--that is, the two tribes which represented Joseph--in which\nall the greatest material gifts that could be desired by a pastoral\npeople are first called down upon them, and then the ground of all\nthese is laid in 'the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush.' 'The\nblessing--let it come on the head of Joseph.'\n\nSo then here, first, is a great thought as to what for us all is the\nblessing of blessings--God's 'goodwill.' 'Goodwill'-the word, perhaps,\nmight bear a little stronger rendering. 'Goodwill' is somewhat tepid. A\nman may have a good enough will, and yet no very strong emotion of\nfavour or delight, and may do nothing to carry his goodwill into\naction. But the word that is employed here, and is a common enough one\nin Scripture, always carries with it a certain intensity and warmth of\nfeeling. It is more than 'goodwill'; it is more than 'favour'; perhaps\n'delight' would be nearer the meaning. It implies, too, not only the\ninward sentiment of complacency, but also the active purpose of action\nin conformity with it, on God's part. Now it needs few words to show\nthat these two things, which are inseparable, do make the blessing of\nblessings for every one of us--the delight, the complacency, of God in\nus, and the active purpose of good in God for us. These are the things\nthat will make a man happy wherever he is.\n\nIf I might dwell for a moment upon other scriptural passages, I would\njust recall to you, as bringing up very strongly and beautifully the\nall-sufficiency and the blessed effects of having this delight and\nloving purpose directed towards us like a sunbeam, the various great\nthings that a chorus of psalmists say that it will do for a man. Here\nis one of their triumphant utterances: 'Thou wilt bless the righteous;\nwith favour wilt Thou compass him as with a shield.' That crystal\nbattlement, if I may so vary the figure, is round a man, keeping far\naway from him all manner of real evil, and filling his quiet heart as\nhe stands erect behind the rampart, with the sense of absolute\nsecurity. That is one of the blessings that God's favour or goodwill\nwill secure for us. Again, we read: 'By Thy favour Thou hast made my\nmountain to stand strong.' He that knows himself to be the object of\nthe divine delight, and who by faith knows himself to be the object of\nthe divine activity in protection, stands firm, and his purposes will\nbe carried through, because they will be purposes in accordance with\nthe divine mind, and nothing has power to shake him. So he that grasps\nthe hand of God can say, not because of his grasp, but because of the\nHand that he holds, 'The Lord is at my right hand; I shall not be\ngreatly moved. By Thy favour Thou hast made our mountain to stand\nstrong.' And again, in another analogous but yet diversified\nrepresentation, we read: 'In Thee shall we rejoice all the day, and in\nThy favour shall our horn be exalted.' That is the emblem, not only of\nvictory, but of joyful confidence, and so he who knows himself to have\nGod for his friend and his helper, can go through the world keeping a\nsunny face, whatever the clouds may be, erect and secure, light of\nheart and buoyant, holding up his chin above the stormiest waters, and\nbreasting all difficulties and dangers with a confidence far away from\npresumption, because it is the consequence of the realisation of God's\npresence. So the goodwill of God is the chiefest good.\n\nNow, if we turn to the remarkable designation of the divine nature\nwhich is here, consider what rivers of strength and of blessedness flow\nout of the thought that for each of us 'the goodwill of Him that dwelt\nin the bush' may be our possession.\n\nWhat does that pregnant designation of God say? That was a strange\nshrine for God, that poor, ragged, dry desert bush, with apparently no\nsap in its gray stem, prickly with thorns, with 'no beauty that we\nshould desire it,' fragile and insignificant, yet it was 'God's house.'\nNot in the cedars of Lebanon, not in the great monarchs of the forest,\nbut in the forlorn child of the desert did He abide. 'The goodwill of\nHim that dwelt in the bush' may dwell in you and me. Never mind how\nsmall, never mind how sapless, never mind how lightly esteemed among\nmen, never mind though we make a very poor show by the side of the\n'oaks of Bashan' or the 'cedars of Lebanon.' It is all right; the Fire\ndoes not dwell in them. 'Unto this man will I look, and with him will I\ndwell, who is of a humble and a contrite heart, and who trembleth at My\nword.' Let no sense of poverty, weakness, unworthiness, ever draw the\nfaintest film of fear across our confidence, for even with us He will\nsojourn. For it is 'the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush' that we\nevoke for ours.\n\nAgain, what more does that name say? He 'that dwelt in the bush' filled\nit with fire, and it 'burned and was not consumed.' Now there is good\nground to object to the ordinary interpretation, as if the burning of\nthe bush which yet remains unconsumed was meant to symbolise Israel,\nor, in the New Testament application, the Church which, notwithstanding\nall persecution, still remains undestroyed. Our brethren of the\nPresbyterian churches have taken the Latin form of the words in the\ncontext for their motto--_Nec Tamen Consumebatur_. But I venture to\nthink that that is a mistake; and that what is meant by the symbol is\njust what is expressed by the verbal revelation which accompanied it,\nand that was this: 'I AM THAT I AM.' The fire that did not burn out is\nthe emblem of the divine nature which does not tend to death because it\nlives, nor to exhaustion because it energises, nor to emptiness because\nit bestows, but after all times is the same; lives by its own energy\nand is independent. 'I am that I have become,'--that is what men have\nto say. 'I am that I once was not, and again once shall not be,' is\nwhat men have to say. 'I am that I am' is God's name. And this eternal,\never-living, self-sufficing, absolute, independent, unwearied,\ninexhaustible God is the God whose favour is as inexhaustible as\nHimself, and eternal as His own being. 'Therefore the sons of men shall\nput their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings,' and, if they have\n'the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush,' will be able to say,\n'Because Thou livest we shall live also.'\n\nWhat more does the name say? He 'that dwelt in the bush' dwelt there in\norder to deliver; and, dwelling there, declared 'I have seen the\naffliction of My people, and am come down to deliver them.' So, then,\nif the goodwill of that eternal, delivering God is with us, we, too,\nmay feel that our trivial troubles and our heavy burdens, all the needs\nof our prisoned wills and captive souls, are known to Him, and that we\nshall have deliverance from them by Him. Brethren, in that name, with\nits historical associations, with its deep revelations of the divine\nnature, with its large promises of the divine sympathy and help, there\nlie surely abundant strengths and consolations for us all. The\ngoodwill, the delight, of God, and the active help of God, may be ours,\nand if these be ours we shall be blessed and strong.\n\nDo not let us forget the place in this blessing on the head of Joseph\nwhich my text holds. It is preceded by an invoking of the precious\nthings of Heaven, and 'the precious fruits brought forth by the sun...\nof the chief things of the ancient mountains, and the precious things\nof the lasting hills, and the precious things of the earth and the\nfulness thereof.' They are all heaped together in one great mass for\nthe beloved Joseph. And then, like the golden spire that tops some of\nthose campaniles in Italian cities, and completes their beauty, above\nthem all there is set, as the shining apex of all, 'the goodwill of Him\nthat dwelt in the bush.' That is more precious than all other precious\nthings; set last because it is to be sought first; set last as in\nbuilding some great structure the top stone is put on last of all; set\nlast because it gathers all others into itself, secures that all others\nshall be ours in the measure in which we need them, and arms us against\nall possibilities of evil. So the blessing of blessings is the\n'goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush.'\n\nIn my text this is an invocation only; but we can go further than that.\nYou and I can make sure that we have it, if we will. How to secure it?\nOne of the texts which I have already quoted helps us a little way\nalong t he road in answer to that question, for it says, 'Thou, Lord,\nwilt bless the righteous. With favour wilt thou compass him as with a\nshield.' But it is of little use to tell me that if I am 'righteous'\nGod will 'bless me,' and 'compass me with favour.' If you will tell me\nhow to become righteous, you will do me more good. And we have been\ntold how to be righteous--'If a man keep My commandments My Father will\nlove him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.' If we\nknit ourselves to Jesus Christ, and we can all do that if we like, by\nfaith that trusts Him, and by love, the child of faith, that obeys Him,\nand grows daily more like Him--then, without a doubt, that delight of\nGod in us, and that active purpose of good in God's mind towards us,\nwill assuredly be ours; and on no other terms.\n\nSo, dear brethren, the upshot of my homily is just this--Men may strive\nand scheme, and wear their finger-nails down to the quick, to get some\nlesser good, and fail after all. The greatest good is certainly ours by\nthat easy road which, however hard it may be otherwise, is made easy\nbecause it is so certain to bring us to what we want. Holiness is the\ncondition of God's delight in us, and a genuine faith in Christ, and\nthe love which faith evokes, are the conditions. So it is a very simple\nmatter You never can be sure of getting the lower good You can be quite\nsure of getting the highest. You never can be certain that the precious\nthings of the earth and the fulness thereof will be yours, or that if\nthey were, they would be so very precious; but you can be quite sure\nthat the 'goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush' may lie like light\nupon your hearts, and be strength to your limbs.\n\nAnd so I commend to you the words of the Apostle, 'Wherefore we labour\nthat, whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him.' To\nminister to God's delight is the highest glory of man. To have the\nfavour of Him that dwelt in the bush resting upon us is the highest\nblessing for man. He will say 'Well done! good and faithful servant.'\n'The Lord taketh pleasure'--wonderful as it sounds--'in them that fear\nHim, in them that hope in His mercy,' and that, hoping in His mercy,\nlive as He would have them live.\n\n\n\n\nSHOD FOR THE ROAD\n\n'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy\nstrength be.' DEUT. xxxiii. 25.\n\n\nThere is a general correspondence between those blessings wherewith\nMoses blessed the tribes of Israel before his death, and the\ncircumstances and territory of each tribe in the promised land. The\nportion of Asher, in whose blessing the words of our text occurs, was\npartly the rocky northern coast and partly the fertile lands stretching\nto the base of the Lebanon. In the inland part of their territory they\ncultivated large olive groves, the produce of which was trodden out in\ngreat rock-hewn cisterns. So the clause before my text is a benediction\nupon that industry-'let him dip his foot in oil.' And then the metaphor\nnaturally suggested by the mention of the foot is carried on into the\nnext words, 'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,' the tribe being\nlocated upon rocky sea-coast, having rough roads to travel, and so\nneeding to be well shod. The substance, then, of that promise seems to\nbe--strength adequate to, and unworn by, exercise; while the second\nclause, though not altogether plain, seems to put a somewhat similar\nidea in unmetaphorical shape. 'As thy days, so shall thy strength be,'\nprobably means the promise of power that grows with growing years.\n\nSo, then, we have first that thought that God gives us an equipment of\nstrength proportioned to our work,--shoes fit for our road. God does\nnot turn people out to scramble over rough mountains with thin-soled\nboots on; that is the plain English of the words. When an Alpine\nclimber is preparing to go away into Switzerland for rock work, the\nfirst thing he does is to get a pair of strong shoes, with plenty of\niron nails in the soles of them. So Asher had to be shod for his rough\nroads, and so each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony\npaths He will provide us with strong shoes, and will not send us out on\nany journey for which He does not equip us well.\n\nThere are no difficulties to be found in any path of duty, for which he\nthat is called to tread it is not prepared by Him that sent him.\nWhatsoever may be the road, our equipment is calculated for it, and is\ngiven to us from Him that has appointed it.\n\nIs there not a suggestion here, too, as to the sort of travelling we\nmay expect to have? An old saying tells us that we do not go to heaven\nin silver slippers, and the reason is because the road is rough. The\n'primrose way' leads somewhere else, and it may be walked on\n'delicately.' But if we need shoes of iron and brass, we may pretty\nwell guess the kind of road we have before us. If a man is equipped\nwith such coverings on his feet, depend upon it that there will be use\nfor them before he gets to the end of his day's journey. The thickest\nsole will make the easiest travelling over rocky roads. So be quite\nsure of this, that if God gives to us certain endowments and equipments\nwhich are only calculated for very toilsome paths, the roughness of the\nroad will match the stoutness of the shoes.\n\nAnd see what He does give. See the provision which is made for patience\nand strength, for endurance and courage, in all the messages of His\nmercy, in all the words of His love, in all the powers of His Gospel,\nand then say whether that looks as if we should have an easy life of it\non our way home. Those two ships that went away a while ago upon the\nbrave, and, as some people thought, desperate task of finding the North\nPole--any one that looked upon them as they lay in Portsmouth Roads,\nmight know that it was no holiday cruise they were meant for. The\nthickness of the sides, the strength of the cordage, the massiveness of\nthe equipment, did not look like pleasure-sailing.\n\nAnd so, dear brethren, if we think of all that is given to us in God's\nGospel in the way of stimulus and encouragement, and exhortation, and\nactual communication of powers, we may calculate, from the abundance of\nthe resources, how great will be the strain upon us before we come to\nthe end, and our 'feet stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.'  Go into\nsome of the great fortresses in continental countries, and you will\nfind the store-rooms full of ammunition and provisions; bread enough\nand biscuits enough, as it seems, for half the country, laid up there,\nand a deep well somewhere or other in the courtyard. What does that\nmean? It means fighting, that is what it means. So if we are brought\ninto this strong pavilion, so well provisioned, so massively fortified\nand defended, that means that we shall need all the strength that is to\nbe found in those thick walls, and all the sustenance that is to be\nfound in those gorged magazines, and all the refreshment that is to be\ndrawn from that free, and full, and inexhaustible fountain, before the\nbattle is over and the victory won. Depend upon it, the promise 'Thy\nshoes shall be iron and brass.' means, 'Thy road shall be rocky and\nflinty'; and so it is.\n\nAnd yet, thank God! whilst it is true that it is very hard and very\ndifficult for many of us, and hard and difficult--even if without the\n'very'--for us all, it is also true that we have the adequate provision\nsufficient for all our necessities--and far more than sufficient! It is\na poor compliment to the strength that He gives to us to say that it is\nenough to carry us through. God does not deal out His gifts to people\nwith such an economical correspondence to necessities as that. There is\nalways a wide margin. More than we can ask, more than we can think,\nmore than we can need is given us.\n\nIf He were to deal with us as men often deal with one another, asking\nus, 'Well, how much do you want? cannot you do with a little less?\nthere is the exact quantity that you need for your support'--if you got\nyour bread by weight and your water by measure, it would be a very poor\naffair. See how He actually does--He says, 'Child, there is Mine own\nstrength for you'; and we think that we honour Him when we say, 'God\nhas given us enough for our necessities!' Rather the old word is always\ntrue: 'So they did eat and were filled; and they took up of the\nfragments that remained seven baskets-full,' and after they were\nsatisfied and replete with the provision, there was more at the end\nthan when they began.\n\nThat suggests another possible thought to be drawn from this promise,\nnamely, that it assures not only of strength adequate to the\ndifficulties and perils of the journey, but also of a strength which is\nnot worn out by use.\n\nThe 'portion' of Asher was the rocky sea-coast. The sharp, jagged rocks\nwould cut to pieces anything made of leather long before the day's\nmarch was over; but the travellers have their feet shod with metal, and\nthe rocks which they have to stumble over will only strike fire from\ntheir shoes. They need not step timidly for fear of wearing them out;\nbut, wherever they have to march, may go with full confidence that\ntheir shoeing will not fail them. A wise general looks after that part\nof his soldiers' outfit with special care, knowing that if _it_ gives\nout, all the rest is of no use. So our Captain provides us with an\ninexhaustible strength, to which we may fully trust. We shall not\nexhaust it by any demands that we can make upon it. We shall only\nbrighten it up, like the nails in a well-used shoe, the heads of which\nare polished by stumbling and scrambling over rocky roads.\n\nSo we may be bold in the march, and draw upon our stock of strength to\nthe utmost. There is no fear that it will fail us. We may put all our\nforce into our work, we shall not weaken the power which 'by reason of\nuse is exercised,' not exhausted. For the grace which Christ gives us\nto serve Him, being divine, is subject to no weariness, and neither\nfaints nor fails. The bush that burned unconsumed is a type of that\nInfinite Being who works unexhausted, and lives undying, after all\nexpenditure is rich, after all pouring forth is full. And of His\nstrength we partake.\n\nWhensoever a man puts forth an effort of any kind whatever--when I\nspeak, when I lift my hand, when I run, when I think-there is waste of\nmuscular tissue. Some of my strength goes in the act, and thus every\neffort means expenditure and diminution of force. Hence weariness that\nneeds sleep, waste that needs food, languor that needs rest. We belong\nto an order of being in which work is death, in regard to our physical\nnature; but our spirits may lay hold of God, and enter into an order of\nthings in which work is not death, nor effort exhaustion, nor is there\nloss of power in the expenditure of power.\n\nThat sounds strange, and yet it is not strange. Think of that electric\nlight which is made by directing a strong stream upon two small pieces\nof carbon. As the electricity strikes upon these and turns their\nblackness into a fiery blaze, it eats away their substance while it\nchanges them into light. But there is an arrangement in the lamp by\nwhich a fresh surface is continually being brought into the path of the\nbeam, and so the light continues without wavering and blazes on. The\ncarbon is our human nature, black and dull in itself; the electric beam\nis the swift energy of God, which makes us 'light in the Lord.' For the\none, decay is the end of effort; for the other, there is none. 'Though\nour outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.'\nThough we belong to the perishing order of nature by our bodily frame,\nwe belong to the undecaying realm of grace by the spirit that lays hold\nupon God. And if our work weary us, as it must do so long as we\ncontinue here, yet in the deepest sanctuary of our being, our strength\nis greatened by exercise. 'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass.' 'Thy\nraiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these\nforty years.' 'Stand, therefore, having your feet shod with the\npreparedness of the Gospel of peace.'\n\nBut this is not all. There is an advance even upon these great promises\nin the closing words. That second clause of our text says more than the\nfirst one. 'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,' that promises us powers\nand provision adapted to, and unexhausted by, the weary pilgrimage and\nrough road of life. But 'as thy days, so shall thy strength be,' says\neven more than that. The meaning of the word rendered 'strength' in our\nversion is very doubtful, and most modern translators are inclined to\nrender it 'rest.' But if we adhere to the translation of our version,\nwe get a forcible and relevant promise, which fits on well to the\nprevious clause, understood as it has been in my previous remarks. The\nusual understanding of the words is 'strength proportioned to thy day,'\nan idea which we have found already suggested by the previous clause.\nBut that explanation rests on, or at any rate derives support from, the\ncommon misquotation of the words. They are not, as we generally hear\nthem quoted, 'As thy day, so shall thy strength be,'--but 'day' is in\nthe plural, and that makes a great difference. 'As thy days, so shall\nthy strength be,' that is to say: the two sums--of 'thy days' and of\n'thy strength'--keep growing side by side, the one as fast as the other\nand no faster. The days increase. Well, what then? The strength\nincreases too. As I said, we are allied to two worlds. According to the\nlaw of one of them, the outer world of physical life, we soon reach the\nsummit of human strength. For a little while it is true, even in the\nlife of nature, that our power grows with our days. But we soon reach\nthe watershed, and then the opposite comes to be true. Down, steadily\ndown, we go. With diminishing power, with diminishing vitality, with a\ndimmer eye, with an obtuser ear, with a slower-beating heart, with a\nfeebler frame, we march on and on to our grave. 'As thy days, so shall\nthy weakness be,' is the law for all of us mature men and women in\nregard to our outward life.\n\nBut, dear brethren, we may be emancipated from that dreary law in\nregard to the true life of our spirits, and instead of growing weaker\nas we grow older, we may and we should grow stronger. We may be and we\nshould be moving on a course that has no limit to its advance. We may\nbe travelling on a shining path through the heavens, that has no\nnoon-tide height from which it must slowly and sadly decline, but tends\nsteadily and for ever upwards, nearer and nearer to the very fountain\nitself of heavenly radiance. 'The path of the just is as the shining\nlight, which shineth more and more till the noon-tide of the day.' But\nthe reality surpasses even that grand thought, for it discloses to us\nan endless approximation to an infinite beauty, and an ever-growing\npossession of never exhausted fulness, as the law for the progress of\nall Christ's servants. The life of each of us may and should be\ncontinual accession and increase of power through all the days here,\nthrough all the ages beyond. Why? Because 'the life which I live, I\nlive by the faith of the Son of God.' Christ liveth in me. It is not my\nstrength that grows, so much as God's strength in me which is given\nmore abundantly as the days roll. It is so given on one condition. If\nmy faith has laid hold of the infinite, the exhaustless, the immortal\nenergy of God, unless there is something fearfully wrong about me, I\nshall be becoming purer, nobler, wiser, more observant of His will,\ngentler, liker Christ, every way fitter for His service, and for larger\nservice, as the days increase.\n\nThose of us who have reached middle life, or perhaps gone a little over\nthe watershed, ought to have this experience as our own in a very\ndistinct degree. The years that are past ought to have drawn us\nsomewhat away from our hot pursuing after earthly and perishable\nthings. They should have added something to the clearness and\ncompleteness of our perception of the deep simplicity of God's gospel.\nThey should have tightened our hold and increased our possession of\nChrist, and unfolded more and more of His all-sufficiency. They should\nhave enriched us with memories of God's loving care, and lighted all\nthe sky behind with a glow which is reflected on the path before us,\nand kindles calm confidence in His unfailing goodness. They should have\ngiven us power and skill for the conflicts that yet remain, as the Red\nIndians believe that the strength of every defeated and scalped enemy\npasses into his conqueror's arm. They should have given force to our\nbetter nature, and weakening, progressive weakening, to our worse. They\nshould have rooted us more firmly and abidingly in Him from whom all\nour power comes, and so have given us more and fuller supplies of His\nexhaustless and ever-flowing might.\n\nSo it may be with us if we abide in Him, without whom we are nothing,\nbut partaking of whose strength 'the weakest shall be as David, and\nDavid as an angel of God.'\n\nIf for us, drawing nearer to the end is drawing nearer to the light,\nour faces will be brightened more and more with that light which we\napproach, and our path will be 'as the shining light which shines more\nand more unto the noon-tide of the day,' because we are closer to the\nvery fountain of heavenly radiance, and growingly bathed and flooded\nwith the outgoings of His glory. 'As thy days, so shall thy strength\nbe.'\n\nThe promise ought to be true for us all. It _is_ true for all who use\nthe things that are freely given to them of God. And whilst thus it is\nthe law for the devout life here, its most glorious fulfilment remains\nfor the life beyond. There each new moment shall bring new strength,\nand growing millenniums but add fresh vigour to our immortal life. Here\nthe unresting beat of the waves of the sea of time gnaws away the bank\nand shoal whereon we stand, but there each roll of the great ocean of\neternity shall but spread new treasures at our feet and add new acres\nto our immortal heritage. 'The oldest angels,' says Swedenborg, 'look\nthe youngest.' When life is immortal, the longer it lasts the stronger\nit becomes, and so the spirits that have stood for countless days\nbefore His throne, when they appear to human eyes, appear as--'young\nmen clothed in long white garments,'--full of unaging youth and energy\nthat cannot wane. So, whilst in the flesh we must obey the law of\ndecay, the spirit may be subject to this better law of life, and 'while\nthe outward man perisheth, the inward man be renewed day by day.' 'Even\nthe youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly\nfall; but they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.'\n\n\n\n\nA DEATH IN THE DESERT\n\n'So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab,\naccording to the word of the Lord. 6. And he buried him in a valley in\nthe land of Moab, ... but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this\nday.'--DEUT. xxxiv.5, 6.\n\n\nA fitting end to such a life! The great law-giver and leader had been\nall his days a lonely man; and now, surrounded by a new generation, and\nall the old familiar faces vanished, he is more solitary than ever. He\nhad lived alone with God, and it was fitting that alone with God he\nshould die.\n\nHow the silent congregation must have watched, as, alone, with 'natural\nstrength unabated,' he breasted the mountain, and went up to be seen no\nmore! With dignified reticence our chapter tells us no details. He\n'died there,' in that dreary solitude, and in some cleft he was buried,\nand no man knows where. The lessons of that solitary death and unknown\ntomb may best be learned by contrast with another death and another\ngrave--those of the Leader of the New Covenant, the Law-giver and\nDeliverer from a worse bondage, and Guide into a better Canaan, the Son\nwho was faithful over His own house, as Moses was 'faithful in all his\nhouse, as a servant.' That lonely and forgotten grave among the savage\ncliffs was in keeping with the whole character and work of him who lay\nthere.\n\n  Here,--here's his place, where meteors shoot, clouds form,\n    Lightnings are loosened,\n  Stars come and go! Let joy break with the storm,\n    Peace let the dew send!\n  Lofty designs must close in like effects;     Loftily lying,\n  Leave him--still loftier than the world suspects,\n    Living and dying.'\n\nContrast that grave with the sepulchre in the garden where Jesus lay,\nclose by a city wall, guarded by foes, haunted by troops of weeping\nfriends, visited by a great light of angel faces. The one was hidden\nand solitary, as teaching the loneliness and mystery of death; the\nother revealed light in the darkness, and companionship in the\nloneliness. The one faded from men's memory because it was nothing to\nany man; no impulses, nor hopes, nor gifts, could come from it. The\nother forever draws hearts and memories, because in it was wrought out\nthe victory in which all our hopes are rooted. An endured cross, an\nempty grave, an occupied throne, are as the threefold cord on which all\nour hopes hang. Moses was solitary as God's servant in life and death,\nand oblivion covered his mountain grave. Christ's 'delights were with\nthe sons of men.' He lived among them, and all men 'know his sepulchre\nto this day.'\n\nI. Note, then, first, as a lesson gathered from this lonely death, the\npenalty of transgression.\n\nOne of the great truths which the old law and ordinances given by Moses\nwere intended to burn in on the conscience of the Jew, and through him\non the conscience of the world, was that indissoluble connection\nbetween evil done and evil suffered, which reaches its highest\nexemplification in the death which is the 'wages of sin.' And just as\nsome men that have invented instruments for capital punishment have\nthemselves had to prove the sharpness of their own axe, so the\nlawgiver, whose message it had been to declare, 'the soul that sinneth\nit shall die,' had himself to go up alone to the mountain-top to\nreceive in his own person the exemplification of the law that had been\nspoken by his own lips. He sinned when, in a moment of passion  (with\nmany palliations and excuses), he smote the rock that he was bidden to\naddress, and forgot therein, and in his angry words to the rebels, that\nhe was only an instrument in the divine hand. It was a momentary\nwavering in a hundred and twenty years of obedience. It was one failure\nin a life of self-abnegation and suppression. The stern sentence came.\n\nPeople say, 'A heavy penalty for a small offence.' Yes; but an offence\nof Moses could not be a small offence.' _Noblesse oblige!_ The higher a\nman rises in communion with God, and the more glorious the message and\noffice which are put into his hands, the more intolerable in him is the\nslightest deflection from the loftiest level. A splash of mud, that\nwould never be seen on a navvy's clothes, stains the white satin of a\nbride or the embroidered garment of a noble. And so a little sin done\nby a loftily endowed and inspired man ceases to be small.\n\nNor are we to regard that momentary lapse only from the outside and the\nsurface. One little mark under the armpit of a plague-sufferer tells\nthe physician that the fatal disease is there. A tiny leaf above ground\nmay tell that, deep below, lurks the root of a poison plant. That\nlittle deflection, coming as it did at the beginning of the resumption\nof his functions by the Lawgiver after seven-and-thirty years of\ncomparative abeyance, and on his first encounter with the new\ngeneration that he had to lead, was a very significant indication that\nhis character had begun to yield and suffer from the strain that had\nbeen put upon it; and that, in fact, he was scarcely fit for the\nresponsibilities that the new circumstances brought. So the penalty was\nnot so disproportionate to the fault as it may seem.\n\nAnd was the penalty such a very great one? Do you think that a man who\nhad been toiling for eighty years at a very thankless task would\nconsider it a very severe punishment to be told, 'Go home and take your\nwages'? It did not mean the withdrawal of the divine favour. 'Moses and\nAaron among his priests. ... Thou wast a God that forgavest them,\nthough Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.' The penalty of a\nforgiven sin is never hard to bear, and the penalty of a forgiven sin\nis very often punctually and mercifully exacted.\n\nBut still we are not to ignore the fact that this lonely death, with\nwhich we are now concerned, is of the nature of a penal infliction. And\nso it stands forth in consonance with the whole tone of the Mosaic\nteaching. I admit, of course, that the mere physical fact of the\nseparation between body and spirit is simply the result of natural law.\nBut that is not the death that you and I know. Death as we know it, the\nugly thing that flings its long shadows across all life, and that comes\narmed with terrors for conscience and spirit, is 'the wages of sin,'\nand is only experienced by men who have transgressed the law of God. So\nfar Moses in his life and in his death carries us--that no\ntransgression escapes the appropriate punishment; that the smallest sin\nhas in it the seeds of mortal consequences; that the loftiest saint\ndoes not escape the law of retribution.\n\nAnd no further does Moses with his Law and his death carry us. But we\nturn to the other death. And there we find the confirmation, in an\neminent degree, of that Law, and yet the repeal of it. It is confirmed\nand exhausted in Jesus Christ. His death was 'the wages of sin.' Whose?\nNot His. Mine, yours, every man's. And because He died, surrounded by\nmen, outside the old city wall, pure and sinless in Himself, He therein\nboth said 'Amen' to the Law of Moses, and swept it away. For all the\nsins of the world were laid upon His head, He bore the curse for us\nall, and has emptied the bitter cup which men's transgressions have\nmingled. Therefore the solitary death in the desert proclaims 'the\nwages of sin'; that death outside the city wall proclaims 'the gift of\nGod,' which is 'eternal life.'\n\nII. Another of the lessons of our incident is the withdrawal, by a hard\nfate, of the worker on the very eve of the completion of his work.\n\nFor all these forty years there had gleamed before the fixed and\nsteadfast spirit of the sorely tried leader one hope that he never\nabandoned, and that was that he might look upon and enter into the\nblessed land which God had promised. And now he stands on the heights\nof Moab. Half a dozen miles onwards, as the crow flies, and his feet\nwould tread its soil. He lifts his eyes, and away up yonder, in the far\nnorth, he sees the rolling uplands of Gilead, and across the deep gash\nwhere the Jordan runs, he catches a glimpse of the blue hills of\nNaphtali or of Galilee, and the central mountain masses of Ephraim and\nManasseh, where Ebal and Gerizim lift their heads; and then, further\nsouth, the stony summits of the Judaean hills, where Jerusalem and\nBethlehem lie, and, through some gap in the mountains, a gleam as of\nsunshine upon armour tells where the ocean is. And then his eye falls\nupon the waterless plateau of the South, and at his feet the fertile\nvalley of Jordan, with Jericho glittering amongst its palm trees like a\ndiamond set in emeralds, and on some spur of the lower hill bounding\nthe plain, the little Zoar. This was the land which the Lord had\npromised to the fathers, for which he had been yearning, and to which\nall his work had been directed all these years; and now he is to die,\nas my text puts it, with such pathetic emphasis, 'there in Moab,' and\nto have no part in the fair inheritance.\n\nIt is the lot of all epoch-making men, of all great constructive and\nreforming geniuses, whether in the Church or in the world, that they\nshould toil at a task, the full issues of which will not be known until\ntheir heads are laid low in the dust. But if, on the one hand, that\nseems hard, on the other hand there is the compensation of 'the vision\nof the future and all the wonder that shall be,' which is granted many\na time to the faithful worker ere he closes his eyes. But that is not\nthe fate of epoch-making and great men only; it is the law for our\nlittle lives. If these are worth anything, they are constructed on a\nscale too large to bring out all their results here and now. It is easy\nfor a man to secure immediate consequences of an earthly kind; easy\nenough for him to make certain that he shall have the fruit of his\ntoil. But quick returns mean small profits; and an unfinished life that\nsucceeds in nothing may be far better than a completed one, that has\nrealised all its shabby purposes and accomplished all its petty\ndesires. Do you, my brother, live for the far-off; and seek not for the\nimmediate issues and fruits that the world can give, but be contented\nto be of those whose toil waits for eternity to disclose its\nsignificance. Better a half-finished temple than a finished pigstye or\nhuckster's shop. Better a life, the beginning of much and the\ncompletion of nothing, than a life directed to and hitting an earthly\naim. 'He that soweth to the spirit shall of the Spirit reap life\neverlasting,' and his harvest and garner are beyond the grave.\n\nIII. Again, notice here the lesson of the solitude and mystery of death.\n\nMoses dies alone, with no hand to clasp his, none to close his eyes;\nbut God's finger does it. The outward form of his death is but putting\ninto symbol and visibility the awful characteristics of that last\nmoment for us all. However closely we have been twined with others,\neach of us has to unclasp dear hands, and make that journey through the\nnarrow, dark tunnel by himself. We live alone in a very real sense, but\nwe each have to die as if there were not another human being in the\nwhole universe but only ourselves. But the solitude may be a solitude\nwith God. Up there, alone with the stars and the sky and the\neverlasting rocks and menacing death, Moses had for companion the\nsupporting God. That awful path is not too desolate and lonely to be\ntrodden if we tread it with Him.\n\nMoses' lonely death leads to a society yonder. If you refer to the\nthirty-second chapter you will find that, when he was summoned to the\nmountain, God said to him, 'Die in the mount whither thou goest up, and\nbe gathered to thy people.' He was to be buried there, up amongst the\nrocks of Moab, and no man was ever to visit his sepulchre to drop a\ntear over it. How, then, was he 'gathered to his people'? Surely only\nthus, that, dying in the desert alone, he opened his eyes in 'the\nCity,' surrounded by 'solemn troops and sweet societies' of those to\nwhom he was kindred. So the solitude of a moment leads on to blessed\nand eternal companionship.\n\nSo far the death of Moses carries us. What does the other death say?\nMoses had none but God with him when he died. There is a drearier\ndesolation than that, and Jesus Christ proved it when He cried, 'My\nGod, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' That was solitude indeed, and\nin that hour of mysterious, and to us unfathomable, desertion and\nmisery, the lonely Christ sounded a depth, of which the lawgiver in His\ndeath but skimmed the surface. Christ was parted from God in His death,\nbecause He bore on Him the sins that separate us from our Father, and\nin order that none of us may ever need to tread that dark passage\nalone, but may be able to say, 'I will fear no evil, for Thou art with\nme'--Thou, who hast trodden every step in its rough and dreary path,\nuncheered by the presence which cheers us and millions more. Christ\ndied that we might live. He died alone that, when we come to die, we\nmay hold His hand and the solitude may vanish.\n\nThen, again, our incident teaches us the mystery that wrapped death to\nthat ancient world, of which we may regard that unknown and forgotten\nsepulchre as the visible symbol. Deep darkness lies over the Old\nTestament in reference to what is beyond the grave, broken by gleams of\nlight, when the religious consciousness asserted its indestructibility,\nin spite of all appearance to the contrary; but never growing to the\nbrightness of serene and continuous assurance of immortal life and\nresurrection. We may conceive that mysteriousness as set forth for us\nby that grave that was hidden away in the defiles of Moab, unvisited\nand uncared for by any.\n\nWe turn to the other grave, and there, as the stone is rolled away, and\nthe rising sunshine of the Easter morning pours into it, we have a\nvisible symbol of the life and immortality which Jesus Christ then\nbrought to light by His Gospel. The buried grave speaks of the\ninscrutable mystery that wrapped the future: the open sepulchre\nproclaims the risen Lord of life, and the sunlight certainty of future\nblessedness which we owe to Him. Death is solitary no more, though it\nbe lonely as far as human companionship is concerned; and a mystery no\nmore, though what is beyond is hidden from our view, and none but\nChrist has ever returned to tell the tale, and He has told us little\nbut the fact that we shall live with Him.\n\nWe rejoice that we have not to turn to a grave hid amongst the hills\nwhere our dead Leader lies, but to an open sepulchre by the city wall\nin the sunshine, from whence has come forth the ever-living 'Captain of\nour salvation.'\n\nIV. The last lesson is the uselessness of a dead leader to a generation\nwith new conflicts.\n\nCommentators have spent a great deal of ingenuity in trying to assign\nreasons why God concealed the grave of Moses. The text does not say\nthat God concealed it at all. The ignorance of the place of his\nsepulchre does not seem to have been part of the divine design, but\nsimply a consequence of the circumstances of his death, and of the fact\nthat he lay in an enemy's land, and that they had had something else to\ndo than go to look for the grave of a dead commander. They had to\nconquer the land, and a living Joshua was what they wanted, not a dead\nMoses.\n\nSo we may learn from this how easily the gaps fill. 'Thirty days'\nmourning,' and says my text, with almost a bitter touch,' so the days\nof mourning for Moses were ended.' A month of it, that was all; and\nthen everybody turned to the new man that was appointed for the new\nwork. God has many tools in His tool-chest, and He needs them all\nbefore the work is done. Joshua could no more have wielded Moses' rod\nthan Moses could have wielded Joshua's sword. The one did his work, and\nwas laid aside. New circumstances required a new type of character--the\nsmaller man better fitted for the rougher work. And so it always is.\nEach generation, each period, has its own men that do some little part\nof the work which has to be done, and then drop it and hand over the\ntask to others. The division of labour is the multiplication of joy at\nthe end, and 'he that soweth and he that reapeth rejoice together.' But\nwhilst the one grave tells us, 'This man served his generation by the\nwill of God, and was laid asleep and saw corruption,' the other grave\nproclaims One whom all generations need, whose work is comprehensive\nand complete, who dies never. 'He liveth and was dead, and is alive for\nevermore.' Christ, and Christ alone, can never be antiquated. This day\nrequires Him, and has in Him as complete an answer to all its\nnecessities as if no other generation had ever possessed Him. He liveth\nfor ever, and for ever is the Shepherd of men.\n\nSo Aaron dies and is buried on Hor, and Moses dies and is buried on\nPisgah, and Joshua steps into his place, and, in turn, he disappears.\nThe one eternal Word of God worked through them all, and came at last\nHimself in human flesh to be the Everlasting Deliverer, Redeemer,\nFounder of the Covenant, Lawgiver, Guide through the wilderness,\nCaptain of the warfare, and all that the world or a single soul can\nneed until the last generation has crossed the flood, and the wandering\npilgrims are gathered in the land of their inheritance. The dead Moses\npre-supposes and points to the living Christ. Let us take Him for our\nall-sufficing and eternal Guide.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF JOSHUA\n\n\n\n\nTHE NEW LEADERS COMMISSION\n\n'Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass,\nthat the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister,\nsaying, 2. Moses My servant is dead: now therefore arise, go over this\nJordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to\nthem, even to the children of Israel. 3. Every place that the sole of\nyour foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto\nMoses. 4. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great\nriver, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the\ngreat sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. 5.\nThere shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of\nthy life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail\nthee, nor forsake thee. 6. Be strong and of a good courage; for unto\nthis people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware\nunto their fathers to give them. 7. Only be thou strong and very\ncourageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law,\nwhich Moses My servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right\nhand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.\n8. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou\nshalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do\naccording to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy\nway prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. 9. Have not I\ncommanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither\nbe thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou\ngoest. 10. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,\n11. Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you\nvictuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go\nin to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess\nit.'--JOSHUA I. 1-11.\n\n\nThe closest connection exists between Deuteronomy and Joshua. The\nnarrative may be read as running on without a break. It turns away from\nthe lonely grave up on the mountain to the bustling camp and the new\nleader. No man is indispensable. God's work goes on uninterrupted. The\ninstruments are changed, but the Master-hand is the same, and lays one\ntool aside and takes another out of the tool-chest as He will. Moses is\ndead,--what then? Does his death paralyse the march of the tribes? No;\nit is but the ground for the ringing command, 'Therefore arise, go over\nthis Jordan.' The immediate installation of his successor, and the\nuninterrupted continuance of the advance, do not mean that Moses is not\nhonoured or is forgotten, for the narrative lovingly links his\nhonorific title, 'the servant of the Lord,' with the mention of his\ndeath; and God Himself does the same, for he is thrice referred to in\nthe divine command to Joshua, as the recipient of the promise of the\nconquest, as the example of the highest experience of God's\nall-sufficing companionship, and as the medium by which Israel received\nthe law. Joshua steps into the empty place, receives the same great\npromise, is assured of the same Presence, and is to obey the same law.\nThe change of leaders is great, but nothing else is changed; and even\nit is not so great as faint hearts in their sorrow are apt to think,\nfor the real Leader lives, and Moses and Joshua alike are but the\ntransmitters of His orders and His aids to Israel.\n\nThe first command given to Joshua was a trial of his faith, for 'Jordan\nwas in flood' (Joshua iii. 15),--and how was that crowd to get across,\nwhen fords were impassable and ferry-boats were wanting, to say nothing\nof the watchful eyes that were upon them from the other bank? To cross\na stream in the face of the enemy is a ticklish operation, even for\nmodern armies; what must it have been, then, for Joshua and his horde?\nNot a hint is given him as to the means by which the crossing is to be\nmade possible. He has Jehovah's command to do it, and Jehovah's promise\nto be with him, and that is to be enough. We too have sometimes to face\nundertakings which we cannot see how to carry through; but if we do see\nthat the path is one appointed by God, and will boldly tread it, we may\nbe quite sure that, when we come to what at present seems like a\nmountain wall across it, we shall find that the glen opens as we\nadvance, and that there is a way,--narrow, perhaps, and dangerous, but\npracticable. 'One step enough for me' should be our motto. We may trust\nGod not to command impossibilities, nor to lead us into a _cul de sac._\n\nThe promise to Moses (Deut. ii. 24) is repeated almost verbally in\nverse 4. The boundaries of the land are summarily given as from 'the\nwilderness' in the south to 'this Lebanon' in the north, and from the\nEuphrates in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. 'The land of\nthe Hittites' is not found in the original passage in Deuteronomy, and\nit seems to be a designation of the territory between Lebanon and the\nEuphrates, which we now know to have been the seat of the northern\nHittites, while the southern branch was planted round Hebron and the\nsurrounding district. But these wide boundaries were not attained till\nlate in the history, and were not long retained. Did the promise, then,\nfail? No, for it, like all the promises, was contingent on conditions,\nand Israel's unfaithfulness cut short its extent of territory. We, too,\nfail to possess all the land destined for us. Our charter is much wider\nthan our actual wealth. God gives more than we take, and we are content\nto occupy but a corner of the broad land which He has given us. In like\nmanner Joshua did not realise to the full the following promise of\nuniform victory, but was defeated at Ai and elsewhere. The reason was\nthe same,--the faithlessness of the people. Unbelief and sin turn a\nSamson into a weakling, and make Israel flee before the ranks of the\nPhilistines.\n\nThe great encouragement given to Joshua in entering on his hard and\nperilous enterprise is twice repeated here: 'As I was with Moses, so\nwill I be with thee.' Did Joshua remember how, nearly forty years\nsince, he had fronted the mob of cowards with the very same assurance,\nand how the answer had been a shower of stones? The cowards are all\ndead,--will their sons believe the assurance now? If we do believe that\nGod is with us, we shall be ready to cross Jordan in flood, and to meet\nthe enemies that are waiting on the other bank. If we do not, we shall\nnot dare greatly, nor succeed in what we attempt. The small successes\nof material wealth and gratified ambition may be ours, but for all the\nhigher duties and nobler conflicts that become a man, the condition of\nachievement and victory is steadfast faith in God's presence and help.\n\nThat assurance--which we may all have if we cling to Jesus, in whom God\ncomes to be with every believing soul--is the only basis on which the\ncommand to Joshua, thrice repeated, can wisely or securely be rested.\nIt is mockery to say to a man conscious of weakness, and knowing that\nthere are evils which must surely come, and evils which may possibly\ncome, against which he is powerless, 'Don't be afraid' unless you can\nshow him good reason why he need not be. And there is only one reason\nwhich can still reasonable dread in a human heart that has to front\n'all the ills that flesh is heir to,' and sees behind them all the grim\nform of death. He ought to be afraid, unless--unless what? Unless he\nhas heard and taken into his inmost soul the Voice that said to Joshua,\n'I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee: be strong and of a good\ncourage,' or, still more sweet and peace-bringing, the Voice that said\nto the frightened crew of the fishing-boat in the storm and the\ndarkness,' It is I; be not afraid.' If we know that Christ is with us,\nit is wise to be strong and courageous; if we are meeting the tempest\nalone, the best thing we can do is to fear, for the fear may drive us\nto seek for His help, and He ever stretches out His hand to him who is\nafraid, as he ought to be, when he feels the cold water rising above\nhis knees, and by his very fear is driven to faith, and cries, 'Lord,\nsave; I perish!'\n\nCourage that does not rest on Christ's presence is audacity rather than\ncourage, and is sure to collapse, like a pricked bladder, when the\nsharp point of a real peril comes in contact with it. If we sit down\nand reckon the forces that we have to oppose to the foes that we are\nsure to meet, we shall find ourselves unequal to the fight, and, if we\nare wise, shall 'send the ambassage' of a humble desire to the great\nKing, who will come to our help with His all-conquering powers. Then,\nand only then, shall we be safe in saying,' I will not fear what man\ncan do unto me, or devils either,' when we have said,' In God have I\nput my trust,' and have heard Him answering, 'I will not fail thee, nor\nforsake thee.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHARGE TO THE SOLDIER OF THE LORD\n\n'Only be then strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to\ndo according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded thee...\nthat thou mayest prosper wheresoever thou goest. 8. This book of the\nlaw shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shall meditate therein\nday and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is\nwritten therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then\nthou shalt have good success.'--JOSHUA i. 7,8.\n\n\nThis is the central portion of the charge given to the successor of\nMoses. Joshua was a very small man in comparison with his predecessor.\nHe was no prophet nor constructive genius; he was not capable of the\nheights of communion and revelation which the lofty spirit of Moses was\nable to mount. He was only a plain, fiery soldier, with energy, swift\ndecision, promptitude, self-command, and all the military virtues in\nthe highest degree. The one thing that he needed was to be 'strong and\ncourageous'; and over and over again in this chapter you will find that\ninjunction pealed into his ears. He is the type of the militant servant\nof the Lord, and the charge to him embodies the duties of all such.\n\nI. We have here the duty of courageous strength.\n\nChristianity has altered the perspective of human virtues, has thrown\nthe gentler ones into prominence altogether unknown before, and has\ndimmed the brilliancy of the old heroic type of character; but it has\nnot struck those virtues out of its list. Whilst the perspective is\naltered, there is as much need in the lowliest Christian life for the\nloftiest heroism as ever there was. For in no mere metaphor, but in\ngrim earnest, all Christian progress is conflict, and we have to fight,\nnot only with the evils that are within, but, if we would be true to\nthe obligations of our profession and loyal to the commands of our\nMaster, we have to take our part in the great campaign which He has\ninaugurated and is ever carrying on against every abuse and oppression,\niniquity and sin, that grinds down the world and makes our brethren\nmiserable and servile. So, then, in these words we have directions in\nregard to a side of the Christian character, indispensable to-day as\never, and the lack of which cannot be made up for by any amount of\nsweet and contemplative graces.\n\nJesus Christ is the type of both. The Conqueror of Canaan and the\nRedeemer of the world bear the same name. The Jesus whom we trust was a\nJoshua. And let us learn the lesson that neither the conqueror of the\ntypical and material land of promise nor the Redeemer who has won the\neverlasting heaven for our portion could do their work without the\nheroic side of human excellence being manifestly developed. Do you\nremember 'He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem'? Do you\nremember that the Apostle whom a hasty misconception has thought of as\nthe gentlest of the Twelve, because he had most to say about love, is\nthe Apostle that more emphatically than any other rings into our ears\nover and over again the thought of the Christ, militant and victorious,\nthe Hero as well as the patient Sufferer, the 'Captain of our\nsalvation'? And so let us recognise how both the gentler and the\nstronger graces, the pacific and the warlike side of human excellence,\nhave their highest development in Jesus Christ, and learn that the\nfirmest strength must be accompanied with the tenderest love and\nswathed in meekest gentleness. As another Apostle has it in his\npregnant, brief injunctions, ringing and laconic like a general's word\nof command, 'Quit you like men I be strong! let all your deeds be done\nin love!' Braid the two things together, for the mightiest strength is\nthe love that conquers hate, and the only love that is worthy of a man\nis the love that is strong to contend and to overcome.\n\n'Be strong.' Then strength is a duty; then weakness is a sin. Then the\namount of strength that we possess and wield is regulated by ourselves.\nWe have our hands on the sluice. We may open it to let the whole full\ntide run in, or we may close it till a mere dribble reaches us. For the\nstrength which is strength, and not merely weakness in a fever, is a\nstrength derived, and ours because derived. The Apostle gives the\ncomplete version of the exhortation when he says: 'Finally, my\nbrethren,' that Omega of command which is the Alpha of performance, 'be\nstrong in the Lord and in the power of His might.' Let Christ's\nstrength in. Open the heart wide that it may come. Keep yourself in\ncontinual touch with God, the fountain of all power. Trust is strength,\nbecause trust touches the Rock of Ages.\n\nFor this reason the commandment to be strong and of good courage is in\nthe text based upon this: 'As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.\nI will not fail thee nor forsake thee.' Our strength depends on\nourselves, because our strength is the fruit of our faith. And if we\nlive with Him, grasping His hand and, in the realising consciousness of\nour own weakness, looking beyond ourselves, then power will come to us\nabove our desire and equal to our need. The old victories of faith will\nbe reproduced in us when we say with the ancient king, 'Lord! We know\nnot what to do, but our eyes are up unto Thee.' Then He will come to\nus, to make us 'strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.'\n'Wait on the Lord and He will strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on\nthe Lord.'\n\nBut courage is duty, too, as well as strength. Power and the\nconsciousness of power do not always go together. In regard to the\nstrength of nature, courage and might are quite separable. There may be\na strong coward and a weak hero. But in the spiritual region, strength\nand courage do go together. The consciousness of the divine power with\nus, and that alone, will make us bold with a boldness that has no taint\nof levity and presumption mingled with it, and never will overestimate\nits own strength. The charge to Joshua, then, not only insists upon the\nduty of strength, but on the duty of conscious strength, and on the\nduty of measuring the strength that is at my back with the weakness\nthat is against me, and of being bold because I know that more and\n'greater is He that is with me than are they that be with them.'\n\nII. So much, then, for the first of the exhortations here. Now look\nnext at the duty of implicit obedience to the word of command.\n\nThat is another soldierly virtue, the exercise of which sheds a\nnobility over the repulsive horrors of the battlefield. Joshua had to\nbe fitted to command by learning to obey, and, like that other soldier\nwhose rough trade had led him to some inkling of Christ's authority by\nits familiarising him with the idea of the strange power of the word of\ncommand, had to realise that he himself was 'under authority' before he\ncould issue his orders.\n\nCourage and strength come first, and on them follows the command to do\nall according to the law, to keep it without deflection to right or\nleft, and to meditate on it day and night. These two virtues make the\nperfect soldier-courage and obedience. Daring and discipline must go\ntogether, and to know how to follow orders is as essential as to know\nhow to despise dangers.\n\nBut the connection between these two, as set forth in this charge, is\nnot merely that they must co-exist, but that courage and strength are\nneeded for, and are to find their noblest field of exercise in,\nabsolute acceptance of, and unhesitating, swift, complete, unmurmuring\nobedience to, everything that is discerned to be God's will and our\nduty.\n\nFor the Christian soldier, then, God's law is his marching orders. The\nwritten word, and especially the Incarnate Word, are our law of\nconduct. The whole science of our warfare and plan of campaign are\nthere. We have not to take our orders from men's lips, but we must\noften disregard them, that we may listen to the 'Captain of our\nsalvation.' The soldier stands where his officer has posted him, and\ndoes what he was bid, no matter what may happen. Only one voice can\nrelieve him. Though a thousand should bid him flee, and his heart\nshould echo their advices, he is recreant if he deserts his post at the\ncommand of any but him who set him there. Obedience to others is\nmutiny. Nor does the Christian need another law to supplement that\nwhich Christ has given him in His pattern and teaching. Men have\nappended huge comments to it, and have softened some of its plain\nprecepts which bear hard on popular sins. But the Lawgiver's law is one\nthing, and the lawyers' explanations which explain it away or darken\nwhat was clear enough, however unwelcome, are quite another. Christ has\ngiven us Himself, and therein has given a sufficient directory for\nconduct and conflict which fits close to all our needs, and will prove\ndefinite and practical enough if we honestly try to apply it.\n\nThe application of Christ's law to daily life takes some courage, and\nis the proper field for the exercise of Christian strength. 'Be very\ncourageous that thou mayest observe.' If you are not a bold Christian\nyou will very soon get frightened out of obedience to your Master's\ncommandments. Courage, springing from the realisation of God's helping\nstrength, is indispensable to make any man, in any age, live out\nthoroughly and consistently the principles of the law of Jesus Christ.\nNo man in _this_ generation will work out a punctual obedience to what\nhe knows to be the will of God, without finding out that all the\n'Canaanites' are not dead yet; but that there are enough of them left\nto make a very thorny life for the persistent follower of Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd not only is there courage needed for the application of the\nprinciples of conduct which God has given us, but you will never have\nthem handy for swift application unless, in many a quiet hour of\nsilent, solitary, patient meditation you have become familiar with\nthem. The recruit that has to learn on the battle-field how to use his\nrifle has a good chance of being dead before he has mastered the\nmysteries of firing. And Christian people that have their Christian\nprinciples to dig out of the Bible when the necessity comes, will\nlikely find that the necessity is past before they have completed the\nexcavation. The actual battle-field is no place to learn drill. If a\nsoldier does not know how his sword hangs, and cannot get at it in a\nmoment, he will probably draw it too late.\n\nI am afraid that the practice of such meditation as is meant here has\ncome to be, like the art of making ecclesiastical stained glass, almost\nextinct in modern times. You have all so many newspapers and magazines\nto read that the Bible has a chance of being shoved out of sight,\nexcept on Sundays and in chapels. The 'meditating' that is enjoined in\nmy text is no mere intellectual study of Scripture, either from an\nantiquarian or a literary or a theological point of view, but it is the\nmastering of the principles of conduct as laid down there, and the\nappropriating of all the power for guidance and for sustaining which\nthat word of the Lord gives. Meditation, the familiarising ourselves\nwith the ethics of Scripture, and with the hopes and powers that are\ntreasured in Jesus Christ, so that our minds are made up upon a great\nmany thorny questions as to what we ought to do, and that when crises\nor dangers come, as they have a knack of coming, very suddenly, and are\nsprung upon us unexpectedly, we shall be able, without much difficulty,\nor much time spent in perplexed searching, to fall back upon the\nprinciples that decide our conduct--that is essential to all successful\nand victorious Christian life.\n\nAnd it is the secret of all blessed Christian life. For there is a\nlovely echo of these vigorous words of command to Joshua in a very much\nmore peaceful form in the 1st Psalm: 'Blessed is the man that walketh\nnot in the counsel of the ungodly, ... but his delight is in the law of\nthe Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night'--the very\nwords that are employed in the text to describe the duty of the\nsoldier--therefore 'all that he doeth shall prosper.'\n\nIII. That leads to the last thought here--the sure victory of such bold\nobedience.\n\n'Thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest'; 'Thou shalt make thy\nway prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success,' or, as the last\nword might be rendered, 'then shalt thou _act wisely_' You may not get\nvictory from an earthly point of view, for many a man that lives strong\nand courageous and joyfully obeying God's law, as far as he knows it\nand because he loves the Lawgiver, goes through life, and finds that,\nas far as the world's estimate is concerned, there is nothing but\nfailure as his portion. Ah I but the world's way is not the true way of\nestimating victory. 'Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,' said\nJesus Christ when within arm's-length of the Cross. And His way is the\nway in which we must conquer the world, if we conquer it at all. The\nsuccess which my text means is the carrying out of conscientious\nconvictions of God's will into practice. That is the only success that\nis worth talking about or looking for. The man that succeeds in obeying\nand translating God's will into conduct is the victor, whatever be the\noutward fruits of his life. He may go out of the field beaten,\naccording to the estimate of men that can see no higher than their own\nheight, and little further than their own finger tips can reach; he may\nhimself feel that the world has gone past him, and that he has not made\nmuch of it; he may have to lie down at last unknown, poor, with all his\nbright hopes that danced before him in childhood gone, and sore beaten\nby the enemies; but if he is able to say in the strength that Christ\ngives, 'I have finished my course; I have kept the faith,' his 'way has\nprospered,' and he has had' good success.' 'We are more than conquerors\nthrough Him that loved us.'\n\nTHE UNTRODDEN PATH AND THE GUIDING ARK\n\n'Come not near unto the ark, that ye may know the way by which ye must\ngo; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.'--JOSHUA iii. 4.\n\nIt was eminently true of Israel that they had 'not passed this way\nheretofore,' inasmuch as the path which was opening before them,\nthrough the oozy bed of the river, had never been seen by human eye,\nnor trodden by man's foot. Their old leader was dead. There were only\ntwo of the whole host that had ever been out of the desert in their\nlives. They had a hard task before them. Jericho lay there, gleaming\nacross the plain, among the palm-trees, backed by the savage cliffs, up\nthe passes in which they would have to fight their way. So that we need\nnot wonder that, over and over again, in these early chapters of this\nbook, the advice in reiterated, 'Be of good courage. Be strong and fear\nnot!' They needed special guidance, and they received very special\nguidance, and my text tells us what they had to do, in order to realise\nthe full blessing and guidance that was given them. 'Let there be a\nspace of 2000 cubits by measure between you and the\nark'--three-quarters of a mile or thereabouts--'do not press close upon\nthe heels of the bearers, for you will not be able to see where they\nare going if you crowd on them. Be patient. Let the course of the ark\ndisclose itself before you try to follow it, that ye may know the way\nby which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way heretofore.'\n\nI. Note the untrodden path.\n\nI suppose that most of us have to travel a very well-worn road, and\nthat our course, in the cases of all except those in early life, is\nliker that of a millhorse than an untrodden path. Most of us are\ncontinually treading again in the prints of our own footsteps. A long,\nweary stretch of monotonous duties, and the repetition of the same\nthings to-day that we did yesterday is the destiny of most of us.\n\nSome of us, perhaps, may be standing upon the verge of some new scenes\nin our lives. Some of you young people may have come up to a great city\nfor the first time to carve out a position for yourselves, and are for\nthe first time encompassed by the temptations of being unknown in a\ncrowd. Some of you may be in new domestic circumstances, some with new\nsorrows, or tasks, or difficulties pressing upon you, calling for\nwisdom and patience. It is quite likely that there may be some who, in\nthe most prosaic and literal sense of the words, are entering on a path\naltogether new and untrodden. But they will be in the minority, and for\nthe most of us the days that were full of new possibilities are at an\nend, and we have to expect little more than the monotonous repetition\nof the habitual, humdrum duties of mature life. We have climbed the\nwinding paths up the hill, and most of us are upon the long plateau\nthat stretches unvaried, until it begins to dip at the further edge.\nAnd some of us are going down that other side of the hill.\n\nBut whatever may be the variety in regard to the mere externals of our\nlives, how true it is about us all that even the most familiar duties\nof to-day are not quite like the same duties when they had to be done\nyesterday; and that the path for each of us--though, as we go along, we\nfind in it nothing new--is yet an untrodden path! For we are not quite\nthe same as we were yesterday, though our work may be the same, and the\ndifference in us makes it in some measure different.\n\nBut what mainly makes even the most well-beaten paths new at the\nthousandth time of traversing them is our ignorance of what may be\nwaiting round the next turn of the road. The veil that hangs before and\nhides the future is a blessing, though we sometimes grumble at it, and\nsometimes petulantly try to make pinholes through it, and peep in to\nsee a little of what is behind it. It brings freshness into our lives,\nand a possibility of anticipation, and even of wonder and expectation,\nthat prevents us from stagnating. Even in the most habitual repetition\nof the same tasks 'ye have not passed this way heretofore.' And life\nfor every one of us is still full of possibilities so great and so\nterrible that we may well feel that the mist that covers the future is\na blessing and a source of strength for us all.\n\nOur march through time is like that of men in a mist, in which things\nloom in strangely distorted shapes, unlike their real selves, until we\nget close up to them, and only then do we discover them.\n\nSo for us all the path is new and unknown by reason of the sudden\nsurprises that may be sprung upon us, by reason of the sudden\ntemptations that may start up at any moment in our course, by reason of\nthe earthquakes that may shatter the most solid-seeming lives, by\nreason of the sudden calamities that may fall upon us. The sorrows that\nwe anticipate seldom come, and those that do come are seldom\nanticipated. The most fatal bolts are generally from the blue. One\nflash, all unlooked for, is enough to blast the tree in all its leafy\npride. Many of us, I have no doubt, can look back to times in our lives\nwhen, without anticipation on our parts, or warning from anything\noutside of us, a smiting hand fell upon some of our blessings. The\nmorning dawned upon the gourd in full vigour of growth, and in the\nevening it was stretched yellow and wilted upon the turf. Dear\nbrethren, anything may come out of that dark cloud through which our\nlife's course has to pass, and there are some things concerning which\nall that we know is that they must come.\n\nThese are very old threadbare thoughts; I dare say you think it was not\nworth your while to come to hear them, nor mine to speak them; but if\nwe would lay them to heart, and realise how true it is about every step\nof our earthly course that 'ye have not passed this way heretofore,' we\nshould complain less than we do of the weariness and prosaic character\nof our commonplace lives, and feel that all was mystical and great and\nawful; and yet most blessed in its possibilities and its uncertainties.\n\nII. Note, again, the guiding ark.\n\nIt was a new thing that the ark should become the guide of the people.\nAll through the wilderness, according to the history, it had been\ncarried in the centre of the march, and had had no share in the\ndirection of the course. That had been done by the pillar of cloud.\nBut, just as the manna ceased when the tribes got across the Jordan and\ncould eat the bread of the land, the miracle ending and they being left\nto trust to ordinary means of supply at the earliest possible moment,\nso there ensued an approximation to ordinary guidance, which is none\nthe less real because it is granted without miracle. The pillar of\ncloud ceased to move before the people in the crossing of the Jordan,\nand its place was taken by the material symbol of the presence of God,\nwhich contained the tables of the law as the basis of the covenant. And\nthat ark moved at the commandment of the leader Joshua, for he was the\nmouthpiece of the divine will in the matter. And so when the ark moved\nat the bidding of the leader, and became the guide of the people, there\nwas a kind of a drop down from the pure supernatural of the guiding\npillar.\n\nFor us a similar thing is true. Jesus Christ is the true Ark of God.\nFor what was the ark? the symbol of the divine Presence; and Christ is\nthe reality of the divine Presence with men. The whole content of that\nark was the 'law of the Lord,' and Jesus Christ is the embodied law of\nthe present God. The ark was the sign that God had entered into this\ncovenant with these people, and that they had a right to say to Him,\n'Thou art our God, and we are Thy people,' and the same double\nassurance of reciprocal possession and mutual delight in possession is\ngranted to us in and through Jesus Christ our Lord.\n\nSo He becomes the guiding Ark, the Shepherd of Israel. His presence and\nwill are our directors. The law, which is contained and incorporated in\nHim, is that by which we are to walk. The covenant which He has\nestablished in His own blood between God and man contains in itself not\nonly the direction for conduct, but also the motives which will impel\nus to walk where and as He enjoins.\n\nAnd so, every way we may say, by His providences which He appoints, by\nHis example which He sets us, by His gracious word in which He sums up\nall human duties in the one sweet obligation, 'Follow Me,' and even\nmore by His Spirit that dwells in us, and whispers in our ears, 'This\nis the way; walk ye in it,' and enlightens every perplexity, and\nstrengthens all feebleness, and directs our footsteps into the way of\npeace; that living and personal Ark of the covenant of the Lord of the\nwhole earth is still the guide of waiting and docile hearts. Jesus\nChrist's one word to us is, 'If any man serve Me, let him follow Me.\nAnd where I am'--of course, seeing he is a follower--'there shall also\nMy servant be.'\n\nThe one Pattern for us, the one Example that we need to follow, the one\nStrength in our perplexities, the true Director of our feet, is that\ndear Lord, if we will only listen to Him. And that direction will be\ngiven to us in regard to the trifles, as in regard to the great things\nof our lives.\n\nIII. And so the last thought that is here is the watchful following.\n\n'Come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye ought to\ngo.' In a shipwreck, the chances are that the boats will be swamped by\nthe people scrambling into them in too great a hurry. In the Christian\nlife most of the mistakes that people make arise from their not letting\nthe ark go far enough ahead of them before they gather up their\nbelongings and follow it. An impatience of the half-declared divine\nwill, a running before we are sent, an acting before we are quite sure\nthat God wills us to do so-and-so, are at the root of most of the\nfailures of Christian effort, and of a large number of the miseries of\nChristian men. If we would only have patience! Three-quarters of a mile\nthe ark went ahead before a man lifted a foot to follow it, and there\nwas no mistake possible then.\n\nNow do not be in a hurry to act. 'Raw haste' is 'half-sister to delay.'\nWe are all impatient of uncertainty, either in opinion or in conduct;\nbut if you are not quite sure what God wants you to do, you may be\nquite sure that He does not at present want you to do anything. Wait\ntill you see what He does wish you to do. Better, better far, to spend\nhours in silent--although people that know nothing about what we are\ndoing may call it indolent--waiting for the clear declaration of God's\nwill, than to hurry on paths which, after we have gone on them far\nenough to make it a mortification and a weariness to turn back, we\nshall find out to have been not His at all, but only our own mistakes\nas to where the ark would have us go.\n\nAnd that there may be this patience the one thing needful-as, indeed,\nit is the one thing needful for all strength of all kinds in the\nChristian life--is the rigid suppression of our own wills. That is the\nsecret of goodness, and its opposite is the secret of evil. To live by\nmy own will is to die. Nothing but blunders, nothing but miseries,\nnothing but failures, nothing but remorse, will be the fruit of such a\nlife. And a great many of us who call ourselves Christians are not\nChristians in the sense of having Christ's will for our absolute law,\nand keeping our own will entirely in subordination thereto. As is the\nwill, so is the man, and whoever does not bow himself absolutely, and\nhush all the babble of his own inclinations and tastes and decisions,\nin order that that great Voice may speak, has small chance of ever\nwalking in the paths of righteousness, or finding that his ways please\nthe Lord.\n\nSuppress your own wills, dwell near God, that you may hear His lightest\nwhisper. 'I will guide thee with Mine eye.' What is the use of the\nglance of an eye if the man for whom it is meant is half a mile off,\nand staring about him at everything except the eye that would guide?\nAnd that is what some of us that call ourselves Christian people are.\nGod might look guidance at us for a week, and we should never know that\nHe was doing it; we have so many other things to look after. And we are\nso far away from Him that it would need a telescope for us to see His\nface. 'I will guide thee with Mine eye.' Keep near Him, and you will\nnot lack direction.\n\n\nAnd so, dear brethren, if we stay ourselves on, and wait patiently for,\nHim, and are content to do what He wishes, and never to run without a\nclear commission, nor to act without a full conviction of duty, then\nthe old story of my text will repeat itself in our daily life, as well\nas in the noblest form in the last act of life, which is death. The\nLord will move before us and open a safe, dry path for us between the\nheaped waters; and where the feet of our great High Priest, bearing the\nArk of the Covenant of the Lord, stood, amidst the slime and the mud,\nwe may plant our firm feet on the stones that He has left there. And so\nthe stream of life, like the river of death, will be parted for\nChrist's followers, and they will pass over on dry ground, 'until all\nthe people are passed clean over Jordan.'\n\n\n\n\n'THE WATERS SAW THEE; THEY WERE AFRAID'\n\n'And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the\nLord will do wonders among you. 6. And Joshua spake unto the priests,\nsaying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the\npeople. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the\npeople. 7. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to\nmagnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I\nwas with Moses, so I will be with thee. 8 And thou shalt command the\npriests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to\nthe brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. 8.\nAnd Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the\nwords of the Lord your God. 10. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know\nthat the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive\nout from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites,\nand the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the\nJebusites. 11. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the\nearth passeth Over before you into Jordan. 12. Now therefore take you\ntwelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. 13.\nAnd it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the\npriests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall\nrest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be out\noff from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand\nupon an heap. 14. And it came to pass, when the people removed from\ntheir tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of\nthe covenant before the people; 15. And as they that bare the ark were\ncome unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were\ndipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks\nall the time of harvest,) 16. That the waters which came down from\nabove stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that\nis beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the\nplain, even the salt sea failed, and were cut off: and the people\npassed over right against Jericho. 17. And the priests that bare the\nark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst\nof Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all\nthe people were passed clean over Jordan.'--JOSHUA iii 5-17.\n\n\nThe arrangement of the narrative of the passage of Jordan, which\noccupies chapters iii. and iv., is remarkable, and has led to\nsuggestions of interpolation and blending of two accounts, which are\nquite unnecessary. It is divided into four sections,--the preparations\n(Joshua in. 1-6), the passage (Joshua in. 7-17), the lifting of the\nmemorial stones from the river's bed and the fixing of one set of them\nin it (Joshua iv. 1-14), the return of the waters, and the erection of\nthe second set of memorial stones at Gilgal (Joshua iv. 15-24).\n\nEach section closes with a summary of the whole transaction, after the\ncommon manner of Old Testament history, which gives to a hasty reader\nthe impression of confusion and repetition; but a little attention\nshows a very symmetrical arrangement, negativing the possibility of\ninterpolation. The last three sections are all built on the same lines.\nIn each there is a triple division,--God's command to Joshua, Joshua's\ncommunication of it to the people, and the actual fact, fulfilling\nthese. So each stage passes thrice before the view, and the\nimpressiveness of the history is heightened by our seeing it first in\nthe mirror of the divine Word, and then in the orders of the commander,\nbefore we see it as a thing actually happening.\n\nVerses 5 and 6 of the chapter belong to the section which deals with\nthe preparation. General instructions had been already issued that the\nhost was to follow the ark, leaving two thousand cubits between them\nand it; but nothing had been said as to how Jordan was to be crossed.\nNo doubt many a question and doubt had been muttered by the\nwatch-fires, as the people looked at the muddy, turbid stream, swirling\nin flood. The spies probably managed to swim it, but that was a feat\nworthy to be named in the epitaph of heroes (1 Chron. xii. 15), and\nimpossible for the crowd of all ages and both sexes which followed\nJoshua. There was the rushing stream, swollen as it always is in\nharvest. How were they to get over? And if the people of Jericho, right\nover against them, chose to fall upon them as they were struggling\nacross, what could hinder utter defeat? No doubt, all that was\ncanvassed, in all sorts of tones; but no inkling of the miracle seems\nto have been given.\n\nGod often opens His hand by one finger at a time, and leaves us face to\nface with some plain but difficult duty, without letting us see the\nhelps to its performance, till we need to use them. If we go right on\nthe road which He has traced out, it will never lead us into a blind\nalley. The mountains will part before us as we come near what looked\ntheir impassable wall; and some narrow gorge or other, wide enough to\nrun a track through, but not wide enough to be noticed before we are\nclose on it, will be sure to open. The attitude of expectation of God's\nhelp, while its nature is unrevealed, is kept up in Joshua's last\ninstruction. The people are bidden to 'sanctify themselves, because\nto-morrow the Lord will do wonders' among them. That sanctifying was\nnot external, but included the hallowing of spirit by docile waiting\nfor His intervention, and by obedience while the manner of it was\nhidden. The secret of to-morrow is partly made known, and the faith of\nthe people is nourished by the mystery remaining, as well as by the\nlight given. The best security for to-morrow's wonders is to-day's\nsanctifying.\n\nThe command to the priests discloses to them a little more, in bidding\nthem pass over before the people, but the additional disclosure would\nonly be an additional trial of faith; for the silence as to how so\nimpossible a command was to be made possible is absolute. The swollen\nriver had obliterated all fords; and how were priests, staggering under\nthe weight of the ark on their shoulders, to 'pass over'? The question\nis not answered till the ark is on their shoulders. To-day often sees\nto-morrow's duty without seeing how it is to be done. But the bearers\nof the ark need never fear but that the God to whom it belongs will\ntake care of it and of them. The last sentence of verse 6 is the\nanticipatory summary which closes each section.\n\nIn verses 7-17 we have the narrative of the actual crossing, in its\nthree divisions of God's command (vs. 7-8), Joshua's repetition of it\n(vs. 9-13), and the historical fact (vs. 14-17). The final instructions\nwere only given on the morning of the day of crossing. The report of\nGod's commands given in verses 7 and 8 is condensed, as is evident from\nthe fuller statement of them in Joshua's address to the people, which\nimmediately follows. In it Joshua is fully aware of the manner of the\nmiracle and of the details of the crossing, but we have no record of\nhis having received them. The summary of that eventful morning's\ninstructions to him emphasises first the bearing of the miracle on his\nreputation. The passage of the Red Sea had authenticated the mission of\nMoses to the past generation, who, in consequence of it, 'believed God\nand His servant Moses.' The new generation are to have a parallel\nauthentication of Joshua's commission. It is noteworthy that this is\nnot the purpose of the miracle which the leader announces to the people\nin verse 10. It was a message from God to himself, a kind of gracious\nwhisper meant for his own encouragement. What a thought to fill a man's\nheart with humble devotion, that God would work such a wonder in order\nto demonstrate that He was with him! And what a glimpse of more to\nfollow lay in that promise, 'This day will I _begin_ to magnify thee I'\n\nThe command to the priests in verse 8 is also obviously condensed; for\nJoshua's version of it, which follows, is much more detailed, and\ncontains particular instructions, which must have been derived from the\ndivine word to him on that morning.\n\nWe may pass on, then, to the second division of the narrative; namely,\nJoshua's communication of God's commands to the people. Observe the\nform which the purpose of the miracle assumes there. It is the\nconfirmation of the divine Presence, not with the leader, but with the\npeople and their consequent victory. Joshua grasped the inmost meaning\nof God's Word to himself, and showed noble self-suppression, when he\nthus turned the direction of the miracle. The true servant of God knows\nthat God is with him, not for his personal glorification, but for the\nwelfare of God's people, and cares little for the estimation in which\nmen hold him, if they will only believe that the conquering God is with\nthem. We too often make great leaders and teachers in the church opaque\nbarriers to hide God from us, instead of transparent windows through\nwhich He shines upon His people. We are a great deal more ready to say,\n'God is with him,' than to add, 'and therefore God is with us, in our\nJoshuas, and without them.'\n\nObserve the grand emphasis of that name, 'the living God,' tacitly\ncontrasted with the dead idols of the enemies, and sealing the\nassurance of His swift and all-conquering might. Observe, too, the\ntriumphant contempt in the enumeration of the many tribes of the foe\nwith their barbarous names. Five of them had been enough, when named by\nthe spies' trembling lips, to terrify the congregation, but here the\nlist of the whole seven but strengthens confidence. Faith delights to\nlook steadily at its enemies, knowing that the one Helper is more than\nthey all. This catalogue breathes the same spirit as Paul's rapturous\nlist of the foes impotent to separate from the love of God. Mark, too,\nthe long-drawn-out designation of the ark, with its accumulation of\nnouns, which grammatical purists have found difficult,--'the ark of the\ncovenant of the Lord of all the earth'; where it leads they need not\nfear to follow. It was the pledge of His presence, it contained the Ten\nWords on which His covenant was concluded. That covenant enlisted on\ntheir side Him who was Lord of the swollen river as of all the fierce\nclans beyond; and with His ark in front, their victory was sure. If\never the contemplation of His power and covenant relation was in place,\nit was on that morning, as Israel stood ranked for the march that was\nto lead them through Jordan, and to plant their feet on the soil of\nCanaan. Nor must we omit the peculiar appropriateness of this solemn\ndesignation, on the occasion of the ark's first becoming the leader of\nthe march. Hitherto it had been carried in the centre; now it was moved\nto the van, and took the place of the pillar, which blazed no more. But\nthe guidance was no less divine. The simple coffer which Bezaleel had\nmade was as august and reliable a symbol of God's presence as the\npillar; and the tables of the law, shut in it, were henceforth to be\nthe best directors of the nation.\n\nThen follows the command to elect twelve representatives of the tribes,\nfor a purpose not yet explained; and then, at the last moment, the\nmanner of crossing is disclosed, to the silencing of wise doubters and\nthe confirmation of ignorant faith. The brief anticipatory announcement\nof the miracle puts stress on the arrest of the waters at the instant\nwhen the priests' feet touched them, and tells what is to befall the\narrested torrent above the point where the ark stood, saying nothing\nabout the lower stretch of the river, and just hinting by one word\n'heap' the parallel between this miracle and that of the passing of the\nRed Sea: 'The floods stood upright as an heap' (Exod. xv. 8).\n\nVerses 14-17 narrate the actual crossing. One long sentence, like the\nroll of an Atlantic wave, or a long-drawn shout of triumph, masses\ntogether the stages of the march; the breaking up of the encampment;\nthe solemn advance of the ark, watched by the motionless crowd; its\napproach to the foaming stream, running bank-full, as is its wont in\nthe early harvest months; the decisive moment when the naked feet of\nthe priests were dipped in the water. What a hush of almost painful\nexpectation would fall on the gazers! Then, with a rush of triumph, the\nlong sentence pours on, like a river escaping from some rocky gorge,\nand tells the details of the transcendent fact. Looking up stream, the\nwater 'stood'; and, as the flow above went on, it was dammed up, and,\nas would appear, swept back to a point not now known, but apparently\nsome miles up. Looking down the course, the water flowed naturally to\nthe Dead Sea; and, in effect, the whole bed southwards was quickly left\nbare, giving room for the advance of the people with wide-extended\nfront, while the priests, with the ark on their shoulders, stood silent\nin the midst of the bed, between the heaped waters and the hasting\nhost. Verse 17 gives the usual summary sentence, which partly\nanticipates what is still to follow, but here comes in with special\nforce, as gathering up the whole wonderful scene, and recounting once\nmore, and not without a ring of astonished triumph, how the priests\nstood firm on dry ground in that strange place, 'until all the nation\nwere passed clean over Jordan'\n\nFrom verses 7 and 10 we learn the purpose of this miracle as being\ntwofold. It was intended to stamp the seal of God's approbation on\nJoshua, and to hearten the people by the assurance of God's fighting\nfor them. The leader was thereby put on the level of Moses, the people,\non that of the generation before whom the Red Sea had been divided. The\nparallel with that event is obvious and significant. The miracle which\nled Israel into the wilderness is repeated as they pass from it. The\nfirst stage of their deliverance and the second are begun with\nanalogous displays of divine power. The same arm which cleft the sea is\nstretched out, after all sins, for the new generation, and 'is not\nshortened that it cannot save.' God does not disdain to duplicate His\nwonders, even for very unworthy servants. The unchanging,\nlong-suffering patience, and the unwearied strength to which all\ngenerations in succession can turn with confidence, are wonderfully set\nforth by these two miracles. And though we have passed into the higher\nstage, where miracles have ceased, the principle which dictated the\nparallelism still holds good, and we too can look back to all these\nancient wonders, and be sure that they are done over and over again\naccording to our needs. 'As we have heard, so have we seen,' might have\nbeen Israel's song that day, as it may be ours every day.\n\nThe beautiful application made of the parted waters of Jordan in\nChristian literature, which sees in them the prophecy of conquered\ndeath, is perhaps scarcely in accordance with truth, for the divided\nJordan was the introduction, not to peace, but to warfare. But it is\ntoo deeply impressed on the heart to be lightly put aside, and we may\nwell allow faith and hope to discern in the stream, whose swollen\nwaters shrink backwards as soon as the ark is borne into their turbid\nand swift current, an emblem of that dark flood that rolled between the\nhost of God and their home, and was dried up as soon as the pierced\nfoot of the Christ touched its cold waters.\n\n'What ailest thee, thou sea, that thou fleest; thou Jordan, that thou\nturnest back?' Christ has gone up before us. He has shaken His hand\nover the river, and caused men to go over dry shod.\n\n\n\n\nSTONES CRYING OUT\n\n'For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until\nevery thing was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto\nthe people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the\npeople hasted and passed over. 11. And it came to pass, when all the\npeople were clean passed over, that the ark of the Lord passed over,\nand the priests, in the presence of the people. 12. And the children of\nReuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed\nover armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them: 13.\nAbout forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the Lord unto\nbattle, to the plains of Jericho. 14. On that day the Lord magnified\nJoshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared\nMoses, all the days of his life. 15. And the Lord spake unto Joshua,\nsaying, 16. Command the priests that bare the ark of the testimony,\nthat they come up out of Jordan. 17. Joshua therefore commanded the\npriests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan. 18. And it came to pass,\nwhen the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord were\ncome up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet\nwere lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned\nunto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.\n19. And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first\nmonth, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho. 80. And\nthose twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in\nGilgal. 21. And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your\nchildren shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean\nthese stones? 22. Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel\ncame over this Jordan on dry land. 23. For the Lord your God dried up\nthe waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the\nLord your God did to the Red sea, which He dried up from before us,\nuntil we were gone over: 24. That all the people of the earth might\nknow the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the\nLord your God for ever.'--JOSHUA iv. 10-24.\n\n\nThis chapter is divided into two sections. The first (from verses 1 to\n14) has as its main subject the bringing up of the twelve memorial\nstones from the bed of Jordan; the second (verse 15 to the end) gives\nthe conclusion of the whole incident. The plan of arrangement, already\npointed out in a former chapter, is very plain in this. Each section\nhas God's commands to Joshua, Joshua's to the people, and the execution\nof these. To each is appended a summary, which anticipates the more\ndetailed particulars that follow. Our text begins in the middle of the\nfirst section, but we must glance at the preceding verses. These tell\nhow, when the people were all across, Joshua, who had apparently\nremained on the eastern bank with the twelve representatives of the\ntribes, received God's command to tell these the purpose for which they\nhad been chosen, and to set them to execute it. This additional\ninstruction is the explanation of the apparent discrepancy between\nJoshua iii. 12 and iv. 2. Verses 4-8 tell Joshua's communication of the\ninstructions to the men; verse 8 narrates the execution of them by each\nman's wrenching up from the river's bed a great stone, with which he\ntoiled through the muddy ooze to the western shore, and thence over the\nhot plain to Gilgal, where the host camped; verse 9 tells that twelve\nother stones were set up where the priests had stood, and were visible\nat some time after date, when it was written; but when that was, or\nwhether the verse is part of the original or a later note, we cannot\nsay. At any rate, there were two memorials, one on the bank, one in the\nstream--'a grand jury of great stones,' as Thomas Fuller calls them.\nThere is no difficulty in supposing that the monument in the river was\nfirm enough to resist its current, and high enough to be visible either\nabove the surface or beneath the ordinarily shallow water.\n\nI. The first picture here brought before us is that of the motionless\nark in the midst of what had been Jordan. There is an obvious intention\nto contrast the stillness of the priests, bearing it on their\nshoulders, and standing rooted in that strange place all these long\nhours, with the hurry around. 'The priests stood ... and the people\nhasted.' However broad the front and swift the march, the crossing must\nhave taken many hours. The haste was not from fear, but eagerness. It\nwas 'an industrious speed and mannerly quickness, as not willing to\nmake God wait upon them, in continuing a miracle longer than necessity\ndid require.' When all were over, then came the twelve and Joshua, who\nwould spend some time in gathering the stones and rearing the memorial\nin the river-bed. Through all the stir the ark was still. Over all the\nmarch it watched. So long as one Israelite was in the channel it\nremained, a silent presence, to ensure his safety. It let their rate of\nspeed determine the length of its standing there. It waited for the\nslowest foot and the weariest laggard. God makes His 'very present\nhelp' of the same length as our necessities, and lets us beat the time\nto which He conforms. Not till the last loiterer has struggled to the\nfarther shore does He cease by His presence to keep His people safe on\nthe strange road which by His presence He has opened for them.\n\nThe silent presence of the ark is enough to dam up the stream. There is\nvehement action around, but the cause of it all is in absolute repose.\nGod moves all things, Himself unmoved. He 'worketh hitherto,' and no\nintensity of energy breaks the depth of His perfect rest. His activity\nimplies no effort, and is followed by no exhaustion. The ark is still,\nwhile it holds back a swollen river for hours. The centre of the\nswiftest revolution is a point of rest.\n\nThe form of the miracle was a condescension to weak faith, to which\nhelp was ministered by giving sense something to grasp. It was easier\nto believe that the torrent would not rush down on them when they could\nlook at the priests standing there motionless, with the visible symbol\nof God's presence on their shoulders. The ark was no more the cause of\nthe miracle than were its carriers; but, just as Jesus helped one blind\nman by laying moistened earth on his eyes, and another by sending him\nto Siloam to wash, so God did here. Children learn best when they have\nsomething to look at. Sight is sometimes the servant of faith.\n\nWe need not dwell on the summary, beginning with verse 11, which\nanticipates the subject of the next section, and adds that the fighting\nmen of the tribes who had already received their inheritance on the\neast bank of Jordan, loyally kept their promise, and marched with their\nbrethren to the campaign.\n\nII. Verses 15-18 finish the story with the return of the waters to\ntheir bed. The triple division appears again. First God commands\nJoshua, who then transmits the command to the people, who, in turn,\nthen obey. And thus at each stage the divine causality, Joshua's\ndelegated but absolute authority, and the people's prompt obedience,\nare signalised; and the whole incident, in all its parts, is set forth\nas on the one hand a conspicuous instance of God's interposition, and,\non the other, of Israel's willing service.\n\nWe can fancy how the people who had reached the western shore lined the\nbank, gazing on the group in the channel, who still stood waiting God's\ncommand to relieve them at their post. The word comes at last, and is\nimmediately obeyed. May we not learn the lesson to stand fixed and\npatient wherever God sets us, as long as He does not call us thence?\nGod's priests should be like the legionary on guard in Pompeii, who\nstuck to his post while the ashes were falling thick, and was smothered\nby them, rather than leave his charge without his commander's orders.\nOne graphic word pictures the priests lifting, or, as it might be\ntranslated, 'plucking,' the soles of their feet from the slimy bottom\ninto which they had settled down by reason of long standing still. They\nreach the bank, marching as steadily with their sacred burden as might\nbe over so rough and slippery a road. The first to enter were the last\nto leave the river's bed. God's ark 'goes before us,' and 'is our\nrearward.' He besets us behind and before, and all dangerous service is\nsafe if begun and ended in Him. The one point made prominent is the\ninstantaneous rush back of the impatient torrent as soon as the curb\nwas taken off. Like some horse rejoicing to be free, the tawny flood\npours down, and soon everything looks 'as aforetime,' except for the\nnew rock, piled by human hands, round which the waters chafed. The\ndullest would understand what had wrought the miracle when they saw the\nimmediate consequence of the ark's leaving its place. Cause and effect\nseldom come thus close together in God's dealings; but sometimes He\nlets us see them as near each other as the lightning and the thunder,\nthat we may learn to trace them in faith, when centuries part them. How\nthe people would gaze as the hurrying stream covered up their path, and\nwould look across to the further shore, almost doubting if they had\nreally stood there that morning I They were indeed 'Hebrews'--men from\nthe other side-now, and would set themselves to the dangerous task\nbefore them with courage. 'Well begun is half done'; and God would not\ndivide the river for them to thrust them into a tiger's den, where they\nwould be torn to pieces. Retreat was impossible now. A new page in\ntheir history was turned. The desert was as unreachable as Egypt, The\npassage of the Jordan rounded off the epoch which the passage of the\nBed Sea introduced, and began a new era.\n\nThat parallelism of the two crossings is suggested by the notice of\ndate in verse 19. 'The tenth day of the first month' was just forty\nyears to a day since the first Paschal lamb had been chosen, and four\ndays short of the Passover, which was solemnised at Gilgal (Joshua v.\n10) where they encamped that night. It was a short march from the point\nof crossing, and a still shorter from Jericho. It would have been easy\nto fall upon the invaders as they straggled across the river, but no\nattempt was made to dispute the passage, though, no doubt, many a keen\npair of eyes watched it from the neighbouring hills. In the beginning\nof the next chapter we are told why there was this singular supineness.\n'Their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more,' or, in\nmore modern language, panic laid hold of the enemy, and they could not\npluck up courage to oppose the advance of Israel. If we add this result\nto those mentioned in chapter in., we find sufficient motive for the\nmiracle to take it out of the class of purposeless, legendary wonders.\nGiven the importance of Israel as the depositaries of revelation, there\nis nothing unreasonable in a miracle which so powerfully contributed to\ntheir conquest of Canaan, and we have yet to learn that there is\nanything unreasonable in the belief that they were the depositaries of\nrevelation. The fundamental postulate of the Old Testament is a\nsupernatural revelation, and that opens the door for any miracle\nneedful for its accomplishment. It is folly to seek to conciliate by\nminimising the miraculous element. However much may be thrown out to\nthe wolves, they will not cease to pursue and show their teeth. We\nshould be very slow to pronounce on what is worthy of God; but any man\nwho believes in a divine revelation, given to the world through Israel,\nmay well believe in such a miracle as this at such a moment of their\nhistory.\n\nIII. The memorial stones (verses 20-24). Gilgal, the first encampment,\nlay defenceless in the open plain, and the first thing to be done would\nbe to throw up some earthwork round the camp. It seems to have been the\nresting-place of the ark and probably of the non-combatants, during the\nconquest, and to have derived thence a sacredness which long clung to\nit, and finally led, singularly enough, to its becoming a centre of\nidolatrous worship. The rude circle of unhewn stones without\ninscription was, no doubt, exactly like the many prehistoric monuments\nfound all over the world, which forgotten races have raised to keep in\neverlasting remembrance forgotten fights and heroes. It was a\ncomparatively small thing; for each stone was but a load for one man,\nand it would seem mean enough by the side of Stonehenge or Carnac, just\nas Israel's history is on a small scale, as compared with the\nworld-embracing empires of old. Size is not greatness; and Joshua's\nlittle circle told a more wonderful story than its taller kindred, or\nEgyptian obelisks or colossi.\n\nThese grey stones preached at once the duty of remembering, and the\ndanger of forgetting, the past mercies of God. When they were reared,\nthey would seem needless; but the deepest impressions get filled up by\ndegrees, as the river of time deposits its sands on them. We do not\nforget pain so quickly as joy, and most men have a longer and keener\nremembrance of their injurers than of their benefactors, human or\ndivine. The stones were set up because Israel remembered, but also lest\nIsrael should forget. We often think of the Jews as monsters of\ningratitude; but we should more truly learn the lesson of their\nhistory, if we regarded them as fair, average men, and asked ourselves\nwhether our recollection of God's goodness to us is much more vivid\nthan theirs. Unless we make distinct and frequent efforts to recall, we\nshall certainly forget 'all His benefits.' The cultivation of thankful\nremembrance is a very large part of practical religion; and it is not\nby accident that the Psalmist puts it in the middle, between hope and\nobedience, when he says 'that they might set their hope in God, and not\nforget the works of God, but keep His commandments' (Psalm lxxviii.7).\n\nThe memorial stones further proclaimed the duty of parental instruction\nin God's mercies. They speak of a time when tradition was the vehicle\nof history; when books were rare, and monuments were relied upon to\nawaken curiosity which a father's words would satisfy. Notwithstanding\nall differences in means of obtaining knowledge, the old law remains in\nfull force, that the parent is the natural and most powerful instructor\nin the ways of God. The Jewish father was not to send his child to some\nLevite or other to get his question answered, but was to answer it\nhimself. I am afraid that a good many English parents, who call\nthemselves Christians, are too apt to say, 'Ask your Sunday-school\nteacher,' when such questions are put to them. The decay of parental\nreligious teaching is working enormous mischief in Christian\nhouseholds; and the happiest results would follow if Joshua's homely\nadvice were attended to, '_Ye_ shall let your children know.'\n\nThe same principle which led to the erection of this simple monument\nreaches its highest and sacredest instance in the institution of the\nLord's Supper, in which Jesus, with wonderful lowliness, condescends to\navail Himself of material symbols in order to secure a firmer place in\ntreacherous memories. He might well have expected that such stupendous\nlove could never be forgotten; but He 'knoweth our frame,' and trusts\nsome share in keeping His death vividly in the hearts of His people to\nthe humble ministry of bread and wine, Strange that we should need to\nbe reminded of the death which it is life to remember! Blessed that,\nneeding it, we have the need so tenderly met, and that He does not\ndisdain to accept loving memories which slumber till stirred by such\npoor reminders of His unspeakable love!\n\n\n\n\nTHE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD'S HOST\n\nAnd he said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.\nJOSHUA v. 14.\n\n\nThe army of Israel was just beginning a hard conflict under an untried\nleader. Behind them the Jordan barred their retreat, in front of them\nJericho forbade their advance. Most of them had never seen a fortified\ncity, and had no experience nor engines for a siege. So we may well\nsuppose that many doubts and fears shook the courage of the host, as it\ndrew around the doomed city. Their chief had his own heavy burden. He\nseems to have gone apart to meditate on what his next step was to be.\nAbsorbed in thought, he lifts up his eyes mechanically, as brooding men\nwill, not expecting to see anything, and is startled by the silent\nfigure of 'a man with a sword drawn' in his hand, close beside him.\nThere is nothing supernatural in his appearance; and the immediate\nthought of the leader is, 'Is this one of the enemy that has stolen\nupon my solitude?' So, promptly and boldly, he strides up to him with\nthe quick challenge: 'Whose side are you on? Are you one of us, or from\nthe enemy's camp?' And then the silent lips open. 'Upon neither the one\nnor the other. I am not on your side, you are on mine, for as Captain\nof the Lord's host, am I come up.' And then Joshua falls on his face,\nrecognises his Commander-in-Chief, owns himself a subordinate, and asks\nfor orders. 'What saith my Lord unto his servant?'\n\nNow let us try to gather the meaning and the lessons of this striking\nincident.\n\nI. I see in it a transient revelation of an eternal truth.\n\nI believe, as the vast majority of careful students of the course of\nOld Testament revelation and its relation to the New Testament\ncompletion believe, that we have here not a record of the appearance of\na created superhuman person, but that of a preliminary manifestation of\nthe Eternal Word of God, who, in the fulness of time, 'became flesh and\ndwelt among us.'\n\nYou will observe that there run throughout the whole of the Old\nTestament notices of the occasional manifestation of a mysterious\nperson who is named '_the_ Angel,' 'the Angel of the Lord.' For\ninstance, in the great scene in the wilderness, where the bush burned\nand was not consumed, he who appeared is named 'the Angel of the Lord';\nand his lips declare 'I am that I am.' In like manner, soon after, the\ndivine voice speaks to Moses of 'the Angel in whom is My name.'\n\nWhen Balaam had his path blocked amongst the vineyards, it was a\n_replica_ of the figure of my text that stayed his way, a man with a\ndrawn sword in his hand, who spoke in autocratic and divine fashion.\nWhen the parents of Samson were apprised of the coming birth of the\nhero, it was 'the Angel of the Lord' that appeared to them, accepted\ntheir sacrifice, declared the divine will, and disappeared in a flame\nof fire from the altar. A psalm speaks of 'the Angel of the Lord' as\nencamping round about them that fear him, and delivering them. Isaiah\ntells us of the 'Angel of his face,' who was 'afflicted in all Israel's\nafflictions, and saved them.' And the last prophetic utterance of the\nOld Testament is most distinct and remarkable in its strange\nidentification and separation of Jehovah and the Angel, when it says,\n'the Lord shall suddenly come to His Temple, even the Angel of the\nCovenant.' Now, if we put all these passages--and they are but select\ninstances--if we put all these passages together, I think we cannot\nhelp seeing that there runs, as I said, throughout the whole of the Old\nTestament a singular strain of revelation in regard to a Person who, in\na remarkable manner, is distinguished from the created hosts of angel\nbeings, and also is distinguished from, and yet in name, attributes,\nand worship all but identified with, the Lord Himself.\n\nIf we turn to the narrative before us, we find there similar phenomena\nmarked out. For this mysterious 'man with the sword drawn' in his hand,\nquotes the very words which were spoken at the bush, when he says,\n'Loose thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest\nis holy.' And by fair implication, He would have us to identify the\npersons in these two great theophanies. He ascribes to Himself, in the\nfurther conversation in the next chapter, directly divine attributes,\nand is named by the sacred name; 'The Lord said unto Joshua, see, I\nhave given into thy hand Jericho and its king.'\n\nIf we turn to the New Testament, we find that there under another image\nthe same strain of thought is presented. The Word of God, who from\neverlasting 'was with God, and was God,' is represented as being the\nAgent of Creation, the Source of all human illumination, the Director\nof Providence, the Lord of the Universe. 'By him were all things, and\nin him all things consists.' So, surely, these two halves make a whole;\nand the Angel of the Lord, separate and yet so strangely identified\nwith Jehovah, who at the crises of the nation's history, and stages of\nthe development of the process of Revelation, is manifested, and the\nEternal Word of God, whom the New Testament reveals to us, are one and\nthe same.\n\nThis truth was transiently manifested in our text. The vision passed,\nthe ground that was hallowed by His foot is undistinguished now in the\nsweltering plain round the mound that once was Jericho. But the fact\nremains, the humanity, that was only in appearance, and for a few\nminutes, assumed then, has now been taken up into everlasting union\nwith the divine nature, and a Man reigns on the Throne, and is\nCommander of all who battle for the truth and the right. The eternal\norder of the universe is before us here.\n\nIt only remains to say a word in reference to the sweep of the command\nwhich our vision assigns to the Angel of the Lord. 'Captain of the\nLord's host' means a great deal more than the true General of Israel's\nlittle army. It does mean that, or the words and the vision would cease\nto have relevance and bearing on the moment's circumstances and need.\nBut it includes also, as the usage of Scripture would sufficiently\nshow, if it were needful to adduce instances of it, all the ordered\nranks of loftier intelligent beings, and all the powers and forces of\nthe universe. These are conceived of as an embattled host, comparable\nto an army in the strictness of their discipline and their obedience to\na single will. It is the modern thought that the universe is a Cosmos\nand not a Chaos, an ordered unit, with the addition of the truth beyond\nthe reach and range of science, that its unity is the expression of a\npersonal will. It is the same thought which the centurion had, to\nChrist's wonder, when he compared his own power as an officer in a\nlegion, where his will was implicitly obeyed, to the power of Christ\nover diseases and sorrows and miseries and death, and recognised that\nall these were His servants, to whom, if His autocratic lips chose to\nsay 'Go,' they went, and if He said, 'Do this,' they did it.\n\nSo the Lord of the universe and its ordered ranks is Jesus Christ. That\nis the truth which was flashed from the unknown, like a vanishing\nmeteor in the midnight, before the face of Joshua, and which stands\nlike the noonday sun, unsetting and irradiating for us who live under\nthe Gospel.\n\nII. I see here the Leader of all the warfare against the world's evil.\n\n'The Captain of the Lord's host.' He Himself takes part in the fight.\nHe is not like a general who, on some safe knoll behind the army, sends\nhis soldiers to death, and keeps his own skin whole. But He _has_\nfought, and He _is_ fighting. Do you remember that wonderful picture in\ntwo halves, at the end of one of the Gospels, 'the Lord went up into\nHeaven and sat at the right hand of God, ... they went forth everywhere\npreaching the Word'? Strange contrast between the repose of the seated\nChrist and the toils of His peripatetic servants! Yes, strange\ncontrast; but the next words harmonise the two halves of it; 'the Lord\nalso working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.'\nThe Leader does not so rest as that He does not fight; and the servants\ndo not need so to fight, as that they cannot rest. Thus the old legends\nof many a land and tongue have a glorious truth in them to the eye of\nfaith, and at the head of all the armies that are charging against any\nform of the world's misery and sin, there moves the form of the Son of\nMan, whose aid we have to invoke, even from His crowned repose at the\nright hand of God. 'Gird thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Most Mighty, and\nin Thy majesty ride forth prosperously, and Thy right hand shall teach\nThee terrible things.'\n\nIf this, then, be for us, as truly as for Joshua and his host, a\nrevelation of who is our true leader, surely all of us in our various\ndegrees, and especially any of us who have any 'Quixotic crusade' for\nthe world's good on our consciences and on our hands, may take the\nlessons and the encouragements that are here. Own your Leader; that is\none plain duty. And recognise this fact, that by no other power than by\nHis, and with no other weapons than those which He puts into our hands,\nin His Cross and meekness, can a world's evils be overcome, and the\nvictory be won for the right and the truth. I have no faith in crusades\nwhich are not under the Captain of our salvation. And I would that the\nearnest men, and there are many of them, the laborious and the\nself-sacrificing men in many departments of philanthropy and\nbenevolence and social reformation--who labour unaware of who is their\nLeader, and not dependent upon His help, nor trusting in His\nstrength--would take to heart this vision of my text, and see beside\nthem the 'man with the drawn sword in his hand,' the Christ with the\n'sharp two-edged sword going out of his mouth,' by whom, and by whom\nalone, the world's evil can be overcome and slain.\n\nOwn your General; submit to His authority; pick the weapons that He can\nbless; trust absolutely in His help. We _may_ have, we _shall_ have, in\nall enterprises for God and man that are worth doing, 'need of\npatience,' just as the army of Israel had to parade for six weary days\nround Jericho blowing their useless trumpets, whilst the impregnable\nwalls stood firm, and the defenders flouted and jeered their aimless\nprocession. But the seventh day will come, and at the trumpet blast\ndown will go the loftiest ramparts of the cities that are 'walled up to\nheaven' with a rush and a crash, and through the dust and over the\nruined rubbish Christ's soldiers will march and take possession. So\ntrust in your Leader, and be sure of the victory, and have patience and\nkeep on at your work.\n\nDo not make Joshua's mistake. 'Art Thou for us?'--'Nay! Thou art for\n_me._' That is a very different thing. We have the right to be sure\nthat God is on our side, when we have made sure that we are on God's.\nSo take care of self-will and self-regard, and human passions, and all\nthe other parasitical insects that creep round philanthropic religious\nwork, lest they spoil your service. There is a great deal that calls\nitself after Jehu's fashion, 'My zeal for the Lord,' which is nothing\nbetter than zeal for my own notions and their preponderance. Therefore\nwe must strip ourselves of all that, and not fancy that the cause is\nours, and then graciously admit Christ to help us, but recognise that\nit is _His_, and lowly submit ourselves to His direction, and what we\ndo, do, and when we fight, fight, in His name and for His sake.\n\nIII. Here is the Ally in all our warfare with ourselves.\n\nThat is the worst fight. Far worse than all these Hittites and Hivites,\nand the other tribes with their barbarous names, far worse than all\nexternal foes, are the foes that each man carries about in his own\nheart. In that slow hand-to-hand and foot-to-foot struggle I do not\nbelieve that there is any conquering power available for a man that can\nfor a moment be compared with the power that comes through submission\nto Christ's command and acceptance of Christ's help. He has fought\nevery foot of the ground before us. We have to 'run the race'--to take\nanother metaphor--'that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,' the\ngreat Leader, and in His own self the Perfecter of the faith which\nconquers. In Him, His example, the actual communication of His divine\nSpirit, and in the motives for brave and persistent conflict which flow\nfrom His Cross and Passion, we shall find that which alone will make us\nthe victors in this internecine warfare. There can be no better\ndirectory given to any man than to tread in Christ's footsteps, and\nlearn how to fight, from Him who in the wilderness repelled the triple\nassault with the single 'It is written'; thus recognising the word and\nwill of God as the only directory and defence.\n\nThus, brethren, if we humbly take service in His ranks, and ask Him to\nshow us where our foes within are, and to give us the grace to grapple\nwith them, and cast them out, anything is possible rather than ultimate\ndefeat, and however long and sore the struggle may be, its length and\nits severity are precious parts of the discipline that makes us strong,\nand we shall at last be more than conquerors through Him that loveth us.\n\nIV. Lastly, I see here the Power which it is madness to resist.\n\nThink of this vision. Think of the deep truths, partially shadowed and\nsymbolised by it. Think of Christ, what He is, and what resources He\nhas at His back, of what are His claims for our service, and our loyal,\nmilitant obedience. Think of the certain victory of all who follow Him\namongst 'the armies of Heaven, clad in fine linen, clean and white.'\nThink of the crown and the throne for him that 'overcomes.'\n\nRemember the destructive powers that sleep in Him: the 'drawn sword in\nHis hand,' the 'two-edged sword out of His mouth' the 'wrath of the\nLamb.' Think of the ultimate certain defeat of all antagonisms; of that\nlast campaign when He goes forth with the 'name written on His vesture\nand on His thigh \"King of kings and Lord of lords.\"' Think of how He\n'strikes through kings in the day of His wrath, and fills the place\nwith the bodies of the dead'; and how His 'enemies become His\nfootstool.'\n\nPonder His own solemn word, 'He that is not with Me, is against Me.'\nThere is no neutrality in this warfare. Either we are for Him or we are\nfor His adversary. 'Under which King? speak or die!' As sensible men,\nnot indifferent to your highest and lasting well-being, ask yourselves,\n'Can I, with my ten thousand, meet Him with His twenty thousand?' Put\nyourselves under His orders, and He will be on your side. He will teach\nyour hands to war, and your fingers to fight; will cover your heads in\nthe day of battle, and bring you at last, palm-bearing and\nlaurel-crowned, to that blissful state where there will still be\nservice, and He still be the 'Captain of the Lord's host,' but where\n'swords will be beaten into ploughshares' and the victors shall need to\n'learn war no more.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE SIEGE OF JERICHO\n\n'And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor\nmake any noise with your voice, ... until the day I bid you shout; then\nshall ye shout. 11. So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going\nabout it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the\ncamp.'--JOSHUA vi.10, 11.\n\nThe cheerful uniform obedience of Israel to Joshua stands in very\nremarkable contrast with their perpetual murmurings and rebellions\nunder Moses. Many reasons probably concurred in bringing about this\nchange of tone. For one thing the long period of suspense was over; and\nto average sense-bound people there is no greater trial of faith and\nsubmission than waiting, inactive, for something that is to come. Now\nthey are face to face with their enemies, and it is a great deal easier\nto fight than to expect; and their courage mounts higher as dangers\ncome nearer. Then there were great miracles which left their impression\nupon the people, such as the passage of the Jordan, and so on.\n\nSo that the Epistle to the Hebrews is right when it says, 'By faith the\nwalls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days.'\nAnd that faith was as manifest in the six days' march round the city,\nas on the seventh day of victorious entrance. For, if you will read the\nnarrative carefully, you will see that it says that the Israelites were\nnot told what was to be the end of that apparently useless and aimless\npromenade. It was only on the morning of the day of the miracle that it\nwas announced. So there are two stages in this instance of faith. There\nis the protracted trial of it, in doing an apparently useless thing;\nand there is the victory, which explains and vindicates it. Let us look\nat these two points now.\n\nI. Consider that strange protracted trial of faith.\n\nThe command comes to the people, through Joshua's lips, unaccompanied\nby any explanation or reasons. If Moses had called for a like obedience\nfrom the people in their wilderness mood, there would have been no end\nof grumbling. But whatever some of them may have thought, there is\nnothing recorded now but prompt submission. Notice, too, the order of\nthe procession. First come the armed men, then seven white-robed\npriests, blowing, probably, discordant music upon their ram's horn\ntrumpets; then the Ark, the symbol and token of God's presence; and\nthen the rereward. So the _Ark_ is the centre; and it is not only\nIsrael that is marching round the city, but rather it is God who is\ncircling the walls. Very impressive would be the grim silence of it\nall. Tramp, tramp, tramp, round and round, six days on end, without a\nword spoken (though no doubt taunts in plenty were being showered down\nfrom the walls), they marched, and went back to the camp, and subsided\ninto inactivity for another four-and-twenty hours, until they 'turned\nout' for the procession once more.\n\nNow, what did all that mean? The blast of the trumpet was, in the\nJewish feasts, the solemn proclamation of the presence of God. And\nhence the purpose of that singular march circumambulating Jericho was\nto declare 'Here is the Lord of the whole earth, weaving His invisible\ncordon and network around the doomed city.' In fact the meaning of the\nprocession, emphasised by the silence of the soldiers, was that God\nHimself was saying, in the long-drawn blasts of the priestly trumpet,\n'Lift up your heads, O ye gates! even lift them up, ye everlasting\ndoors; and the King of Glory shall come in.' Now, whatever Jericho and\nits people thought about that, Israel, according to the commentary of\nthe New Testament, had to some extent, at all events, learnt the\nlesson, and knew, of course very rudimentarily and with a great deal of\nmere human passion mingled with it, but still knew, that this was God's\nsummons, and the manifestation of God's presence. And so round the city\nthey went, and day by day they did the thing in which their faith\napprehended its true meaning, and which, by reason of their faith, they\nwere willing to do. Let us take some lessons from that.\n\nHere is a confidence in the divine presence, manifested by\nunquestioning obedience to a divine command.\n\n                       'Theirs not to make reply,\n                        Theirs not to reason why.'\n\nJoshua had spoken; God had spoken through him. And so here goes! up\nwith the Ark and the trumpets, and out on to the hot sand for the\nmarch! It would have been a great deal easier to have stopped in the\ntents. It was disheartening work marching round thus. The sceptical\nspirit in the host--the folk of whom there are many great-grandchildren\nliving to-day, who always have objections to urge when disagreeable\nduties are crammed up against their faces--would have enough to say on\nthat occasion, but the bulk of the people were true, and obeyed. Now,\nwe do not need to put out the eyes of our understanding in order to\npractise the obedience of faith. And we have to exercise common-sense\nabout the things that seem to us to be duties.\n\nBut this is plain, that if once we see a thing to be, in Christian\nlanguage, the will of our Father in heaven, then everything is settled;\nand there is only one course for us, and that is, unquestioning\nsubmission, active submission, or, what is as hard, passive submission.\n\nThen here again is faith manifesting itself by an obedience which was\naltogether ignorant of what was coming. I think that is quite plain in\nthe story, if you will read it carefully, though I think that it is not\nquite what people generally understand as its meaning. But it makes the\nincident more in accordance with God's uniform way of dealing with us\nthat the host should be told on the morning of the first day of the\nweek that they were to march round the city, and told the same on the\nsecond day, and on the third the same, and so on until the sixth; and\nthat not until the morning of the seventh, were they told what was to\nbe the end of it all. That is the way in which God generally deals with\nus. In the passage of the Jordan, too, you will find, if you will look\nat the narrative carefully, that although Joshua was told what was\ncoming, the people were not told till the morning of the day, when the\npriests' feet were dipped in the brink of the water. We, too, have to\ndo our day's march, knowing very little about tomorrow; and we have to\ncarry on all through life 'doing the duty that lies nearest us,'\nentirely ignorant of the strange issues to which it may conduct. Life\nis like a voyage down some winding stream, shut in by hills, sometimes\nsunny and vine-clad, like the Rhine, sometimes grim and black, like an\nAmerican canon. As the traveller looks ahead he wonders how the stream\nwill find a passage beyond the next bend; and as he looks back, he\ncannot trace the course by which he has come. It is only when he rounds\nthe last shoulder that he sees a narrow opening flashing in the\nsunshine, and making a way for his keel. So, seeing that we know\nnothing about the issues, let us make sure of the motives; and seeing\nthat we do not know what to-morrow may bring forth, nor even what the\nnext moment may bring, let us see that we fill the present instant as\nfull as it will hold with active obedience to God, based upon simple\nfaith in Him. He does not open His whole hand at once; He opens a\nfinger at a time, as you do sometimes with your children when you are\ntrying to coax them to take something out of the palm. He gives us\nenough light for the moment, He says, 'March round Jericho; and be sure\nthat I mean something. What I do mean I will tell you some day.' And so\nwe have to put all into His hands.\n\nThen here, again, is faith manifesting itself by persistency. A week\nwas not long, but it was a long while during which to do that one\napparently useless thing and nothing else. It would take about an hour\nor so to march round the city, and there were twenty-three hours of\nidleness. Little progress in reducing Jericho was made by the progress\nround it, and it must have got rather wearisome about the sixth day.\nFamiliarity would breed monotony, but notwithstanding the deadly\ninfluences of habit, the obedient host turned out for their daily\nround. 'Let us not be weary in well-doing,' for there is a time for\neverything. There is a time for sowing and for reaping, and in the\nseason of the reaping 'we shall reap, if we faint not.' Dear brethren!\nwe all get weary of our work. Custom presses upon us, 'with a weight\nheavy as frost, and deep almost as life.' It is easy to do things with\na spurt, but it is the keeping on at the monotonous, trivial, and\nsometimes unintelligible duties that is the test of a man's grit, and\nof his goodness too. So, although it is a very, very threadbare\nlesson--one that you may think it was not worth while for me to bring you\nall here to receive--I am sure that there are few things needed more by us\nall, and especially by those of us who are on the wrong side of middle\nlife, as people call it--though I think it is the right side in many\nrespects--than that old familiar lesson. Keep on as you have begun, and\nfor the six weary days turn out, however hot the sun, however\ncomfortable the carpets in the tent, however burning the sand, however\nwearisome and flat it may seem to be perpetually tramping round the\nsame walls of the same old city; keep on, for in due season the trumpet\nwill sound and the walls will fall.\n\nII. So that brings me to the second stage--viz., the sudden victory\nwhich vindicates and explains the protracted trial of faith.\n\nI do not need to tell the story of how, on the seventh day, the host\nencompassed the city seven times, and at last they were allowed to\nbreak the long silence with a shout. You will observe the prominence\ngiven to the sacred seven, both in the number of days, of circuits\nmade, and the number of the priests' trumpets. Probably the last day\nwas a Sabbath, for there must have been one somewhere in the week, and\nit is improbable that it was one of the undistinguished days. That was\na shout, we may be sure, by which the week's silence was avenged, and\nall the repressed emotions gained utterance at last. The fierce yell\nfrom many throats, which startled the wild creatures in the hills\nbehind Jericho, blended discordantly with the trumpets' clang which\nproclaimed a present God; and at His summons the fortifications toppled\ninto hideous ruin, and over the fallen stones the men of Israel\nclambered, each soldier, in all that terrible circle of avengers that\nsurrounded the doomed city, marching straight forward, and so all\nconverging on the centre.\n\nNow, we can discover good reasons for this first incident in the\ncampaign being marked by miracle. The fact that it was the first is a\nreason. It is a law of God's progressive revelation that each new epoch\nis inaugurated by miraculous works which do not continue throughout its\ncourse. For instance, it is observable that, in the _Acts of the\nApostles,_ the first example of each class of incidents recorded there,\nsuch as the first preaching, the first persecution, the first\nmartyrdom, the first expansion of the Gospel beyond Jews, its first\nentrance into Europe, has usually the stamp of miracle impressed on it,\nand is narrated at great length, while subsequent events of the same\nclass have neither of those marks of distinction. Take, for example,\nthe account of Stephen, the first martyr. He saw 'the heavens opened'\nand the Son of Man 'standing at the right hand of God.' We do not read\nthat the heavens opened when Herod struck off the head of James with\nthe sword. But was Jesus any the less near to help His servant?\nCertainly not.\n\nIn like manner it was fitting that the first time that Israel crossed\nswords with these deadly and dreaded enemies should be marked by a\nmiraculous intervention to hearten God's warriors. But let us take care\nthat we understand the teaching of any miracle. Surely it does not\nsecularise and degrade the other incidents of a similar sort in which\nno miracle was experienced. The very opposite lesson is the true one to\ndraw from a miracle. In its form it is extraordinary, and presents\nGod's direct action on men or on nature, so obviously that all eyes can\nsee it. But the conclusion to be drawn is not that God acts only in a\nsupernatural' manner, but that He is acting as really, though in a less\nobvious fashion, in the 'natural' order. In these turning-points, the\ninauguration of new stages in revelation or history, the cause which\nalways produces all nearer effects and the ultimate effects, which are\nusually separated or united (as one may choose to regard it) by many\nintervening links, are brought together. But the originating power\nworks as truly when it is transmitted through these many links as when\nit dispenses with them. Miracle shows us in abbreviated fashion, and\ntherefore conspicuously, the divine will acting directly, that we may\nsee it working when it acts indirectly. In miracle God makes bare His\narm,' that we may be sure of its operation when it is draped and\npartially hid, as by a vesture, by second causes.\n\nWe are not to argue that, because there is no miracle, God is not\npresent or active. He was as truly with Israel when there was no Ark\npresent, and no blast of the trumpet heard. He was as truly with Israel\nwhen they fought apparently unhelped, as He was when Jericho fell. The\nteaching of all the miracles in the Old and the New Testaments is that\nthe order of the universe is maintained by the continual action of the\nwill of God on men and things. So this story is a transient revelation\nof an eternal fact. God is as much with you and me in our fights as He\nwas with the Israelites when they marched round Jericho, and as\ncertainly will He help. If by faith we endure the days of often blind\nobedience, we shall share the rapture of the sudden victory.\n\nNow, I have said that the last day of this incident was probably a\nSabbath day. Does not that suggest the thought that we may take this\nstory as a prophetic symbol? There is for us a week of work, and a\nseventh day of victory, when we shall enter, not into the city of\nconfusion which has come to nought, but into the city which 'hath the\nfoundations, whose builder and maker is God.' The old fathers of the\nChristian Church were not far wrong, when they saw in this story a type\nof the final coming of the Lord. Did you ever notice how St. Paul, in\nwriting to the Thessalonians about that coming, seems to have his mind\nturned back to the incident before us? Remember that in this incident\nthe two things which signalised the fall of the city were the trumpet\nand the shout. What does Paul say? 'The Lord Himself shall descend from\nheaven with a _shout_, with the voice of the archangel, and with the\n_trump_ of God.' Jericho over again! And then, 'Babylon is fallen, is\nfallen!' 'And I saw the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, like a\nbride adorned for her husband.'\n\n\n\n\nRAHAB\n\n'And Joanna paved Rahab the harlot alive... and she dwelleth in Israel\neven unto this day.'--JOSHUA vi. 25.\n\n\nThis story comes in like an oasis in these terrible narratives of\nCanaanite extermination. There is much about it that is beautiful and\nstriking, but the main thing is that it teaches the universality of\nGod's mercy, and the great truth that trust in Him unites to Him and\nbrings deliverance, how black soever may have been the previous life.\n\nI need not tell over again the story, told with such inimitable\npicturesqueness here: how the two spies, swimming the Jordan in flood,\nset out on their dangerous mission and found themselves in the house of\nRahab, a harlot; how the king sent to capture them, how she hid them\namong the flax-stalks bleaching on the flat roof, confessed faith in\nIsrael's God and lied steadfastly to save them, how they escaped to the\nQuarantania hills, how she 'perished not' in the capture, entered into\nthe community of Israel, was married, and took her place--hers!--in the\nline of David's and Christ's ancestresses.\n\nThe point of interest is her being, notwithstanding her previous\nposition and history, one of the few instances in which heathen were\nbrought into Israel. The _Epistle to the Hebrews_ and _James_ both\nrefer to her. We now consider her story as embodying for us some\nimportant truths about faith in its nature, its origin, its power.\n\nI. Faith in its constant essence and its varying objects.\n\nHer creed was very short and simple. She abjured idols, and believed\nthat Jehovah was the one God. She knew nothing of even the Mosaic\nrevelation, nothing of its moral law or of its sacrifices. And yet the\n_Epistle to the Hebrews_ has no scruple in ascribing faith to her. The\nobject of that Epistle is to show that Christianity is Judaism\nperfected. It labours to establish that objectively there has been\nadvance, not contradiction, and that subjectively there is absolute\nidentity. It has always been faith that has bound men to God. That\nfaith may co-exist with very different degrees of illumination. Not the\ncreed, but the trust, is the all-important matter. This applies to all\npre-Christian times and to all heathen lands. _Our_ faith has a fuller\ngospel to lay hold of. Do not neglect it.\n\nBeware lest people with less light and more love get in before you,\n'who shall come from the east and the west.'\n\nII. Faith in its origin in fear.\n\nThere are many roads to faith, and it matters little which we take, so\nlong as we get to the goal. This is one, and some people seem to think\nthat it is a very low and unworthy one, and one which we should never\nurge upon men. But there are a side of the divine nature and a mode of\nthe divine government which properly evoke fear.\n\nGod's moral government, His justice and retribution, are facts.\n\nFear is an inevitable and natural consequence of feeling that His\njustice is antagonistic to us. The work of conscience is precisely to\ncreate such fear. Not to feel it is to fall below manhood or to be\nhardened by sin.\n\nThat fear is meant to lead us to God and love. Rahab fled to God. Peter\n'girt his fisher's coat to him,' and lost his fear in the sunshine of\nChrist's face, as a rainbow trembles out of a thunder-cloud when\ntouched by sunbeams.\n\nWe have all grounds enough to _fear_.\n\nUrge these as a reason for _trust_.\n\nIII. Faith in its relation to the previous life.\n\nIt is a strange instance of blindness that attempts have been made to\nsoften down the Bible's plain speaking about Rahab's character.\n\nIn her story we have an anticipation of New Testament teaching.\n\nThe 'woman that was a sinner.'\n\nMary Magdalene.\n\n'Then drew near all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him.'\n\nShe shows us that there is no hopeless guilt. None is so in regard to\nthe effects of sin on a soul. There is no heart so indurated as that\nits capacity for being stirred by the divine message is killed.\n\nThere is none hopeless in regard to God.\n\nHis love embraces all, however bad. The bond which unites to Him is not\nblamelessness of life but simple trust.\n\nThe grossest vice is not so thorough a barrier as self-satisfied\nself-righteousness.\n\nA thin slice of crystal will bar the entrance of air more effectually\nthan many folds of stuff.\n\nIV. Faith in its practical effects.\n\nRahab's story shows how living faith, like a living stream, will cut a\nchannel for itself, and must needs flow out into the life.\n\nHence James is right in using her as an example of how 'we are\njustified by works and not by faith only,' and the author of the\n_Epistle to the Hebrews_ is equally right in enrolling her in his great\nmuster-roll of heroes and heroines of faith, and asserting that 'by\nfaith' she 'perished not among them who believed not.' The one writer\nfastens on a later stage in her experience than does the other. James\npoints to the rich fruit, the Epistle to the Hebrews goes deeper and\nlays bare the root from which the life rose to the clusters.\n\nThe faith that saves is not a barren intellectual process, nor an idle\ntrust in Christ's salvation, but a practical power. If genuine it\n_will_ mould and impel the life.\n\nSo Rahab's faith led her, as ours, if real, will lead us, to break with\nold habits and associations contrary to itself. She ceased to be 'Rahab\nthe harlot,' she forsook 'her own people and her father's house.' But\nher conquest of her old self was gradual. A lie was a strange kind of\nfirst-fruits of faith. Its true fruit takes time to flower and swell\nand come to ripeness and sweetness.\n\nSo we should not expect old heads on young shoulders, nor wonder if\npeople, lifted from the dunghills of the world, have some stench and\nrags of their old vices hanging about them still. That thought should\nmoderate our expectations of the characters of converts from\nheathenism, or from the degraded classes at home. And it should be\npresent to ourselves, when we find in ourselves sad recurrences of\nfaults and sins that we know should have been cast out, and that we\nhoped had been so.\n\nThis thought enhances our wondering gratitude for the divine\nlong-suffering which bears with our slow progress. Our great Teacher\nnever loses patience with His dull scholars.\n\nV. Faith as the means of deliverance and safety.\n\nFrom external evils it delivers us or not, as God may will. James was\nno less dear, and no less faithful, than John, though he was early\n'slain with the sword,' and his brother died in extreme old age in\nEphesus. Paul looked forward to being 'delivered from every evil work,'\nthough he knew that the time of his being 'offered' was at hand,\nbecause the deliverance that he looked for was his being 'saved _into_\nHis heavenly kingdom.'\n\nThat true deliverance is infallibly ours, if by faith we have made the\nDeliverer ours.\n\nThere is a more terrible fall of a worse city than Jericho, in that day\nwhen 'the city of the terrible ones shall be laid low,' and _our_\nJoshua brings it 'to the ground, even to the dust.' 'In that same day\nshall this song be sung in the land of Judah: we have a strong city,\nsalvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks,' and into that\neternal home He will certainly lead all who are joined to Him, and\nseparated from their foul old selves, and from 'the city of\ndestruction,' by faith in Him.\n\n\n\n\nACHAN'S SIN, ISRAEL'S DEFEAT\n\n'But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing:\nfor Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the\ntribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord\nwas kindled against the children of Israel. 2. And Joshua sent men from\nJericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-ei,\nand spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men\nwent up and viewed Ai. 3. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto\nhim, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand\nmen go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither;\nfor they are but few. 4. So there went up thither of the people about\nthree thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5. And the men\nof Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from\nbefore the Irate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down;\nwherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. 6. And\nJoshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the\nark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and\nput dust upon their heads. 7. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God,\nwherefore hast Thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver\nus into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had\nbeen content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8. O Lord, what shall\nI say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9. For the\nCanaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and\nshall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what\nwilt Thou do unto Thy great name? 10. And the Lord said unto Joshua,\nGet thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11. Israel hath\nsinned, and they have also trangressed My covenant which I commanded\nthem: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also\nstolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own\nstuff. 12. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before\ntheir enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because\nthey were accursed; neither will I be with you any more, except ye\ndestroy the accursed from among you.'--JOSHUA vii. 1-12.\n\n\nThis passage naturally parts itself into--1. The hidden sin (v. 1); 2.\nThe repulse by which it is punished (vs. 2-5); 3. The prayer of\nremonstrance (vs. 6-9); and 4. The answer revealing the cause (vs.\n10-12). We may briefly note the salient points in these four divisions,\nand then consider the general lessons of the whole.\n\nI. Observe, then, that the sin is laid at the doors of the whole\nnation, while yet it was the secret act of one man. That Is a strange\n'for' in verse 1--the people did it; 'for' Achan did it. Observe, too,\nwith what bitter particularity his descent is counted back through\nthree generations, as if to diffuse the shame and guilt over a wide\narea, and to blacken the ancestors of the culprit. Note also the\ndescription of the sin. Its details are not given, but its inmost\nnature is. The specification of the 'Babylonish garment,' the 'shekels\nof silver,' and the 'wedge of gold,' is reserved for the sinner's own\nconfession; but the blackness of the deed is set forth in its principle\nin verse 1. It was a 'breach of trust,' for so the phrase 'committed a\ntrespass' might be rendered. The expression is frequent in the\nPentateuch to describe Israel's treacherous departure from God, and has\nthis full meaning here. The sphere in which Achan's treason was\nevidenced was 'in the devoted thing.' The spoil of Jericho was set\naside for Jehovah, and to appropriate any part of it was sacrilege. His\nsin, then, was double, being at once covetousness and robbing God.\nAchan, at the beginning of Israel's warfare for Canaan, and Ananias, at\nthe beginning of the Church's conquest of the world, are brothers alike\nin guilt and in doom. Note the wide sweep of 'the anger of the Lord,'\ninvolving in its range not only the one transgressor, but the whole\npeople.\n\nII. All unconscious of the sin, and flushed with victory, Joshua let no\ngrass grow under his feet, but was prepared to push his advantage to\nthe utmost with soldierly promptitude. The commander's faith and\ncourage were contagious, and the spies came back from their perilous\nreconnaissance of Ai with the advice that a small detachment was enough\nfor its reduction. They had not spied the mound in the middle of\nAchan's tent, or their note would have been changed. Three thousand, or\nthree hundred, would have been enough, if God had been with them. The\nwhole army would not have been enough since He was not. The site of Ai\nseems to have been satisfactorily identified on a small plateau among\nthe intricate network of wild wadys and bare hills that rise behind\nJericho. The valley to the north, the place where the ambush lay at the\nsuccessful assault, and a great mound, still bearing the name 'Et Tel'\n(the heap), are all there. The attacking force does not seem to have\nbeen commanded by Joshua. The ark stayed at Gilgal, The contempt for\nthe resistance likely to be met makes the panic which ensued the more\nremarkable. What turned the hearts of the confident assailants to\nwater? There was no serious fighting, or the slaughter would have been\nmore than thirty-six. 'There went up ... about three thousand and\nthey'--did what? fought and conquered? Alas, no, but 'they fled before\nthe men of Ai,' rushing in wild terror down the steep pass which they\nhad so confidently breasted in the morning, till the pursuers caught\nthem up at some 'quarries,' where, perhaps, the ground was difficult,\nand there slew the few who fell, while the remainder got away by\nswiftness of foot, and brought back their terror and their shame to the\ncamp. As the disordered fugitives poured in, they infected the whole\nwith their panic. Such unwieldy undisciplined hosts are peculiarly\nliable to such contagious terror, and we find many instances in\nScripture and elsewhere of the utter disorganisation which ensues. The\nwhole conquest hung in the balance. A little more and the army would be\na mob; and the mob would break into twos and threes, which would get\nshort shrift from the Amorites.\n\nIll. Mark, then, Joshua's action in the crisis. He does not try to\nencourage the people, but turns from them to God. The spectacle of the\nleader and the elders prone before the ark, with rent garments and\ndust-bestrewn hair, in sign of mourning, would not be likely to hearten\nthe alarmed people; but the defeat had clearly shown that something had\ndisturbed the relation to God, and the first necessity was to know what\nit was. Joshua's prayer is perplexed, and not free from a wistful,\nbackward look, nor from regard to his own reputation; but the soul of\nit is an earnest desire to know the 'wherefore' of this disaster. It\ntraces the defeat to God, and means really, 'Show me wherefore Thou\ncontendest with me.' No doubt it runs perilously near to repeating the\nold complaints at Kadesh and elsewhere, which are almost verbally\nreproduced in its first words. But the same things said by different\npeople are not the same; and Joshua's question is the voice of a faith\nstruggling to find footing, and his backward look is not because he\ndoubts God's power to help, or hankers after Egypt, but because he sees\nthat, for some unknown reason, they have lost the divine protection.\nHis reference to himself betrays the crushing weight of responsibility\nwhich he felt, and comes not from carefulness for his own good fame so\nmuch as from his dread of being unable to vindicate himself, if the\npeople should turn on him as the author of their misfortunes. His fear\nof the news of the check at Ai emboldening not only the neighbouring\nAmorites (highlanders) of the western Palestine, but the remoter\nCanaanites (lowlanders) of the coast, to make a combined attack, and\nsweep Israel out of existence, was a perfectly reasonable forecast of\nwhat would follow. The naive simplicity of the appeal to God, 'What\nwilt Thou do for Thy great name?' becomes the soldier, whose words went\nthe shortest way to their aim, as his spear did. We cannot fancy this\nprayer coming from Moses; but, for all that, it has the ring of faith\nin it, and beneath its blunt, simple words throbs a true heart.\n\nIV. The answer sounds strange at first. God almost rebukes him for\npraying. He gives Joshua back his own 'wherefore' in the question that\nsounds so harsh, 'Wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face?' but\nthe harshness is only apparent, and serves to point the lesson that\nfollows, that the cause of the disaster is with Israel, not with God,\nand that therefore the remedy is not in prayer, but in active steps to\ncast out 'the unclean thing.' The prayer had asked two things,--the\ndisclosure of the cause of God's having left them, and His return. The\nanswer lays bare the cause, and therein shows the conditions of His\nreturn. Note the indignant accumulation of verbs in verse 11,\ndescribing the sin in all its aspects. The first three of the six point\nout its heinousness in reference to God, as sin, as a breach of\ncovenant, and as an appropriation of what was specially His. The second\nthree describe it in terms of ordinary morality, as theft, lying, and\nconcealment; so many black sides has one sin when God's eye scrutinises\nit. Note, too, the attribution of the sin to the whole people, the\nemphatic reduplication of the shameful picture of their defeat, the\nsingular transference to them of the properties of 'the devoted thing'\nwhich Achan has taken, and the plain, stringent conditions of God's\nreturn. Joshua's prayer is answered. He knows now why little Ai has\nbeaten them back. He asked, 'What shall I say?' He has got something of\ngrave import to say. So far this passage carries us, leaving the\npitiful last hour of the wretched troubler of Israel untouched. What\nlessons are taught here?\n\nFirst, God's soldiers must be pure. The conditions of God's help are\nthe same to-day as when that panic-stricken crowd ignominiously fled\ndown the rocky pass, foiled before an insignificant fortress, because\nsin clave to them, and God was gone from them. The age of miracles may\nhave ceased, but the law of the divine intervention which governed the\nmiracles has not ceased. It is true to-day, and will always be true,\nthat the victories of the Church are won by its holiness far more than\nby any gifts or powers of mind, culture, wealth, eloquence, or the\nlike. Its conquests are the conquests of an indwelling God, and He\ncannot share His temples with idols. When God is with us, Jericho is\nnot too strong to be captured; when He is driven from us by our own\nsin, Ai is not too weak to defeat us. A shattered wall keeps us out, if\nwe fight in our own strength. Fortifications that reach to heaven fall\nflat before us when God is at our side. If Christian effort seems ever\nfruitless, the first thing to do is to look for the 'Babylonish\ngarment' and the glittering shekels hidden in our tents. Nine times out\nof ten we shall find the cause in our own spiritual deficiencies. Our\nsuccess depends on God's presence, and God's presence depends on our\nkeeping His dwelling-place holy. When the Church is 'fair as the moon,'\nreflecting in silvery whiteness the ardours of the sun which gives her\nall her light, and without such spots as dim the moon's brightness, she\nwill be 'terrible as an army with banners.' This page of Old Testament\nhistory has a living application to the many efforts and few victories\nof the churches of to-day, which seem scarce able to hold their own\namid the natural increase of population in so-called Christian lands,\nand are so often apparently repulsed when they go up to attack the\noutlying heathenism.\n\n            'His strength was as the strength of ten,\n             Because his heart was pure,'\n\nis true of the Christian soldier.\n\nAgain, we learn the power of one man to infect a whole community and to\ninflict disaster on it. One sick sheep taints a flock. The effects of\nthe individual's sin are not confined to the doer. We have got a fine\nnew modern word to express this solemn law, and we talk now of\n'solidarity,' which sounds very learned and 'advanced.' But it means\njust what we see in this story; Achan was the sinner, all Israel\nsuffered. We are knit together by a mystical but real bond, so that 'no\nman,' be he good or bad, 'liveth to himself,' and no man's sin\nterminates in himself. We see the working of that unity in families,\ncommunities, churches, nations. Men are not merely aggregated together\nlike a pile of cannon balls, but are knit together like the myriad\nlives in a coral rock. Put a drop of poison anywhere, and it runs by a\nthousand branching veins through the mass, and tints and taints it all.\nNo man can tell how far the blight of his secret sins may reach, nor\nhow wide the blessing of his modest goodness may extend. We should seek\nto cultivate the sense of being members of a great whole, and to ponder\nour individual responsibility for the moral and religious health of the\nchurch, the city, the nation. We are not without danger from an\nexaggerated individualism, and we need to realise more constantly and\nstrongly that we are but threads in a great network, endowed with\nmysterious vitality and power of transmitting electric impulses, both\nof good and evil.\n\nAgain, we have one more illustration in this story of the well-worn\nlesson,--never too threadbare to be repeated, until it is habitually\nrealised,--that God's eye sees the hidden sins. Nobody saw Achan carry\nthe spoil to his tent, or dig the hole to hide it. His friends walked\nacross the floor without suspicion of what was beneath. No doubt, he\nheld his place in his tribe as an honourable man, and his conscience\ntraced no connection between that recently disturbed patch on the floor\nand the helter-skelter flight from Ai; but when the lot began to be\ncast, he would have his own thought, and when the tribe of Judah was\ntaken, some creeping fear would begin to coil round his heart, which\ntightened its folds, and hissed more loudly, as each step in the lot\nbrought discovery nearer home; and when, at last, his own name fell\nfrom the vase, how terribly the thought would glare in on him,--'And\nGod knew it all the while, and I fancied I had covered it all up so\nsafely.' It is an awful thing to hear the bloodhounds following up the\nscent which leads them straight to our lurking-place. God's judgments\nmay be long in being put on our tracks, but, once loose, they are sure\nof scent, and cannot be baffled. It is an old, old thought, 'Thou God\nseest me'; but kept well in mind, it would save from many a sin, and\nmake sunshine in many a shady place.\n\nAgain, we have in Achan a lesson which the professing Christians of\ngreat commercial nations, like England, sorely need. I have already\npointed out the singular parallel between him and Ananias and Sapphira.\nCovetousness was the sin of all three. It is the sin of the Church\nto-day. The whole atmosphere in which some of us live is charged with\nthe subtle poison of it. Men are estimated by their wealth. The great\naim of life is to get money, or to keep it, or to gain influence and\nnotoriety by spending it. Did anybody ever hear of church discipline\nbeing exercised on men who committed Achan's sin? _He_ was stoned to\ndeath, but we set _our_ Achans in high places in the Church. Perhaps if\nwe went and fell on our faces before the ark when we are beaten, we\nshould be directed to some tent where a very 'influential member' of\nIsrael lived, and should find that to put an end to his ecclesiastical\nlife had a wonderful effect in bringing back courage to the army, and\nleading to more unmingled dependence on God. Covetousness was stoned to\ndeath in Israel, and struck with sudden destruction in the Apostolic\nChurch. It has been reserved for the modern Church to tolerate and\nalmost to canonise it; and yet we wonder how it comes that we are so\noften foiled before some little Ai, and so seldom see any walls falling\nby our assault. Let us listen to that stern sentence,  'I will not be\nwith you any more, except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE SUN STAYED\n\nSun, stand thou still upon Gibeon.'-JOSHUA x. 12\n\n\n'The last time,' what a sad sound that has! In all minds there is a\nshrinking from the last time of doing even some common act. The walk\ndown a street that we have passed every day for twenty years, and never\ncared in the least about, and the very doorsteps and the children in\nthe streets, have an interest for us, as pensively we leave the\ncommonplace familiar scene.\n\nOn this last Sunday of another year, there comes a tone of sober\nmeditation over us, as we think that it _is_ the last. I would fain let\nthe hour preach. I have little to say but to give voice to its lessons.\n\nMy text is only taken as a starting-point, and I shall say nothing\nabout Joshua and his prayer. I do not discuss whether this was a\nmiracle or not. It seems, at any rate, to be taken by the writer of the\nstory as one. What a picture he draws of the fugitives rushing down the\nrocky pass, blind in their fear, behind them the flushed and eager\nconqueror, the burst of the sudden tempest and far in the west the\ncrescent moon, the leader on the hilltop with his prayer for but one\nhour or two more of daylight to finish the wild work so well begun!\nAnd, says the story, his wish was granted, and no day has been 'like it\nbefore or since, in which the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man.'\nOnce, and only once, did time seem to stand still; from the beginning\ntill now it has been going steadily on, and even then it only seemed to\nstand. That day seemed longer, but life was passing all the same.\n\nAnd so the first thought forced upon us here by our narrative and by\nthe season is the old one, so commonplace and yet so solemn.\n\nI. Life inexorably slides away from us.\n\nOnce, and only once, it seemed to pause. How often since has Joshua's\nprayer been prayed again! By the fearful,--the wretch to be hanged at\neight o'clock to-morrow morning, the man whom the next train will part\nfrom all he loves. By the hopeful,--the child wearying for the\nholidays, the bridegroom,\n\n             'Gallop apace, ye fiery-footed steeds!'\n\nBy the suffering,--\n\n             'Would God it were evening!'\n\nBy the martyr amid the flames,\n\n             'Come quickly, Lord Jesus!'\n\nBut all in vain. We cannot expand the moments to hours, nor compress\nthe hours to moments. Leaden or winged, the hours are hours. The\ncold-blooded pendulum ticks on, equable and unaltered, and after sixty\nminutes, no sooner and no later, the hour strikes. 'There is a time for\nevery purpose.'\n\nHow solemn is the thought of that constant process! It goes on for\never, like the sea fog creeping up from the wide ocean and burying life\nand sunshine in its fatal folds, or like the ever-flowing river, or\nlike the fall plunging over the edge of the cliff, or like the motions\nof the midnight sky. Each moment in its turn passes into the colourless\nstony past, and the shadow creeps up the hillside.\n\nAnd how unnoticed it is! We only know motion by the jolts. The\nrevolution of the earth and its rush along its orbit are unfelt by us.\nWe are constantly startled to feel how long ago such and such a thing\ntook place. The mother sees her little girl at her knee, and in a few\ndays, as it seems, finds her a woman. How immense is our life in the\nprospect, how awfully it collapses in the retrospect! Only by seeing\nconstellation after constellation set, do we know that the heavens are\nin motion. We have need of an effort of serious reflection to realise\nthat it is of _us_ and of _our_ lives that all these old commonplaces\nare true.\n\nThat constant, unnoticed progress has an end. Our life is a definite\nperiod, having a bounded past behind it, a present, and a bounded\nfuture before it. We have a sandglass and it runs out. We are like men\nsliding down a rope or hauling a boat towards a fixed point. The sea is\nwashing away our sandy island, and is creeping nearer and nearer to\nwhere we stand, and will wash over us soon. No cries, nor prayers, nor\nwishes will avail. It is vain for _us_ to say, 'Sun! stand thou still!'\n\nII. Therefore our chief care should be to finish our work in our day.\n\nJoshua had his day lengthened; we can come to the same result by\ncrowding ours with service. What is the purpose of life? Is it a shop?\nor a garden? a school? No. Our 'chief end' is to become like God and a\nlittle to help forward His cause. All is intended to develop character;\nall life is disciplinary.\n\nGod's purpose should be our desire. That desire should mould all our\nthoughts and acts. There should be no mere sentimental regrets for the\npast, but the spirit of consecration should affect our thoughts about\nit. There should be penitence, thankfulness, not vain mourning over\nwhat is gone. There should be no waste or selfish use of the present.\nWhat is it given us for but to use for God?\n\nStrenuous work is the true way to lengthen each day. Time is infinitely\nelastic. The noblest work is to do 'the works of Him that sent me.'\nThere should be no care for the future. It is in His hand. There will\nbe room in it for doing all His will.\n\n                  'Lord, it belongs not to my care,\n                   Whether I die or live.'\n\nIII. If so, the passing day will have results that never pass.\n\nJoshua's day was long enough for his work, and that work was a victory\nwhich told on future generations. So life, short as it is, will be long\nenough for all that we have to do and learn and be.\n\nChrist's servant is immortal till his work is done.\n\nGod gives every man time enough for his salvation.\n\nWhat may we bring out of life? Character, Christ-likeness, thankful\nmemories, union with God, capacity for heaven. The transient leaves the\nabiding. The flood foams itself away, but deposits rich soil on the\nplain.\n\nIV. Thus the passing away of what must pass may become a joy.\n\nWhy should we be sad? There are reasons enough, as many sad, lonely\nhearts among us know too well To some men dark thoughts of death and\njudgment make the crumbling away of life too gloomy a fact to be\ncontemplated, but it may and should be calm joy to us that the weary\nworld ends and a blessed life begins. We may count the moments and see\nthem pass, as a bride watches the hours rolling on to her marriage\nmorning; not, indeed, without tremor and sadness at leaving her old\nhome, but yet with meek hope and gentle joy.\n\nIt is possible for men to see that life is but 'as a shadow that\ndeclineth,' and yet to be glad. By faith in Christ, united to 'Him Who\nis for ever and ever,' our souls shall 'triumph over death and thee, O\ntime.'\n\nWe need not cry, 'Sun! stand still!' but rather, 'Come quickly, Lord\nJesus!'\n\nThen Time shall be 'the lackey to eternity,' and Death be the porter of\nheaven's gate, and we shall pass from the land of setting suns and\nwaning moons and change and sorrow, to that land where 'thy sun shall\nno more go down,' and 'there shall be no more time.'\n\n\n\n\nUNWON BUT CLAIMED\n\n'There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed, ... them will I\ndrive out from before the children of Israel; only divide thou it by\nlot unto Israel for an inheritance'--Joshua xiii. 1-8.\n\nJoshua was now a very old man and had occupied seven years in the\nconquest. His work was over, and now he had only to take steps to\nsecure the completion by others of the triumph which he would never\nsee. This incident has many applications to the work of the Church in\nthe world, but not less important ones to individual progress, and we\nconsider these mainly now.\n\nI. The clear recognition of present imperfection.\n\nThat is essential in all regions, 'Not as though'; the higher up, the\nmore clearly we see the summit. The ideal grows loftier, as partially\nrealised. The mountain seems comparatively low and easy till we begin\nto climb. We should be continually driven by a sense of our\nincompleteness, and drawn by the fair vision of unattained\npossibilities. In all regions, to be satisfied with the attained is to\ncease to grow.\n\nThis is eminently so in the Christian life, with its goal of absolute\ncompleteness.\n\nHow blessed this dissatisfaction is! It keeps life fresh: it is the\nsecret of perpetual youth.\n\nJoshua's work was incomplete, as every man's must be. We each have our\nlimitations, the defects of our qualities, the barriers of our\nenvironment, the brevity of our day of toil, and we have to be content\nto carry the fiery cross a little way and then to give it up to other\nhands. There is only One who could say,' It is done.' Let us see that\nwe do our own fragment.\n\nII. The confident reckoning on complete possession.\n\nJoshua's conquest was very partial. He subdued part of the central\nmountain nucleus, but the low-lying stretch of country on the coast,\nPhilistia and the maritime plain up to Tyre and Sidon and other\noutlying districts, remained unsubdued. Yet the whole land was now to\nbe allotted out to the tribes. That allotment must have strengthened\nfaith in their ultimate possession, and encouraged effort to make the\nideal a reality, and to appropriate as their own in fact what was\nalready theirs in God's purpose. So a great part of Christian duty, and\na great secret of Christian progress, is to familiarise ourselves with\nthe hope of complete victory. We should acquire the habit of\ncontemplating as certainly meant by God to be ours, complete conformity\nto Christ's character, complete appropriation of Christ's gifts. God\nbade Jeremiah buy a 'field that was in Anathoth' at the time an\ninvading army held the land. A Roman paid down money for the ground on\nwhich the besiegers of Rome were encamped. It does not become\nChristians to be less confident of victory. But we have to take heed\nthat our confidence is grounded on the right foundation. God's\ncommandment to Joshua to allot the land, even while the formidable foes\nenumerated in the context held it firmly, was based on the assurance\n(verse 6): 'Them will I drive out before the children of Israel.'\nConfidence based on self is presumption, and will end in defeat;\nconfidence based on God will brace to noble effort, which is all the\nmore vigorous and will surely lead to victory, because it distrusts\nself.\n\nIII. The vigorous effort animated by both the preceding.\n\nHow the habit of thinking the unconquered land theirs would encourage\nIsrael. Efforts without hope are feeble; hope without effort is\nfallacious.\n\nIsrael's history is significant. The land was never actually all\nconquered. God's promises are all conditional, and if we do not work,\nor if we work in any other spirit than in faith, we shall not win our\nallotted part in the 'inheritance of the saints in light.' It is\npossible to lose 'thy crow.' 'Work out your own salvation.' 'Trust in\nthe Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land.'\n\n\n\n\nCALEB--A GREEN OLD AGE\n\n'And Caleb... said unto him (Joshua), Thou knowest the thing that the\nLord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in\nKadesh-barnea.'--JOSHUA xiv. 6.\n\n\nFive and forty years had passed since the Lord had 'said this thing.'\nIt was the promise to these two, now old men, of the prolongation of\ntheir lives, and to Caleb of his inheritance in the land. Seven years\nof fighting have been got through, and the preparations are being made\nfor the division of the land by lot. But, before that is done, it is\nfitting that Caleb, whose portion had been specially secured to him by\nthat old promise, should have the promise specially recognised and\nendorsed by the action of the leader, and independent of the operation\nof the lot. So he appears before Joshua, accompanied by the head men of\nhis tribe, whose presence expresses their official consent to the\nexceptional treatment of their tribesman, and urges his request in a\nlittle speech, full of pathos and beauty and unconscious portraiture of\nthe speaker. I take it as a picture of an ideal old age, showing in an\nactual instance how happy, vigorous, full of buoyant energy and\nundiminished appetite for enterprise a devout old age may be. And my\npurpose now is not merely to comment on the few words of our text, but\nupon the whole of what falls from the lips of Caleb here.\n\nI. I see then here, first, a life all built upon God's promise.\n\nFive times in the course of his short plea with Joshua does he use the\nexpression 'the Lord spake.' On the first occasion of the five he\nunites Joshua with himself as a recipient of the promise, 'Thou knowest\nthe thing that the Lord said concerning me and thee.' But in the other\nfour he takes it all to himself; not because it concerned him only, but\nbecause his confidence, laying hold of the promise, forgot his brother\nin the earnestness of his personal appropriation of it. And so,\nwhatsoever general words God speaks to the world, a true believer will\nmake them his very own; and when Christ says, 'God so loved the world\nthat He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him\nshould not perish,' faith translates it into 'He loved me, and gave\nHimself for me.' This is the first characteristic of a life built upon\nthe promise of God, that it lays its hand upon that promise and claims\nit all for its very own.\n\nThen notice, still further, how for all these forty-five years Caleb\nhad 'hid the word in his heart,' had lived upon it and thought about it\nand believed it, and recognised the partial fulfilment of it, and\ncherished the secret fire unknown to any besides. And now at last,\nafter so long an interval, he comes forward and stretches out a hand,\nunweakened by the long delay, to claim the perfect fulfilment at the\nend of his days. So 'the vision may tarry,' but a life based upon God's\npromise has another estimate of swiftness and slowness than is current\namongst men who have only the years of earthly life to reckon by; and\nthat which to sense seems a long, weary delay, to faith seems but as 'a\nwatch in the night'. The world, which only measures time by its own\nrevolutions, has to lament over what seem to the sufferers long years\nof pains and tears, but in the calendar of faith 'weeping endures for a\nnight, joy cometh in the morning.' The weary days dwindle into a point\nwhen they are looked at with an eye that has been accustomed to gaze on\nthe solemn eternities of a promising and a faithful God. To it, as to\nHim, 'a thousand years are as one day'; and 'one day,' in the\npossibilities of divine favour and spiritual growth which it may\nenfold, 'as a thousand years.' To the men who measure time as God\nmeasures it, His help, howsoever long it may tarry, ever comes 'right\nearly.'\n\nFurther, note how this life, built upon faith in the divine promise,\nwas nourished and nurtured by instalments of fulfilment all along the\nroad. Two promises were given to Caleb--one, that his life should be\nprolonged, and the other, that he should possess the territory into\nwhich he had so bravely ventured. The daily fulfilment of the one fed\nthe fire of his faith in the ultimate accomplishment of the other, and\nhe gratefully recounts it now, as part of his plea with Joshua--'Now,\nbehold, the Lord hath kept me alive as He spake, these forty and five\nyears, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses. And now, lo! I\nam this day fourscore and five years old.'\n\nWhosoever builds his life on the promise of God has in the present the\nguarantee of the better future. As we are journeying onwards to that\ngreat fountain-head of all sweetness and felicity, there are ever\ntrickling brooks from it by the way, at which we may refresh our\nthirsty lips and invigorate our fainting strength. The present\ninstalment carries with it the pledge of the full discharge of the\nobligation, and he whose heart and hope is fixed with a forward look on\nthe divine inheritance, may, as he looks backward over all the years,\nsee clearly in them one unbroken mass of preserving providences, and\nthankfully say, 'The Lord hath kept me alive, as He spake.'\n\nAnd, still further, the life that is built upon faith like this man's,\nis a life of buoyant hopefulness till the very end. The hopes of age\nare few and tremulous. When the feast is nearly over, and the appetite\nis dulled, there is little more to be done, but to push back our chairs\nand go away. But God keeps 'the good wine' until the last. And when all\nearthly hopes are beginning to wear thin and to burn dim, then the\ngreat hope of 'the mountain of the inheritance' will rise brighter and\nclearer upon our horizon. It is something to have a hope so far in\nfront of us that we never get up to it, to find it either less than our\nexpectations or more than our desires; and this is not the least of the\nblessednesses of the living 'hope that maketh not ashamed,' that it\nlies before us till the very end, and beckons and draws us across the\ngulf of darkness. 'The Lord hath kept me alive, as He said; now give me\nthis mountain whereof the Lord spake.'\n\nII. Further, I see here a life that bears to be looked back at.\n\nCaleb becomes almost garrulous in telling over the old story of that\nnever-to-be-forgotten day, when he and Joshua stood alone and tried to\nput some heart into the cowardly mob before them. There is no mock\nmodesty about the man. He says that, amidst many temptations to be\nuntrue, he gave his report with sincerity and veracity, 'speaking as it\nwas in mine heart,' and then he quotes twice, with a permissible\nsatisfaction, the eulogium that had come upon him from the divine lips,\n'I wholly followed the Lord my God.' The private soldier's cheek may\nwell flush and his eye glitter as he repeats over again his general's\npraise. And for Caleb, half a century has not dimmed the impression\nthat was made on his heart when he received that praise, through the\nlips of Moses, from God.\n\nNow, of course, such a tone of speaking about one's past savours of an\nearlier stage in revelation than that in which we live, and, if this\nwere to be taken as a man's total account of his whole life, we could\nnot free it from the charge of unpleasing self-complacency and\nself-righteousness. But for all that, it is not the same thing in the\nretrospect whether you and I have to look back upon years that have\nbeen given to self, and the world, and passion, and pride, and\ncovetousness, and frivolities and trifles of all sorts, or upon years\nthat in the main, and regard being had to their deepest desires and\ngoverning direction, have been given to God and to His service. Many a\nman looking back upon his life--I wonder if there are any such men\nlistening to me now--can only see such a sight as Abraham did on that\nmorning when he looked down on the plain of Sodom, and 'Lo! the smoke\nof the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.' Dear friends I the only\nthing that makes life in the retrospect tolerable is that it shall have\nbeen given to God, and that we can say, 'I wholly followed the Lord my\nGod.'\n\nIII. Again, I see here a life which has discovered the secret of\nperpetual youth.\n\n'I,' says the old man--'am as strong this day as I was in the day when\nMoses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for\nwar, both to go out and to come in.' For fighting, and for all the\nintercourse and manifold activities of life, his sinews are as braced,\nhis eyes as clear, his spirit and limbs as alert as they were in those\nold days. No doubt you will say that was due to miraculous\nintervention. No doubt it was; but is it not true that, in a very real\nsense, a man may keep himself young all his life, if he will go the\nright way to work? And the secret of perpetual youthfulness lies here,\nin giving our hearts to God and in living for Him. Christianity, with\nits self-restraint and its exhortations to all, and especially to the\nyoung, to be chaste and temperate and to subdue the animal passions,\nhas a direct tendency to conserve physical vigour; and Christianity, by\nthe inspiration that it imparts, the stimulus that it gives, and the\nhopes that it permits us to cherish, has a direct tendency to keep\nalive in old age all the best of the characteristics of youth. Its\nbuoyancy, its undimmed interest, its cheeriness, its freedom from\nanxiety and care--all these things are directly ministered to, and\npreserved by, a life of simple faith that casts itself upon God, and\ndwells securely, in joy and in restfulness, and not without a great\nlight of hope, even when the shadows of evening are falling.\n\nOne of the greatest and most blessed of the characteristics of youth is\nthe consciousness that the most of life lies before us; and to a\nChristian man, in any stage of his earthly life, that consciousness is\npossible. When he stands on the verge of the last sinking sandbank of\ntime, and the water is up to his ankles, he may well feel that the best\nand the most of life is yet to be.\n\n     'The last of life, for which the first was made:\n      Our times are in His hand\n      Who saith, \"A whole I planned.\n      Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid.\"'\n\n'They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be full of\nsap and green.' A gnarled old tree may be green in all its branches,\nand blossom and fruit may hang together there. The ideal of life is,\nthat into each stage we shall carry the best of the preceding,\nharmonised with the best of the new, and that is possible to a\nChristian soul. The fountain of perpetual youth, of which the ancients\nfabled, is no fable, but a fact; and it rises, where the prophet in his\nvision saw the stream coming out, from beneath the threshold of the\nTemple door.\n\nIV. So, lastly, I see here a beautiful example of a life which to the\nlast is ready for danger and enterprise.\n\nCaleb's words as to his undiminished strength were not meant for a\nboast. They express thankfulness and praise, and they are put as the\nground of the request that he has to make. He gives a chivalrous reason\nfor his petition when he says,' Now, therefore, give me this mountain,\n_for_ the Anakims (the giants) are there; and the cities great and\nfenced.'\n\nCaleb's readiness for one more fight was fed by his reliance on God's\nhelp in it. When he says, 'It may be the Lord will be with me,' the\n_perhaps_ is that of humility, not of doubt. The old warrior's eye\nflashes, and his voice sounds strong and full, as he ends his words\nwith 'I _shall_ drive them out, as _the Lord spake_.' That has the true\nring. What were the three Anak chiefs, with their barbarous names,\nSheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, and their giant stature, to the onset\nof a warrior faith like that? Of course, 'Caleb drove out thence the\nthree sons of Anak,' and Hebron became his inheritance. Nothing can\nstand against us, if we seek for our portion, not where advantages are\ngreatest, but where difficulties and dangers are most rife, and cast\nourselves into the conflict, sure that God is with us, though humbly\nwondering that we should be worthy of His all-conquering presence, and\nsure, therefore, that victory marches by our sides.\n\nOld age is generally much more disposed to talk about its past\nvictories than to fight new ones; to rest upon its arms, or upon its\nlaurels, than to undertake fresh conflicts. Now and then we see a man,\nstatesman or other, who, bearing the burden of threescore years and ten\nlightly, is still as alert of spirit, as eager for work, as bold for\nenterprise, as he was years before. And in nine cases out of ten such a\nman is a Christian; and his brilliant energy of service is due, not\nonly, nor so much, to natural vigour of constitution as to religion,\nwhich has preserved his vigour because it has preserved his purity, and\nbeen to him a stimulus and an inspiration.\n\nDanger is an attraction to the generous mind. It is the coward and the\nselfish man who are always looking for an easy place, where somebody\nelse will do the work. This man felt that this miraculously prolonged\nlife of his bound him to special service, and the fact that up in\nHebron there were a fenced city and tall giants behind the battlements,\nwas an additional reason for picking out that bit of the field as the\nplace where he ought to be. Thank God, that spirit is not dead yet! It\nhas lived all through the Christian Church, and flamed up in times of\nmartyrdom. On missionary fields to-day, if one man falls two are ready\nto step into his place. It is the true spirit of the Christian soldier.\n'A great door and effectual is opened,' says Paul, 'and there are many\nadversaries.' He knew the door was opened because the adversaries were\nmany. And because there were so many of them, would he run away? Some\nof us would have said: 'I must abandon that work, it bristles with\ndifficulties; I cannot stop in that post, the bullets are whistling too\nfast.' Nay! says Paul; 'I abide till Pentecost'--a good long\nwhile--because the post is dangerous, and promises to be fruitful.\n\nSo, dear friends, if we would have lives on which we can look back,\nlives in which early freshness will last beyond the 'morning dew,'\nlives in which there shall come, day by day and moment by moment,\nabundant foretastes to stay our hunger until we sit at Christ's table\nin His kingdom, we must 'follow the Lord alway,' with no half-hearted\nsurrender, nor partial devotion, but give ourselves to Him utterly, to\nbe guided and sent where He will. And then, like Caleb, we shall be\nable to say, with a 'perhaps,' not of doubt, but of wonder, that it\nshould be so, to us unworthy, 'It may be the Lord will be with me, arid\nI shall drive them out.' In all these things 'we are more than\nconquerors through Him that loved us.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE CITIES OF REFUGE\n\n'The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, 2. Speak to the children of\nIsrael, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake\nunto you by the hand of Moses: 3. That the slayer that killeth any\nperson unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be\nyour refuge from the avenger of blood. 4. And when he that doth flee\nunto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the\ncity, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that\ncity, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a\nplace, that he may dwell among them. 5. And if the avenger of blood\npursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his\nhand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not\nbeforetime. 6. And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before\nthe congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest\nthat shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come\nunto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he\nfled. 7. And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and\nShechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the\nmountain of Judah. 8. And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward,\nthey assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe\nof Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in\nBashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. 9. These were the cities appointed\nfor all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth\namong them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee\nthither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he\nstood before the congregation.'--JOSHUA xx. 1-9.\n\n\nOur Lord has taught us that parts of the Mosaic legislation were given\nbecause of the 'hardness' of the people's hearts. The moral and\nreligious condition of the recipients of revelation determines and is\ntaken into account in the form and contents of revelation. That is\nstrikingly obvious in this institution of the 'cities of refuge.' They\nhave no typical meaning, though they may illustrate Christian truth.\nBut their true significance is that they are instances of revelation\npermitting, and, while permitting, checking, a custom for the abolition\nof which Israel was not ready.\n\nI. Cities of refuge were needed, because the 'avenger of blood' was\nrecognised as performing an imperative duty. 'Blood for blood' was the\nlaw for the then stage of civilisation. The weaker the central\nauthority, the more need for supplementing it with the wild justice of\npersonal avenging. Neither Israel nor surrounding nations were fit for\nthe higher commandment of the Sermon on the Mount. 'An eye for an eye,\nand a tooth for a tooth,' corresponded to their stage of progress; and\nto have hurried them forward to 'I say unto you, Resist not evil,'\nwould only have led to weakening the restraint on evil, and would have\nhad no response in the hearers' consciences. It is a commonplace that\nlegislation which is too far ahead of public opinion is useless, except\nto make hypocrites. And the divine law was shaped in accordance with\nthat truth. Therefore the _goel_, or kinsman-avenger of blood, was not\nonly permitted but enjoined by Moses.\n\nBut the evils inherent in his existence were great. Blood feuds were\nhanded down through generations, involving an ever-increasing number of\ninnocent people, and finally leading to more murders than they\nprevented. But the thing could not be abolished. Therefore it was\nchecked by this institution. The lessons taught by it are the gracious\nforbearance of God with the imperfections attaching to each stage of\nHis people's moral and religious progress; the uselessness of violent\nchanges forced on people who are not ready for them; the presence of a\ntemporary element in the Old Testament law and ethics.\n\nNo doubt many things in the present institutions of so-called Christian\nnations and in the churches are destined to drop away, as the\nprinciples of Christianity become more clearly discerned and more\nhonestly applied to social and national life. But the good shepherd\ndoes not overdrive his flock, but, like Jacob, 'leads on softly,\naccording to the pace of the cattle that is before' him. We must be\ncontent to bring the world gradually to the Christian ideal. To abolish\nor to impose institutions or customs by force is useless. Revolutions\nmade by violence never last. To fell the upas-tree maybe very heroic,\nbut what is the use of doing it, if the soil is full of seeds of\nothers, and the climate and conditions favourable to their growth?\nChange the elevation of the land, and the `flora' will change itself.\nInstitutions are the outcome of the whole mental and moral state of a\nnation, and when that changes, and not till then, do they change. The\nNew Testament in its treatment of slavery and war shows us the\nChristian way of destroying evils; namely, by establishing the\nprinciples which will make them impossible. It is better to girdle the\ntree and leave it to die than to fell it.\n\nII. Another striking lesson from the cities of refuge is the now\nwell-worn truth that the same act, when done from different motives, is\nnot the same. The kinsman-avenger took no heed of the motive of the\nslaying. His duty was to slay, whatever the slayer's intention had\nbeen. The asylum of the city of refuge was open for the unintentional\nhomicide, and for him only, Deliberate murder had no escape thither. So\nthe lesson was taught that motive is of supreme importance in\ndetermining the nature of an act. In God's sight, a deed is done when\nit is determined on, and it is not done, though done, when it was not\nmeant by the doer. 'Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer,' and he\nthat killeth his brother unawares is none. We suppose ourselves to have\nlearned that so thoroughly that it is trivial to repeat the lesson.\n\nWhat, then, of our thoughts and desires which never come to light in\nacts? Do we recognise our criminality in regard to these as vividly as\nwe should? Do we regulate the hidden man of the heart accordingly? A\nman may break all the commandments sitting in an easy-chair and doing\nnothing. Von Moltke fought the Austro-Prussian war in his cabinet in\nBerlin, bending over maps. The soldiers on the field were but pawns in\nthe dreadful game. So our battles are waged, and we are beaten or\nconquerors, on the field of our inner desires and purposes. 'Keep thy\nheart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.'\n\nIII. The elaborately careful specification of cases which gave the\nfugitive a right to shelter in the city is set forth at length in\nNumbers xxxv. 15-24, and Deuteronomy xix. 4-13. The broad principle is\nthere laid down that the cities were open for one who slew a man\n'unwittingly.' But the plea of not intending to slay was held to be\nnegatived, not only if intention could be otherwise shown but if the\nweapon used was such as would probably kill; such, for instance, as 'an\ninstrument of iron,' or a stone, or a 'weapon of wood, whereby a man\nmay die.' If we do what is likely to have a given result, we are\nresponsible for that result, should it come about, even though we did\nnot consciously seek to bring it. That is plain common sense. 'I never\nthought the house would catch fire' is no defence from the guilt of\nburning it down, if we fired a revolver into a powder barrel. Further,\nif the fatal blow was struck in 'hatred,' or if the slayer had lain in\nambush to catch his victim, he was not allowed shelter. These careful\ndefinitions freed the cities from becoming nests of desperate\ncriminals, as the 'sanctuaries' of the Middle Ages in Europe became.\nThey were not harbours for the guilty, but asylums for the innocent.\n\nIV. The procedure by which the fugitive secured protection is described\nat length in the passages cited, with which the briefer account here\nshould be compared. It is not quite free from obscurity, but probably\nthe process was as follows. Suppose the poor hunted man arrived panting\nat the limits of the city, perhaps with the avenger's sword within half\na foot of his neck; he was safe for the time. But before he could enter\nthe city, a preliminary inquiry was held 'at the gate' by the city\nelders. That could only be of a rough-and-ready kind; most frequently\nthere would be no evidence available but the man's own word. It,\nhowever, secured _interim_ protection. A fuller investigation followed,\nand, as would appear, was held in another place,--perhaps at the scene\nof the accident. 'The congregation' was the judge in this second\nexamination, where the whole facts would be fully gone into, probably\nin the presence of the avenger. If the plea of non-intention was\nsustained, the fugitive was 'restored to his city of refuge,' and there\nremained safely till the death of the high-priest, when he was at\nliberty to return to his home, and to stay there without fear.\n\nAttempts have been made to find a spiritual significance in this last\nprovision of the law, and to make out a lame parallel between the death\nof the high-priest, which cancelled the crime of the fugitive, and the\ndeath of Christ, which takes away our sins. But--to say nothing of the\nfact that the fugitive was where he was just because he had done no\ncrime--the parallel breaks down at other points. It is more probable\nthat the death of one high-priest and the accession of another were\nregarded simply as closing one epoch and beginning another, just as a\nking's accession is often attended with an amnesty. It was natural to\nbegin a new era with a clean sheet, as it were.\n\nV. The selection of the cities brings out a difference between the\nJewish right of asylum and the somewhat similar right in heathen and\nmediaeval times. The temples or churches were usually the sanctuaries\nin these. But not the Tabernacle or Temple, but the priestly cities,\nwere chosen here. Their inhabitants represented God to Israel, and as\nsuch were the fit persons to cast a shield over the fugitives; while\nyet their cities were less sacred than the Temple, and in them the\ninnocent man-slayer could live for long years. The sanctity of the\nTemple was preserved intact, the necessary provision for possibly\nprotracted stay was made, evils attendant on the use of the place of\nworship as a refuge were avoided.\n\nAnother reason--namely, accessibility swiftly from all parts of the\nland--dictated the choice of the cities, and also their number and\nlocality. There were three on each side of Jordan, though the\npopulation was scantier on the east than on the west side, for the\nextent of country was about the same. They stood, roughly speaking,\nopposite each other,--Kedesh and Golan in the north, Shechem and Ramoth\ncentral, Hebron and Bezer in the south. So, wherever a fugitive was, he\nhad no long distance between himself and safety.\n\nWe too have a 'strong city' to which we may 'continually resort.' The\nIsraelite had right to enter only if his act had been inadvertent, but\nwe have the right to hide ourselves in Christ just because we have\nsinned wilfully. The hurried, eager flight of the man who heard the\ntread of the avenger behind him, and dreaded every moment to be struck\nto the heart by his sword, may well set forth what should be the\nearnestness of our flight to 'lay hold on the hope set before us in the\ngospel.' His safety, as soon as he was within the gate, and could turn\nround and look calmly at the pursuer shaking his useless spear and\ngrinding his teeth in disappointment, is but a feeble shadow of the\nsecurity of those who rest in Christ's love, and are sheltered by His\nwork for sinners. 'I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never\nperish, and no one shall pluck them out of My hand.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE END OF THE WAR\n\n'And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto\ntheir fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. 44. And the\nLord gave them rest round about, according to all that He sware unto\ntheir fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before\nthem; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45. There\nfailed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the\nhouse of Israel; all came to pass.\n\n'Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe\nof Manasseh, 2. And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses, the\nservant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that\nI commanded you: 3. Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto\nthis day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your\nGod. 4. And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren,\nas He promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your\ntents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of\nthe Lord gave you on the other side Jordan. 5. But take diligent heed\nto do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord\ncharged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all His ways,\nand to keep His commandments, and to cleave unto Him, and to serve Him\nwith all your heart, and with all your soul. 6. So Joshua blessed them,\nand sent them away: and they went unto their tents. 7. Now to the one\nhalf of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given possession in Bashan: but\nunto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this\nside Jordan westward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their\ntents, then he blessed them, 8. And he spake unto them, saying, Return\nwith much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with\nsilver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very\nmuch raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren. 9.\nAnd the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe\nof Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of\nShiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of\nGilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed,\naccording to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.'--JOSHUA xxi.\n43-45; xxii. 1-9.\n\n\n'The old order changeth, giving place to new.' In this passage we have\nthe breaking up of the congregation and the disbanding of the\nvictorious army. The seven years of fighting had come to an end. The\nswords were to be 'beaten into plowshares,' and the comrades who had\nmarched shoulder to shoulder, and shared the fierce excitement of many\na bloody field, were to be scattered, each becoming a peaceful farmer\nor shepherd. A picturesque historian, of the modern 'special\ncorrespondent' sort, would have overlaid the narrative with sentiment\nand description; but how quietly the writer tells it, so that we have\nto bethink ourselves before we apprehend that we are reading the\naccount of an epoch-making event! He fixes attention on two\nthings,--the complete fulfilment of God's promises (xxi. 43-45) and the\ndismissal to their homes of the contingent from the trans-Jordanic\ntribes, whose departure was the signal that the war was ended (xxii.\n1-8). We may consider the lessons from these two separately.\n\nI. The triumphant record of God's faithfulness (xxi. 43-45). These\nthree verses are the trophy reared on the battlefield, like the lion of\nMarathon, which the Greeks set on its sacred soil. But the only name\ninscribed on this monument is Jehovah's. Other memorials of victories\nhave borne the pompous titles of commanders who arrogated the glory to\nthemselves; but the Bible knows of only one conqueror, and that is God.\n'The help that is done on earth, He doeth it all Himself.' The military\ngenius and heroic constancy of Joshua, the eagerness for perilous\nhonour that flamed, undimmed by age, in Caleb, the daring and strong\narms of many a humble private in the ranks, have their due recognition\nand reward; but when the history that tells of these comes to sum up\nthe whole, and to put the 'philosophy' of the conquest into a sentence,\nit has only one name to speak as cause of Israel's victory.\n\nThat is the true point of view from which to look at the history of the\nworld and of the church in the world. The difference between the\n'miraculous' conquest of Canaan and the 'ordinary' facts of history is\nnot that God did the one and men do the other; both are equally, though\nin different methods, His acts. In the field of human affairs, as in\nthe realm of nature, God is immanent, though in the former His working\nis complicated by the mysterious power of man's will to set itself in\nantagonism to His; while yet, in manner insoluble to us, His will is\nsupreme. The very powers which are arrayed against Him are His gift,\nand the issues which they finally subserve are His appointment. It does\nnot need that we should be able to pierce to the bottom of the\nbottomless in order to attain and hold fast by the great conviction\nthat 'there is no power but of God,' and that 'from Him are all things,\nand to Him are all things.'\n\nEspecially does this trophy on the battlefield teach a needful lesson\nto us in the Christian warfare. We are ever apt to think too much of\nour visible weapons and leaders, and to forget our unseen and\never-present Commander, from whom comes all our power. We 'burn incense\nto our own net, and sacrifice to our own drag,' and, like the heathen\nconqueror of whom Habakkuk speaks, make our swords our gods (Hab. i.\n11, 16). The Church has always been prone to hero-worship, and to the\nidolatry of its organisation, its methods, or its theology. Augustine\ndid so and so; Luther smote the 'whited wall' (the Pope) a blow that\nmade him reel; the Pilgrim Fathers carried a slip of the plant of\nreligious liberty in a tiny pot across the Atlantic, and watered it\nwith tears till it has grown a great tree; the Wesleys revived a formal\nChurch,--let us sing hallelujahs to these great names! By all means;\nbut do not let us forget whence they drew their power; and let us\nlisten to Paul's question, 'Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but\nservants through whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?'\n\nAnd let us carve, deep-cut and indelible, in solitary conspicuousness,\non the trophy that we rear on each well-fought field, the name of no\nman save 'Jesus only.' We read that on a pyramid in Egypt the name and\nsounding titles of the king in whose reign it was erected were blazoned\non the plaster facing, but beneath that transitory inscription the name\nof the architect was hewn, imperishable, in the granite, and stood out\nwhen the plaster dropped away. So, when all the short-lived records\nwhich ascribe the events of the Church's progress to her great men have\nperished, the one name of the true builder will shine out, and 'at the\nname of Jesus every knee shall bow.' Let us not rely on our own skill,\ncourage, talents, orthodoxy, or methods, nor try to 'build tabernacles'\nfor the witnessing servants beside the central one for the supreme\nLord, but ever seek to deepen our conviction that Christ, and Christ\nonly, gives all their powers to all, and that to Him, and Him only, is\nall victory to be ascribed. That is an elementary and simple truth; but\nif we really lived in its power we should go into the battle with more\nconfidence, and come out of it with less self-gratulation.\n\nWe may note, too, in these verses, the threefold repetition of one\nthought, that of God's punctual and perfect fulfilment of His word. He\n'gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give'; 'He gave them\nrest, ... according to all that He sware'; 'there failed not aught of\nany good thing which the Lord had spoken.' It is the joy of thankful\nhearts to compare the promise with the reality, to lay the one upon the\nother, as it were, and to declare how precisely their outlines\ncorrespond. The finished building is exactly according to the plans\ndrawn long before. God gives us the power of checking His work, and we\nare unworthy to receive His gifts if we do not take delight in marking\nand proclaiming how completely He has fulfilled His contract. It is no\nsmall part of Christian duty, and a still greater part of Christian\nblessedness, to do this. Many a fulfilment passes unnoticed, and many a\njoy, which might be sacred and sweet as a token of love from His own\nhand, remains common and unhallowed, because we fail to see that it is\na fulfilled promise. The eye that is trained to watch for God's being\nas good as His word will never have long to wait for proofs that He is\nso. 'Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall\nunderstand the loving kindness of the Lord.' And to such a one faith\nwill become easier, being sustained by experience; and a present thus\nmanifestly studded with indications of God's faithfulness will merge\ninto a future still fuller of these. For it does not need that we\nshould wait for the end of the war to have many a token that His every\nword is true. The struggling soldier can say, 'No good thing has failed\nof all that the Lord has spoken.' We look, indeed, for completer\nfulfilment when the fighting is done; but there are 'brooks by the way'\nfor the warriors in the thick of the fight, of which they drink, and,\nrefreshed, 'lift up the head.' We need not postpone this glad\nacknowledgment till we can look back and down from the land of peace on\nthe completed campaign, but may rear this trophy on many a field,\nwhilst still we look for another conflict to-morrow.\n\nII. The disbanding of the contingent from the tribes across Jordan\n(xxii. 1-8). Forty thousand fighting men, of the tribes of Reuben, Gad,\nand the half of Manasseh, had willingly helped in the conquest, leaving\ntheir own newly-won homes on the eastern side of Jordan, and for seven\nlong years taking their share in the hardships and dangers of their\nbrethren. It was no small tax which they had thus cheerfully paid for\nthe sake of brotherly unity. Their aid had not only been valuable as\nstrengthening Joshua's force, but still more so as a witness of the\nunbroken oneness of the nation, and of the sympathy which the tribes\nalready settled bore to the others. Politically, it was wise to\nassociate the whole people in the whole conquest; for nothing welds a\nnation together like the glories of common victories and the\nremembrance of common dangers survived. The separation of the\ntrans-Jordanic tribes by the rapid river, and by their pastoral life,\nwas a possible source of weakness, and would, no doubt, have led to\nmore complete severance, if it had not been for the uniting power of\nthe campaign. If the forty thousand had been quietly feeding sheep on\nthe uplands while their brethren were fighting among the stony hills of\nCanaan, a great gulf would have opened between them. Even as it was,\nthe eastern tribes drifted somewhat away from the western; but the\ndisintegration would have been still more complete if no memories of\nthe war, when all Israel stood side by side, had lived on among them.\nTheir share in the conquest was not only a piece of policy,--it was the\nnatural expression of the national brotherhood. Even I Joshua had not\nordered their presence, it would have been impossible for them to stop\nin their peacefulness and let their brethren bear the brunt of battle.\n\nThe law for us is the same as for these warriors. In the family, the\ncity, the nation, the Church, and the world, union with others binds us\nto help them in their conflicts, and that especially if we are blessed\nwith secure possessions, while they have to struggle for theirs. We are\ntempted to selfish lives of indulgence in our quiet peace, and\nsometimes think it hard that we should be expected to buckle on our\narmour, and leave our leisurely repose, because our brethren ask the\nhelp of our arms. If we did as Reuben and Gad did, would there be so\nmany rich men who never stir a finger to relieve poverty, so many\nChristians whose religion is much more selfish than beneficent? Would\nso many souls be left to toil without help, to struggle without allies,\nto weep without comforters, to wander in the dark without a guide? All\nGod's gifts in providence and in the Gospel are given that we may have\nsomewhat wherewith to bless our less happy brethren. 'The service of\nman' is not the substitute for, but the expression of, Christianity.\nAre we not kept here, on this side Jordan, away for a time from our\ninheritance, for the very same reason that these men were separated\nfrom theirs,--that we may strike some strokes for God and our fellows\nin the great war? Dives, who lolls on his soft cushions, and has less\npity for Lazarus than the dogs have, is Cain come to life again; and\nevery Christian is either his brother's keeper or his murderer. Would\nthat the Church of to-day, with infinitely deeper and sacreder ties\nknitting it to suffering, struggling humanity, had a tithe of the\nwilling relinquishment of legitimate possessions and patient\nparticipation in the long campaign for God which kept these rude\nsoldiers faithful to their flag and forgetful of home and ease, till\ntheir general gave them their discharge!\n\nNote the commander's parting charge. They were about to depart for a\nlife of comparative separation from the mass of the nation. Their\nremoteness and their occupations drew them away from the current of the\nnational life, and gave them a kind of quasi-independence. They would\nnecessarily be less directly under Joshua's control than the other\ntribes were. He sends them away with one commandment, the Imperative\nstringency of which is expressed by the accumulation of expressions in\nverse 5. They are to give diligent heed to the law of Moses. Their\nobedience is to be based on love to God, who is their God no less than\nthe God of the other tribes. It is to be comprehensive--they are 'to\nwalk in all His ways'; it is to be resolute--they are 'to cleave to\nHim'; it is to be wholehearted and whole-souled service, that will be\nthe true bond between the separated parts of the whole. Independence so\nlimited will be harmless; and, however wide apart their paths may lie,\nIsrael will be one. In like manner the bond that knits all divisions of\nGod's people together, however different their modes of life and\nthought, however unlike their homes and their work, is the similarity\nof relation to God. They are one in a common faith, a common love, a\ncommon obedience. Wider waters than Jordan part them. Graver\ndifferences of tasks and outlooks than separated these two sections of\nIsrael part them. But all are one who love and obey the one Lord. The\ncloser we cleave to Him, the nearer we shall be to all His tribes.\n\nWe need only note in a word how these departing soldiers, leaving the\nbattlefield with their commander's praise and benediction, laden with\nmuch wealth, the spoil of their enemies, and fording the stream to\nreach the peaceful homes, which had long stood ready for them, may be\ntaken, by a permissible play of fancy, as symbols of the faithful\nservants and soldiers of the true Joshua, at the end of their long\nwarfare passing to the 'kingdom prepared for them before the foundation\nof the world,' bearing in their hands the wealth which, by God's grace,\nthey had conquered from out of things here. _They_ are not sent away by\ntheir Commander, but summoned by Him to the great peace of His own\npresence; and while His lips give them the praise which is praise\nindeed, they inscribe on the perpetual memorial which they rear no name\nbut His, who first wrought all their works in them, and now has\nordained eternal peace for them.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NATIONAL OATH AT SHECHEM\n\n'And Joshua said unto the people. Ye cannot serve the Lord: for He is\nan holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your\ntransgressions nor your sins. 20. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve\nstrange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after\nthat He hath done you good. 21. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay;\nbut we will serve the Lord. 22. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are\nwitnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the Lord, to\nserve Him. And they said, We are witnesses. 23. Now therefore put away,\nsaid he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart\nunto the Lord God of Israel. 24. And the people said unto Joshua, The\nLord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey. 25. So Joshua\nmade a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an\nordinance in Shechem. 26. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of\nthe law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an\noak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27. And Joshua said unto\nall the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it\nhath heard all the words of the Lord which He spake unto us: it shall\nbe therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. 28. So Joshua\nlet the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.'-JOSHUA xxiv.\n19-28.\n\n\nWe reach in this passage the close of an epoch. It narrates the last\npublic act of Joshua and the last of the assembled people before they\nscatter 'every man unto his inheritance.' It was fitting that the\ntransition from the nomad stage to that of settled abode in the land\nshould be marked by the solemn renewal of the covenant, which is thus\ndeclared to be the willingly accepted law for the future national life.\nWe have here the closing scene of that solemn assembly set before us.\n\nThe narrative carries us to Shechem, the lovely valley in the heart of\nthe land, already consecrated by many patriarchal associations, and by\nthat picturesque scene (Joshua viii. 30-35), when the gathered nation,\nranged on the slopes of Ebal and Gerizim, listened to Joshua reading\n'all that Moses commanded.' There, too, the coffin of Joseph, which had\nbeen reverently carried all through the desert and the war, was laid in\nthe ground that Jacob had bought five hundred years ago, and which now\nhad fallen to Joseph's descendants, the tribe of Ephraim. There was\nanother reason for the selection of Shechem for this renewal of the\ncovenant. The gathered representatives of Israel stood, at Shechem, on\nthe very soil where, long ago, Abram had made his first resting-place\nas a stranger in the land, and had received the first divine pledge,\n'unto thy seed will I give this land,' and had piled beneath the oak of\nMoreh his first altar (of which the weathered stones might still be\nthere) to 'the Lord, who appeared unto him.' It was fitting that this\ncradle of the nation should witness their vow, as it witnessed the\nfulfilment of God's promise. What Plymouth Rock is to one side of the\nAtlantic, or Hastings Field to the other, Shechem was to Israel. Vows\nsworn there had sanctity added by the place. Nor did these remembrances\nexhaust the appropriateness of the site. The oak, which had waved green\nabove Abram's altar, had looked down on another significant incident in\nthe life of Jacob, when, in preparation for his journey to Bethel, he\nhad made a clean sweep of the idols of his household, and buried them\n'under the oak which was by Shechem' (Gen. xxxv. 2-4). His very words\nare quoted by Joshua in his command, in verse 23, and it is impossible\nto overlook the intention to parallel the two events. The spot which\nhad seen the earlier act of purification from idolatry was for that\nvery reason chosen for the later. It is possible that the same tree at\nwhose roots the idols from beyond the river, which Leah and Rachel had\nbrought, had been buried, was that under which Joshua set up his\nmemorial stone; and it is possible that the very stone had been part of\nAbram's altar. But, in any case, the place was sacred by these past\nmanifestations of God and devotions of the fathers, so that we need not\nwonder that Joshua selected it rather than Shiloh, where the ark was,\nfor the scene of this national oath of obedience. Patriotism and\ndevotion would both burn brighter in such an atmosphere. These\nconsiderations explain also the designation of the place as 'the\nsanctuary of the Lord,'--a phrase which has led some to think of the\nTabernacle, and apparently occasioned the Septuagint reading of\n'Shiloh' instead of 'Shechem' in verses 1 and 25. The precise rendering\nof the preposition in verse 26 (which the Revised Version has put in\nthe margin) shows that the Tabernacle is not meant; for how could the\noak-tree be 'in' the Tabernacle? Clearly, the open space, hallowed by\nso many remembrances, and by the appearance to Abram, was regarded as a\nsanctuary.\n\nThe earlier part of this chapter shows that the people, by their\nrepresentatives, responded with alacrity--which to Joshua seemed too\neager--to his charge, and enumerated with too facile tongues God's\ndeliverances and benefits. His ear must have caught some tones of\nlevity, if not of insincerity, in the lightly-made vow. So he meets it\nwith a douche of cold water in verses 19, 20, because he wishes to\ncondense vaporous resolutions into something more tangible and\npermanent. Cold, judiciously applied, solidifies. Discouragements,\nrightly put, encourage. The best way to deepen and confirm good\nresolutions which have been too swiftly and inconsiderately formed, is\nto state very plainly all the difficulty of keeping them. The hand that\nseems to repel, often most powerfully attracts. There is no better way\nof turning a somewhat careless 'we will' into a persistent 'nay, but we\n_will_' than to interpose a 'ye cannot.' Many a boy has been made a\nsailor by the stories of hardships which his parents have meant as\ndissuasives. Joshua here is doing exactly what Jesus Christ often did.\nHe refused glib vows because He desired whole hearts. His very longing\nthat men should follow Him made Him send them back to bethink\nthemselves when they promised to do it. 'Master, I will follow Thee\nwhithersoever Thou goest!' was answered by no recognition of the\nspeaker's enthusiasm, and by no word of pleasure or invitation, but by\nthe apparently cold repulse: 'Foxes have holes, birds of the air\nroosting-places; but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head. That\nis what you are offering to share. Do you stand to your words?' So,\nwhen once 'great multitudes' came to Him He turned on them, with no\ninvitation in His words, and told them the hard conditions of\ndiscipleship as being entire self-renunciation. He will have no\nsoldiers enlisted under false pretences. They shall know the full\ndifficulties and trials which they must meet; and if, knowing these,\nthey still are willing to take His yoke upon them, then how exuberant\nand warm the welcome which He gives!\n\nThere is a real danger that this side of the evangelist's work should\nbe overlooked in the earnestness with which the other side is done. We\ncannot be too emphatic in our reiteration of Christ's call to all the\n'weary and heavy-laden' to come unto Him, nor too confident in our\nassurance that whosoever comes will not be 'cast out'; but we may be,\nand, I fear, often are, defective in our repetition of Christ's demand\nfor entire surrender, and of His warning to intending disciples of what\nthey are taking upon them. We shall repel no true seeker by duly\nemphasising the difficulties of the Christian course. Perhaps, if there\nwere more plain speaking about these at the beginning, there would be\nfewer backsliders and dead professors with 'a name to live.' Christ ran\nthe risk of the rich ruler's going away sorrowful, and so should His\nmessengers do. The sorrow tells of real desire, and the departure will\nsooner or later be exchanged for return with a deeper and more thorough\npurpose, if the earlier wish had any substance in it. If it had not,\nbetter that the consciousness of its hollowness should be forced upon\nthe man, than that he should outwardly become what he is not really,--a\nChristian; for, in the one case, he may be led to reflection which may\nissue in thorough surrender; and in the other he will be a\nself-deceived deceiver, and probably an apostate.\n\nNote the special form of Joshua's warning. It turns mainly on two\npoints,--the extent of the obligations which they were so lightly\nincurring, and the heavy penalties of their infraction. As to the\nformer, the vow to 'serve the Lord' had been made, as he fears, with\nsmall consideration of what it meant. In heathenism, the 'service' of a\ngod is a mere matter of outward acts of so-called worship. There is\nabsolutely no connection between religion and morality in idolatrous\nsystems. The notion that the service of a god implies any duties in\ncommon life beyond ceremonial ones is wholly foreign to paganism in all\nits forms. The establishment of the opposite idea is wholly the\nconsequence of revelation. So we need not wonder if the pagan\nconception of service was here in the minds of the vowing assembly. If\nwe look at their vow, as recorded in verses 16-18, we see nothing in it\nwhich necessarily implies a loftier idea. Jehovah is their national\nGod, who has fought and conquered for them, therefore they will 'serve\nHim.' If we substitute Baal, or Chemosh, or Nebo, or Ra, for Jehovah,\nthis is exactly what we read on Moabite stones and Assyrian tablets and\nEgyptian tombs. The reasons for the service, and the service itself,\nare both suspiciously external. We are not judging the people more\nharshly than Joshua did; for he clearly was not satisfied with them,\nand the tone of his answer sufficiently shows what he thought wrong in\nthem. Observe that he does not call Jehovah 'your God.' He does so\nafterwards; but in this grave reply to their exuberant enthusiasm he\nspeaks of Him only as 'the Lord,' as if he would put stress on the\nmonotheistic conception, which, at all events, does not appear in the\npeople's words, and was probably dim in their thoughts. Then observe\nthat he broadly asserts the impossibility of their serving the Lord;\nthat is, of course, so long as they continued in their then tone of\nfeeling about Him and His service.\n\nThen observe the points in the character of God on which he dwells, as\nindicating the points which were left out of view by the people, and as\nfitted to rectify their notions of service. First, 'He is an holy God.'\nThe scriptural idea of the holiness of God has a wider sweep than we\noften recognise. It fundamentally means His supreme and inaccessible\nelevation above the creature; which, of course, is manifested in His\nperfect separation from all sin, but has not regard to this only.\nJoshua here urges the infinite distance between man and God, and\nespecially the infinite moral distance, in order to enforce a\nprofounder conception of what goes to God's service. A holy God cannot\nhave unholy worshippers. His service can be no mere ceremonial, but\nmust be the bowing of the whole man before His majesty, the aspiration\nof the whole man after His loftiness, the transformation of the whole\nman into the reflection of His purity, the approach of the unholy to\nthe Holy through a sacrifice which puts away sin.\n\nFurther, He is 'a jealous God.' 'Jealous' is an ugly word, with\nrepulsive associations, and its application to God has sometimes been\nexplained in ugly fashion, and has actually repelled men. But, rightly\nlooked at, what does it mean but that God desires our whole hearts for\nHis own, and loves us so much, and is so desirous to pour His love into\nus, that He will have no rivals in our love? The metaphor of marriage,\nwhich puts His love to men in the tenderest form, underlies this word,\nso harsh on the surface, but so gracious at the core.\n\nThere is still abundant need for Joshua's warning. We rejoice that it\ntakes so little to be a Christian that the feeblest and simplest act of\nfaith knits the soul to the all-forgiving Christ. But let us not forget\nthat, on the other hand, it is hard to be a Christian indeed; for it\nmeans 'forsaking all that we have,' and loving God with all our powers.\nThe measure of His love is the measure of His 'jealousy,' and He loves\nus no less than He did Israel. Unless our conceptions of His service\nare based upon our recognition of His holiness and demand for our all,\nwe, too, 'cannot serve the Lord.'\n\nThe other half of Joshua's warnings refers to the penalties of the\nbroken vows. These are put with extraordinary force. The declaration\nthat the sins of the servants of God would not be forgiven is not, of\ncourse, to be taken so as to contradict the whole teaching of\nScripture, but as meaning that the sins of His people cannot be left\nunpunished. The closer relation between God and them made retribution\ncertain. The law of Israel's existence, which its history ever since\nhas exemplified, was here laid down, that their prosperity depended on\ntheir allegiance, and that their nearness to Him ensured His\nchastisement for their sin. 'You only have I known of all the families\nof the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.'\n\nThe remainder of the incident must be briefly disposed of. These\nwarnings produced the desired effect; for Joshua did not seek to\nprevent, but to make more intelligent and firm, the people's\nallegiance. The resolve, repeated after fuller knowledge, is the best\nreward, as it is the earnest hope, of the faithful teacher, whose\napparent discouragements are meant to purify and deepen, not to\nrepress, the faintest wish to serve God. Having tested their sincerity,\nhe calls them to witness that their resolution is perfectly voluntary;\nand, on their endorsing it as their free choice, he requires the\nputting away of their 'strange gods,' and the surrender of their inward\nselves to Him who, by this their action as well as by His benefits,\nbecomes in truth 'the God of Israel.' Attempts have been made to evade\nthe implication that idolatry had crept in among the people; but there\ncan be no doubt of the plain, sad meaning of the words. They are a\nquotation of Jacob's, at the same spot, on a similar occasion centuries\nbefore. If there were no idols buried now under the old oak, it was not\nbecause there were none in Israel, but because they had not been\nbrought by the people from their homes. Joshua's commands are the\npractical outcome of his previous words. If God be 'holy' and\n'jealous,' serving Him must demand the forsaking of all other gods, and\nthe surrender of heart and self to Him. That is as true to-day as ever\nit was. The people accept the stringent requirement, and their repeated\nshout of obedience has a deeper tone than their first hasty utterance\nhad. They have learned what service means,--that it includes more than\nceremonies; and they are willing to obey His voice. Blessed those for\nwhom the plain disclosure of all that they must give up to follow Him,\nonly leads to the more assured and hearty response of willing surrender!\n\nThe simple but impressive ceremony which ratified the covenant thus\nrenewed consisted of two parts,--the writing of the account of the\ntransaction in 'the book of the law'; and the erection of a great\nstone, whose grey strength stood beneath the green oak, a silent\nwitness that Israel, by his own choice, after full knowledge of all\nthat the vow meant, had reiterated his vow to be the Lord's. Thus on\nthe spot made sacred by so many ancient memories, the people ended\ntheir wandering and homeless life, and passed into the possession of\nthe inheritance, through the portal of this fresh acceptance of the\ncovenant, proclaiming thereby that they held the land on condition of\nserving God, and writing their own sentence in case of unfaithfulness.\nIt was the last act of the assembled people, and the crown and close of\nJoshua's career.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF JUDGES\n\n\n\n\nA SUMMARY OF ISRAEL'S FAITHLESSNESS AND GOD'S PATIENCE\n\n'And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I\nmade you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land\nwhich I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my\ncovenant with you. 2. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants\nof this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed\nmy voice: why have ye done this? 3. Wherefore I also said, I will not\ndrive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your\nsides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. 4. And it came to\npass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the\nchildren of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 5.\nAnd they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed\nthere unto the Lord. 6. And when Joshua had let the people go, the\nchildren of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the\nland. 7. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all\nthe days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great\nworks of the Lord that He did for Israel. 8. And Joshua the son of Nun,\nthe servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. 9.\nAnd they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres,\nin the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. 10. And\nalso all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there\narose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet\nthe works which He had done for Israel.'--JUDGES II. 1-10.\n\n\nThe Book of Judges begins a new era, the development of the nation in\nits land. Chapters i. to iii. 6 contain two summaries: first, of the\nprogress of the conquest; and second, of the history about to be\nunfolded in the book. The first part of this passage (verses 1-5)\nbelongs to the former, and closes it; the second (verses 6-10)\nintroduces the latter, and contrasts it with the state of things\nprevailing as long as the soldiers of Joshua lived.\n\nI. 'The Angel of the Lord' had appeared to Joshua in Gilgal at the\nbeginning of the war, and issued his orders as 'Captain of the Lord's\nhost.' Now He reappears to ask why his orders had not been carried out,\nand to announce that victory was no longer to attend Israel's arms.\nNothing can be plainer than that the Angel speaks as one in whom the\ndivine name dwells. His reiterated 'I's' are incomprehensible on any\nother hypothesis than that He is that mysterious person, distinct from\nand yet one with Jehovah, whom we know as the 'Word made flesh.' His\nwords here are stern. He enumerates the favours which He had showed to\nIsrael, and which should have inspired them to glad obedience. He\nrecalls the conditions on which they had received the land; namely,\nthat they were to enter into no entangling alliances with the remnant\nof the inhabitants, and especially to have no tolerance for their\nidolatry. Here we may observe that, according to Joshua's last charge,\nthe extermination of the native peoples was not contemplated, but that\nthere should be no such alliances as would peril Israel's observance of\nthe covenant (Joshua xxiii. 7, 12). He charges them with disobedience,\nand asks the same question as had been asked of Eve, 'What is this ye\nhave done?' And He declares the punishment about to follow, in the\nparalysing of Israel's conquering arm by the withdrawal of His\nconquering might, and in the seductions from the native inhabitants to\nwhich they would fall victims.\n\nNote, then, how God's benefits aggravate our disobedience, and how He\nbases His right to command on them. Further, note how His promises are\ncontingent on our fulfilment of their conditions, and how a covenant\nwhich He has sworn that He will never break He does count as\nnon-existent when men break it. Again, observe the sharp arraignment of\nthe faithless, and the forcing of them to bethink themselves of the\ntrue character of their deeds, or, if we adopt the Revised Version's\nrendering, of the unreasonableness of departing from God. No man dare\nanswer when God asks, 'What hast thou done?' No man can answer\nreasonably when He asks, 'Why hast thou done it?' Once more, note that\nHis servants sin when they allow themselves to be so mixed up with the\nworld that they are in peril of learning its ways and getting a snare\nto their souls. We have all unconquered 'Canaanites' in our hearts, and\namity with them is supreme folly and crying wickedness. 'Thorough' must\nbe our motto. Many times have the conquered overcome their conquerors,\nas in Rome's conquest of Greece, the Goths' conquest of Rome, the\nNormans' conquest of England. Israel was in some respects conquered by\nCanaanites and other conquered tribes. Let us take care that we are not\novercome by our inward foes, whom we fancy we have subdued and can\nafford to treat leniently.\n\nAgain, God punishes our making truce with our spiritual foes by letting\nthe effects of the truce work themselves out. He said to Israel, in\neffect: 'If you make alliances with the people of the land, you shall\nno longer have power to cast them out. The swift rush of the stream of\nvictory shall be stayed. You have chosen to make them your friends, and\ntheir friendship shall produce its natural effects, of tempting you to\nimitation.' The increased power of our unsubdued evils is the\npunishment, as it is the result, of tolerance of them. We wanted to\nkeep them, and dreamed that we could control them. Keep them we shall,\ncontrol them we cannot. They will master us if we do not expel them. No\nwonder that the place was named Bochim ('Weepers'), when such stern\nwords were thundered forth. Tears flow easily; and many a sin is wept\nfor once, and afterwards repeated often. So it was with Israel, as the\nnarrative goes on to tell. Let us take the warning, and give heed to\nmake repentance deep and lasting.\n\nII. Verses 6-10 go back to an earlier period than the appearance of the\nAngel. We do not know how long the survivors of the conquering army\nlived in sufficient numbers to leaven opinion and practice. We may,\nhowever, roughly calculate that the youngest of these would be about\ntwenty when the war began, and that about fifty years would see the end\nof the host that had crossed Jordan and stormed Jericho. If Joshua was\nof about the same age as Caleb, he would be about eighty at the\nbeginning of the conquest, and lived thirty years afterwards, so that\nabout twenty years after his death would be the limit of 'the elders\nthat outlived Joshua.'\n\nVerses 6-9 substantially repeat Joshua xxiv. 28-31, and are here\ninserted to mark not only the connection with the former book, but to\nindicate the beginning of a new epoch. The facts narrated in this\nparagraph are but too sadly in accord with the uniform tendencies of\nour poor weak nature. As long as some strong personality leads a nation\nor a church, it keeps true to its early fervour. The first generation\nwhich has lived through some great epoch, when God's arm has been made\nbare, retains the impression of His power. But when the leader falls,\nit is like withdrawing a magnet, and the heap of iron filings tumbles\nback to the ground inert. Think of the post-Apostolic age of the\nChurch, of Germany in the generation after Luther, not to come nearer\nhome, and we must see that Israel's experience was an all but universal\none. It is hard to keep a community even of professing Christians on\nthe high level. No great cause is ever launched which does not lose\n'way' as it continues. 'Having begun in the Spirit,' all such are too\napt to continue 'in the flesh.' The original impulses wane, friction\nbegins to tell. Custom clogs the wheels. The fiery lava-stream cools\nand slackens. So it always has been. Therefore God has to change His\ninstruments, and churches need to be shaken up, and sometimes broken\nup, 'lest one good,' when it has degenerated into 'custom,' should\n'corrupt the world.'\n\nBut we shall miss the lesson here taught if we do not apply it to\ntendencies in ourselves, and humbly recognise that we are in danger of\nbeing 'hindered,' however 'well' we may have begun to 'run,' and that\nour only remedy is to renew continually our first-hand vision of 'the\ngreat works of the Lord,' and our consecration to His service. It is a\npoor affair if, like Israel, our devotion to God depends on Joshua's\nlife, or, like King Joash, we do that which is 'right in the eyes of\nthe Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.'\n\n\n\n\nISRAEL'S OBSTINACY AND GOD'S PATIENCE\n\n'And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and\nserved Baalim; 12. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers,\nwhich brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods,\nof the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed\nthemselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. 13. And they\nforsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 14. And the anger of\nthe Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands\nof spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their\nenemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before\ntheir enemies. 15. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord\nwas against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had\nsworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. 16. Nevertheless the\nLord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those\nthat spoiled them. 17. And yet they would not hearken unto their\njudges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves\nunto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers\nwalked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.\n18. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the\njudge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days\nof the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings, by\nreason of them that oppressed them, and vexed them. 19. And it came to\npass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted\nthemselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve\nthem, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings,\nnor from their stubborn way. 20. And the anger of the Lord was hot\nagainst Israel; and He said, Because that this people hath transgressed\nMy covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened\nunto My voice; 21. I also will not henceforth drive out any from before\nthem of the nations which Joshua left when he died: 22. That through\nthem I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord, to\nwalk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. 23. Therefore the\nLord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither\ndelivered He them into the hand of Joshua.'--JUDGES ii. 11-23.\n\n\nThis passage sums up the Book of Judges, and also the history of Israel\nfor over four hundred years. Like the overture of an oratorio, it\nsounds the main themes of the story which follows. That story has four\nchapters, repeated with dreary monotony over and over again. They are:\nRelapse into idolatry, retribution, respite and deliverance, and brief\nreturn to God. The last of these phases soon passes into fresh relapse,\nand then the old round is gone all over again, as regularly as the\nwhite and red lights and the darkness reappear in a revolving\nlighthouse lantern, or the figures recur in a circulating decimal\nfraction. That sad phrase which begins this lesson, 'The children of\nIsrael did evil in the sight of the Lord,' is repeated at the beginning\nof each new record of apostacy, on which duly follow, as outlined here,\nthe oppression by the enemy, the raising up of a deliverer, the gleam\nof brightness which dies with him, and then, _da capo_, 'the children\nof Israel did evil,' and all the rest as before. The names change, but\nthe incidents are the same. There is something extremely impressive in\nthis uniformity of the plan of the book, which thus sets in so strong\nlight the persistence through generations of the same bad strain in the\nnation's blood, and the unwearying patience of God. The story of these\nsuccessive recurrences of the same sequence of events occupies the book\nto the end of chapter xvi., and the remainder of it is taken up with\ntwo wild stories deeply stained with the lawlessness and moral laxity\nof these anarchic times. We may best bring out the force of this\nsummary by considering in their order the four stages signalised.\n\nI. The first is the continual tendency to relapse into idolatry. The\nfact itself, and the frank prominence given to it in the Old Testament,\nare both remarkable. As to the latter, certainly, if the Old Testament\nhistories have the same origin as the chronicles of other nations, they\npresent most anomalous features. Where do we find any other people\nwhose annals contain nothing that can minister to national vanity, and\nhave for one of their chief themes the sins of the nation? The history\nof Israel, as told in Scripture, is one long indictment of Israel. The\npeculiarity is explicable, if we believe that, whoever or how numerous\nsoever its authors, God was its true Author, as He is its true theme,\nand that the object of its histories is not to tell the deeds of\nIsrael, but those of God for Israel.\n\nAs to the fact of the continual relapses into idolatry, nothing could\nbe more natural than that the recently received and but imperfectly\nassimilated revelation of the one God, with its stringent requirements\nof purity, and its severe prohibition of idols, should easily slip off\nfrom these rude and merely outward worshippers. Joshua's death without\na successor, the dispersion of the tribes, the difficulty of\ncommunication when much of the country was still in the hands of its\nformer possessors, would all weaken the sense of unity, which was too\nrecent to be firm, and would expose the isolated Israelites to the full\nforce of the temptation to idolatry. It is difficult for us fairly to\njudge the immense strain required for resistance to it. The conception\nof one sole God was too high to be easily retained. A shrine without a\ndeity seemed bare and empty. The Law stringently bridled passions which\nthe hideous worship of the Canaanites stimulated. No wonder that, when\nthe first generation of the conquerors had passed away, their\nsuccessors lapsed into the universal polytheism, with its attendant\nidolatry and immorality. Instead of thinking of the Israelites as\nmonsters of ingratitude and backsliding, we come nearer the truth, and\nmake a better use of the history, when we see in it a mirror which\nshows us our own image. The strong earthward pull is ever acting on us,\nand, unless God hold us up, we too shall slide downwards. 'Hath a\nnation changed their gods, which yet are no gods? but My people hath\nchanged their glory for that which doth not profit.' Idolatry and\nworldliness are persistent; for they are natural. Firm adherence to God\nis less common, because it goes against the strong forces, within and\nwithout, which bind us to earth.\n\nApparently the relapses into idolatry did not imply the entire\nabandonment of the worship of Jehovah, but the worship of Baalim and\nAshtaroth along with it. Such illegitimate mixing up of deities was\naccordant with the very essence of polytheism, and repugnant to that of\nthe true worship of God. The one may be tolerant, the other cannot be.\nTo unite Baal with Jehovah was to forsake Jehovah.\n\nThese continual relapses have an important bearing on the question of\nthe origin of the 'Jewish conception of God.' They are intelligible\nonly if we take the old-fashioned explanation, that its origin was a\ndivine revelation, given to a rude people. They are unintelligible if\nwe take the new-fashioned explanation that the monotheism of Israel was\nthe product of natural evolution, or was anything but a treasure put by\nGod into their hands, which they did not appreciate, and would\nwillingly have thrown away. The foul Canaanitish worship was the kind\nof thing in which, if left to themselves, they would have wallowed. How\ncame such people by such thoughts as these? The history of Israel's\nidolatry is not the least conclusive proof of the supernatural\nrevelation which made Israel's religion.\n\nII. Note the swift-following retribution. We have two sections in the\ncontext dealing with this, each introduced by that terrible phrase,\nwhich recurs so often in the subsequent parts of the book, 'The anger\nof the Lord was kindled against Israel.' That phrase is no sign of a\nlower conception of God than that which the gospel brings. Wrath is an\nintegral part of love, when the lover is perfectly righteous and the\nloved are sinful. The most terrible anger is the anger of perfect\ngentleness, as expressed in that solemn paradox of the Apostle of love,\nwhen he speaks of 'the wrath of the Lamb.' God was angry with Israel\nbecause He loved them, and desired their love for their own good. The\nfact of His choice of the nation for His own and the intensity of His\nlove were shown no less by the swift certainty with which suffering\ndogged sin, than by the blessings which crowned obedience. The first\nsection, referring to the punishment, is in verses 14 and 15, which\nseems to describe mainly the defeats and plunderings which outside\nsurrounding nations inflicted. The brief description is extraordinarily\nenergetic. It ascribes all their miseries to God's direct act. He\n'delivered' them over, or, as the next clause says still more strongly,\n'sold' them, to plunderers, who stripped them bare. Their defeats were\nthe result of His having thus ceased to regard them as His. But though\nHe had 'sold' them, He had not done with them; for it was not only the\nfoeman's hand that struck them, but God's 'hand was against them,' and\nits grip crushed them. His judgments were not occasional, but\ncontinuous, and went with them 'whithersoever they went out.'\nEverything went wrong with them; there were no gleams breaking the\nblack thunder-cloud. God's anger darkened the whole sky, and blasted\nthe whole earth. And the misery was the more miserable and awful\nbecause it had all been foretold, and in it God was but doing 'as He\nhad said' and sworn. It is a dreadful picture of the all-withering\neffect of God's anger,--a picture which is repeated in inmost verity in\nmany an outwardly prosperous life to-day.\n\nThe second section is in verses 20-23, and describes the consequence of\nIsrael's relapse in reference to the surviving Canaanite and other\ntribes in the land itself. Note that 'nation' in verse 20 is the term\nusually applied, not to Israel, but to the Gentile peoples; and that\nits use here seems equivalent to cancelling the choice of Israel as\nGod's special possession, and reducing them to the level of the other\nnations in Canaan, to whom the same term is applied in verse 21. The\nstern words which are here put into the mouth of God may possibly refer\nto the actual message recorded in the first verses of the chapter; but,\nmore probably, 'the Lord said' does not here mean any divine\ncommunication, but only the divine resolve, conceived as spoken to\nhimself. It embodies the divine _lex talionis_. The punishment is\nanalogous to the crime. Israel had broken the covenant; God would not\nkeep His promise. That involves a great principle as to all God's\npromises,--that they are all conditional, and voidable by men's failure\nto fulfil their conditions. Observe, too, that the punishment is the\nretention of the occasions of the sin. Is not that, too, a law of the\ndivine procedure to-day? Whips to scourge us are made of our pleasant\nvices. Sin is the punishment of sin. If we yield to some temptation,\npart of the avenging retribution is that the temptation abides by us,\nand has power over us. The 'Canaanites' whom we have allowed to lead us\nastray will stay beside us when their power to seduce us is done, and\nwill pull off their masks and show themselves for what they are, our\nspoilers and foes.\n\nThe rate of Israel's conquest was determined by Israel's faithful\nadherence to God. That is a standing law. Victory for us in all the\ngood fight of life depends on our cleaving to Him, and forsaking all\nother.\n\nThe divine motive, if we may so say, in leaving the unsubdued nations\nin the land, was to provide the means of proving Israel. Would it not\nhave been better, since Israel was so weak, to secure for it an\nuntempted period? Surely, it is a strange way of helping a man who has\nstumbled, to make provision that future occasions of stumbling shall\nlie in his path. But so the perfect wisdom which is perfect love ever\nordains. There shall be no unnatural greenhouse shelter provided for\nweak plants. The liability to fall imposes the necessity of trial, but\nthe trial does not impose the necessity of falling! The Devil tempts,\nbecause he hopes that we shall fall. God tries, in order that we may\nstand, and that our feet may be strengthened by the trial. 'I cannot\npraise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed,\nthat never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the\nrace, where that immortal garland is to be run for,--not without dust\nand heat.'\n\nIII. Respite and deliverance are described in verses 16 and 18. The\nRevised Version has wisely substituted a simple 'and' for\n'nevertheless' at the beginning of verse 16. The latter word implies\nthat the raising up of the judges was a reversal of what had gone\nbefore; 'and' implies that it was a continuation. And its use here is\nnot merely an instance of inartificial Hebrew style, but carries the\nlesson that God's judgment and deliverance come from the same source,\nand are harmonious parts of one educational process. Nor is this\nthought negatived by the statement in verse 18 that 'it repented the\nLord.' That strong metaphorical ascription to Him of human emotion\nsimply implies that His action, which of necessity is the expression of\nHis will, was changed. The will of the moment before had been to\npunish; the will of the next moment was to deliver, because their\n'groaning' showed that the punishment had done its work. But the two\nwills were one in ultimate purpose, and the two sets of acts were\nequally and harmoniously parts of one design. The surgeon is carrying\nout one plan when he cuts deep into the quivering flesh, and when he\nsews up the wounds which he himself has made. God's deliverances are\nlinked to His chastisements by 'and,' not by 'nevertheless.' We need\nnot discuss that remarkable series of judges, who were champions rather\nthan the peaceful functionaries whom we understand by the name. The\nvivid and stirring stories associated with their names make the bulk of\nthis book, and move the most peace-loving among us like the sound of a\ntrumpet. These wild warriors, with many a roughness and flaw in their\ncharacters, of whom no saintly traits are recorded, are yet treated in\nthis section as directly inspired, and as continually upheld by God.\nThe writer of the _Epistle to the Hebrews_ claims some of them as\nheroes of 'faith.' And one chief lesson for us to learn, as we look on\nthe strange garb in which in them faith has arrayed itself, and the\nstrange work which it does in nerving hands to strike with sharp\nswords, is the oneness of the principle amid the most diverse\nmanifestations, and the nobleness and strength which the sense of\nbelonging to God and reliance on His help breathe into the rudest life\nand shed over the wildest scenes.\n\nThese judges were raised up indiscriminately from different tribes.\nThey belonged to different ranks, and were of different occupations.\nOne of them was a woman. The when and the where and the how of their\nappearance were incalculable. They authenticated their commission by no\nmiracles except victory. For a time they started to the front, and then\npassed, leaving no successors, and founding no dynasty. They were an\nentirely unique order, plainly raised up by God, and drawing all their\npower from Him. Let us be thankful for the weaknesses, and even sins,\nrecorded of some of them, and for the boldness with which the book\ntraces the physical strength of a Samson, in spite of his wild\nanimalism, and the bravery of a Jephthah, notwithstanding his savage\nvow and subsequent lapse into idolatry, to God's inspiration. Their\nfaith was limited, and acted but imperfectly on their moral nature; but\nit was true faith, in the judgment of the _Epistle to the Hebrews_.\nTheir work was rough and bloody, and they were rough tools, as such\nwork needed; but it was God's work, and He had made them for His\ninstruments, in the judgment of the Book of _Judges_. If we try to\nunderstand the reasons for such judgments, we may learn some useful\nlessons.\n\nIV. A word only can be given to the last stage in the dreary round. It\ncomes back to the first. The religion of the delivered people lasted as\nlong as the judge's life. When he died, it died. There is intense\nbitterness in the remark to that effect in verse 19. Did God then die\nwith the judge? Was it Samson, or Jehovah, that had delivered? Why\nshould the death of the instrument affect gratitude to the hand that\ngave it its edge? What a lurid light is thrown back on the unreality of\nthe people's return to God by their swift relapse! If it needed a human\nhand to keep them from departing, had they ever come near? We may press\nthe questions on ourselves; for none of us knows how much of our\nreligion is owing to the influence of men upon us, or how much of it\nwould drop away if we were left to ourselves.\n\nThis miserable repetition of the same weary round of sin, punishment,\nrespite, and renewed sin, sets in a strong light the two great wonders\nof man's obstinate persistency in unfaithfulness and sin, and of God's\nunwearied persistency in discipline and patient forgiveness. His\ncharity 'suffers long and is kind, is not easily provoked.' We can\nweary out all forbearance but His, which is endless. We weary Him\nindeed, but we do not weary Him out, with our iniquities. Man's sin\nstretches far; but God's patient love overlaps it. It lasts long; but\nGod's love is eternal. It resists miracles of chastisement and love;\nbut He does not cease His use of the rod and the staff. We can tire out\nall other forbearance, but not His. And however old and obstinate our\nrebellion, He waits to pardon, and smites but to heal.\n\n\n\n\nRECREANT REUBEN\n\n\n'Why satest then among the sheepfolds, to hear the pipings for the\nflocks? At the watercourses of Reuben there were great searchings of\nheart.'--JUDGES v. 16 (R.V.).\n\n\nI. The fight.\n\nThe warfare is ever repeated, though in new forms. In the highest form\nit is Christ _versus_ the World, And that conflict must be fought out\nin our own souls first. Our religion should lead not only to accept and\nrely on what Christ does for us, but to do and dare for Christ. He has\ngiven Himself for us, and has thereby won the right to recruit us as\nHis soldiers. We have to fight against ourselves to establish His reign\nover ourselves.\n\nAnd then we have to give our personal service in the great battle for\nright and truth, for establishing the kingdom of heaven on earth. There\ncome national crises when every man must take up arms, but in Christ's\nkingdom that is a permanent obligation. There the nation is the army.\nEach subject is not only His servant but His soldier. The metaphor is\nwell worn, but it carries everlasting truth, and to take it seriously\nto heart would revolutionise our lives.\n\nII. The reason for standing aloof. Reuben 'abode in the sheepfolds to\nhear the pipings to the flocks.' For Dan his ships, for Asher his\nhavens held them apart. Reuben and the other trans-Jordanic tribes held\nloosely by the national unity. They had fallen in love with an easy\nlife of pastoral wealth, they did not care to venture anything for the\nnational good. It is still too true that like reasons are largely\noperative in producing like results. It is seldom from the wealthy and\nleisurely classes that the bold fighters for great social reformations\nare recruited. Times of commercial prosperity are usually times of\nstagnation in regard to these. Reuben lies lazily listening to the\n'drowsy tinklings' that 'lull' not only 'the distant folds' but himself\nto inglorious slumber, while Zebulon and Naphtali are 'venturing their\nlives on the high places of the field.' The love of ease enervates many\na one who should be doing valiantly for the 'Captain of his salvation.'\nThe men of Reuben cared more for their sheep than for their nation.\nThey were not minded to hazard these by listening to Deborah's call.\nAnd what their flocks were to that pastoral tribe, their business is to\nshoals of professing Christians. The love of the world depletes the\nranks of Christ's army, and they are comparatively few who stick by the\ncolours and are 'ready, aye ready' for service, as the brave motto of\none English regiment has it. The lives of multitudes of so-called\nChristians are divided between strained energy in their business or\ntrade or profession and self-regarding repose. No doubt competition is\nfierce, and, no doubt, a Christian man is bound, 'whatsoever his hand\nfinds to do, to do it with his might,' and, no doubt, rest is as much a\nduty as work. But must not loyalty to Jesus have become tepid, if a\nservant of His has so little interest in the purposes for which He gave\nHis life that he can hear no call to take active part in promoting\nthem, nor find rest in the work by which he becomes a fellow-worker\nwith his Lord?\n\nIII. The recreant's brave resolves which came to nothing. The indignant\nquestion of our text is, as it were, framed between two clauses which\ncontrast Reuben's indolent holding aloof with his valorous resolves.\n'By the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart.' ...\n'At the watercourses of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.'\nResolves came first, but they were not immediately acted on, and as the\nReubenites sate among the sheepfolds and felt the charm of their\npeaceful lives, the 'native hue of resolution was sicklied o'er,' and\ndoubts of the wisdom of their gallant determination crept in, and their\nvalour oozed out. And so for all their fine resolves, they had no share\nin the fight nor in the triumph.\n\nSo let us lay the warning of that example to heart, and if we are\nstirred by noble impulses to take our place in the ranks of the\nfighters for God, let us act on these at once. Emotions evaporate very\nsoon if they are not used to drive the wheels of conduct. The Psalmist\nwas wise who 'delayed not, but made haste and delayed not to keep God's\ncommandments.' Many a man has over and over again resolved to serve God\nin some specific fashion, and to enlist in the 'effective force' of\nChrist's army, and has died without ever having done it.\n\nIV. The question in the hour of victory. 'Why?'\n\nDeborah asks it with vehement contempt.\n\nThat victory is certain. Are _you_ to have part in it?\n\nThe question will be asked on the judgment day by Christ, and by our\nown consciences. 'And he was speechless.'\n\nTo be neutral is to be on the side of the enemy, against whom the\n'stars fight,' and whom Kishon sweeps away.\n\n'Who is on the Lord's side?'--Who?\n\n\n\n\n'ALL THINGS ARE YOURS'\n\n'They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against\nSisera.'--JUDGES v. 20.\n\n\n'For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the\nbeasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.'--Job v. 23.\n\nThese two poetical fragments present the same truth on opposite sides.\nThe first of them comes from Deborah's triumphant chant. The singer\nidentifies God with the cause of Israel, and declares that heaven\nitself fought against those who fought against God's people. There may\nbe an allusion to the tempest which Jewish tradition tells us burst\nover the ranks of the enemy, or there may be some trace of ancient\nastrological notions, or the words may simply be an elevated way of\nsaying that Heaven fought for Israel. The silent stars, as they swept\non their paths through the sky, advanced like an avenging host\nembattled against the foes of Israel and of God. All things fight\nagainst the man who fights against God.\n\nThe other text gives the other side of the same truth. One of Job's\nfriends is rubbing salt into his wounds by insisting on the\ncommonplace, which needs a great many explanations and limitations\nbefore it can be accepted as true, that sin is the cause of sorrow, and\nthat righteousness brings happiness; and in the course of trying to\nestablish this heartless thesis to a heavy heart he breaks into a\nstrain of the loftiest poetry in describing the blessedness of the\nrighteous. All things, animate and inanimate, are upon his side. The\nground, which Genesis tells us is 'cursed for his sake,' becomes his\nally, and the very creatures whom man's sin set at enmity against him\nare at peace with him. All things are the friends and servants of him\nwho is the friend and servant of God.\n\nI. So, putting these two texts together, we have first the great\nconviction to which religion clings, that God being on our side all\nthings are for us, and not against us.\n\nNow, that is the standing faith of the Old Testament, which no doubt\nwas more easily held in those days, because, if we accept its teaching,\nwe shall recognise that Israel lived under a system in so far\nsupernatural as that moral goodness and material prosperity were a\ngreat deal more closely and indissolubly connected than they are\nto-day. So, many a psalmist and many a prophet breaks out into\napostrophes, warranted by the whole history of Israel, and declaring\nhow blessed are the men who, apart from all other defences and sources\nof prosperity, have God for their help and Him for their hope.\n\nBut we are not to dismiss this conviction as belonging only to a system\nwhere the supernatural comes in, as it does in the Old Testament\nhistory, and as antiquated under a dispensation such as that in which\nwe live. For the New Testament is not a whit behind the Old in\ninsisting upon this truth. 'All things work together for good to them\nthat love God.' 'All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ\nis God's.' 'Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that\nwhich is good?' The New Testament is committed to the same conviction\nas that to which the faith of Old Testament saints clung as the sheet\nanchor of their lives.\n\nThat conviction cannot be struck out of the creed of any man, who\nbelieves in the God to whom the Old and the New Testament alike bear\nwitness. For it rests upon this plain principle, that all this great\nuniverse is not a chaos, but a cosmos, that all these forces and\ncreatures are not a rabble, but an ordered host.\n\nWhat is the meaning of that great Name by which, from of old, God in\nHis relations to the whole universe has been described--the 'Lord of\nHosts'? Who are the 'hosts' of which He is 'the Lord,' and to whom, as\nthe centurion said, He says to this one, 'Go!' and he goeth; and to\nanother, 'Come!' and he cometh; and to another, 'Do this!' and he doeth\nit? Who are 'the hosts'? Not only these beings who are dimly revealed\nto us as rational and intelligent, who 'excel in strength,' because\nthey 'hearken to the voice of His word', but in the ranks of that great\narmy are also embattled all the forces of the universe, and all things\nliving or dead. 'All are Thy servants; they continue this day'--angels,\nstars, creatures of earth--' according to Thine ordinances.'\n\nAnd if it be true that the All is an ordered whole, which is obedient\nto the touch and to the will of that divine Commander, then all His\nservants must be on the same side, and cannot turn their arms against\neach other. As an old hymn says with another reference--\n\n               'All the servants of our King\n                In heaven and earth are one,'\n\nand none of them can injure, wound, or slay a fellow-servant. If all\nare travelling in the same direction there can be no collision. If all\nare enlisted under the same standard they can never turn their weapons\nagainst each other. If God sways all things, then all things which God\nsways must be on the side of the men that are on the side of God. 'Thou\nshalt make a league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the\nfield shall be at peace with thee.'\n\nII, Note the difficulties arising from experience, in the way of\nholding fast by this conviction of faith.\n\nThe grim facts of the world, seen from their lowest level, seem to\nshatter it to atoms. Talk about 'the stars in their courses fighting'\nfor or against anybody! In one aspect it is superstition, in another\naspect it is a dream and an illusion. The prose truth is that they\nshine down silent, pitiless, cold, indifferent, on battlefields or on\npeaceful homes; and the moonlight is as pure when it falls upon broken\nhearts as when it falls upon glad ones. Nature is utterly indifferent\nto the moral or the religious character of its victims. It goes on its\nway unswerving and pitiless; and whether the man who stands in its path\nis good or bad matters not. If he gets into a typhoon he will be\nwrecked; if he tumbles over Niagara he will be drowned. And what\nbecomes of all the talk about an embattled universe on the side of\ngoodness, in the face of the plain facts of life--of nature's\nindifference, nature's cruelty which has led some men to believe in two\nsovereign powers, one beneficent and one malicious, and has led others\nto say, 'God is a superfluous hypothesis, and to believe in Him brings\nmore enigmas than it solves,' and has led still others to say, 'Why, if\nthere _is_ a God, does it look as if either He was not all-powerful, or\nwas not all-merciful?' Nature has but ambiguous evidence to give in\nsupport of this conviction.\n\nThen, if we turn to what we call Providence and its mysteries, the very\nbook of Job, from which my second text is taken, is one of the earliest\nattempts to grapple with the difficulty and to untie the knot; and I\nsuppose everybody will admit that, whatever may be the solution which\nis suggested by that enigmatical book, the solution is by no means a\ncomplete one, though it is as complete as the state of religious\nknowledge at the time at which the book was written made possible to be\nattained. The seventy-third psalm shows that even in that old time\nwhen, as I have said, supernatural sanctions were introduced into the\nordinary dealings of life, the difficulties that cropped up were great\nenough to bring a devout heart to a stand, and to make the Psalmist\nsay, 'My feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped.'\nProvidence, with all its depths and mysteries, often to our aching\nhearts seems in our own lives to contradict the conviction, and when we\nlook out over the sadness of humanity, still more does it seem\nimpossible for us to hold fast by the faith 'that all which we behold\nis full of blessings.'\n\nI doubt not that there are many of ourselves whose lives, shadowed,\ndarkened, hemmed in, perplexed, or made solitary for ever, seem to them\nto be hard to reconcile with this cheerful faith upon which I am trying\nto insist. Brethren, cling to it even in the darkness. Be sure of this,\nthat amongst all our mercies there are none more truly merciful than\nthose which come to us shrouded in dark garments, and in questionable\nshapes. Let nothing rob us of the confidence that 'all things work\ntogether for good.'\n\nIII. I come, lastly, to consider the higher form in which this\nconviction is true for ever.\n\nI have said that the facts of life seem often to us, and are felt often\nby some of us, to shatter it to atoms; to riddle it through and through\nwith shot. But, if we bring the Pattern-life to bear upon the\nillumination of all life, and if we learn the lessons of the Cradle and\nthe Cross, and rise to the view of human life which emerges from the\nexample of Jesus Christ, then we get back the old conviction,\ntransfigured indeed, but firmer than ever. We have to alter the point\nof view. Everything always depends on the point of view. We have to\nalter one or two definitions. Definitions come first in geometry and in\neverything else. Get _them_ right, and you will get your theorems and\nproblems right.\n\nSo, looking at life in the light of Christ, we have to give new\ncontents to the two words 'good' and 'evil,' and a new meaning to the\ntwo words 'for' and 'against.' And when we do that, then the\ndifficulties straighten themselves out, and there are not any more\nknots, but all is plain; and the old faith of the Old Testament, which\nreposed very largely upon abnormal and extraordinary conditions of\nlife, comes back in a still nobler form, as possible to be held by us\namidst the commonplace of our daily existence.\n\nFor everything is my friend, is for me and not against me, that helps\nme nearer to God. To live for Him, to live with Him, to be conscious\never of communion with Himself, to feel the touch of His hand on my\nhand, and the pressure of His breast against mine, at all moments of my\nlife, is my true and the highest good. And if it is true that the\n'river of the water of life' which 'flows from the Throne of God' is\nthe only draught that can ever satisfy the immortal thirst of a soul,\nthen whatever drives me away from the cisterns and to the fountain, is\non my side. Better to dwell in a 'dry and thirsty land, where no water\nis,' if it makes me long for the water that rises at the gate of the\ntrue Bethlehem--the house of bread--than to dwell in a land flowing\nwith milk and honey, and well watered in every part! If the cup that I\nwould fain lift to my lips has poison in it, or if its sweetness is\nmaking me lose my relish for the pure and tasteless river that flows\nfrom the Throne of God, there can be no truer friend than that\ncalamity, as men call it, which strikes the cup from my hands, and\nshivers the glass before I have raised it to my lips. Everything is my\nfriend that helps me towards God.\n\nEverything is my friend that leads me to submission and obedience. The\njoy of life, and the perfection of human nature, is an absolutely\nsubmitted will, identified with the divine, both in regard to doing and\nto enduring. And whatever tends to make my will flexible, so that it\ncorresponds to all the sinuosities, so to speak, of the divine will,\nand fits into all its bends and turns, is a blessing to me. Raw hides,\nstiff with dirt and blood, are put into a bath of bitter infusion of\noak-bark. What for? For the same end as, when they are taken out, they\nare scraped with sharp steels,--that they may become flexible. When\nthat is done the useless hide is worth something.\n\n            'Our wills are ours, we know not how;\n             Our wills are ours, to make them Thine.'\n\nAnd whatever helps me to that is my friend.\n\nEverything is a friend to the man that loves God, in a far sweeter and\ndeeper sense than it can ever be to any other. Like a sudden burst of\nsunshine upon a gloomy landscape, the light of union with God and\nfriendship with Him flooding my daily life flashes it all up into\nbrightness. The dark ribbon of the river that went creeping through the\nblack copses, when the sun glints upon it, gleams up into links of\nsilver, and the trees by its bank blaze out into green and gold.\nBrethren! 'Who follows pleasure follows pain'; who follows God finds\npleasure following him. There can be no surer way to set the world\nagainst me than to try to make it for me, and to make it my all They\ntell us that if you want to count those stars that 'like a swarm of\nfire-flies tangled in a silver braid' make up the Pleiades, the surest\nway to see the greatest number of them is to look a little on one side\nof them. Look away from the joys and friendships of creatural things\nright up to God, and you will see these sparkling and dancing in the\nskies, as you never see them when you gaze at them only. Make them\nsecond and they are good and on your side. Make them first, and they\nwill turn to be your enemies and fight against you.\n\nThis conviction will be established still more irrefragably and\nwonderfully in that future. Nothing lasts but goodness. 'He that doeth\nthe will of God abideth for ever.' To oppose it is like stretching a\npiece of pack-thread across the rails before the express comes; or\nputting up some thin wooden partition on the beach on one of the\nWestern Hebrides, exposed to the whole roll of the Atlantic, which will\nbe battered into ruin by the first winter's storm. Such is the end of\nall those who set themselves against God.\n\nBut there comes a future in which, as dim hints tell us, these texts of\nours shall receive a fulfilment beyond that realised in the present\ncondition of things. 'Then comes the statelier Eden back to man,' and\nin a renewed and redeemed earth 'they shall not hurt nor destroy in all\nMy holy mountain'; and the ancient story will be repeated in higher\nform. The servants shall be like the Lord who, when He had conquered\ntemptation, 'was with the wild beasts' that forgot their enmity, and\n'angels ministered unto Him.' That scene in the desert may serve as a\nprophecy of the future when, under conditions of which we know nothing,\nall God's servants shall, even more markedly and manifestly than here,\nhelp each other; and every man that loves God will find a friend in\nevery creature.\n\nIf we take Him for our Commander, and enlist ourselves in that\nembattled host, then all weathers will be good; 'stormy winds,\nfulfilling His word,' will blow us to our port; 'the wilderness will\nrejoice and blossom as the rose'; and the whole universe will be\nradiant with the light of His presence, and ringing with the music of\nHis voice. But if we elect to join the other army--for there is another\narmy, and men have wills that enable them to lift themselves up against\nGod, the Ruler of all things--then the old story, from which my first\ntext is taken, will fulfil itself again in regard to us--'the stars in\ntheir courses will fight against' us; and Sisera, lying stiff and\nstark, with Jael's tent-peg through his temples, and the swollen\ncorpses being swirled down to the stormy sea by 'that ancient river,\nthe river Kishon,' will be a grim parable of the end of the men that\nset themselves against God, and so have the universe against them.\n'Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.'\n\n\n\n\nLOVE MAKES SUNS 'Let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth\nforth in his might.' JUDGES V. 51.\n\n\nThese are the closing words of Deborah, the great warrior-prophetess of\nIsrael. They are in singular contrast with the tone of fierce\nenthusiasm for battle which throbs through the rest of the chant, and\nwith its stern approval of the deed of Jael when she slew Sisera. Here,\nin its last notes, we have an anticipation of the highest and best\ntruths of the Gospel. 'Let them that love Him be as the sun when he\ngoeth forth in His might.' If we think of the singer, of the age and\nthe occasion of the song, such purely spiritual, lofty words must seem\nvery remarkable.\n\nI. Note, then, first of all, how here we have a penetrating insight\ninto the essence of religion.\n\nThis woman had been nourished upon a more or less perfect edition of\nwhat we know as the 'Mosaic Law.' Her faith had been fed by forms. She\nmoved amidst a world full of the cruelties and dark conceptions of a\nmysterious divine power which torture heathenism apart from\nChristianity. She had forced her way through all that, and laid hold of\nthe vital centre. And there, a way out amidst cruelty and murder,\namidst the unutterable abominations and terrors of heathenism, in the\ncentre of a rigid system of ceremonial and retaliation, the woman's\nheart spoke out, and taught her what was the great commandment.\nProphetess she was, fighter she was, she could burst into triumphant\napproval of Jael's bloody deed; and yet with the same lips could speak\nthis profound word. She had learned that 'Thou shalt _love_ the Lord\nthy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy\nstrength, and with all thy mind,' summed up all duty, and was the\nbeginning of all good in man. That precept found an echo in her heart.\nWhatever part in her religious development may have been played by the\nexternalisms of ceremonial, she had pierced to the core of religion.\nAdvanced modern critics admit the antiquity of Deborah's song, and this\nclosing stanza witnesses to the existence, at that early period, of a\nhighly spiritual conception of the bond between God and man. Deborah\nhad got as far, in a moment of exaltation and insight, as the teaching\nof the Apostle John, although her thought was strangely blended with\nthe fierceness of the times in which she lived. Her approval of Jael's\ndeed by no means warrants our approving it, but we may thankfully see\nthat though she felt the fierce throbbing of desire for vengeance, she\nalso felt this--'Them that _love_ Him; that is the Alpha and the Omega\nof all.'\n\nOur love must depend on our knowledge. Deborah's knowledge was a mere\nskeleton outline as compared with ours. Contrast the fervour of\nemotional affection that manifestly throbbed in her heart with the\npoor, cold pulsations which we dignify by the name of love, and the\ncontrast may put us to shame. There is a religion of fear which\ndominates hundreds of professing Christians in this land of ours. There\nis a religion of duty, in which there is no delight, which has many\nadherents amongst us. There is a religion of form, which contents\nitself with the externals of Christianity, and that is the religion of\nmany men and women in all our churches. And I may further say, there is\na religion of faith, in its narrower and imperfect sense, which lays\nhold of and believes a body of Christian truth, and has never passed\nthrough faith into love. Not he who 'believes that God is,' and comes\nto Him with formal service and an alienated or negligent heart; not he\nwho recognises the duty of worship, and discharges it because his\nconscience pricks him, but has no buoyancy within bearing him upwards\ntowards the object of his love; not he who cowers before the dark\nshadow which some call God; but he who, knowing, trusts, and who,\nknowing and trusting 'the love which God hath to us,' pulses back the\nthrobs of a recipient heart, and loves Him in return--he, and he only,\nis a worshipper. Let us learn the lesson that Deborah learnt below the\npalm-trees of Lapidoth, and if we want to understand what a religious\nman is, recognise that he is a man who loves God.\n\nII. Further, note the grand conception of the character which such a\nlove produces.\n\n'Let them be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.' Think of the\nfierce Eastern sun, with 'sunbeams like swords,' that springs up from\nthe East, and rushes to the zenith, and 'nothing is hid from the heat\nthereof'--a sun the like of which we, in our cloudy skies, never see\nnor feel, but which, to the Oriental, is the very emblem of splendour\nand of continuous, victorious power. There are two things here,\nradiance and energy, light and might.\n\n'As the sun when he goeth forth in his strength.' Deborah was a\n'prophetess,' and people say, 'What did she prophesy?' Well, she\nprophesied the heart of religion--as I have tried to show--in reference\nto its essence, and, as one sees by this phrase, in reference to its\neffects. What is her word but a partial anticipation of Christ's\nsaying, 'Ye are the light of the world'; and of His disciple's\nutterance, 'Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the\nLord: walk as children of light'?\n\nIt is too plain to need any talking about, that the direct tendency of\nwhat we venture to call love to God, meaning thereby the turning of the\nwhole nature to Him, in aspiration, admiration, longing for likeness,\nand practical imitation, is to elevate, ennoble, and illuminate the\nwhole character. It was said about one woman that 'to love her was an\neducation.' That was exaggeration; but it is below the truth about God.\nThe true way to refine and elevate and educate is to cultivate love to\nGod. And when we get near to Him, and hold by Him, and are continually\noccupied with Him; when our being is one continual aspiration after\nunion with Him, and we experience the glow and rapture included in the\nsimple word 'love,' then it cannot but be that we shall be like Him.\n\nThat is what Paul meant when he said, 'Now are ye light in the Lord.'\nUnion with Him illuminates. The true radiance of saintly character will\ncome in the measure in which we are in fellowship with Jesus Christ.\nDeborah's astronomy was not her strong point. The sun shines by its own\nlight. We are planets, and are darkness in ourselves, and it is only\nthe reflection of the central sun that ever makes us look silvery white\nand radiant before men. But though it be derived, it is none the less\nour light, if it has passed into us, as it surely will, and if it\nstreams out from us, as it no less surely will, in the measure in which\nlove to God dominates our whole lives.\n\nIf that is so, dear brethren, is not the shortest and the surest way to\nhave our faces shining like that of Moses when he came down from the\nmountain, or like Stephen's when he 'saw the heavens opened,' to keep\nnear Jesus Christ? It is slow work to hammer bits of ore out of the\nrock with a chisel and a mallet. Throw the whole mass into the furnace,\nand the metal will come out separated from the dross. Get up the heat,\nand the light, which is the consequence of the heat, will take care of\nitself. 'In the Lord' ye shall be 'light.'\n\nIs Deborah's aspiration fulfilled about me? Let each of us ask that.\n'As the sun when he goeth forth in his strength'--would anybody say\nthat about my Christian character? Why not? Only because the springs\nhave run low within is the stream low through the meadows. Only because\nthe love is cold is the light feeble.\n\nThere is another thought here. There is power in sunlight as well as\nradiance. On that truth the prophetess especially lays a finger; 'as\nthe sun when he goeth forth in his _strength_.' She did not know what\nwe know, that solar energy is the source of all energy on this earth,\nand that, just as in the deepest spiritual analysis 'there is no power\nbut of God,' so in the material region we may say that the only force\nis the force of the sun, which not only stimulates vegetation and\nbrings light and warmth--as the pre-scientific prophetess knew--but in\na hundred other ways, unknown to her and known to modern science, is\nthe author of all change, the parent of all life, and the reservoir of\nall energy.\n\nSo we come to this thought: The true love of God is no weak,\nsentimental thing, such as narrow and sectional piety has often\nrepresented it to be, but it is a power which will invigorate the whole\nof a man, and make him strong and manly as well as gentle and gracious;\nbeing, indeed, the parent of all the so-called heroic and of all the\nso-called saintly virtues.\n\nThe sun 'goeth forth in his strength,' rushing through the heavens to\nthe zenith. As one of the other editions of this metaphor in the Old\nTestament has it, 'The path of the just is as the shining light, that\nshineth more and more until the noontide of the day.' That light,\nindeed, declines, but that fact does not come into view in the metaphor\nof the progressive growth towards perfection of the man in whom is the\nall-conquering might of the true love of Jesus Christ.\n\nNote the context of these words of our text, which, I said, presents so\nsingular a contrast to them. It is a strange thing that so fierce a\nbattle-chant should at the end settle down into such a sweet swan-song\nas this. It is a strange thing that in the same soul there should throb\nthe delight in battle and almost the delight in murder, and these lofty\nthoughts. But let us learn the lesson that true love to God means\nhearty hatred of God's enemy, and that it will always have to be\nmilitant and sometimes stern and what people call fierce. Amidst the\namenities and sentimentalities of modern life there is much necessity\nfor remembering that the Apostle of love was a 'son of thunder,' and\nthat it was the lips which summoned Israel to the fight, and chanted\nhymns of triumph over the corpses borne down by the rushing Kishon,\nwhich also said: 'Let them that love Him be as the sun when he shineth\nforth in his strength.' If you love God, you will surely be a strong\nman as well as an emotional and affectionate Christian.\n\nThat energy is to be continuous and progressive. The sun that Deborah\nsaw day by day spring from his station in the east, and climb to his\nheight in the heavens, and ray down his beams, has been doing that for\nmillions of years, and it will probably keep doing it for uncounted\nperiods still. And so the Christian man, with continuity unbroken and\nprogressive brilliance and power, should shine 'more and more till the\nunsetting noontide of the day.'\n\nIII. That brings me to the last thought, which passes beyond the limits\nof the prophetess' vision. Here is a prophecy of which the utterer was\nunaware.\n\nThere is a contrast drawn in the words of our text and in those\nimmediately preceding. \"So,\" says Deborah, after the fierce description\nof the slaughter of Sisera--'So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord!\nbut let them that love Thee be as the sun when he shineth in his\nstrength.' She contrasts the transiency of the lives that pit\nthemselves against God with the perpetuity that belongs to those which\nare in harmony with Him. The truth goes further than she probably knew;\ncertainly further than she was thinking when she chanted these words.\nLet us widen them by other words which use the same metaphor, and say,\n'they that be wise'--that is a shallower word than 'them that love\nThee'--'they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the\nfirmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for\never and ever.' Let us widen and deepen them by sacreder words still;\nfor Jesus Christ laid hold of this old metaphor, and said, describing\nthe time when all the enemies shall have perished, and the weeds have\nbeen flung out of the vineyard, 'Then shall the righteous shine forth\nlike the sun, in the Kingdom of their Father,' with a brilliancy that\nwill fill heaven with new splendours, bright beyond all that we see\nhere amidst the thick atmosphere and mists and clouds of the present\nlife!\n\nNor need we stop even there, for Jesus Christ not only laid hold of\nthis metaphor in order to describe the eternal glory of the children of\nthe Kingdom, but at the last time that human eyes on earth saw Him, the\nglorified Man Christ Jesus is thus described: 'His countenance was as\nthe sun shineth in his strength.' Love always tends to likeness; and\nlove to Christ will bring conformity with Him. The perfect love of\nheaven will issue in perfect and perpetual assimilation to Him. Science\ntells us that the light of the sun probably comes from its contraction;\nand that that process of contraction will go on until, at some point\nwithin the bounds of time, though far beyond the measure of our\ncalculations, the sun himself shall die, the ineffectual beams will be\npaled, and there will be a black orb, with neither life nor light nor\npower. And then, then, and after that for ever, 'they that love Him'\nshall continue to be as that dead sun once was, when he went forth in\nhis hot might.\n\n\n\n\nGIDEON'S ALTAR\n\n'Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it\nJehovah-shalom [God is peace].'--JUDGES vi. 24.\n\n\nI need not tell over again, less vividly, the picturesque story in this\nchapter, of the simple husbandman up in the hills, engaged furtively in\nthreshing out a little wheat in some hollow in the rock where he might\nhide it from the keen eyes of the oppressors; and of how the angel of\nthe Lord, unrecognised at first, appeared to him; and gradually there\ndawned upon his mind the suspicion of who He was who spoke. Then follow\nthe offering, the discovery by fire, the shrinking of the man from\ncontact with the divine, the wonderfully tranquillizing and\ncondescending assurance, cast into the form of the ordinary salutation\nof domestic life: 'And the Lord said unto him Peace be unto thee!'--as\nany man might have said to any other--'fear not! thou shalt not die.'\nThen Gideon piles up the unhewn stones on the hillside into a rude\naltar, apparently not for the purpose of offering sacrifice, but for a\nmonument, to which is given this strange name, strange upon such\nwarrior lips, and strange in contemplation of the fierce conflict into\nwhich he was immediately to plunge, 'the Lord is peace.'\n\nHow I think that this name, imposed for such a reason and under such\ncircumstances, may teach us a good many things.\n\nI. The first thing that it seems to me to suggest is the great\ndiscovery which this man had made, and in the rapture of which he named\nhis altar,--that the sight of God is _not_ death, but life and peace.\n\nGideon was a plain, rude man, with no very deep religious experience.\nApparently up to the moment of this vision he had been contentedly\ntolerating the idolatrous practices which had spread over all the\ncountry. He had heard of 'Jehovah.' It was a name, a tradition, which\nhis fathers had told him. That was all that he knew of the God of\nIsrael. Into this hearsay religion, as in a flash, while Gideon is busy\nabout his threshing floor, thinking of his wheat or of the misery of\nhis nation, there comes, all at once, this crushing conviction,--'the\n_hearsay_ God is beside you, speaking to you! You have personal\nrelations to Him, He is nearer you than any human being is, He is no\nmere Name, here He stands!'\n\nAnd whenever the lightning edge of a conviction like that cuts its way\nthrough the formalisms and traditionalisms and hearsay repetitions of\nconventional religion, then there comes what came to Gideon, the swift\nthought, 'And if this be true, if I really do touch, and am touched by,\nthat living Person whose name is Jehovah, what is to become of me?\nShall I not shrivel up when His fiery finger is laid upon me? I have\nseen Him face to face, and I must die.'\n\nI believe that, in the case of the vast majority of men, the first\nliving, real apprehension of a real, living God is accompanied with a\nshock, and has mingled with it something of awe, and even of terror.\nWere there no sin there would be no fear, and pure hearts would open in\nsilent blessedness and yield their sweetest fragrance of love and\nadoration, when shone on by Him, as flowers do to the kiss of the\nsunbeams. But, taking into account the sad and universal fact of sin,\nit is inevitable that men should shrink from the Light which reveals\ntheir evil, and that the consciousness of God's presence should strike\na chill. It is sad that it should be so. But it is sadder still when it\nis not so, but when, as is sometimes the case, the sight of God\nproduces no sense of sin, and no consciousness of discord, or\nforeboding of judgment. For, only through that valley of the shadow of\ndeath lies the path to the happy confidence of peace with God, and\nunless there has been trembling at the beginning, there will be no firm\nand reasonable trust afterwards.\n\nFor Gideon's terror opened the way for the gracious proclamation, which\nwould have been needless but for it--'Peace be unto thee; fear not,\nthou shalt not die.'\n\nThe sight of God passes from being a fear to a joy, from being a\nfountain of death to a spring of life, Terror is turned to tranquil\ntrust. The narrow and rough path of conscious unworthiness leads to the\nlarge place of happy peace. The divine word fits Gideon's condition,\nand corresponds to his then deepest necessity; and so he drinks it in\nas the thirsty ground drinks in the water; and in the rapture of the\ndiscovery that the Name, that had come down from his fathers to him,\nwas the Name of a real Person, with whom he stood in real\nrelationships, and those of simple friendship and pure amity, he piles\nup the rough stones of the place, and makes the name of his altar the\necho of the divine voice. It is as if he had said with rapture of\nsurprise, 'Then Jehovah _is_ peace; which I never dreamed of before.'\n\nDear friends, do you know anything of such an experience? Can you build\nyour altar, and give it this same name? Can you write upon the memorial\nof your experiences, 'The Lord is my peace'? Have you passed from\nhearsay into personal contact? Can you say, 'I have heard of Thee by\nthe hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee'? Do you know the\nfurther experience expressed in the subsequent words of the same\nquotation: 'Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes'?\nAnd have you passed out of that stormy ocean of terror and\nself-condemnation into the quiet haven of trust in Him in whom we have\npeace with God, where your little boat lies quiet, moored for ever to\nthe Rock of Ages, to 'Jehovah, who is Peace'?\n\nIn connection with this rapturous discovery, and to Gideon strange new\nthought, we may gather the lesson that peace with God will give peace\nin all the soul. The 'peace with God' will pass into a wider thing, the\n'peace of God.' There is tranquillity in trust. There is rest in\nsubmission. There is repose in satisfied desires. When we live near\nHim, and have ceased from our own works, and let Him take control of us\nand direct us in all our ways, then the storms abate. The things that\ndisturb us are by no means so much external as inward; and there is a\ncharm and a fascination in the thought, 'the Lord is peace,' which\nstills the inward tempest, and makes us quiet, waiting upon His will\nand drawing in His grace. The secret of rest is to cease from self,\nfrom self as guide, from self as aim, from self as safety. And when\nself-will is cast out, and self-dependence is overcome, and\nself-reliance is sublimed into hanging upon God's hand, and when He,\nnot mine own inclination, is my Director, and the Arbiter of my fate,\nthen all the fever of unrest is swept wholly out of my heart, and there\nis nothing left in it on which the gnawing tooth of anxiety or of care\ncan prey. God being my peace, and I yielding myself to Him, 'in\nquietness and confidence' is my 'strength.' 'Thou shalt keep him in\nperfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee, because he trusteth in\nThee.'\n\nII. We may look upon this inscription from another point of view, as\nsuggesting the thought that God's peace is the best preparation for,\nand may be experienced in the midst of, the intensest conflict.\n\nRemember what the purpose of this vision was,--to raise up a man to\nfight an almost desperate fight, no metaphorical war, but one with real\nsharp swords, against real strong enemies. The first blow in the\ncampaign was to be struck that night. Gideon was being summoned by the\nvision, to long years of hardship and bitter warfare, and his\npreparation for the conflict consisted largely in the revelation to his\ninmost spirit that 'Jehovah is peace.' We might rather have looked for\na manifestation of the divine nature as ready to go forth to battle\nwith the raw levies of timid peasants. We should have expected the\nthought which inspired their captain to have been 'The Lord is a man of\nwar,' rather than 'The Lord is peace.' But it is not so--and therein\nlies the deep truth that the peace of God is the best preparation for\nstrife. It gives courage, it leaves the heart at leisure to fling all\nits power into the conflict, it inspires with the consciousness of a\ndivine ally. As Paul puts it, in his picture of the fully-armed\nChristian soldier, the feet are 'shod with the preparedness of alacrity\nwhich is produced by the gospel of peace.' That will make us 'ready,\naye ready' for the roughest march, and enable us to stand firm against\nthe most violent charges of the enemy. There is no such preparation for\nthe conflict of life, whether it be waged against our own inward evil,\nor against opposing forces without, as to have deep within the soul the\nsettled and substantial peace of God. If we are to come out of the\nbattle with victory sitting on our helmets, we must go into it with the\nDove of God brooding in our hearts. As the Lord said to Gideon, 'Go in\n_this_ thy might, and thou shalt save Israel, ... have not I sent thee?'\n\nBut, besides this thought that the knowledge of Jehovah as peace fits\nus for strife, that hastily-reared altar with its seemingly\ninappropriate name, may remind us that it is possible, in the midst of\nthe deadliest hand-to-hand grip with evil, and whilst fighting the\n'good fight of faith' with the most entire self-surrender to the divine\nwill, to bear within us, deeper than all the surface strife, that\ninward tranquillity which knows no disturbance, though the outward life\nis agitated by fierce storms. Deep in the centre of the ocean the\nwaters lie quiet, though the wildest tempests are raging above, and the\nfiercest currents running. Over the tortured and plunging waters of the\ncataract there lies unmoving, though its particles are in perpetual\nflux, the bow of promise and of peace. So over all the rush and thunder\nof life there may stretch, radiant and many-coloured, and dyed with\nbeauty by the very sun himself, the abiding bow of beauty, the emblem\nand the reality of the divine tranquillity. The Christian life is\ncontinual warfare, but in it all, 'the peace of God which passeth\nunderstanding' may 'garrison our hearts and minds.' In the inmost keep\nof the castle, though the storm of war may be breaking against the\nwalls, there will be a quiet chamber where no noise of the archers can\npenetrate, and the shouts of the fight are never heard. Let us seek to\nlive in the 'secret place of the Most High'; and in still communion\nwith Him, keep our inmost souls in quiet, while we bravely front\ndifficulties and enemies. You are to be God's warriors; see to it that\non every battlefield there stands the altar 'Jehovah Shalom.'\n\nIII. Lastly, we may draw yet another lesson, and say that that altar,\nwith its significant inscription, expressed the aim of the conflict and\nthe hope which sustains in the fight.\n\nGideon was fighting for peace, and what he desired was that victory\nshould bring tranquillity. The hope which beckoned him on, when he\nflung himself into his else desperate enterprise, was that God would so\nprosper his work that the swords might be beaten into ploughshares, and\nthe spears into pruning hooks. Which things may stand as an allegory,\nand suggest to us that the Christian warfare, whilst it rests upon, and\nis prompted by, the revelation of God who is peace, aims in all its\nblows, at the conquering of that sure and settled peace which shall be\nbroken by no rebellious outbursts of self-will, nor by any risings of\npassions and desires. The aim of our warfare should ever be that the\npeace of God may be throned in our hearts, and sit there a gentle\nqueen. The true tranquillity of the blessed life is the prize of\nconflict. David, 'the man of war from his youth,' prepares the throne\nfor Solomon, in whose reign no alarms of war are heard. If you would\nenter into peace, you must fight your way to it, and every step of the\nroad must be a battle. The land of peace is won by the good fight of\nfaith.\n\nBut Gideon's altar not only expressed his purpose in his taking up\narms, but his confidence of accomplishing it, based upon the assurance\nthat the Lord would give peace. It was a trophy erected before the\nfight, and built, not by arrogant presumption or frivolous\nunderestimate of the enemy's strength, but by humble reliance on the\npower of that Lord who had promised His presence, and had assured\ntriumph. So the hope that named this altar was the hope that war meant\nvictory, and that victory would bring peace. That hope should animate\nevery Christian soldier. Across the dust of the conflict, the fair\nvision of unbroken and eternal peace should gleam before each of us,\nand we should renew fainting strength and revive drooping courage by\nmany a wistful gaze.\n\nWe may realise that hope in large measure here. But its fulfilment is\nreserved for the land of peace which we enter by the last conflict with\nthe last enemy.\n\nEvery Christian man's gravestone is an altar on which is written 'Our\nGod is peace'; in token that the warrior has passed into the land where\n'violence shall no more be heard, wasting, nor destruction within its\nborders,' but all shall be deep repose, and the unarmed, because\nunattacked, peace of tranquil communion with, and likeness to, 'Jehovah\nour Peace.'\n\nSo, dear brethren, let us pass from tradition and hearsay into personal\nintercourse with God, and from shrinking and doubt into the sunshine of\nthe conviction that He is our peace. And then, with His tranquillity in\nour hearts let us go out, the elect apostles of the peace of God, and\nfight for Him, after the pattern of the Captain of our salvation, who\nhad to conquer peace through conflict; and was 'first of all King of\nRighteousness, and _after that_ also King of Peace.'\n\n\n\n\nGIDEON'S FLEECE\n\n'Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on\nthe fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I\nknow that Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast\nsaid.'--JUDGES vi. 37.\n\n\nThe decisive moment had come when Gideon, with his hastily gathered raw\nlevies, was about to plunge down to the plain to face immensely\nsuperior forces trained to warfare. No wonder that the equally\nuntrained leader's heart heat faster. Many a soldier, who will be\nsteadfastly brave in the actual shock of battle, has tremors and\nthrobbings on its eve. Gideon's hand shook a little as he drew his\nsword.\n\nI. Gideon's request.\n\nHis petition for a sign was not the voice of unbelief or of doubt or of\npresumption, but in it spoke real, though struggling faith, seeking to\nbe confirmed. Therefore it was not regarded by God as a sin. When a\n'wicked and adulterous generation asked for a sign,' no sign was given\nit, but when faith asks for one to help it to grasp God's hand, and to\ngo on His warfare in His strength and as His instrument, it does not\nask in vain.\n\nGideon's prayer was wrapped, as it were, in an enfolding promise, for\nit is preceded and followed by the quotation of words of the Angel of\nthe Lord who had 'looked on him,' and said, 'Go in this thy might and\nsave Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee?' Prayers\nthat begin and end with 'as Thou hast spoken' are not likely to be\nrepulsed.\n\nII. God's answer.\n\nGod wonderfully allows Gideon to dictate the nature of the sign. He\nstoops to work it both ways, backwards and forwards, as it were. First\nthe fleece is to be wet and the ground to be dry, then the fleece is to\nbe dry and the ground wet. Miracle was a necessary accompaniment of\nrevelation in those early days, as picture-books are of childhood. But,\nthough we are far enough from being 'men' in Christ, yet we have not\nthe same need for 'childish things' as Gideon and his contemporaries\nhad. We have Christ and the Spirit, and so have a 'word made more sure'\nthan to require signs. But still it is true that the same gracious\nwillingness to help a tremulous faith, which carries its tremulousness\nto God in prayer, moves the Father's heart to-day, and that to such\npetitions the answer is given even before they are offered: 'Ask what\nye will, and it shall be done unto you.' No sign that eyes can see is\ngiven, but inward whispers speak assurance and communicate the\nassurance which they speak.\n\nIII. The meaning of the sign.\n\nMany explanations have been offered. The main point is that the fleece\nis to be made different from the soil around it. It is to be a proof of\nGod's power to endow with characteristics not derived from, and\nresulting in qualities unlike, the surroundings.\n\nGideon had no thought of any significance beyond that. But we may\nallowably let the Scripture usage of the symbol of dew influence our\nreading into the symbol a deeper meaning than it bore to him.\n\nGod makes the fleece wet with dew, while all the threshing-floor is\ndry. Dew is the symbol of divine grace, of the silently formed moisture\nwhich, coming from no apparent source, freshens by night the wilted\nplants, and hangs in myriad drops, that twinkle into green and gold as\nthe early sunshine strikes them, on the humblest twig. That grace is\nplainly not a natural product nor to be accounted for by environment.\nThe dew of the Spirit, which God and God only, can give, can freshen\nour worn and drooping souls, can give joy in sorrow, can keep us from\nbeing touched by surrounding evils, and from being parched by\nsurrounding drought, can silently 'distil' its supplies of strength\naccording to our need into our else dry hearts.\n\nThe wet fleece on the dry ground was not only a revelation of God's\npower, but may be taken as a pattern of what God's soldiers must ever\nbe. A prophet long after Gideon said: 'The remnant of Jacob shall be in\nthe midst of many peoples as dew from the Lord,' bringing to others the\ngrace which they have received that they may diffuse it, and turning\nthe dry and thirsty land where no water is into fertility, and the\n'parched ground' into a 'pool.'\n\nWe have said that the main point of Gideon's petition was that the\nfleece should be made unlike the threshing-floor, and that that\nunlikeness, which could obviously not be naturally brought about, was\nto be to him the sure token that God was at work to produce it. The\nstrongest demonstration that the Church can give the world of its\nreally being God's Church is its unlikeness to the world. If it is wet\nwith divine dew when all the threshing-floor is dry, and if, when all\nthe floor is drenched with poisonous miasma, it is dry from the\ndiffused and clinging malaria, the world will take knowledge of it, and\nsome souls be set to ask how this unlikeness comes. When Haman has to\nsay: 'There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among\nthe peoples ... and their laws are diverse from those of every people,'\nhe may meditate murder, but 'many from among the people of the land'\nwill join their ranks. Gideon may or may not have thought of the fleece\nas a symbol of his little host, but we may learn from it the old\nlesson, 'Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the\nrenewing of your minds.'\n\n\n\n\n'FIT, THOUGH FEW'\n\n'Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him,\nrose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host\nof the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh,\nin the valley. 2. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are\nwith thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands,\nlest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath\nsaved me. 3. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people,\nsaying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart\nearly from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and\ntwo thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4. And the Lord said\nunto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the\nwater, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of\nwhom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with\nthee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee. This shall not go with thee,\nthe same shall not go. 5. So he brought down the people unto the water:\nand the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with\nhis tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise\nevery one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 6. And the number\nof them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three\nhundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees\nto drink water. 7. And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred\nmen that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine\nhand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. 8. So\nthe people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent\nall the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those\nthree hundred men. And the host of Midian was beneath him in the\nvalley.'--JUDGES vii 1-8.\n\n\nGideon is the noblest of the judges. Courage, constancy, and caution\nare strongly marked in his character. The youngest son of an obscure\nfamily in a small tribe, he humbly shrinks from the task imposed on\nhim,--not from cowardice or indolence, but from conscious weakness. Men\nwho are worthy to do such work as his are never forward to begin it,\nnor backward in it when they are sure that it is God's will. He began\nhis war against Midian by warring against Baal, whose worship had\nbrought the oppressor. If any thorough deliverance from the misery\nwhich departure from God has wrought is to be effected, we must destroy\nthe idols before we attack the spoilers. Cast out sin, and you cast out\nsorrow. So he first earns his new name of Jerubbaal ('Let Baal plead'),\nand is known as Baal's antagonist, before he blows the trumpet of\nrevolt. The name is an omen of victory. The hand that had smitten the\nidol, and had not been withered, would smite Midian. Therefore that new\nname is used in this chapter, which tells of the preparations for the\nfight and its triumphant issue. From his home among the hills, he had\nsent the fiery cross to the three northern tribes, who had been the\nmainstay of Deborah's victory, and who now rallied around Gideon to the\nnumber of thirty-two thousand. The narrative shows us the two armies\nconfronting each other on the opposite slopes of the valley of Jezreel,\nwhere it begins to dip steeply towards the Jordan. Gideon and his men\nare on the south side of the valley, above the fountain of Harod, or\n'Trembling,' apparently so called from the confessed terror which\nthinned his army. The word 'is afraid,' in verse 3, comes from the same\nroot. On the other side of the glen, not far from the site of the\nPhilistine camp on the day of Saul's last defeat, lay the\nfar-stretching camp of the invaders, outnumbering Israel by four to\none. For seven years these Midianite marauders had paralysed Israel,\nand year by year had swarmed up this valley from the eastern desert,\nand thence by the great plain had penetrated into every corner of the\nland, as far south as Gaza, devouring like locusts. It is the same easy\nroute by which, to this day, the Bedouin find their way into Palestine,\nwhenever the weak Turkish Government is a little weaker or more corrupt\nthan usual. Apparently, the Midianites were on their homeward march,\nladen with spoil, and very contemptuous of the small force across the\nvalley, who, on their part, had not shaken off their terror of the\nfierce nomads who had used them as they pleased for seven years.\n\nI. Note, as the first lesson taught here, the divinely appointed\ndisproportion between means and end, and its purpose. Many an Israelite\nwould look across to the long lines of black tents, and think, 'We are\ntoo few for our task'; but to God's eye they were too many, and the\nfirst necessity was to weed them out. The numbers must be so reduced\nthat the victory shall be unmistakably God's, not theirs. The same sort\nof procedure, and for the same reason, runs through all God's dealings.\nIt is illustrated in a hundred Scripture instances, and is stated most\nplainly by Paul in his triumphant eloquence. He revels in telling how\nfoolish, weak, base things, that are _no_ things in the world's\nestimate, have been chosen to cover with shame wise, strong, honoured\nthings, which seem to be somewhat; and he gives the same reason as our\nlesson does, 'that no flesh should glory in His presence.' Eleven poor\nmen on one side, and all the world on the other, made fearful odds. The\nmore unevenly matched are the respective forces, the more plainly does\nthe victory of the weaker demand for its explanation the intervention\nof God. The old sneer, that 'Providence is always on the side of the\nstrongest battalions,' is an audacious misreading of history, and is\nthe very opposite of the truth. It is the weak battalions which win in\nthe long run, for the history of every good cause is the same. First,\nit kindles a fire in the hearts of two or three nobodies, who are\nburned in earlier times, and laughed at as fools, fanatics,\nimpracticable dreamers, in later ages, but whose convictions grow till,\none day, the world wakes up to find that everybody believes them, and\nthen it 'builds the tombs of the prophets.'\n\nWhy should God desire that there shall be no mistake as to who wins the\nbattle? The answer may very easily be so given as to make what is\nreally a token of His love become an unlovely and repellent trait in\nHis character. It is not eagerness for praise that moves Him, but\nlonging that men may have the blessedness of recognising His hand\nfighting for them. It is for Israel's sake that He is so solicitous to\ndeliver them from the delusion of their having won the victory. It is\nbecause He loves us and would fain have us made restful, confident, and\nstrong, in the assurance of His fighting for us, that He takes pains so\nto order the history of His Church in the world, that it is one long\nattestation of the omnipotence of weakness when His power flows through\nit. To say 'Mine own hand hath saved me,' is to lose unspeakable peace\nand blessing; to say 'Not I, but the grace of God in me,' is to be\nserene and of good cheer in the face of outnumbering foes, and sure of\nvictory in all conflicts. Therefore God is careful to save us from\nself-gratulation and self-confidence.\n\nOne lesson we may learn from this thinning of the ranks; namely, that\nwe need not be anxious to count heads, when we are sure that we are\ndoing His work, nor even be afraid of being in a minority. Minorities\nare generally right when they are the apostles of new thoughts, though\nthe minorities which cleave to some old fossil are ordinarily wrong.\nThe prophet and his man were alone and ringed around with enemies, when\nhe said, 'They that be with us are more than they that be with them';\nand yet he was right, for the mountain was full of horses and chariots\nof fire. Let us be sure that we are on God's side, and then let us not\nmind how few are in the ranks with us, nor be afraid, though the\nfar-extended front of the enemy threatens to curl around our flanks and\nenclose us. The three hundred heroes had God with them, and that was\nenough.\n\nII. Note the self-applied test of courage which swept away so much\nchaff. According to Deuteronomy xx. 8, the standing enactment was that\nsuch a proclamation as that in verse 3 should precede every battle.\nMuch difficulty has been raised about the mention of Mount Gilead here,\nas the only Mount Gilead otherwise mentioned in Scripture lay to the\neast of Jordan. But perhaps the simplest solution is the true one,-that\nthere was another hilly region so named on the western side. The map of\nthe Palestine Exploration Fund attaches the name to the northern slopes\nof the western end of Gilboa, where Gideon was now encamped, and that\nis probably right. Be that as it may, the effect of the proclamation\nwas startling. Two-thirds of the army melted away. No doubt, many who\nhad flocked to Gideon's standard felt their valour oozing out at their\nfinger ends, when they came close to the enemy, and saw their long\narray across the valley. It must have required some courage to confess\nbeing afraid, but the cowards were numerous enough to keep each other\nin countenance. Two out of three were panic-struck. I wonder if the\nproportion would be less in Christ's army to-day, if professing\nChristians were as frank as Gideon's men?\n\nWhy were the 'fearful' dismissed? Because fear is contagious; and, in\nundisciplined armies like Gideon's, panic, once started, spreads\nswiftly, and becomes frenzied confusion. The same thing is true in the\nwork of the Church to-day. Who that has had much to do with guiding its\noperations has not groaned over the dead weight of the timid and\nsluggish souls, who always see difficulties and never the way to get\nover them? And who that has had to lead a company of Christian men has\nnot often been ready to wish that he could sound out Gideon's\nproclamation, and bid the 'fearful and afraid' take away the chilling\nencumbrance of their presence, and leave him with thinned ranks of\ntrusty men? Cowardice, dressed up as cautious prudence, weakens the\nefficiency of every regiment in Christ's army.\n\nAnother reason for getting rid of the fearful is that fear is the\nopposite of faith, and that therefore, where it is uppermost, the door\nby which God's power can enter to strengthen is closed. Not that faith\nmust be free of all admixture of fear, but that it must subdue fear, if\na man is to be God's warrior, fighting in His strength. Many a tremor\nwould rock the hearts of the ten thousand who remained, but they so\ncontrolled their terror that it did not overcome their faith. We do not\nneed, for our efficiency in Christ's service, complete exemption from\nfear, but we do need to make the psalmist's resolve ours: 'I will\ntrust, and not be afraid.' Terror shuts the door against the entrance\nof the grace which makes us conquerors, and so fulfils its own\nforebodings; faith opens the door, and so fulfils its own confidences.\n\nIII. Note the final test. God required but few men, but He required\nthat these should be fit. The first test had sifted out the brave and\nwilling. The liquor was none the less, though so much froth had been\nblown off. As Thomas Fuller says, there were 'fewer persons, but not\nfewer men,' after the poltroons had disappeared. The second test, 'a\npurgatory of water,' as the same wise and witty author calls it, was\nstill more stringent. The dwindled ranks were led down from their camp\non the slopes to the fountain and brook which lay in the valley near\nthe Midianites' camp. Gideon alone seems to have known that a test was\nto be applied there; but he did not know what it was to be till they\nreached the spring, and the soldiers did not know that they were\ndetermining their fate when they drank. The two ways of drinking\nclearly indicated a difference in the men. Those who glued their lips\nto the stream and swilled till they were full, were plainly more\nself-indulgent, less engrossed with their work, less patient of fatigue\nand thirst, than those who caught up enough in their curved palms to\nmoisten their lips without stopping in their stride or breaking rank.\nThe former test was self-applied, and consciously so. This is no less\nself-applied, though unconsciously. God shuts out no man from His army,\nbut men shut themselves out; sometimes knowingly, by avowed\ndisinclination for the warfare, sometimes unknowingly, by\nself-indulgent habits, which proclaim their unfitness.\n\nThe great lesson taught here is that self-restraint in the use of the\nworld's goods is essential to all true Christian warfare. There are two\nways of looking at and partaking of these. We may either 'drink for\nstrength' or 'for drunkenness.' Life is to some men first a place for\nstrenuous endeavour, and only secondly a place of refreshment. Such\nthink of duty first and of water afterwards. To them, all the innocent\njoys and pleasures of the natural life are as brooks by the way, of\nwhich Christ's soldier should drink, mainly that he may be\nre-invigorated for conflict. There are others whose conception of life\nis a scene of enjoyment, for which work is unfortunately a necessary\nbut disagreeable preliminary. One does not often see such a character\nin its pure perfection of sensualism; but plenty of approximations to\nit are visible, and ugly sights they are. The roots of it are in us\nall; and it cannot be too strongly insisted on that, unless it be\nsubdued, we cannot enlist in Christ's army, and shall never be counted\nworthy to be His instruments. Such self-restraint is especially needful\nto be earnestly inculcated on young men and women, to whom life is\nopening as if it were a garden of delight, whose passions are strong,\nwhose sense is keen, whose experience is slender, and to whom all\nearth's joys appeal more strongly than they do to those who have drunk\nof the cup, and know how bitter is its sediment. It is especially\nneedful to be pealed into the ears of a generation like ours, in which\nsenseless luxury, the result of wealth which has increased faster than\nthe power of rightly using it, has attained such enormous proportions,\nand is threatening, in commercial communities especially, to drown all\nnoble aspirations, and Spartan simplicity, and Christian self-devotion,\nin its muddy flood. Surely never was Gideon's test more wanted for the\narmy of the Lord of hosts than it is to-day.\n\nSuch self-restraint gives double sweetness to enjoyments, which, when\npartaken of more freely, pall on the jaded palate. 'The full soul\nloatheth a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is\nsweet.' The senses are kept fine-edged, and the rare holidays are\nsweeter because they are rare. The most refined prudence of the mere\nsensualist would prescribe the same regimen as the Christian moralist\ndoes. But from how different a motive! Christ calls for self-restraint\nthat we may be fit organs for His power, and bids us endure hardness\nthat we may be good soldiers of His. If we know anything of the true\nsweetness of His fellowship and service, it will not be hard to drink\nsparingly of earthly fountains, when we have the river of His pleasures\nto drink from; nor will it be painful sacrifice to cast away imitation\njewels, in order to clasp in our hands the true riches of His love and\nimparted life.\n\n\n\n\nA BATTLE WITHOUT A SWORD\n\n'And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream\nunto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake\nof barley-bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent,\nand smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.\n14. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the\nsword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand\nhath God delivered Midian, and all the host. 15, And it was so, when\nGideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof,\nthat he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said,\nArise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.\n16. And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he\nput a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps\nwithin the pitchers. 17. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do\nlikewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall\nbe, that as I do, so shall ye do. 18. When I blow with a trumpet, I and\nall that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of\nall the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. 19. So\nGideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside\nof the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but\nnewly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers\nthat were in their hands. 20. And the three companies blew the\ntrumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left\nhands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they\ncried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. 21. And they stood every\nman in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried,\nand fled. 22. And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set\nevery man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and\nthe host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of\nAbel-meholah, unto Tabbath. 23. And the men of Israel gathered\nthemselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all\nManasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.'--JUDGES vii. 13-23.\n\n\nTo reduce thirty-two thousand to three hundred was a strange way of\npreparing for a fight; and, no doubt, the handful left felt some\nsinking of their courage when they looked on their own small number and\nthen on the widespread Midianite host. Gideon, too, would need\nheartening. So the first thing to be noted is the encouragement given\nhim. God strengthens faith when it needs strengthening, and He has many\nways of doing so. Note that Gideon's visit to the Midianite camp was on\n'the same night' on which his little band was left alone after the\nordeal by water. How punctually to meet our need, when it begins to be\nfelt, does God's help come! It was by God's command that he undertook\nthe daring adventure of stealing down to the camp. We can fancy how\nsilently he and Phurah crept down the hillside, and, with hushed breath\nand wary steps, lest they should stumble on and wake some sleeper, or\neven rouse some tethered camel, picked their way among the tents. But\nthey had God's command and promise, and these make men brave, and turn\nwhat would else be foolhardy into prudence. Ho put his ear to the black\ncamel's-hair wall of one tent, and heard what his faith could not but\nrecognise as God's message to him.\n\nThe soldier's dream was just such as such a man would dream in such\ncircumstances. A round loaf of barley (the commonest kind of bread) was\ndreamed of as rolling down from a height and upsetting '_the_ tent.'\nThe use of the definite article seems to point to some particular tent,\nperhaps simply the one in which the dreamer lay, or perhaps the\ngeneral's; but the noun may be used as a collective, and what is meant\nmay be that the loaf went through the camp, overturning all the tents\nin its way. The interpretation needed no Daniel, but the immediate\nexplanation given, shows not only the transparency of the symbol, but\nthe dread in the Midianite ranks of Gideon's prowess. A nameless awe,\nwhich goes far to produce the defeat it dreads, was beginning to creep\nover them. It finds utterance both in the dream and in its translation.\nThe tiny loaf worked effects disproportioned to its size. A rock\nthundering down the hillside might have mass and momentum enough to\nlevel a line of tents, but one poor loaf to do it! Some mightier than\nhuman hand must have set it going on its career. So the soldier\ninterprets that God had delivered the army into Gideon's hand.\n\nThis dream suggests two or three considerations. In several instances\nwe find God speaking to those outside Israel by dreams; for example, to\nPharaoh and his two officers, Nebuchadnezzar, Pilate's wife. It is the\nlowest form of divine communication, and, like other lower forms, is\nnot to be looked for when the higher teaching of the Spirit of Christ\nis open to us all.\n\nAgain, while both dream and interpretation might be accounted for on\nsimply natural grounds, a deeper insight into the so-called 'natural'\nbrings us to see it as all penetrated by the operations of the\never-present God. And the coincidences which brought Gideon to just\nthat tent among the thousands along the valley at just the moment when\nthe two startled sleepers were talking, might well strike Gideon, as\nthey did, as being God's own fulfilment of the promise that 'what they\nsay' would strengthen his hands for the attack (v. 11).\n\nFurther, Gideon had already had the sign of the fleece and the dew; but\nGod does not disdain to let him have an additional encouragement, and\nto let him draw confirmation of his own token from the talk of two\nMidianites. Faith may be buttressed by men's words, albeit its only\nfoundation is God's.\n\nGideon has a place in the muster-roll of heroes of faith in Hebrews\nxi., and his whole conduct in this incident proves his right to stand\nthere. 'He worshipped,' for his soul went out in trust to God, whose\nvoice he heard through the two Midianites, and bowed in thankfulness\nand submissive obedience. There could be no outward worship there, with\nan army of sleepers close by, but the silent uplifting of confidence\nand desire reaches God and strengthens the man. So he went back with\nnew assurance of victory, and roused his sleeping band.\n\nMark his words as another token of his faith. The Midianite interpreter\nhad said, '_God_ has delivered'; Gideon says, 'The _Lord_ has\ndelivered.' The former name is the more general, and is natural on the\nlips of a heathen; the latter is the covenant name, and to use it\nimplies reliance on the Jehovah revealed by His acts to Israel. The\nMidianite had said that the host was delivered into Gideon's hand; he\nsays that it is delivered into the hands of the three hundred,\nsuppressing himself and honouring them. God's soldiers must be willing\nto 'esteem others better than themselves,' and to fight for God's\nglory, not their own. The Midianite had said, 'This is ... the sword of\nGideon'; he bid his men cry 'the sword of _the Lord, and_ of Gideon.'\nIt was God's cause for which they were contending, not his; and yet it\nwas his, inasmuch as he was God's instrument. 'Excellent mixture,' says\nThomas Fuller, 'both joined together; admirable method, God put in the\nfirst place. Where divine blessing leads up the van, and man's valour\nbrings up the battle, must not victory needs follow in the rear?'\n\nGideon does not seem to have been divinely directed to the stratagem by\nwhich the Midianites were thrown into panic. He had been promised\nvictory, but that does not lead him to idle waiting for fulfilment of\nthe promise. 'To wait for God's performance in doing nothing is to\nabuse that divine providence, which will so work that it will not allow\nus to idle' (_Bishop Hall_). True faith will wisely adopt means to\nreach promised ends, and, having used brain and hand as if all depended\non ourselves, will look to Him, as if nothing depended on us, but all\non Him.\n\nThere was strong faith as well as daring and skilful generalship in\nleading down the three hundred, with no weapons but trumpets and\npitchers, to close quarters with an armed enemy so superior in numbers.\nAnd did it not need some faith, too, not only in Gideon but in God, on\nthe part of his band, to plunge down the hill on such an errand, each\nman with both his hands full, and so unable to strike a blow? The other\nthree hundred at Thermopylae have been wept over and sung; were not\nthese three hundred as true heroes? Let us not count heads when we are\ncalled on to take God's side. His soldiers are always in the minority,\nbut, if He is reckoned in, the minority becomes the majority. 'They\nthat be with us are more than they that be with them.'\n\nOne can fancy the sleepers starting up dazed by the sudden bray of the\ntrumpets and the wild shout of that war-cry yelled from every side. As\nthey stumbled out of their tents, without leaders, without knowledge of\nthe numbers of their foe, and saw all around the flaring torches, and\nheard the trumpet-blasts, which seemed to speak of an immense attacking\nforce, no wonder that panic shook them, and they fled. Huge mobs of\nundisciplined men, as Eastern armies are, and these eminently were, are\nespecially liable to such infectious alarms; and the larger the force,\nthe faster does panic spread, the more unmanageable does the army\nbecome, and the more fatal are the results. Each man reflects, and so\nincreases, his neighbour's fear. 'Great armies, once struck with\namazement, are like wounded whales. Give them but line enough, and the\nfishes will be the fishermen to catch themselves.'\n\nSo the host broke up in wild disorder, and hurried in fragments towards\nthe Jordan fords, trampling each other down as they raced through the\ndarkness, and each man, as he ran, dreading to feel the enemy's sword\nin his back next moment. `The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the\nrighteous is bold as a lion.' Thus without stroke of weapon was the\nvictory won. The battle was the Lord's.\n\nAnd the story is not antiquated in substance, however the form of the\ncontests which God's soldiers have to-day to fight has changed. Still\nit is true that we shall only wage war aright when we feel that it is\nHis cause for which we contend, and His sword which wins the victory.\nIf Gideon had put himself first in his warcry, or had put his own name\nonly in it, the issue would have been different.\n\nMay we not also venture to apply the peculiar accoutrements of the\nvictorious three hundred to ourselves? Christ's men have no weapons to\nwield but the sounding out from them, as from a trumpet, of the word of\nthe Lord, and the light of a Christian life shining through earthen\nvessels. If we boldly lift up our voices in the ancient war-cry, and\nlet that word peal forth from us, and flash the light of holy lives on\na dark world, we may break the sleeper's slumbers to a glad waking, and\nwin the noblest of victories by leading them to enlist in the army of\nour Captain, and to become partakers of His conquests by letting Him\nconquer, and thereby save them.\n\n\n\n\nSTRENGTH PROFANED AND LOST\n\n'But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him\ndown to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in\nthe prison-house. 22, Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again\nafter he was shaven. 23. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered\nthem together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and\nto rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into\nour hand. 24. And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for\nthey said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the\ndestroyer of our country, which slew many of us. 25. And it came to\npass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson,\nthat he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the\nprison-house; and he made them sport; and they set him between the\npillars. 20. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand.\nSuffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth,\nthat I may lean upon them. 27. Now the house was full of men and women;\nand all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon\nthe roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson\nmade sport. 28. And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God,\nremember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this\nonce, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Phillistines.  And he\nbowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords,\nand upon all the people that were therein.  So the dead which he slew\nat his death were more than they which he slew in his life.  31. Then\nhis brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him,\nand brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Ishtaol in the\nburying place of Munnah his father.  And he judged Israel twenty\nyears.'--Judges xvi. 21-31.\n\n\nNobody could be less like the ordinary idea of an Old Testament 'saint'\nthan Samson. His gift from 'the spirit of the Lord' was simply physical\nstrength, and it was associated with the defects of his qualities. His\npassions were strong, and apparently uncontrolled. He had no moral\nelevation or religious fervour. He led no army against the Philistines,\nnor seems to have had any fixed design of resisting them. He seeks a\nwife among them, and is ready to feast and play at riddles with them.\nWhen he does attack them, it is because he is stung by personal\ninjuries; and it is only with his own arm that he strikes. His exploits\nhave a mixture of grim humour and fierce hatred quite unlike anything\nelse in Scripture, and more resembling the horse-play of Homeric or\nNorse heroes than the stern purpose and righteous wrath of a soldier\nwho felt that he was God's instrument. We seem to hear his loud\nlaughter as he ties the firebrands to the struggling jackals, or swings\nthe jaw-bone. A strange champion for Jehovah! But we must not leave out\nof sight, in estimating his character, the Nazarite vow, which his\nparents had made before his birth, and he had endorsed all his life.\n\n\nThat supplies the substratum which is lacking, The unshorn hair and the\nabstinence from wine were the signs of consecration to God, which might\noften fail of reaching the deepest recesses of the will and spirit, but\nstill was real, and gave the point of contact for the divine gift of\nstrength. Samson's strength depended on his keeping the vow, of which\nthe outward sign was the long, matted locks; and therefore, when he let\nthese be shorn, he voluntarily cast away his dependence on and\nconsecration to God, and his strength ebbed from him. He had broken the\nconditions on which he received it, and it disappeared. So the story\nwhich connects the loss of his long hair with the loss of his\nsuperhuman power has a worthy meaning, and puts in a picturesque form\nan eternal truth.\n\nWe see here, first, Samson the prisoner. Milton has caught the spirit\nof the sad picture in verses 21 and 22, in that wonderful line,\n\n           'Eyeless, in Gaza, at the mill, with slaves,'\n\nin which the clauses drop heavily like slow tears, each adding a new\ntouch of woe. The savage manners of the times used the literal forcing\nout of the eyes from their sockets as the easiest way of reducing\ndangerous enemies to harmlessness. Pitiable as the loss was, Samson was\nbetter blind than seeing. The lust of the eye had led him astray, and\nthe loss of his sight showed him his sin. Fetters of brass betrayed his\njailers' dread of his possibly returning strength; and the menial task\nto which he was set was meant as a humiliation, in giving him woman's\nwork to do, as if this were all for which the eclipsed hero was now\nfit. Generous enemies are merciful; the baser sort reveal their former\nterror by the indignities they offer to their prisoner.\n\nIn Samson we see an impersonation of Israel. Like him, the nation was\nstrong so long as it kept the covenant of its God. Like him, it was\never prone to follow after strange loves. Its Delilahs were the gods of\nthe heathen, in whose laps it laid its anointed head, and at whose\nhands it suffered the loss of its God-given strength; for, like Samson,\nIsrael was weak when it forgot its consecration, and its punishment\ncame from the objects of its infatuated desires. Like him, it was\nblinded, bound, and reduced to slavery, for all its power was held, as\nwas his, on condition of loyalty to God. His life is as a mirror, in\nwhich the nation might see their own history reflected; and the lesson\ntaught by the story of the captive hero, once so strong, and now so\nweak, is the lesson which Moses taught the nation: 'Because thou\nservedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of\nheart, by reason of the abundance of all things: therefore shalt thou\nserve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger,\nand in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and He\nshall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck' (Deut. xxviii. 47, 48). The\nblind Samson, chained, at the mill, has a warning for us, too. That is\nwhat God's heroes come to, if once they prostitute the God-given\nstrength to the base loves of self and the flattering world. We are\nstrong only as we keep our hearts clear of lower loves, and lean on God\nalone. Delilah is most dangerous when honeyed words drop from her lips.\nThe world's praise is more harmful than its censure. Its favours are\nonly meant to draw the secret of our strength from us, that we may be\nmade weak; and nothing gives the Philistines so much pleasure as the\nsight of God's warriors caught in their toils and robbed of power.\n\nBut Samson's misery was Samson's blessedness. The 'howbeit' of verse 22\nis more than a compensation for all the wretchedness. The growth of his\nhair is not there mentioned as a mere natural fact, nor with the\nsuperstitious notion that his hair made him strong. God made him strong\non condition of his keeping his vow of consecration. The long matted\nlocks were the visible sign that he kept it. Their loss was the\nconsequence of his own voluntary breach of it. So their growth was the\nvisible token that the fault was being repaired. Chastisement wrought\nsorrow; and in the bondage of the prison he found freedom from the\nworse chains of sin, and in its darkness felt the dawning of a better\nlight. As Bishop Hall puts it: 'His hair grew together with his\nrepentance, and his strength with his hair.' The cruelties of the\nPhilistines were better for him than their kindness. The world outwits\nitself when it presses hard on God's deserters, and thus drives them to\nrepent. God mercifully takes care that His wandering children shall not\nhave an easy time of it; and his chastisements, at their sharpest, are\ncalls to us to come back to Him. Well for those, even if in chains, who\nknow their meaning, and yield to it.\n\nII. We have here Samson,--the occasion of godless triumph. The worst\nconsequence of the fall of a servant of God is that it gives occasion\nfor God's enemies to blaspheme, and reflects discredit on Him, as if He\nwere vanquished. Samson's capture is Dagon's glory. The strife between\nPhilistia and Israel was, in the eyes of both combatants, a struggle\nbetween their gods; and so the men of Gaza lit their sacrificial fires\nand sent up their hymns to their monstrous deity as victor. What would\nSamson's bitter thoughts be, as the sound of the wild rejoicings\nreached him in his prison? And is not all this true to-day? If ever\nsome conspicuous Christian champion falls into sin or inconsistency,\nhow the sky is rent with shouts of malicious pleasure! What paragons of\nvirtue worldly men become all at once! How swiftly the conclusion is\ndrawn that all Christians are alike, and none of them any better than\nthe non-Christian world! How much more harm the one flaw does than all\nthe good which a life of service has done! The faults of Christians are\nthe bulwarks of unbelief. `The name of God is blasphemed among the\nGentiles through you.' The honour of Christ is a sacred trust, and it\nis in the keeping of us His followers. Our sins do not only darken our\nown reputation, but they cloud His. Dagon's worshippers have a right to\nrejoice when they have Samson safe in their prison, with his eyes out.\n\nIII. We have Samson made a buffoon for drunkards. The feasts of\nheathenism were wild orgies, very unlike the pure joy of the\nsacrificial meals in Jehovah's worship. Dagon's temple was filled with\na drunken crowd, whose mirth would be made more boisterous by a spice\nof cruelty. So, a roar of many voices calls for Samson, and this\ndeepest degradation is not spared him. The words employed for 'make\nsport' seem to require that we should understand that he was not\nbrought out to be the passive object of their gibes and drunken\nmockery, but was set to play the fool for their delectation. They imply\nthat he had to dance and laugh, while three thousand gaping\nPhilistines, any one of whom would have run for his life if he had been\nfree, fed their hatred by the sight. Perhaps his former reputation for\nmirth and riddles suggested this new cruelty. Surely there is no more\npathetic picture than that of the blind hero, with such thoughts as we\nknow were seething in him, dragged out to make a Philistine holiday,\nand set to play the clown, while the bitterness of death was in his\nsoul. And this is what God's soldiers come down to, when they forget\nHim: 'they that wasted us required of us mirth.'\n\nWearied with his humiliating exertions, the blind captive begs the boy\nwho guided him to let him lean, till he can breathe again, on the\npillars that held up the light roof. We need not discuss the probable\narchitecture of Dagon's temple, of which we know nothing. Only we may\nnotice that it is not said that there were only _two_ pillars, but\nrather necessarily implied that there were more than two, for those\nagainst which he leaned were 'the two middle' ones. It is quite easy to\nunderstand how, if there were a row of them, knocking out the two\nstrongest central ones would bring the whole thing down, especially\nwhen there was such a load on the flat roof. Apparently the principal\npeople were in the best places on the ground floor, sheltered from the\nsun by the roof, on which the commonalty were clustered, all waiting\nfor what their newly discovered mountebank would do next, after he had\nbreathed himself. The pause was short, and they little dreamed of what\nwas to follow.\n\nIV. We have the last cry and heroic death of Samson. It is not to be\nsupposed that his prayer was audible to the crowd, even if it were\nspoken aloud. It is not an elevated prayer, but is, like all the rest\nof his actions at their best, deeply marked with purely personal\nmotives. The loss of his two eyes is uppermost in his mind, and he\nwants to be revenged for them. Instead of trying to make a lofty hero\nout of him, it is far better to recognise frankly the limitations of\nhis character and the imperfections of his religion. The distance\nbetween him and the New Testament type of God's soldier measures the\nprogress which the revelation of God's will has made, and the debt we\nowe to the Captain of the host for the perfect example which He has\nset. The defects and impurity of Samson's zeal, which yet was accepted\nof God, preach the precious lesson that God does not require virtues\nbeyond the standard of the epoch of revelation at which His servants\nstand, and that imperfection does not make service unacceptable. If the\nmerely human passion of vengeance throbbed fiercely in Samson's prayer,\nhe had never heard 'Love your enemies'; and, for his epoch, the\ndestruction of the enemies of God and Israel was duty. He was not the\nonly soldier of God who has let personal antagonism blend with his zeal\nfor God; and we have less excuse, if we do it, than he had.\n\nBut there is the true core of religion in the prayer. It is penitence\nwhich pleads, 'Remember me, O Lord God!' He knows that his sin has\nbroken the flow of loving divine thought to him, but he asks that the\nbroken current may be renewed. Many a silent tear had fallen from\nSamson's blind eyes, before that prayer could have come to his lips, as\nhe leaned on the great pillars. Clear recognition of the Source of his\nstrength is in the prayer; if ever he had forgotten, in Delilah's lap,\nwhere it came from, he had recovered his conscious dependence amid the\nmisery of the prison. There is humility in the prayer 'Only this once.'\nHe feels that, after such a fall, no more of the brilliant exploits of\nformer days are possible. They who have brought such despite on Jehovah\nand such honour to Dagon may be forgiven, and even restored to much of\ntheir old vigour, but they must not be judges in Israel any more. The\nbest thing left for the penitent Samson is death.\n\nHe had been unconscious of the departure of his strength, but he seems\nto have felt it rushing back into his muscles; so he grasps the two\npillars with his mighty hands; the crowd sees that the pause for breath\nis over, and prepares to watch the new feats. Perhaps we may suppose\nthat his last words were shouted aloud, 'Let me die with the\nPhilistines!' and before they have been rightly taken in by the mob, he\nsways himself backwards for a moment, and then, with one desperate\nforward push, brings down the two supports, and the whole thing rushes\ndown to hideous ruin amid shrieks and curses and groans. But Samson\nlies quiet below the ruins, satisfied to die in such a cause.\n\nHe 'counted not his life dear' unto himself, that he might be God's\ninstrument for God's terrible work. The last of the judges teaches us\nthat we too, in a nobler cause, and for men's life, not their\ndestruction, must be ready to hazard and give our lives for the great\nCaptain, who in His death has slain more of our foes than He did in His\nlife, and has laid it down as the law for all His army, 'He that loseth\nhis life for My sake shall find it.'\n\nHow beautifully the quiet close of the story follows the stormy scene\nof the riotous assembly and the sudden destruction. The Philistines,\ncrushed by this last blow, let the dead hero's kindred search for his\nbody amid the chaos, and bear it reverently up from the plain to the\nquiet grave among the hills of Dan, where Manoah his father slept.\nThere they lay that mighty frame to rest. It will be troubled no more\nby fierce passions or degrading chains. Nothing in his life became him\nlike the leaving of it. The penitent heroism of its end makes us\nlenient to the flaws in its course; and we leave the last of the judges\nto sleep in his grave, recognising in him, with all his faults and\ngrossness, a true soldier of God, though in strange garb.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF RUTH\n\n\n\n\nA GENTLE HEROINE, A GENTILE CONVERT\n\n'And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from\nfollowing after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou\nlodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my\nGod: 17. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the\nLord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.\n18. When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then\nshe left speaking unto her. 19. So they two went until they came to\nBeth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth-lehem,\nthat all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?\n20. And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the\nAlmighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 21. I went out full, And the\nLord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi,\nseeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath\nafflicted me? 22. So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her\ndaughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab:\nand they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.'--RUTH\n1 16-22.\n\n\nThe lovely idyl of _Ruth_ is in sharp contrast with the bloody and\nturbulent annals of _Judges_. It completes, but does not contradict,\nthese, and happily reminds us of what we are apt to forget in reading\nsuch pages, that no times are so wild but that in them are quiet\ncorners, green oases, all the greener for their surroundings, where\nlife glides on in peaceful isolation from the tumult. Men and women\nlove and work and weep and laugh, the gossips of Bethlehem talk over\nNaomi's return ('they said,' in verse 19, is feminine), Boaz stands\namong his corn, and no sounds of war disturb them. Thank God! the\nblackest times were not so dismal in reality as they look in history.\nThere are clefts in the grim rock, and flowers blooming, sheltered in\nthe clefts. The peaceful pictures of this little book, multiplied many\nthousand times, have to be set as a background to the lurid pictures of\nthe _Book of Judges_.\n\nThe text begins in the middle of Naomi's remonstrance with her two\ndaughters-in-law. We need not deal with the former part of the\nconversation, nor follow Orpah as she goes back to her home and her\ngods. She is the first in the sad series of those, 'not far from the\nkingdom of God,' who needed but a little more resolution at the\ncritical moment, and, for want of it, shut themselves out from the\ncovenant, and sank back to a world which they had half renounced.\n\nSo these two lonely widows are left, each seeking to sacrifice herself\nfor the other. Who shall decide which was the more noble and truly\nwomanly in her self-forgetfulness,--the elder, sadder heart, which\nstrove to secure for the other some joy and fellowship at the price of\nits own deepened solitude; or the younger, which steeled itself against\nentreaties, and cast away friends and country for love's sweet sake? We\nrightly praise Ruth's vow, but we should not forget Naomi's unselfish\npleading to be left to tread her weary path alone.\n\nRuth's passionate burst of tenderness is immortal. It has put into\nfitting words for all generations the deepest thoughts of loving\nhearts, and comes to us over all the centuries between, as warm and\nliving as when it welled up from that gentle, heroic soul. The two\nstrongest emotions of our nature are blended in it, and each gives a\nportion of its fervour--love and religion. So closely are they\ninterwoven that it is difficult to allot to each its share in the\nunited stream; but, without trying to determine to which of them the\ngreater part of its volume and force is due, and while conscious of the\ndanger of spoiling such words by comments weaker than themselves, we\nmay seek to put into distinct form the impressions which they make.\n\nWe see in them the heroism of gentleness. Put the sweet figure of the\nMoabitess beside the heroes of the _Book of Judges_, and we feel the\ncontrast. But is there anything in its pages more truly heroic than her\ndeed, as she turned her back on the blue hills of Moab, and chose the\njoyless lot of the widowed companion of a widow aged and poor, in a\nland of strangers, the enemies of her country and its gods? It is\neasier far to rush on the spears of the foe, amid the whirl and\nexcitement of battle, than to choose with open eyes so dreary a\nlifelong path. The gentleness of a true woman covers a courage of the\npatient, silent sort, which, in its meek steadfastness, is nobler than\nthe contempt of personal danger, which is vulgarly called bravery. It\nis harder to endure than to strike. The supreme type of heroic, as of\nall, virtue is Jesus Christ, whose gentleness was the velvet glove on\nthe iron hand of an inflexible will. Of that best kind of heroes there\nare few brighter examples, even in the annals of the Church which\nnumbers its virgin martyrs by the score, than this sweet figure of\nRuth, as the eager vow comes from her young lips, which had already\ntasted sorrow, and were ready to drink its bitterest cup at the call of\nduty. She may well teach us to rectify our judgments, and to recognise\nthe quiet heroism of many a modest life of uncomplaining suffering. Her\nexample has a special message to women, and exhorts them to see to it\nthat, in the cultivation of the so-called womanly excellence of\ngentleness, they do not let it run into weakness, nor, on the other\nhand, aim at strength, to the loss of meekness. The yielding\nbirch-tree, the 'lady of the woods,' bends in all its elastic branches\nand tossing ringlets of foliage to the wind; but it stands upright\nafter storms that level oaks and pines. God's strength is gentle\nstrength, and ours is likest His when it is meek and lowly, like that\nof the 'strong Son of God.'\n\nRuth's great words may suggest, too, the surrender which is the natural\nlanguage of true love. Her story comes in among all these records of\nbloodshed and hate, like a bit of calm blue sky among piles of ragged\nthunder-clouds, or a breath of fresh air in the oppressive atmosphere\nof a slaughter-house. Even in these wild times there was still a quiet\ncorner where love could spread his wings. The question has often been\nasked, what the purpose of the _Book of Ruth_ is, and various answers\nhave been given. The genealogical table at the end, showing David's\ndescent from her, the example which it supplies of the reception of a\nGentile into Israel, and other reasons for its presence in Scripture,\nhave been alleged, and, no doubt, correctly. But the Bible is a very\nhuman book, just because it is a divine one; and surely it would be no\nunworthy object to enshrine in its pages a picture of the noble working\nof that human love which makes so much of human life. The hallowing of\nthe family is a distinct purpose of the Old Testament, and the\nbeautiful example which this narrative gives of the elevating influence\nof domestic affection entitles it to a place in the canon. How many\nhearts, since Ruth spoke her vow, have found in it the words that\nfitted their love best! How often they have been repeated by quivering\nlips, and heard as music by loving ears! How solemn, and even awful, is\nthat perennial freshness of words which came hot and broken by tears,\nfrom lips that have long ago mouldered into dust! What has made them\nthus 'enduring for ever,' is that they express most purely the\nself-sacrifice which is essential to all noble love. The very inmost\nlonging of love is to give itself away to the object beloved. It is not\nso much a desire to acquire as to bestow, or, rather, the antithesis of\ngiving and receiving melts into one action which has a twofold\nmotion,--one outwards, to give; one inwards, to receive. To love is to\ngive one's self away, therefore all lesser givings are its food and\ndelight; and, when Ruth threw herself on Naomi's withered breast, and\nsobbed out her passionate resolve, she was speaking the eternal\nlanguage of love, and claiming Naomi for her own, in the very act of\ngiving herself to Naomi, Human love should be the parent of all\nself-sacrificing as of all heroic virtues; and in our homes we do not\nlive in love, as we ought, unless it leads us to the daily exercise of\nself-suppression and surrender, which is not felt to be loss but the\nnatural expression of our love, which it would be a crime against it,\nand a pain to ourselves, to withhold. If Ruth's temper lived in our\nfamilies, they would be true 'houses of God' and 'gates of heaven.'\n\nWe hear in Ruth's words also that forsaking of all things which is an\nessential of all true religion. We have said that it was difficult to\nseparate, in the words, the effects of love to Naomi from those of\nadoption of Naomi's faith. Apparently Ruth's adhesion to the worship of\nJehovah was originally due to her love for her mother-in-law. It is in\norder to be one with her in all things that she says, 'Thy God shall be\nmy God.' And it was because Jehovah was Naomi's God that Ruth chose Him\nfor hers. But whatever the origin of her faith, it was genuine and\nrobust enough to bear the strain of casting Chemosh and the gods of\nMoab behind her, and setting herself with full purpose of heart to seek\nthe Lord. Abandoning them was digging an impassable gulf between\nherself and all her past, with its friendships, loves, and habits. She\nis one of the first, and not the least noble, of the long series of\nthose who 'suffer the loss of all things, and count them but dung, that\nthey may win' God for their dearest treasure. We have seen how, in her,\nhuman love wrought self-sacrifice. But it was not human love alone that\ndid it. The cord that drew her was twisted of two strands, and her love\nto Naomi melted into her love of Naomi's God. Blessed they who are\ndrawn to the knowledge and love of the fountain of all love in heaven\nby the sweetness of the characters of His representatives in their\nhomes, and who feel that they have learned to know God by seeing Him in\ndear ones, whose tenderness has revealed His, and whose gracious words\nhave spoken of His grace! If Ruth teaches us that we must give up all,\nin order truly to follow the Lord, the way by which she came to her\nreligion may teach us how great are the possibilities, and consequently\nthe duties, of Christians to the members of their own families. If we\nhad more elder women like Naomi, we should have more younger women like\nRuth.\n\nThe self-sacrifice which is possible and blessed, even to inferior\nnatures, at the bidding of love, is too precious to be squandered on\nearthly objects. Men's capacities for it, at the call of dear ones\nhere, should be the rebuke of their grudging surrender to God. He gave\nthe capacity that it might find its true field of operation in our\nrelation to Him. But how much more ready we all are to give up\neverything for the sake of our Naomis than for His sake: and how we may\nbe our own accusers, if the measure of our devotion to them be\ncontrasted with the measure of our devotion to God!\n\nFinally, we may see, in Ruth's entrance into the religion of Israel, a\npicture of what was intended to be the effect of Israel's relation with\nthe Gentile world.\n\nThe household of Elimelech emigrated to Moab in a famine, and, whether\nthat were right or wrong, they were there among heathens as Jehovah\nworshippers. They were meant to be missionaries, and, in Ruth's case,\nthe purpose was fulfilled. She became the 'first-fruits of the\nGentiles'; and one aim of the book, no doubt, is to show how the\nbelieving Gentile was to be incorporated into Israel. Boaz rejoices\nover her, and especially over her conversion, and prays, 'A full reward\nbe given thee of Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art\ncome to trust.' She is married to him, and becomes the ancestress of\nDavid, and, through him, of the Messiah. All this is a beautiful\ncompletion to the other side of the picture which the fierce fighting\nin Judges makes prominent, and teaches that Israel's relation to the\nnations around was not to be one of mere antagonism, but that they had\nanother mission than destruction, and were set in their land, as the\ncandlestick in the Tabernacle, that light might stream out into the\ndarkness of the desert. The story of the Moabitess, whose blood flowed\nin David's veins, was a standing protest against the later narrow\nexclusiveness which called Gentiles 'dogs,' and prided itself on\noutward connection with the nation, in the exact degree in which it\nlost real union with the nation's God, and real understanding of the\nnation's mission.\n\nWe have left ourselves no space to speak of the remainder of this\npassage, which is of less importance. It gives us a lively picture of\nthe stir in the little town of Bethlehem, as the two way-worn women\ncame into it, in their strange attire, and attracting notice by\ntravelling alone. As we have observed, 'they said,' in verse 19, is\nfeminine. The women of the village buzzed round the strangers, as they\nsat in silence, perhaps by that well at the gate, of which, long after,\nDavid longed to drink. Wonder, curiosity, and possibly a spice of\nmalice, mingle in the question, 'Is _this_ Naomi?' It is heartless, at\nany rate; it had been better to have found them food and shelter than\nto have let them sit, the mark for sharp tongues. Naomi's bitter words\nseem to be moved partly by a sense of the coldness of the reception.\nShe realises that she has indeed come back to a changed world, where\nthere will be little sympathy except such as Ruth can give. It is with\nalmost passion that she abjures her name 'Pleasant,' as a satire on her\nwoful lot, and bids them call her 'Bitter,' as truer to fact now. The\nburst of sorrow is natural, as she finds herself again where she had\nbeen a wife and mother, and 'remembers happier things.' Her faith\nwavers, and her words almost reproach God. The exaggerations in which\nmemory is apt to indulge colour them. 'I went out full.' She has\nforgotten that they 'went out' to seek for bread. She only remembers\nthat four went away, and three sleep in Moab. Possibly she thinks of\ntheir emigration as a sin, and traces her dear ones' deaths to God's\ndispleasure on its account. His 'testifying' against her probably means\nthat His providence in bereaving her witnessed to His disapprobation.\nBut, whether that be so or not, her wild words are not those of a\npatient sufferer, who bows to His will. But true faith may sometimes\nbreak down, and Ruth's 'trusting under the wings of Jehovah' is proof\nenough that, in the long years of lonely sorrow, Naomi's example had\nshown how peaceful and safe was the shelter there.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHILD PROPHET\n\n'And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word\nof the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision. 2.\nAnd it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place,\nand his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; 8. And ere the\nlamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God\nwas, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; 4. That the Lord called Samuel:\nand he answered, Here am I. 5. And he ran onto Eli, and said, Here am\nI; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And\nhe went and lay down. 6. And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And\nSamuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call\nme. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again. 7. Now\nSamuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet\nrevealed unto him. 8. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time.\nAnd he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call\nme. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. 9. Therefore\nEli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if He call thee,\nthat thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth. So Samuel\nwent and lay down in his place. 10. And the Lord came, and stood, and\ncalled as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak;\nfor Thy servant heareth. 11. And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I\nwill do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that\nheareth it shall tingle. 12. In that day I will perform against Eli all\nthings which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will\nalso make an end. 13. For I have told him that I will judge his house\nfor ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made\nthemselves vile, and he restrained them not. 14. And therefore I have\nsworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not\nbe purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.'--1 SAMUEL ill. 1-14.\n\n\nThe opening words of this passage are substantially repeated from 1\nSamuel ii. 11,18. They come as a kind of refrain, contrasting the\nquiet, continuous growth and holy service of the child Samuel with the\nblack narrative of Eli's riotous sons. While the hereditary priests\nwere plunging into debauchery, and making men turn away from the\nTabernacle services, Hannah's son was ministering unto the Lord, and,\nthough no priest, was 'girt with an ephod.' This white flower blossomed\non a dunghill. The continuous growth of a character, from a child\nserving God, and to old age walking in the same path, is the great\nlesson which the story of Samuel teaches us. 'The child is father of\nthe man,' and all his long days are 'bound each to each' by true\nreligion. There are two types of experience among God's greatest\nservants. Paul, made an Apostle from a persecutor, heads the one class.\nTimothy in the New Testament and Samuel in the Old, represent the\nother. An Augustine or a Bunyan is made the more earnest, humble, and\nwhole-hearted by the remembrance of a wasted youth and of God's\narresting mercy. But there are a serenity and continuity about a life\nwhich has grown up in the fear of God that have their own charm and\nblessing. It is well to have 'much transgression' forgiven, but it may\nbe better to have always been 'innocent' and ignorant of it. Pardon\ncleanses sin, and even turns the memory of it into an ally of holiness;\nbut traces are left on character, and, at the best, years have been\nsquandered which do not return. Samuel is the pattern of child religion\nand service, to which teachers should aim that their children may be\nconformed. How beautifully his double obedience is expressed in the\nsimple words! His service was 'unto the Lord,' and it was 'before Eli';\nthat is to say, he learned his work from the old man, and in obeying\nhim he served God. The child's religion is largely obedience to human\nguides, and he serves God best by doing what he is bid,--a lesson\nneeded in our days by both parents and children.\n\nSamuel's peaceful service is contrasted, in the second half of the\nfirst verse, with the sad cessation of divine revelations in that\ndreary time of national laxity. A demoralised priesthood, an alienated\npeople, a silent God,--these are the outstanding features of the period\nwhen this fair life of continuous worship unfolded itself. This flower\ngrew in a desert. The voice of God had become a tradition of the past,\nnot an experience of the present. 'Rare' conveys the idea better than\n'precious.' The intention is not to tell the estimate in which the word\nwas held, but the infrequency of its utterance, as appears from the\nfollowing parallel clause. The fact is mentioned in order to complete\nthe picture of Samuel's 'environment' to fling into relief against that\nbackground his service, and to prepare the way for the narrative of the\nbeginning of an epoch of divine speech. When priests are faithless and\npeople careless, God's voice will often sound from lowly childlike\nlips. The man who is to be His instrument in carrying on His work will\noften come from the very centre of the old order, into which he is to\nbreathe new life, and on which he is to impress a new stamp.\n\nThe artless description of the night in the Tabernacle is broken by the\nmore general notice of Eli's dim sight, which the Revised Version\nrightly throws into a parenthesis. It is somewhat marred, too, by the\ntransposition which the Authorised Version, following some more ancient\nones, has made, in order to avoid saying, as the Hebrew plainly does,\nthat Samuel slept in the 'Temple of the Lord, where the ark was.' The\npicture is much more vivid and tender, if we conceive of the dim-eyed\nold man, lying somewhat apart; of the glimmering light, nearly extinct\nbut still faintly burning; and of the child laid to sleep in the\nTabernacle. Surely the picturesque contrast between the sanctity of the\nark and the innocent sleep of childhood is meant to strike us, and to\nserve as connecting the place with the subsequent revelation. Childlike\nhearts, which thus quietly rest in the 'secret place of the Most High,'\nand day and night are near His ark, will not fail of hearing His voice.\nHe sleeps secure who sleeps 'beneath the shadow of the Almighty.' May\nnot these particulars, too, be meant to have some symbolic\nsignificance? Night hung over the nation. The spiritual eye of the\npriest was dim, and the order seemed growing old and decrepit, but the\nlamp of God had not altogether gone out; and if Eli was growing blind,\nSamuel was full of fresh young life. The darkest hour is that before\nthe dawn; and that silent sanctuary, with the slumbering old half-blind\npriest and the expiring lamp, may stand for an emblem of the state of\nIsrael.\n\nThe thrice-repeated and misunderstood call may yield lessons of value.\nWe note the familiar form of the call. There is no vision, no symbol of\nthe divine glory, such as other prophets had, but an articulate voice,\nso human-like that it is thought to be Eli's. Such a kind of call\nfitted the child's stature best. We note the swift, cheery obedience to\nwhat he supposes to be Eli's voice. He sprang up at once, and 'ran to\nEli,'--a pretty picture of cheerful service, grudging not his broken\nsleep, which, no doubt, had often been similarly broken by similar\ncalls. Perhaps it was in order to wait on Eli, quite as much as to tend\nthe lamp or open the gates, that the singular arrangement was made of\nhis sleeping in the Temple; and the reason for the previous parenthesis\nabout Eli's blindness may have been to explain why Samuel slept near\nhim. Where were Eli's sons? They should have been their father's\nattendants, and the watchers 'by night ... in the house of the Lord';\nbut they were away rioting, and the care of both Temple and priest was\nleft to a child.\n\nThe old man's heart evidently went out to the boy. How tenderly he bids\nhim lie down again! How affectionately he calls him 'my son,' as if he\nwas already beginning to feel that this was his true successor, and not\nthe blackguards that were breaking his heart! The two were a pair of\nfriends: on the one side were sedulous care and swift obedience by\nnight and by day; on the other were affection and a discernment of\ncoming greatness, made the clearer by the bitter contrast with his own\nchildren's lives. The old and the young are good companions for one\nanother, and often understand each other better and help each other\nmore than either does his contemporaries.\n\nSamuel mistook God's voice for Eli's, as we all often do. And not less\noften we make the converse blunder, and mistake Eli's voice for God's.\nIt needs a very attentive ear, and a heart purged from selfishness and\nself-will, and ready for obedience, to know when God speaks, though men\nmay be His mouthpieces, and when men speak, though they may call\nthemselves His messengers. The child's mistake was venial. It is less\npardonable and more dangerous when repeated by us. If we would be\nguarded against it, we must be continually where Samuel was, and we\nmust not _sleep_ in the Temple, but 'watch and be sober.'\n\nEli's perception that it was God who spoke must have had a pang in it.\nIt is not easy for the old to recognise that the young hear God's voice\nmore clearly than they, nor for the superior to be glad when he is\npassed over and new truth dawns on the inferior. But, if there were any\nsuch feeling, it is silenced with beautiful self-abnegation, and he\ntells the wondering child the meaning of the voice and the answer he\nmust make. What higher service can any man do to his fellows, old or\nyoung, than to help them to discern God's call and to obey it? What\nnobler conception of a teacher's work is there than that? Eli heard no\nvoice, from which we may probably conclude that, however real the\nvoice, it was not audible to sense; but he taught Samuel to interpret\nand answer the voice which he heard, and thus won some share of a\nprophet's reward.\n\nWith what expectation in his young heart Samuel lay down again in his\nplace! This time there is an advance in the form of the call, for only\nnow do we read that the Lord 'came, and stood, and called' as before. A\nmanifestation, addressed to the inward eye, accompanied that to the\near. There is no attempt at describing, nor at softening down, the\nfrank 'anthropomorphism' of the representation, which is the less\nlikely to mislead the more complete it is. Samuel had heard Him before;\nhe sees Him now, and mistake is impossible. But there is no terror nor\nrecoil from the presence. The child's simplicity saves from that, and\nthe child's purity; for his little life had been a growing in service\nand 'in favour with God and man.'\n\nThe answer that came from the child's lips meant far more than the\nchild knew. It is the answer which we are all bound to make. Let us see\nhow deep and wide its scope is. It expresses the entire surrender of\nthe will to the will of God. That is the secret of all peace and\nnobleness. There is nothing happy or great for man in this world but to\nlove and do God's will. All else is nought. This is solid. 'The world\npasseth away, ... but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.'\nEverything besides is show and delusion, and a life directed to it is\nfleeting as the cloud-wrack that sweeps across the sky, and, whether it\nis shone on or is black, is equally melting away. Happy the child who\nbegins with such surrender of self to be God's instrument, and who,\nlike Samuel, can stand up at the end and challenge men's judgment on\nhis course!\n\nThe answer vows prompt obedience to yet undisclosed duty. God ever\ncalls His servants to tasks which only by degrees are made known. So\nPaul in his conversion was bid to go into Damascus, and there learn\nwhat more he was to do. We must first put ourselves in God's hands, and\nthen He will lead us round the turn in the road, and show us our work.\nWe get it set for us bit by bit, but the surrender must be entire. The\ndetails of His will are revealed as we need them for the moment's\nguidance. Let us accept them in bulk, and stand to the acceptance in\neach single case! That is no obedience at all which says, 'Tell me\nfirst what you are going to bid me do, and then I will see whether I\nwill do it.' The true spirit of filial submission says, 'I delight to\ndo Thy will; now show me what it is.' It was a strange, long road on\nwhich Samuel put his foot when he answered this call, and he little\nknew where it was to lead him. But the blessing of submission is that\nwe do not need to know. It is enough to see where to put our lifted\nfoot. What comes next we can let God settle.\n\nThe answer supplicated further light because of present obedience.\n'Speak! for Thy servant heareth,' is a plea never urged in vain. The\nservant's open ear is a reason for the Lord's open lips. We may be\nquite sure that, if we are willing to hear, He is more than willing to\nspeak; and anything is possible rather than that His children shall be\nleft, like ill-commanded soldiers on a battlefield, waiting for orders\nwhich never come. 'If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know.'\n\nThe sad prophecy which is committed to such apparently incongruous lips\nreiterates a former message by 'a man of God.' Eli was a kindly, and,\nin his way, good man, but wanting in firmness, and acquiescent in evil,\npartly, perhaps, from lack of moral courage and partly from lack of\nfervent religion. He is not charged with faults in his own\nadministration of his office, but with not curbing his disreputable\nsons. The threatenings are directed, not against himself, but against\nhis 'house,' who are to be removed from the high priestly office.\nNothing less than a revolution is foretold. The deposition of Eli's\nfamily would shake the whole framework of society. It is to be utterly\ndestroyed, and no sacrifice nor offering can purge it. The ulcer must\nhave eaten deep which required such stern measures for its excision.\nThe sin was mainly the sons'; but the guilt was largely the father's.\nWe may learn how cruel paternal laxity is, and how fatal mischief may\nbe done, by neglect of the plain duty of restraining children. He who\ntolerates evil which it is his province to suppress, is an accomplice,\nand the blood of the doers is red on his hands.\n\nIt was a terrible message to give to a child; but Samuel's calling was\nto be the guide of Israel in a period of transition, and he had to be\nbroken early into the work, which needed severity as well as\ntenderness. Perhaps, too, the stern message was somewhat softened, for\nthe poor old man, by the lips through which it came to him. All that\nreverent love could do, we may be sure, the young prophet would do, to\nlighten the heavy tidings. Secrecy would be secured, too; for Samuel,\nwho was so unwilling to tell even Eli what the Lord had said, would\ntell none besides.\n\nGod calls each child in our homes as truly as He did Samuel. From each\nthe same obedience is asked. Each may, like the boy in the Tabernacle,\ngrow up 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,' and so escape the\nmany scars and sorrows of a life wrongly begun. Let parents see to it\nthat they think rightly of their work, and do not content themselves\nwith conveying information, but aim at nothing short of helping all\ntheir children to hear and lovingly to yield to the gentle call of the\nincarnate God!\n\n\n\n\nFAITHLESSNESS AND DEFEAT\n\n'And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against\nthe Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Eben-ezer: and the\nPhilistines pitched in Aphek. 2. And the Philistines put themselves in\narray against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten\nbefore the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about\nfour thousand men. 3. And when the people were come into the camp, the\nelders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before\nthe Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out\nof Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of\nthe hand of our enemies. 4. So the people sent to Shiloh, that they\nmight bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts,\nwhich dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni\nand Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5. And\nwhen the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel\nshouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. 6. And when\nthe Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth\nthe noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they\nunderstood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. 7. And the\nPhilistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And\nthey said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing\nheretofore. 8. Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of\nthese mighty gods? these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all\nthe plagues in the wilderness. 9. Be strong, and quit yourselves like\nmen, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as\nthey have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. 10. And the\nPhilistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man\ninto his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of\nIsrael thirty thousand footmen. 11. And the ark of God was taken; and\nthe two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. 12. And there ran\na man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with\nhis clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. 13. And when he came,\nlo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled\nfor the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it,\nall the city cried out. 14. And when Eli heard the noise of the crying,\nhe said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in\nhastily, and told Eli. 15. Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and\nhis eyes were dim, that he could not see. 16. And the man said unto\nEli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to-day out of the\narmy. And he said, What is there done, my son? 17. And the messenger\nanswered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there\nhath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons\nalso, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God Is taken. 18.\nAnd it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he\nfell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck\nbrake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged\nIsrael forty years.'--1 SAMUEL iv. 1-18.\n\n\nThe first words of verse 1 are closely connected with the end of\nchapter iii., and complete the account of Samuel's inauguration. 'The\nword of the Lord' came to Samuel, and 'the word of Samuel came to all\nIsrael.' The one clause tells of the prophet's inspiration, the other\nof his message and its reception by the nation. This bond of union\nbetween the clauses has been broken by the chapter division, apparently\nfor the sake of representing the revolt against the Philistines as due\nto Samuel's instigation. But its being so is very doubtful. If God had\nsent the army into the field, He would have prepared it, by penitent\nreturn to Him, for victory, as no defeat follows on war which He\ncommands. Probably Samuel's mission made an unwholesome ferment in\nminds which were quite untouched by its highest significance, and so\nled to a precipitate rebellion, preceded by no religious reformation,\nand therefore sure to fail. It was twenty years too soon (1 Sam. vii.\n3). Samuel took no part in the struggle, and his name is never\nmentioned till, at the end of that period, he emphatically condemns all\nthat had been done, and points the true path of deliverance, in 'return\nto the Lord with all your heart.' So the great lesson of this story is\nthat when Israel fights Philistines, unbidden and unrepentant, it is\nsure to be beaten,--a truth with manifold wide applications.\n\nThe first disastrous defeat took place on a field, which was afterwards\nmade memorable by a great victory, and by a name which lives still as a\nwatchword for hope and gratitude. Happy they who at last conquer where\nthey once failed, and in the retrospect can say, 'Hitherto the Lord\nhelped,' both by defeat and by the victory for which defeat prepared a\nway! That opening struggle, bloody and grave as it was, was not\ndecisive; for the Israelites regained their fortified camp unmolested,\nand held together, and kept their communications open, as appears from\nwhat followed.\n\nVerses 3 to 5 give us a glimpse into the camp of Israel, and verses 6\nto 9 into that of the Philistines. These two companion pictures are\nworth looking at. The two armies are very much alike, and we may say\nthat the purpose of the picture is to show how Israel was practically\nheathen, taking just the same views of its relation to God which the\nPhilistines did. Note, too, the absence of central authority. 'The\nelders' hold a kind of council. Where were Eli the judge and Samuel the\nprophet? Neither had part in this war. The question of the elders was\nright, inasmuch as it recognised that the Lord had smitten them, but\nwrong inasmuch as it betrayed that they had not the faintest notion\nthat the reason was their own moral and religious apostasy. They had\nnot learned the A B C of their history, and of the conditions of\nnational prosperity. They stand precisely on the Pagan level, believing\nin a national God, who ought to help his votaries, but from some\ninexplicable caprice does not; or who, perhaps, is angry at the\nomission of some ritual observance. What an answer they would have got\nif Samuel had been there! There ought to have been no need for the\nquestion, or, rather, there was need for it, and the answer ought to\nhave been clear to them; their sin was the all-sufficient reason for\ntheir defeat. There are plenty of Christians, like these elders, who,\nwhen they find themselves beaten by the world and the devil, puzzle\ntheir brains to invent all sorts of reasons for God's smiting, except\nthe true one,--their own departure from Him.\n\nThe remedy suggested by the united wisdom of the leaders was as heathen\nas the consultation which resulted in it. 'Let us send for the ark'\n'Those who regarded not the God of the ark,' says Bishop Hall, 'think\nthemselves safe and happy in the ark of God.' They thought, with that\nconfusion between symbol and reality which runs through all heathen\nworship, and makes the danger of 'images,' whether in heathenism or in\nsensuous Christianity, that if they brought the ark, they brought God\nwith it. It was a kind of charm, which would help them, they hardly\nknew how. Its very name might have taught them better. They call it\n'the ark of the covenant of the Lord'; and a covenant has two parties\nto it, and promises favour on conditions. If they had kept the\nconditions, these four thousand corpses would not have been lying stiff\nand stark outside the rude encampment. As they did not keep them,\nbringing the chest which contained the transcript of them into their\nmidst was bringing a witness of their apostasy, not a helper of their\nfeebleness. Repentance would have brought God. Dragging the ark thither\nonly removed Him farther away. We need not be too hard upon these\npeople; for the natural disposition of us all is to trust to the\nexternals of worship, and to put a punctilious attention to these in\nthe place of a true cleaving of heart to the God who dwells near us,\nand is in us and on our side, if we cling to Him with penitent love.\nEven God-appointed symbols become snares. Baptism and the Lord's Supper\nare treated by multitudes as these elders did the ark. The fewer and\nsimpler the outward observances of worship are, the less danger is\nthere of the poor sense-bound soul tarrying in them, instead of passing\nby means of them into the higher, purer air beyond.\n\nWhat right had these presumptuous elders to bring the ark from Shiloh?\nEli was its guardian; and he, as appears probable from his anxiety\nabout its fate, did not approve of its removal. But 'the people' took\nthe law into their own hands. There seems some hint that their action\nwas presumptuous profanation, in the solemn, full title given in verse\n4: 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts which dwelleth between\nthe cherubim,'--as if contrasting His awful majesty, His universal\ndominion over the armies of heaven and the embattled powers of the\nuniverse, and the dazzling light of that 'glory,' which shone in the\ninnermost chamber of the Tabernacle, with the unanointed hands that\npresumed to press in thither and drag so sacred a thing into the light\nof common day and the tumult of the camp. Nor is the profanation\nlessened, but rather increased, by the priestly attendants, Eli's two\nsons, themselves amongst the worst men in Israel. When Hophni and\nPhinehas are its priests, the ark can bring no help. Heathenism\nseparates religion from morality altogether. In it there is no\nconnection between worship and purity, and the Old Testament religion\nfor the first time welded these two inseparably together. That\ntumultuous procession from Shiloh, with these two profligates for the\npriests of God, and the bearers thinking that they were sure of their\nGod's favour now, whatever their sin, shows how completely Israel had\nforgotten its own law, and, whilst professedly worshipping Jehovah, had\nreally become a heathen people. The reception of the ark with that\nfierce shout, which echoed among the hills and was heard in the\nPhilistines' encampment, shows the same thing. Not so should the ark\nhave been received, but with tears and confessions and silent awe. No\nman in all that host had ever looked upon it before. No man ought to\nhave seen it _then_. Once a year, and not without blood sprinkled on\nits cover, the high priest might look on it through the cloud of\nincense which kept him from death, while all the people waited hushed\ntill he came forth, but now it is dragged into the camp, and welcomed\nwith a yell of mad delight, as a pledge of victory. What could display\nmore strikingly the practical heathenism of the people?\n\nVerses 6 to 9 take us into the other camp, and show us the undisguised\nheathens. The Philistines think just as the other side did, only, in\ntheir polytheistic way, they do not use the name 'Jehovah,' but speak\nfirst of 'God' and then of 'gods' as having arrived in the camp. The\nnations dreaded each other's gods, though they worshipped their own;\nand the Philistines believed quite as much that 'Jehovah' was the\nHebrew's God, as that 'Dagon' was theirs. There was to be a duel then\nbetween the two superhuman powers. The vague reports which they had\nheard of the Exodus, nearly five hundred years ago, filled the\nPhilistines with panic. They had but a confused notion of the facts of\nthat old story, and thought that Egypt had met the ten plagues 'in the\nwilderness.' The blunder is very characteristic, and helps to show the\naccuracy of our narrative. It would not have occurred to a\nlegend-maker. It sounds strange to us that the Philistines' belief that\nthe Hebrews' God had come to their help should issue in exhortations to\n'fight like men.' But polytheism makes that quite a natural conclusion;\nand there is something almost fine in the truculent boldness with which\nthey set their teeth for a fierce struggle. They reiterate to one\nanother the charge to 'quit themselves like men'; and while they do not\nhide from themselves that the question whether they are to be still\nmasters is hanging on the coming struggle, a dash of contempt for the\n'Hebrews' who had been their 'slaves' is perceptible.\n\nAccording to verse 10, the Philistines appear to have begun the attack,\nperhaps taking the enemy by surprise. The rout this time was complete.\nThe grim catalogue of disaster in verses 10 and 11 is strangely tragic\nin its dreadful, monotonous plainness, each clause adding something to\nthe terrible story, and each linked to the preceding by a simple 'and.'\nThe Israelites seem to have been scattered. 'They fled, every man to\nhis tent.' The army, with little cohesion and no strong leaders, melted\naway. The ark was captured, and its two unworthy attendants slain.\nBringing it had not brought God, then. It was but a chest of\nshittimwood, with two slabs of lettered stone in it,--and what help was\nin that? But its capture was the sign that the covenant with Israel was\nfor the time annulled. The whole framework of the nation was\ndisorganised. The keystone was struck out of their worship, and they\nhad fallen, by their own sin, to the level of the nations, and even\nbelow these; for they had their gods, but Israel had turned away from\ntheir God, and He had departed from them. Superstition fancied that the\npresence of the ark secured to impenitent men the favour of God; but it\nwas no superstition which saw in its absence from Shiloh His averted\nface.\n\nIs there in poetry or drama a more vivid and pathetic passage than the\nclosing verses of this narrative, which tell of the panting messenger\nand the old blind Eli?\n\n'Eben-ezer' cannot have been very far from Shiloh, for the fugitive had\nseen the end of the fight, and reached the city before night. He came\nwith the signs of mourning, and, as it would appear from verse 13,\npassed the old man at the gate without pausing, and burst into the city\nwith his heavy tidings. One can almost hear the shrill shrieks of wrath\nand despair which first told Eli that something was wrong. Blind and\nunwieldy and heavy-hearted, he sat by the gate to which the news would\nfirst come; but yet he is the last to hear,--perhaps because all shrank\nfrom telling him, perhaps because in the confusion no one remembered\nhim. Only after he had asked the meaning of the tumult, of which his\nforeboding heart and conscience told him the meaning before it was\nspoken, is the messenger brought to the man to whom he should have gone\nfirst. How touchingly the story pauses, even at this crisis, to paint\nthe poor old man! A stronger word is used to describe his blindness\nthan in 1 Samuel iii. 2, as the Revised Version shows. His fixed\neyeballs were sightless now; and there he sat, dreading and longing to\nhear. The fugitive's account of himself is shameless in its avowal of\nhis cowardice, and prepares Eli for the worst. But note how he speaks\ngently and with a certain dignity, crushing down his anxiety,--'How\nwent the matter, my son?' Then, with no merciful circumlocution or\nveiling, out comes the whole dismal story once again.\n\nEli spoke no more. His sons' death had been the sign given him years\nbefore that the threatenings against his house should be fulfilled; but\neven that blow he can bear. But the capture of the ark is more than a\npersonal sorrow, and his start of horror overbalances him, and he falls\nfrom his seat (which probably had no back to it), and dies, silent, of\na broken neck and a broken heart. His forty years of judgeship ended\nthus. He was in many respects good and lovable, gentle, courteous,\ndevout. His kindly treatment of Hannah, his fatherly training of\nSamuel, his submission to the divine message through the child, his\n'trembling for the ark,' his death at the news of its being taken, all\nindicate a character of real sweetness and true godliness. But all was\nmarred by a fatal lack of strong, stern resolve to tolerate no evil\nwhich he ought to suppress. Good, weak men, especially when they let\nfoolish tenderness hinder righteous severity, bring terrible evils on\nthemselves, their families, and their nation. It was Eli who, at\nbottom, was the cause of the defeat and the disasters which slew his\nsons and broke his own heart. Nothing is more cruel than the weak\nindulgence which, when men are bringing a curse on themselves by their\nsin, 'restrains them not.'\n\n\n\n\nREPENTANCE AND VICTORY\n\n'And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the\nLord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and\nsanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. 2. And it came\nto pans, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long;\nfor it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the\nLord. 3. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye\ndo return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange\ngods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the\nLord, and serve Him only: and He will deliver you out of the hand of\nthe Philistines. 4. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and\nAshtaroth, and served the Lord only. 5. And Samuel said, Gather all\nIsrael to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord. 6. And they\ngathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before\nthe Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned\nagainst the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.\n7. And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were\ngathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up\nagainst Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were\nafraid of the Philistines. 8. And the children of Israel said to\nSamuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will\nsave us out of the hand of the Philistines. 9. And Samuel took a\nsucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt-offering wholly unto the Lord:\nand Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him. 10.\nAnd as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew\nnear to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great\nthunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them: and\nthey were smitten before Israel. 11. And the men of Israel went out of\nMizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came\nunder Beth-car. 12. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh\nand Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath\nthe Lord helped us.'-1 SAMUEL vii 1-12.\n\n\nThe ark had spread disaster in Philistia and Beth-shemesh, and the\nwillingness of the men of Kirjath-jearim to receive it was a token of\ntheir devotion. They must have been in some measure free from idolatry\nand penetrated with reverence. The name of the city (_City of the\nWoods_, like our _Woodville_) suggests the situation of the little\ntown, 'bosomed high in tufted trees,' where the ark lay for so long,\napparently without sacrifices, and simply watched over by Eleazar, who\nwas probably of the house of Aaron. Eli's family was exterminated;\nShiloh seems to have been destroyed, or, at all events, forsaken; and\nfor twenty years internal disorganisation and foreign oppression,\nrelieved only by Samuel's growing influence, prevailed. But during\nthese dark days a better mind was slowly appearing among the people.\n'All ... Israel lamented after the Lord.' Lost blessings are precious.\nGod was more prized when withdrawn. Happy they to whom darkness\nbrightens that Light which brightens all darkness! Our text gives us\nthree main points,--the preparation for victory in repentance and\nreturn (verses 3-9); the victory (verses 10, 11); the thankful\ncommemoration of victory (verse 12).\n\nI. We have first the preparation for victory in repentance and return.\nAt the time of the first fight at Eben-ezer, Israel was full of\nidolatry and immorality. Then their preparation for battle was the mere\nbringing the ark into the camp, as if it were a fetish or magic charm.\nThat was pure heathenism, and they were idolaters in such worship of\nJehovah, just as much as if they had been bowing to Baal. Many of us\nrely on our baptism or on churchgoing precisely in the same spirit, and\nare as truly pagans. Not the name of the Deity, but the spirit of the\nworshipper, makes the 'idolater.'\n\nHow different this second preparation! Samuel, who had never been named\nin the narrative of defeat, now reappears as the acknowledged prophet\nand, in a sense, dictator. The first requirement is to come back to the\nLord 'with the whole heart,' and that return is to be practically\nexhibited in the complete forsaking of Baal and the Ashtoreths. 'Ye\ncannot serve God and mammon.' It must be 'Him only,' if it is Him at\nall. Real religion is exclusive, as real love is. In its very nature it\nis indivisible, and if given to two is accepted by neither. So there\nwas some kind of general and perhaps public giving up of the idols, and\nsome, though probably not the fully appointed, public service of\nJehovah. If we are to have His strength infused for victory, we must\ncast away our idols, and come back to Him with all our hearts. The\nhands that would clasp Him, and be upheld by the clasp, must be emptied\nof trifles. To yield ourselves wholly to God is the secret of strength.\n\nThe next step was a solemn national assembly at Samuel's town of\nMizpeh, situated on a conspicuous hill, north-west of Jerusalem, which\nstill is called 'the prophet Samuel.' Sacrifices were offered, which\nare no part of the Mosaic ritual. A significant part of these consisted\nin the pouring out of water 'before the Lord,' probably as emblematic\nof the pouring out of soul in penitence; for it was accompanied by\nfasting and confession of sin. The surest way to the true victory,\nwhich is the conquest of our sins, is confessing them to God. When once\nwe have seen any sin in its true character clearly enough to speak to\nHim about it, we have gone far to emancipate ourselves from it, and\nhave quickened our consciences towards more complete intolerance of its\nhideousness. Confession breaks the entail of sin, and substitutes for\nthe dreary expectation of its continuance the glad conviction of\nforgiveness and cleansing. It does not make a stiff fight unnecessary;\nfor assured freedom from sin is not the easy prize of confession, but\nthe hard-won issue of sturdy effort in God's strength. But it is like\nblowing the trumpet of revolt,--it gives the signal for, and itself\nbegins, the conflict. The night before the battle should be spent, not\nin feasting, but in prayer and lowly shriving of our souls before the\ngreat Confessor.\n\nThe watchful Philistines seem to have had their attention attracted by\nthe unusual stir among their turbulent subjects, and especially by this\nsuspicious gathering at Mizpeh, and they come suddenly up the passes\nfrom their low-lying territory to disperse it. A whiff of the old\nterror blows across the spirits of the people, not unwholesomely; for\nit sets them, not to desire the outward presence of the ark, not to run\nfrom their post, but to beseech Samuel's intercession. They are afraid,\nbut they mean to fight all the same, and, because they are afraid, they\nlong for God's help. That is the right temper, which, if a man cherish,\nhe will not be defeated, however many Philistines rush at him. Twenty\nyears of slavery had naturally bred fear in them, but it is a wise fear\nwhich breeds reliance on God. Our enemy is strong, and no fault is more\nfatal than an underestimate of his power. If we go into battle singing,\nwe shall probably come out of it weeping, or never come out at all. If\nwe begin bragging, we shall end bleeding. It is only he who looks on\nthe advancing foe, and feels 'They are too strong for me,' who will\nhave to say, as he watches them retreating, 'He delivered me from my\nstrong enemy.' We should think much of our foes and little of\nourselves. Such a temper will lead to caution, watchfulness, wise\nsuspicion, vigorous strain of all our little power, and, above all, it\nwill send us to our knees to plead with our great Captain and Advocate.\n\nSamuel acts as priest and intercessor, offering a burnt-offering,\nwhich, like the pouring out of water, is no part of the Mosaic\nsacrifices. The fact is plain, but it is neither unaccountable nor\nlarge enough to warrant the sweeping inferences which have been drawn\nfrom it and its like, as to the non-existence at this period of the\ndeveloped ceremonial in Leviticus. We need only remember Samuel's\nspecial office, and the seclusion in which the ark lay, to have a\nsufficient explanation of the cessation of the appointed worship and\nthe substitution of such 'irregular' sacrifices. We are on surer ground\nwhen we see here the incident to which Psalm xcix. 6 refers ('Samuel\namong them that call upon His name. They called upon the Lord, and He\nanswered them'), and when we learn the lesson that there is a power in\nintercession which we can use for one another, and which reaches its\nperfection in the prevailing prayer of our great High-priest, who, like\nSamuel and Moses, is on the mountain praying, while we fight in the\nplain.\n\nII. We have next the victory on the field of the former defeat. The\nbattle is joined on the old ground. Strategic considerations probably\ndetermined the choice as they did in the case of the many battles on\nthe plain of Esdraelon, for instance, or on the fields of the\nNetherlands. Probably the armies met on some piece of level ground in\none of the wadies, up which the Philistines marched to the attack. At\nall events, there they were, face to face once more on the old spot. On\nboth sides might be men who had been in the former engagement.\nDepressing remembrances or burning eagerness to wipe out the shame\nwould stir in those on the one side; contemptuous remembrance of the\nease with which the last victory had been won would animate the other.\nGod Himself helped them by the thunderstorm, the solemn roll of which\nwas 'the voice of the Lord' answering Samuel's prayer. The ark had\nbrought only defeat to the impure host; the sacrifice brings victory to\nthe penitent army. Observe that the defeat is accomplished before 'the\nmen of Israel went out of Mizpeh.' God scattered the enemy, and Israel\nhad only to pursue flying foes, as they hurried in wild confusion down\nthe pass, with the lightning flashing behind them. The same pregnant\nexpression is used for the rout of the Philistines as for the previous\none of Israel. 'They were smitten _before_,' not _by_, the victors. The\ntrue victor was God.\n\nThe story gives boundless hope of victory, even on the fields of our\nformer defeats. We can master rooted faults of character, and overcome\ntemptations which have often conquered us. Let no man say: 'Ah! I have\nbeen beaten so often that I may as well give up the fight altogether.\nYears and years I have been a slave, and everywhere I tread on old\nbattlefields, where I have come off second-best. It will never be\ndifferent. I may as well cease struggling.' However obstinate the\nfault, however often it has re-established its dominion and dragged us\nback to slavery, when we thought that we had made good our\nescape,--that is no reason to 'bate one jot of heart or hope.' We have\nevery reason to hope bravely and boundlessly in the possibility of\nvictory. True, we should rightly despair if we had only our own powers\nto depend on. But the grounds of our confidence lie in the\ninexhaustible fulness of God's Spirit, and the certain purpose of His\nwill that we should be purified from all iniquity, as well as in the\nproved tendency of the principles and motives of the gospel to produce\ncharacters of perfect goodness, and, above all, in the sacrifice and\nintercession of our Captain on high. Since we have Christ to dwell in\nus, and be the seed of a new life, which will unfold into the likeness\nof that life from which it has sprung; since we have a perfect Example\nin Him who became like us in lowliness of flesh, that we might become\nlike Him in purity of spirit; since we have a gospel which enjoins and\nsupplies the mightiest motives for complete obedience; and since the\nmost rooted and inveterate evils are no part of ourselves, but 'vipers'\nwhich may be 'shaken from the hand' into which they have struck their\nfangs, we commit faithless treason against God, His message, and\nourselves, when we doubt that we shall overcome all our sins. We should\nnot, then, go into the fight downhearted, with our banners drooping, as\nif defeat sat on them. The belief that we shall conquer has much to do\nwith victory. That is true in all sorts of conflicts. So, though the\nwhole field may be strewed with relics, eloquent of former disgrace, we\nmay renew the struggle with confidence that the future will not always\ncopy the past. We 'are saved by hope'; by hope we are made strong. It\nis the very helmet on our heads. The warfare with our own evils should\nbe waged in the assurance that every field of our defeat shall one day\nsee set up on it the trophy of, not our victory, but God's in us.\n\nIII. We have here the grateful commemoration of victory. Where that\ngray stone stands no man knows to-day, but its name lives for ever.\nThis trophy bore no vaunts of leader's skill or soldier's bravery. One\nname only is associated with it. It is 'the stone of help,' and its\nmessage to succeeding generations is: 'Hitherto hath the Lord helped\nus.' That Hitherto' is the word of a mighty faith. It includes as parts\nof one whole the disaster no less than the victory. The Lord was\nhelping Israel no less by sorrow and oppression than by joy and\ndeliverance. The defeat which guided them back to Him was tender\nkindness and precious help. He helps us by griefs and losses, by\ndisappointments and defeats; for whatever brings us closer to Him, and\nmakes us feel that all our bliss and wellbeing lie in knowing and\nloving Him, is helpful beyond all other aid, and strength-giving above\nall other gifts.\n\nSuch remembrance has in it a half-uttered prayer and hope for the\nfuture. 'Hitherto' means more than it says. It looks forward as well as\nbackward, and sees the future in the past. Memory passes into hope, and\nthe radiance in the sky behind throws light on to our forward path.\nGod's 'hitherto' carries 'henceforward' wrapped up in it. His past\nreveals the eternal principles which will mould His future acts. He has\nhelped, therefore he will help, is no good argument concerning men; but\nit is valid concerning God.\n\nThe devout man's 'gratitude' is, and ought to be, 'a lively sense of\nfavours to come.' We should never doubt but that, as good John Newton\nputs it, in words which bid fair to last longer than Samuel's gray\nstone:--\n\n       'Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review\n        Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through.'\n\nWe may write that on every field of our life's conflicts, and have it\nengraved at last on our gravestones, where we rest in hope.\n\nThe best use of memory is to mark more plainly than it could be seen at\nthe moment the divine help which has filled our lives. Like some track\non a mountain side, it is less discernible to us, when treading it,\nthan when we look at it from the other side of the glen. Many parts of\nour lives, that seemed unmarked by any consciousness of God's help\nwhile they were present, flash up into clearness when seen through the\nrevealing light of memory, and gleam purple in it, while they looked\nbut bare rocks as long as we were stumbling among them. It is blessed\nto remember, and to see everywhere God's help. We do not remember\naright unless we do. The stone that commemorates our lives should bear\nno name but one, and this should be all that is read upon it: 'Now unto\nHim that kept us from falling, unto Him be glory!'\n\n\n\n\n'MAKE US A KING'\n\n'Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came\nto Samuel, onto Ramah, 5. And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and\nthy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all\nthe nations. 6. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give\nus a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. 7. And the Lord\nsaid unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they\nsay unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected\nMe, that I should not reign over them. 8. According to all the works\nwhich they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt\neven unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken Me, and served other\ngods, so do they also unto thee. 9. Now therefore hearken unto their\nvoice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner\nof the king that shall reign over them. 10. And Samuel told all the\nwords of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. 11. And he\nsaid, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He\nwill take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots,\nand to be his horsemen: and some shall run before his chariots, 12. And\nhe will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties;\nand will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to\nmake his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13. And\nhe will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and\nto be bakers. 14. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and\nyour oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.\n15. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and\ngive to his officers, and to his servants. 16. And he will take your\nmen-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and\nyour asses, and put them to his work. 17. He will take the tenth of\nyour sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 18. And ye shall cry out in\nthat day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the\nLord will not hear you in that day. 19. Nevertheless the people refused\nto obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a\nking over us; 20. That we also may be like all the nations; and that\nour king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.'--I\nSAMUEL viii. 4-20.\n\n\nThe office of judge was as little capable of transmission from father\nto son as that of prophet, so that Samuel's appointment of his sons as\njudges must be regarded as contrary to its true idea. It was God who\nmade the judges, and the introduction, in however slight a degree, of\nthe hereditary principle, was not only politically a blunder, but\nreligiously wrong. Our narrative, like Scripture generally, pronounces\nno opinion on the facts it records, but its unfavourable judgment may\nbe safely inferred from its explanation that Samuel was 'old' when he\nmade the appointment, and that his sons were corrupt and unjust. Our\ntext deals with the unexpectedly wide consequences of that act, in the\nclamour for a king.\n\nI. Note the ill-omened request. A formal delegation of the\nrepresentatives of the nation comes to Ramah, unsummoned by Samuel,\nwith the demand for a king. There must have been much talk through\nIsrael before the general mind could have been ascertained, and this\nstep taken. Not a whisper of what was passing seems to have reached\nSamuel, and the request is flung at him in harsh language. It is not\npleasant for any one, least of all for a ruler, to be told that\neverybody sees that he is getting old, and should provide for what is\nto come next. Fathers do not like to be told that their sons are\ndisreputable, but Samuel had to hear the bitter truth. The old man was\npained by it, and felt that the people were tired of him, as is plain\nenough from the divine words which followed, and bade him look beyond\nthe ingratitude displayed towards himself, to that shown to God. But\nfrom the 'practical' point of view, there was a great deal to be said\nfor the reasonableness and political wisdom of the elders' suggestion.\nSamuel had shown that he felt the danger of leaving the nation without\na leader, by his nomination of his sons, and the proposal of a king is\nbut carrying his policy a little farther. The hereditary principle once\nadmitted, a full-blown king was evidently the best. There were many\ninconveniences in the rule by judges. They had no power but that of\nforce of personal character and the authority of an unseen Lord. They\nleft no successors; and long intervals had elapsed, and might again\nelapse, between the death of one and the rise of another, during which\nthe nation appeared to have no head to guide nor arm to defend it.\nExamples of strong monarchies surrounded them, and they wanted to have\na centre of unity and a defender in the person of a king.\n\nSamuel's displeasure seems to have been mainly on the ground of the\ninsult to himself in the proposal, and its bearing on the rule of\nJehovah over the people does not seem to have occurred to him till it\nwas pointed out by the divine voice. But, like a good and wise man, he\ntook his perplexity and trouble to God; and there he got light. The\ndivine judgment of the request cuts down to its hidden, and probably\nunconscious, motive, and shows Samuel that weariness of him was only\nits surface, while the true bottom of it was rejection of God. The\nparallel drawn with idolatry is very instructive. The two things were\nbut diverse forms of the same sense-ridden disposition: the one being\nan inability to grasp the thought of the unseen God; the other, a\nprecisely similar inability to keep on the high level of trust in an\nunseen defender, and obedience to an unseen monarch. They wished for a\nking 'to go out before them' and 'fight their battles' (v. 20). Had\nthey forgotten Eben-ezer, and many another field, where they and their\nfathers had but to stand still and see the Lord fight for them?\n\nThe very same difficulty in living in quiet reliance on a power which\nis perceptible by no sense, besets us. We too are ever being tempted to\nprefer the solid security, as our foolish senses call it, of visible\nsupports and delights, to the shadowy help of an unseen Arm. How many\nof us would feel safer with a good balance at our banker's than with\nGod's promises! How many of us live as if we thought that men or women\nwere better recipients of our love and of our trust than God! How few,\neven of professing Christians, really and habitually 'walk by faith,\nnot by sight'! Do we not see ourselves in the mirror of this story? If\nwe do not, we should. Note that the elders had, apparently, no idea\nthat they were rejecting God in wanting a king. Samuel says nothing of\nthe sort to them, and they could scarcely have made the request so\nboldly and briefly if they had been conscious that it was upsetting the\nvery basis of their national life. Men are slow to appreciate the full\nforce of their craving for visible good. The petitioners could plead\nmany strong reasons, and, no doubt, fancied themselves simply taking\nproper precautions for the future. A great deal of unavowed and\nunconscious unbelief wears the mask of wise foresight. We rather pride\nourselves on our prudence, when we should be ashamed of our distrust.\n\nNote, too, that we cannot combine reliance on the seen and the unseen.\nLife must be moulded by one or the other. The craving for a king was\nthe rejection of Jehovah. We must elect by which we shall live, and\nfrom which we shall draw our supreme good.\n\nThe desire to be like their neighbours was another motive with the\nelders. It is hard to be singular, and to foster reliance on the\ninvisible, when all around us are dazzling examples of the success\nattending the other course. One of the first lessons which we have to\nlearn, and one of the last which we have to practise, is a wholesome\ndisregard of other people's ways. If we are to do anything worth doing,\nwe must be content to be in a minority of one, if needful.\n\nII. Note God's concession of the foolish wish. The divine word to\nSamuel throws light on the nature of prophetic inspiration. He is\nbidden to 'hearken to the people's voice'--a procedure directly\nopposite to his own ideas. This is not a case of subsequent reflection\nmodifying first impressions, but of an authoritative voice discerned by\nthe hearer to be not his own, contradicting his own thoughts, and\nleaving no room for further consideration.\n\nFurther, the granting to Israel of the king whom they desired, is but\none instance of the law which is exemplified in God's dealing with\nnations and individuals, according to which He lets them have their own\nway, that they may 'be filled with their own devices.' Such experience\nis the best teacher, though her school fees are high. The surest way to\ndisgust men with their own folly, is to let it work out its\nresults,--just as boys in sweetmeat shops are allowed to eat as much as\nthey like at first, and so get a distaste for the dainties. 'Try it,\nthen, and see how you like it,' is not an unkind thing to say, and God\noften says it to us. When argument and appeals to duty and the like\nfail, there is nothing more to be done but to let us have our request,\nand find out the poison that lurked under the fair outside. The\nprodigal son gets his coveted portion, and is allowed to go into the\nfar country, that he may prove how good and happy it is to starve among\nthe swine, not because his father is angry with him, but because such\nexperience is the only way to re-awaken his dormant love, and to make\nhim long for the despised place in his father's house. There are some\nfevers of the desires which must run their course before the patient\ncan be well again. Let us keep a careful watch over ourselves, that we\nentertain no wishes but such as run parallel with God's manifest will,\nlest He may have in His anger, which is still love, to give us our\nrequest, that we may find out our error by the bitter fruits of a\ngranted desire.\n\nIII. Note the obstinacy that, with eyes open to the consequences,\npersists in its demands. Samuel is bidden to 'show them the manner of\nthe king that shall reign over them.' He sketches, in sombre outline,\nthe picture of an Eastern despot, the only kind of king which the world\nthen knew. The darker features of these monarchies are not included.\nThere is no harem, nor cruelty, nor monstrous vice, in the picture; but\nthe diversion of labour to minister to royal pomp, the establishment of\na standing army, the alienation of land to officials, heavy taxation\nand forced labour make up the items. To these is added (v. 18) that the\nroyalty, now so eagerly desired, would sooner or later become a burden,\nand that then they or their sons would find it was easier to put on\nthan to put off the yoke; for 'the Lord will not hear you in that day,'\nin reference, that is, to the removal of the king. They were exchanging\nan unseen King who gave all things for one who would take, and not\ngive. A wise exchange! The consequences of our wishes are not always\ndrawn out so clearly before us as in this instance; but we are not left\nin darkness as to the broad issues, and we all know enough to make our\npersistence in evil, after such warnings, the deepest mystery and most\nflagrant sin. The drunkard is not deterred by his knowledge that there\nis such a thing as _delirium tremens_; nor the thief, by the certainty\nthat the officer's hand will be laid on his shoulder one day or other;\nnor the young profligate, by the danger that his bones shall be 'full\nof the sin of his youth'; nor are any of us kept from our sins, by the\nclear sight of their end. 'I have loved strangers, and after them will\nI go,' notwithstanding all knowledge of the fatal issue. Surely there\nis nothing sadder than that power of neglecting the most certain known\nresult of our acts. Wilfully blind, and hurried on by lust, passion, or\nother impulse, like bulls which shut their eyes when they charge, we\nrush at our mark, and often dash ourselves to pieces on it. If a man\nsaw the consequences of his sin at the moment of temptation, he would\nnot do it; but this is the wonder, that he does not see them, though he\nknows them well enough, and that the knowledge has no power to restrain\nhim.\n\nIV. Note the divine purpose which uses man's sin as its instrument in\nadvancing its designs. God had promised Israel a king (Deut. xvii. 14,\netc.), and the elders may have thought that they were only asking for\nwhat was in accordance with His plan. So they were; but their motive\nwas wrong, and so their prayer, though for what God meant to give, was\nwrong. In this case, as always, God uses men's sins as occasions for\nthe furtherance of His own eternal purpose, as that profound saying has\nit, 'Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee.' The kingly office was\na step in advance, and gave occasion to the development of Messianic\nexpectations of the true King of Israel and of men, which would have\nbeen impossible without it, In many ways it was for the good of the\nnation, and the holders of the office were 'the Lord's anointed.'\nModern criticism has found traces of two opposite views in this story,\nas compared with the passage in Deuteronomy above referred to; but\nsurely it is a more sober, though less novel, view, to regard the whole\nincident as illustrating the two truths, that men may wish for right\nthings in a wrong way, and that God uses sin as well as obedience as\nHis instrument. No barriers can stop the march of His great purpose\nthrough the ages, any more than a bit of glass can stay a sunbeam.\nHowever the currents run and the storms howl, they carry the ship to\nthe haven; for He holds the helm, and all winds help. The people\nrejected Him, and in seeking a king followed but their own earthly\nminds; but they prepared the way for David and David's Son. Their\nchildren long after, moved by the same spirit, shouted, 'We have no\nking but Caesar!' but they prepared the throne for the true King, for\nwhom they destined a Cross. Man's greatest sin, the rejection of the\nvisible King of the world, brought about the firm establishment of His\ndominion on earth and in heaven. The cross is the great instance of the\nsame law as is embodied in this history,--the overruling providence\nwhich bends the antagonism of men into a tool for effecting the purpose\nof God.\n\nAlas for those who only thus carry on God's designs! They perish, and\ntheir work is none the less their sin, because God has used it. How\nmuch better to enter with a willing heart and a clear intelligence into\nsympathy with His designs, and, delighting to do His will, to share in\nthe eternal duration of His triumphant purpose! 'The world passeth\naway, and the fashion thereof: but he that doeth the will of God\nabideth for ever.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE OLD JUDGE AND THE YOUNG KING\n\n'Now the Lord had told Samuel In his ear a day before Saul came,\nsaying, 16, To-morrow, about this time I will send thee a man out of\nthe land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over My\npeople Israel, that he may save My people out of the hand of the\nPhilistines: for I have looked upon My people, because their cry is\ncome unto Me. 17. And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said unto him,\nBehold the man whom I spake to thee of! this same shall reign over My\npeople. 18. Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell\nme, I pray thee, where the seer's house is. 19. And Samuel answered\nSaul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for\nye shall eat with me to-day, and to-morrow I will let thee go, and will\ntell thee all that is in thine heart. 20. And as for thine asses that\nwere lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found.\nAnd on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all\nthy father's house? 21. And Saul answered and said, Am not I a\nBenjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the\nleast of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then\nspeakest thou so to me? 22. And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and\nbrought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the chiefest place\namong them that were bidden, which were about thirty persons. 23. And\nSamuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of\nwhich I said unto thee, Set it by thee. 24. And the cook took up the\nshoulder, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And\nSamuel said, Behold that which is left I set it before thee, and eat:\nfor unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have\ninvited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel that day. 25. And when\nthey were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed\nwith Saul upon the top of the house. 26. And they arose early: and it\ncame to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to\nthe top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul\narose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. 27. And\nas they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul,\nBid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou\nstill a while, that I may shew thee the word of God.'--1 SAMUEL ix.\n15-27.\n\n\nBoth the time and the place of the incidents here told are unknown. No\nnote is given of the interval that had elapsed since the elders'\ndeputation. All that we know is that on the previous day Samuel had had\nthe divine communication mentioned in verse 15, and that some days are\nimplied as spent by Saul in his quest for his fathers asses, Equally\nuncertain is the name of the city. It was not Samuel's ordinary\nresidence; it was in the 'land of Zuph,' an unknown district; it was\nperched, like most of the cities, on a hill; it had fountains lower\ndown the slope, and a 'high place' farther up, where there was a\nbuilding large enough for a feast. How strangely vivid the picture of\nthis anonymous city is, and how we can yet see the maidens coming down\nto the fountains, the wearied travellers toiling up, and the voluble\nabundance of the directions given them!\n\nI. The first thing we have to note is the premonitory word of the Lord.\nObserve the picturesque and forcible expression, 'had uncovered the ear\nof Samuel.' It is more than picturesque. It gives in the strongest form\nthe fact of a revelation, both as to its origin and its secrecy. It is\nvain to represent the transition from judgeship to monarchy as a mere\npolitical revolution, inaugurated by Samuel as a fore-seeing statesman.\nIt is misleading to speak of him, as Dean Stanley does, as one of the\nmen who mediate between the old and the new. His opinions and views go\nfor just nothing in the transaction, and he is simply God's instrument.\nThe people's desire for the king, and God's answer to it, were equally\nindependent of him. His own ideas were dead against the change, and at\neach step in bringing it about the divine causality is everything, and\nhe is nothing but its obedient servant. It is hopeless to sift out a\nnaturalistic explanation from the narrative, which is either\nsupernatural or nothing. Note the three points of this\ncommunication,--God's sending Saul, the command to anoint, and the\nmotive ascribed to God. As to the first, how striking that full-toned\nauthoritative 'I will send' is! Think of the chain of ordinary events\nwhich brought Saul to the little city,--the wandering of a drove of\nasses, the failure to get on their tracks, the accident of being in the\nland of Zuph when he got tired of the search, the suggestion of the\nservant; and behind all these, and working through them, the will and\nhand of God, thrusting this man, all unconscious, along a path which he\nknew not. Our own purposes we may know, but God's we do not know. There\nis something awful in the thought of the issues that may spring from\nthe smallest affairs, and we shall be bewildered and paralysed if once\nwe get a glimpse of the complicated web which is ever being woven in\nthe loom of time, unless we, too, can, by faith, see the Weaver, and\nthen we shall be at rest. Call nothing trivial, and seek to be\nconscious of His guiding hand.\n\nThe command to Samuel to anoint Saul is no product of Samuel's own\nreflection, but comes to him, in this imperative form, before he has\nseen Saul, like a commission in blank, in regard to which he has no\noption, and in the origin of which he had no share. It was a piece of\npainful work to devolve his authority, like Aaron's having to strip off\nhis robes before he died, and to put them on his son. But there is no\ntrace of wounded feeling in Samuel. He is true to his childhood's word,\n'Speak, for Thy servant heareth,' and, no doubt, he had the reward\nwhich obedience ever has to sweeten the bitterest draught, the reward\nof a quiet heart.\n\nThe reason as given in the last clause of the verse ought to have made\nSamuel's self-abnegation easier. God sets him the example. Israel had\nrejected Him, but He still calls them 'My people,' and looks upon them\nin tender care, and hears their cry. There is no contradiction here\nwith the aspect of the concession to the people's wish, which appeared\nin the former section. Hasty criticism tries to make out discrepancies\nin the accounts, because it does not recognise one of the plainest\ncharacteristics of Scripture; namely, its habit of stating strongly and\nexclusively that side of a complicated matter which is relevant to the\npurpose in hand, and leaving the other sides to be presented in due\ntime. The three accounts of the election give three different reasons\nfor it. In chapter viii., the people put it on the ground of Samuel's\nage and his son's unfitness, and God treats it as national rejection of\nHim. Here it appears as due, on the part of the people, to their fear\nof the Philistines, and on the part of God to His loving yielding to\ntheir cry. In 1 Samuel xii. 12, Samuel traces it to the fear of\nAmmonite invasion. Are these contradictory or supplementary accounts?\nCertainly the latter. Though Israel had in heart rejected God, and He\ngave them a king that they might learn how much better they would have\nbeen without one, it is as true that He lovingly listened to the cry of\ntheir fear, and answered them, in pity and tender care, by giving them\nthe king whom they desired, and who would deliver them from their\nenemies. Let us learn how patient of our faithless follies, and how\nfull of long-suffering love, even in 'anger,' He is. The same gift of\nHis providence, regarded in one light, is loving chastisement, and in\nanother is loving compliance with our cry and swift help to our need in\nthe shape that we desire, but in both aspects is good and perfect.\nNote, too, that God's look is active, and is the bringing of the needed\naid, and that He waits for our cry before He comes with His help.\n\nII. The meeting of Samuel and Saul. They encounter each other in the\ngate,--the prophet on his way to the sacrifice, the future king with\nhis head full of his humble quest. Samuel knows Saul by divine\nintimation as soon as he sees him, but Saul does not know Samuel. His\nquestion indicates the noble simplicity, without attendants or\ntrappings, of the judge's life; but it also suggests the strange\nisolation of these early days, and the probable indifference of Saul to\nreligion. If he had cared much about God's rule in Israel, he could\nscarcely have been so ignorant as his servant's words about 'the seer,'\nand his failure to know him when he saw him, show Saul to have been. He\nhad not cared to see Samuel in any of the latter's circuits, and now he\nonly wants to get some information from a diviner about these\nunfortunate asses. What a contrast between the thoughts of the two, as\nthey looked at each other! Saul begins by consulting Samuel as a\nmagician; he ends by seeking counsel from the witch at Endor. Samuel's\nwords are beautiful in their smothering of all personal feeling, and\ndignified in their authority. He at once takes command of Saul, and\nprepares him by half-hints for something great to come. The direction\nto 'go up before me' is a sign of honour. The invitation to the\nsacrificial feast is another. The promise to disclose his own secret\nthoughts to Saul may, perhaps, point to some hidden ambitions, the\nknowledge of which would prove Samuel's prophetic character. The\nassurance as to the asses answers the small immediate occasion of\nSaul's resort to him, and the dim hint in the last words of verse 20,\nrightly translated, tells him that 'all that is desirable in Israel' is\nfor him, and for all his father's house. He went out to look for his\nfather's asses, and he found a kingdom. The words were enigmatical; but\nif Saul knew of the impending revolution, they could scarcely fail to\ndazzle him and take away his breath. His answer is more than mere\nOriental self-depreciation. Its bashful modesty contrasts sadly with\nthe almost insane masterfulness and arrogant self-will of his later\nyears. Fair beginnings may end ill, and those who are set in positions\nof influence have hard work to keep steady heads, and to sail with low\nsails.\n\nIII. The feast. Up at the high place was some chamber used for the\nfeasts which followed the sacrifices. A company of thirty--or,\naccording to another reading, of seventy--persons had been invited, and\nthe stately young stranger from Benjamin, with his servant (a trait of\nthe simple manners of these days), is set in the place of honour, where\nwondering eyes fasten on him. Attention is still more emphatically\ncentred on him when Samuel bids 'the cook' bring a part of the\nsacrifice which he had been ordered to set aside. It proves to be the\n'shoulder' or 'thigh,' the priest's perquisite, and therefore probably\nSamuel's. To give this to another was equivalent to putting him in\nSamuel's place; and Samuel's words in handing it to Saul make its\nmeaning plain. It is 'that which hath been reserved.' It has been 'kept\nfor thee' till 'the appointed time,' and that with a view to the\nassembled guests. All this is in true prophetic fashion, which\ndelighted in symbols, and these of the homeliest sort. The whole\ntransaction expressed the transference of power to Saul, the divine\nreserving of the monarchy for him, and the public investiture with it,\nby the prophet himself. The veil was intentional, and intentionally\nthin. Cannot we see the flush of surprise and modesty on Saul's cheek,\nas he tore the pieces from the significant 'shoulder,' and hear the\nwhispers that ran through the guest-chamber?\n\nIV. The private colloquy. When the simple feast was over, the strangely\nassorted pair went down to Samuel's house, and there, on the quiet\nhouse-top, where were no curious ears, held long and earnest talk. No\ndoubt Samuel told Saul all that was in his heart, as he had said that\nhe would, and convinced him thereby that it was God who was speaking to\nhim through the prophet. Nor would exhortations and warnings be\nwanting, which the old man's experience would be anxious to give, and\nthe young one's modesty not unwilling to receive. Saul is a listener,\nnot a speaker, in this unreported interview; and Samuel is in it, as\nthroughout, the superior. The characteristic which marked the beginning\nof the Jewish monarchy was stamped on it till the end. The king was\ninferior to the prophet, and was meant to take his instructions from\nhim when he appeared. Saul was docile on that first day, when he was\nhalf dazed with his new prospects, and wholly grateful to Samuel; but\nthe history will show us how soon the fair promise of concord was\ndarkened, and how fiercely he chafed at Samuel's attempted control.\n\nOne can fancy his thoughts as he lay in the starlight, on the\nhouse-top, that night, and gazed into the astounding future that had\nopened before him. Had there been any true religion in him, it would\nhave been a wakeful night of prayer. But, more likely, as the event\nproves, the ambition and arrogance which were deep in his nature,\nthough hitherto undeveloped, were his counsellors, and drove Samuel's\nwisdom out of his head.\n\nAs soon as the morning-red began to rise in the East, Samuel sent him\naway, to secure, as would appear, privacy in his departure. With simple\ncourtesy the prophet accompanied his guest, and as soon as they had got\ndown the hill beyond the last house of the city, he bids Saul send on\nhis servant, that he may speak a last word to him alone. Our text stops\nbefore the solemn anointing, and leaves these two standing there, in\nthe fresh morning, type of the new career opening for one of them. What\na contrast in the men! The one has all his long life been true to his\nfirst vow, 'Speak, for Thy servant heareth,' and now has come, in\nfulness of years, and reverenced by all men, near the end of his\npatient, faithful service. His work is all but done, and his heart is\nquiet in the peace which is the best reward of loving and doing God's\nlaw. Ripened wisdom, calm trust, unhesitating submission cast a glory\nround the old man, who is now performing the supreme act of\nself-abnegation of his lifetime, and, not without a sense of relief, is\nlaying the burden, so long and uncomplainingly borne, on the great\nshoulders of this young giant. The other has a humble past of a few\nyears rapidly sinking out of his dazzled sight, and is in a whirl of\nemotion at the startling suddenness of his new dignity. When one thinks\nof Gilboa, and the desperate suicide there, how pathetic is that\nstrong, jubilant young figure, in the morning light, below the city, as\nhe bows his head to receive the anointing which, little as he knew it,\nwas to prove his ruin! A life begun by obedient listening to God's\nvoice, and continued in the same, comes at last to a blessed end, and\nis crowned with many goods. A life which but partially accepts God's\nwill as its law, and rather takes counsel of its own passions and\narrogant self-sufficiency, may have much that is bright and lovable at\nits beginning, but will steadily darken as it goes on, and will set at\nlast in eclipse and gloom.\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING AFTER MAN'S HEART\n\n'And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpeh; 18. And\nsaid unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I\nbrought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of\nthe Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that\noppressed you; 19. And ye have this day rejected your God, who Himself\nsaved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye\nhave said unto Him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present\nyourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands. 20.\nAnd when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the\ntribe of Benjamin was taken. 21. When he had caused the tribe of\nBenjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken,\nand Saul the son of Kish was taken: and when they sought him, he could\nnot be found. 22. Therefore they enquired of the Lord further, if the\nman should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid\nhimself among the stuff. 23. And they ran and fetched him thence: and\nwhen he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people\nfrom his shoulders and upward. 24. And Samuel said to all the people,\nSee ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among\nall the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the\nking. 25. Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and\nwrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all\nthe people away, every man to his house. 26. And Saul also went home to\nGibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had\ntouched. 27. But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save\nus? And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his\npeace.'--1 SAMUEL x. 17-27.\n\n\nThese verses fit on to chapter viii., chapters ix. to x. 16, being\nprobably from another source, inserted here because the anointing of\nSaul, told in them, did occur between Samuel's dismissal of the people\nand his summoning of the national assembly which is here related. That\nprivate anointing of Saul was the divine call to him individually; the\ntext tells of his public designation to the nation. The two are\nperfectly consistent, and, indeed, the private anointing is presupposed\nin the incident recorded in this passage, of Saul's hiding himself, for\nhe could not have known the result that he would be 'taken,' unless he\nhad had that previous intimation. The assembly at Mizpah was not\nconvened in order to choose a king, but to accept God's choice, which\nwas then to be declared.\n\nBut before the choice was announced, a last appeal was made to the\npeople, if, perchance, they might still be persuaded to forgo their\nrebellious desire. It is not, indeed, said that this final, all but\nhopeless attempt was made by Samuel at the divine command, and we are\nnot told that he had any further revelation than that in chapter viii.\n7-9. But, no doubt, he was speaking as Jehovah's mouthpiece, and so we\nhave here one more instance of that long-suffering divine patience and\nlove which 'hopeth all things,' and lingers pleadingly round the\nalienated heart, seeking to woo it back to itself, and never ceasing to\nlabour to avert the evil deed, till it is actually and irrevocably\ndone. It may be said that God knew that the appeal was sure to fail,\nand therefore could not have made it. But is not that mysterious\ncontinuance of effort, foreknown to be futile, the very paradox of\nGod's love? Did not Jesus give the traitor the sop, as a last token of\nfriendship, a last appeal to his heart? And does not God still in like\nmanner deal with us all?\n\nObserve how He seeks to win Israel back. It is not by threatenings, but\nby reminders of His great benefits. He will not drive men back to His\nservice, like a slave-driver with brandished whip, but He wishes to\ndraw them back by 'the cords of love.' It is service from hearts melted\nby thankfulness, and therefore overflowing in joyful, willing obedience\nand grateful acts, that He desires. 'The mercies of God' should lead to\nmen offering themselves as 'living sacrifices.'\n\nThe last appeal failed, and Samuel at once went on to give the people\nthe desired bitter which they thought so sweet. Of course, it was by\ntheir representatives that the tribes presented themselves before God.\nThe manner of making God's choice known is not told, and speculations\nas to it are idle. Probably a simple yes or no, as each tribe, family\nor individual was 'presented' was the mode, but how it was conveyed is\nquite unknown. That is a small matter; more important is it to note\nthat Saul was chosen simply because he was the very type of the\nnational ideal of a hero-king. Both here and in chapter ix. 2 his\nstature and bravery are the only qualities mentioned. What Israel\nwanted was a rough fighter, with physical strength, plenty of bone and\nmuscle. About moral, intellectual or spiritual qualities they did not\ncare, and they got the kind of king that they wanted,--the only kind\nthat they could appreciate. The only way to teach them that one who was\na head and shoulders taller than any of them was not thereby certified\nto be the ideal king, was to give them such a man, and let them see\nwhat good he would do them.\n\nThere is no surer index nor sharper test of national or individual\ncharacter than the sort of 'heroes' they worship. _Vox populi_ has not\nbeen very much refined since Saul's day. Athletes and soldiers still\ncaptivate the crowd, and a mere prophet like Samuel has no chance\nbeside the man of broad shoulders and well-developed biceps. And very\noften communities, especially democratic ones, get the 'king' they\ndesire, the leader, statesman or the like, who comes near their ideal.\nThe man whom they choose is the man whom, generally, they deserve.\nIsrael had an excuse for its burst of ardour for a soldier, for it was\nin deadly danger from the Philistines. Is there as good an excuse for\nus in Britain, in our recent adoration of successful generals? Israel\nfound out that its idol lacked higher gifts than thews and sinews, and\nexperience taught them the falseness of their ideal.\n\nSaul's hiding among the piles of miscellaneous baggage, which the\nmultitude of representatives had brought with them, is usually set down\nto his credit, as indicating an engaging modesty; but there is another\nand more probable explanation of it, less creditable to him. Was it not\nrather occasioned by his shrinking from the heavy task that God was\nlaying on him? He was not being summoned to a secure throne, but to 'go\nout before us, and fight our battles.' He might well shrink, but if he\nhad been God-fearing and God-obeying and God-trusting, he would have\ncried, 'Here am I! send me,' instead of skulking among the stuff. There\nwas another Saul, who could say, 'I was not disobedient unto the\nheavenly vision.' It had been better for the son of Kish if he had been\nlike the young Pharisee from Tarsus. We too have divine calls in _our_\nlives, and alas! we too not seldom hide ourselves among the stuff, and\ntry to avoid taking up some heavy duty, by absorbing our minds in\nmaterial good. Few things have greater power of obscuring 'the heavenly\nvision,' and of rendering us unwilling to obey it, than the clinging to\nthe things of this world, which are in their place as the traveller's\nluggage needful on the road, but very much out of their place when they\nbecome a hiding-place for a man whom God is calling to service.\n\nThe 'manner of the kingdom,' which Samuel wrote and laid up before the\nLord, was probably not the same as 'the manner of the king' (chapter\nviii. 9-18), but a kind of constitution, or solemn statement of the\nprinciples which were to govern the monarchy. The reading in verse 26\nshould probably be 'the men of valour,' instead of 'a band of men.'\nThey were brave men, 'whose hearts God had touched.' Now that Saul was\nchosen by God, loyalty to God was shown by loyalty to Saul. The sin of\nthe people's desire, and the drop from the high ideal of the theocracy,\nand the lack of lofty qualities in Saul, may all be admitted. But God\nhas made him king, and that is enough. Henceforward, God's servants\nwill be Saul's partisans. The malcontents were apparently but a small\nfaction. They, perhaps, had had a candidate of their own, but, at all\nevents, they criticised God's appointed deliverer, and saw nothing in\nhim to warrant the expectation that he would be able to do much for\nIsrael. Disparaging criticism of God's chosen instruments comes from\ndistrust of God who chose them. To doubt _the_ divinely sent\nDeliverer's power to 'save' is to accuse God of not knowing our needs\nand of miscalculating the power of His supply of them. But not a few of\nus put that same question in various tones of incredulity, scorn or\nindifference. Sense makes many mistakes when it takes to trying to\nweigh Christ in its vulgar balances, and to settling whether He looks\nlike a Saviour and a King.\n\nSAMUEL'S CHALLENGE AND CHARGE\n\n'And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your\nvoice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you. 2.\nAnd now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and\ngrayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before\nyou from my childhood unto this day. 3. Behold, here I am: witness\nagainst me before the Lord, and before His anointed: whose ox have I\ntaken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I\noppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine\neyes therewith? and I will restore it you. 4. And they said, Thou hast\nnot defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of\nany man's hand. 5. And he said unto them, The Lord is witness against\nyou, and His anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought\nin my hand. And they answered, He is witness. 6. And Samuel said unto\nthe people, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that\nbrought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7. Now therefore\nstand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the\nrighteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers. 8.\nWhen Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the Lord,\nthen the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers\nout of Egypt, and them dwell in this place. 9. And when they forgat the\nLord their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the\nhost of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand\nof the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 10. And they cried\nunto the Lord, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the\nLord, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of\nthe hand of our enemies, and we will serve Thee. 11. And the Lord sent\nJerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out\nof the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe. 12. And\nwhen ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against\nyou, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the\nLord your God was your king. 13. Now therefore behold the king whom ye\nhave chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the Lord hath set a\nking over you. 14. If ye will fear the Lord, and serve Him, and obey\nHis voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then\nshall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue\nfollowing the Lord your God: 15. But if ye will not obey the voice of\nthe Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the\nhand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers.'--1\nSAMUEL xii. 1-15.\n\nThe portion of Samuel's address included in this passage has three main\nsections: his noble and dignified assertion of his official purity, his\nsummary of the past history, and his solemn declaration of the\nconditions of future wellbeing for the nation with its new king.\n\nI. Probably the war with the Ammonite king Nahash, which had postponed\nthe formal inauguration of the king, had been carried on in the\nneighbourhood of the Jordan valley; and thus Gilgal would be a\nconvenient rendezvous. But it was chosen for other reasons also, and,\nas appears from 1 Samuel x. 8, had been fixed on by Samuel at his first\ninterview with Saul. There the Covenant had been renewed, after the\nwanderers had crossed the river, with Joshua at their head, and it was\nfitting that the beginnings of the new form of the national life should\nbe consecrated by worship on the same site as had witnessed the\nbeginnings of the national life on the soil of the promised land.\nPerhaps the silent stones, which Joshua reared, stood there yet. At all\nevents, sacred memories could scarcely fail, as the rejoicing crowd,\nstanding where their fathers had renewed the Covenant, saw the\nblackened ruins of Jericho, and the foaming river, now, as then,\nfilling all its banks in the time of harvest, which their fathers had\ncrossed with the ark, that was now hidden at Kirjath-jearim, for their\nguide. The very place spoke the same lessons from the past which Samuel\nwas about to teach them.\n\nThere is just a faint trace of Samuel's disapproval of the new order in\nhis first words. He takes care to throw the whole responsibility on the\npeople; but, at the same time, he assumes the authoritative tone which\nbecomes him, and quietly takes the position of superiority to the king\nwhom he has made. I Samuel xi. 15 seems to imply that he took no part\nin the rejoicings. It was 'Saul and all the men of Israel' who were so\nglad. He was still hesitant as to the issue, and obeyed the divine\ncommand with clearer insight into its purpose than the shouting crowd\nand the proud young king had. There is something very pathetic in the\ncontrast he draws between Saul and himself. 'The king walketh before\nyou,' in all the vigour of his young activity, and delighting all your\neyes, and 'I am old and gray-headed,' feeble, and fit for little more\nwork, and therefore, as happens to such worn-out public servants, cast\naside for a new man. Samuel was not a monster of perfection without\nhuman feelings. His sense of Israel's ingratitude to himself and\npractical revolt from God lay together in his mind, and colour this\nwhole speech, which has a certain tone of severity, and an absence of\nall congratulation. Probably that accounts for the mention of his sons.\nThe elders' frank statement of their low opinion of them had been a\nsore point with Samuel, and he cannot help alluding to it. It was not\nfor want of possible successors in his own house that they had cried\nout for a king. If this be not the bearing of the allusion to his sons,\nit is difficult to explain; and this obvious explanation would never\nhave been overlooked if Samuel had not been idealised into a faultless\nsaint. The dash of human infirmity and fatherly blindness gives reality\nto the picture. 'I have walked before you from my youth unto this day.'\nNote the recurrence of the same expression as is applied to Saul in the\nformer part of the verse. It is as if he had said, 'Once I was as he is\nnow,--young and active in your sight, and for your service. Remember\nthese past years. May your new fancy's record be as stainless as mine\nis, when he is old and grayheaded!' The words bring into view the\ncharacteristic of Samuel's life which is often insisted on in the\nearlier chapters,--its calm, unbroken continuity and uniformity of\ndirection, from the long-past days when he wore 'the little coat' his\nmother made him, with so many tears dropped on it, till this closing\nhour. While everything was rushing down to destruction in Eli's time,\nand his sons were rioting at the Tabernacle door, the child was growing\nup in the stillness; and from then till now, amid all changes, his\ncourse had been steady, and pointed to one aim. Blessed they whose age\nis but the fruitage of the promise of their youth! Blessed they who\nbegin as 'little children,' with the forgiveness of sin and the\nknowledge of the Father, and who go on, as 'young men,' to overcome the\nEvil One, and end, as 'fathers,' with the deeper knowledge of Him who\nis 'from the beginning,' which is the reward of childhood's trust and\nmanhood's struggles!\n\nSamuel is still a prophet, but he is ceasing to be the sole authority,\nand, in his conscious integrity, calls for a public, full discharge, in\nthe presence of the king. Note that verse 3 gives the first instance of\nthe use of the name 'Messiah,' and think of the contrast between Saul\nand Jesus. Observe, too, the simple manners of these times, when 'ox\nand ass' were the wealth. They would be poor plunder nowadays. Note\nalso the various forms of injustice of which he challenges any one to\nconvict him. Forcible seizure of live stock, fraud, harsh oppression,\nand letting suitors put gold on his eyes that he might not see, are the\nvices of the Eastern ruler to-day, and rampant in that unhappy land, as\nthey have been ever since Samuel's time. I think I have heard of\npoliticians in some other countries further west than Gilgal, who have\naxes to grind and logs to roll, and of the wonderful effects, in many\nplaces of business, of certain circular gold discs applied to the eyes.\nThis man went away a poor man. He does not seem to have had salary, or\nretiring pension; but he carried away a pair of clean hands, as the\nvoice of a nation witnessed.\n\nII. Having cleared himself, Samuel recounts the outlines of the past,\nin order to emphasise the law that cleaving to God had ever brought\ndeliverance; departure, disaster; and penitence, restoration. It is\nhistory with a purpose, and less careful about chronology than\nprinciples. Facts are good, if illuminated by the clear recognition of\nthe law which they obey; but, without that, they are lumber. The\n'philosophy of history' is not reached without the plain recognition of\nthe working of the divine will. No doubt the principles which Samuel\ndiscerned written as with a sunbeam on the past of Israel were\nillustrated there with a certainty and directness which belonged to it\nalone; but we shall make a bad use of the history of Israel, if we say,\n'It is all miraculous, and therefore inapplicable to modern national\nlife.' It would be much nearer the mark to say, 'It is all miraculous,\nand therefore meant as an exhibition for blind eyes of the eternal\nprinciples which govern the history of all nations.' It is as true in\nBritain to-day as ever it was in Judea, that righteousness and the fear\nof God are the sure foundations of real national as of individual\nprosperity. The kingdoms of this world are not the devil's, though\ndiplomatists and soldiers seem to think so. If any nation were to live\nuniversally by the laws of God, it might not have what the world calls\nnational success; it would have no story of wholesale robbery, called\nmilitary glory, but it would have peace within its borders, and life\nwould go nobly and sweetly there. 'Happy is the people, that is in such\na case: yea, happy is the people, whose God is the Lord.'\n\nThe details of Samuel's _resume_ need not occupy much time. Note the\nword in verse 7, 'reason,' or, as the Revised Version renders, 'plead.'\nHe takes the position of God's advocate in the suit, and what he will\nprove for his client is the 'righteousness' of his dealings in the\npast. The story, says he, can be brought down to very simple\nelements,--a cry to God, an answer of deliverance, a relapse,\npunishment, a renewed cry to God, and all the rest of the series as\nbefore. It is like a repeating decimal, over and over again, each\nfigure drawing the next after it. The list of oppressors in verse 9,\nand that of deliverers in verse 11, do not follow the same order, but\nthat matters nothing. Clearly the facts are assumed as well known, and\nneeding only summary reference. The new-fashioned way of treating\nBiblical history, of course, takes that as an irrefutable proof of the\nlate date and spuriousness of this manufactured speech put into\nSamuel's mouth. Less omniscient students will be content with accepting\nthe witness to the history. Nobody knows anything of a judge named\nBedan, and the conjectural emendation 'Barak' is probable, especially\nremembering the roll-call in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where Gideon,\nBarak, and Jephthah appear in the same order, with the addition of\nSamson. The supposition that 'Samuel,' in this verse, is an error for\n'Samson,' is unnecessary; for the prophet's mention of himself thus is\nnot unnatural, in the circumstances, and is less obtrusive than to have\nsaid 'me.'\n\nThe retrospect here given points the lesson of the sin and folly of the\ndemand for a king. The old way had been to cry to God in their\ndistresses, and the old experience had been that the answer came swift\nand sufficient; but this generation had tried a new method, and fear of\n'Nahash the Ammonite' had driven them to look for a man to help them.\nThe experience of God's responses to prayer does not always wean even\nthose who receive them from casting about for visible helpers. Still\nless does the experience of our predecessors keep us from it. Strange\nthat after a hundred plain instances of His aid, the hundred and first\ndistress should find us almost as slow to turn to Him, and as eager to\nsecure earthly stays, as if there were no past of our own, or of many\ngenerations, all crowded and bright with tokens of His care! We are\nalways disposed to doubt whether the power that delivered from Sisera,\nPhilistines, and Moab, will be able to deliver us from Nahash. The new\ndanger looks the very worst of all, and this time we must have a king.\nAll the while Israel had God for its king. Our dim eyes cannot see the\nrealities of the invisible world, and so we cleave to the illusions of\nthe visible, which, at their best, are but shadows of the real, and are\noften made, by our weak hearts, its rival and substitute. What does the\nsoldier, who has an impenetrable armour to wear, want with pasteboard\nimitations, like those worn in a play? It is doubtful wisdom to fling\naway the substance in grasping at the shadow. Saul was brave, and a\nhead and shoulders above the people, and he had beaten Nahash for them;\nbut Saul for God is a poor exchange. Do we do better, when we hanker\nafter something more tangible than an unseen Guide, Helper, Stay, Joy,\nand Peace-bringer for our hearts, and declare plainly, by our eager\nrace after created good, that we do not reckon God by Himself enough\nfor us?\n\nIII. The part of Samuel's address with which we are concerned here\ncloses with the application of the history to the present time. The\ngreat point of the last three verses is that the new order of things\nhas not changed the old law, which bound up well-being inseparably with\nobedience. They have got their king, and there he stands; but if they\nthink that that is to secure their prosperity, they are much mistaken.\nThere is a touch of rebuke, and possibly of sarcasm, in pointing to\nSaul, and making so emphatic, as in verse 13, the vehemence of their\nanxiety to get him. It is almost as if Samuel had said, 'Look at him,\nand say whether he is worth all that eagerness. Do you like him as\nwell, now that you have him, as you did before?' There are not many of\nthis world's goods which stand that test. The shell that looked silvery\nand iridescent when in the sea is but a poor, pale reminder of its\nformer self, when we hold it dry in our hands. One object of desire,\nand only one, brings no disappointment in possessing it. He, and only\nhe, who sets his hope on God, will never have to feel that he is not so\nsatisfied with the fulfilment as with the dream.\n\nIsrael had rejected God in demanding a king; but the giver of their\ndemand had been God, and their rejection had not abolished the divine\ngovernment, nor altered one jot of the old law. They and their king\nwere equally its subjects. There is great emphasis in the special\nmention of 'your king' as bound to obedience as much as they; and, if\nwe follow the Septuagint reading of verse 15, the mention is repeated\nthere in the threatening of punishment. No abundance of earthly\nsupports or objects of our love or trust in the least alters the\nunalterable conditions of well-being. Whether surrounded with these or\nstripped of all, to fear and serve the Lord and to hearken to His voice\nis equally the requisite for all true blessedness, and is so equally to\nthe helper and the helped, the lover and the loved. We are ever tempted\nto think that, when our wishes are granted, and some dear or strong\nhand is stretched out for aid, all will be well; and we are terribly\napt to forget that we need God as much as before, and that the way of\nbeing blessed has not changed. Those whose hearts and homes are bright\nwith loved faces, and whose lives are guarded by strong and wise hands,\nhave need to remember that they and their dear ones are under the same\nconditions of well-being as are the loneliest and saddest; and they who\n'have none other that fighteth for' them have no less need to remember\nthat, if God be their companion, they cannot be utterly solitary, nor\naltogether helpless if He be their aid.\n\n\n\n\nOLD TRUTH FOR A NEW EPOCH\n\n'Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have\ndesired! and, behold, the Lord hath set a king over yon. 14. If ye will\nfear the Lord, and serve Him, and obey His voice, and not rebel against\nthe commandment of the Lord; then shall both ye, and also the king that\nreigneth over you, continue following the Lord your God: 15. But if ye\nwill not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment\nof the Lord; then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was\nagainst your fathers. 16. Now therefore stand and see this great thing,\nwhich the Lord will do before your eyes. 17. Is it not wheat-harvest\nto-day! I will call unto the Lord, and He shall send thunder and rain;\nthat ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye\nhave done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. 18. So Samuel\ncalled unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and\nall the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. 19. And all the\npeople said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God,\nthat we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask\nus a king. 20. And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done\nall this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but\nserve the Lord with all your heart; 21. And turn ye not aside: for then\nshould ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for\nthey are vain. 22. For the Lord will not forsake His people for His\ngreat name's sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you His\npeople. 23. Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against\nthe Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and\nthe right way: 24. Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all\nyour heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you. 25. But\nif ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your\nking.'--1 SAMUEL xii. 13-25.\n\n\nSamuel's office as judge necessarily ended when Saul was made king, but\nhis office of prophet continued. This chapter deals with both the\ncessation and the continuance, giving at first his dignified, and\nsomewhat pained, vindication of his integrity, and then passing on to\nshow him exercising his prophetic function in exhortation, miracle, and\nauthoritative declaration of Jehovah's will.\n\nI. The first point is the sign which Samuel gave. Usually there is no\nrain in Palestine from about the end of April till October. Samuel was\nspeaking during the wheat harvest, which falls about the beginning of\nJune. We note that he volunteered the sign, and, what is still more\nremarkable, that he is sure that God will send it in answer to his\nprayer. Why was he thus certain? Because he recognised that the impulse\nto proffer the sign came from God. We know little of the mental\nprocesses by which a prophet could discriminate between his own\nthinkings and God's speech, but such discrimination was possible, or\nthere could have been no ring of confidence in the prophet's 'Thus\nsaith the Lord.' Not even a 'Samuel among them that call upon His name'\nhad a right to assume that every asking would certainly have an answer.\nIt is when we ask 'anything according to His will' that we know that\n'He heareth us,' and are entitled to predict to others the sure answer.\n\nIt seems a long leap logically from hearing the thunder and seeing the\nrain rushing down on the harvest field, to recognising the sin of\nasking for a king. But the connecting steps are plain. Samuel announced\nthe storm, he asked God to send it, it came at his word; therefore he\nwas approved of God and was His messenger; therefore his words about\nthe desire for a king were God's words. Again, God sent the tempest;\ntherefore God ruled the elemental powers, and wielded them so as to\naffect Israel, and therefore it had been folly and sin to wish for\nanother defender. So the result of the thunder-burst was twofold--they\n'feared Jehovah and Samuel,' and they confessed their sin in desiring a\nking. They were but rude and sense-bound men, like children in many\nrespects; their religion was little more than outward worship and a\nvague awe; they needed 'signs' as children need picture-books. The very\nslightness and superficiality of their religion made their confession\neasy and swift, and neither the one nor the other went deep enough to\nbe lasting. The faith that is built on 'signs and wonders' is easily\nbattered down; the repentance that is due to a thunderstorm is over as\nsoon as the sun comes out again. The shallowness of the contrition in\nthis case is shown by two things,--the request to Samuel to pray for\nthem, and the boon which they begged him to ask, 'that we die not.'\nThey had better have prayed for themselves, and they had better have\nasked for strength to cleave to Jehovah. They were like Simon Magus\ncowering before Peter, and beseeching him, 'Pray ye for me to the Lord,\nthat none of the things which ye have spoken may come upon me.' That is\nnot the voice of true repentance, the 'godly sorrow' which works\nhealing and life, but that of the 'sorrow of the world which worketh\ndeath.' The real penitent will press the closer to the forgiving\nFather, and his cry will be for purity even more than for pardon.\n\nII. Samuel's closing words are tender, wise, and full of great truths.\nHe begins with encouragement blended with reiteration of the people's\nsin. It is not safe for a forgiven man to forget his sin quickly. The\nmore sure he is that God has forgotten, the more careful he should be\nto remember it, for gratitude, humility and watchfulness. But it should\nnever loom so large before him as to shut out the sunshine of God's\nlove, for no fruits of goodness will ripen in character without that\nlight. It is a great piece of practical wisdom always to keep one's\nforgiven sin in mind, and yet not to let it paralyse hopefulness and\neffort. 'Ye have indeed done all this evil, ... yet turn not aside from\nfollowing Jehovah.' That is a truly evangelical exhortation. The memory\nof past failures is never to set the tune for future service. Again,\nSamuel based the exhortation to whole-hearted service of Jehovah on\nJehovah's faithfulness and great benefits (vs. 22-24), It is suicidal\nfolly to turn away from Him who never turns away from us; it is black\ningratitude, as well as suicidal folly, to refuse to serve Him whose\nmercies encompass us. That divine good pleasure, which has no source\nbut in Himself, flows out like an artesian well, unceasing. His 'nature\nand property' is to love. His past is the prophecy of His future. He\nwill always be what He has been, and always do what He has done.\nTherefore we need not fear, though we change and are faithless. 'He\ncannot deny Himself.' His revealed character would be dimmed if He\nabandoned a soul that clung to Him. So our faith should, in some\nmeasure, match His faithfulness, and we should build firmly on the firm\nfoundation.\n\nIII. Samuel answers the people's request for his prayers with a wise\nword, full of affection, and also full of dignity and warning, all the\nmore impressive because veiled. He promises his continued intercession,\nbut he puts it as a duty which he owes to God rather than to them only,\nand he thus sufficiently asserts his God-appointed office. He promises\nto do more than pray for them; namely, to continue as their ethical and\nreligious guide, which they had not asked him to be. That at once makes\nhis future position in the monarchy clear. He is still the prophet,\nthough no longer the judge, and, as the future was to show, he has to\ndirect monarch as well as people. But it also hints to the people that\nhis prayers for them will be of little avail unless they listen to his\nteaching. Whether a Samuel prays for us or not, if we do not listen to\nthe voices that bid us serve God, we 'shall be consumed.'\n\n\n\n\nSAUL REJECTED\n\n'Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11. It repenteth\nMe that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from\nfollowing Me, and hath not performed My commandments. And it grieved\nSamuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. 12. And when Samuel rose\nearly to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul\ncame to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about,\nand passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13. And Samuel came to Saul:\nand Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed\nthe commandment of the Lord. 14. And Samuel said, What meaneth then\nthis bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen\nwhich I hear? 15. And Saul said, They have brought them from the\nAmalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the\noxen, to sacrifice unto the Lore thy God; and the rest we have utterly\ndestroyed. 16. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee\nwhat the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.\n17. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast\nthou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed\nthee king over Israel? 18. And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and\nsaid, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight\nagainst them until they be consumed. 19. Wherefore then didst thou not\nobey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst\nevil in the sight of the Lord? 20. And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I\nhave obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord\nsent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly\ndestroyed the Amalekites. 21. But the people took of the spoil, sheep\nand oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly\ndestroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. 22. And Samuel\nsaid, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,\nas in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than\nsacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23. For rebellion is as\nthe sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.\nBecause thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected\nthee from being king.'--1 SAMUEL xv. 10-23.\n\n\nAgain the narrative takes us to Gilgal,--a fateful place for Saul,\nThere they 'made Saul king before the Lord'; there he had taken the\nfirst step on his dark way of gloomy, proud self-will, down which he\nwas destined to plunge so far and fatally. There he had, in\nconsequence, received the message of the transference of the kingdom\nfrom his house, though not from himself. Now, flushed with his victory\nover Amalek, he has come there with his troops, laden with spoil. They\nhad made a swift march from the south where Amalek dwelt, passing by\nNabal's Carmel, where they had put up some sort of monument of their\nexploit in a temper of vain-glory, very unlike the spirit which reared\nthe stone of help at Eben-ezer; and apparently they purpose sacrifices\nand a feast. But Samuel comes into camp with no look of congratulation.\nProbably the vigorous old man had walked that day from his home, some\nfifteen miles off, and on the way seems to have picked up tidings of\nSaul's victory and position, which ought to have reached him from the\nking himself, and would have done so if Saul's conscience had been\nclear. The omission to tell him was studied neglect, which revealed\nmuch.\n\nSamuel had 'cried unto the Lord all night,' if perchance the terrible\nsentence might be reversed; and his cries had not been in vain, for\nthey had brought him into complete submission, and had nerved him to do\nhis work calmly, without a quiver or a pang of personal feeling, as\nbecomes God's prophet.\n\n\nI. We must go back a step beyond this passage to understand it. Note,\nfirst, the command which was disobeyed. The campaign against Amalek was\nundertaken by express divine direction through Samuel's lips. It was\nthe delayed fulfilment of a sentence passed in the times of the\nConquest, but not executed then. The terrible old usages of that period\nare brought into play again, and the whole nation with its possessions\nis 'devoted'. The word explains the dreadful usage. There are two kinds\nof devotion to God: that of willing, and that of unwilling, men; the\none brings life, the other, death. The massacre of the foul nations of\nCanaan was thereby made a direct divine judgment, and removed wholly\nfrom the region of ferocious warfare. No doubt, the whole plane of\nmorals in the earlier revelation is lower than that of the New\nTestament. If Jesus has not taught a higher law than was given to 'them\nof old time,' one large part of His gift to men disappears. The\nwholesale destruction of 'babe and suckling' with the guilty makes us\nshudder; and we are meant to feel the difference between the atmosphere\nof that time and ours. But we are not meant to question the reality of\nthe divine command, nor His right to give it. He slays, and makes\nalive. His judgments strike the innocent with the guilty. In many a\ncase, and often, the sin is one generation's, and the bitter fruit\nanother's. The destruction of Canaanites and Amalekites does not change\nits nature because God used men to do it; and the question is not\nwhether the Israelites were fiercely barbarous in their warfare, but\nwhether God has the right of life and death. We grant all the\ndreadfulness, and joyfully admit the distance between such acts and\nJesus Christ; but we recognise them as not incongruous with the whole\nrevealed character of the God who is justice as well as love, as\nparallel in substance, though different in instrument, with many of His\ndealings with men,--as the execution of righteous sentence on rank\ncorruption, and as sweetening the world by its removal. Most of the\ndifficulty and repugnance has been caused by forgetting that Israel was\nbut the sword, while the hand was God's.\n\nII. Note the disobedience. Partial obedience is complete disobedience.\nSaul and his men obeyed as far as suited them; that is to say, they did\nnot obey God at all, but their own inclinations, both in sparing the\ngood and in destroying the worthless. What was not worth carrying off\nthey destroyed,--not because of the command, but to save trouble. This\none fault seems but a small thing to entail the loss of a kingdom. But\nis it so? It was obviously not an isolated act on Saul's part, but\nindicated his growing impatience of the divine control, exercised on\nhim through Samuel. He was in a difficult position. He owed his kingdom\nto the prophet; and the very condition on which he held it was that of\nsubmission to Samuel's authority. No wonder that his elevation\nquickened the growth of his masterfulness and gloomy, impetuous\nself-will,--traits in his character which showed themselves very early\nin his reign! No wonder either that such a king, held in\nleading-strings by a prophet, should chafe! The more insignificant the\nact in itself, the more significant it may be as a flag of revolt.\nDisobedience which will not do a little thing is great disobedience.\nNor was this the first time that Saul had 'kicked,' like another Saul,\n'against the pricks,' Gilgal had seen a previous instance of his\nimpetuous self-assertion, masked by apparent deference; and the\ninference is fair that the interval between the two pieces of rebellion\nhad been of a piece with them. Trivial acts, especially when repeated,\nshow deep-seated evil. There may be only a coil of the snake visible,\nbut that betrays the presence of the slimy folds, though they are\ncovered from sight among the leaves. The tiny shoot of a plant, peeping\nabove the ground, does not augur that the roots are short; they may run\nfor yards. Nor can any act be called small, of which the motive is\ndisregard of God's plain command: 'He that is unjust in the least is\nunjust also in much.' Saul had never much religion. He had never heard\nof Samuel till that day when he came to consult him about the asses. It\nwas a wonder to his acquaintances to find him 'among the prophets'; and\nall his acts of worship have about them a smack of self, and an\nexclusive regard to the mere externals of sacrifice, which imply a\nshallow notion of religion and a spirit unsubdued by its deeper\ninfluences.\n\nSuch a man habitually acts in disregard of God's will; and that is\ngreat sin, though it be manifested in small acts. It is to be\nremembered, too, that the excepting of the best of the spoil from the\ngeneral destruction, changed the whole character of the transaction,\nand brought it down from the level of a solemn act of divine justice,\nof which Saul and his army were the executors by divine mandate, to\nthat of a mere cattle-lifting foray, in which they were but thieves for\ntheir own gain. The mingling of personal advantage with any sort of\nservice of God, ruins the whole, and turns it into mere selfishness.\nSamuel, in verse 19, puts the two sides of this 'evil in the sight of\nthe Lord' as being disobedience and swooping down on the booty, like\nsome bird of prey,\n\nIII. Note Saul's excuses. Throughout the whole interview he plays a\nsorry part, and is evidently cowed by the hated authority and\npersonality of the old man; while Samuel, on his side, is curt, stern,\nand takes the upper hand, as becomes God's messenger. The relative\npositions of the two men are the normal ones of their offices, and\nexplain both Saul's revolt and the chronic impatience of kings at the\ninterference of prophets. Here we have Saul coming to meet Samuel with\naffected heartiness and welcome, and with the bold lie, 'I have\nperformed the commandment of the Lord.' That is more than true\nobedience is quick to say. If Saul had done it, he would have been\nslower to boast of it. 'Those vessels yield the most sound that have\nthe least liquor.' He 'doth protest too much'; and the protestation\ncomes from an uneasy conscience. Or did he, like a great many other men\nwho have no deep sense of the sanctity of every jot and tittle of a\ndivine law, please himself with the notion that it was enough to keep\nit approximately, in the 'spirit' of the precept, without slavish\nobedience to the 'letter'? In a later part of the interview (v. 20) he\ninsists that he has obeyed, and tries to prove it by dwelling on the\npoints in which he did so, and gliding lightly over the others.\n\n'Samuel had reason to believe the sheep and oxen above Saul'; and there\nis a tone of almost contempt for the shuffling liar in his quiet\nquestion: 'What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears,\nand the lowing of the oxen which I hear?' There was no answering that;\nso Saul shifts his ground without a blush or a moment's hesitation.\n'The people spared.' It is a new character for him to appear in,--that\nof a weak ruler who cannot keep his unruly men in order! Had he tried\nto restrain them? If he had, and had failed, he was not fit to be a\nking. If he had not, he was a coward to shift the blame on to them. How\nready men are to vilify themselves in some other direction, in order to\nescape the consciousness of sin, which God is seeking to force home on\nthem! No doubt the people were very willing to have a finger in the\naffair; but so was he. And if the cattle was their share, Agag, who\ncould be held to ransom, was his; and the arrangement suited all round.\nAs to the purpose of sacrificing at Gilgal, perhaps that was true; but\nif it were, no doubt the same process of selection, which had destroyed\nthe worthless and kept the best, would have been repeated; and the net\nresult would have been a sacrifice of the least valuable, and 'the\nsurvival of the fittest' in many a pasture and stall.\n\nBut note Saul's attitude towards Jehovah, betrayed by him in that one\nword: 'the Lord _thy_ God,' No wonder that he had been content with a\npartial and perfunctory obedience, if he had no closer sense of\nconnection with God than that! There is almost a sneer in it, too, as\nif he had said, 'What needs all this fuss about saving the cattle? You\nshould be pleased; for this Jehovah, with whom you profess to have\nspecial communication, will be honoured with sacrifice, and you will\nshare in the feast.' If the words do not mean abjuring Jehovah, they go\nvery near it, and, at all events, betray the shallowness of Saul's\nreligion. Samuel, in his answer, reminds him of his early modesty and\nself-distrust, and of the source of his elevation. He then sweeps away\nthe flimsy cobwebs of excuses, by the curt repetition of the plain,\ndreadful terms of Saul's commission, and then flashes out the piercing\nquestion, like a sword, 'Wherefore then didst thou not?' The reminder\nof past benefits, and the reiteration of the plain injunctions which\nhave been broken, are the way to cut through the poor palliations which\nmen wrap around their sins.\n\nIt speaks of a very obstinate and gloomy determination that, in answer,\nSaul should reiterate his protestation of having done as he was bid. He\ndoggedly says over again all that he had said before, unmoved by the\nprophet's solemn words. He is steeling his heart against reproof; and\nthere is only one end to that. Sin unacknowledged, after God has\ndisclosed it, is doubly sin. The heart that answers the touch of God's\nrebukes by sullenly closing more tightly on its evil, is preparing\nitself for the blow of the hammer which will crush it. 'He that being\noften reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and\nthat without remedy.' Let us beware of meeting God's prophet with\nshuffling lies about our obedience, and of opposing to the words which\nare loving though they pierce, the armour of impenetrable\nself-righteousness and conceit.\n\nIV. Note the punishment. To the vain talk about honouring God by\nsacrifice, Samuel opposes the great principle which was the special\nmessage committed to every prophet in Israel, and which was repeated\nall through its history, side by side with the divinely appointed\nsacrificial system. In the intensity of his spiritual emotion, Samuel\nspeaks in lyric strains, in the measured parallelism which was the\nHebrew dress of poetry, and gives forth in words 'which will live for\never' the great truth that God delights in obedience more than in\nsacrifice. Whilst, on the one hand, he lifts the surrender of the will,\nand the consequent submission of the life, high above all mere ritual,\non the other hand, by the same process, he sinks the rebellion of the\nwill and the stubbornness of the nature, unsubdued either by kindness\nor threats, as Saul was showing his to be, to the level of actual\nidolatry.\n\n             'Rebellion is divination,\n              And stubbornness is idols and teraphim.'\n\nThen comes the stern sentence of rejection. Why was Saul thus\nirrevocably set aside? Was it not a harsh punishment for such a crime?\nAs we have already remarked, Saul's act is not to be judged as an\nisolated deed, but as the outcome of a deep tendency in him, which\nmeant revolt from God. It was not because of the single act, but\nbecause of that which it showed him to be, that he was set aside. The\nsentence is pronounced, not because 'thou didst spare Amalek,' but\nbecause 'thou didst reject the word of the Lord.' Further, it is to be\nremembered that the punishment was but the carrying out of his act. His\nown hand had cut the bond between him and God, and had disqualified\nhimself for the office which he filled. Saul had said, 'I will reign by\nmyself.' God said, 'Be it so! By thyself thou shalt reign.' For the\nconsequence of his deposition was not outward change in his royalty.\nDavid indeed was anointed but in secret, so Samuel consented to honour\nSaul before the people. All the external difference was that Samuel\nnever saw him again, and he was relieved from the incubus of the\nprophet's 'interference'; that is to say, he ceased to be God's king,\nand became a phantom, ruling only by his own will and power, as he had\nwished to do. How profound may be the difference while all externals\nremain unchanged! When we set up ourselves as our own lords, and shake\noff God's rule, we cast away His sanction and help in all the deeds of\nour self-will, however unaltered their outward appearance may remain.\nBut God left him to 'walk in his own ways, and be filled with the fruit\nof his own devices,' by no irrevocable abandonment, however the decree\nof rejection from the kingship was irrevocable. The gates of repentance\nstood open for him; and the very sentence that came stern and laconic\nfrom Samuel's lips, rightly accepted, might have drawn him in true\npenitence to a forgiving God. His subsequent confession was rejected\nbecause it expressed no real contrition; and the worship which he\nproceeded to offer, without the sanction of the prophet's presence, was\nas unreal as his protestation of obedience, and showed how little he\nhad learned the lesson of the great words, 'To obey is better than\nsacrifice.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE SHEPHERD-KING\n\n'And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt them mourn for Saul,\nseeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel! fill thine horn\nwith oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I\nhave provided Me a king among his sons. 2. And Samuel said, How can I\ngo? If Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer\nwith thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. 3. And call\nJesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do: and\nthou shalt anoint unto Me him whom I name unto thee. 4. And Samuel did\nthat which the Lord spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of\nthe town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5.\nAnd he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: sanctify\nyourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse\nand his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6. And it came to pass,\nwhen they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the\nLord's anointed is before him. 7. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look\nnot on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have\nrefused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on\nthe outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. 8. Then\nJesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said,\nNeither hath the Lord chosen this. 9. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass\nby. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. 10. Again, Jesse\nmade seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto\nJesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. 11. And Samuel said unto Jesse,\nAre here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the\nyoungest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto\nJesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come\nhither. 12. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and\nwithal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord\nsaid, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 13. Then Samuel took the horn\nof oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit\nof the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up,\nand went to Ramah.'--1 SAMUEL xvi 1-13.\n\n\nThe chief purpose in these verses is to bring out that the choice of\nDavid was purely God's. The most consummate art could have taken no\nbetter way of heightening the effect of his first appearance than that\nadopted in this perfectly unartificial story, which leads us up a long\navenue to where the shepherd-boy stands. First, we have Samuel, with\nhis regrets and objections; then Jesse with his seven stalwart sons;\nand at last, when expectation has been heightened by delay and by the\nminute previous details, the future king is disclosed,--a stripling\nwith his ruddy locks glistening with the anointing oil, and his lovely\neyes. We shall best catch the spirit by simply following the letter of\nthe story.\n\nI. We have Samuel and his errand to Bethlehem. After that sad day at\nGilgal, he and Saul met no more, though their homes were but a few\nmiles apart, and it must have been difficult to avoid each other.\nSamuel yearned over the man whom he had learned to love, and it must\nhave been pain to him to see the shattering of the vessel which he had\nformed. However natural his mourning, and however indicative of his\nsweet nature, it was wrong, because it showed that he had not yet\nreconciled himself to God's purpose, though his conduct obeyed. The\nmourning which submits while it weeps, and which interferes with no\nduty, is never rebuked by God. He never says,' How long dost thou\nmourn?' unless sorrow has deepened into accusation of His providence,\nor tears have blinded us to the duty that ensues. But the true cure for\novermuch sorrow is work, and, for vain regrets after vanished good, the\nwelcome to the new good which God ever sends to fill the empty place.\nHis resources are not exhausted because one man has failed. 'There are\nas good fish in the sea as ever came out of it.' Saul has been\nrejected, but a king shall be found; and Samuel is to dry his tears and\nanoint him. He evidently had no thought of a successor to Saul till\nthis command came; and when it comes, how little it tells him! He gets\nlight enough for the next step, but no more. That is always God's way.\nDuty opens by degrees, and the way to see farther ahead is to go as far\nas we see.\n\nSamuel's sorrow and the incomplete command show plainly that he was but\nan instrument. At every step the view is confuted which makes him a\nfar-seeing statesman who inaugurated and carried through a peaceful\nrevolution. The history, which is our only source, tells another story,\nand makes God the actor, and the prophet only a tool in His hands. If\nwe cut the supernatural out of the story, the fragments do not hang\ntogether, and no reason is forthcoming why they should be any more true\nthan are the rejected pieces. Samuel does not show to advantage in\neither of the two things mentioned about him here. In neither was he\ntrue to his early vow, 'Speak, for Thy servant heareth.' But there was\nmuch reason for his fear, if once God was left out of the account; for\nSaul's ever-wakeful suspicion had become a disease, and it was not\nwonderful that he should be on the watch for any act which looked like\nputting the sentence of deposition into effect. If ever a man lived\nwith a sword hanging by a hair over him, it was this unhappy king, who\nknew that he was dethroned, and did not know when or by whom the divine\nrejection would be made visible to all men. But Samuel had faced worse\ndangers without a murmur; and no doubt his alarm now, which makes him\nventure all but flatly to refuse to obey, indicates that, to some\nextent, he had lost his hold of God by his indulgence in his sorrow. If\nhe had been true to his high calling, he would have 'filled his horn,'\nand gone on God's errand, careless of a hundred Sauls or a hundred\ndeaths. But it is easy for us, who have never perilled anything for\nobedience, to sit in judgment on him. 'Wherein thou judgest another,\nthou condemnest thyself.' God judges him mercifully, and provides a\nshelter for his weakness, which he should not have needed. To hide his\ntrue errand behind the cloak of the sacrifice was second-best, and only\npermitted in consideration of his fear which had a touch of sin in it.\nHe was not, at the moment, up to treading the heroic plain path; and\nGod opened an easier one for him. It is sometimes allowable to use an\navowed purpose to conceal the real one, but it is a permission which\nshould be very sparingly used.\n\nII. We have Samuel at Bethlehem, with Jesse and his sons. An old man is\nsuddenly seen coming up the hill to the gate of the little city on\nfoot, driving or leading a heifer, and carrying a horn in his hand. In\nsuch humble fashion did the prophet travel; but reverential awe met\nhim, and his long years of noble service surrounded him as with a halo.\nApparently, Bethlehem had not been included in his usual circuits, and\nthe village elders were somewhat scared by his sudden appearance. Their\nquestion may give a glimpse into the severity which Samuel sometimes\nhad to show, and is a strange testimony to the reality of his power:\n'Comest thou peaceably?' One old man was no very formidable assailant\nof a village, even if he did not come with friendly intent; but, if he\nis recognised as God's messenger, his words are sharper than any\ntwo-edged sword, and his unarmed hand bears weapons mighty to 'pull\ndown strongholds.' Why should the elders have thought that he came\n'with a rod'? Because they knew that they and their fellow-villagers\ndeserved it. If men were not dimly conscious of sin, they would not be\nafraid of God's messenger or of God.\n\nThe narrative does not tell whether or not the sacrifice preceded the\nreview of Jesse's sons. Probably it did, and the interval between it\nand the feast was occupied in the interview. It is evident that Samuel\nkept the reason of his wish to see Jesse's sons to himself; for\ndisclosure would have brought about the danger which he was so anxious\nto avoid. It appears, too, from verse 13, that only the family of Jesse\nwere present. So we have to fancy the wondering little cluster of burly\nhusbandmen with their father surrounding the prophet, and: one by one,\nbracing themselves to meet his searching gaze. Again the choice is\nemphatically represented as God's, by the mention of Samuel's hasty\nconclusion, from the look of the eldest, that he was the man. Had not\nSamuel had enough of kings of towering stature? Strange that he should\nhave been in such a hurry to fix on a second edition of Saul! The most\nobedient waiters on God sometimes outrun His intimations, and they\nalways go wrong when they do. Samuel has to learn two lessons, as he is\nbidden to repress the too quick thought: one, that he is not choosing,\nbut only registering God's choice; and one, that the qualifications for\nGod's king are inward, not bodily. In these old days, the world's\nmonarchs had to be men of thews and sinews, for power rested on mere\nbrute force: but God's chosen had to rule, not by the strength of his\nown arm, but by leaning on God's. The genius of the kingdom determined\nthe principle of selection of its king. Samuel does not again attempt\nto forecast the choice; but he lets the other six pass, and, hearing no\ninward voice from God, tells Jesse, as it would seem, that the Lord has\nnot chosen them for whatsoever mysterious purpose was in His mind.\n\nIII. We have 'the Lord's chosen.' Samuel was staggered by the apparent\nfailure of his errand. God had told him that he had provided a king\nfrom this family, and now they had passed in review before him, and\nnone was chosen. Again he is made to feel his own impotence, and his\nquestion, 'Are here all thy children?' has a touch of bewilderment in\nit. God seldom shows us His choice at first; and both in thought and\npractice we get at the precious and the true by a process of exclusion,\nhaving often to reject 'seven' before we find in some all-but-forgotten\n'eighth' that which we seek. David's insignificance in Jesse's eyes was\nsuch that his father would never have remembered his existence but for\nthe question, and his answer is a kind of assurance to the prophet that\nhe need not take the trouble to see the boy, for he will never do for\nwhatever he may have in view. His youth and occupation put him out of\nthe question. We know, from the other parts of his story, that his\nbrothers had no love for him; nor does his father seem to have had\nmuch. Probably the lad had the usual lot of genius,--to grow up among\nuncongenial, commonplace people, understanding him little, and liking\nhim less. It is a hard school; but where it does not sour, it makes\nstrong men. His solitary shepherd life taught him many precious\nlessons, and, at any rate, gave him the priceless gift of solitude,\nwhich is the nurse of poetry, heroism, and religion. The glorious\nnight-piece in Psalm viii., and its companion day-piece in Psalm xix.,\nmay bear the impress of the shepherd life; which is idealised and\nsanctified for ever in the immortal sweetness of Psalm xxiii. There\nwere many worse schools for the future king than a solitary shepherd's\nlife on the bare hills round Bethlehem.\n\nThe delay of the feast and the pause of idle waiting heighten the\nexpectation with which we look for David's coming. When he does come,\nwhat a bright young figure is lovingly painted for us! He is 'ruddy,\nand withal fair of eyes, and goodly to look upon,'--of fair complexion,\nwith golden hair (rare among these swarthy Orientals), and with\nlustrous poet's eyes. What a contrast to Saul's grim face and\nfigure,--like a sunbeam streaming athwart a thunder-cloud seamed with\nits own lightning! Silently the divine voice spoke, and silently, as it\nwould seem, Samuel poured the oil on the boy's bowed curls. No word of\nthe purpose escaped his lips, and the awestruck youth was left to\nwonder for what high destiny he was chosen. One can fancy the looks of\nhis brothers as they bitterly watched the anointing with hearts full of\nenvy, contempt, and rage. I Samuel xvii. 28 shows what they felt to\nDavid.\n\nWhat was the use of this enigmatical anointing for an undisclosed\npurpose? It is Samuel's last act, and his last appearance, except for\nthe mention of David's flight to him from the court of Saul, and that\nweird scene of Saul prophesying and lying naked before Samuel and David\nfor a day and a night. It was therefore the solemn final act of the\nprophet,--transferring the monarchy; but it was for David the beginning\nof his training for the throne, in two ways, 'The Spirit of the Lord\ncame upon David from that day forward.' There was an actual\ncommunication of divine gifts fitting him for his unknown office, and\nhe was conscious of a new spirit stirring in him. Beside this, the\nconsciousness of a call to unknown tasks would mature him fast, and\nbring graver thoughts, humbler sense of weakness, and clinging trust in\nGod who had laid the burden on him; and the necessity for repressing\nhis dreams of the future, in order to do his obscure present duties,\nwould add patience and self-control to his youthful ardour. What a\nwhirl of thoughts he carried back to his flock, and how welcome would\nthe solitude be!\n\nThe great lesson here is the one so continually reiterated in\nScripture, from Isaac downwards, that God 'chooses the weak things of\nthe world to confound the things that are mighty,' and thereby\nmagnifies both the sovereign freedom of His choice and the power of His\nSpirit, which takes the stripling from the sheepcotes and qualifies him\nto be the antagonist of the grim Saul, and the king of Israel. There\nare subsidiary lessons, especially for young and ardent souls confined\nfor the present to lowly tasks, and feeling some call to something\nhigher in a dim future. Patience, the faithful doing of to-day's\ntrivial tasks, the habit of self-repression, the quiet trust in God who\nopens the way in due time,--these, and such like, were the signs that\nDavid was called to a throne, and that God's Spirit was preparing him\nfor it. They are the virtues which will best prepare us for whatever\nthe future may have in store for us, and will be in themselves abundant\nreward, whether they draw after them a high position, which is a heavy\nburden, or, more happily, leave us in our sheltered obscurity.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VICTORY OF UNARMED FAITH\n\n'And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy\nservant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33. And Saul said to\nDavid, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with\nhim: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 34.\nAnd David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and\nthere came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock; 35. And\nI went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth:\nand when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him,\nand slew him. 36. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this\nuncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied\nthe armies of the living God. 37. David said moreover, The Lord that\ndelivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the\nbear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul\nsaid unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. 38. And Saul armed\nDavid with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head;\nalso he armed him with a coat of mail. 39. And David girded his sword\nupon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And\nDavid said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved\nthem. And David put them off him. 40. And he took his staff in his\nhand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them\nin a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in\nhis hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. 41. And the Philistine\ncame on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went\nbefore him. 42. And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he\ndisdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair\ncountenance. 43. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that\nthou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his\ngods. 44. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give\nthy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.\n45. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword,\nand with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of\nthe Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast\ndefied. 46. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I\nwill smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the\ncarcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the\nair, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know\nthat there is a God in Israel. 47. And all this assembly shall know\nthat the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the\nLord's, and He will give you into our hands. 48. And it came to pass,\nwhen the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that\nDavid hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49. And\nDavid put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it,\nand smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his\nforehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. 50. So David\nprevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote\nthe Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of\nDavid. 51. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took\nhis sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut\noff his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was\ndead, they fled.'--1 SAMUEL xvii. 32-51.\n\n\nThe scene of David's victory has been identified in the present Wady\nEs-Sunt, which still possesses one of the terebinth-trees which gave it\nits name of 'Elah.' At that point it is about a quarter of a mile wide,\nand runs nearly east and west. In the centre is 'a deep trench or\ngulley, the sides and bed of which are strewn with rounded and\nwater-worn pebbles.' This is the 'valley,' or rather 'ravine' of verse\n3 of this chapter, which is described by a different word from that for\n'vale' in verse 2--the one meaning a much broader opening than the\nother--and from it came the 'five smooth stones.' Notice the minute\ntopographical accuracy, which indicates history, not legend. The\npebble-bed may supply a missile to hit the modern 'giant' of sceptical\ncriticism, who boasts much after Goliath's fashion.\n\nThe two armies lay looking at each other across the valley, with\noccasional skirmishes; and for forty days (probably a round number)\nGoliath paraded on his own, the south, side of the gulley, shouting out\nhis taunts and challenge with a voice like a bull. Many a similar scene\nin classical and mediaeval warfare confirms the truth of the picture,\nso unlike modern battles. The story is, for all time, the example of\nthe victory of unarmed faith over the world's utmost might. It is in\nlittle the history of the Church and the type of all battles for God.\nIt is a pattern for the young especially. The youthful athlete leaps\ninto the arena, and overcomes, not because of his own strength, but\nbecause he trusts in God.\n\nI. Note the glowing youthful enthusiasm which dares the conflict. When\nthe Spirit of the Lord left Saul, his courage seems to have gone too,\nand he is cowed, like the rest, by Goliath. His interview with David\nshows him as timid and unlike his former self, when he dashed at Nahash\nand any odds. Now he is hardly to be roused, even by David's contagious\nboldness, and is full of objections and precautions. The temper of the\ntwo, as they front each other in Saul's tent, shows that the one has\nlost, and the other received, the Spirit which strengthens. David has\nbecome the encourager, and his cheery words bring some hopefulness to\nthe gloomy, faint-hearted king. The Septuagint has a variant reading in\nverse 32, which brings this out and suits the context, 'Let not my\nlord's heart fail.' But, whether this be adopted or no, David appears\nas quite unaffected by the terror which had unmanned the army, and as\nbringing a buoyant disregard of the enemy, like a reviving breeze. It\nwas not merely youthful daring, nor foolish under-estimation of the\ndanger, which prompted his stimulating words. The ring of true faith is\nin them, and they show us how we may surround ourselves with an\natmosphere which will keep prevailing faint-heartedness off us, and\nmake us, like Gideon's fleece, impervious to the chill mists of\nfaithless fear which saturate all around. He who trusts in God should\nbe as a pillar of fire, burning bright in the darkness of terror, and\nmaking a rallying point for weaker hearts. When panic has seized\nothers, the Christian soul has the more reason for courage. David\nconquered the temptation to share in the general cowardice, before he\nconquered Goliath, and perhaps the former fight was the worse of the\ntwo.\n\nWhile David is the embodiment of the courage of faith, Saul embodies\nworldly wisdom and calculating prudence. A touch of tenderness blends\nwith his attempt to dissuade the lad from the unequal conflict. He\nspeaks of probabilities, and, like all such calculation, his results\nare quite right, only that he has not taken all the forces into\naccount, and the omission vitiates the conclusion. It is quite true\nthat David is but a youth, and Goliath a giant and a veteran; but is\nthat all that is to be said? If it be, then the lad cannot fight the\nPhilistine bully; but if Saul has made the small omission of leaving\nout God, that makes a difference. The same mistake is constantly made\nstill, and so the victories of faith are a constant surprise to the\nworld and to a worldly Church. David's eager story of his fights with\nwild beasts is meant both to answer Saul's objection on his own ground,\nby showing him that, youth as the speaker was, he had proved his power,\nand still more to supply the lacking element in the calculation. So he\ntells, first, how 'I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew\nhim,' and then at the end brings in the true ground of his confidence:\n'The Lord that delivered me ... He will deliver.' As Thomas Fuller\nsays, 'He made an experimental syllogism, and from most practical\npremises (major a lion, minor a bear), inferred the direct conclusion\nthat God would give him victory over Goliath. Faith has the right thus\nto argue from the past to the future, because it draws from God whose\nresources and patience are equally inexhaustible. An echo of the words\ncomes from Paul's 'Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth\ndeliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver.' There is infinite\npathos in Saul's parting blessing. 'The Lord be with thee!' is spoken\nas if from the consciousness that the Lord had left _him_, and that\n_his_ day for going into battle with the assurance of His help was gone\nfor ever. If that softened mood had lasted, how different his future\nmight have been! If we modestly and boldly show the power of faith in\nour lives, we may kindle yearnings in some gloomy hearts, that would\nlead them to peace, if followed out.\n\nII. The equipment of faith. Saul meant to honour as well as to secure\nDavid by dressing him in his own royal attire, and by encumbering him\nby the help of sword and helmet. And David was willing to be so fitted\nout, for it is no part of the courage of faith to disdain any outward\nhelps. But he soon found that he could not move freely in the\nunaccustomed armour, and flung it off, like a wise man. His motive was\npartly common sense, which told him not to choose weapons that his\nantagonist could handle better than he; and partly reliance on God,\nwhich told him that he was safer with no armour but his shepherd's\ndress and with only his sling in his hand. So there he stands, drawn\nfor us with wonderful vividness, in one hand his staff, in the other\nhis sling, both familiar and often used, and by his side the simple\nwallet which had held his frugal meal, and now received the smooth\npebbles that he picked up as he passed the gulley to the Philistine\nside of the valley.\n\nHow graphically the contrast is drawn between him and Goliath, as the\nlatter conies forth swelling with his own magnificence, and preceded by\nhis shield-bearer! He was 'brass' all over; note the kind of amused\nemphasis with which the word is repeated in the half-satirical and\nmarvellously lifelike portrait of him in verses 5-8; 'brass' here,\n'brass' there, 'brass' everywhere; and, not content with one shield\ndangling at his back, he has a man to carry another in front of him as\nhe struts. David seems to have crossed the ravine, and to have come\nclose up to Goliath before he was observed; and then, with almost a\nsnort of contempt, the giant resents the insult of sending such a foe\nto fight _him_ with such weapons. Perhaps he was nearer the truth than\nhe thought, when he asked if he was a dog; and any stick will do, as\nthe proverb says, to beat that animal, especially if God guards the\nhand that holds it.\n\nThe five smooth stones have become the symbol of the insignificant\nmeans, in the world's estimate, which God uses in faithful hands to\nslay the giants of evil. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but\nthey are mighty. Faith unarmed is armed with more than triple steel,\nand a sling in its hand is more fatal than a sword. Sometimes in\nkindness and sometimes in malice, the world tempts us to fight evil\nwith its own weapons, and to put on its unfamiliar armour. The Church\nas a whole, and individual Christians, have often been hampered, and\nall but smothered, in Saul's harness. The more simply we keep ourselves\nto the simple methods which the word of God enjoins, and to the simple\nweapons which ought to be the easiest for a Christian, the more likely\nshall we be to conquer. Goliath is not to be encountered with sword and\narmour which is, after all, but a shabby copy of the tons of brass\nwhich he wears, but he does not know what to make of the sling, and\ndoes not see the stone till it crashes his skull in.\n\nIII. Note faith's anticipation of victory. The dialogue before the\nbattle has many parallels in classical times and among savage peoples.\nGoliath's bluster is full of contempt of David and truculent\nself-confidence. Its coarseness is characteristic,--he will make his\nboyish antagonist food for vultures and jackals. It is exactly what a\nbully would say. David's answer throbs with buoyant confidence, and\nstands as a stimulating example of the temper in which God's soldiers\nshould go out to every fight, no matter against what odds. It fully\nrecognises the formidable armoury of the enemy,--sword for close\nquarters, spear to thrust with, and javelin to fling from a distance,\nevery weapon that ingenuity could fashion and trained skill could\nwield. Goliath was a walking arsenal, and little David took count of\nhis weapons as they clanked and flashed. It is no part of faith's\ntriumph to ignore the number and sharpness of the enemy's arms. But\nfaith sees them all, and keeps unterrified and unashamed of the poor\nleathern sling and smooth stones. The unarmed hand which grasps God's\nhand should never tremble; and he who can say 'I come ... in the name\nof the Lord of hosts,' has no need to be afraid of an army of Goliaths,\nthough each bristled with swords and spears like a porcupine.\n\nThe great name on which David's faith rested, 'the Lord of hosts,'\nappears to have sprung into use in this epoch, and to have been one\nprecious fruit of its frequent wars. Conflict is blessed if it teaches\nthe knowledge of the unseen Commander who marshals not only men, but\nall the forces of the universe and the armies of heaven, for the\ndefence of His servants and the victory of His own cause. The fulness\nof the divine name is learned by degrees, as our needs impress the\nvarious aspects of His character; and the revelation contained in this\nappellation is the gift of that fierce and stormy time, a possession\nfor ever. He who defies the armies of Israel has to reckon with the\nLord of these armies, whose name proclaims at once His eternal,\nself-originated, and self-sustained being, His covenant, His presence\nwith His earthly host, and the infinite ranks of obedient creatures who\nare His soldiers and their allies. That is 'the Name' in the strength\nof which we may 'set up our banners' and be sure of victory. Note how\nDavid flings back Goliath's taunts in his teeth. He is sure that God\nwill conquer through him, and, though he has no sword, that he will\nsomehow hack the big head off; and that it is the host of the\nPhilistines on whom the vultures and jackals are to feed to-day.\n\nHis faith sees the victory before the battle is begun, and trusts, not\nin his own weak power, but only 'in the name of the Lord.' Note, too,\nthe result which he expects--no glory for himself, though that came\nunsought, when the shrill songs from the women of Israel met the\nvictors, but to all the world the proof that Israel had a God, and to\nIsrael ('this assembly') the renewed lesson of their true weapons and\nof their Almighty Helper. Such utter suppression of self is inseparable\nfrom trust in God, and without it no soldier of His has a right to\nexpect victory. To fight 'in the name of the Lord' requires hiding our\nown name. If we are really going to war for Him, and in His strength,\nwe ought to expect to conquer. Believe that you will be beaten, and you\nwill be. Trust to Him to make you 'more than conquerors,' and the trust\nwill bring about its own fulfilment.\n\nIV. Observe the contrast in verse 48 between the slow movements of the\nheavy-armed Philistine and the quick run of the shepherd, whose 'feet\nwere as hind's feet' (Psalm xviii. 33). Agility and confident alacrity\nwere both expressed. His feet were shod with 'the preparedness of\nfaith.' Observe, too, the impetuous brevity of the account in verse 49,\nof the actual fall of Goliath. The short clauses, coupled by a series\nof 'ands,' reproduce the swift succession of events, which ended the\nfight before it had begun; and one can almost hear the whiz of the\nstone as it crashes into the thick head, so strangely left unprotected\nby all the profusion of brass that clattered about him. The vulnerable\nheel of Achilles and the unarmed forehead of Goliath illustrate the\ntruth, ever forgotten and needing to be repeated, that, after all\nprecautions, some spot is bare, and that 'there is no armour against\nfate.'\n\nThe picture of the huge 'man-mountain' fallen upon his face to the\nearth, a huddled heap of useless mail, recalls the words of a psalm,\n'When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up\nmy flesh, they stumbled and fell' (Psalm xxvii. 2). Is it fanciful to\nhear in that triumphant chant an echo of Goliath's boast about giving\nhis flesh to the fowls and the beasts, and a vision of the braggart as\nhe tottered and lay prostrate? Observe, too, the contemptuous\nreiteration of 'the Philistine,' which occurs six times in the four\nverses (48-51). National feeling speaks in that. There is triumph in\nthe sarcastic repetition of the dreaded name in such a connection. This\nwas what one of the brood had got, and his fate was an omen of what\nwould befall the rest. The champion of Israel, the soldier of God,\nstanding over the dead Philistine, all whose brazen armour had been\nuseless and his brazen insolence abased, and sawing off his head with\nhis own sword, was a prophecy for the Israel of that day, and will be a\nsymbol till the end of time of the true equipment, the true temper, and\nthe certain victory, of all who, in the name of the Lord of hosts, go\nforth in their weakness against the giants of ignorance, vice, and sin.\n'This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.'\n\n\n\n\nA SOUL'S TRAGEDY\n\n'And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself\nwisely: and Saul set him over the men of war; and he was accepted in\nthe sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.\n6. And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the\nslaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of\nIsrael, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tabrets, with joy,\nand with instruments of musick. 7. And the women answered one another\nas they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his\nten thousands. 8. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased\nhim; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to\nme they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the\nkingdom? 9. And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. 10. And it\ncame to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon\nSaul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played\nwith his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's\nhand. 11. And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David\neven to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.\n12. And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and\nwas departed from Saul. 13. Therefore Saul removed him from him, and\nmade him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in\nbefore the people. 14. And David behaved himself wisely in all his\nways; and the Lord was with him. 15. Wherefore, when Saul saw that he\nbehaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. 16. But all Israel\nand Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.'--1\nSAMUEL xviii. 5-16.\n\n\nVerse 5 anticipates verses 13-16. It is the last verse of a section\nwhich interrupts the even flow of the story, and which is absent from\nthe Septuagint. Verse 6 follows immediately on xvii. 54 in that\nversion. Taking that verse as our starting-point, we have three stages\nin Saul's growing hatred and awe of the young champion, and of David's\ngrowing influence and reputation. It is deeply tragic to watch the\ngradual darkening of the once bright light, side by side with the\nirresistible increase in brilliance of the new star. 'He must increase,\nbut I must decrease,' became Saul's bitter conviction; but instead of\nmeekly accepting the necessity, his gloomy spirit struggled against it,\nlike stormy waves against a breakwater, and, like them, was shivered\ninto foam in the vain effort.\n\nI. The first stage was Saul's jealousy of David's fame as a warrior.\nThe returning victorious army was met, in Oriental fashion, by a\ntriumphal chorus of women, with their shrill songs, accompanied by the\ndissonant noises which do duty for music to Eastern ears. The words of\ntheir chant were startlingly and ominously plain-spoken, and became\nmore emphatic and insulting in Saul's ears, because they were sung by\ntwo answering bands, one of which rang out, 'Saul hath slain his\nthousands,' while the other overtopped them by pealing out still more\nloudly and exultantly, 'And David his ten thousands.' To be brought\ninto comparison with this unknown stripling was bitter enough, but to\nbe used as a foil to set off his superiority was too much to be borne.\nThere are few men, holding high places in any walk of life, who could\nhave stood such a comparison without wincing. Suppose a great soldier\nin our day, coming home from a successful campaign, and having his\nprowess dimmed in every newspaper by the praises lavished on a young\nlieutenant who had done some brave feat that caught the public\nfancy--would he be likely to be in a very amiable mood towards either\nthe singers or the object of their triumphal songs? Do great authors\nrejoice in the rising of young reputations that dim theirs? or do great\norators smile when some 'boy' takes the public ear more than they do?\nPoor Saul had to drink the bitter cup, which all who love the sweet\ndraught of popular applause have sooner or later to taste; and we need\nnot think him a monster of badness because he found it bitter.\n\nIt will be more to the purpose that we take care lest we do the very\nsame thing in our little lives and humble spheres; for envy and\njealousy of those who threaten to out-shine, or in any way to out-do,\nus is not confined to people in high places or with great reputations.\nThe roots of them are in us all, and the only way to keep them from\ngrowing up rank is to think less of our reputation and more of our\nduty, to count it a very small matter what men think of us, and the\nall-important matter what God thinks.\n\nSaul was moved, too, by the consciousness that he had been really\ndeposed by Jehovah, and was only a phantom king, and, as his angry\nsoliloquy shows, what troubled him most in the women's song was that it\npointed to David as likely to come in and rob him, not only of glory,\nbut of the kingdom. Ever since Samuel had pronounced his rejection, his\nuneasy eyes had been furtively scanning men for his possible\nsupplanter, and no wonder that his gloomy suspicions focussed\nthemselves on the gallant youth, who conquered men's hearts and made\nwomen's tongues eloquent in his praise. Stormy and dark as Saul's\nnature had become, and grave as had been his failure to be worthy of\nthe monarchy, one cannot but feel the infinite pathos and pity of his\nlife.\n\nII. The second stage was the attempt on David's life. Verses 10 and 11,\nwhich record it, are not in the Septuagint, and the narrative does run\nmore smoothly without them. But if they are retained, they show how the\nmoody suspicion with which Saul 'eyed David' came to a swift, murderous\nclimax. He stands as a terrible example of how suspicion and jealousy,\nworking in a nature utterly without self-control, transport it into the\nwildest excesses. In the strange phraseology of verse 9, 'an evil\nspirit from God' laid hold of him, dominating his personality. The\nwriter of this book felt that God was the ultimate cause of all things,\nand that all beings were under His control; and his devout recognition\nof that fact led him to the apparent paradox of tracing an 'evil\nspirit' to God. But we must not be so startled as to overlook the truth\nthat Saul had prepared the fit abode for that evil spirit by his own\nindulgence in a whirl of sinful passions and acts, and that these were\npunished by their 'natural' consequence. Any man who lets his own baser\nnature have full fling invites the devil. Saul had what would now be\ncalled a paroxysm of insanity. But perhaps the modern medical phrase is\nnot to be preferred to the old scriptural one. The former is innocent\nof any explanation of the fact which it designates, and it may possibly\nbe that insanity is sometimes, even now, 'possession.' At all events,\nsince science gives no explanation of it, and a great dim region of\nconsciousness is now being recognised,--'subliminal,' to speak in the\nnew phraseology,--he is a bold man who ventures to deny that\npossibility.\n\nBut be that as it may, what a striking picture is given of Saul, worn\nwith passion and swept away by ungovernable impulses, 'prophesying' or\n'raving' with wild gestures and uttering wilder sounds; and of David,\nyoung, calm, giving forth melodies on his harp and songs from his lips,\nthat sought to soothe the paroxysms of fury. Browning has drawn the\npicture in immortal words, which all who can should read. It has been\nsuggested that Saul did not 'cast' his spear, but only brandished it in\nhis fierce threat to pin David to the wall. But the youthful harper\nwould scarcely have 'avoided out of his presence' for a mere threat and\nthe flourish of a lance; and a man, raging mad and madly hostile, would\nnot be likely to waste breath in mere threats. The attempt was more\nprobably a serious one, and the spear, flung by an arm made stronger\nthan ever by insane hatred, quivered in the wall very near the lithe\nathlete who had agilely escaped it. Envy, allowed to have its way,\nbecomes murderous. Let us suppress its beginning. A tiger pup can be\nheld in and its claws cut, but a full-grown tiger cannot.\n\nIII. The third stage is Saul's getting rid of David. The growing awe of\nhim is marked in verses 12 and 15, and the word in the latter verse is\nstronger than that in the former. It is a pathetic picture of the\ngradual creeping over a strong man of a nameless terror.\nEver-thickening folds of cold dread, like a wet mist, wrap a soul once\nbright and energetic. And the reason is twofold: first, that God had\nleft that tempestuous, rebellious soul because it had left Him; and\nsecond, that, in its desolate solitude, in which there was no trace of\nsoftening or penitence, that lightning-riven soul knew that the\nsunshine, which it had repelled, was now pouring on David. Saul's\nsuspicions were hardened into certainties. He was sure now that what\nhis jealousy had whispered, when the women chanted their chorus, was\ngrim fact. And he could but helplessly watch his supplanter's steady\nadvance in favour with men and God. The two processes of growing\ndarkness and growing light go on side by side in the two men, and each\nmakes the other more striking by contrast. Twice is it repeated that\nSaul was in awe of David. Twice is it repeated that Jehovah was with\nDavid, and that he 'behaved himself wisely,' which last statement\nincludes in the Hebrew word both the idea of prudence and that of\nsuccess. So, on the one hand, there is a steady growth in all good,\ngodly, and happy qualities and experiences; and on the other, a\ntragical increase of darkness and gloom, godlessness and despair. And\nyet Saul had begun so well! And Saul might have been what David\nwas,--companioned by God, prosperous, and the idol of his people. Two\nsouls stand side by side for a moment on the same platform, with the\nsame divine goodness and love encircling them, and the one steadily\nrises, while the other steadily sinks. How awful are the endless\npossibilities of progress in either direction that lie open for every\nsoul of man!\n\n\n\n\nJONATHAN, THE PATTERN OF FRIENDSHIP\n\n'And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before\nJonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin\nbefore thy father, that he seeketh my life? 2. And he said unto him,\nGod forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing\neither great or small, but that he will shew it me: and why should my\nfather hide this thing from me? it is not so. 3. And David sware\nmoreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found\ngrace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he\nbe grieved: but truly, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth,\nthere is but a step between me and death. 4. Then said Jonathan unto\nDavid, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. 5. And\nDavid said unto Jonathan, Behold, to-morrow is the new moon, and I\nshould not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may\nhide myself in the field unto the third day at even. 6. If thy father\nat all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he\nmight run to Beth-lehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there\nfor all the family. 7. If he say thus, it is well; thy servant shall\nhave peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is\ndetermined by him. 8. Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy\nservant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord\nwith thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me\nthyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father? 9. And Jonathan\nsaid, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were\ndetermined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it\nthee? 10. Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if\nthy father answer thee roughly? 11. And Jonathan said unto David, Come,\nand let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into\nthe field. 12. And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel when\nI have sounded my father about to-morrow any time, or the third day,\nand, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto\nthee, and shew it thee; 13. The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan:\nbut if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee,\nand send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the Lord be with\nthee, as He hath been with my father.'--1 SAMUEL xx. 1-13.\n\n\nThe friendship of Jonathan for David comes like a breath of pure air in\nthe midst of the heavy-laden atmosphere of hate and mad fury, or like\nsome clear fountain sparkling up among the sulphurous slag and barren\nscoriae of a volcano. There is no more beautiful page in history or\npoetry than the story of the passionate love of the heir to the throne\nfor the young champion, whom he had so much cause to regard as a rival.\nWhat a proof of the victory of love over self is his saying, 'Thou\nshalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee'! (1 Samuel\nxxiii. 17). Truly did David sing in his elegy, 'Thy love to me was\nwonderful, passing the love of women'; for in that old world, in which\nthe relations between the sexes had not yet received the hallowing and\nrefinement of Christian times, much of what is now chiefly found in\nthese was manifested in friendship, such as that of these two young\nmen. Jonathan is the foremost figure in it, and the nobility and\nself-oblivion of his love are beautifully brought out, while David's\npart is rather that of the loved than of the lover. The scene is laid\nin Gibeah, where Saul kept his court, and to which all the persons of\nthe story seem to have come back from Samuel's house at Kamah. Saul's\nstrange subjugation to the hallowing influences of the prophet's\npresence had been but momentary and superficial; and it had been\nfollowed by a renewed outburst of the old hate, obvious to David's\nsharpened sight, though not to Jonathan. In the interview between them,\nDavid is pardonably but obviously absorbed in self, while Jonathan\nbends all his soul to cheer and reassure his friend.\n\nThere are four turns in the conversation, in each of which David speaks\nand Jonathan answers. David's first question presupposes that his\nfriend knows that his death is determined, and is privy to Saul's\nthoughts. If he had been less harassed, he would have done Jonathan\nmore justice than to suppose him capable of knowing everything without\ntelling him anything; but fear is suspicious. He should have remembered\nthat, when Saul first harboured murderous purposes, Jonathan had not\nwaited to be asked, but had disclosed the plot to him, and perilled his\nown life by his remonstrances with his father. He should have trusted\nhis friend. His question breathes consciousness of innocence of any\nhostility to Saul, but unconsciously betrays some defect in his\nconfidence in Jonathan. The answer is magnanimous in its silence as to\nthat aspect of the question, though the subsequent story seems to imply\nthat Jonathan felt it. He tries to hearten David by strong assurances\nthat his life is safe. He does not directly contradict David's\nimplication that he knew more than he had told, but, without asserting\nhis ignorance, takes it for granted, and quietly argues from it the\nincorrectness of David's suspicions. Incidentally he gives us, in the\npicture of the perfect confidence between Saul and himself, an inkling\nof how much he had to sacrifice to his friendship. Wild as was Saul's\nfury when aroused, and narrow as had been his escape from it at an\nearlier time (1 Samuel xiv. 44), there was yet love between them, and\nthe king made a confidant of his gallant eldest son. They 'were lovely\nand pleasant in their lives.' However gloomy and savage in his\nparoxysms Saul was, the relations between them were sweet. The most\nself-introverted and solitary soul needs some heart to pour itself out\nto, and this poor king found one in Jonathan. All the harder, then, was\nthe trial of friendship when the trusted son had to take the part of\nthe friend whom his father deemed an enemy, and had the pain of\nbreaking such close ties. How his heart must have been torn asunder! On\nthe one side was the lonely father who clung to him: on the other, the\nhunted friend to whom he clung. It is a sore wrench when kindred are on\none side, and congeniality and the voice of the heart on the other. But\nthere are ties more sacred than those of flesh and blood; and the\nputting of them second, which is sometimes needful in obedience to\nearthly love or duty, is always needful if we would rightly entertain\nour heavenly Friend.\n\nJonathan's soothing assurances did not satisfy David, and he 'sware' in\nthe earnestness of his conviction. David gives a very good reason for\nhis friend's ignorance, which he has at once believed, in the\nsuggestion that Saul had not taken him into his confidence, out of\ntenderness to his feelings. Their friendship, then, was notorious, and,\nindeed, was an element in Saul's dread of David, who seemed to have\nsome charm to steal hearts, and had bewitched both Saul's son and his\ndaughter, thus making a painful rift in the family unity. It does not\nappear how David came to be so sure of Saul's designs. The incident at\nRamah might have seemed to augur some improvement in his mood; and\ncertainly there could have been no overt acts, or Jonathan could not\nhave disputed the suspicions. Possibly some whispers may have reached\nDavid through his wife Michal, Saul's daughter, or in the course of his\nattendance on the king, which he had now resumed, his quick eye may\nhave noticed ominous signs. At all events, he is so sure, that he makes\nsolemn attestation to his friend, and convinces him that, in the\npicturesque phrase which has become so familiar, 'There is but a step\nbetween me and death.' Such temper was scarcely in accordance with 'the\nprophecies which went before on' him. If he had been walking by faith,\nhe would have called Samuel's anointing to mind, and have drawn\narguments from the victory over Goliath, for trust in victory over\nSaul, as he had done for the former from that over the lion and the\nbear. But faith does not always keep high-water mark, and we can only\ntoo easily sympathise with this momentary ebb of its waters.\n\nNone the less is it true that David's terror was unworthy, and showed\nthat the strain of his anxious position was telling on his spirit, and\nmaking him not only suspect his earthly friend, but half forget his\nheavenly One. There was but a step between him and death; but, if he\nhad been living in the serenity of trust, he would have known that the\nnarrow space was as good as a thousand miles, and that Saul could not\nforce him across it, for all his hatred and power.\n\nJonathan does not attempt to alter his conviction and probably is\nobliged to admit the justice of the explanation of his own ignorance\nand the truth of the impression of Saul's purposes. But he does what is\nmore to the purpose; he pledges himself to do whatever David desires.\nIt is an unconditional desertion of his father and alliance with David;\nit is the true voice of friendship or love, which ever has its delight\nin knowing and doing the will of the beloved. It answers David's\nthoughts rather than his words. He will not discuss any more whether he\nor David is right; but, in any event, he is his friend's.\n\nThe touchstone of friendship is practical help and readiness to do what\nthe friend wishes. It is so in our friendships here, which are best\ncemented so. It is so in the highest degree in our friendship with the\ntrue Friend and Lover of us all, the sweetness and power of our\nfriendship with whom we do not know until we say, 'Whatsoever thou\ndesirest, I will do it,' and so lose the burden of self-will, and find\nthat He does for us what we desire when we make His desires our law of\nconduct.\n\nSecure of Jonathan's help, David proposed the stratagem for finding out\nSaul's disposition, which had probably been in his mind all along. It\nsays more for his subtlety than for his truthfulness. With all his\nnobility, he had a streak of true Oriental craft and stood on the moral\nlevel of his times and country, in his readiness to eke out the lion's\nskin with the fox's tail. It was a shrewd idea to make Saul betray\nhimself by the way in which he took David's absence; but a lie is a\nlie, and cannot be justified, though it may be palliated, by the\nstraits of the liar. At the same time it is fair to remember the\nextremity of David's danger and the morality of his age, in estimating,\nnot the nature of his action, but the extent of his guilt in doing it.\nThe same relaxation of the vigour of his faith which left him a prey to\nfear, led him to walk in crooked paths, and the impartial narrative\ntells of them without a word of comment. We have to form our own\nestimate of the fitness of a lie to form the armour of a saint. The\nproposal informs us of two facts,--the custom of having a feast for\nthree days at the new moon, and that of having an annual family feast\nand sacrifice, neither of which is prescribed in the law. I do not here\ndeal with the grave question as to the date of the ceremonial law, as\naffected by these and similar phenomena; but I may be allowed the\npassing remark that the irregularities do not prove the non-existence\nof the law, but may be accounted for by supposing that, in such\nunsettled times, it had been loosely observed, and that many accretions\nand omissions, some of them inevitable in the absence of a recognised\ncentre of worship, had crept in. That is a much less brilliant and much\nmore old-fashioned explanation than the new one, but perhaps it is none\nthe worse for that. This generation is fond of making 'originality' and\n'brilliancy' the tests of truth.\n\nDavid's words in verse 8 have a touch of suspicion in them, in their\nvery appeal for kind treatment, in their reminder of the 'covenant' of\nfriendship, as if Jonathan needed either, and still more in the bitter\nrequest to slay him himself instead of delivering him to Saul. He\nalmost thinks that Jonathan is in the plot, and means to carry him off\na prisoner. Note, too, that he does not say, 'We made a covenant,' but\n'Thou hast brought me into' it, as if it had been the other's wish\nrather than his. All this was beneath true friendship, and it hurt\nJonathan, who next speaks with unusual emotion, beseeching David to\nclear all this fog out of his heart, and to believe in the genuineness\nand depth of his love, and in the frankness of his speech. True love\n'is not easily provoked,' is not soon angry, and his was true in spite\nof many obstacles which might have made him as jealous as his father,\nand in the face of misconstruction and suspicion. May we not think of a\nyet higher love, which bears with our suspicions and faithless doubts,\nand ever answers our incredulity by its gentle 'If it were not so, I\nwould have told you'?\n\nDavid is not yet at the end of his difficulties, and next suggests, how\nis he to know Saul's mind? Jonathan takes him out into the privacy of\nthe open country (they had apparently been in Gibeah), and there\nsolemnly calls God to witness that he will disclose his father's\npurposes, whatever they are. The language is obscure and broken,\nwhether owing to corruption in the text, or to the emotion of the\nspeaker. In half-shaped sentences, which betray how much he felt his\nfriend's doubts, and how sincere he was, he invokes evil on himself if\nhe fails to tell all. He then unfolds his ingenious scheme for\nconveying the information, on which we do not touch. But note the final\nwords of Jonathan,--that prayer, so pathetic, so unselfish in its\nrecognition of David as the inheritor of the kingdom that had dropped\nfrom his own grasp, so sad in its clear-eyed assurance of his father's\nabandonment, so deeply imbued with faith in the divine word, and so\nresigned to its behests. Both in the purity of his friendship and in\nthe strength of his faith and submission, Jonathan stands here above\nDavid, and is far surer than the latter himself is of his high destiny\nand final triumph. It was hard for him to believe in the victory which\nwas to displace his own house, harder still to rejoice in it, without\none trace of bitterness mingling in the sweetness of his love, hardest\nof all actively to help it and to take sides against his father; but\nall these difficulties his unselfish heart overcame, and he stands for\nall time as the noblest example of human friendship, and as not\nunworthy to remind us, as from afar off and dimly, of the perfect love\nof the Firstborn Son of the true King, who has loved us all with a yet\ndeeper, more patient, more self-sacrificing love. If men can love one\nanother as Jonathan loved David, how should they love the Christ who\nhas loved them so much! And what sacrilege it is to pour such treasures\nof affection at the feet of dear ones here, and to give so grudgingly\nsuch miserable doles of heart's love to Him!\n\n\n\n\nLOVE FOR HATE, THE TRUE QUID PRO QUO\n\n'And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord\nsaid unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand,\nthat thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David\narose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. 5. And it came to\npass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had out off\nSaul's skirt. 6. And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I\nshould do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch\nforth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. 7.\nSo David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to\nrise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his\nway. 8. David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried\nafter Saul, saying, My Lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him,\nDavid stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself, 9. And\nDavid said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold,\nDavid seeketh thy hurt? 10. Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how\nthat the Lord had delivered thee to-day into mine hand in the cave: and\nsome bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will\nnot put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed.\n11. Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my\nhand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not,\nknow thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine\nhand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to\ntake it. 12. The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me\nOf thee; but mine hand shall not be upon thee. 13. As saith the proverb\nof the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand\nshall not be upon thee. 14. After whom is the king of Israel come out?\nafter whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. 15. The\nLord therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and\nplead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand. 16. And it came to\npass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul,\nthat Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his\nvoice, and wept. 17. And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than\nI; for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee\nevil.'--1 SAMUEL xxiv. 4-17.\n\n\nA sudden Philistine invasion had saved David, when hard pressed by\nSaul, and had given him the opportunity of flight to the wild country\non the west of the Dead Sea, near the place where En-Gedi ('the\nFountain of the Wild Goat') sparkles into light on the hill above the\nweird lake. In these savage gorges Saul's three thousand men would be\nof little use against the light-footed outlaw and his troop. The whole\ndistrict is seamed with ravines, and these are honeycombed with great\ncaverns, where dangerous outcasts still lurk and defy capture.\nTravellers go into raptures over the beauty of some of these 'fairy\ngrottoes' draped with maiden-hair fern, cool and moist, and blessedly\ndark after the fierce light outside. In some one of these the beautiful\nstory which makes our lesson occurred.\n\nI. We have the scene in the cave. The interior would be black as night\nto one looking inward with eyes fresh from the blinding glare of such\nsunlight upon limestone, but it would hold a glimmering twilight for\none looking outward, with eyes accustomed to the gloom. David and his\nmen, keeping close to the walls and hiding behind angles, might well be\nunobserved by Saul at the mouth, and probably never looking in at all.\nHow vividly the whispered eagerness of the outcasts round David is\nreproduced! They think it would be 'tempting Providence' to let such a\nchance slip. They put a religious varnish on their advice. It would be\nalmost impious not to kill Saul, for here was the hand of God evidently\nfulfilling a prophecy! There may have been some unrecorded prediction\nof the sort which they seem to quote; but more probably they are only\nreferring to David's designation to the crown, which they had come to\nknow. It never struck them as possible that it could 'seem good' to a\nwise man not to cut his enemy's throat when he could do it without\ndanger to himself. So they would watch David stealing down quietly to\nthe place where the unconscious king was crouching, and getting close\nbehind him, knife in hand. How disgusted they must have been when the\nblade, that flashed for a moment in the light at the cave's mouth, was\nnot buried in Saul's great back, but only hacked off the end of his\nrobe spread out behind him! No personal animosity was in David. However\nhe had been driven to consort with outlaws, and to live a kind of\nfreebooter's life, his natural sweetness was unspoiled, and was\nreinforced by solemn veneration for the sanctity of the Lord's\nanointing, which he reverenced all the more because himself had\nreceived it. He clambered back to his disappointed men, and, as soon as\nhe was up in the dark again, his chivalry and his religion made him\nashamed of his coarse practical jest. The humour of the thing had\ntempted him to do it; but it was a rude insult, which lowered him more\nthan it did Saul, and, like a true man, he blushes there in the gloom\nat what he has done. Then he has to defend himself to his men for not\ncoming up to their expectations, and he does it by insisting on the\nsacredness which still surrounded Saul as 'the Lord's anointed.' David\nknew that the unhappy king had been rejected and forsaken by 'the\nSpirit of the Lord,' and that he himself was the true bearer of the\nregal unction; but he will not take the law into his own hands, and\nstill regards Saul as his 'lord.' He sets the example, much needed by\nus all, of leaving God to carry out His purposes at His own time, and\npatiently waiting till that time comes. He had hard work to keep his\nmen from rushing down on the king; but, having commanded himself, is\nable to restrain them. How many virtues may be in exercise in one\naction! Here we have generosity, clemency, sensitiveness of conscience,\nreverence, self-abnegation, patience, loyalty, firmness, sway over\nlower natures for high ends,--a whole constellation shining star-like\nin the dark cavern.\n\nII. We have, next, David's pathetic remonstrance. Saul was alone, and\nDavid could easily escape among the cliffs, if the king summoned his\nmen; but he risks capture, in the gush of ancient friendship. His words\nare full of nobleness, and his silence is no less so. He has no\nreproaches, no anger nor hate. He will not even suppose that Saul has\nfollowed his own impulses in his persecution, but assumes that he has\nbeen led astray by calumnies. He points to the fragment of Saul's robe\nin his hand as the disproof of the lie that he had designs against him,\nand passionately asserts his innocence now and in all the past. He\ncompares himself to some timid wild thing, like one of the goats among\nthe cliffs, and Saul to a hunter. He solemnly calls God to judge\nbetween them, and appeals from the slanders and misjudgings of men to\nthe perfect tribunal of God, to whom he commits his cause. He abjures\nall intention of striking at Saul in his own defence. He quotes, in\ntrue Eastern manner, a scrap of proverbial wisdom, which contains the\nhomely truth that character determines action; for it needs a wicked\nman to do a wicked thing, and he implies that he is not wicked, and\nthat Saul knows that well enough,--by what has just happened, if by\nnothing else. Then he puts his own insignificance and the disproportion\nbetween him and his ragged band and the imposing force of Saul in vivid\nlight by his half-humorous and wholly humble description of himself as\na 'dead dog,' and a 'flea'; as harmless as the one, as hard to catch as\nthe other, as little important as either. Finally, he reiterates his\ndevout reference of the whole cause to God, and his fixed resolution to\ntake no steps to right himself, but to leave all to Him.\n\nSo ought we to deal with slanders and enmity. The eternal law for us in\nall opposition and hostility is enshrined in David's noble words and\ndeeds. To repay evil with benefits, to abstain from retaliation when it\nis in our power, to keep our tongues from bitter and wounding words, to\nappeal to the adversary's better self, even at the cost of our own\n'dignity,'--all that is not easy nor usual among professing Christians.\nBut it ought to be. David's Lord, 'when He suffered, threatened not;\nbut committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.' We are poor\nfollowers of Him, if David surpasses us in patience and magnanimity. It\nhas taken nineteen hundred years to teach us that passive endurance is\nmore heroic than fighting for our own hand, and that repaying scorn and\nhate with their like is less noble than meeting them with endless\nforgiveness.\n\nPsalm vii. is all but universally regarded as David's, and as belonging\nto this period. In it we find a clause, 'I have delivered him that\nwithout cause was mine enemy,' which may fairly be supposed to refer to\nthe scene in the cave, and we read the same vehement protestations of\ninnocence, the same figure of himself as a hunted wild animal, the same\nappeal to God's judgment, as in his remonstrance with Saul. The psalm\nis the poetic echo of our lesson.\n\nIII. We have the momentary melting of Saul's heart. He breaks into\npassionate weeping. With that sudden flashing out into vehement\nemotion, so characteristic of him throughout, and, in these latter days\nof his life, so significant of enfeebled self-control, he recognises\nDavid's generous forbearance in its contrast to his own hate, which,\nfor the moment, he feels to be causeless. There is a piteous\nremembrance of the days when David soothed him by song, in his mention\nof the sweet 'voice,' and some rekindling of ancient love in his\ncalling him 'My son.' Then follow the sad words which confess the\nhopelessness of his struggle against the divine purpose, and his appeal\nfor mercy to his house. The picture may well move solemn thoughts and\npity for that scathed and solitary soul, seeing for a moment, as by a\nlightning flash, the madness of his course, and yet held so fast in the\ngrip of his dark passions that he cannot shake off their tyranny.\n\nTwo great lessons are taught by that tragic figure of the weeping and\nyet unchanged king. One is of the power of forbearing gentleness to\nexorcise hate. The true way to 'overcome evil' is to melt it by fiery\ncoals of gentleness. That is God's way. An iceberg may be crushed to\npowder, but every fragment is still ice. Only sunshine that melts it\nwill turn it into sweet water. Love is conqueror, and the only\nconqueror, and its conquest is to transform hate into love. The other\nlesson is the worthlessness of mere feeling, which by its very nature\npasses away, and, like unstored rain, leaves the rock in its obstinate\nhardness more exposed. Saul only increased his guilt by reason of the\nfleeting glimpse of his folly which he did not follow up; and our\ngleams of insight into some sin and madness of ours but add to our\nresponsibility. Emotion which does not lead to action hardens the\nheart, and adds to our guilt and condemnation.\n\n\n\n\nLOVE AND REMORSE\n\n'And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and\nDavid beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Xer, the\ncaptain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched\nround about him. 6. Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the\nHittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying,\nWho will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will\ngo down with thee. 7. So David and Abishai came to the people by night:\nand, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck\nin the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about\nhim. 8. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into\nthine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with\nthe spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the\nsecond time. 9. And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can\nstretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?\n10. David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite\nhim; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and\nperish. 11. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand\nagainst the Lord's anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear\nthat is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go. 12. So\nDavid took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and\nthey gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for\nthey were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen\nupon them .... 21. Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David:\nfor I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine\neyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred\nexceedingly. 22. And David answered and said, Behold the king's spear!\nand let one of the young men come over and fetch it. 23. The Lord\nrender to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the\nLord delivered thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth\nmine hand against the Lord's anointed. 24. And, behold, as thy life was\nmuch set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the\neyes of the Lord, and let Him deliver me out of all tribulation. 25.\nThen Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both\ndo great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his\nway, and Saul returned to his place.'--1 SAMUEL xxvi 5-12; 21-25.\n\n\nIt is fashionable at present to regard this incident and the other\ninstance of David's sparing Saul, when in his power, as two versions of\none event. But it if not improbable that the hunted outlaw should twice\nhave taken refuge in the same place, or that his hiding-place should\nhave been twice betrayed. He had but a small choice of safe retreats,\nand the Ziphites had motive for a second betrayal in the fact of the\nfirst, and of its failure to secure David's capture. The whole cast of\nthe two incidents is so different that it is impossible to see how the\none could have been evolved from the other, and either they are both\ntrue, or they are both unhistorical, or, at best, are both the product\nof fancy working on, and arbitrarily filling up, a very meagre skeleton\nof fact. Many of the advocates of the identity of the incident at the\nbottom of the two accounts would accept the latter explanation; we take\nthe former.\n\nSaul had three thousand men with him; David had left his little troop\n'in the wilderness,' and seems to have come with only his two\ncompanions, Ahimelech and his own nephew, Abishai, to reconnoitre. He\nsees, from some height, the camp, with the transport wagons making a\nkind of barricade in the centre--just as camps are still arranged in\nSouth Africa and elsewhere,--and Saul established therein as in a rude\nfortification. A bold thought flashes into his mind as he looks.\nPerhaps he remembered Gideon's daring visit to the camp of Midian. He\nwill go down, and not only into the camp, but 'to Saul,' through the\nranks and over the barrier. What to do he does not say, but the two\nfierce fighters beside him think of only one thing as sufficient motive\nfor such an adventure. Abishai volunteers to go with him; no doubt\nAhimelech would have been ready also, but two were enough, and three\nwould only have increased risk. So they lay close hid till night fell,\nand then stole down through the sleeping ranks with silent movements,\nlike a couple of Indians on the war-trail, climbed the barricade, and\nstood at last where Saul lay, with his spear, as the emblem of\nkingship, stuck upright at his head, and a cruse of water for slaking\nthirst, if he awoke, beside him. Those who should have been his guards\nlay sleeping round him, for a 'deep sleep from Jehovah was fallen upon\nthem.' What a vivid, strange picture it is, and how characteristic of\nthe careless discipline of unscientific Eastern warfare!\n\nThe tigerish lust for blood awoke in Abishai. Whatever sad, pitying,\nhalf-tender thoughts stirred in David as he looked at the mighty form\nof Saul, with limbs relaxed in slumber, and perhaps some of the gloom\nand evil passions charmed out of his face, his nephew's only thought\nwas,' What a fair mark! what an easy blow!' He was brutally eager to\nstrike once, and truculently sure that his arm would make sure that\nonce would be enough. He was religious too, after a strange fierce\nfashion. God-significantly he does not say 'Jehovah'; his religion was\nonly the vague belief in a deity-had delivered Saul into David's hands,\nand it would be a kind of sin not to kill him. How many bloody\ntragedies that same unnatural alliance of religion and murderous hate\nhas varnished over! Very beautifully does David's spirit contrast with\nthis. Abishai represents the natural impulse of us all--to strike at\nour enemies when we can, to meet hate with hate, and do to another the\nevil that he would do to us.\n\nDavid here, though he could be fierce and cruel enough sometimes, and\nhad plenty of the devil in him, listens to his nobler self, which\nlistens to God, and, at a time when everything tempted him to avenge\nhimself, resists and overcomes. He is here a saint after the New\nTestament pattern. Abishai had, in effect, said, 'Thou shalt love thy\nneighbour, and hate thine enemy.' David's finely-tuned ear heard, long\nbefore they were spoken on earth, the great Christian words, 11 say\nunto you, Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you.' He knew\nthat Saul had been 'rejected,' but he was 'Jehovah's anointed,' and the\nunction which had rested on that sleeping head lingered still. It was\nnot for David to be the executor of God's retribution. He left himself\nand his cause in Jehovah's hands, and no doubt it was with sorrow and\npitying love, not altogether quenched by Saul's mad hate, that he\nforesaw that the life which he spared now was certain one day to be\nsmitten. We may well learn the lesson of this story, and apply it to\nthe small antagonisms and comparatively harmless enmities which may\nbeset our more quiet lives. David in Saul's 'laager,' Stephen outside\nthe wall, alike lead up our thoughts to Jesus' prayer,' Father, forgive\nthem; for they know not what they do.'\n\nThe carrying off of the spear and the cruse was a couch of almost\nhumour, and it, with the ironical taunt flung across the valley to\nAbner, gives relief to the strain of emotion in the story. Saul's burst\nof passionate remorse is morbid, paroxysmal, like his fits of fury, and\nis sure to foam itself away. The man had no self-control. He had let\nwild, ungoverned moods master him, and was truly 'possessed.' One\npassion indulged had pushed him over the precipice into insanity, or\nsomething like it. Let us take care not to let any passion, emotion, or\nmood get the upper hand. 'That way madness lies.' 'He that hath no rule\nover his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, without walls.'\n\nAnd let us not confound remorse with repentance 'The sorrow of the\nworld worketh death.' Saul grovelled in agony that day, but tomorrow he\nwas raging again with more than the old frenzy of hate. Many a man\nsays, 'I have played the fool,' and yet goes on playing it again when\nthe paroxysm of remorse has stormed itself out. David's answer was by\nno means effusive, for he had learned how little Saul's regrets were to\nbe trusted. He takes no notice of the honeyed words of invitation to\nreturn, and will not this time venture to take back the spear and\ncruse, as he had done, on the previous occasion, the skirt of Saul's\nrobe. He solemnly appeals to Jehovah's righteous judgment to determine\nhis and Saul's respective 'righteousness and faithfulness.' He is\nsilent as to what that judgment may have in reserve for Saul, but for\nhimself he is calmly conscious that, in the matter of sparing Saul's\nlife, he has done right, and expects that God will deliver him 'out of\nall tribulation.' That is not self-righteous boasting, although it does\nnot exactly smack of the Christian spirit; but it is faith clinging to\nthe confidence that God is 'not unrighteous to forget' his servant's\nobedience, and that the innocent will not always be the oppressor's\nvictim.\n\nWhat a strange, bewildered, self-contradictory chaos of belief and\nintention is revealed in poor, miserable Saul's parting words! He\nblesses the man whom he is hunting to slay. He knows that all his wild\nefforts to destroy him are foredoomed to failure, and that David 'shall\nsurely prevail'; and yet he cannot give up fighting against the\ninevitable,--that is, against God. How many of us are doing the very\nsame thing--rushing on in a course of life which we know, when we are\nsane, to be dead against God's will, and therefore doomed to utter\ncollapse some day!\n\n'And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war\nagainst me, and God is departed from me.'-1 Samuel xxviii. 15.\n\nAmong all the persons of Scripture who are represented as having fallen\naway from God and wrecked their lives, perhaps there is none so\nimpressive as the giant form of the first king of Israel. Huge and\nblack, seamed and scarred with lightning marks of passions, moody and\nsuspicious, devil-ridden and lonely, doubting his truest friends, and\neven his son, striking blindly in his fury at the gracious, sunny\npoet-warrior who shows so bright, so full of resource, so nimble, so\ngenerous, by contrast with the heavy strength of the moody giant, and\never escapes the javelin that quivers harmlessly in the wall, with an\ninevitable destiny hanging over his head, and at last creeping to\n'wizards that peep and mutter,' and dying a suicide, with his army in\nfull flight and his son dead at his feet--what a course and what an end\nfor the chosen of the Lord, on whom the Spirit of the Lord came with\nthe anointing oil, and gave him a new heart for his kingly office.\n\nI know not anywhere a sadder story: and I know not where human lips\never poured out a more awful wail--like a Titan in his rage of\npain--than these words of our text. Bright hopes and fair promise, and\nmuch that was good and true in performance--all came to this. A few\nhours more and the 'battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit\nhim, and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.' Madness,\ndespair, defeat, death, all were the sequel of, 'Because thou hast\nrejected the commandment of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee\nfrom being king.' A true soul's tragedy! Let us look together at its\ncourse, and gather the lessons that lie on the surface. We have neither\nspace nor wish here to enter upon the many points of minute interest\nand curiosity which are in the story. We have to be contented with\nlarge outlines.\n\nLook then\n\nI. At the bright dawn.\n\nThe early story gives us many traits of beauty in Saul's character. Not\nonly physical strength but a winning personality are apparent. His\nmodesty and humility when Samuel salutes him are made plain. And we are\ndistinctly told that as he turned away from Samuel, 'God gave him\nanother heart,' by which we are to understand not 'regeneration' but an\ninspiration, that equipped him for his office.\n\nHow many a man finds that sudden elevation ruins him! But often it\nevokes what is good, brings an entire change of disposition, as with\n'Harry of Mon-mouth.' But it was not only his new responsibility which\nbrought into action powers that had previously been dormant. New\ncircumstances, no doubt, did something, but Saul's 'new' heart was\nGod's gift.\n\nThe story of the beginning of his reign reveals a very noble and\nlovable character. We can but mention his modesty in hiding among the\nstuff, his disregard of the murmurs of those who would not do homage\n('made as though he had been deaf'), his return, as it would seem, to\nhis home-life and farm-work, his chivalrous boldness and warlike\nenergy, which sprung at once to activity on the call of a great\nexigency in Jabesh-Gilead, his humane and sweet repression of the\npeople's desire, in their first flush of pride in their soldier king,\nto slay his enemies, and his devout acknowledgment that not he but God\nhas wrought this salvation.\n\nSo for the first year of his reign all went well.\n\nHow much of divine influence a man may have and yet fling it all away!\nHow unreliable a thing mere natural goodness is! How much apparent\ngoodness may coexist with deep-seated evil! How bright a beginning may\ndarken into a tempestuous day! How seeds of evil may lurk in the\nfairest character! How little one can be judged by part of his life!\nHow it is not the possession, but the retention, of goodness and devout\nimpressions that makes a man good.\n\nII. The gathering clouds.\n\n\nThe acts recorded as darkening the fair dawn of Saul's reign may seem\ntoo trivial to deserve the stern retribution that followed them, but\nsmall acts may be great sins. The first of them was his offering\nsacrifices without authority, an act which Samuel stigmatised as\nwanton, deliberate disobedience to 'the commandment of the Lord thy\nGod.' Next came his rash and absurd laying of a curse on any soldier\nwho should eat food before evening, and his consequent mad\ndetermination to kill Jonathan, for 'taking a little honey' on the end\nof his rod. Next came his flagrant disobedience to the divine command\ntransmitted to him through Samuel, to 'smite Amalek, and utterly\ndestroy all that they have, and spare them not,' We shudder at such\nferocious extermination, but we are to remember that Saul was moved by\nno pity, but by mere lust for loot, and tried to deceive God, in the\nperson of His representative Samuel, by the lie that the people had\ncoerced him, and that the motive for preserving the best of the cattle\nwas to sacrifice them to the Lord. Samuel's blaze of indignation gave\nthe world the great word: 'Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.'\n\nPutting all these acts together, we have the sad picture of a character\nsteadily deteriorating. He is growing daily more self-willed and\nimpatient of the restraint of God's commanding will. He is chafing at\nhis position as a viceroy, not an absolute sovereign. He is becoming\ntyrannical, careless of his subjects' lives, intolerant of opposition,\nremonstrance, or advice. The tragedy of his decadence is summed up in\nSamuel's stern word: 'Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord,\nHe hath also rejected thee from being king.'\n\nTrivial acts may show great and deep-seated evil. A small swelling\nunder the arm-pit is the sign of the plague and the precursor of swift\ndeath.\n\nThe master-sin is disobedience, self-willed departure from God. That\ndisobedience may be as virulently active in a trifle as in a deed that\nmen call great. Self-will is the tap root of all sin, however\nlabyrinthine the outgrowth from it.\n\nDisobedience honeycombs a soul. The attractive early traits in Saul's\ncharacter slowly perhaps but steadily, disappeared. The fair morning\nsky was heavy with thunder-clouds by midday, and they all began with a\nlight fleecy film that none noticed at first.\n\nIII. The long eclipse.\n\n'An evil spirit from the Lord troubled him, and the Spirit of God\ndeparted from him.'\n\nModern psychologists would call Saul's case an instance of insanity\nbrought about by indulgence in passion and self-will. Is there any\nreason why the deeper, more religious explanation should not be united\nwith the scientific one? Does not God work in the working of 'natural'\nphenomena?\n\nWhat we nowadays call insanity is not very far off from a man who\nhabitually indulges in passionate self will, and spurns God from any\nauthority over his life. What were Saul's characteristics now? The\nstory tells of bursts of ungovernable fury, of unslumbering and\nuniversal suspicions, of utter misery, seeing enemies everywhere and\ncomplaining, 'None of you hath pity upon me,' of ferocious cruelty and\ngloomy despair, of paroxysms of agonising but transient remorse.\n\nIt is an awful picture, and it grimly teaches lessons that we shall be\nwise to write deeply on our hearts.\n\nWhat a ruin a man makes of himself!\n\nHow hideous a godless soul is!\n\nWhat unhappiness is certain if we dismiss God from ruling our lives!\n\nHow useless remorse is unless it leads to repentance!\n\nIV. The stormy sunset.\n\nThe scene at Endor makes one's flesh creep. No more tragic picture of\nfailure and despair was ever painted. The greatest dramatists, whose\ncreations move the terror and pity of the world, have imagined no more\nheart-touching figure.\n\nIt matters very little--nothing at all in fact--either for the dramatic\nforce or for the religious impressiveness of the scene, whether the\nwoman 'brought up' Samuel, or whether she was as much awed as Saul was,\nby the coming up of 'an old man' covered with the well-known 'mantle.'\nThe boding prophecy of to-morrow's defeat and death filled yet fuller\nthe cup that had seemed to be already full of all misery. And that\ncollapse of strength in the huddled figure, prostrate in the witch's\nden, may well stand for a prophecy of what will be the upshot at the\nlast of a self-will that boasts of its own power, and tries to shake\noff dependence on God.\n\n\n\n\nWHAT DOEST THOU HERE?\n\n'Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews\nhere!'--1 SAMUEL xxix. 3.\n\n'The word of the Lord came to him, and He said unto him, What doest\nthou here, Elijah?'--1 KINGS xix. 9.\n\n\nI have put these two verses together, not only because of their\nidentity in form, though that is striking, but because they bear upon\none and the same subject, as will appear, if, in a word or two, I set\neach of them in its setting. David was almost at the lowest point of\nhis fortunes when he fled into foreign territory, and for awhile took\nservice under one of the kings of the Philistines. He served him\nfaithfully, and so, when the last great fight, in which Saul lost his\nlife, was about to be waged between Philistia and Israel, David and his\nmen came as a contingent to the army of the former. The Philistine\ncommanders, very naturally, were suspicious of these allies, just as\nEnglishmen would have been if, on the night before Waterloo, a brigade\nof Frenchmen had deserted and offered their help to fight Napoleon. So\nthe question 'What do these Hebrews here?'--amongst our ranks--was an\nextremely natural one, and it was answered in the only possible way, by\nthe subsequent departure of David and his men from the unnatural and\nill-omened alliance.\n\nNow, that suggests to us that Christian people are out of their places,\neven in the eyes of worldly people, when they are fighting shoulder to\nshoulder with them in certain causes; and it suggests the propriety of\nkeeping apart. 'Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith\nthe Lord' 'What do these Hebrews here?' is a question that Philistia\noften asks. But now turn to the other question. Elijah had fallen into\nthe mood of depression which so often follows great nervous tension. He\nhad just offered the sacrifice on Carmel, and brought all Israel back\nto the Lord, and Jezebel had flamed out and threatened his life. The\nusually undaunted prophet, in the reaction after his great effort, was\nfearful for his life and deserted his work, flung himself into solitude\nand shook the dust off his feet against Israel. Was that not just doing\nwhat I have been saying that Christian people ought to do--separating\nhimself from the world? In a sense, yes, but the voice came, 'What dost\nthou here, Elijah?' 'Go back to your work; to Ahab, to Jezebel. Go back\nto death if need be. Do not shirk your duty on the pretence of\nseparating yourself from the world.'\n\nSo we put the two questions together. They limit one another, and they\nsuggest the _via media,_ the course between, and lead me to say one or\ntwo plain things about that duty of Christian separation from an evil\nworld.\n\nI. The first thing that I would suggest to you is the inevitable\nintermingling, which is the law of God, and therefore can never be\nbroken with impunity.\n\nChrist's parable about the Kingdom of Heaven in the world being like a\nman that sowed good seed in his field, which sprung up intermingled\nwith tares, contains the lesson, not so much of the purity or nonpurity\nof the Church as of the inseparable intertwining in the world of\nChristian people with others. The roots are matted together, and you\ncannot pull up a tare without danger of pulling up a wheat-stalk that\nhas got interlaced with it. That is but to say that Society at present,\nand the earthly form of the Kingdom of God, are not organised on the\nbasis of religious affinity, but upon a great many other things, such\nas family, kindred, business, a thousand ties of all sorts which mat\nmen together, and make it undesirable, impossible, contrary to God's\nintention, that the good people should club themselves together, and\nleave the bad ones to rot and stink. The two are meant to be in close\ncontact. 'Let both grow together till the harvest.' If any Christian\nman were to do as the monks of old did, fly into solitude to look after\nhis own soul, then the question which came to Elijah would be suitable\nto him, 'What doest thou here?' Is there not work enough for you out\nthere, in that wicked world? Is that not the place for you? Where is\nthe place for the 'salt'? Where the meat is in danger of putrefaction.\nRub it in! That is what it was meant for. 'Ye are the light of the\nworld.' That suggests the picture of a lamp upon a pedestal that it may\nsend out its rays, but itself remains apart. But the companion metaphor\nsuggests the closest possible contact, and such contact is duty for us\nChristian people. Elijah ran away from his work. There are types of\nChristian life to-day unwholesomely self-engrossed, and too much\noccupied with their own spiritual condition, to realise and discharge\nthe duty of witnessing in the world. Wherever you find a Christian\nman--whether he is a monk with bare foot, and a rope round his brown\nrobe, and shaven head, or whether he is in the garb of modern\nProtestantism--that tries more to keep himself apart, in the enjoyment\nand cultivation of his own religious life, than to fling himself into\nthe midst of the world's worst evil, in order to fight and to cure it,\nyou get a man who is sharing in Elijah's transgression, and needs\nElijah's rebuke. The intermingling is inevitable in the present state\nof things; and family, kindred, business, social and political\nmovements, all require that Christian people should work side by side\nwith men who are not possessors of 'like precious faith.' If ever there\nhave been individuals or communities that have tried to traverse that\nlaw, they have developed narrowness and bitterness and stunted growth,\nand a hundred evils that we all know.\n\nII. And now let me say a word about the second thing, and that is--the\nimperative separation.\n\n'What do these Israelites here?' is the question. Much of all our lives\nlies outside these necessary connections with the world, of which I\nhave been speaking. And the question for each of us is, What do we do\nwhen we are left to do as we like? Where do we go? When the iron weight\nfastened by the bit of string is taken off the sapling, it starts back\nto its original uprightness. Is that what your Christianity does for\nyou? When you are left to yourself, when you have done all the work\nthat is required, and you are free, where do you turn naturally? It is\nof no use to lay down special regulations. There has been far too much\nregulation and red-tape in our Christianity all along. Do not let us\nput so much stress upon individual acts. Let us look at the spirit.\nWhither do I turn? What do I like to do? Who are my chosen companions?\nWhat are my recreations? Is my life of such a sort as that the world\nwill point to me, and say, 'What! you here I a professing Christian;\nwhat are you doing here?'\n\nI remember that in the autobiography of Mr. Spurgeon, there is a story\ntold about what he did when a child, and living with his grandfather,\nthe pastor of a little country church. There was a very prominent\nmember of that church who was in the habit of going into the\npublic-house occasionally; and the small boy stepped into the sanded\nparlour where this inconsistent man was sitting, walked up to him, and\nsaid, 'What doest thou here, Elijah?' It was the turning-point of the\nman's life. That is the question that I desire us all to ask\nourselves--where do we go, and what sort of lives do we live in the\nmoments when our own voluntary choice determines our action?\n\n'A man is known by the company he keeps,' says an old Latin proverb,\nand I am bound to say that I do not think that it is a good sign of the\ndepth of a Christian professor's religion if he feels himself more at\nhome in the company of people who do not share his religion than in the\ncompany of those that do. I do not wish to be strait-laced and narrow,\nbut I do not wish, either, to be so broad as to obliterate altogether\nthe distinction between Christian people and others. The fact of the\ncase is this, dear friends; if we are Christ's servants we have more in\ncommon with the most uncongenial Christians than we have with the most\ncongenial man who is not a Christian. And if we were nearer our Master\nwe should feel that it was so. 'Being let go they went to their own\ncompany.' Where do you go when you can make your choice?\n\nI am not going to speak in detail about occupations or recreations. I\ncan quite believe that the theatre might be made an instrument of\nmorality. I can quite believe that a race-course might be a perfectly\ninnocent place. I can quite believe that there may be no harm in a\ndance. All that I say is that there are two questions which every\nChristian professor ought to ask himself about such subjects. One is,\nCan I ask God to bless this thing, and my doing it? And the other is,\nDoes this help or hinder my religion? If we will take these two\nquestions with us as tests of conduct and companionship, I do not think\nthat we shall go far wrong, either in the choice of our companions, or\nin the choice of our surroundings of any kind, or in the choice of our\nrecreations and our occupations. But if we do not, then I am quite sure\nthat we shall go wrong in them all. 'What communion hath light with\ndarkness?' 'What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Come ye\nout from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.'\n\nThe main question is, do I grasp the aim of life with clearness and\ndecision as being to make myself by God's help such a character as God\nhas pleasure in? If I do I shall regulate all these things thereby.\n\nIII. Now there is one last suggestion that I wish to make, and that is\nthe double questioning that we shall have to stand.\n\nThe lords of the Philistines said, 'What do these Hebrews here?' They\nsaw the inconsistency, if David and his men did not. They were sharp to\ndetect it, and David and his band did not rise in their opinion, but\ndecidedly went down, when they saw them marching there, in such an\nunnatural place as 'behind Achish,' and ready to flesh their swords in\nthe blood of their brethren. So let me tell you, you will neither\nrecommend your religion nor yourselves to men of the world, by\ninconsistently trying to identify yourselves with them. There are a\ngreat many professing Christians nowadays whose mouths are full of the\nword 'liberality,' and who seem to try to show how absolutely identical\nwith a godless man's a God-fearing one's life may be made. Do you think\nthat the world respects that type of Christian, or regards his religion\nas the kind of thing to be admired? No; the question that they fling at\nsuch people is the question which David was humiliated by having\npitched at his head--'What do these Hebrews here?' 'Let them go back to\ntheir mountains. This is no place for _them_.' The world respects an\nout-and-out Christian; but neither God nor the world respects an\ninconsistent one.\n\nBut there is another question, and another Questioner--'What doest thou\nhere, Elijah?' God did not ask Elijah the question because he did not\nknow the answer; but because he wished to make Elijah put his mood into\nwords, since then Elijah would understand it a little better, and, when\nhe found the tremendous difficulty of making a decent excuse, would\nbegin to suspect that the conduct that wanted so much glozing was not\nexactly the conduct fit for a prophet. And so let us think that God is\nlooking down upon us, in all our occupation of our free time, and that\nHe is wishing us to put into words what we are about, and why we are\nwhere we are.\n\nWhat do you think you would say if, in some of these moments of\nunnecessary intermingling with questionable things and doubtful people,\nyou were brought suddenly to this, that you had to formulate into some\nkind of plausibility your reason for being there? I am afraid it would\nbe a very lame and ragged set of reasons that many of us would have to\ngive. Well! better that we should now have to answer the question 'What\ndoest thou here?' than that we should have to fail in answering the\nfuture question, after we have done with the world: 'What didst thou\nthere?'\n\nDear brethren, let us cleave to Christ, and that will separate us from\nthe world. If we cleave to the world, that will separate us from\nChrist. I do not insist on details of conduct, but I do beseech you,\nprofessing Christians, to recognise that you are set in the world in\norder to grow like your Master, and that their tendency to help you to\nthat likeness is the one test of all occupations, recreations, and\ncompanionships, by which we may know whether we are in or out of the\nplace that pleases Him. And if we are in it, that blessed hope which is\nheld forth in the parable to which I have already referred, will come\nfull of sweetness and of strength to us, that, yonder, men will be\ngrouped according to their moral and religious character; that the\ntares will be taken away from the wheat, and, that as Christ says,\n'Then shall the righteous flame as the sun in their heavenly Father's\nKingdom.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECRET OF COURAGE\n\n'But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.'--1 Samuel xxx. 6.\n\n\nDavid was at perhaps the very lowest ebb of his fortunes. He had long\nbeen a wandering outlaw, and had finally been driven, by Saul's\npersistent hostility, to take refuge in the Philistines' country. He\nhad gathered around himself a band of desperate men, and was living\nvery much like a freebooter. He had found refuge in a little city of\nthe Philistines, far down in the South, from which he and his men had\nmarched as a contingent in the Philistine army, which was preparing an\nattack upon Saul. But, naturally, the Philistine soldiers doubted their\nally, and he was obliged to take himself and his troops back again to\ntheir temporary home.\n\nWhen he came there it was a heap of smoking ruins. Everything was gone;\nproperty, cattle, wives, children--and all was desolation. His\nturbulent followers rose against him, a mutiny broke out--a dangerous\nthing amongst such a crew--and they were ready to stone him. And at\nthat moment what did he do? Nothing. Was he cast down? No. Was he\nagitated? No. 'But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.'\n\nNow the first thing I notice is\n\nI. The grand assurance which this man gripped fast at such a time.\n\nIt is not by accident, nor is it a mere piece of tautology, that we\nread 'the Lord _his_ God.' For, if you will remember, the very keynote\nof the psalms which are ascribed to David is just that expression, 'My\nGod,' 'My God.' So far as the very fragmentary records of Jewish\nliterature go, it would appear as if David was the very first of all\nthe ancient singers to grapple that thought that he stood in a\npersonal, individual relation to God, and God to him. And so it was\n_his_ God that he laid hold of at that dark hour.\n\nNow I am not putting too much into a little word when I insist upon it\nthat the very essence and nerve of what strengthened David, at that\nsupreme moment of desolation, was the conviction that welled up in his\nheart that, in spite of it all, he had a grip of God's hand as his very\nown, and God had hold of him. Just think of the difference between the\nattitude of mind and heart expressed in the names that were more\nfamiliar to the Israelitish people, and this name for Jehovah. 'The God\nof Israel'--that is wide, general; and a man might use it and yet fail\nto feel that it implied that each individual of the community stood by\nhimself in a personal relation to God. But David penetrated through the\nbroad, general thought, and got into the heart of the matter. It was\nnot enough for him, in his time of need, to stay himself upon a vague\nuniversal goodness, but he had to clasp to his burdened heart the\nindividualising thought, 'the God of Israel is _my_ God.'\n\nThink, too, of the contrast of the thoughts and emotions suggested by\n'My God,' and by 'the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.'\nGreat as that name is, it carries the mind away back into the past, and\nspeaks of a historical relation in former days, which may or may not\ncontinue in all its tenderness and sweetness and power into the prosaic\npresent. But when a man feels, not only 'the God of Jacob is our\nRefuge,' but, 'the God of Jacob is my God,' then the whole thing\nflashes up into new power. 'My sun'--will one man claim property in\nthat great luminary that pours its light down on the whole world? Yes.\n\n          'The sun whose beams most glorious are,\n           Disdaineth no beholder,'\n\nas the old song has it. Each man's eye receives the straight impact of\nits universal beams. It is my sun, though it be the light that lightens\nall men that come into the world. 'My atmosphere'--will one man claim\nthe free, unappropriated winds of heaven as his? Yes, for they will\npour into his lungs; and yet his brother will be none the poorer.\n\nI would not go the length of saying that the living realisation, in\nheart and mind, of this personal possession of God is the difference\nbetween a traditional and vague profession of religion and a vital\npossession of religion, but if it is not the difference, it goes a long\nway towards explaining the difference. The man who contents himself\nwith the generality of a Gospel for the world, and who can say no more\nthan that Jesus Christ died for all, has yet to learn the most intimate\nsweetness, and the most quickening and transforming power, of that\nGospel, and he only learns it when he says, 'Who loved _me_, and gave\nHimself for _me_.'\n\nSo do not let us be content with saying, 'the God of Israel,' and its\nmany thousands, or 'the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob,'\nwho filled the past with His lustre, but let us bring the general good\ninto our own houses, as men might draw the waters of Niagara into their\nhomes through pipes, and let us cry: 'My Lord and my God!' 'David\nencouraged himself in the Lord his God.'\n\nII. Now note, secondly, the sufficiency of this one conviction and\nassurance.\n\nHere is one of the many eloquent 'buts' of the Bible. On the one hand\nis piled up a black heap of calamities, loss, treachery and peril; and\nopposed to them is only that one clause: 'But David encouraged himself\nin the Lord his God.' There was only one possession in all the world,\nexcept his body and the clothes that he stood in, that he could call\nhis own at that moment. Everything else was gone; his property was\ncarried off by raiders, his home was smouldering embers. But the\nAmalekites had not stolen God from him. Though he could no longer say,\n'My house, my city, my possessions,' he could say, 'My God.' Whatever\nelse we lose, as long as we have Him we are rich; and whatever else we\npossess, we are poor as long as we have not Him. God is enough;\nwhatever else may go. The Lord his God was the sufficient portion for\nthis man when he stood a homeless pauper. He had lost everything that\nhis heart clung to; wives, children; Abigail and Abinoam were captives\nin the arms of some Amalekites; his house was left to him desolate; his\nheart was bleeding. 'But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God'\nand the bleeding heart was stanched, and the yearning for some one to\nlove and be loved by was satisfied, when he turned himself from the\ndesolation of earth to the riches in the heavens. He was standing on\nthe edge of possible death, for his followers were ready to stone him.\nHe had come through many perils in the past, but he had never been\nnearer a fatal end than he was at that moment. But the thought of the\nundying Friend lifted him buoyantly above the dread of death, and he\ncould look with an unwinking eye right into the fleshless eye-sockets\nof the skeleton, and say, 'I fear no evil, for Thou art with me.'\n\nSo for poverty, loss, the blasting of earthly hopes, the crushing of\nearthly affections, the extremity of danger, and the utmost threatening\nof death, here is the sufficient remedy--that one mighty assurance:\n'The Lord is my God.' For if He is 'the strength of my heart,' He will\nbe  my portion for ever.' He is not poor who has God for his, nor does\nhe wander with a hungry heart who can rest his heart on God's; nor need\nhe fear death who possesses God, and in Him eternal life.\n\nSo, brethren, in all our changing circumstances, there is more than\nenough for us in that sweet, simple, strong thought. The end of sorrow\n(that is to say, the purpose thereof) is to breed in us the conviction\nthat God is ours, to drive us to Him by lack of all beside; and the end\nof sorrow (that is to say, the termination thereof) is the kindling in\nour hearts of the light of that blessed assurance, for with Him we\nshall fear no evil.  You never know the good of the breakwater until\nthe storm is rolling the waves against its outer side. Light a little\ncandle in a room, and you will not see the lightning when it flashes\noutside, however stormy the sky, and seamed with the fiery darts. If we\nhave God in our hearts, we have enough for courage and for strength.\n\nI need not remind you, I suppose, how this darkest moment of David's\nfortunes was the moment at which the darkness broke. Three days after\nthis _emeute_ of his turbulent followers, there came a fugitive into\nthe camp with news that Saul was dead and David was king. So it was not\nin vain that he had 'strengthened himself in the Lord his God.' Our\n'light affliction which is but for a moment' leads on to a\nmanifestation of the true power of God our Friend, and to the breaking\nof the day.\n\nIII. And now the last thing to be noted is the effort by which this\nassurance is attained and sustained.\n\nThe words of the original convey even more forcibly than those of our\ntranslation the thought of David's own action in securing him the hold\nof God as his. He 'strengthened _himself_ in the Lord his God.' The\nHebrew conveys the notion of effort, persistent and continuous; and it\ntells us this, that when things are as black as they were round David\nat that hour--it is not a matter of course, even for a good man, that\nthere shall well up in his heart this tranquillising and victorious\nconviction; but he has to set himself to reach and to keep it. God will\ngive it, but He will not give it unless the man strains after it. David\n'strengthened himself in the Lord,' and if he had not doggedly set\nabout resisting the pressure of circumstances, and flinging himself as\nit were, by an effort, into the arms of God, circumstances would have\nbeen too strong for him, and despair would have shrouded his soul. In\nthe darkest moment it is possible for a man to surround himself with\nGod's light, but even in the brightest it is not possible to do so\nunless he makes a serious effort.\n\nThat effort must consist mainly in two things. One is that we shall\nhonestly try to occupy our minds, as well as our hearts, with the truth\nwhich certifies to us that God is, in very deed, ours. If we never\nthink, or think languidly and rarely, about what God has revealed to\nus, by the word and life and death and intercession of Jesus Christ,\nconcerning Himself, His heart of love towards us, and His relations to\nus, then we shall not have, either in the time of disaster or of joy,\nthe blessed sense that He is indeed ours. If a man will not think about\nChristian truth he will not have the blessedness of Christian\npossession of God. There is no mystery about the road to the sweetness\nand holiness and power that may belong to a Christian. The only way to\nwin them is to be occupied, far more than most of us are, with the\nplain truths of God's revelation in Jesus Christ. If you never think\nabout them they cannot affect you, and they will not make you sure that\nGod is yours.\n\nBut we cannot occupy ourselves with these truths unless we have a\ndistinct and resolute purpose running through our lives, of averting\nour eyes from the things that might make us lose sight of them and of\nHim. David had his choice. He could either, as a great many of us do,\nstand there and look, and look, and look, and see nothing but his\ndisasters, or he could look past them; and see beyond them God. Peter\nhad his choice whether he would look at the water, or whether he would\nlook at Jesus Christ. He chose to look at the water; 'and when he saw\nthe wind boisterous he began to sink'--of course, and when he looked at\nChrist and cried: 'Lord, save me!' he was held up--equally of course.\nMake the effort not to let the sorrowful things, or the difficult\nthings, or the fearful things, or the joyous things, in your life,\nabsorb you, but turn away, and, as the writer of the Epistle to the\nHebrews says, in another connection, 'look off unto Jesus, the Author\nand Finisher of faith.' David had to put constraint upon himself, to\nadmit any other thoughts into his mind than those that were pressed\ninto it by the facts before his eyes; but he put on the constraint, and\nso he was encouraged because he encouraged himself.\n\nThere is another thing which we have to make an effort to do, if we\nwould have the blessedness of this conviction filling and flooding our\nhearts. For the possession is reciprocal; we say, 'My God,' and He\nsays, 'My people.' Unless we yield ourselves to Him and say, 'I am\nThine,' we shall never be able to say, 'Thou art mine.' We must\nrecognise His possession of us; we must yield ourselves; we must obey;\nwe must elect Him as our chief good, we must feel that we are not our\nown, but bought with a price. And then when we look up into the heavens\nthus submissive, thus obedient, thus owning His authority and His\nrights, as well as claiming His love and His tenderness, and cry: 'My\nFather,' He will bend down and whisper into our hearts: 'Thou art My\nbeloved son.' Then we shall be 'strong, and of a good courage,' however\nweak and timid, and we shall be rich, though, like David, we have lost\nall things.\n\n\n\n\nAT THE FRONT OR THE BASE\n\n'As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be\nthat tarrieth by the stuff.'--1 Samuel xxx. 24.\n\n\nDavid's city of Ziklag had been captured by the Amalekites, while he\nand all his men who could carry arms were absent, serving in the army\nof Achish, the Philistine king of Gath. On their return they found\nruin, their homes harried, their wives, children, and property carried\noff. Wearied already with their long march, they set off at once in\npursuit of the spoilers, who had had a long start of them. When they\nreached the brook Besor, two hundred of them were too weary and\nfootsore to ford it, and so had to be left behind. But these were not\nuseless, for the heavy baggage was left in their charge, and the other\nfour hundred were thus enabled to march more lightly, and therefore\nmore swiftly. They picked up a sick slave, whom his Amalekite master\nhad heartlessly abandoned to die on the 'veldt.' He was almost dead, so\nthey fed him, and when he was able to answer, questioned him. He\nundertook to guide David and his band, and thus, as twilight was\nbeginning to fall and the Amalekites were 'spread abroad over all the\nground, eating and drinking and feasting because of all the great spoil\nthat they had taken.' the four hundred burst on them, routed them\nutterly, and won back all their goods and much more.\n\nThen came a quarrel. The four hundred who had gone to the fight\ninsisted that the booty was theirs, and that the two hundred who had\nhad no hand in winning it should have no share in the distribution. But\nDavid over-ruled this and laid down a principle of distribution which\nwas adopted as the standing law of Israel--that the soldiers who were\nactually in the fight and those who stayed behind guarding the baggage,\nlooking after 'the base of operations,' should share alike. It was fair\nthat they should do so, for the two hundred would willingly have been\nin the thick of battle, and, further, though they did not fight, they\nhelped the fighters, and by guarding the heavy baggage contributed to\nthe victory as really as if they had been in the fray and come out of\nit with swords dripping with Amalekite blood.\n\nI. God's battle requires two forms of service.\n\nIn David's raid, as in every campaign, some of the available strength\nhas to be taken to guard the camp, the place where the supplies are,\nthe base of operations, and pickets and detachments have to be left\nbehind all the way, to keep open the communication. The sword is not\nmore needful than the long train of baggage carts, and the forwarding\nof supplies to the front is as indispensable to the conduct of the war\nas the headlong charge.\n\nIn every great work there is the same distinction of parts and\nfunctions, all co-operating to produce the effect which seems to be\nentirely due to that cause which happens to come last in the series.\nOrganisation of labour associates many hands in the different stages of\nthe one result. There are very few things in this world which are the\nproduct of one simple cause alone. You cannot grow a grain of corn\nwithout the seed with its vital germ, the soil with its mysterious\ninfluences, the sunshine and the rain, the sower's hand and basket, the\nplougher's plough, and all these, except the blessed sunshine, are the\nresults of a series of other causes which lie forgotten, but are really\nrepresented in the issue. If one of them were struck out, all the rest\nwould be ineffectual. In a great machine all its parts are equally\nnecessary, and a defect in a cog on a wheel would be as fatal as a flaw\nin the cylinder or a crack in the mighty shaft. What would become of a\nship if the pintle that the rudder works on were away? The effect of a\nwhole orchestra may depend on the coming in of the flute at the right\nplace.\n\nSo in the work which God has given to the Church to do, there are the\ntwo forms of service, the direct and the indirect. There are the\nfighters and the guards of the baggage. And these two are equally\nnecessary. That without which a great work could not have been done is\ngreat. When Luther came out from the Diet of Worms, and a knight\nclapped him on the shoulder, and said, 'Well done! little monk,' he had\na share in the memorable deed of that day. The man who gave Luther a\nflagon of beer when his lips were dry with speaking there before\nemperor and cardinals, was included in the promise to the giver 'of a\ncup of cold water in the name of a disciple.'\n\nWe have brethren in Christ who have gone to the front, hazarding their\nlives on the high places of the field. Their hands will droop if they\ndo not feel that a chain of sympathy stretches between them and us, for\nthey in their solitude need all the strength which the confidence of a\nmultitude at home feeling with them can give. They are powerfully\ninfluenced by the tone of feeling among us. When devotion languishes\nand faith droops here, these will generally pass through the same\nphases among them. When we are strong and bold, their hearts will be\nquickened by the pulsations of ours, and their courage heightened by\nthoughts of those from whom they come. Our disorders, our heresies, our\nstruggles are all reproduced on the mission field. An epidemic here\ntravels thither before long, and the spiritual condition of the Church\nat home is one of the most powerful means of determining that of the\nchurches abroad. A blight among our vines soon shows itself in the\nlittle gardens just reclaimed from the waste.\n\nThe fighters need material helps and appliances for their work. The\ndays in which the law for apostles and missionaries was, 'Go forth\nwithout purse or scrip,' ended before Jesus said, 'Go ye into all the\nworld.' That condition was solemnly revoked by our Lord Himself, when\nHe said, 'When I sent you forth without purse and scrip and shoes,\nlacked ye anything? But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and\nlikewise his scrip.' The fighters' material wants are now to be met by\nChrist's administration of natural means, even as before they had been\nmet by Christ's administration of supernatural ones. His messengers\ncannot live, do their work, or extend the kingdom, but by the help of\nmaterial appliances. Those who 'abide by the stuff' are to organise the\ncommissariat department, and to see that those who are far ahead, among\nthe ranks of the foe, do not want for either food or weapons, and are\nnot left isolated, hemmed in by the enemy, and languishing because they\nfeel that they are forgotten by those who 'live at home at ease.'\n\nThere has always been that division of labour. Our Lord Himself 'had\nneed of' many humble instruments as helpers. There were the woman who\nministered to His wants, the faithful few whose presence and sympathy\nwere joyful to Him even on the Mount of Transfiguration, and longed for\neven in the awful solitude of the agony in Gethsemane, the sisters of\nBethany whose humble home was His last shelter before the Cross, the\nowner of the Upper Room, the sad women who prepared sweet spices, the\nruler who consecrated his new sepulchre in a garden by His body. Even\nHe, treading the wine-press alone, needed helpers in the background,\nand, while conquering for us in the awful duel with our enemy, had\nhumble friends who 'tarried by the stuff.' Similarly Paul had his\nhelpers, on whose names he lovingly lingers and has made immortal, a\n'Gaius, mine host, and of the whole church,' an 'Epaphroditus, my\nfellow soldier, who ministered to my wants,' and therefore was a\nsoldier, though he did not fight, an 'Onesiphorus, who oft refreshed\nme, and was not ashamed of my chain.'\n\nBut let us remember that these two forms of service which are equally\nnecessary are equally binding on us all, in the measure of our\nopportunity and capacity. Our performing the indirect is no excuse for\nour neglecting the direct. The conversion of the world is _our_\nbusiness and not to be handed over to any society or missionary. No\nChristian can be only and always a non-combatant, without sin and loss.\nHe is bound to take some share in the actual conflict in one or other\nof its many parts.\n\nII. Service may be different in kind and one in essence.\n\nThe determining element in our actions is their motive. Not what we\nwork in, but what we work for, gives the principle of classification.\nNot the spots on the skin or the colour of the feathers, but the bony\nskeleton, is the basis of zoological classification. It is not the size\nor binding of a book, be it quarto or folio or octavo, be it in leather\nor cloth or paper covers, but its subject, that settles its place in a\ncatalogue. The Christian motives of love to Christ, self-sacrifice,\ndevotion, love to men, make all deeds the same which have these in them\nin like strength. It matters not whether the copy of a great picture be\nin oils or an engraving or a photograph, so long as it _is_ a copy. The\nsmallest piece of indirect Christian service may be thus elevated to\nthe same plane as the greatest.\n\n'Mere money-giving' may have in it all these qualities, as truly and in\nas great a degree, as the deeds of Apostles and martyrs. Remember how\nPeter puts in one category these two forms of service, as equally\nflowing from 'the manifold grace of God,' and equally to be exercised\nas 'good stewards' thereof--'If any man speaketh, speaking as it were\nthe oracles of God; if any man ministereth, ministering as of the\nstrength which God supplieth.' Remember how Paul classes all varieties\nof service as equally 'gifts according to the grace given to us,' and\nto be exercised in the same spirit whatever are the difference in their\nforms: 'or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that\nteacheth, to his teaching: he that giveth, let him do it with\nliberality ... he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.'\n\nLet us learn, then, how we ought to help Christian fighters for\nChrist--as associating ourselves with them and their work by sympathy\nand sharing in their spirit and motives.\n\nLet us learn how loftily we ought to think of the possible sacredness\nof the most secular forms of help, and to try thus to consecrate our\nindirect service.\n\nIII. All work done from the same motive will receive the same reward.\n\n\nNone need be startled by the thought that Christian work is rewarded.\nEssentially, it is not deeds but character that is rewarded. The\n'reward' is the possession of God of which such a character is capable,\nand the consequent blessedness which fills such a soul, and cannot but\nfill it, and which can be enjoyed by no other. The faithful servant\nenters into the joy of the Lord; the faithful administrator of his\nLord's talents enters on the rule over cities in number the same as the\ntalents. Capacity for service is the result of stewardship rightly\nadministered here, and new opportunities yonder are sure to be provided\nfor new capacities.\n\nGod's judgment takes little note of that which men's judgment all but\nexclusively notes. The conspicuousness or success of a man's deeds is\nnothing to Him. Differences of power are of no account. It is\n_faithfulness_ that is required in a steward, and it is all the same\nwhether the stewardship is of millions or of farthings. The saints\nnearest the glory in heaven will not always be the men whose words or\ndeeds fill the pages of Church history and resound through the ages.\nThere will be astounding new principles of nearness and comparative\nremoteness then.\n\nChrist was repeating what David made a law in Israel, when He said: 'He\nthat receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a\nprophet's reward.' Therein He recognises the identity in spiritual\nstature and motive for service, of the prophet and of his dumb helper,\nand assures us that those who, in widely different ways but under the\nguidance of the same spirit and motives, have contributed their\nrespective shares to the one triumphant result shall be associated and\nequalised in the immortal reward.\n\nSo remember that what is necessary in our indirect work, if it is to be\nthus honoured, is that it should have our devotion, and our love to\nJesus and to men, throbbing in it, and that it should be accompanied by\ndirect work, in so far as we have opportunities for that. Moneygiving\nmay be made sacred, and by it, exercised in the right spirit, we may\n'lay up in store for ourselves a good foundation' and may 'lay hold\nupon eternal life.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE END OF SELF-WILL\n\n'Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled\nfrom before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. 2.\nAnd the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the\nPhilistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchi-shua, Saul's sons.\n3. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and\nhe was sore wounded of the archers. 4. Then said Saul unto his\narmourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest\nthese uncircumsised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his\narmourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a\nsword, and fell upon it 5. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was\ndead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. 6. So Saul\ndied, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that\nsame day together. 7. And when the men of Israel that were on the other\nside of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw\nthat the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they\nforsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in\nthem. 8. And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came\nto strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in\nmount Gilboa. 9. And they out off his head, and stripped off his\narmour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to\npublish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. 10. And\nthey put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his\nbody to the wall of Beth-shan. 11. And when the inhabitants of\nJabesh-gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; 12.\nAll the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of\nSaul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to\nJabesh, and burnt them there. 19. And they took their bones, and buried\nthem under a tree at Jabesh. and fasted seven days.'--1 Samuel xxxi.\n1-13.\n\n\nThe story of Saul's tragic last days is broken in two by the account,\nin chapters xxix. and xxx., of David's fortunate dismissal from the\ninvading army, and his exploits against Amalek. The contrast between\nthe two lives, so closely intertwined and powerful for good and evil on\neach other, reaches its climax at the end of Saul's. While the one sets\nin dark thunderclouds, the other is bright with victory. While the fall\nof Saul lays all northern Israel bleeding at the feet of the enemy,\nDavid is sending the spoils of his conquest to the elders of Judah.\nSaul's headless and dishonoured body hangs rotting in the sun on the\nwalk of Bethshan, while David sits a conqueror in Ziklag. The\nintroduction of the brightness of the two preceding chapters is\nintended to heighten the darkness that broods over this one, and to\ndeepen the stern teaching of that terrible death. Defeat, desolation,\ndespair, attend to his self-dug grave the unhappy king, whose end\nteaches us all what comes of self-willed resistance to the law and the\nSpirit of God. Everything else is subordinated in the narrative to the\naccount of his death. Next to nothing is said about the battle, the\nvery site of which is left obscure. We cannot tell whether it was\nfought down in the plain by the fountain at Jezreel, where Israel was\nencamped, according to 1 Samuel xxix. 1, or whether both sides\nmanoeuvred and changed their ground, and the decisive struggle was on\nthe slope of Gilboa. In any case, the site was almost identical with\nthat of Gideon's victory, but there was no Gideon in command on that\ndark day. The language of verse 1 seems to imply that the battle was\nover and the rout begun before the Israelites reached Gilboa. If so, we\nhave to conceive of a short, hopeless struggle on the plain, and then a\nrush to the hills for safety, in which Saul and his sons and bodyguard\nwere borne along, but held together, closely followed by the 'red\npursuing spear' of the conquerors, fierce with ancestral hate and the\nmemories of defeat. There, on the hillside, stands the towering form of\nSaul with a little ring of his children and retainers round him, the\nwords he had heard last night in the sorceress' tent unnerving his arm,\nand many a past crime rising before him, and whispering in his ear,\n\n               'In the battle think on me,\n                And fall thy edgeless sword; despair and die.'\n\nThere seems to have been a close encounter with some of the pursuers,\nand a hand-to-hand fight, in which Jonathan and his two brothers fell,\nand the rest of the bodyguard were slain or scattered. The prophecy of\nthat mantle-swathed shape last night was in part fulfilled--'To-morrow\nshalt thou and thy sons be with me.' They lay stark at his feet, and he\nknew that he would soon join them. The last heart that loved him had\nceased to beat in Jonathan's noble breast, and his own crimes had slain\nhis sons. Who can paint the storm of contending passions in that lonely\nblack soul? or were they all frozen into the numbness of despair?\n\nBut whatever else was in his soul, repentance was not there. He may\nhave been seared by remorse, but he was not softened by penitence, and\nwas fierce and proud in despair as he had been in prosperity. The\nRevised Version substitutes 'overtook' for 'hit' in verse 3; but Saul's\nfear 'lest these uncircumcised come' is against that rendering, and the\nfact that the enemy did not know of his death till next day (v. 8) is a\ndifficulty in the way of accepting it. The word is literally 'found'\nand possibly means that the archers recognised him, and were making for\nhim, though, as would appear, from some cause they missed him in the\nconfusion. The other change in the Revised Version, that of 'greatly\ndistressed' for 'sore wounded' fits the context; and if it be adopted,\nwe have the picture of the unwounded but desperate man, once brave, but\nnow stricken with a panic which opens his lips for his only word. In\ngrim silence he had met the loss of battle, sons, and kingdom; but the\nproud sense of personal dignity is strong to the end, and he fiercely\nissues his last command, and embraces death to escape insult. The\nhaughty spirit was unchanged, crushed but the same, unsoftened, and\ntherefore roused to madder defiance of God and man. What an awful last\nsaying for 'the anointed of Jehovah,' and how the overweening self-will\nand vehemence and passionate pride of his whole life are gathered up in\nit!\n\nHis last command is disobeyed by the trembling armour-bearer, whose\nvery awe makes him disobedient, Did Saul, at that last moment, send a\nthought to an armour-bearer whom he had had in happier days, and who\nwas to inherit his lost kingdom? The enemy are coming nearer. No time\nis to be lost if he would escape the savage mutilations and torments\nwhich ancient warfare made the portion of captive kings. Not another\nword passes his lips, but, in the same grim silence, he fixes his sword\nupright in the ground, and flings himself on its point, and dies. All\nthrough his reign no hand had injured him but his own; and, as he\nlived, so he died, his own undoer and his own murderer. Suicide, the\nrefuge of defeated monarchs and praised by heathen moralists as heroic,\nwas rare in Israel. Saul, Ahithophel, and Judas are the instances of\nit. The most rudimentary recognition of the truths taught by the Old\nTestament would prevent it. If Saul had had any faith in God, any\nsubmission, any repentance, he could not have finished a life of\nrebellion by a self-inflicted death, which was itself the very\ndesperation of rebellion. We have not to pronounce on his fate, but his\nact was a sin of the darkest dye.\n\nYet note how the narrative abstains from all comment. It neither\ncondemns nor pities, though a profound sense of the tragic eclipse is\naudible in that summing up in verse 6: 'So Saul died, and his three\nsons, and his armour-bearer, and all his men (that is, immediate\nfollowers or escort), that same day together.' And there they all lay,\nbloody corpses in the fellowship of death, on the slopes of Gilboa.\nWhere Scripture Is silent, it is not our part to speak; but we can\nscarcely turn from that mighty form, prone by his own rash act, without\nseeking to learn the lesson of his life and fate. Saul had many noble\nand lovable qualities, such as bravery, promptitude, in his earlier\ndays modesty and generosity. All these he had by nature, but there is\nno sign that he ever sought to cultivate his moral character, or to win\nany grace that did not come naturally to him; nor is there any reason\nto suppose that religion had ever any strong hold on him. His whole\ncharacter may be summed up in Samuel's words in announcing his\nrejection: 'Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is\nas idolatry.' Rebellion persisted in, in spite of all remonstrances and\nchecks, till it becomes master of the whole man, is the keynote of his\nlater years. Before that baleful influence, as before some hot poison\nwind, all the flowers of good dispositions were burned up, and the bad\nstimulated to growth. His early virtues disappeared, and passed into\ntheir opposites. Modesty became arrogance, and a long course of\nindulgence in self-will developed cruelty, gloomy suspicion, and\npassionate anger, and left him the victim and slave of his own\ncauseless hate. He who rebels against God mars his own character. The\nmiserable later years of Saul, haunted and hunted as by a demon by his\nown indulged and swollen rebellion and unsleeping suspicion, are an\nexample of the sorrows that ever dog sin; and, as he lies there on\nGilboa, the terrible saying recurs to our memory: 'He that being often\nreproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that\nwithout remedy.'\n\nThe remainder of the chapter is occupied with three points, bearing on\nthe solemn tragedy just recorded. First, we have the disastrous effects\nof it in the complete loss of the northern territories. 'The men ...\nthat were on the other side of the valley' are the tribes to the north\nof the great plain; and 'they that were on the other side Jordan' are\nprobably those on the east bank. So thorough was the defeat, especially\nas Saul and the royal house were slain, that they abandoned their\nhomes, and the Philistines took possession. 'One sinner destroyeth much\ngood.' When Israel's king was madly rebellious, Israel was smitten, and\nits inheritance diminished.\n\nNext we have the insults to the headless corpses. The Philistines did\nnot know till the following day how complete was their victory. The\naccount in 1 Chronicles x. adds that Saul's head was sent to the temple\nof Dagon, probably as a kind of effacing of the shame wrought there by\nthe presence of the ark. The false gods had triumphed, as their\nworshippers thought, and Saul's death was Jehovah's defeat. That\napparent victory of the idols and the mocking exultation over the\nbloody trophy and dinted armour are, to the historian, not the least\nbitter consequences of the battle.\n\nThe last point is the brave midnight march of the men of Jabesh from\ntheir home on the eastern uplands beyond Jordan, across the river and\nup to Bethshan, perched on its lofty cliff, and overlooking the valley\nof the Jordan. It was a requital of Saul's deed in his early bright\ndays, when, with his hastily raised levies, he scattered the Ammonites.\nIt is one gleam of light amid the stormy sunset. There were men ready\nto hazard their lives even then, because of the noblest of Saul's acts,\nwhich no tyrannical arbitrariness or fierceness of later days had\nblotted out. So the little band of grateful heroes carried back their\nghastly load to Jabesh, and burned the mutilated bodies there,\nemploying an unfamiliar mode, as we may suppose, by reason of their\nmutilation and decomposition, and then reverently gathering the white\nbones from the pyre, and laying them below the well-known tamarisk.\nSaul's one good deed as king sowed seeds of gratitude which flourished\nagain, when the opportunity came. His many evil ones sowed evil seed\nwhich bore fatal fruit; and both were seen in his end.\n\n\n\n\nEXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE\n\nALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D.\n\n\nSECOND SAMUEL AND THE BOOKS OF KINGS TO SECOND KINGS VII\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL\n\nTHE BRIGHT DAWN OF A REIGN (2 Samuel ii. 1-11) ONE FOLD AND ONE\nSHEPHERD (2 Samuel v. 1-12) DEATH AND LIFE FROM THE ARK (2 Samuel vi.\n1-12) THE ARK IN THE HOUSE OF OBED-EDOM (2 Samuel vi. 11) THE PROMISED\nKING AND TEMPLE-BUILDER (2 Samuel vii. 4-16) DAVID'S GRATITUDE (2\nSamuel vii. 18-29) DAVID AND JONATHAN'S SON (2 Samuel ix. 1-13) 'MORE\nTHAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM' (2 Samuel x. 8-19) THOU ART THE MAN (2\nSamuel xii. 5-7) DAVID AND NATHAN (2 Samuel xii. 13) GOD'S BANISHED\nONES (2 Samuel xiv. 14) PARDONED SIN PUNISHED (2 Samuel xv. 1-12) A\nLOYAL VOW (2 Samuel xv. 15) ITTAI OF GATH (2 Samuel xv. 21) THE WAIL OF\nA BROKEN HEART (2 Samuel xviii. 18-33) BARZILLAI (2 Samuel xix. 34-37)\nDAVID'S HYMN OF VICTORY (2 Samuel xxii. 40-51) THE DYING KING'S LAST\nVISION AND PSALM (2 Samuel xxiii. 1-7) THE ROYAL JUBILEE (2 Samuel\nxxiii. 3, 4) A LIBATION TO JEHOVAH (2 Samuel xxiii. 15-17)\n\n\nTHE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS\n\nDAVID APPOINTING SOLOMON (1 KINGS i. 28-39) A YOUNG MAN'S WISE CHOICE\nOF WISDOM (1 Kings iii. 5-15) THE GREAT GAIN OF GODLINESS (1 Kings iv.\n25-34) GREAT PREPARATIONS FOR A GREAT WORK (1 Kings v. 1-12) BUILDING\nIN SILENCE (1 Kings vi. 7) THE KING 'BLESSING' HIS PEOPLE (1 KINGS\nviii. 51-63) 'THE MATTER OF A DAY IN ITS DAY' (1 Kings viii. 59)\nPROMISES AND THREATENINGS (1 Kings ix. 1-9) A ROYAL SEEKER AFTER WISDOM\n(1 Kings x. 1-13) THE FALL OF SOLOMON (1 Kings xi. 4-13) THE NEW\nGARMENT RENT (1 Kings xi. 26-43) HOW TO SPLIT A KINGDOM (1 Kings xii.\n1-17) POLITICAL RELIGION (1 Kings xii. 25-33) THE RECORD OF TWO KINGS\n(1 Kings xvi. 23-33) A PROPHET'S STRANGE PROVIDERS (1 Kings xvii. 1-16)\nELIJAH STANDING BEFORE THE LORD (1 Kings xvii. 1) OBADIAH (1 Kings\nxviii. 12) THE TRIAL BY FIRE (1 Kings xviii. 25-39) ELIJAH'S WEAKNESS,\nAND ITS CURE (1 Kings xix. 1-18) PUTTING ON THE ARMOUR (1 Kings xx. 11)\nROYAL MURDERERS (1 Kings xxi. 1-16) AHAB AND ELIJAH (1 Kings xxi. 20)\nUNPOSSESSED POSSESSIONS (1 Kings xxii. 3) AHAB AND MICAIAH (1 Kings\nxxii. 7, 8)\n\n\nTHE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS\n\nTHE CHARIOT OF FIRE (2 Kings ii. 1-11) THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH AND\nTHE ASCENSION OF CHRIST (2 Kings ii. 11; Luke xxiv. 51) ELIJAH'S\nTRANSLATION AND ELISHA'S DEATHBED (2 Kings ii. 12; Kings xiii. II)\nGENTLENESS SUCCEEDING STRENGTH (2 Kings ii. 13-22) WHEN THE OIL FLOWS\n(2 Kings iv. 6) A MIRACLE NEEDING EFFORT (2 Kings iv. 25-37) NAAMAN'S\nWRATH (2 Kings v. 10, 11) NAAMAN'S IMPERFECT FAITH (2 Kings v. 15-27)\nSIGHT AND BLINDNESS (2 Kings vi. 3-18) 'IMPOSSIBLE,--ONLY I SAW IT' (2\nKings vii. 1-16) SILENT CHRISTIANS (2 Kings vii. 9)\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL\n\n\n\n\nTHE BRIGHT DAWN OF A REIGN\n\n'And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the Lord,\nsaying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord\nsaid unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And He\nsaid, Unto Hebron. 2. So David went up thither, and his two wives also,\nAhinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, Nabal's wife, the Carmelite. 3.\nAnd his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his\nhousehold: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. 4. And the men of\nJudah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.\nAnd they told David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they\nthat buried Saul. 5. And David sent messengers unto the men of\nJabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the Lord, that ye\nhave shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have\nburied him. 6. And now the Lord shew kindness and truth unto you: and I\nalso will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing.\n7. Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant: for\nyour master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me\nking over them. 8. But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host,\ntook Ishb-osheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; 9.\nAnd he made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over\nJezreel, and over Ephraim,  and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10.\nIsh-bosheth Saul's son was forty years old when he began to reign over\nIsrael, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.\n11. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah\nwas seven years and six months.'--2 SAMUEL ii. 1-11.\n\n\nThe last stage of David's wanderings had brought him to Ziklag, a\nPhilistine city. There he had been for over a year, during which he had\nwon the regard of Achish, the Philistine king of Gath. He had, at\nAchish's request, accompanied him with his contingent, in the invasion\nof Israel, which crushed Saul's house at Gilboa; but jealousy on the\npart of the other Philistine leaders had obliged his patron to send him\nback to Ziklag. He found it a heap of ashes. An Amalekite raid had\ncarried off all the women and children, and his soldiers were on the\npoint of mutiny. His fortunes seemed desperate, but his courage and\nfaith were high, and he paused not a moment for useless sorrow, but\nswept after the robbers, swooped down on them like a bolt out of the\nblue, and scattered them, recovering the captives and spoil. He went\nback to the ruins which had been Ziklag, and three days after heard of\nSaul's death.\n\nThe lowest point of his fortunes suddenly turned into the highest, for\nnow the path to the throne was open. But the tidings did not move him\nto joy. His first thought was not for himself, but for Saul and\nJonathan, whose old love to him shone out again, glorified by their\ndeaths. Swift vengeance from his hand struck Saul's slayer; the lovely\nelegy on the great king and his son eased his heart. Then he turned to\nfront his new circumstances, and this passage shows how a God-fearing\nman will meet the summons to dignity which is duty. It sets forth\nDavid's conduct in three aspects-his assumption of his kingdom, his\nloving regard for Saul's memory, and his demeanour in the face of\nrebellion.\n\nI. David was now about thirty years old, and had had his character\ntested and matured by his hard experiences. He 'learned in suffering\nwhat he taught in song.' Exile, poverty, and danger are harsh but\neffectual teachers, if accepted by a devout spirit, and fronted with\nbrave effort. The fugitive's cave was a good preparation for the king's\npalace. The throne to which he was called was no soft seat for repose.\nThe Philistine invasion had torn away all the northern territory. He\ntook the helm in a tempest. What was he to do? Ziklag was untenable;\nwhere was he to take his men? He could not stop in the Philistine\nterritory, and he saw no way clear.\n\nGod's servants generally find that their promotion means harder duties\nand multiplied perplexities. 'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.'\nDavid did what we shall do, if we are wise--he asked God to guide him.\nHow that guidance was asked and given we are not here told; but the\nanalogy of 1 Samuel xxx. 7, 8, suggests that it was by the Urim and\nThummim, interpreted by the high-priest. The form of inquiry seems to\nhave been that a course of action, suggested by the inquirer, was\ndecided for him by a 'Yes' or a 'No.' So that there was the exercise of\ncommon-sense and judgment in formulating the proposed course, as well\nas that of God's direction in determining it.\n\nThat is how we still get divine direction. Bring your own wits to bear\non your action, and then do not obstinately stick to what seems right\nto you, but ask God to negative it if it is wrong, and to confirm you\nin it if it is right. If we humbly ask Him, 'Am I to go, or not to go?'\nwe shall not be left unanswered. We note the contrast between David's\nsubmission to God's guidance and Saul's self-willed taking his own way,\nin spite of Samuel. He began right, and, in the main, he continued as\nhe began. Self-will is sin and ruin. Submission is joy, and peace, and\nsuccess. God's kings are viceroys. They have to rule themselves and the\nworld, but they have to be ruled by His will. If they faithfully\ncontinue as His servants, they are masters of all besides.\n\nHebron was a good capital for the new king, for it was a defensible\nposition, in the centre of his own tribe, and sacred by association\nwith the patriarchs. Established there, David was recognised as king by\nhis fellow-tribesmen, and by them only. No doubt, tribal jealousy was\npartly the cause of this limited recognition, but probably the\nconfusion incident to the Philistine victory contributed to it. The\nresult was that, though David's designation by Samuel to the kingship\nwas universally known, and his candidature had been popular, he had\nseven years of precarious sway over this mere fraction of the nation.\nWe read of no impatience on his part. He let events shape themselves,\nor, rather, he let God shape events.\n\nPassiveness is not always indolence. There are two ways of compassing\nour desires. One is that which David himself tells us is the 'young\nlions' way, of struggling and fighting, and that often ends in 'lacking\nand suffering hunger'; the other is that of waiting on the Lord, and\nthat always ends in 'not lacking any good.' If we are sure that God has\npromised us anything, and if He does not seem to have yet opened the\nway to obtaining it, our 'strength is to sit still.' If He has given us\nHebron, we can be patient till He please to give us Jerusalem.\n\nII. Another side of David's character comes beautifully out in his\ntreatment of the men of Jabesh-gilead. That town owed much to Saul (1\nSamuel xi.), and its gratitude lasted, and dared much for him. It was a\nbrave dash that they made across Jordan to carry off Saul's corpse from\nits ignominious exposure; for it both defied the Philistines, and might\nbe construed as hostile to David. But his heart was too true to ancient\nfriendship to do anything but glow with admiring sympathy at that\nexhibition of affectionate remembrance. Reconciling death had swept\naway all memories of Saul's insane jealousy, and he owned a brother in\nevery one who showed kindness to the unfortunate king.\n\nIf the Jabesh-Gileadites are a pattern of long-memoried gratitude,\nDavid's commendation of them is a model of love which survives\ninjuries, and of forgivingness which forgets them. It was as politic as\nit was generous. Nothing could have been better calculated to attach\nSaul's most devoted partisans to him than showing that he honoured\ntheir faithful attachment to Saul, and nothing could have more clearly\ndefined his own position during his wanderings as being no rebel. The\ndictates of true policy and those of devout generosity always coincide.\nIt is ever a blunder to be unforgiving, and mercifulness is always\nexpedient.\n\nBut David did not hide his claim to the allegiance of these true\nhearts. He called on them to transfer their loyalty to himself, and he\nasserted, not his anointing by Samuel, but his recognition by Judah,\nthe premier tribe, as the motive. No doubt the divine appointment is\nimplied, as it was generally known, but Judah's action is put forward\nas showing the beginning of the realisation of the divine designation.\nThe men of Jabesh needed to 'be valiant' if they were to acknowledge\nhim; for it was a far cry to Hebron, and the forces of the rival son of\nSaul were overrunning the northern districts.\n\nWe have to take our sides in the age-long and worldwide warfare between\nGod's King and the pretenders to His throne, and it often wants much\ncourage to do so when surrounded by antagonists. It seems a long way\noff to the true monarch, and Abner's army is a very solid reality, and\nvery near. But it is safest to take the side of the distant, rightful\nking.\n\nIII. David's bearing in the face of opposition and rebellion comes out\nin verses 8-11. Abner, Saul's cousin, who had been in high position\nwhen the stripling from Bethlehem fought Goliath, was not capable of\nthe self-effacement involved in acquiescing in David's accession,\nthough he knew that the Lord had 'sworn to David.' So he set up a 'King\nDo-nothing' in the person of a weak lad, the only survivor of Saul's\nsons. A strange state of mind that, which struggles against a\nrecognised divine appointment!\n\nBut is it only Abner who knew that he was trying to thwart God's will?\nThousands of us are doing the same, and the attempt answers as well as\nit did in his case.\n\nThe puppet king is named Ishbosheth in the lesson, but I Chronicles\nviii. 33 and ix. 39 show that his real name was Esh-baal. The former\nword means 'The man of shame'; the latter, 'The man of Baal.' The\nexistence of Baal as an element in names seems to indicate the\nincompleteness of the emancipation from idolatry in Saul's time, and\nthe change will then indicate the keener monotheistic conscience of\nlater days. Another explanation is that Baal (' Lord') was in these\ncases used as a name for Jehovah, and was 'changed at a later period\nfor the purpose of avoiding what was interpreted then as a compound of\nthe name of the Phoenician deity Baal' (Driver, _Notes on Hebrew Text\nof the Books of Samuel_).\n\nAbner set up his tool in Mahanaim, sacred for its associations with\nJacob, but, no doubt, recommended to him rather by its position on the\neast side of Jordan, safe from the attacks of the victorious\nPhilistines. From that fastness he made raids to recover the territory\nwhich the victory at Gilboa had won for them. First Gilead, on the same\nside of the river as Mahanaim; then the territory of the\n'Ashurites'--probably a scribe's error for 'Asherites,' the most\nnorthern tribe; and then, coming southward, the great plain, with its\ncities, Ephraim and Benjamin,--in fact, all Israel except Judah's\ncountry was reconquered for Saul's house.\n\nThe account of the distribution of territory between the two monarchies\nis broken by the parenthesis in verse 10, which, both by its awkward\ninterposition in the middle of a sentence and by its difficult\nchronological statements, looks like a late addition.\n\nFor seven and a half years David reigned in Hebron, but was rather shut\nup there than ruling thence. The most noteworthy fact is that he,\nsoldier as he was, took no steps to put down Abner's rebellion. He\ndefended himself when attacked, but that was all. The three figures of\nDavid, Ishbosheth, and Abner point lessons. Silent, still, trustful,\nand therefore patient, David shows us how faith in God can lead to\npossessing one's soul in patience till 'the vision' comes. We may have\nto wait for it, but 'it will surely come,' and what is time enough for\nGod should be time enough for us. Saul's son was a poor, weak creature,\nwho would never have thought of resisting David but for the stronger\nwill behind him. To be weak is, in this world full of tempters, to\ndrift into being wicked. We have to learn betimes to say 'No,' and to\nstick to it. Moral weakness attracts tempters as surely as a camel\nfallen by the caravan track draws vultures from every corner of the\nsky. The fierce soldier who fought for his own hand while professing to\nbe moved by loyalty to the dead king, may stand as a type of the\nself-deception with which we gloss over our ugliest selfishness with\nfine names, and for an instance of the madness which leads men to set\nthemselves against God's plans, and therefore to be dashed in pieces,\nas some slim barrier reared across the track of a train would be. To\n'rush against the thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler' does no harm\nto the buckler, but kills the insane assailant.\n\n\n\n\nONE FOLD AND ONE SHEPHERD\n\n'Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake,\nsaying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. 2. Also in time past,\nwhen Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and\nbroughtest in Israel: and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed My\npeople Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. 3. So all the\nelders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a\nleague with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they anointed David\nking over Israel. 4. David was thirty years old when he began to reign;\nand he reigned forty years. 5. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven\nyears and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three\nyears over all Israel and Judah, 6. And the king and his men went to\nJerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land; which spake\nunto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou\nshalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. 7.\nNevertheless, David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city\nof David. 8. And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the\ngutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are\nhated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they\nsaid, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. 9. So David\ndwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built\nround about from Millo and inward. 10. And David went on, and grew\ngreat, and the Lord God of hosts was with him. 11. And Hiram king of\nTyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and\nmasons: and they built David an house. 12. And David perceived that the\nLord had established him king over Israel, and that He had exalted his\nkingdom for His people Israel's sake.'--2 SAMUEL v. 1-12.\n\n\nThe dark day on Gilboa put the Philistines in possession of most of\nSaul's kingdom. Only in the south David held his ground, and Abner had\nto cross Jordan to find a place of security for the remnants of the\nroyal house. The completeness of the Philistine conquest is marked, not\nonly by Abner's flight to Mahanaim, but by the reckoning that David\nreigned for seven and a half years and Ishbosheth two; for these\nperiods must be supposed to have ended very nearly at the same time,\nand thus there would be about five years before the invaders were so\nfar got rid of that Ishbosheth exercised sovereignty over his part of\nIsrael. It is singular that David should have been left unattacked by\nthe Philistines, and it is probably to be explained by the friendly\nrelations which had sprung up between Achish, king of Gath, and him (1\nSamuel xxix.). However that may be, his power was continually\nincreasing during his reign at Hebron over Judah, and at last Abner's\ndeath and the assassination of the poor phantom king, Ishbosheth,\nbrought about the total collapse of opposition.\n\nI. This passage deals first with the submission of the tribes and the\nreunion of the divided kingdom. A comparison of verse I with verse 3\nshows that a formal delegation of elders from all the tribes which had\nheld by Ishbosheth, came to Hebron with their submission. The account\nin I Chronicles is a _verbatim_ copy of this one, with the addition of\na glowing picture of the accompanying feasting and joy. It also places\nmuch emphasis on the sincerity of David's new subjects, which needed\nsome endorsement; for loyalty which has been disloyal as long as it\ndurst, may be suspected. The elders have their mouths full of excellent\nreasons for recognising David's kingship,--he is their brother; he was\ntheir true leader in war, even in Saul's time; he has been appointed by\nGod to be king and commander. Unfortunately, it had taken the elders\nseven and a half years to feel the force of these reasons, and probably\ntheir perceptions would still have remained dull if Abner and\nIshbosheth had lived. But David is both magnanimous and politic, and\nneither bloodshed nor reproaches mar the close of the strife. Seldom\nhas so formidable a civil war been ended with so complete an amnesty.\nObserve the expression that David 'made a league with them... before\nthe Lord.' The Israelitish monarch was no despot, but, in modern\nlanguage, a constitutional king, between whom and his subjects there\nwas a compact, which he as well as they had to observe. In what sense\nwas it made 'before the Lord'? The ark was not at Hebron, though the\npriests were; and the phrase is at once a testimony to the religious\ncharacter of the 'league' and to the consciousness of God's presence,\napart from the symbol of His presence. It points to a higher conception\nthan that which brought the ark to Ebenezer, and dreamed that the ark\nhad brought God to the army. Modern theories of the religious\ndevelopment of the Old Testament ask us to recognise these two\nconceptions as successive. The fact is that they were contemporaneous,\nand that the difference between them is not one of time, but of\nspiritual susceptibility. Who anointed David for this third time?\nApparently the elders, for priests are not mentioned. Samuel had\nanointed him, as token of the divine choice and symbol of the divine\ngifts for his office. The men of Judah had anointed him, and finally\nthe elders did so, in token of the popular confirmation of God's choice.\n\nSo David has reached the throne at last. Schooled by suffering, and in\nthe full maturity of his powers, enriched by the singularly varied\nexperiences of his changeful life, tempered by the swift alternations\nof heat and cold, polished by friction, consolidated by heavy blows, he\nhas been welded into a fitting instrument for God's purposes. Thus does\nHe ever prepare for larger service. Thus does He ever reward patient\ntrust. Through trials to a throne is the law for all noble lives in\nregard to their earthly progress, as well as in regard to the relation\nbetween earth and heaven. But David is not only a pattern instance of\nhow God trains His servants, but he is a prophetic person; and in his\nprogress to his kingdom we have dimly, but really, shadowed the path by\nwhich his Son and Lord attains to His,--a path thickly strewn with\nthorns, and plunging into 'valleys of the shadow of death' compared\nwith which David's darkest hour was sunny. The psalms of the persecuted\nexile have sounding through them a deeper sorrow; for they 'testified\nbeforehand the sufferings of Christ.' 'No cross, no crown,' is the\nlesson of David's earlier life.\n\nII. We have, next, the first victory of the reunited nation. Hebron was\ntoo far south for the capital of the whole kingdom. Jerusalem was more\ncentral, and, from its position, surrounded on three sides with steep\nravines, was a strong military post. David's soldier's eye saw its\nadvantages; and he, no doubt, desired to weld the monarchy together by\nparticipation in danger and triumph. The new glow of national unity\nwould seek some great exploit, and would resent as an insult the\npresence of the Jebusites in their stronghold. The attack on it\nimmediately follows the recognition of David's kingship. It is not\nnecessary here to discuss the difficulties in verses 6-8; but we note\nthat they give, first, the insolent boast of the besieged, then the\ntwofold answer to it in fact and in word, and last, the memorial of the\nvictory in a proverb. Apparently the Jebusites' taunt is best\nunderstood as in the margin of the Revised Version,' Thou shalt not\ncome in hither, but the blind and the lame shall turn thee away,' They\nwere so sure that their ravines made them safe, that they either\nactually manned their walls with blind men and cripples, or jeeringly\nshouted to the enemy across the valley that these would do for a\ngarrison. The other possible meaning of the words as they stand in the\nAuthorised Version would make 'the blind and lame' refer to David's\nmen, and the taunt would mean, 'You will have to weed out your men. It\nwill take sharper eyes and more agile limbs than theirs to clamber up\nhere'; but the former explanation is the more probable. Such braggart\nspeeches were quite in the manner of ancient warfare.\n\nVerse 7 tells what the answer to this mocking shout from the ramparts\nwas, David did the impossible, and took the city. Courage built on\nfaith has a way of making the world's predictions of what it cannot do\nlook rather ridiculous. David wastes no words in answering the taunt;\nbut it stirs him to fierce anger, and nerves him and his men for their\ndesperate charge. The obscure words in verse 8, which he speaks to his\nsoldiers, do not need the supplement given in the Authorised Version.\nThe king's quick eye had seen a practical path for scaling the cliffs\nup some watercourse, where there might be projections or vegetation to\npull oneself up by, or shelter which would hide the assailants from the\ndefenders; and he bids any one who would smite the Jebusites take that\nroad up, and, when he is up, 'smite.' He heartens his men for the\nassault by his description of the enemy. They had talked about 'blind\nand lame'; that is what they really are, or as unable to stand against\nthe Israelites' fierce and sudden burst as if they were: and\nfurthermore, they are' hated of David's soul.' It is a flash of the\nrage of battle which shows us David in a new light. He was a born\ncaptain as well as king; and here he exhibits the general's power to\nsee, as by instinct, the weak point and to hurl his men on it. His\nswift decision and fiery eloquence stir his men's blood like the sound\nof a trumpet. The proverb that rose from the capture is best read as in\nthe Revised Version: 'There are the blind and the lame; he cannot come\ninto the house.' The point of it seems to be that, notwithstanding the\nbragging Jebusites, he did 'come into the house'; and so its use would\nbe to ridicule boasting confidence that was falsified by events, as the\nJebusites' had been. It was worth while to record the boast and its\nend; for they teach the always seasonable lesson of the folly of\nover-confidence in apparently impregnable defences. It is a lesson of\nworldly prudence, but still more of religion. There is always some\n'watercourse' overlooked by us, up which the enemy may make his way.\nOverestimate of our own strength and its companion folly, flippant\nunderestimate of the enemy's power, are, in all worldly affairs, the\nsure precursors of disaster; and in the Christian life the only safe\ntemper is that of the man who 'feareth always,' as knowing his own\nweakness and the strength of his foe, and thereby is driven to that\ntrust which casts out fear.\n\nOn the other hand, David's exploit reads us anew the lesson that to the\nChristian soldier there is nothing impossible, with Jesus Christ for\nour Captain. There are many unconquered fortresses of evil still to be\ncarried by assault, and they look steep and inaccessible enough; but\nthere is some way up, and He will show it us. For our own personal\nstruggle with sin, and for the Church's conflict with social evils,\nthis story is an encouragement and a prophecy.\n\nJerusalem was captured by a reunited nation with its king at its head.\nAs long as our miserable divisions weaken and disgrace us, the Church\nfights at a disadvantage; and the hoary fortresses of the foe will not\nbe won till Judah ceases to vex Ephraim, and Ephraim no more envies\nJudah, but all Christ's servants in one host, with the King known by\neach to be with them, make the assault.\n\nIII. We have, lastly, the growth of the kingdom. I pass over\ntopographical questions, which need not concern us here. The points\nrecorded are David's establishment in the stronghold, his additions to\nthe city, his increasing greatness and its reason in the presence and\nfavour of 'the God of hosts,' the special instance of this in the\nfriendly intercourse with Hiram of Tyre and the employment of Tyrian\nworkmen, and the recognition of the source and the purpose of his\nprosperity by the devout king. We see here the conditions of true\nsuccess,--'The Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.' We see also the\nright use of it,--'David perceived that the Lord had established him\nking.' He was not puffed up into self-importance by his elevation, but\ndevoutly and clearly saw who had set him in his lofty place. And, as he\ntraced his royalty to God, so he recognised that he had received it,\nnot for himself, but as a trust to be used, not in self-indulgence, but\nfor the national good,--'and that He had exalted his kingdom for His\npeople Israel's sake.' Whosoever holds firmly by these two thoughts,\nand lives them, will adorn his position, whatever it may be, and will\nbe one of God's crowned kings, however obscure his lot and small his\nduties. He who lacks them will misuse his gifts and mar his life, and\nthe more splendid his endowments and the higher his position, the more\nconspicuous will be his ruin and the heavier his guilt.\n\n\n\n\nDEATH AND LIFE FROM THE ARK\n\n'Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty\nthousand. 2. And David arose, and went with all the people that were\nwith him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God,\nwhose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth\nbetween the cherubims. 3. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart,\nand brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and\nUzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. 4. And they\nbrought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah,\naccompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. 5. And David\nand all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of\ninstruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on\ntimbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. 6. And when they came to\nNachon's thrashing-floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God,\nand took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 7. And the anger of the\nLord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error;\nand there he died by the ark of God. 8. And David was displeased,\nbecause the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name\nof the place Perez-uzzah to this day. 9. And David was afraid of the\nLord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? 10.\nSo David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of\nDavid: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the\nGittite. 11. And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of\nObed-edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and\nall his household. 12. And it was told king David, saying, The Lord\nhath blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that pertaineth unto him,\nbecause of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God\nfrom the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness.'-2\nSAMUEL vi. 1-12.\n\n\nI. The first section (verses 1-5) describes the joyful reception and\nprocession. The parallel account in 1 Chronicles states that Baalah, or\nBaale, was Kirjath-jearim. Probably the former was the more ancient\nCanaanitish name, and indicates that it had been a Baal sanctuary. If\nso, the presence of the ark there was at once a symbol and an omen,\nshowing Jehovah's conquest over the obscene and bloody gods of the\nland, and forecasting His triumph over all the gods of the nations.\nEvery Baale shall one day be a resting-place of the ark of God. The\nsolemn designation of the ark, as 'called by the Name, the name of the\nLord of Hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubim,' is significant on\nthis, its reappearance after so long eclipse, and, by emphasising its\nawful sanctity, prepares for the incidents which are to follow. The\nmanner of the ark's transport was irregular; for the law strictly\nenjoined its being carried by the Levites by means of bearing-poles\nresting on their shoulders; and the copying of the Philistines' cart,\nthough a new one was made for the purpose, indicates the desuetude into\nwhich the decencies of worship had fallen in seventy years. In 1\nChronicles, the singular words in verse 5, which describe David as\nplaying before the Lord on the very unlikely things for such a\npurpose,' all manner of instruments of fir wood,' become 'with all\ntheir might: even with songs' which seems much more reasonable. A\nslight alteration in three letters and the transposition of two would\nbring our text into conformity with I Chronicles, and the conjectural\nemendation is tempting. Who ever heard of fir-wood musical instruments?\nThe specified ones which follow were certainly not made of it, and\nsongs could scarcely fail to be mentioned.\n\nAt all events, we see the glad procession streaming out of the little\ncity buried among its woods; the cart drawn by meek oxen, and loaded\nwith the unadorned wooden chest, in the midst; the two sons or\ndescendants of its faithful custodian honoured to be the teamsters; the\nking with the harp which had cheered him in many a sad hour of exile;\nand the crowd 'making a joyful noise before the Lord,' which might\nsound discord in our ears, as some lifted up shrill songs, some touched\nstringed instruments, some beat on timbrels, some rattled metal rods\nwith movable rings, and some clashed cymbals together. It was a wild\nscene, in which there was a dangerous resemblance to the frantic\njubilations of idolatrous worship. No doubt there were true hearts in\nthat crowd, and none truer than David's. No doubt we have to beware of\napplying our Christian standards to these early times, and must let a\ngood deal that is sensuous and turbid pass, as, no doubt, God let it\npass. But confession of sin in leaving the ark so long forgotten would\nhave been better than this tumultuous joy; and if there had been more\ntrembling in it, it would not have passed so soon into wild terror.\nStill, on the other hand, that rejoicing crowd does represent, though\nin crude form, the effect which the consciousness of God's presence\nshould ever have. His felt nearness should be, as the Psalmist says,\n'the gladness of my joy.' Much of our modern religion is far too\ngloomy, and it is thought to be a sign of devotion and\nspiritual-mindedness to be sad and of a mortified countenance.\nUnquestionably, Christianity brings men into the continual presence of\nvery solemn truths about themselves and the world which may well sober\nthem, and make what the world calls mirth incongruous.\n\n             'There is no music in the life\n              That rings with idiot laughter solely.'\n\nBut the Man of Sorrows said that His purpose for us was that 'His joy\nmight remain in us, and that our joy might be full'; and we but\nimperfectly apprehend the gospel if we do not feel that its joys 'much\nmore abound' than its sorrows, and that they even burn brightest, like\nthe lights on safety-buoys, when drenched by stormy seas.\n\nII. The second section contains the dread vindication of the sanctity\nof the ark, which changed joy into terror, and silenced the songs. At\nsome bad place in the rocky and steep track, the oxen stumbled or were\nrestive. The spot is called in Samuel 'the threshing-floor of Nachon,'\nbut in Chronicles the owner is named 'Chidon.' As the former word means\n'a stroke' and the latter 'destruction,' they are probably not to be\ntaken as proper names, but as applied to the place after this event.\nThe name given by David, however--Perez-uzzah--proved the more\npermanent 'to this day.' Uzzah, who was driving while his brother went\nin front to pilot the way, naturally stretched out his hand to steady\nhis freight, just as if it had been a sack of corn; and, as if he had\ntouched an electric wire, fell dead, as the story graphically says, 'by\nthe ark of God.' What confusion and panic would agitate the joyous\nsingers, and how their songs would die on their lips!\n\nWhat harm was there in Uzzah's action? It was most natural, and, in one\npoint of view, commendable. Any careful waggoner would have done the\nsame with any valuable article he had in charge. Yes; that was just the\npoint of his error and sin, that he saw no difference between the ark\nand any other valuable article. His intention to help was right enough;\nbut there was profound insensibility to the awful sacredness of the\nark, on which even its Levitical bearers were forbidden to lay hands.\nAll his life Uzzah had been accustomed to its presence. It had been one\nof the familiar pieces of furniture in Abinadab's house, and, no doubt,\nfamiliarity had had its usual effect. Do none of us ministers,\nteachers, and others, to whom the gospel and the worship and ordinances\nof the Church have been familiar from infancy, treat them in the same\nfashion? Many a hand is laid on the ark, sometimes to keep it from\nfalling, with more criminal carelessness of its sacredness than Uzzah\nshowed. Note, too, how swiftly an irreverent habit of treating holy\nthings grows. The first error was in breaking the commanded order for\nremoval of the ark by the Levites. Once in the cart, the rest follows.\nThe smallest breach in the feeling of awe and reverence will soon lead\nto more complete profanation. There is nothing more delicate than the\nsense of awe. Trifled with ever so little, it speedily disappears.\nThere is far too little of it in our modern religion. Perfect love\ncasts out fear and deepens awe which hath not torment.\n\nWas not the punishment in excess of the sin? We must remember the\ntimes, the long neglect of the ark, the decay of religion in Saul's\nreign, the critical character of the moment as the beginning of a new\nera, when it was all-important to print deep the impression of\nsanctity, and the rude material which had to be dealt with; and we must\nnot forget that God, in His punishments, does not adopt men's ideas of\ndeath as such a very dreadful thing. Many since have followed in\nDavid's wake, and been 'displeased, because the Lord broke forth upon\nUzzah'; but he and they have been wrong. He ought to have known better,\nand to have understood the lesson of the solemn corpse that lay there\nby the ark; instead of which he gives way to mere terror, and was\n'afraid of the Lord.' David afraid of the Lord! What had become of the\nrapturous love and strong trust which ring clear through his psalms? Is\nthis the man who called God his rock and fortress and deliverer, his\nbuckler and the horn of his salvation and his high tower, and poured\nout his soul in burning words, which glow yet through all the centuries\nand the darkness of earth? It was ill for David to fall thus below\nhimself, but well for us that the eclipse of his faith and love should\nbe recorded, to hearten us, when the like emotions fall asleep in our\nsouls. His consciousness of impurity was wholesome and sound, but his\ncowering before the ark, as if it were the seat of arbitrary anger,\nwhich might flame out destruction for no discernible reason, was a\nwoful darkening of his loving insight into the heart of God.\n\nIII. The last section (verses 10-12) gives us the blessings on the\nhouse of Obed-edom and the glad removal of the ark to Jerusalem.\nObed-edom is called a 'Gittite,' or man of Gath; but he does not appear\nto have been a Philistine immigrant, but a native of another Gath, a\nLevitical city, and himself a Levite. There is an Obededom in the lists\nof David's Levites in Chronicles who is probably the same man. He did\nnot fear to receive the ark, and, worthily received, the presence which\nhad been a source of disaster and death to idolaters, to profanely\ncurious pryers into its secret, and to presumptuous irreverence, became\na fountain of unbroken blessing. This twofold effect of the same\npresence is but a symbol of a solemn law which runs through all life,\nand is especially manifest in the effects of Christ's work upon men.\nEverything has two handles, and it depends on ourselves by which of\nthem we lay hold of it, and whether we shall receive a shock that\nkills, or blessings. The same circumstances of poverty, or wealth, or\nsorrow, or temptation, make one man better and another worse. The same\npresence of God will be to one man a joy; to another, a terror. 'What\nmaketh heaven, that maketh hell.' The same gospel received is the\nfountain of life, purity, peace; and, rejected or neglected, is the\nsource of harm and death. Jesus Christ is 'set for the fall and rising\nagain of many.' Either He is the savour of life unto life, the rock on\nwhich we build, or He is the savour of death unto death, the stone on\nwhich we stumble and break our limbs.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ARK OF THE HOUSE OF OBED-EDOM\n\n'The ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite\nthree months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all his household.'-2\nSAMUEL vi.11.\n\n\nNearly seventy years had elapsed since the capture of the ark by the\nPhilistines on the fatal field of Aphek. They had carried it and set it\nin insolent triumph in the Temple of Dagon, as if to proclaim that the\nJehovah of Israel was the conquered prisoner of the Philistine god. But\nthe morning showed Dagon's stump prone on the threshold. And so the\nterrified priests got rid of their dangerous trophy as swiftly as they\ncould. From one Philistine city to another it passed, and everywhere\nits presence was marked by disease and calamity. So at last they\nhuddled it into some rude cart, leaving the draught-oxen to drag it\nwhither they would. They made straight for the Judaean hills, and in\nthe first little village were welcomed by the inhabitants at their\nharvest, as they saw them coming across the plain. But again death\nattended the Presence, and curiosity, which was profanity, was\npunished. So the villagers were as eager to get rid of the ark as they\nhad been to welcome it, and they passed it on to the little city of\n_Kirjath-jearim_,'the city of the woods,' as the name means, or, as we\nmight say, 'Woodville.' And there it lay, neglected and all but\nforgotten, for nearly seventy years. But as soon as David was\nestablished in his newly-won capital he set himself to reorganise the\nnational worship, which had fallen into neglect and almost into disuse.\nThe first step was to bring the ark. And so he passed with a joyful\ncompany to _Kirjath._ But again swift death overtakes Uzzah with his\nirreverent hand. And David shrinks, in the consciousness of his\nimpurity, and bestows the symbol of the awful Presence in the house of\nObed-edom. As we have already noted, he was probably not a Philistine,\nas the name 'Gittite' at first sight suggests. There is an Obed-edom in\nthe lists of David's Levites, who was an inhabitant of another Gath,\nand himself of the tribe of Levi.\n\nHe was not afraid to receive the ark. There were no idols, no\nirreverent curiosity, no rash presumption in his house. He feared and\nserved the God of the ark, and so the Presence, which had been a source\nof disaster to the unworthy, was a source of unbroken blessing to him\nand to his household.\n\nI have been the more particular in this enumeration of the wanderings\nof the ark and the opposite effects which its presence produced\naccording to the manner of its reception, because these effects are\nsymbols of a great truth which runs all through human life, and is most\nespecially manifested in the message and the mission of Jesus Christ.\n\nLet us, then, just trace out two or three of the spheres in which we\nmay see the application of this great principle, which makes life so\nsolemn and so awful, which may make it so sad or so glad, so base or so\nnoble.\n\nI. First, then, note the twofold operation of all God's outward\ndealings.\n\nEverything that befalls us, every object with which we come in contact,\nall the variety of condition, all the variations of our experience,\nhave one distinct and specific purpose. They are all meant to tell upon\ncharacter, to make us better in sundry ways, to bring us closer to God,\nand to fill us more full of Him. And that one effect may be produced by\nthe most opposite incidents, just as in some great machine you may have\ntwo wheels turning in opposite ways, and yet contributing to one\nresulting motion; or, just as the summer and the winter, with all their\nantitheses, have a single result in the abundant harvest. One force\nattracts the planet to the sun, one force tends to drive it out into\nthe fields of space; but the two, working together, make it circle in\nits orbit around its centre. And so, by sorrow and by joy, by light and\nby dark, by giving and withholding, by granting and refusing, by all\nthe varieties of our circumstances, and by everything that lies around\nus, God works to prepare us for Himself and to polish His instruments,\nsometimes plunging the iron into 'baths of hissing tears,' and\nsometimes heating it 'hot with hopes and fears,' and sometimes\n'battering' it 'with the shocks of doom,' but all for the one\npurpose--that it may be a polished shaft in His quiver.\n\nAnd whilst, thus, the most opposite things may produce the same effect,\nthe same thing will produce opposite effects according to the way in\nwhich we take it. There is nothing that can be relied upon to do a man\nonly good; there is nothing about which we need fear that its mission\nis only to do evil. For all depends on the recipient, who can make\neverything to fulfil the purpose for which God has sent him everything.\n\nHere are two men tried by the same poverty. It beats the one down,\nmakes him squalid, querulous, faithless, irreligious, drives him to\ndrink, crushes him; and the other man it steadies and quiets and\nhardens, and teaches him to look beyond the things seen and temporal to\nthe exceeding riches at God's right hand.\n\nHere are two men tried by wealth; the gold gets into the one man's\nveins and makes him yellow as with jaundice, and kills him, destroying\nall that is noble, generous, impulsive, quenching his early dreams and\nenthusiasms, closing his heart to sweet charity, puffing him up with a\nfalse sense of Importance, and laying upon him the dreadful\nresponsibility of misused and selfishly employed possessions. And the\nother man, tried in the same fashion, out of his wealth makes for\nhimself friends that welcome him into everlasting habitations, and lays\nup for himself treasures in heaven. The one man is damned and the other\nman is saved by their use of the same thing.\n\nHere are two men subjected to the same sorrows; the one is absorbed by\nhis selfish regard to his own misery, blinded to all the blessings that\nstill remain, made negligent of tasks and oblivious of the plainest\nduty. And he goes about saying, 'Oh, if thou hadst been here!' or if,\nif something else had happened, then this would not have happened. And\nthe other man, passing through the same circumstances, finds that, when\nhis props are taken away, he flings himself on God's breast, and, when\nthe world becomes dark and all the paths dim about him, he looks up to\na heaven that fills fuller of meek and swiftly gathering stars as the\nnight falls, and he says, 'It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him\ngood.'\n\nHere are two men tried by the same temptation; it leads the one man\naway captive 'with a dart through his liver'; the other man by God's\ngrace overcomes it, and is the stronger and the sweeter and the gentler\nand the humbler because of the dreadful fight. And so you might go the\nwhole round of diverse circumstances, and about each of them find the\nsame double result. Nothing is sure to do a man good; nothing\nnecessarily does him hurt. All depends upon the man himself, and the\nuse he makes of what God in His mercy sends. Two plants may grow in the\nsame soil, be fed by the same dews and benediction from the heavens, be\nshone upon by the same sunshine, and the one of them will elaborate\nfrom all, sweet juices and fragrance, and the other will elaborate a\ndeadly poison. So, my brother, life is what you and I will to make it,\nand the events which befall us are for our rising or our falling\naccording as we determine they shall be, and according as we use them.\n\nThink, then, how solemn, how awful, how great a thing it is to stand\nhere a free agent, able to determine my character and my condition,\nsurrounded by all these circumstances and the subject of all these wise\nand manifold divine dealings, in each of which there lie dormant, to be\nevoked by me, tremendous possibilities of elevation even to the very\npresence of God, or of sinking into the depths of separation from Him.\nThe ark of God, that overthrew Dagon and smote Uzzah, was nothing but a\nfountain of blessing in the household of Obed-edom.\n\nII. Secondly, note the twofold operation of God's character and\npresence.\n\nThe ark was the symbol of a present God, and His presence is meant to\nbe the life and joy of all creatures, and the revelation of Him is\nmeant to be only for our good, giving strength, righteousness, and\npeace. But the same double possibility which I have been pointing out\nas inherent in all externals belongs here too, and a man can determine\nto which aspect of the many-sided infinitude of the divine nature he\nshall stand in relation. The glass in stained windows is so coloured as\nthat parts of it cut off, and prevent from passing through, different\nrays of the pure white light. And men's moral natures, the inclination\nof their hearts, and the set of their wills and energies, cut off, if I\nmay say so, parts of the infinite, white light of the many-sided divine\ncharacter, and put them into relations only with some part and aspect\nof that great whole which we call God. The man that loves the world,\nthe man that is living for self, still more the man that is embruted in\nthe pig-sty of sensuality and vice, cannot see the God whom the pure\nheart, which loves Him and is purified by its faith, discerns at the\ncentre of all things. But the lower man sees either some very far-off\nAwfulness, in which he hopes vaguely that there is a kind of good\nnature that will let him off; or, if he has been shaken out of that\nsuperficial creed, which is only a creed for men whose consciences have\nnot been touched, then he can see only a God whose love darkens into\nretribution, and who is the Judge and the Avenger. And no man can say\nthat such a conception is not part of the truth; but, alas! he on whom\nthe form of such a God glares has incapacitated himself, by his misuse\nof his powers and of God's world, from seeing the beauty of the love of\nthe Father of us all, the righteous Father who in Christ loves every\nman.\n\nAnd thus the thought of God, the consciousness of His Presence, may be\nlike the ark which was its symbol, either dreadful and to be put away,\nor to be welcomed and blessing to be drawn from it. To many of us I am\nsure--though I do not know anything about many of you--that thought,'\nThou God seest me,' breeds feelings like the uneasy discomfort of a\nprisoner when he knows that somewhere in the wall there is a spy-hole\nat which at any moment a warder's eye may be. And to some of us,\nblessed be His name, that same thought, 'Thou art near me,' seems to\nbathe the heart in a sea of sweet rest, and to bring the assurance of a\ndivine Companion that cheers all the solitude. And why is the\ndifference? There are two people sitting in one pew; to the one man the\nthought of God is his ghastliest doubt, to the other it is his deepest\njoy. Wherefore? And which is it to me?\n\nThen, again, this same duality of aspect attaches to the character and\npresence of God in another way. Because, according to the variety of\nmen's characters, God is obliged to treat them as standing in different\nrelations. He must manifest His judgment, His justice, His punitive\njustice. There is a solemn verse in one of the Psalms which I may quote\nin lieu of all words of my own of this matter. 'With the merciful Thou\nwilt show Thyself merciful, with the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure,\nwith the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward.' The present God has\nto modify His dealings according to the characters of men.\n\nAnd so, dear friends, for the present life, and, as I believe, for the\nnext life in a far more emphatic and awful way, the same thing makes\nblessedness and misery, the same thing makes life and death. The\nsunshine will kill and wither the slimy plants that grow in the dark\nrecesses of some dripping cave; and if you take a fish out of the\nwater, the air clogs its gills and it dies. Bring a man, such as some\nof you are, into a close, constant contact with the consciousness of\nthe divine righteousness and presence, and you want nothing else to\nmake a hell. The ark of the Lord will flash out its lightnings and\nUzzah will die. That great Infinite Being, before whom we stand, holds\nin His right hand blessings beyond count or price, even the gift of\nHimself, and in His left His lightnings and His arrows. On which hand\nare you standing?\n\nIII. Lastly, note the twofold operation of God's gospel.\n\nHis dealings, His character and presence, and, most markedly and\neminently of all, the gospel that is treasured in Jesus Christ and\nproclaimed amongst us, have this twofold operation. God sent His Son to\nbe the Saviour of the world. It was meant that His mission and message\nshould only be for life, and that with ever-increasing abundance. But\nGod cannot save men by magic, nor by indiscriminate bestowment of\nspiritual blessings. It is not in His power to force His salvation upon\nany one, and whether the Gospel shall turn out to be a man's salvation\nor his ruin depends on the man himself. The preaching of the gospel and\nyour contact with it, if you have ever come into contact with it really\nand not by mere outward hearing, leaves no man as it found him. My poor\nwords--and God knows how poor I feel them to be--leave none of you as\nthey find you; and that is what makes our meeting together so solemn\nand awful, and sometimes weighs one down as with a sense of\ninsufficiency for these things.\n\nThat twofold operation is seen first in the permanent effects of the\nGospel upon character. If it has been offered to me, and if I accept\nit, then blessings beyond all enumeration, and which none but they who\nhave them fully know, follow in its wake. Received by simple faith in\nJesus Christ, God's sacrifice for a world's sin, it brings to us the\nclear consciousness of pardon, the calm sense of communion, the joyful\nspirit of adoption, righteousness rooted in our hearts and to be\nmanifested day by day in our lives; it brings all elevation and\nstrengthening and ennobling for the whole nature, and is the one power\nthat makes us really men as God would have us all to be.\n\nRejected or neglected or passed by apparently without our having done\nanything in regard to it, what are the issues? What does it do? Well,\nit does this for one thing, it turns unconscious worldliness into\nconscious worldliness. If the offer has been clearly before your minds,\n'Christ or the world?' and you have said 'I take the world!' you know\nthat you have made the choice, and the act will tell on your character.\n\nRejection strengthens all the evil motives for rejection, and adds to\nthe insensibility of the man who has rejected. The ice on our pavements\nin the winter time, that melts on the surface in the day and freezes\nagain at night, becomes dense and slippery beyond all other. And a\nheart, like that which beats in some of our bosoms, that has been\nmelted and then has frozen again, is harder than ever it was before.\nHammering that does not break solidifies and makes tougher the thing\nthat is struck. There are no men so hard to get at as men and women,\nlike multitudes of you, that have been hammered at by preaching ever\nsince they were children, and have not yielded their hearts to God. The\nark has done you hurt if it has not done you good.\n\nI do not dwell upon the other solemn thought, of the harmful results of\ncontact with a gospel which we do not accept, as exemplified in the\nincrease of responsibility and the consequent increase of condemnation.\nI only quote Christ's words, 'The servant that knew his Lord's will,\nand did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.'\n\nMy brother, Christ's gospel is never inert, one thing or other it does\nfor every soul that it reaches. Either it softens or it hardens. Either\nit saves or it condemns. 'This Child is set for the rise or for the\nfall of many.' Jesus Christ may be for me and for you the Rock on which\nwe build. If He is not, He is the Stone against which we stumble and\nbreak our limbs. Jesus Christ may be for you and for me the Pillar that\ngives light by night to those on the one side; He either is that, or He\nis the Pillar that sheds darkness and dismay on those on the other.\nJesus Christ and His Gospel may be to each of us 'the savour of life\nunto life'; He either is that, or He is 'the savour of death unto\ndeath.' Oh! dear friends, if you have neglected, turned away, delayed\nto receive Him or have forgotten impressions in the midst of the whirl\nof daily life, do not do so any longer. Take Him for yours, your\nBrother, Friend, Sacrifice, Inspirer, Lord, Aim, End, Reward, and very\nHeaven of Heaven. Take Him for your own by simple trusting; and say to\nHim, 'Arise! O Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and the Ark of Thy strength.'\nSo He will come into your hearts and smile His gladness as He whispers:\n'Here will I dwell for ever; this is My rest, for I have desired it.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISED KING AND TEMPLE-BUILDER\n\n'And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto\nNathan, saying, 5. Go and tell My servant David, Thus saith the Lord,\nShalt thou build Me an house for Me to dwell in! 6. Whereas I have not\ndwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of\nIsrael out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in\na tabernacle. 7. In all the places wherein I have walked with all the\nchildren of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel,\nwhom I commanded to feed My people Israel, saying, Why build ye not Me\nan house of cedar! 8. Now therefore so shalt thou say unto My servant\nDavid, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote,\nfrom following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel: 9.\nAnd I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all\nthine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like\nunto the name of the great men that are in the earth. 10. Moreover I\nwill appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that\nthey may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall\nthe children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, 11.\nAnd as since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people\nIsrael, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the\nLord telleth thee that He will make thee an house. 12. And when thy\ndays be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up\nthy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will\nestablish His kingdom. 13. He shall build an house for My name; and I\nwill establish the throne of His kingdom for ever. 14. I will be his\nfather, and He shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten\nHim with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:\n16. But My mercy shall not depart away from Him, as I took it from\nSaul, whom I put away before thee. 16. And thine home and thy kingdom\nshall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be\nestablished for ever.'-2 SAMUEL vii.4-16.\n\n\nThe removal of the ark to Jerusalem was but the first step in a process\nwhich was intended to end in the erection of a permanent Temple. The\ntime for the next step appeared to David to have come when he had no\nlonger to fight for his throne. Rest from enemies should lead to larger\nwork for God, else repose will be our worst enemy, and peace will\ndegenerate into self-indulgent sloth. A devout heart will not be\ncontent with personal comfort and dwelling in a house of cedar, while\nthe ark has but a tent for its abode. There should be a proportion\nbetween expenditure on self and on religious objects. How many\nprofessing Christians might go to school to David! Luxury at home and\nniggardliness in God's work make an ugly pair, but, alas! a common one.\n\nNathan approved, as was natural. But he knew the difference between his\nown thoughts and 'the word of the Lord' that came to him, and, like a\ntrue man, he went in the morning and contradicted, by God's authority,\nhis own precipitate sanction of the king's proposal. Clearly, divine\ncommunications were unmistakably distinguishable from the recipient's\nown thoughts.\n\nThe divine message first negatives the intention to build a house. In 1\nChronicles a positive prohibition takes the place of the question in\nverse 5, but that is only a difference of form, for the question\nimplies a negative answer. From David's last words (1 Chron. xxviii. 3)\nwe learn that a reason for the prohibition was 'because thou art a man\nof war, and hast shed blood.' His wars were necessary, and tended to\nestablish the kingdom, but their existence showed that the time for\nbuilding the Temple had not come, and there was a certain incongruity\nin a warrior king rearing a house for the God whose kingdom was in its\nessence peace.\n\nThe prohibition rests on a deep insight into the nature of Jehovah's\nreign, and draws a broad distinction between His worship and the\nsurrounding paganism. But the reason given in the text is very\nremarkable. God did not desire a permanent Temple. If we may so say, He\npreferred the less solid Tabernacle, as corresponding better to the\nsimplicity and spirituality of His worship. A gorgeous stone Temple\nmight easily become the sepulchre, rather than the shrine, of true\ndevotion. The movable tent answered to the temporary character of the\n'dispensation.' The more fixed and elaborate the externals of worship,\nthe more danger of the spirit being stifled by them. The Old Testament\nworship was necessarily ceremonial, but here is a caveat against the\nstiffening of ceremonial into stereotyped formalism.\n\nThe prohibition was accompanied by gracious and far-reaching promises,\ndesigned to assure David of God's approbation of his motive, and to\nopen up to him the vision of the future and the wonders that should be.\nWe need say little about the retrospective part of the message (verses\n8, 9 a). God had been the agent in all David's past, had lifted him\nfrom the quiet following of his sheep, had given him rule, which was\nbut a delegated authority. Israel was 'My people,' and therefore he was\nbut an instrument in God's hand, and was not to govern by his own\nfancies or for his own advantage.\n\nEvery devout man's life is the realisation of a plan of God's, and we\nsin against ourselves as well as Him if we do not often let thankful\nthoughts retrace all the way by which the Lord our God has led us.\n\nWith verse 9 _b_ the prophecy turns to the future. David personally is\npromised the continuance of God's help; then a permanent, peaceful\npossession of the land is promised to the nation, and finally the\nperpetuity of the kingdom in the Davidic line is promised. The prophecy\nas to the nation, like all such prophecies, is contingent on national\nobedience. The future of the kingdom will stand in blessed contrast\nwith the wild times of the Judges, if--and only if--Israel behaves as\n'My people' should.\n\nBut the main point of the prophecy is the promise to David's 'seed.' In\nform it attaches itself very significantly to David's intention to\nbuild a house for Jehovah. That would invert the true order, for\nJehovah was about to build a house, that is, a permanent posterity, for\nDavid. God must first give before man can requite. All our relations to\nHim begin with His free mercy to us. And our building for Him should\never be the result of His building for us, and will, in some humble\nway, resemble the divine beneficence by which it has been quickened\ninto action. The very foundation principles of Christian service are\nexpressed here, in guise fitted to the then epoch of revelation.\n\nBut the relation of the two things, God's building and Solomon's, is\nnot exhausted by such considerations. The consolidation of the monarchy\nin David's family was an essential preliminary to the rearing of the\nTemple. That work needed tranquil times, abundant resources, leisure,\nand assured dominion. So the prophet goes on to promise that David\nshall be succeeded by his 'seed,' who shall build the Temple.\n\nFurther, three great promises are given in reference to David's\nseed,--a perpetual kingdom, a personal relation of sonship to Jehovah,\nand paternal chastisement, if necessary, but no such departure of\nJehovah's mercy as had darkened the close of Saul's sad reign. Then,\nfinally, the assurance is reiterated of the perpetuity of David's house\nand throne. The remarkable expression in verse 16, 'established before\nthee' (that is, David), if it is the true reading, suggests a hint of\nthe life after death, and conceives of the long-dead king as in some\nmanner cognisant of the fortunes of his descendants. But the Septuagint\nreads 'before Me,' and that reading is confirmed by verses 26 and 29,\nand by Psalm lxxxix.36 _b_.\n\nNow it is clear that these promises were in part directed to, and\nfulfilled in, Solomon. But it is as clear that the great promise of an\neternal dominion, which is emphatically repeated thrice, goes far\nbeyond him. We are obliged to recognise a second meaning in the\nprophecy, in accordance with Old Testament usage, which often means by\n'seed' a line of successive generations of descendants. But no\nsuccession of mortal men can reach to eternal duration.\n\nApart from the fact that the kingdom, in the form in which David's\ndescendants ruled over it, has long since crumbled away, the large\nwords of the promise must be regarded as inflated and exaggerated, if\nby 'for ever' is only meant 'for long generations.' A 'seed,' or line\nof perishable men, can only last for ever if it closes in a Person who\nis not subject to the law of mortality. Unless we can with our hearts\nrejoicingly confess, 'Thou art the King of glory, O Christ! Thy kingdom\nis an everlasting kingdom,' we do not pierce to the full understanding\nof Nathan's prophecy.\n\nAll the glorious prerogatives shadowed in it were but partially\nfulfilled in Israel's monarchs. Their failures and their successes,\ntheir sins and their virtues, equally declared them to be but shadowy\nforerunners of Him in whom all that they at the best imperfectly aimed\nat and possessed is completely and for ever fulfilled. They were\nprophetic persons by their office, and pointed on to Him.\n\nHe has built the true Temple, in that His body is the seat of sacrifice\nand of revelation, and the meeting-place of God and man, and inasmuch\nas through Him we are built up into a spiritual house for an habitation\nof God. In Him is fulfilled the great prophecy of 'My Servant the\nBranch,' who 'shall build the Temple of the Lord' and 'be a Priest upon\nHis throne.' In Him, too, is fulfilled in highest truth the filial\nrelationship. The Israelitish kings were by office sons of God. He is\n_the_ Son in ineffable derivation and eternal unity of life with the\nFather, and their communion is in closest oneness of will and mutual\ninterchange of love. In that filial relation lies the assurance of\nChrist's everlasting kingdom, for 'the Father loveth the Son, and hath\ngiven all things into His hand.'\n\nThe prophecy is echoed in many places of Scripture, and is ever taken\nto refer to a single person. The angel of the annunciation moulded his\nsalutation to the meek Virgin on it, when he declared that her Son\n'shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give\nunto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the\nhouse of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.'\n\n\n\n\nDAVID'S GRATITUDE\n\n'Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am\nI, O Lord God? and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me\nhitherto? 19. And this was yet a small thing in Thy sight, O Lord God;\nbut Thou hast spoken also of Thy servant's house for a great while to\ncome. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God? 20. And what can David\nsay more unto Thee? for Thou, Lord God, knowest Thy servant. 21. For\nThy word's sake, and according to Thine own heart, hast Thou done all\nthese great things, to make Thy servant know them. 22. Wherefore Thou\nart great, O Lord God: for there is none like Thee, neither is there\nany God besides Thee, according to all that we have heard with our\nears. 23. And what one nation in the earth is like Thy people, even\nlike Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to\nmake Him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for Thy\nland, before Thy people, which Thou redeemedst to Thee from Egypt, from\nthe nations and their gods? 24. For Thou hast confirmed to Thyself Thy\npeople Israel to be a people unto Thee for ever: and Thou, Lord, art\nbecome their God. 25. And now, O Lord God, the word that Thou hast\nspoken concerning Thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it\nfor ever, and do as Thou hast said. 26. And let Thy name be magnified\nfor ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel; and let the\nhouse of Thy servant David be established before Thee. 27. For Thou, O\nLord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to Thy servant, saying, I\nwill build thee an house: therefore hath Thy servant found in his heart\nto pray this prayer unto Thee. 28. And now, O Lord God, Thou art that\nGod, and Thy words be true, and Thou hast promised this goodness unto\nThy servant: 29. Therefore now let it please Thee to bless the house of\nThy servant, that it may continue for ever before Thee: for Thou, O\nLord God, hast spoken it: and with Thy blessing let the house of Thy\nservant be blessed for ever.'--2 SAMUEL vii. 18-29.\n\n\nGod's promise by Nathan of the perpetuity of the kingdom in David's\nhouse made an era in the progress of revelation. A new element was\nthereby added to devout hope, and a new object presented to faith. The\nprophecy of the Messiah entered upon a new stage, bearing a relation,\nas its successive stages always did, to the history which supplies a\nframework for it. Now, for the first time, He can be set forth as the\nking of Israel; now the width of the promise, which at first embraced\nthe seed of the woman, and then was limited to the seed of Abraham, and\nthereafter to the tribe of Judah, is still further limited to the house\nof David. The beam is narrowed as it is focussed into greater\nbrilliance, and the personal Messiah begins to be faintly discerned in\nwords which are to have a partial, preparatory fulfilment, in itself\nprophetic, in the collective Davidic monarchs whose office is itself a\nprophecy. This passage is the wonderful burst of praise which sprang\nfrom David's heart in answer to Nathan's words. In many of the Psalms\nlater than this prophecy we find clear traces of that expectation of\nthe personal Messiah, which gradually shaped itself, under divine\ninspiration, in David, as contained in Nathan's message But this\nthanksgiving prayer, which was the immediate reflection of the\nastounding new message, has not yet penetrated its depth nor discovered\nits rich contents, but sees in it only the promise of the continuance\nof kingship in his descendants. We do not learn the fulness of God's\ngracious promises on first hearing them. Life and experience and the\nteaching of His Spirit are needed to enable us to count our treasure,\nand we are richer than we know.\n\nThis prayer is a prose psalm outside the Psalter. It consists of two\nparts,--a burst of astonished thanksgiving and a stream of earnest\npetition, grasping the divine promise and turning it into a prayer.\n\nI. Note the burst of thanksgiving (vs. 18-24). The ark dwelt 'in\ncurtains,' and into the temporary sanctuary went the king with his full\nheart. The somewhat peculiar attitude of sitting, while he poured it\nout to God, has offended some punctilious commentators, who will have\nit that we should translate 'remained,' and not 'sat'; but there is no\nneed for the change. The decencies of public worship may require a\nposture which expresses devotion; but individual communion is free from\nsuch externals, and absorbed contemplation naturally disposes of the\nbody so as least to hinder the spirit. The tone of almost bewildered\nsurprise at the greatness of the gift is strong all through the prayer.\nThe man's breath is almost taken away, and his words are sometimes\nbroken, and throughout palpitating with emotion. Yet there is a plain\nprogress of feeling and thought in them, and they may serve as a\npattern of thanksgiving. Note the abrupt beginning, as if pent-up\nfeeling forced its way, regardless of forms of devotion. The first\nemotion excited by God's great goodness is the sense of unworthiness.\n'I do not deserve it,' is the instinctive answer of the heart to any\nlavish human kindness, and how much more to God's! 'I am not worthy of\nthe least of all the mercies,' springs to the devout lips most swiftly,\nwhen gazing on His miracles of bestowing love. He must know little of\nhimself, and less of God, who is not most surely melted down to\ncontrition, which has no bitterness or pain in it, by the coals of\nloving fire heaped by God on his head.\n\nThe consciousness of unworthiness passes, in verse 19, to adoring\ncontemplation of God's astounding mercy, and especially of the new\nelement in Nathan's prophecy,--the perpetuity of the Davidic\nsovereignty in the dim, far-off future. Thankfulness delights to praise\nthe Giver for the greatness of His gift. Faith strengthens its hold of\nits blessings by telling them over, as a miser does his treasure. To\nrecount them to God is the way to possess them more fully.\n\nThe difficult close of the verse cannot be discussed here. 'The law for\nman' is nearer the literal meaning of the words than 'the manner of\nmen' (Rev. Ver.); and, unfortunately, man's manner is not the same as\nman's law. But the usual explanations are unsatisfactory. We would\nhazard the suggestion that 'this' means that which God has spoken 'of\nthy servant's house,' and that to call it 'the law for man' is\nequivalent to an expression of absolute confidence in the authority,\nuniversality, and certain fulfilment of the promise. The speech of God\nis ever the law for man, and this new utterance stands on a level with\nthe older law, and shall rule all mankind. The king's faith not only\ngazes on the great words of promise, but sees them triumphant on earth.\n\nThen in verse 20 comes another bend of the stream of praise. The more\nfull the heart, the more is it conscious of the weakness of all words.\nThe deepest praise, like the truest love, speaks best in silence. It is\nblessed when, in earthly relations, we can trust our dear ones'\nknowledge of us to interpret our poor words. It is more blessed when,\nin our speech to God, we can feel that our love and faith are deeper\nthan our word, and that He does not judge them by it, but it by them.\n\n            'Silence is His least injurious praise.'\n\nHere, too, we may note the two instances, in this verse, of what runs\nthrough the whole prayer,--David's avoidance of using 'I.' Except in\nthe lowly 'What am I?' at the beginning, it never occurs; but he calls\nhimself 'David' twice and 'Thy servant' ten times,--a striking, because\nunconscious, proof of his lowly sense of unworthiness.\n\nBut he can say more; and what he does further say goes yet deeper than\nhis former words. The personal aspect of the promise retreats into the\nbackground, and the ground of all God's mercy in His 'own heart' fills\nthe thoughts. Some previous promise, perhaps that through Samuel, is\nreferred to; but the great truth that God is His own motive, and that\nHis love is not drawn forth by our deserts, but wells up by its own\nenergy, like a perennial fountain, is the main thought of the verse.\nGod is self-moved to bless, and He blesses that we may know Him through\nHis gifts. The one thought is the central truth, level to our\napprehension, concerning His nature; the other is the key to the\nmeaning of all His workings. All comes to pass because He loves with a\nself-originated love, and in order that we may know the motive and\nprinciple of His acts. We can get no farther into the secret of God\nthan that. We need nothing more for peaceful acceptance of His\nprovidences for ourselves and our brethren. All is from love; all is\nfor the manifestation of love. He who has learned these truths sits at\nthe centre and lives in light.\n\nVerse 22 strikes a new note. The effect of God's dealing with David is\nto magnify His name, to teach His incomparable greatness, and to\nconfirm by experience ancient words which celebrate it. The thankful\nheart rejoices in hearsay being changed into personal knowledge. 'As we\nhave heard, so have we seen.' Old truths flash up into new meaning, and\nonly he who tastes and sees that God is good to him to-day really\nenters into the sweetness of His recorded past goodness.\n\nNote the widening of David's horizon in verses 23 and 24 to embrace all\nIsrael. His blessings are theirs. He feels his own relation to them as\nthe culmination of the long series of past deliverances, and at the\nsame time loses self in joy over Israel's confirmation as God's people\nby his kingship. True thankfulness regards personal blessings in their\nbearing on others, and shrinks from selfish use of them. Note, too, the\nparallel, if we may call it so, between Israel and Israel's God, in\nthat 'there is none like Thee,' and by reason of its choice by this\nincomparable Jehovah, no nation on earth is like 'Thy people, even like\nIsrael.'\n\nThus steadily does this model of thanksgiving climb up from a sense of\nunworthiness, through adoration and gazing on its treasures, to God's\nunmotived love as His impulse, and men's knowledge of that love as His\naim, and pauses at last, rapt and hushed, before the solitary loftiness\nof the incomparable God, and the mystery of the love, which has\nintertwined the personal blessings which it celebrates, with its great\ndesigns for the welfare of the people, whose unique position\ncorresponds to the unapproachable elevation of its God.\n\nII. Verses 25 to 29 are prayer built on promise and winged by\nthankfulness. The whole of these verses are but the expansion of 'do as\nThou hast said.' But they are not vain repetitions. Rather they are the\noutpourings of wondering thankfulness and faith, that cannot turn away\nfrom dwelling on the miracle of mercy revealed to it unworthy. God\ndelights in the sweet monotony and persistence of such reiterated\nprayers, each of which represents a fresh throb of desire and a renewed\nbliss in thinking of His goodness. Observe the frequency and variety of\nthe divine names in these verses,--in each, one, at least: Jehovah God\n(v. 25); Jehovah of hosts (v. 26); Jehovah of hosts, God of Israel (v.\n27); Lord Jehovah (vs. 28, 29). Strong love delights to speak the\nbeloved name. Each fresh utterance of it is a fresh appeal to His\nrevealed nature, and betokens another wave of blessedness passing over\nDavid's spirit as he thinks of God. Observe, also, the other repetition\nof 'Thy servant,' which occurs in every verse, and twice in two of\nthem. The king is never tired of realising his absolute subjection, and\nfeels that it is dignity, and a blessed bond with God, that he should\nbe His servant. The true purpose of honour and office bestowed by God\nis the service of God, and the name of 'servant' is a plea with Him\nwhich He cannot but regard. Observe, too, how echoes of the promise\nring all through these verses, especially the phrases 'establish the\nhouse' and 'for ever.' They show how profoundly David had been moved,\nand how he is labouring, as it were, to make himself familiar with the\nastonishing vista that has begun to open before his believing eyes.\nWell is it for us if we, in like manner, seek to fix our thoughts on\nthe yet grander 'for ever' disclosed to us, and if it colours all our\nlook ahead, and makes the refrain of all our hopes and prayers.\n\nBut the main lesson of the prayer is that God's promise should ever be\nthe basis and measure of prayer. The mould into which our petitions\nshould run is, 'Do as Thou hast said.' Because God's promise had come\nto David, 'therefore hath Thy servant found in his heart to pray this\nprayer unto Thee.' There is no presumption in taking God at His word.\nTrue prayer catches up the promises that have fallen from heaven, and\nsends them back again, as feathers to the arrows of its petitions. Nor\ndoes the promise make the prayer needless. We know that 'if we ask\nanything according to His will, He heareth us'; and we know that we\nshall not receive the promised blessings, which are according to His\nwill, unless we do ask. Let us seek to stretch our desires to the width\nof God's promises, and to confine our wishes within their bounds.\n\n\n\n\nDAVID AND JONATHAN'S SON\n\n'And David said, is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul,\nthat I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake? 2. And there was of\nthe house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had\ncalled him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he\nsaid, Thy servant is he. 3. And the king said, Is there not yet any of\nthe house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And\nZiba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his\nfeet. 4. And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto\nthe king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in\nLo-debar. 5. Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of\nMachir, the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar., 6. Now when Mephibosheth,\nthe son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on\nhis face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he\nanswered, Behold thy servant! 7. And David said unto him. Fear not; for\nI will surely shew then kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and\nwill restore thee all the land of Saul thy father: and thou shalt eat\nbread at my table continually. 8. And he bowed himself, and said, What\nis thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?\n9. Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I\nhare given unto thy master's son all that pertained to Saul and to all\nhis house. 10. Thou therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall\ntill the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy\nmaster's son may have food to eat: but Mephibosheth thy master's son\nshall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty\nservants. 11. Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my\nlord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As\nfor Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of\nthe king's sons. 12. And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was\nMicha: and all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto\nMephibosheth. 13. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat\ncontinually at the king's table; and was lame on both his feet.'--2\nSAMUEL ix.1-13.\n\n\nThis charming idyl of faithful love to a dead friend and generous\nkindness comes in amid stories of battle like a green oasis in a\nwilderness of wild rocks and sand. The natural sweetness and chivalry\nof David's disposition, which fascinated all who had to do with him,\ncomes beautifully out in it, and it may well stand as an object lesson\nof the great Christian duty of practical mercifulness.\n\nI. So regarded, the narrative brings out first the motives of true\nkindliness. Saul and three of his four sons had fallen on the fatal\nfield of Gilboa; the fourth, the weak Ishbosheth, had been murdered\nafter his abortive attempt at setting up a rival kingdom had come to\nnothing. There were only left Saul's daughters and some sons by a\nconcubine. So low had the proud house sunk, while David was\nconsolidating his kingdom, and gaining victory wherever he went.\n\nBut neither his own prosperity, nor the absence of any trace of Saul's\nlegitimate male descendants, made him forget his ancient oath to\nJonathan. Years had not weakened his love, his sufferings at Saul's\nhands had not embittered it. His elevation had not lifted him too high\nto see the old days of lowliness, and the dear memory of the\nself-forgetting friend whose love had once been an honour to the\nshepherd lad. Jonathan's name had been written on his heart when it was\nimpressionable, and the lettering was as if 'graven on the rock for\never.' A heart so faithful to its old love needed no prompting either\nfrom men or circumstances. Hence the inquiry after 'any that is left of\nthe house of Saul' was occasioned by nothing external, but came welling\nup from the depth of the king's own soul.\n\nThat is the highest type of kindliness which is spontaneous and\nself-motived. It is well to be easily moved to beneficence either by\nthe sight of need or by the appeals of others, but it is best to kindle\nour own fire, and be our own impulse to gracious thoughts and acts. We\nmay humbly say that human mercy then shows likest God's, when, in such\nimitation as is possible, it springs in us, as His does in Him, from\nthe depths of our own being. He loves and is kind because He is God. He\nis His own motive and law. So, in our measure, should we aim at\nbecoming.\n\nBut David's remarkable language in his questions to Ziba goes still\ndeeper in unfolding his motives. For he speaks of showing 'the kindness\nof God' to any remaining of Saul's house. Now that expression is no\nmere synonym for kindness exceeding great, but it unfolds what was at\nonce David's deepest motive and his bright ideal. No doubt, it may\ninclude a reminiscence of the sacred obligation of the oath to\nJonathan, but it hallows David's purposed 'mercy' as the echo of God's\nto him, and so anticipates the Christian teaching, 'Be ye merciful,\neven as your Father is merciful.' We must receive mercy from Him before\nour hearts are softened, so as to give it to others, just as the wire\nmust be charged from the electric source before it can communicate the\ntingle and the light.\n\nThe best basis for the beneficent service of man is experience of the\nmercy of God. Philanthropy has no roots unless it is planted in\nreligion. That is a lesson which this age needs. And the other side of\nthe thought is as true and needful; namely, that our 'religion' is not\n'pure and undefiled' unless it manifests itself in the service of man.\nHow serene and lofty, then, the ideal! How impossible ever to be too\nforgiving or too beneficent! 'As your heavenly Father is,'--that is our\npattern. We have not shown our brother all the kindness which we owe\nhim unless we have shown him 'the kindness of God.'\n\nII. The progress of the story brings out next the characteristics of\nDavid's kindliness, and these may be patterns for us. Ziba does not\nseem to be very communicative, and appears a rather unwilling witness,\nwho needs to have the truth extracted bit by bit. He evidently had\nnothing to do with Mephibosheth, and was quite content that he should\nbe left obscurely stowed away across Jordan in the house of the rich\nMachir (2 Sam. xvii. 27-29). Lo-debar was near Mahanaim, on the eastern\nside of the river, where Ishbosheth's short-lived kingdom had been\nplanted, and probably the population there still clung to Saul's\nsolitary representative. There he lived so privately that none of\nDavid's people knew whether he was alive or dead. Perhaps the savage\npractice of Eastern monarchs, who are wont to get rid of rivals by\nkilling them, led the cripple son of Jonathan to 'lie low,' and Ziba's\nreticence may have been loyalty to him. It is noteworthy that Ziba is\nnot said to have been sent to bring him, though that would have been\nnatural.\n\nAt any rate, Mephibosheth came, apparently dreading whether his summons\nto court was not his death-warrant. But he is quickly reassured. David\nagain recalls the dear memory of Jonathan, which was, no doubt, stirred\nto deeper tenderness by the sight of his helpless son; but he swiftly\npasses to practical arrangements, full of common-sense and grasp of the\ncase. The restoration of Saul's landed estate implies that it was in\nDavid's power. It had probably been 'forfeited to the crown,' as we in\nEngland say, or perhaps had been 'squatted on' by people who had no\nright to it. David, at any rate, will see that it reverts to its owner.\n\nBut what is a lame man to do with it? and will it be wise to let a\nrepresentative of the former dynasty loose in the territory of\nBenjamin, where Saul's memory was still cherished? Apparently, David's\ndisposition of affairs was prompted partly by consideration for\nMephibosheth, partly by affection for Jonathan, and partly by policy.\nSo Ziba, who had not been present, is sent for, and installed as\noverseer of the estate, to work it for his new master's benefit, while\nthe owner is to remain at Jerusalem in David's establishment. It was\nprudent to keep Mephibosheth at hand. The best way to weaken a\npretender's claims was to make a pensioner of him, and the best way to\nhinder his doing mischief was to keep him in sight.\n\n\nBut we need not suppose that this was David's only motive. He gratified\nhis heart by retaining the poor young man beside himself, and, no\ndoubt, sought to win his confidence and love. The recipient of his\nkindness receives it in characteristic Eastern fashion, with\nexaggerated words of self-depreciation, which sound almost too humble\nto be quite sincere. A little gratitude is better than whining\nprofessions of un worthiness.\n\nAnd how did Ziba like his task? The singular remark that he had\n'fifteen sons and twenty servants' perhaps suggests that he was a\nperson of some importance; and the subsequent one that 'all in his\nhouse were servants to Mephibosheth' may imply that neither they nor he\nquite liked their being handed over thus cavalierly.\n\nBut, however that may be, we may note that common-sense and practical\nsagacity should guide our mercifulness. Kindly impulses are good, but\nthey need cool heads to direct them, or they do more harm than good. It\nis useless to set lame men to work an estate, even if they get a gift\nof it. And it is wise not to put untried ones in positions where they\nmay plot against their benefactor. Mercifulness does not mean rash\ntrust in its objects. They will often have to be watched very closely\nto keep them from going wrong. How many most charitable impulses have\nbeen so unwisely worked out that they have injured their objects and\ndisappointed their subjects! We may note, too, in David's kindliness,\nthat it was prompt to make sacrifice, if, as is probable, he had become\nowner of the estate. The pattern of all mercy, who is God, has not\nloved us with a love which cost Him nothing. Sacrifice is the\nlife-blood of service.\n\nIII. The subsequent history of Mephibosheth and Ziba is somewhat\nenigmatical. Usually the former is supposed to have been slandered by\nthe latter, and to have been truly attached to David. But it is at\nleast questionable whether Ziba was such a villain, and Mephibosheth\nsuch an injured innocent, as is supposed. This, at least, is plain,\nthat Ziba demonstrated attachment to David at the time when self-love\nwould have kept him silent. It took some courage to come with gifts to\na discrowned king (2 Sam. xvi. 1-4); and his allegation about his\nmaster has at least this support, that the latter did not come with the\nrest of David's court to share his fortunes, and that the dream that he\nmight fish to advantage in troubled waters is extremely likely to have\noccurred to him. Nor does it appear clear that, if Ziba's motive was to\nget hold of the estate, his adherence to David would have seemed, at\nthat moment, the best way of effecting it.\n\nIf we look at the sequel (xix. 24-30) Mephibosheth's excuse for not\njoining David seems almost as lame as himself. He says that Ziba\n'deceived him,' and did not bring him the ass for riding on, and\ntherefore he could not come. Was there only one ass available in\nJerusalem? and, when all David's _entourage_ were streaming out to\nOlivet after him, could not he easily have got there too if he had\nwished? His demonstration of mourning looks very like a blind, and his\nlanguage to David has a disagreeable ring of untruthfulness, in its\nextreme professions of humility and loyalty. 'Me thinks the _cripple_\ndoth protest too much. David evidently did not feel sure about him, and\nstopped his voluble utterances somewhat brusquely: 'Why speakest thou\nany more of thy matters?' That is as much as to say, 'Hold your\ntongue.' And the final disposition of the property, while it gives\nMephibosheth the benefit of the doubt, yet looks as if there was a\nconsiderable doubt in the king's mind.\n\nWe may take up the same somewhat doubting position. If he requited\nDavid's kindness thus unworthily, is it not the too common experience\nthat one way of making enemies is to load with benefits? But no cynical\nwisdom of that sort should interfere with our showing mercy; and if we\nare to take 'the kindness of God' for our pattern, we must let our\nsunshine and rain fall, as His do, on 'the unthankful and the evil.'\n\n\n\n\n\n'MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM'\n\n'And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the\nentering in of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and\nIsh-tob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. 9. When Joab saw\nthat the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he\nchose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against\nthe Syrians: 10. And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand\nof Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the\nchildren of Ammon. 11. And he said, if the Syrians be too strong for\nme, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong\nfor thee, then I will come and help thee. 12. Be of good courage, and\nlet us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and\nthe Lord do that which seemeth Him good. 13. And Joab drew nigh, and\nthe people that were with him, unto the battle against the Syrians: and\nthey fled before him. 14. And when the children of Ammon saw that the\nSyrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into\nthe city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to\nJerusalem. 15. And when the Syrians saw that they were smitten before\nIsrael, they gathered themselves together. 16. And Hadarezer sent, and\nbrought out the Syrians that were beyond the river: and they came to\nHelam: and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before\nthem. 17. And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together,\nand passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set\nthemselves in array against David, and fought with him. 18. And the\nSyrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred\nchariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach\nthe captain of their host, who died there. 19. And when all the kings\nthat were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were smitten before\nIsrael, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians\nfeared to help the children of Ammon any more.'--2 SAMUEL x. 8-19.\n\n\nDavid's growing power would naturally be regarded by neighbouring\nstates as a menace. Success provokes envy, and in this selfish world\nstrength usually encroaches on weakness, and weakness dreads strength.\nSo it was quite according to the way of the world that David's friendly\nembassy to the king of Ammon should be suspected of covering hostile\nintentions. Those who have no kindness in their own hearts are slow to\nbelieve in kindness in others. 'What does he want to get by it?' is the\nquestion put by cynical 'shrewd men,' when they see a good man doing a\ngracious, self-forgetting act.\n\nBut the Ammonite courtiers need not have rejected David's overtures so\ninsolently as by shaving half his ambassadors' beards and docking their\nrobes. The insult meant war to the knife. Probably it was deliberately\nintended as a declaration of hostilities, as it was immediately\nfollowed by the preparation of a formidable coalition against Israel.\nPossibly, indeed, the coalition preceded and occasioned the rejection\nof David's conciliatory message. But, in any case, the Ammonite king\nsummoned his Syrian allies from a number of small states of which we\nbarely know the names, the chief of which was Zobah.\n\nThat state had apparently started into prominence under its king\nHadar-ezer, as he is called in this chapter, which is obviously a\nclerical error for Hadad-ezer, as in 2 Samuel viii. 3, etc. The name\nHadad occurs again in Ben-hadad, and belonged to a Syrian god; so that\nthe king of Zobah's name, meaning 'Hadad [is] help,' may be taken as\nthe banner flaunted in the face of the army of Israel, and as making\nthe war a struggle of the false against the true God.\n\nThe war with the same enemies narrated in 2 Samuel viii. 3-13 is now\ngenerally supposed to be the same as that recorded in the latter part\nof this passage. It certainly seems more probable that there has been\nsome dislocation of the text, than that so crushing a defeat as that\nretold in chapter viii. should have been followed by a revival of the\nsame coalition within a short time. If, however, there was such a\nrevival, it may remind us of the conditions of all warfare for God and\ngoodness, either in our own lives or in the world. Sins and vicious\ninstitutions, once defeated, have a terrible power of swift recovery.\nThe thorns cut down sprout fast again. Let no man say, 'I have\nextirpated that sin from my nature,' for, if he does, it will surprise\nhim when he is lulled in false security. Hadad-ezer is not so easily\ngot rid of. He does not know when he is beaten.\n\nDavid took the bull by the horns, and did not wait to be attacked. It\nwas good policy to carry the war into the enemies' country, as it\ngenerally is. God's soldiers have to be aggressive, and there is no\nbetter way of losing what they have won than by being contented with\nit. We must advance if we are not to retrograde. From I Chronicles we\nlearn that the Ammonites had begun the campaign by besieging Medeba, a\ntrans-Jordanic Israelitish city. The answer of Joab was to lay siege to\nRabbath, the capital of Ammon, an almost impregnable fastness, perched\non a cliff, and surrounded on all sides but one by steep ravines.\n\nApparently his bold strategy led to the abandonment of the attack on\nMedeba, and to the hurried march of its besiegers to relieve Rabbath.\nProbably the Syrian allies had been before Medeba, and suddenly\nappeared in Joab's rear. Their advance led the besieged to attempt a\nsortie, so that Joab was between two fires. It was a difficult\nposition. Whichever foe he attacked, his retreat was cut off, and\nanother enemy was ready to hurl itself on his rear. There was no time\nfor manoeuvring, and nothing for it but to face both assailants. So,\nwithout hesitation he made his dispositions. The new-comers, the\nSyrians, were evidently the more formidable, and Joab picked the best\nmen to deal with them under his own command, while his brother Abishai\nwas to give account of the Ammonites, who were pouring out of Rabbath.\nThere is sometimes advantage in being 'Mr. Facing-both-ways.' We are\noften surrounded by allied evils or sins; for all our vices are\nkindred, and help each other, and all public or social iniquities are\nin league against the army of righteousness. We have to be many-sided\nin our attacks on what is wrong, as well as in our development of what\nis right.\n\nDanger woke the best in Joab, Fierce and truculent as he often was, he\nhad a hero's mettle in him, and in that dark hour he flamed like a\npillar of light. His ringing words to his brother as they parted, not\nknowing if they would ever meet again, are like a clarion call. They\nextract encouragement out of the separation of forces, which might have\ndepressed, and cheerily pledge the two divisions to mutual help. What\nwas to happen, Joab, if the Syrians were too strong for thee, and the\nAmmonites for Abishai? That very possible contingency is not\ncontemplated in his words. Rash confidence is unwise, but God's\nsoldiers have a right to go into battle not anticipating utter defeat.\nSuch expectation is apt to fulfil itself, and, on the other hand, to\nbelieve that we shall conquer goes a long way towards making us\nconquerors.\n\nDoes not Joab's pledge of mutual help carry in it a lesson applicable\nto all the divisions of God's great army? In the presence of the\ncoalition of evil, is not the separation of the friends of good,\nmadness? When bad men unite, should not good men hold together? The\ndefeat or victory of one is the defeat or victory of all. We serve\nunder the same banner, and, instead of shutting up our sympathies\nwithin the narrow limits of our own regiment, and even having a certain\nsatisfaction at the difficulties into which another has got, we should\nfeel that, if 'one member suffer, all the members suffer with it,' and\nshould be ready to help all our fellow-soldiers who need help.\nSelf-preservation as well as comradeship, and, above all, loyalty to\nHim for whom we fight, should lead to that; for, if Abishai is crushed,\nJoab will be in sorer peril.\n\nHis other word is equally pregnant. 'Be of good courage' is an\nexhortation always in season for Christ's soldiers, for, whatever are\ntheir foes, 'He that is with them is more than they that are with'\ntheir enemies. One man with Christ to back him may always be sure of\nvictory. Calculations of probabilities and of resources may often yield\noccasion for despondency if we calculate only what appears to sense,\nbut if we bring Christ into the calculation we shall be of good cheer.\n'The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?'\n\nWe may note, too, the stimulating motive drawn from the thought of what\nIsrael's army fought for,--'Our people, and the cities of our God.'\nPatriotism and devotion coalesced, and, like two contiguous flames in\nsome duplex lamp, each made the other burn the brighter. So we may feel\nthat we have the highest good of 'our people,' our brethren, in view,\nand that, in helping them and warring against evil, we are fighting for\nwhat belongs to God.\n\nHigh courage, the effort to do their very best, and not to spare blood\nor life in the fight, blended nobly in Joab and his brother with\nrecognition of God's supreme determination of the event. Nothing can\nstand before men who live and fight in such a temper as that. The early\nconquests of Mohammedanism were secured by just such a blending of\ncourage and submission. These were vulgar and poor, compared with the\nvictories that would attend a Church which was animated by these\nprinciples in the higher form in which Christianity presents them.\n\nThe account of the victory is remarkable. It is surely not by accident\nthat no word is said about fighting. Note that it was as Joab 'drew\nnigh unto the battle' that the Syrians fled as if in sudden panic, and\ninfected the Ammonites with their terror. We hear nothing of men slain,\nor of any actual crossing of swords. Contrast verse 18, which tells of\na real fight. It is, perhaps, not pressing omissions too far to suggest\nthat the narrative favours the supposition of a bloodless victory. The\ndangers that often appal Christ's servants have a way of often\ndisappearing when they are marched boldly up to. Like ghosts, they\nvanish when accosted.\n\nSo ended one campaign. But Hadad-ezer, the soul of the coalition, was\nnot crushed, and the latter part of the passage tells of his renewed\nattempt. Partial defeat stirs up our foes to stronger struggles. The\nleague was extended to include Syrian states farther east, and a still\nmore formidable expedition was fitted out to attack this dangerous\nupstart king of Israel, who was casting his shadow so far. Such is\nalways the case. We are never in more danger of fresh assailants than\nwhen we have won some victory over evil in ourselves or around us.\nDavid repeated his former tactics. Not waiting to be attacked, and to\nhave the soil of Israel profaned and wasted by enemies, he crossed\nJordan to meet the would-be invader, and, when he met him, struck hard,\nand crushed him and his host, slew the commander, and dispersed the\nthunder-cloud. The coalition broke down. Hadad-ezer's tributaries were\nglad to shake off his yoke and transfer their allegiance to David.\n\n'Nothing succeeds like success.' The alliances between worldly men\nbanded against God's soldiers are held together by self-interest, and,\nwhen that can be best secured by deserting a man when he is down, away\ngo all the allies, tumbling over each other in their haste to be the\nfirst to desert and bring feigned submission to the conqueror. The\njackals leave the sick lion. The Syrians had had enough of helping\nAmmon, and Rabbath might fall without their lifting a finger. So hollow\nare the world's coalitions against God and His anointed!\n\n\n\n\nTHOU ART THE MAN\n\n'And David said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done\nthis thing shall surely die; because he did this thing, and because he\nhad no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.'--2 SAMUEL\nxii. 5-7.\n\n\nNathan's apologue, so tenderly beautiful, takes the poet-king on the\nmost susceptible side of his character. All his history shows him as a\nman of wonderfully sweet, chivalrous, generous, swiftly compassionate\nnature. And so, when he hears the story of a mean, heartless\nselfishness, all that is best in him kindles into a generous\nindignation, and flames out into instinctive condemnation. 'The man\nthat did this thing shall die because he had no pity.'\n\nAnd then, on to that hot fervour of righteous wrath, comes this dash of\ncold water, 'And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.' Like some\nkeen spear-point, sharpened almost to invisibility, this short sentence\n(two words in the original) driven by a strong hand, goes right through\nthe armour to the very heart. What a collapse there would be in the\nking when the pointed forefinger of the prophet emphasised and drove\nhome the application!\n\nI. This dramatic scene before us may be taken as suggesting first that\nwe are all strangely blind to our own faults.\n\nIf a man's own sin is held up before him a little disguised, he says,\n'How ugly it is!' And if only for a moment he can be persuaded that it\nis not his own conduct but some other sinner's that he is judging, the\ninstinctive condemnation comes. We have two sets of names for vices:\none set which rather mitigates and excuses them, and another set which\nputs them in their real hideousness. We keep the palliative set for\nhome consumption, and liberally distribute the plain-spoken, ugly set\namongst the vices and faults of our friends. The same thing which I\ncall in myself prudence I call in you meanness. The same thing which\nyou call in yourselves generous living, you call in your friend filthy\nsensualism. That which, to the doer of it, is only righteous\nindignation, to the onlooker is passionate anger. That which, in the\npractiser of it, is no more than a due regard for the interests of his\nown family and himself in the future, is, to the envious lookers-on,\nshabbiness and meanness in money matters. That which, to the liar, is\nonly prudent diplomatic reticence, to the listener is falsehood. That\nwhich, in the man that judges his own conduct, is but 'a choleric\nword,' is, in his friend, when he judges him, 'flat blasphemy.'\n\nAnd so we go all round the circle, and condemn our own vices, when we\nsee them in other people. So the king who had never thought, when he\nstole away Uriah's one ewe lamb, and did him to death by traitorous\ncommands, setting him in the front of the battle, that he was wanting\nin compassion, blazes up at once, and righteously sentences the other\n'man' to death, 'because he had no pity.' He had never thought of\nhimself or of his crime as cruel, as mean, as selfish, as heartless.\nBut when he sees a partially disguised picture of it he knows it for\nthe devil's child that it is.\n\n          'O wad some Power the giftie gie us\n           To see oursels as ithers see us!\n           It wad frae mony a blunder free us,'\n\nand so it would, to see ourselves as we see others. We judge our\nbrother and ourselves by two different standards.\n\nAnd that is only one phase of a more general principle, one case that\ncomes under a yet wider law, viz. that we are all blind, strangely\nblind, to our own faults. Why that is so I do not need to spend time in\ninquiring, except for a distinctly practical purpose. Let me just\nremind you how a strong wish for a thing that seems desirable always\ntends to confuse to a man the plain distinction between right and\nwrong; and how passions once excited, or the animal lusts and desires\nonce kindled in a man, go straight to their object without the smallest\nregard to whether that object is to be reached by the breach of all\nlaws, human and divine, or not. Excite any passion, and the passion is\nbut a blind propensity towards certain good, and takes no question or\nconsideration of whether right or wrong is involved at all.\n\nAnd further, habit familiarises with evil and diminishes our sense of\nit as evil. A man that has been for half a day in some ill-ventilated\nroom does not notice the poisonous atmosphere; if you go into it you\nare half suffocated at first, and breathe more easily as you get used\nto it. A man can live amidst the foulest poison of evil; and, as the\nStyrian peasants get fat upon arsenic, his whole nature may seem to\nthrive by the poison that it absorbs. They tell us that the breed of\nfish that live in the lightless caverns in the bowels of some\nmountains, by long disuse have had their eyes atrophied out of them,\nand are blind because they have lived out of the light. And so men that\nlive in the love of evil lose the capacity of discerning the evil, and\n'he that walketh in darkness' becomes blind, blind to his sin, and\nblind to all the realities of life.\n\nThen is it not true, too, that many of us systematically and of set\npurpose, continually avoid all questions as to the moral nature of our\nconduct? How many a man and woman who reads these words never sits down\nto think whether what they have been doing is right or wrong, because\nthey have deep down in their consciences an uneasy suspicion as to what\nthe answer would be. So, by reason of fostering passion, by reason of\nlistening to wishes, by reason of the habit of wrongdoing, by reason of\nthe systematic avoidance of all careful investigation of our character\nand of our conduct, we lose the power of fairly deciding upon the\nnature of our own acts.\n\nThen self-love comes in, and still another thing tends to blind us. We\nare all ready to acquiesce in the general indictment, and so to shirk\nthe particular application of it. That is what people do about all\ngreat moral principles that ought to affect conduct,--they admit them\nin words, as general truths applying to mankind, and then hide\nthemselves in the crowd, and think that they escape the incidence and\nparticular application of the truths. No one of us would, I suppose,\nventure in plain words to stand up and say: 'I am an exception to your\ngeneral confessions of sin,' and most of us would be ready to unite in\nthe acknowledgment: 'We have all come short of the glory of God,'\nthough in our consciences there has never stirred the faintest movement\nof self-condemnation even whilst our lips have been uttering the\nconfession. Do not shrink away in the crowd, my brother! Come out to\nthe front, and stand by yourself as God sees you, isolated. Look at\nyour own actions; never mind about other men's. Do not content\nyourselves with saying,' _We_ have sinned'; say, '_I_ have sinned\nagainst _Thee._' God and you are as if alone in the universe. 'Against\nThee, Thee only, have I sinned.' There are no crowds in God's eyes; He\ndeals with single souls. Every one of us,--thou, and thou, and\nthou,--must give account of himself to God.\n\nII. In the next place, let me ask you to think how this story suggests\nthat the true work of God's message is to tear down the veil and to\nshow the ugly thing.\n\n'Nathan said unto David, Thou art the man.' It needed a prophet to do\nthat, with divine authority. Nothing less would suffice to get through\nthe thick bosses of the buckler of self-conceit and ignorance which he\nhad to penetrate. As God's messenger, he gathered up, as I said, into\none sharp-pointed, keen-edged, steel-bright sentence, the very spirit\nof the whole ancient Law, which seeks to individualise the sinner, and\nto drive home to the conscience the consciousness of wrong-doing.\n\nThe remarks that I have been making, in the former part of this sermon,\nimperfect as they must necessarily be, may at least serve one or two\npurposes in reference to this part of my discourse.\n\nIt seems to me that if what I have been saying as to a man's blindness\nto his own true moral character be at all correct, there flows from\nthat thought a strong presumption in favour of a divine revelation. We\nneed another than our own voice to lay down the law of conduct, and to\naccuse and condemn the breaches of it. Conscience is not a wholly\nreliable guide, and is neither an impartial nor an all-knowing judge.\nUnconsciousness of evil is not innocence. It is not the purest of women\nwho 'wipes her mouth and says, I have done no harm.' My conscience says\nto me, 'It is wrong to do wrong'; but when I say to my conscience,\n'Yes, and pray what is wrong?' a large variety of answers is possible.\nA man may sophisticate his conscience, or bribe his conscience, or\nthrottle his conscience, or sear his conscience. And so the man who is\nworst, who, therefore, ought to be most chastised by his conscience,\nhas most immunity from it, and where, if it is to be of use, it ought\nto be most powerful, there it is weakest.\n\nWhat then? Why this, then--a standard that varies is not a standard; we\nare left with a leaden rule. My conscience, your conscience, is like\nthe standard measures which we at present possess, which by their very\nnames--foot, handbreadth, nail, and the like, tell us that they were\noriginally but the length of one man's limb. And so your measure of\nright and wrong, and another man's measure, though they may\nsubstantially correspond, yet differ according to your differences of\neducation, character, and a thousand other things. So that the\nindividual man's standard needs to be rectified. You have to send all\nthe weights and measures up to the Tower now and then, to get them\nstamped and certified. And, as I believe, this fluctuation of our moral\njudgments shows the need for a fixed pattern and firm unchangeable\nstandard, external to our mutable selves. A light on deck which pitches\nwith the pitching ship is no guide. It must flash from a white pillar\nfounded on a rock and immovable amid the restless waves. Our need of\nsuch a standard raises a strong presumption that a good God will give\nus what we need, if He can. Such a standard He has given, as I believe,\nin the revelation of Himself which lies in this book, and culminates in\nthe life and character of Jesus Christ our Lord. There, and by that, we\ncan set our watches. There we can read the law of morality, and by our\ndeflections from it we can measure the amount of our guilt.\n\nBut beyond that, the remarks which I have already made in the former\npart of my sermon may suggest to us, along with this utterance of the\nprophet's, that one indispensable characteristic and certain criterion\nof a true message and gospel from God is that it pierces the conscience\nand kindles the sense of sin. My dear brethren, there is a great deal\nof so-called Christian teaching, both from pulpits and books in this\nday, which, to my mind, is altogether defective by reason of its\nunderestimate of the cardinal fact of sin, and its consequent failure\nto represent the fundamental characteristic of the gospel as being\ndeliverance and redemption. I am quite sure that the root of\nnine-tenths of all the heresies that have ever afflicted the Christian\nChurch, and of the weakness of so much popular Christianity, is none\nother than this failure adequately to recognise the universality and\nthe gravity of the fact of transgression. If a word comes to you, calls\nitself God's message, and does not start with man's sin, nor put in the\nforefront of its utterances the way by which the dominion of that sin\nin your own heart can be broken, and the penalties of that sin in your\npresent and future life can be swept away, it is condemned, _ipso\nfacto_, as not a gospel from God, or fit for man. O my brother! it\nsounds harsh; but it is the truest kindness, when Nathan stands before\nthe king, and with his flashing eye and stern, calm voice says, 'Thou\nart the man.' Was not that nobler, truer, tenderer, worthier of God,\nthan if he had smoothed David down with soft speeches that would not\nhave roused his conscience? Is it not the truest benevolence that keeps\nthe surgeon's hand steady whilst his heart is touched by the pain that\nhe inflicts, as he thrusts his gleaming instrument of tender cruelty\ninto the poisonous sore? And are not God's mercy and love manifest for\nus in this, that He begins all His work on us with the grave, solemn\nindictment of each soul by itself, 'Thou art the man'?\n\n               'He showed me all the mercy,\n                For He taught me all the sin.'\n\nIII. Lastly, let me say that God accuses us and condemns us one by one\nthat He may save us one by one.\n\nThe meaning of Nathan's sharp sentence was speedily disclosed when the\nbroken-down king exclaimed, 'I have sinned against the Lord,' and when,\nwith laconic force as great as that which barbed the condemnation, the\nprophet stanched the wound with the brief words, 'And the Lord hath\nmade to pass the iniquity of thy sin.' The intention of the accusation\nis the extension of the mercy and forgiveness. God, as the Apostle puts\nit, 'hath concluded all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.'\n\nAnd now, mark, for the carrying out of that divine purpose in regard to\nus, and for our possession of the proffered mercy, the same\nindividualising and isolating process is needful as was needful for the\nconviction of the sin. God desires to save the world, but God can only\nsave men one at a time. There must be an individual access to Him for\nthe reception of forgiveness, as there must be in regard to the\nconviction of sin, just as if He and I were the only two beings in the\nwhole universe. There is no wholesale entrance into God's Church or\ninto God's kingdom. God's mercy is not given to crowds, except as\ncomposed of individuals who have individually received it. There must\nbe the personal act of faith; there must be my solitary coming to Him.\nAs the old mystics used to define prayer, so I might define the whole\nprocess by which men are saved from their sins, 'the flight of the\nlonely soul to the lonely God.' My brother, it is not enough for you to\nsay, 'We have sinned'; say, 'I have sinned.' It is not enough that from\na gathered congregation there should go up the united litany, 'Lord,\nhave mercy upon us! Christ, have mercy upon us! Lord, have mercy upon\nus!' You must make the prayer your own: 'Lord, have mercy upon _me_!'\nIt is not enough that you should believe, as I suppose most of you\nfancy that you believe, that Christ has died for the sins of the whole\nworld. That belief will give you no share in His forgiveness. You must\ncome to closer grips with Him than that; and you must be able to say,\n'Who loved _me_, and gave Himself for _me_.' Let us have no running\naway into the crowd. Come out, and stand by yourselves, and for\nyourselves stretch out your own band, and take Christ for yourselves.\n\nA man may die of starvation in a granary. You may be lost in the midst\nof this abundance which Christ has provided for you. And the difference\nbetween really possessing salvation and not possessing it, lies very\nlargely in the difference between saying 'us' and 'me.' 'Thou art the\nman' in regard to the general accusation of sin; 'Thou art the man' in\nregard to the solemn law which proclaims that 'the soul that sinneth it\nshall die'; and, blessed be God, 'Thou art the man' in regard to the\ngreat promise that says, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and\ndrink.' Christ gives you a blank cheque in His word: 'Whoso cometh unto\nMe, I will in no wise cast out.' Write thine own name in, and by thy\npersonal faith in the Lamb of God that died for thee, thy sins shall\npass away; and all the fulness of God shall be thy very own for ever.\n'If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself, and if thou scornest,\nthou alone shall bear it.'\n\n\n\n\nDAVID AND NATHAN\n\n'And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan\nsaid unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin.'--2 SAMUEL xii.\n13.\n\n\nWe ought to be very thankful that Scripture never conceals the faults\nof its noblest men. High among the highest of them stands the\npoet-king. Whoever, for nearly three thousand years, has wished to\nexpress the emotions of trust in God, longing after purity, aspiration,\nand rapture of devotion, has found that his words have been before him.\n\nAnd this man sins; black, inexcusable, aggravated transgression. You\nknow the shameful story; I need not tell it over again. The Bible gives\nit us in all its naked ugliness, and there are precious lessons to be\ngot out of it; such, for instance, as that it is not innocence that\nmakes men good. '_This_ is the man after God's own heart!' people\nsneer. Yes! Not because saints have a peculiar morality, and atone for\nadultery and murder by making or singing psalms, but because, having\nfallen into foul sin, he learned to abhor it, and with many tears, with\nunconquerable resolution, with deepened trust in God, set his face once\nmore to press toward the mark. That is a lesson worth learning.\n\nAnd, again, David was not a hypocrite because he thus fell. All sin is\ninconsistent with devotion; but, thank God, we cannot say how much or\nhow dark the sin must be which is incompatible with devotion, nor how\nmuch evil there may still lurk and linger in a heart of which the main\nset and aspiration are towards purity and God.\n\nAnd, again, the worst transgressions are not the passionate outbursts\ncontradictory of the main direction of a life which sometimes come; but\nthe habitual, though they be far smaller, evils which are honey-combing\nthe moral nature. White ants will pick a carcase clean sooner than a\nlion. And many a man who calls himself a Christian, and thinks himself\none, is in far more danger, from little pieces of chronic meanness in\nhis daily life, or sharp practice in his business, than ever David was\nin his blackest evil.\n\nBut the main lesson of all is that great and blessed one of the\npossibility of any evil and sin like this black one, being annihilated\nand caused to pass away through repentance and confession. It is to\nthat aspect of our text that I turn, and ask you to look with me at the\nthree things that come out of it: David's penitence; David's pardon\nconsequent upon his penitence; and David's punishment, notwithstanding\nhis penitence and pardon.\n\nI. First, then, the penitence.\n\nWhat a divine simplicity there is in the words of our text: 'David said\nunto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.' That is all. In the\noriginal, two words are enough to revolutionise the man's whole life,\nand to alter all his relations to the divine justice and the divine\nFriend. 'I have sinned against the Lord.' Not an easy thing to say; and\nas the story shows us, a thing that David took a long time to mount up\nto.\n\nRemember the narrative. A year has passed since his transgression. What\nsort of a year has it been? One of the Psalms tells us, 'When I kept\nsilence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long; for day\nand night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the\ndrought of summer.' There were long months of sullen silence, in which\na clear apprehension and a torturing experience of divine\ndisapprobation, like a serpent's fang, struck poison into his veins.\nHis very physical frame seems to have suffered. His heart was as dry as\nthe parched grass upon the steppes. That was what he got by his sin. A\nmoment of turbid animal delight, and long days of agony; dumb suffering\nin which the sense of evil had not yet broken him down into a rain of\nsweet tears, but lay, like a burning consciousness, within his heart.\n\nAnd then came the prophet with his parable, so tender, so ingenious, so\npowerful. And the quick flash of generous indignation, which showed how\nnoble the man was after all, with which he responded to the picture,\nunknowing that it was a picture of his own dastardly conduct, led on to\nthe solemn words in which Nathan tore away the veil; and with a\nthreefold lever, if I may so say, overthrew the toppling structure of\nhis impenitence.\n\nFirst of all, and most chiefly, he seeks to win him to repentance by a\npicture of God's great love and goodness. 'I have done this and that\nand the other thing for thee. What hast thou done for Me?' Ah, that is\nthe true beginning. You cannot frighten men into penitence, you may\nfrighten them into remorse; and the remorse may or may not lead on to\nrepentance. But bring to bear upon a man's heart the thought of the\ninfinite and perfect love of God, and that is the solvent of all his\nobstinate impenitence, and melts him to cry, 'I have sinned.' And along\nwith that element there is the other, the plain striking away of all\ndisguises from the ugly fact of the sin. The prophet gives it its\nhideous name, and that is one element in the process which leads to\ntrue repentance. For so strange and subtle are the veils which we cast\nover our own evils, that it comes sometimes to us with a shock and a\nstart when some word, that we know to connote wickedness of the deepest\ndye, is applied to them. David had very likely so sophisticated his\nconscience that, though he had been writhing under the sense that he\nwas a wrongdoer, it came to him with a kind of ugly surprise when the\nnaked words 'adultery' and 'murder' were pressed up against his\nconsciousness.\n\nAnd the third element that brought him to his senses, and to his knees,\nwas the threatening of punishment, which is salutary when it follows\nthese other two, the revelation of a divine love and the unveiling of\nthe essential nature of my own act; but which without these is but 'the\nhangman's whip' to which only inferior natures will respond. And these\nthree, the appeal to God's love, the revelation of his own sin, the\nsolemn warning of its consequences--these three brought to bear upon\nDavid's heart, broke him down into a passion of penitence in which he\nhas only the two words to say, 'I have sinned against the Lord.' That\nis all. That is enough.\n\nAnd what is it? It is the recognition--which is essential to all real\npenitence--that I have not merely broken some impersonal law, or done\nsomething that hurts my fellows, but that I have broken the relations\nwhich I ought to sustain to a living, loving Person, who is God. We\ncommit crimes against society, we commit faults against one another, we\ncommit sins against God, and the very notion of sin involves, as its\ncorrelative, the thought of the divine Lawgiver.\n\nSo, dear brethren, penitence goes deeper than a recognition of demerit\nand unworthiness. It is more than an acknowledgment of imperfection and\nbreach of morality. It is something different altogether from the\nacknowledgment that I have committed a fault against my fellow. David\nhad done Bathsheba and Uriah, and in them his whole kingdom, foul\nwrong, but, as he says in Psalm li., 'Against Thee, Thee _only,_ have I\n_sinned._' His account with these is of a less grave character, but\n'against Thee I sinned.'\n\nAnd in like manner, this penitence contains in it the recognition of\ntransgression against a loving Friend and Father, which had been\nbrought home to his mind by all the words of the rebuking prophet, who\nwas a kind of incarnate conscience for him now. And it contains, still\nfurther, confession to God against whom he had sinned. The first\nimpulse of a man when he dimly discerns how far he has departed from\nGod's law, is that which the old story represents was the first impulse\nof the first sinners--to hide himself in the trees of the garden. The\nsecond impulse is to go to Him against whom we have sinned, and who\nonly therefore can deal with the sin in the way of forgiveness, and to\npour it all out before Him. Once an Apostle, when he caught a partial\nglimpse of his own demerit and transgression, said to the Master with a\nnatural impulse, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!' But\nPeter had a deeper sense of his own sin, and a happier knowledge of\nwhat Christ could do for his sin, when his brother Apostle whispering\nto him in the boat, 'It is the Lord,' the traitor Apostle cast himself\ninto the shallow water and floundered through it anyhow, to get as\nclose as he could to the Master's feet.\n\nDo not go away from God because you feel that you have sinned against\nHim. Where should you go but to your mother's bosom, and hide your face\nthere, if you have committed faults against her? Where should you go\nbut to God if against Him you have transgressed? Look, my brother, at\nyour own character and conduct; measure the deficiencies and\nimperfections, the transgressions and faults; ay! perhaps with some of\nyou, the crimes against men and society and human laws; but see beneath\nall these a deeper thought; and stifle not the words that would come to\nyour lips as a relief, like a surgeon's lancet struck into some foul\ngathering, 'I have sinned against the Lord.'\n\nII. And now, secondly, notice with me David's pardon consequent upon\nhis repentance.\n\nCan there be anything more striking--I do not say dramatic, for the\ncircumstances are far too serious for terms of art--can there be\nanything more in the nature of a gospel to us all than that brief\ndialogue? David said unto Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.' And\nNathan said unto David, 'The Lord also hath put away thy sin.'\n\nImmediate forgiveness, that is the first lesson that I would press upon\nyou. Dear brethren, it is an experience which you may each repeat in\nyour own history at this moment. It needs but the confession in order\nthat the forgiveness should come. At this end of the telephone whisper\nyour confession, and before it has well passed your lips there comes\nback the voice sweet as that of angels, 'The Lord hath forgiven thy\nsin.' One word, one motion of a heart aware of, and hating, and\ndesiring to escape from, its evil, brings with a rush the whole fulness\nof fatherly and forgiving love into any heart. And that one confession\nmay be the turning-point of a man's life, and may obliterate all the\nsinful past, and may bring him into loving, reconciled, harmonious\nrelations with the Almighty Judge.\n\nLearn, too, not only the immediacy of the answer and the simplicity of\nthe means, but learn how thorough and complete God's dealing with your\nsin may be. The original language of my text might be rendered, 'The\nLord hath caused thy sin to pass away'; the thought being substantially\nthat of some impediment or veil between man and Him which, with a touch\nof His hand, He dissolves as it were into vapour, and so leaves all the\nsky clear for His warmth and sunshine to pour down upon the heart. We\ndo not need to enter upon theological language in talking about this\ngreat gift of forgiveness. It means substantially that howsoever you\nand I have piled up mountain upon mountain, Alp upon Alp, of our evils\nand transgressions, all pass away and become non-existent. Another word\nof the Old Testament expresses the same idea when it speaks about sin\nbeing 'covered.' Another word expresses the same idea when it speaks\nabout God as 'casting' men's sins 'into the depths of the sea'--all\nmeaning this one thing, that they no longer stand as barriers between\nthe free flow of His love and our poor hearts. He takes away the sense\nof guilt, touches the wounded conscience, and there is healing in His\nhand. As, according to the old belief, the sovereign, by laying his\nhand upon sufferers from 'the King's evil' healed them and cleansed\nthem, so the touch of His forgiving love takes away the sense of guilt\nand heals the spirit. He removes all the impediments between His love\nand us. His love can now come undisturbed. His deepest and solemnest\njudgments do not need to come; and no more does there stand frowning\nbetween us and Him the spectre of our past.\n\nPeople tell us that forgiveness is impossible, 'that whatsoever a man\nsoweth, that must he also reap'; that law is law, and that the\nconsequences cannot be averted. That is all quite true if there is not\na God. It is not true if there is; and if there is no God, there is no\nsin. So if there is a God, there is forgiveness.\n\nConsequences, as I shall have to show you in a moment, may still\nremain, but pardon may be ours all the same. When you forgive your\nchild, does it mean that you do not thrash it, or does it mean that you\ntake it to your heart? And when God pardons, does it mean that He\nwaives His laws, or does it mean that He lets us come into the whole\nwarmth and sunshine of His love? Will you go there?\n\nForgiveness was to Jews a thing difficult to apprehend. It was hard for\nthem to understand the harmony of it with the rigid retribution on\nwhich their whole system of religion reposed. But you and I have come\nfurther into the light than Nathan and David had. And I have to preach\na modification of the words of my text which is not a limitation of\nthem, but the unveiling of their basis and the surest confirmation of\nthem, when I say 'In Him'--Jesus Christ--'we have redemption through\nHis blood, even the forgiveness of sins.'\n\nThe New Testament teaches us that the Cross of Christ threw its power\nback upon former transgressions as well as forward upon future ones;\nand that in Him past ages, though they knew Him not, received\nremission. Christ is the Medium of the divine forgiveness; Christ's\nCross is the ground of the divine pardon; Christ's sacrifice is the\nguarantee for us that the sin which He has borne He has borne away. 'By\nHis stripes we are healed.' 'Wherefore, men and brethren, be it known\nunto you, that through this Man is preached unto _us_ the forgiveness\nof _our_ sins.'\n\nIII. Third and lastly, look at the punishment which follows--shall I\nsay _notwithstanding_ or _because of_?--the penitence and the pardon.\n\nIn David's life there came the immediate retribution in kind, which was\nsignalised as such by the divine message--the death of the child  'who\nwas conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity.' But beyond that, look at\nDavid's life after his great fall. There was no more brightness in it.\nHis own sin and example of lust loosed the bonds of morality in his\nhousehold, and his son followed his example and improved upon it. And\nfrom that came Absalom's murder of his brother, and from that Absalom's\nexile, and from that Absalom's rebellion, and from that Absalom's\ndeath, which nearly killed his poor old father. And for all the rest of\nhis days his home was troubled, and his last years ended with the\nturmoil of a disputed succession before his eyes were closed, all\ntraceable to this one foul crime.\n\nJoab was the torment of David's later days, and Joab's power over him\ndepended upon his having been the instrument of Uriah's murder; and so\nthe master of the king, whose bidding he had done. Ahithophel was the\nbrain of Absalom's conspiracy. His defection struck a sharp arrow into\nDavid's heart--'mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted.' He\nevidently hated the king with fierce hatred. He was Bathsheba's\ngrandfather; and we are not going wrong, I think, in tracing his\npassionate hatred, and the peculiar form of insult which he counselled\nAbsalom to adopt, to the sense of foul wrong which had been done to his\nhouse by David's crime.\n\nAnd so all through his days this poor old king had to do what you and I\nhave to do--to bear the temporal results of sin. 'Be not deceived, God\nis not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.'\n\nSo 'of our pleasant vices the gods make whips to scourge us.' And it is\nin mercy that we have to drink as we have brewed, that we have to lie\nupon the beds that we have made; that in regard to outward\nconsequences, and in regard to our own hearts and inward history, we\nare the architects of our own fortunes, and cannot escape the penalties\nof our sins and of our faults. Better to have it so than be cursed with\nimpunity!\n\nSome of you young men are sowing diseases in your bones that will\neither make you invalids or will kill you before your time. All of us\nare bearing about with us, in some measure and sense, the issues, which\nare the punishments, of our evil. Let us thank Him and take up the\npraise of the old psalm, 'Thou wast a God that forgivest them, though\nThou tookest vengeance of their inventions.' There is either merciful\nchastisement here, that we may be parted from our sins, or there is\njudgment hereafter.\n\nO my brother! let me beseech you, do not commit the suicide of\nimpenitence, but go to Christ, in whom all our sins are taken away, and\nlay your hands on the head of that great Sacrifice, and 'the Lord shall\ncause to pass the iniquity of your sin.'\n\n\n\n\nGOD'S BANISHED ONES\n\n'God doth devise means, that His banished be not expelled from Him.' 2\nSAMUEL xiv. 14.\n\n\nDavid's good-for-nothing son Absalom had brought about the murder of\none of his brothers, and had fled the country. His father weakly loved\nthe brilliant blackguard, and would fain have had him back, but was\nrestrained by a sense of kingly duty. Joab, the astute\nCommander-in-chief, a devoted friend of David, saw how the land lay,\nand formed a plan to give the king an excuse for doing what he wished\nto do. So he got hold of a person who is called 'a wise woman' from the\ncountry, dressed her as a mourner, and sent her with an ingeniously\nmade-up story of how she was a widow with two sons, one of whom had\nkilled the other, and of how the relatives insisted on their right of\navenging blood, and demanded the surrender of the murderer; by which,\nas she pathetically said, 'the coal' that was left her would be\n'quenched.' The king's sympathy was quickly roused--as was natural in\nso impulsive and poetic a nature--and he pledged his word, and finally\nhis oath, that the offender should be safe.\n\nSo the woman has him in a trap, having induced him to waive justice and\nto absolve the guilty by an arbitrary act. Then she turns upon him with\nan application to his own case, and bids him free himself from the\nguilt of double measures and inconsistency by doing with his banished\nson the same thing--viz. abrogating law and bringing back the offender.\nIn our text she urges still higher considerations--viz. those of God's\nway of treating criminals against His law, of whom she says that He\nspares their lives, and devises means-or, as the words might perhaps be\nrendered, 'plans plannings'--by which He may bring them back. She would\nimply that human power and sovereignty are then noblest and likest\nGod's when they remit penalties and restore wanderers.\n\nI do not further follow the story, which ends, as we all know, with\nAbsalom's ill-omened return. But the wise woman's saying goes very\ndeep, and, in its picturesque form, may help to bring out more vividly\nsome truths--all-important ones--of which I wish to beg your very\nearnest consideration and acceptance.\n\nI. Note, then, who are God's banished ones.\n\nThe woman's words are one of the few glimpses which we have of the\ncondition of religious thought amongst the masses of Israel. Clearly\nshe had laid to heart the teaching which declared the great, solemn,\nuniversal fact of sin and consequent separation from God. For the\n'banished ones' of whom she speaks are no particular class of glaring\ncriminals, but she includes within the designation the whole human\nrace, or, at all events, the whole Israel to which she and David\nbelonged. There may have been in her words--though that is very\ndoubtful--a reference to the old story of Cain after the murder of his\nbrother. For that narrative symbolises the consequences of all\nevil-doing and evil-loving, in that he was cast out from the presence\nof God, and went away into a 'land of wandering,' there to hide from\nthe face of the Father. On the one hand, it was banishment; on the\nother hand, it was flight. So had Absalom's departure been, and so is\nours.\n\nStrip away the metaphor, dear brethren, and it just comes to this\nthought, which I seek to lay upon the hearts of all my hearers now--you\ncannot be blessedly and peacefully near God, unless you are far away\nfrom sin. If you take two polished plates of metal, and lay them\ntogether, they will adhere. If you put half a dozen tiny grains of sand\nor dust between them, they will fall apart. So our sins have come\nbetween us and our God. They have not separated God from us, blessed be\nHis name! for His love, and His care, and His desire to bless, His\nthought, and His knowledge, and His tenderness, all come to every soul\nof man. But they have rent us apart from Him, in so far as they make us\nunwilling to be near Him, incapable of receiving the truest nearness\nand blessedness of His presence, and sometimes desirous to hustle Him\nout of our thoughts, and, if we could, out of our world, rather than to\nexpatiate in the calm sunlight of His presence.\n\nThat banishment is self-inflicted. God spurns away no man, but men\nspurn Him, and flee from Him. Many of us know what it is to pass whole\ndays, and weeks, and years, as practical Atheists. God is not in all\nour thoughts.\n\nAnd more than that, the miserable disgrace and solitude of a soul that\nis godless in the world is what many of us like. The Prodigal Son\nscraped all his goods together, and thought himself freed from a very\nunwelcome bondage, and a fine independent youth, when he went away into\n'the far country.' It was not quite so pleasant when provisions and\nclothing fell short, and the swine's trough was the only table that was\nspread before him. But yet there are many of us, I fear, who are\nperfectly comfortable away from God, in so far as we can get away from\nHim, and who never are aware of the degradation that lies in a soul's\nhaving lowered itself to this, that it had rather not have God\ninconveniently near.\n\nAway down in the luxurious islands of the Southern Sea you will find\ndegraded Englishmen who have chosen rather to cast in their lot with\nsavages than to have to strain and work and grow. These poor\nbeach-combers of the Pacific, not happy in their degradation, but\nwallowing in it, are no exaggerated pictures of the condition, in\nreality, of thousands of us who dwell far from God, and far therefore\nfrom righteousness and peace.\n\nII. Notice God's yearning over His banished ones.\n\nThe woman in our story hints at, or suggests, a parallel which, though\ninadequate, is deeply true. David was Absalom's father and Absalom's\nking; and the two relationships fought against each other in his heart.\nThe king had to think of law and justice; the father cried out for his\nson. The young man's offence had neither altered his relationship nor\naffected the father's heart.\n\nAll that is true, far more deeply, blessedly true, in regard to our\nrelation, the wandering exiles' relation, to God. For, whilst I believe\nthat the highest form of sonship is only realised in the hearts of men\nwho have been made partakers of a new life through Jesus Christ, I\nbelieve, just as firmly and earnestly, that every man and woman on the\nface of the earth, by virtue of physical life derived from God, by\nvirtue of a spiritual being, which, in a very real and deep sense,\nstill bears the image of God, and by reason of His continued love and\ncare over them, is a child of His. The banished son is still a son, and\nis '_His_ banished one.' If there is love--wonderful as the thought is,\nand heart-melting as it ought to be--there must be loss when the child\ngoes away. Human love would not have the same name as God's unless\nthere were some analogy between the two. And though we walk in dark\nplaces, and had better acknowledge that the less we speak upon such\nprofound subjects the less likely we are to err, yet it seems to me\nthat the whole preciousness of the revelation of God in Scripture is\nimperilled unless we frankly recognise this--that His love is like\nours, delights in being returned like ours, and is like ours in that it\nrejoices in presence and knows a sense of loss in absence. If you think\nthat that is too bold a thing to say, remember who it was that taught\nus that the father fell on the neck of the returning prodigal, and\nkissed him; and that the rapture of his joy was the token and measure\nof the reality of his regret, and that it was the father to whom the\nprodigal son was 'lost.' Deep as is the mystery, let nothing, dear\nbrethren, rob us of the plain fact that God's love moves all around the\nworst, the unworthiest, the most rebellious in the far-off land, and\n'desires not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from\nhis iniquity and live.'\n\nAnd it is you, _you_, whom He wants back; you whom He would fain rescue\nfrom your aversion to good and your carelessness of Him. It is you whom\nHe seeks, according to the great saying of the Master, 'the Father\nseeketh' for worshippers in spirit and in truth.\n\nIII. Note the formidable obstacles to the restoration of the banished.\n\nThe words 'banished' and 'expelled' in our text are in the original the\nsame; and the force of the whole would be better expressed if the same\nEnglish word was employed as the equivalent of both. We should then see\nmore clearly than the variation of rendering in our text enables us to\nsee, that the being 'expelled' is no further stage which God devises\nmeans to prevent, but that what is meant is that He provides methods by\nwhich the banished should not be banished--that is, should be restored\nto Himself.\n\nNow, note that the language of this 'wise woman,' unconsciously to\nherself, confesses that the parallel that she was trying to draw did\nnot go on all fours; for what she was asking the king to do was simply,\nby an arbitrary act, to sweep aside law and to remit penalty. She\ninstinctively feels that that is not what can be done by God, and so\nshe says that He 'devises means' by which He can restore His banished.\n\nThat is to say, forgiveness and the obliteration of the consequences of\na man's sin, and his restoration to the blessed nearness to God, which\nis life, are by no means such easy and simple matters as people\nsometimes suppose them to be. The whole drift of popular thinking\nto-day goes in the direction of a very superficial and easy gospel,\nwhich merely says, 'Oh, of course, of course God forgives! Is not God\nLove? Is not God our Father? What more do you want than that?' Ah! you\nwant a great deal more than that, my friends. Let me press upon you two\nor three plain considerations. There are formidable obstacles in the\nway of divine forgiveness.\n\nIf there are to be any pardon and restoration at all, they must be such\nas will leave untouched the sovereign majesty of God's law, and,\nuntampered with, the eternal gulf between good and evil. That easygoing\ngospel which says, 'God will pardon, of course!' sounds very charitable\nand very catholic, but at bottom it is very cruel. For it shakes the\nvery foundations on which the government of God must repose. God's law\nis the manifestation of God's character; and that is no flexible thing\nwhich can be bent about at the bidding of a weak good-nature. I believe\nthat men are right in holding that certainly God must pardon, but I\nbelieve that they are fatally wrong in not recognising this--that the\nonly kind of forgiveness which is possible for Him to bestow is one in\nwhich there shall be no tampering with the tremendous sanctions of His\nawful law; and no tendency to teach that it matters little whether a\nman is good or bad. The pardon, which many of us seem to think is quite\nsufficient, is a pardon that is nothing more noble than good-natured\nwinking at transgression. And oh! if this be all that men have to lean\non, they are leaning on a broken reed. The motto on the blue cover of\nthe _Edinburgh Review_, for over a hundred years now, is true: 'The\njudge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted.' David struck a fatal\nblow at the prestige of his own rule, when he weakly let his son off\nfrom penalty. And, if it were possible to imagine such a thing, God\nHimself would strike as fatal a blow at the justice and judgment which\nare the foundations of His throne, if His forgiveness was such as to be\ncapable of being confounded with love which was too weakly indulgent to\nbe righteous.\n\nFurther, if there are to be forgiveness and restoration at all, they\nmust be such as will turn away the heart of the pardoned man from his\nevil. The very story before us shows that it is not every kind of\npardon which makes a man better. The scapegrace Absalom came back\nunsoftened, without one touch of gratitude to his father in his base\nheart, without the least gleam of a better nature dawning upon him, and\nwent flaunting about the court until his viciousness culminated in his\nunnatural rebellion. That is to say, there is a forgiveness which\nnourishes the seeds of the crimes that it pardons. We have only to look\ninto our own hearts, and we have only to look at the sort of people\nround us, to be very sure that, unless the forgiveness that is granted\nus from the heavens has in it an element which will avert our wills and\ndesires from evil, the pardon will be very soon needed again, for the\nevil will very soon be done again.\n\nIf there are to be forgiveness and restoration at all, they must come\nin such a fashion as that there shall be no doubt whatsoever of their\nreality and power. The vague kind of trust in a doubtful mercy, about\nwhich I have been speaking, may do all very well for people that have\nnever probed the depths of their own hearts. Superficial notions of our\nsin, which so many of us have, are contented with superficial remedies\nfor it. But let a man get a glimpse of his own real self, and I think\nthat he will wish for something a great deal more solid to grip hold\nof, than nebulous talk of the kind that I have been describing. If once\nwe feel ourselves to be struggling in the black flood of that awful\nriver, we shall want a firmer hold upon the bank than is given to us by\nsome rootless tree or other. We must clutch something that will stand a\npull, if we are to be drawn from the muddy waters.\n\nPeople say to us, 'Oh, God will forgive, of course!' Does this world\nlook like a place where forgiveness is such an easy thing? Is there\nanything more certain than that consequences are inevitable when deeds\nhave been done, and 'that whatsoever a man sows that shall he also\nreap' and whatsoever he brews that shall he also drink? And is it into\na grim, stern world of retribution like this that people will come,\nwith their smiling, sunny gospel of a matter-of-course forgiveness,\nupon very easy terms of a slight penitence?\n\nBrethren, God has to 'devise means,' which is a strong way of saying,\nin analogy to the limitations of humanity, that He cannot, by an\narbitrary act of His will, pardon a sinful man. His eternal nature\nforbids it. His established law forbids it. The fabric of His universe\nforbids it. The good of men forbids it. The problem is insoluble by\nhuman thought. The love of God is like some great river that pours its\nwaters down its channel, and is stayed by a black dam across its\ncourse, along which it feels for any cranny through which it may pour\nitself. We could never save ourselves, but\n\n          'He that might the vengeance best have took,\n           Found out the remedy.'\n\nIV. And so the last word that I have to say is to note the triumphant,\ndivine solution of these difficulties.\n\nThe work of Jesus Christ, and the work of Jesus Christ alone, meets all\nthe requirements. It vindicates the majesty of law, it deepens the gulf\nbetween righteousness and sin. Where is there such a demonstration of\nthe awful truth that 'the wages of sin is death' as on that Cross on\nwhich the Son of God died for us and for all 'His banished ones'? Where\nis there such a demonstration of the fixedness of the divine law as in\nthat death to which the Son of God submitted Himself for us all? Where\ndo we learn the hideousness of sin, the endless antagonism between God\nand it, and the fatal consequences of it, as we learn them in the\nsacrifice of our Lord and Saviour? Where do we find the misery and\ndesolation of banishment from God so tragically uttered as in that cry\nwhich rent the darkness of eclipse,' My God! My God! why hast Thou\nforsaken Me?'\n\nThat work of Christ's is the only way by which it is made absolutely\ncertain that sins forgiven shall be sins abhorred; and that a man once\nrestored shall cleave to his Restorer as to his Life. That work is the\nonly way by which a man can be absolutely certain that there is\nforgiveness, in spite of all the accusations of his own conscience; in\nspite of all the inexorable working out of penalties in the system of\nthe world which seems to contradict the fond belief; in spite of all\nthat a foreboding gaze tells, or ought to tell, of a judgment that is\nto follow.\n\nBrethren, God has devised a means. None else could have done so. I\nbeseech you, realise these facts that I have been trying to bring\nbefore you, and the considerations that I have based upon them, so far\nas they commend themselves to your hearts and consciences; and do not\nbe content with acquiescing in them, but act upon them. We are all\nexiles from God, unless we have been 'brought nigh by the blood of\nChrist.' In Him, and in Him alone, can God restore His banished ones.\nIn Him, and in Him alone, can we find a pardon which cleanses the\nheart, and ensures the removal of the sin which it forgives. In Him,\nand in Him alone, can we find, not a peradventure, not a subjective\ncertainty, but an external fact which proclaims that verily there is\nforgiveness for us all. I pray you, dear friends, do not be content\nwith that half-truth, which is ever the most dangerous lie, of divine\npardon apart from Jesus Christ. Lay your sins upon His head, and your\nhand in the hand of the Elder Brother, who has come to the far-off land\nto seek us, and He will lead you back to the Father's house and the\nFather's heart, and you will be 'no more strangers and foreigners, but\nfellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God.'\n\n\n\n\nPARDONED SIN PUNISHED\n\n'And It came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and\nhorses, and fifty men to run before him. 2. And Absalom rose up early,\nand stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man\nthat had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom\ncalled unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy\nservant is of one of the tribes of Israel. 3. And Absalom said unto\nhim. See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed\nof the king to hear thee. 4. Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made\njudge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might\ncome unto me, and I would do him justice! 5. And it was so, that when\nany man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand,\nand took him, and kissed him. 6. And on this manner did Absalom to all\nIsrael that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts\nof the men of Israel. 7. And it came to pass after forty years, that\nAbsalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow,\nwhich I have vowed unto the Lord, in Hebron. 8. For thy servant vowed a\nvow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the Lord shall bring\nme again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord. 9. And the\nking said unto him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. 10.\nBut Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As\nsoon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom\nreigneth in Hebron. 11. And with Absalom went two hundred men out of\nJerusalem, that were called; and they went in their simplicity, and\nthey knew not any thing. 12. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the\nGilonite, David's counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he\noffered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people\nincreased continually with Absalom.'--2 SAMUEL xv. 1-12.\n\n\nThere was little brightness in David's life after his great sin. Nathan\nhad told him, even while announcing his forgiveness, that the sword\nshould never depart from his house; and this revolt of Absalom's may be\ndirectly traced to his father's disgraceful crime. The solemn lesson\nthat pardoned sin works out its consequences, so that 'whatsoever a man\nsoweth, that shall he also reap,' is taught by it. The portion of the\nstory with which we are concerned has two stages,--the slow hatching of\nthe plot, and its final outburst.\n\nI. Verses 1 to 6 give us the preparation of the mine. It takes four\nyears, during which Absalom plays all the tricks usual to aspirants for\nthe most sweet voices of the multitude. He seems to have been but a\npoor creature; but it does not take much brain to do a great deal of\nmischief. He was vain, headstrong, with a dash of craft and a large\namount of ambition. He had no love for his father, and no ballast of\nhigh principle, to say nothing of religion. He was a spoiled child\ngrown to be a man, with a child's petulance and unreason, but a man's\npassions. He loved his unfortunate sister, but it was as much wounded\nhonour as love which led him to the murder of his elder brother Amnon.\nThat crime cleared his way to the throne; and David's half-and-half\ntreatment of him after it, neither sternly punishing nor freely\npardoning, set the son against the father, and left a sense of injury.\nSo he became a rebel.\n\nThe story tells very vividly how he adopted the familiar tactics of\npretenders. How old, and yet how modern, it reads! We who live in a\ncountry where everybody is an 'elector' of some sort, and candidates\nare plentiful, see the same things going on, in a little different\ndress, before our eyes. Absalom begins operations by dazzling people\nwith ostentatious splendour. In better days Samuel had trudged on foot,\ndriving a heifer before him, to anoint his father; and royalty had\nretained a noble simplicity in the hands of Saul and David. But 'plain\nliving and high thinking' did not suit Absalom; and he had gauged the\npopular taste accurately enough in setting up his chariot with its\nfifty runners. That was a show something like a king, and, no doubt,\nmuch more approved than David's simplicity. But it was an evil omen to\nany one who looked below the surface. When luxury grows, devotion\nlanguishes. The senseless ostentation which creeps into the families of\ngood men, and is sustained by their weak compliance with their spoiled\nchildren's wishes, does a world of harm. We in Lancashire have a\nproverb, 'Clogs, carriage, clogs,' which puts into three words the\nhistory of three generations, and is verified over and over again.\n\nHow well Absalom has learned the arts of the office-seeker! Along with\nhis handsome equipage he shows admirable devotion to the interests of\nhis 'constituents.' He is early at the gate, so great is his appetite\nfor work; he is accessible to everybody; he flatters each with the\nassurance that his case is clear; he gently drops hints of sad\nnegligence in high quarters, which he could so soon set right, if only\nhe were in power; and he will not have the respectful salutation of\ninferiors, but grasps every hard hand, and kisses each tanned cheek,\nwith an affectation of equality very soothing to the dupes.\n'Electioneering' is much the same all the world over; and Absalom has a\ngood many imitators nearer home.\n\nThere was, no doubt, truth in the charge he made against David of\nnegligence in his judicial and other duties. Ever since his great sin,\nthe king seems to have been stunned into inaction. The heavy sense of\ndemerit had taken the buoyancy out of him, and, though forgiven, he\ncould never regain the elastic energy of purer days. The psalms which\npossibly belong to this period show a singular passivity. If we suppose\nthat he was much in the seclusion of his palace, a heavily-burdened and\nspirit-broken man, we can understand how his condition tempted his\nheartless, dashing son to grasp at the reins which seemed to be\ndropping from his slack hands, and how his passivity gave opportunity\nfor Absalom's carrying on his schemes undisturbed, and a colour of\nreasonableness to his charges. For four years this went on unchecked,\nand apparently unsuspected by the king, who must have been much\nwithdrawn from public life not to have taken alarm. Nothing takes the\nspring out of a man like the humiliating sense of sin. The whole tone\nof David's conduct throughout the revolt is, 'I deserve it all. Let\nthem smite, for God hath bidden them.' To this resourceless,\nunresisting submission to his enemies, sin had brought the daring\nsoldier. It is not old age that has broken his courage and spirit, but\nthe consciousness of his foul guilt, which weighs on him all the more\nheavily because he knows that it is pardoned.\n\nII. The second part of our subject tells of the explosion of the\nlong-prepared mine. It was necessary to hoist the flag of revolt\nelsewhere than in Jerusalem, and some skill is shown in choosing\nHebron, which had been the capital before the capture of the Jebusite\ncity, and in which there would be natural jealousy of the new\nmetropolis. The pretext of the sacrifice at Hebron, in pursuance of a\nvow made by Absalom in his exile, was meant to touch David's heart in\ntwo ways,--by appealing to his devotional feelings, and by presenting a\npathetic picture of his suffering and devout son vowing in the land\nwhere his father's wrath had driven him. It is not the first time that\nreligion has been made the stalking-horse for criminal ambition, nor is\nit the last. Politicians are but too apt to use it as a cloak for their\npersonal ends. Absalom talking about his vow is a spectacle that might\nhave made the most unsuspecting sure that there was something in the\nwind. Such a use of religious observances shows more than anything else\ncould do, the utter irreligion of the man who can make it. A son\nrebelling against his father is an ugly sight, but rebellion disguised\nas religion adds to the ugliness. David suspects nothing; or, if he\ndoes, is too broken to resist, and, perhaps glad at any sign of grace\nin his son, or pleased to gratify any of his wishes, sends him away\nwith a benediction. What a parting,--the last, though neither knew it!\n\nThe plot had spread widely in four years, and messengers had been sent\nthrough all Israel to summon its adherents to Hebron. If David had been\nas popular as in his early days, it would have been impossible for such\na widely spread conspiracy to have come so near a head without some\nfaithful soul having been found to tell him of it. But obviously there\nwas much smouldering discontent, arising, no doubt, from such causes as\nthe pressure of taxation, the gloom that hung over the king, the\npartial paralysis of justice, the transference of the capital, the\nweight of wars, and, at lowest, the craving for something new. Few\nreigns or lives set in unclouded brightness. The western horizon is\noften filled with a bank of blackness. Strangely enough, Absalom\ninvited two hundred men to accompany him, who were ignorant of the\nplot. That looks as if its strength was outside Jerusalem, as was\nnatural. These innocents were sufficiently associated with Absalom to\nbe asked to accompany him, and, no doubt, he expected to secure their\ncomplicity when he got them away. Unsuspecting people are the best\ntools of knaves. It is better not to be on friendly terms with Absalom,\nif we would be true to David. The last piece of preparation recorded is\nthe summoning of Abithophel to come and be the brain of the plot. He\nhad been David's wisest counsellor, and is probably the 'familiar\nfriend, in whom I trusted,' whose defection the Psalmist mourns so\nbitterly, and whose treachery was a marvellous foreshadowing of the\ntraitor who dipped in the dish with David's Lord. Note that he had\nalready withdrawn from Jerusalem to his own city, from which he came at\nonce to Hebron. Absalom could flatter and play the well-worn tricks of\na pretender, but a subtler, cooler head was wanted now, and the\ntreacherous son was backed up by the traitor friend. 'And the\nconspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with\nAbsalom.' What a tragical issue to the joyous loyalty of early days!\nWhat a strange madness must have laid hold on the nation to have led\nthem to prefer such a piece of petulance and vanity to their\nhero-poet-king! What did it mean?\n\nThe answer is not far to seek, and it is the great lesson of this\nstory. David's sin was truly repented and freely forgiven, but not left\nunpunished. God is too loving to shield men from the natural\nconsequences, in the physical and social world, of their sins. The\npenitent drunkard's hand shakes, and his constitution is not renewed,\nthough his spirit is. Only, punishment is changed into discipline, when\nthe heart rests in the assurance of pardon, and is accepted as a token\nof a Father's love. In every way God made of the vice the whip to\nscourge the sinner, and David, like us all, had to drink as he had\nbrewed, though he was forgiven the sin.\n\n\n\n\nA LOYAL VOW\n\n'And the king's servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are\nready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.'--2 SAMUEL xv.\n15.\n\n\nWe stand here at the darkest hour of King David's life. Bowed down by\nthe consciousness of his past sin, and recognising in the rebellion of\nhis favourite son the divine chastisement, his early courage and\nbuoyant daring seem to have ebbed from him wholly. He is forsaken by\nthe mass of his subjects, he is preparing to abandon Jerusalem, and to\nflee as an exile, as he says himself so pathetically, 'whither I may.'\nAnd at that moment of deepest depression there comes one little gleam\nof consolation and one piece of chivalrous devotion which brightens the\nwhole story. His special retainers, apparently a bodyguard mostly of\nforeigners, rally round him. Mostly foreigners, I say, for these hard\nwords 'Cherethites and Pelethites' most probably mean inhabitants of\nthe island of Crete, and Philistines. And as to six hundred of them, at\nall events, there can be no doubt, for they are expressly said to be\n'men of Gath who followed after him.' At all events, there was a little\nnucleus of men, not his own subjects, who determined to share his fate,\nwhatever it was. And the words of my text are their words, 'Behold, thy\nservants are ready to do whatsoever the king shall appoint.' Or, as the\nword stands in the original, in an abrupt, half-finished sentence, even\nmore pathetic, 'According to all that my lord the king shall appoint,\nbehold thy servants.' These men were foreigners, not bound to render\nobedience to the king, but giving it because their hearts were touched.\nThey were loyal amongst rebels, so many Abdiels, 'among the faithless,\nfaithful only' these, and they avowed their determination to cleave to\nthe sovereign of their choice at a time when his back was at the wall,\nand their determination to follow him meant only peril and privation.\nThey were filled with a passionate personal attachment to the king, and\nthat personal attachment was ready to manifest itself as a willing\nsacrifice, as such love always is ready.\n\nNow surely in all this there is a lesson for us. The heroism of men\ntowards a man, the uncalculating devotion and magnificent\nself-sacrifice of which the poorest human soul is capable when touched\nto fine issues by some heart-love, are surely not all meant to be\nlavished on fellow-creatures, who, alas! generally receive the most of\nthem. But these rude Philistines and Gittites, Goliath's\nfellow-townsmen, may preach to us Christians a lesson. Why should not\nwe say as they said, 'According to all that my Lord the King shall\nappoint, behold Thy servants'?\n\nI. So then, first, our King's will ought to be our will.\n\nThe obedience that is promised in these words is not the obedience of\naction only, but it is the bowing down of the heart. And for us\nChristian men there is neither peace nor nobleness in our lives, except\nin the measure in which the will of Jesus Christ and our wills are\naccurately conterminous and identical. Wheresoever the two coincide,\nthere is strength for us; wheresoever they diverge, there are weakness\nand certain ruin. These two wills ought to be like two of Euclid's\ntriangles, or other geometric figures, the one laid upon the other, and\neach line and curve and angle accurately corresponding and coinciding,\nso that the two cover precisely the same ground.\n\nChrist's will my will; that is religion. And you and I are Christians\njust in the measure in which that coincidence of wills is true about\nus, and not one hair's-breadth further, for all our professions.\nWheresoever my will diverges from Christ, in that particular I am not\nHis man; and 'Christian' simply means 'Christ's man.' I belong to Him\nwhen I think as He does, love as He does, will as He does, accept His\ncommandment as the law of my life, His pattern as my example, His\nprovidence as sufficient and as good. Where we thus yield ourselves to\nHim, there we are strong, and so far, and only so far, have we a right\nto say that we are the King's servants at all.\n\nThis absolute submission we do render to one another when our hearts\nare touched; and the fact that men can and do give it--husbands to\nwives, wives to husbands, children to parents, friends to one\nanother--the fact that there is the capacity for that giving of one's\nself away, lodged deep in our nature, tells us what we are meant to do\nwith it. 'Whose image and superscription hath it?' Was it meant that we\nshould thus live in slavish submission even to the dearest loved ones?\nSurely not; for that is the destruction of individuality. No, but it\nwas meant that we should lay our wills down at Christ's feet and say,\n'Not my will, but Thine,' and Thine mine because I have made it mine by\nlove. Then there is rest, and then we have solved the secret of the\nworld, and are what our Lord would have us to be. Oh! do not our\nrelations to our dear ones, with all that infinite power of\nself-sacrifice that our love brings with it, rebuke the partial extent\nof our surrender to our Master? and may we not be ashamed when we\ncontrast the joy that we feel in giving up to those that we love, and\nthe reluctance with which, too often, we obey the Master's\ncommandments, and the long years of repining and murmuring before we\n'submit,' as we call it, which too often means accept His providences\nas inevitable, though not as welcome? To be 'ready to do whatsoever my\nLord the King shall choose,' believing that His choice is wisdom and\nkindness for us, and His commandments a blessing and a gift, is the\nattitude and temper for us all. Is there any other attitude to Jesus\nChrist which corresponds to our relation to Him, to what He has done\nfor us, to what we say that He is to us? He has the right to us,\nbecause He has given us Himself. He asks nothing from us but that of\nwhich He has already set us the example. 'He gave Himself for us, as\nthe Apostle says with emphasis that is often unnoticed. 'He _gave\nHimself_ for us' that He might '_purchase us_ for _Himself_.' He who\nwould possess another must impart Himself, and love, that yields a\nwhole man to the loved one, only springs when the loved one mutually\nyields her whole heart. The King does not command from above, but He\ncomes down amongst us, and He says, 'I gave Myself for thee; what\ngivest thou to Me?' O brethren, let us answer with that brave,\nchivalrous old Gittite:--'As the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the King\nliveth, surely in what place my Lord the King shall be, whether in\ndeath or life, even there also will Thy servant be.'\n\nII. Then notice again, still sticking to our story, that this yielding\nup of will, if it is worth anything, will become the more intense and\nfervent when surrounded by rebels.\n\nAll Israel, with that poor feather-headed, vain Absalom, were on the\none side, and David and these foreigners were on the other. Years of\nquiet uneventful life would never have brought out such magnificent\nheroism of devotion and self-surrender, as was crowded into that one\nmoment of loyalty asserted in the face of triumphant rebels and\ntraitors.\n\nIn like manner, the more Christ's reign is set at nought by the people\nabout us, and the less they recognise the blessedness and the duty of\nsubmission to Him, the more strong and unmistakable should be the\nutterance of our loyalty. We should grasp His hand tighter by reason of\nthe storms that may rage round about us. And if we dwell amongst those\nwho, in any measure, deny or neglect His merciful dominion, let us see\nto it that we all the more hoist our colours at our doors, and stand by\nthem when they are hoisted, that nobody may mistake under which King we\nserve.\n\nYou in your places of business, you young men in your warehouses, and\nall of us in our several spheres, have to come across many people who\nhave no share in our loyalty and offer no allegiance to our King. That\nis the reason for intenser loyalty on our part. Never you mind what\nothers say or do; do not take your orders from them. Better be with the\nhandful that rally round David than with the crowds that run after\nAbsalom! Better be amongst the few that are faithful than amongst the\nmultitudes that depart! Dare to be singular, if it comes to that; and\nat all events remember that your relationship to your Master is a thing\nthat concerns Him and you chiefly, and that you are not to take the\npattern of your loyalty, nor the orders for your lives, from any lips\nbut His own.\n\nHush all other voices that would command, and hush them that you may\nlisten to Him. It is always difficult enough for Christian men to\nascertain, in perplexed circumstances, the clear path of duty; but it\nis impossible if, along with His voice, we let the buzz of the crowd be\naudible in our ears. There is only one way by which we can hear what\nour 'Lord the King appoints,' and that is by making a great stillness\nin our souls, and neither letting our own yelping inclinations give\ntongue, nor the babble of men round us, and their notions of life and\nof what is right, have influence upon us, but waiting to hear what God\nthe Lord, speaking in Christ the King, has to say to us. And, remember,\nthe more rebels there are, the more need for us to be conspicuously\nloyal to our King.\n\nIII. Again, this complete yielding of ourselves in practical obedience\nand heart submission to command merits and providences is to be\nmaintained, whatsoever it may lead to in the way of privation and\ndifficulty.\n\nIt was no holiday vow, made upon some parade day, that these brave\nforeigners were bringing to their king now, but it meant 'we are ready\nto suffer, starve, fight, lose everything, die if need be, to be true\nto thee.' And the very thought of the impending danger elevated the\nmen's consciousness, and made heroes out of very common people. And\nperhaps that is the best effect of our difficulties and sorrows, that\nthey strike fire sometimes (if they are rightly accepted and used) out\nof what seems to be only dead, lumpish matter, and many a Christian\nshoots up into a stature of greatness and nobleness in his sorrow, who\nwas but a very commonplace creature when all things went well with him.\nThat is the kind of obedience that Christ delights to accept, obedience\nthat is ready for anything, and does not wait to make sure that there\nis no danger of forfeiting a whole skin and a quiet life, before it\nvows itself to service. Are we only to be 'fair-weather Christians,' or\nare we to be prepared for all the trials and sufferings that may befall\nus? A Christianity that does not bring any worldly penalties along with\nit is not worth much. Christians of Christ's pattern have generally to\ngive up something for their Christianity. They give up nothing that it\nis not gain to lose, nothing that they are not better without, but they\nhave to surrender much in which other people find great enjoyment, and\nwhich their weaker selves would delight in too. Are you ready, my\nbrother, for that? 'Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving\nagainst sin.' The old days of heroism and martyrdom are done with, as\nfar as we are concerned, whatever may lie in the future. But do we make\nwillingly and gladly the surrenders and the self-abnegations that are\ndemanded by our loyalty to our Master? Have we ever learned to say\nabout any line of action that our poor, lower nature grasps at, and our\nhigher, enlightened by communion with Jesus Christ, forbids: 'So did\nnot I because of the fear of the Lord'? We can talk about following\nChrist's footsteps; do you think that if we had stood where these rude\nsoldiers stood, or had anything as dark in prospect, as the price of\nour faithfulness to our King, as they had as the price of faithfulness\nto theirs, there would have rung from our lips the utterly sincere vow\nthat sprang joyously from theirs: 'Behold Thy servants, ready to do\nwhatever our Lord the King shall appoint'?\n\nIV. A final thought, which travels beyond my text, is that such\nthorough-going obedience, irrespective of consequences, is the secret\nof all blessedness.\n\n'Great peace have they which love Thy law': the peace of conscience;\nthe peace of ceasing from that which is our worst enemy, self-will; the\npeace of self-surrender; the peace of feeling ''Tis His to command;\n'tis mine to obey'; the peace of casting the whole settling of the\ncampaign on the King's shoulders, and of finding our duty restricted to\ntramping along with cheery heart on the path that He has appointed.\nThat is worth having. Oh! if we could cease from self and lay our wills\ndown before Him, then we should be quiet. The tranquil heart is the\nheart which has the law of Christ within it, and the true delight of\nlife belongs to those who truly say, 'I delight to do Thy will.' So\nyielding, so obeying, so submitting, so surrendering one's self, life\nbecomes quiet, and strong, and sweet. And, if I might so turn the story\nthat we have been considering, the faithful soldiers who have been true\nto the King when His throne was contested, will march with laurelled\nheads in His triumphant train when He comes back after His final and\ncomplete victory, and reign with Him in the true City of Peace, where\nHis will shall be perfectly done by loving hearts, and all His servants\nshall be kings.\n\n\n\n\nITTAI OF GATH\n\n'And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the Lord liveth, and as my\nlord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be,\nwhether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.'--2\nSAMUEL xv. 21.\n\n\nIt was the darkest hour in David's life. No more pathetic page is found\nin the Old Testament than that which tells the story of his flight\nbefore Absalom. He is crushed by the consciousness that his punishment\nis deserved--the bitter fruit of the sin that filled all his later life\nwith darkness. His courage and his buoyancy have left him. He has no\nspirit to make a stand or strike a blow. If Shimei runs along the\nhillside abreast of him, shrieking curses as he goes, all he says is:\n'Let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him.'\n\n\nSo, heartbroken and spiritless, he leaves Jerusalem. And as soon as he\nhas got clear of the city he calls a halt, in order that he may muster\nhis followers and see on whom he may depend. Foremost among the little\nband come six hundred men from Gath--Philistines--from Goliath's city.\nThese men, singularly enough, the king had chosen as his bodyguard;\nperhaps he was not altogether sure of the loyalty of his own subjects,\nand possibly felt safer with foreign mercenaries, who could have no\nsecret leanings to the deposed house of Saul. Be that as it may, the\nnarrative tells us that these men had 'come after him from Gath.' He\nhad been there twice in the old days, in his flight from Saul, and the\nsecond visit had extended over something more than a year. Probably\nduring that period his personal attraction, and his reputation as a\nbrilliant leader, had led these rough soldiers to attach themselves to\nhis service, and to be ready to forsake home and kindred in order to\nfight beside him.\n\nAt all events here they are, 'faithful among the faithless,' as foreign\nsoldiers surrounding a king often are--notably, for instance, the Swiss\nguard in the French Revolution. Their strong arms might have been of\ngreat use to David, but his generosity cannot think of involving them\nin his fall, and so he says to them: 'I am not going to fight; I have\nno plan. I am going where I can. You go back and \"worship the rising\nsun.\" Absalom will take you and be glad of your help. And as for me, I\nthank you for your past loyalty. Mercy and peace be with you!'\n\nIt is a beautiful nature that in the depth of sorrow shrinks from\ndragging other people down with itself. Generosity breeds generosity,\nand this Philistine captain breaks out into a burst of passionate\ndevotion, garnished, in soldier fashion, with an unnecessary oath or\ntwo, but ringing very sincere and meaning a great deal. As for himself\nand his men, they have chosen their side. Whoever goes, they stay.\nWhatever befalls, they stick by David; and if the worst come to the\nworst they can all die together, and their corpses lie in firm ranks\nround about their dead king. David's heart is touched and warmed by\ntheir outspoken loyalty; he yields and accepts their service. Ittai and\nhis noble six hundred tramp on, out of our sight, and all their\nhouseholds behind them. Now what is there in all that, to make a sermon\nout of?\n\nI. First, look at the picture of that Philistine soldier, as teaching\nus what grand passionate self-sacrifice may be evolved out of the\nroughest natures.\n\nAnalyse his words, and do you not hear, ringing in them, three things,\nwhich are the seed of all nobility and splendour in human character?\nFirst, a passionate personal attachment; then, that love issuing, as\nsuch love always does, in willing sacrifice that recks not for a moment\nof personal consequences; that is ready to accept anything for itself\nif it can serve the object of its devotion, and will count life well\nexpended if it is flung away in such a service. And we see, lastly, in\nthese words a supreme restful delight in the presence of him whom the\nheart loves. For Ittai and his men, the one thing needful was to be\nbeside him in whose eye they had lived, from whose presence they had\ncaught inspiration; their trusted leader, before whom their souls bowed\ndown. So then this vehement speech is the pure language of love.\n\nNow these three things,--a passionate personal attachment, issuing in\nspontaneous heroism of self-abandonment, and in supreme satisfaction in\nthe beloved presence,--may spring up in the rudest, roughest nature. A\nPhilistine soldier was not a very likely man in whom to find refined\nand lofty emotion. He was hard by nature, hardened by his rough trade;\nand unconscious that he was doing anything at all heroic or great.\nSomething had smitten this rock, and out of it there came the pure\nrefreshing stream. And so I say to you, the weakest and the lowest, the\nroughest and the hardest, the most selfishly absorbed man and woman\namong us, has lying in him and her dormant capacities for flaming up\ninto such a splendour of devotion and magnificence of heroic\nself-sacrifice as is represented in these words of my text. A mother\nwill do it for her child, and never think that she has done anything\nextraordinary; husbands will do such things for wives; wives for\nhusbands; friends and lovers for one another. All who know the\nsweetness and power of the bond of affection know that there is nothing\nmore gladsome than to fling oneself away for the sake of those whom we\nlove. And the capacity for such love and sacrifice lies in all of us.\nProsaic, commonplace people as we are, with no great field on which to\nwork out our heroisms; yet we have it in us to love and give ourselves\naway thus, if once the heart be stirred.\n\nAnd lastly, this capacity which lies dormant in all of us, if once it\nis roused to action, will make a man blessed and dignified as nothing\nelse will. The joy of unselfish love is the purest joy that man can\ntaste; the joy of perfect self-sacrifice is the highest joy that\nhumanity can possess, and they lie open for us all.\n\nAnd wherever, in some humble measure, these emotions of which I have\nbeen speaking are realised, there you see weakness springing up into\nstrength, and the ignoble into loftiness. Astronomers tell us that\nsometimes a star that has shone inconspicuous, and stood low down in\ntheir catalogues as of fifth or sixth magnitude, will all at once flame\nout, having kindled and caught fire somehow, and will blaze in the\nheavens, outshining Jupiter and Venus. And so some poor, vulgar, narrow\nnature, touched by this Promethean fire of pure love that leads to\nperfect sacrifice, will 'flame in the forehead of the morning sky' an\nundying splendour, and a light for evermore.\n\nBrethren, my appeal to you is a very plain and simple one, founded on\nthese facts:--You all have that capacity in you, and you all are\nresponsible for the use of it. What have you done with it? Is there any\nperson or thing in this world that has ever been able to lift you up\nout of your miserable selves? Is there any magnet that has proved\nstrong enough to raise you from the low levels along which your life\ncreeps? Have you ever known the thrill of resolving to become the\nbondservant and the slave of some great cause not your own? Or are you,\nas so many of you are, like spiders living in the midst of your web,\nmainly intent upon what you can catch by it? You have these capacities\nslumbering in you. Have you ever set a light to that inert mass of\nenthusiasm that lies within you? Have you ever woke up the sleeper?\nLook at this rough soldier of my text, and learn from him the lesson\nthat there is nothing that so ennobles and dignifies a commonplace\nnature as enthusiasm for a great cause, or self-sacrificing love for a\nworthy heart.\n\nII. The second remark which I make is this:--These possibilities of\nlove and sacrifice point plainly to God in Christ as their true object.\n\n'Whose image and superscription hath it?' said Christ, looking at the\nRoman _denarius_ that they brought and laid on His palm. If the\nEmperor's head is on it, why, then, he has a right to it as tribute.\nAnd then He went on to say, 'Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things\nwhich are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.' So there\nare things that have God's image and superscription stamped on them,\nand such are our hearts, our whole constitution and nature. As plainly\nas the penny had the head of Tiberius on it, and therefore proclaimed\nthat he was Emperor where it was current, so plainly does every soul\ncarry in the image of God the witness that He is its owner and that it\nshould be rendered in tribute to Him.\n\nAnd amongst all these marks of a divine possession and a divine\ndestination printed upon human nature, it seems to me that none is\nplainer than this fact, that we can all of us thus give ourselves away\nin the abandonment of a profound and all-surrendering love. That\ncapacity unmistakably proclaims that it is destined to be directed\ntowards God and to find its rest in Him. As distinctly as some silver\ncup, with its owner's initials and arms engraved upon it, declares\nitself to be 'meet for the master's use,' so distinctly does your soul,\nby reason of this capacity, proclaim that it is meant to be turned to\nHim in whom alone all love can find its perfect satisfaction; for whom\nalone it is supremely blessed and great to lose life itself; and who\nonly has authority over human spirits.\n\nWe are made with hearts that need to rest upon an absolute love; we are\nmade with understandings that need to grasp a pure, a perfect, and, as\nI believe, paradoxical though it may sound, a personal Truth. We are\nmade with wills that crave for an absolute authoritative command, and\nwe are made with a moral nature that needs a perfect holiness. And we\nneed all that love, truth, authority, purity, to be gathered into one,\nfor our misery is that, when we set out to look for treasures, we have\nto go into many lands and to many merchants, to buy many goodly pearls.\nBut we need One of great price, in which all our wealth may be\ninvested. We need that One to be an undying and perpetual possession.\nThere is One to whom our love can ever cleave, and fear none of the\nsorrows or imperfections that make earthward-turned love a rose with\nmany a thorn, One for whom it is pure gain to lose ourselves, One who\nis plainly the only worthy recipient of the whole love and\nself-surrender of the heart.\n\nThat One is God, revealed and brought near to us in Jesus Christ. In\nthat great Saviour we have a love at once divine and human, we have the\ngreat transcendent instance of love leading to sacrifice. On that love\nand sacrifice for us Christ builds His claim on us for our hearts, and\nour all. Life alone can communicate life; it is only light that can\ndiffuse light. It is only love that can kindle love; it is only\nsacrifice that can inspire sacrifice. And so He comes to us, and asks\nthat we should just love Him back again as He has loved us. He first\ngives Himself utterly for and to us, and then asks us to give ourselves\nwholly to Him. He first yields up His own life, and then He says: 'He\nthat loseth his life for My sake shall find it.' The object, the true\nobject, for all this depth of love which lies slumbering in our hearts,\nis God in Christ, the Christ that died for us.\n\nIII. And now, lastly, observe that the terrible misdirection of these\ncapacities is the sin and the misery of the world.\n\nI will not say that such emotions, even when expended on creatures, are\never wasted. For however unworthy may be the objects on which they are\nlavished, the man himself is the better and the higher for having\ncherished them. The mother, when she forgets self in her child, though\nher love and self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice may, in some\nrespects, be called but an animal instinct, is elevated and ennobled by\nthe exercise of them. The patriot and the thinker, the philanthropist,\nay! even--although I take him to be the lowest in the scale--the\nsoldier who, in some cause which he thinks to be a good one, and not\nmerely in the tigerish madness of the battlefield, throws away his\nlife--are lifted in the scale of being by their self-abnegation.\n\nAnd so I am not going to say that when men love each other passionately\nand deeply, and sacrifice themselves for one another, or for some cause\nor purpose affecting only temporal matters, the precious elixir of love\nis wasted. God forbid! But I do say that all these objects, sweet and\ngracious as some of them are, ennobling and elevating as some of them\nare, if they are taken apart from God, are insufficient to fill your\nhearts: and that if they are slipped in between you and God, as they\noften are, then they bring sin and sorrow.\n\nThere is nothing more tragic in this world than the misdirection of\nman's capacity for love and sacrifice. It is like the old story in the\nBook of Daniel, which tells how the heathen monarch made a great feast,\nand when the wine began to inflame the guests, sent for the sacred\nvessels taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, that had been used for\nJehovah's worship; and (as the narrative says, with a kind of shudder\nat the profanation), 'They brought the golden vessels that were taken\nout of the temple of the House of God, which was at Jerusalem, and the\nking and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. They\ndrank wine and praised the gods.' So this heart of mine, which, as I\nsaid, has the Master's initials and His arms engraven upon it, in token\nthat it is His cup, I too often fill with the poisonous and\nintoxicating draught of earthly pleasure and earthly affections; and as\nI drink it, the madness goes through my veins, and I praise gods of my\nown making instead of Him whom alone I ought to love.\n\nAh, brethren! we should be our own rebukers in this matter, and the\nheroism of the world should put to shame the cowardice and the\nselfishness of the Church. Contrast the depth of your affection for\nyour household with the tepidity of your love for your Saviour.\nContrast the willingness with which you sacrifice yourself for some\ndear one with the grudgingness with which you yield yourselves to Him.\nContrast the rest and the sense of satisfaction in the presence of\nthose whom you love, and your desolation when they are absent, with the\nindifference whether you have Christ beside you or not. And remember\nthat the measure of your power of loving is the measure of your\nobligation to love your Lord; and that if you are all frost to Him and\nall fervour to them, then in a very solemn sense 'a man's foes shall be\nthey of his own household.' 'He that loveth father or mother more than\nMe is not worthy of Me.'\n\nAnd so let me gather all that I have been saying into the one earnest\nbeseeching of you that you would bring that power of uncalculating love\nand self-sacrificing affection which is in you, and would fasten it\nwhere it ought to fix--on Christ who died on the cross for you. Such a\nlove will bring blessedness to you. Such a love will ennoble and\ndignify your whole nature, and make you a far greater and fairer man or\nwoman than you ever otherwise could be. Like some little bit of black\ncarbon put into an electric current, my poor nature will flame into\nbeauty and radiance when that spark touches it. So love Him and be at\npeace; give yourselves to Him and He will give you back yourselves,\nennobled and transfigured by the surrender. Lay yourselves on His\naltar, and that altar will sanctify both the giver and the gift. If you\ncan take this rough Philistine soldier's words in their spirit, and in\na higher sense say, 'Whether I live I live unto the Lord, or whether I\ndie I die unto the Lord; living or dying, I am the Lord's,' He will let\nyou enlist in His army; and give you for your marching orders this\ncommand and this hope, 'If any man serve Me let him follow Me; and\nwhere I am there shall also My servant be.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE WAIL OF A BROKEN HEART\n\n'Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a\npillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said, I have no son to keep\nmy name in remembrance; and he called the pillar after his own name:\nand it is called unto this day, Absalom's Place. 19. Then said Ahimaaz\nthe son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that\nthe Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. 20. And Joab said unto him.\nThou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings\nanother day; but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the\nking's son is dead. 21. Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what\nthou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. 22 Then\nsaid Ahimaaz the ton of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever, let me,\nI pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou\nrun, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready? 23. But howsoever,\nsaid he, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the\nway of the plain, and overran Cushi. 24. And David sat between the two\ngates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the\nwall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running\nalone. 25. And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king\nsaid, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace,\nand drew near. 26. And the watchman saw another man running: and the\nwatchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running\nalone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. 27. And the\nwatchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the\nrunning of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good\nman, and cometh with good tidings. 28. And Ahimaaz called, and said\nunto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face\nbefore the king, and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath\ndelivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the\nking. 29. And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz\nanswered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw\na great tumult, but I knew not what it was. 30. And the king said unto\nhim, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.\n31. And, behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king:\nfor the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up\nagainst thee. 32. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man\nAbsalom safe I And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and\nall that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.\n33. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the\ngate, and wept; and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom! My son,\nmy son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my\nson!--2 SAMUEL xviii. 18-33.\n\n\nThe first verse of this passage and the one preceding it give a\nstriking contrast between the actual and the designed burial-place of\nAbsalom. The great pit among the sombre trees, where his bloody corpse\nwas hastily flung, with three darts through his heart, and the rude\ncairn piled over it, were a very different grave from the ostentatious\ntomb 'in the king's dale,' which he had built to keep his memory green.\nThis was what all his restless intrigues and unbridled passions and\ndazzling hopes had come to. He wanted to be remembered, and he got his\nwish; but what a remembrance! That gloomy pit preaches anew the vanity\nof 'vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself,' and tells us once more\nthat\n\n                   Only the actions of the just\n                   Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust.'\n\nI. The first picture here shows a glimpse of the battlefield, and\nbrings before us three men, each in different ways exhibiting how small\na thing Absalom's death was to all but the heartbroken father, and each\ngoing his own road, heedless of what lay below the heap of stones. The\nworld goes on all the same, though death is busy, and some\nheart-strings be cracked. The minute details which fill the most part\nof the story, lead up to, and throw into prominence, David's burst of\nagony at the close. The three men, Ahimaaz, Joab, and the Cushite\n(Ethiopian), are types of different kinds of self-engrossment, which is\nlittle touched by others' sorrows. The first, Ahimaaz, the young priest\nwho had already done good service to David as a spy, is full of the\njoyous excitement of victory, and eager to run with what he thinks such\ngood tidings. The word in verse 19, 'bear tidings,' always implies good\nnews; and the youthful warrior-priest cannot conceive that the death of\nthe head of the revolt can darken to the king the joy of victory, He is\ntruly loyal, but, in his youthful impetuosity and excitement, cannot\nsympathise with the desolate father, who sits expectant at Mahanaim.\nRight feeling and real affection often fail in sympathy, for want of\nputting oneself in another's place; and, with the best intentions,\nwound where they mean to cheer. A little imagination; guided by\naffection, would have taught Ahimaaz that the messenger who told David\nof Absalom's death would thrust a sharper spear into his heart than\nJoab had driven into Absalom's.\n\nJoab is a very different type of indifference. He is too much\naccustomed to battle to be much flushed with victory, and has killed\ntoo many men to care much about killing another. He is cool enough to\nmeasure the full effect of the news on David; and though he clearly\ndiscerns the sorrow, has not one grain of participation in it. He has\nsome liking for Ahimaaz, and so does not wish him to run, but dissuades\nhim on the ground (verse 22, Revised Version) that he will win no\nreward. That is the true spirit of the mercenary, who cannot conceive\nof a man taking trouble unless he gets paid for it somehow, and will\nfight and kill, all in the way of business, without the least spark of\nenthusiasm for a cause. Hard stolidity and brutal carelessness shielded\nhim from any 'womanish' tenderness. Absalom was dead, and he had killed\nhim. It was a good thing, for it had put out the fire of revolt. No\ndoubt David would be sorry, but that mattered little. Only it was\nbetter for the message to go by some one whose fate was of no\nconsequence. So he picks out 'the Cushite,' probably an Ethiopian\nslave; and if David in his anguish should harm him, nobody will be hurt\nbut a friendless stranger.\n\nThe Cushite gets his orders; and he too is, in another fashion,\ncareless of their contents and effect. Without a word, he bows himself\nto Joab, and runs, as unconcerned as the paper of a letter that may\nbreak a heart. Ahimaaz still pleads to go, and, gaining leave, takes\nthe road across the Jordan valley, which was probably easier, though\nlonger; while the other messenger went by the hills, which was a\nshorter and rougher road.\n\nII. The scene shifts to Mahanaim, where David had found refuge. He can\nscarcely have failed to take an omen from the name, which commemorated\nhow another anxious heart had camped there, and been comforted, when it\nsaw the vision of the encamping angels above its own feeble, undefended\ntents, and Jacob 'called the name of that place Mahanaim' (that is,\n'Two Camps'). How the change of scene in the narrative helps its\nvividness, and makes us share in the strain of expectancy and the\ntension of watching the approaching messengers! The king, restless for\nnews, has come out to the space between the outer and inner gates, and\nplanted a lookout on the gate-house roof. The sharp eyes see a solitary\nfigure making for the city, across the plain. David recognises that,\nsince he is alone, he must be a messenger; and now the question is,\nWhat has he to tell? We see him coming nearer, and share the suspense.\nThen the second man appears; and clearly something more had happened,\nto require two. What was it? They run fast; but the moments are long\ntill they arrive. The watchman recognises Ahimaaz by his style of\nrunning; and David wistfully tries to forecast his tidings from his\ncharacter. It is a pathetic effort, and reveals how anxiously his heart\nwas beating.\n\nAs soon as Ahimaaz is within earshot, though panting with running, no\ndoubt, he shouts, with what breath is left, the one word, 'Peace!' and\nthen, at David's feet, tells the victory, 'Blessed be the Lord thy\nGod'; the triumph was Jehovah's gift, and in it He had shown Himself\nDavid's God, and vindicated His servant's trust. But Ahimaaz is more\ndevout and thankful than David. The king has neither praise and\nthankfulness to God nor to man. He has no pleasure in the victory; no\ninterest in the details of the fight; no thankfulness for a restored\nkingdom; no word of eulogium for his soldiers; nothing but devouring\nanxiety for his unworthy son. How chilling to Ahimaaz, all flushed with\neagerness, and proud of victory, and panting with running, and hungry\nfor some word of praise, it must have been, to get for sole answer the\nquestion about Absalom! He shrinks from telling the whole truth, which,\nindeed, the Cushite was officially despatched to tell; but his\nenigmatic story of a great tumult as he left the field, of which he did\nnot know the meaning, was meant to prepare for the bitter news. So he\nis bid to stand aside, and no words more vouchsafed to him. A cool\nreception, unworthy of David! As Ahimaaz stood there, neglected, he\nwould think that the politic Joab was right after all.\n\nThe Cushite must have been close behind him, for he comes up as soon as\nthe brief conversation is over. A deeper anxiety must have waited his\ntidings; for he must have something more to tell than victory. His\nfirst words add nothing to Ahimaaz's information. What, then, had he\ncome for? David forebodes evil, and, with the monotony of a man\nabsorbed in one anxiety, repeats verbatim his former question. Poor\nking! He more than half knew the answer, before it was given. The\nCushite with some tenderness veils the fate of Absalom in the wish that\nall the king's enemies may be 'as that young man is.' But the veil was\nthin, and the attempt to console by reminding of the fact that the dead\nman was an enemy as well as a son, was swept away like a straw before\nthe father's torrent of grief.\n\nIII. The sobs of a broken heart cannot be analysed; and this wail of\nalmost inarticulate agony, with its infinitely pathetic reiteration, is\ntoo sacred for many words. Grief, even if passionate, is not forbidden\nby religion; and David's sensitive poet-nature felt all emotions\nkeenly. We are meant to weep; else wherefore is there calamity? But\nthere were elements in David's mourning which were not good. It blinded\nhim to blessings and to duties. His son was dead; but his rebellion was\ndead with him, and that should have been more present to his mind. His\nsoldiers had fought well, and his first task should have been to honour\nand to thank them. He had no right to sink the king in the father, and\nJoab's unfeeling remonstrance, which followed, was wise and true in\nsubstance, though rough almost to brutality in tone. Sorrow which sees\nnone of the blue because of one cloud, however heavy and thunderous, is\nsinful. Sorrow which sits with folded hands, like the sisters of\nLazarus, and lets duties drift, that it may indulge in the luxury of\nunrestrained tears, is sinful. There is no tone of 'It is the Lord! let\nHim do what seemeth Him good,' in this passionate plaint; and so there\nis no soothing for the grief. The one consolation lies in submission.\nSubmissive tears wash the heart clean; rebellious ones blister it.\n\nDavid's grief was the bitter fruit of his own sin. He had weakly\nindulged Absalom, and had probably spared the rod, in the boy's youth,\nas he certainly spared the sword when Absalom had murdered his brother.\nHis own immorality had loosened the bonds of family purity, and made\nhim ashamed to punish his children. He had let Absalom flaunt and\nswagger and live in luxury, and put no curb on him; and here was the\nend of his foolish softness. How many fathers and mothers are the\ndestroyers of their children to-day in the very same fashion! That\ngrave in the wood might teach parents how their fatal fondness may end.\nChildren, too, may learn from David's grief what an unworthy son can do\nto stuff his father's pillow with thorns, and to break his heart at\nlast.\n\nBut there is another side to this grief. It witnesses to the depth and\nself-sacrificing energy of a father's love. The dead son's faults are\nall forgotten and obliterated by death's 'effacing fingers.' The\nheadstrong, thankless rebel is, in David's mind, a child again, and the\nhappy old days of his innocence and love are all that remain in memory.\nThe prodigal is still a son. The father's love is immortal, and cannot\nbe turned away by any faults. The father is willing to die for the\ndisobedient child. Such purity and depth of affection lives in human\nhearts. So self-forgetting and incapable of being provoked is an\nearthly father's love. May we not see in this disclosure of David's\npaternal love, stripping it of its faults and excesses, some dim shadow\nof the greater love of God for His prodigals,--a love which cannot be\ndammed back or turned away by any sin, and which has found a way to\nfulfil David's impossible wish, in that it has given Jesus Christ to\ndie for His rebellious children, and so made them sharers of His own\nkingdom?\n\n\n\n\nBARZILLAI\n\n'And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I\nshould go up with the king unto Jerusalem? 35. I am this day fourscore\nyears old: and can I discern between good and evil! can thy servant\ntaste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of\nsinging men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet\na burden unto my lord the king? 36. Thy servant will go a little way\nover Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me\nwith such a reward? 37. Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again,\nthat I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my\nfather and of my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham; let him go\nover with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good unto\nthee.'-2 SAMUEL xix. 34-37.\n\n\n_To the Young._\n\nPeople often fancy that religion is only good to die by, and many\nexhortations are addressed to the young, founded on the possibility\nthat an early death may be their lot. That, no doubt, is a very solemn\nconsideration, but it is by no means the sole ground on which such an\nappeal may or should be rested. To some of you an early death is\ndestined. To the larger number of you will be granted a life protracted\nto middle age, and to some of you silver hair will come, and you may\nsee your children's children. I wish to win you seriously to look\nforward to the life on earth that is before you, and to the end to\nwhich it is likely to come, if you be spared in the world long enough.\n\nThe little picture in these verses is a very beautiful one. David had\nbeen fleeing from his rebellious Absalom, and his adversity had\nwinnowed his friends. He had crossed the Jordan to the hill-country\nbeyond, and there, while he was lurking with his crown in peril, and a\nprice on his head, and old friends dropping from him in their eagerness\nto worship the rising sun, this Barzillai with others brought him\nseasonable help (xvii. 23), When David returned victorious, Barzillai\nmet him again. David offered to take him to Jerusalem and to set him in\nhonour there, The old man answered in the words of our text.\n\nNow I take them for the sake of the picture of old age which they give\nus. Look at them: the intellectual powers are dimmed, all taste for the\npleasures and delights of sense is gone, ambition is dead, capacity for\nchange is departed. What is left? This old man lives in the past and in\nthe future; the early child-love of the father and mother who, eighty\nyears ago, rejoiced over his cradle, remains fresh; he cannot 'any more\nhear the voice of the singing men and women,' but he can hear the\ntones, clear over all these years, of the dear ones whom he first\nlearned to love. The furthest past is fresh and vivid, and his heart\nand memory are true to it. Also he looks forward familiarly and calmly\nto the very near end, and lives with the thought of death. He keeps\nhouse with it now. It is nearer to him than the world of living men. In\nmemory is half of his being, and in hope is the other half. All his\nhopes are now simplified and reduced to _one,_ a hope to die and be\nunited again with the dear ones whom he had so long remembered. And so\nhe goes back to his city, and passes out of the record--an example of a\ngreen and good old age.\n\nNow, young people, is not that picture one to touch your hearts? You\nthink in your youthful flush of power and interest, that life will go\non for ever as it has begun, and it is all but impossible to get you to\nlook forward to what life must come to. I want you to learn from that\npicture of a calm, bright old age, a lesson or two of what life will\ncertainly do to you, that I may found on these certainties the old, old\nappeal, 'Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth'.\n\nI. Life will gradually rob you of your interest in all earthly things.\n\nYour time of life is full of ebullient feeling, and sees freshness,\nglory, and beauty everywhere. Even the least enthusiastic men are\nenthusiastic in their early days. You have physical strength, the\nkeenness of unpalled senses, the delights of new powers, the\nblessedness of mere living. All this springs partly from physical\ncauses, partly from the novelty of your position. Thank God! all young\ncreatures are happy, and you among the rest.\n\nNow, I do not ask you to restrain and mortify these things. But I do\nask you to remember the end. It is as certain that joys will pall, it\nis as certain that subjects of interest will be exhausted, it is as\ncertain that powers will decay, as that they now are what they are. All\nthese grave, middle-aged, careful people round you were like you once.\nYou, if you live, will be like them. The spring tints are natural, but\nthey are transient; the blossoms are not always on the fruit-trees.\n\nThink, then, of the End: to make you thankful; to stimulate you; but\nalso to lead you to take for your object what will never pall. All\ncreated things go. Only the gospel provides you with a theme which\nnever becomes stale, with objects which are inexhaustible.\n\nHere is a lesson for--\n\n(a) Thinkers: 'Knowledge, it shall vanish away.'\n\n(b) Sensualists: 'Man delights me not, nor woman either.' How old was\nhe who said that?\n\n(c) Ambitious, self-advancing men.\n\nIs it worth your while to devote yourself to transient aims?\n\nIs it congruous with your dignity as immortal souls?\n\nIs it innocent or guilty?\n\nIs the gospel not a thing to live by as well as to die by?\n\nII. Life will certainly rob you of the power to change.\n\nBarzillai knew that David's court was no place for him; he had been\nbred on the mountains of Gilead, and his habits suited only a simple\ncountry life. The court might be better, but he could not fit into it.\nBut there was his boy Chimham; take him, he was young enough to bend\nand mould.\n\nNow this is true in a far loftier way. I need not dwell on the\nuniversality of this law, how it applies to all manner of men, but I\nuse it now in reference only to the gospel and your relation to it. You\nwill never again be so likely to become a Christian, if you let these\nearly days pass.\n\nYou say, 'I will have my fling, sow my wild oats, will wait a little\nlonger, and then'--and then what? You will find that it is infinitely\nharder to close with Christ than it would have been before.\n\nWhile you delay, you are stiffening into the habit of rejection. Custom\nis one of our mightiest friends or foes.\n\nWhile you delay, you are doing violence to conscience, and so weakening\nthat to which the gospel appeals.\n\nWhile you delay, you are becoming more familiar with the unreceived\nmessage and so weakening the power of the gospel.\n\nWhile you delay, you are adding to the long list of your sins.\n\nWhile you delay, youth is slipping from you.\n\nMake a mark with a straw on the clay and it abides; hammer on the brick\nwith iron and it only breaks. Youth is a brief season. It is the season\nfor forming habit, for receiving impression, for building up character.\n'The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold, therefore shall he\nbeg in harvest and have nothing.' Your present time is seed time. God\nforbid that I should say that it is impossible, but I do say that it is\nhard, for 'a man to be born again when he is old.'\n\nIf you do become Christ's servant later in life, your whole condition\nwill be different from what it would have been if you had begun when\nyoung to trust and love Him. Think of the difficulty of rooting out\nhabits and memories. Think of the horrid familiarity with evil. Think\nof the painful contrition for wasted years, which must be theirs who\nare hired at the eleventh hour, after standing all the day idle.\n\nContrast the experience of him who can say, 'I Thy servant fear God\nfrom my youth,' who has been led by God's mercy from childhood in the\nnarrow way, who by early faith in Christ has been kept in the slippery\nways of youth.\n\nOf the one we can but say, 'Is not this a brand plucked from the\nburning?' The other is 'innocent of much transgression.'\n\nI have small hope of changing middle-aged and old men. To you I turn,\nyou young men and women, you children, and to each of you I say, 'Wilt\nthou not from this time say, My Father, Thou art the guide of my youth?'\n\nIII. Life will certainly deepen your early impressions.\n\nThe old Barzillai dying looks back to his early days.\n\nSo I point the lesson: 'Keep thy heart with all diligence,' and let\nyour early thoughts be bright and pure ones.\n\nRemember that you will never find any love like a father's and\nmother's. Don't do what will load your memories in after days with\nsharp reproaches.\n\nIV. Life will bring you nearer and nearer to the grave.\n\nHope after hope dies out, and there is nothing left but the hope to\ndie. How beautiful the facing of it so as to become calmly familiar\nwith it, making it an object of hope, with bright visions of reunion!\n\nHow can such an old age so bright and beautiful be secured? Surely the\none answer is,--by faith in Jesus Christ.\n\nThink of an old Christian resting, full of years, full of memories,\nfull of hopes, to whom the stir of the present is nothing, who has come\nso near the place where the river falls into the great sea that the\nsounds on the banks are unheard. It is calm above the cataract, and\nthough there be a shock when the stream plunges over the precipice, yet\na rainbow spans the fall, and the river peacefully mingles with the\nshoreless, boundless ocean.\n\nDear young friends, 'what shall the end be'? It is for yourselves to\nsettle. Oh, take Christ for your Lord! Then, though so far as regards\nthe bodily life the 'youths shall faint and be weary,' as regards the\ntrue self the life may be one of growing maturity, and at last you may\n'come to the grave as a shock of corn that is fully ripe.'\n\nTrust, love, and serve Jesus, that thus calm, thus beautiful, may be\nyour days here below, that if you die young you may die ripe enough for\nheaven, and that if God spares you to 'reverence and the silver hairs,'\nyou may crown a holy life by a peaceful departure, and, sitting in the\nantechamber of death, may not grieve for the departure of youth and\nstrength and buoyancy and activity, knowing that 'they also serve who\nonly stand and wait,' and then may shake off the clog and hindrance of\nold age when you pass into the presence of God, and there, as being the\nlatest-born of heaven, may more than renew your youth, and may enter on\na life which weariness and decay never afflict, but with which immortal\nyouth, with its prerogatives of endless hope, of keenest delight, of\nunwearying novelty, of boundless joy, abides for evermore.\n\n\n\n\nDAVID'S HYMN OF VICTORY\n\n'For Thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that, rose up\nagainst me hast Thou subdued under me. 41. Thou hast also given me the\nnecks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. 42. They\nlooked, but there was none to save; even unto the Lord, but He answered\nthem not. 43. Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I\ndid stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.\n44. Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, Thou\nhast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall\nserve me. 45. Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as\nthey hear, they shall be obedient unto me. 46. Strangers shall fade\naway, and they shall be afraid out of their close places. 47. The Lord\nliveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of\nmy salvation. 48. It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down\nthe people under me, 49. And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies:\nThou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me:\nThou hast delivered me from the violent man. 50. Therefore I will give\nthanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises\nunto Thy name. 51. He is the tower of salvation for His king; and\nsheweth mercy to His anointed, unto David, and to his seed for\nevermore.'--2 SAMUEL xxii. 40-51.\n\n\nThe Davidic authorship of this great hymn has been admitted even by\ncritics who are in general too slow to recognise it. One of these says\nthat 'there is no Israelite king to whom the expressions in the psalm\napply so closely as to David.' The favourite alternative theory that\nthe speaker is the personified nation is hard to accept. The voice of\nindividual trust and of personal experience sounds clear in the glowing\nwords. Two editions of the hymn are preserved for us,--in Psalm xviii.\nand 2 Samuel. Slight variations exist in the two copies, which may\nprobably be merely accidental. Nothing important depends on them. The\ntext begins with the closing words of a description of God's arming the\nsinger for his victories, and goes on to paint the tumult of battle and\nthe rout of the foe (verses 40-43); then follows triumphant expectation\nof future wider victories (verses 44-46); and that leads up to the\nclosing burst of grateful praise (verses 47-51).\n\nI. We are not to forget that what is described in verses 40-43 is a\nliteral fight, with real swords against very real enemies. We may draw\nlessons of encouragement from it for our conflict with spiritual\nwickednesses, but we must not lose sight of the bloody combat with\nflesh and blood which the singer had waged. He felt that God had braced\nhis armour on him, had given him the impenetrable 'shield' which he\nwore on his arm, and had strengthened his arms to bend the 'bow of\nsteel.' We see him in swift pursuit, pressing hard on the flying foe,\ncrushing them with his fierce charge, trampling them under foot. 'I did\nbeat them small as the dust of the earth.' His blows fell like those of\na great pestle, pulverising some substance in a mortar. 'I did stamp\nthem as the mire of the streets,'--a vivid picture of trampling down\nthe prostrate wretches, for which Psalm xviii. gives the less\npicturesque variant, 'did cast them out.' In their despair the\nfugitives shriek aloud for God's help, and the Psalmist has a stern joy\nin knowing their cries to be unheard.\n\nNow, such delight in an enemy's despair and destruction, such\ngratification at the vanity of his prayers, are far away from being\nChristian sentiments, and the gulf is not wholly bridged by the\nconsideration that David felt himself to be God's Anointed, and enmity\nto him to be, consequently, treason against God. His feelings were most\nnatural and entirely consistent with the stage of revelation in which\nhe lived. They were capable of being purified into that triumph in the\nvictory of good and the ruin of evil without which there is no vigorous\nsympathy with Christ's conflict. They kindle, by their splendid energy\nand condensed rapidity, an answering glow even in readers so far away\nfrom the scene as we are. But still they do belong to a lower level of\nfeeling, and result from a less full revelation than belongs to\nChristianity. The light of battle which blazes in them is not the fire\nwhich Jesus longed to kindle on earth.\n\nBut we may well take a pattern from the stern soldier's recognition\nthat all his victory was due to God alone. The strength that he put\nforth was God's gift. It was God who subdued the insurgents, not David.\nThe panic which made the foe take to flight was infused into them by\nGod. No name but Jehovah's was to be carved on the trophy reared on the\nbattlefield. The human victor was but the instrument of the divine\nConqueror. Such lowly reference of all our power and success to Him\nwill save us from overweening self-adulation, and is the surest way to\nretain the power which He gives, and which is lost most surely when we\ntake the credit of it to ourselves.\n\nII. The enemies thus far have been from among his own subjects, but in\nverses 44-46 a transition is made to victory over 'strangers'; that is,\nforeign nations. The triumph over 'the strivings of my people' heartens\nthe singer to expect that he will be' head of the nations.' The other\nversion of the hymn (Psalm xviii.) reads simply '_the_ people.'\n\nThe picture of hasty surrender 'as soon as they hear of me' is graphic.\nHis very name conquers. 'The strangers shall submit themselves unto me'\nis literally 'shall lie,' or yield feigned obedience. They 'fade away'\nas if withered by the hot wind of the desert. 'They shall come limping'\n(as the word here used signifies), as if wounded in the fight, for\nwhich Psalm xviii. reads 'trembling.'\n\nNow this vision of extended conquests, based as it is on past smaller\nvictories, carries valuable lessons. David here lays hold of the great\npromises to his house of a wide dominion, and expects the beginnings of\ntheir fulfilment to himself. And he _did_ extend his conquests beyond\nthe territory of Israel. But we may take the hope as an instance in a\nparticular direction of what should be the issue of all experience of\nGod's mercies. 'To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more\nabundant.' Smaller victories will be followed by greater. Our reception\nof God's favouring help should widen our anticipations. Our gratitude\nto Him should be 'a lively sense of favours to come.' Progressive\nvictory should be the experience of every believer.\n\nWe may see, too, dimly apparent through the large hope of the\nPsalmist-King, the prophecy of the worldwide victories of his Son, in\nwhom the great promises of a dominion 'from sea to sea, and from the\nriver unto the ends of the earth,' are fulfilled.\n\nIII. Verses 46-51 make a noble close to a noble hymn, in which the\nsinger's strong wing never flags, nor the rush of thought and feeling\never slackens. In it, even more absolutely than in the rest of the\npsalm, his victory is all ascribed to Jehovah. He alone acts, David\nsimply receives. To have learned by experience that' He lives,' and is\n'my Rock,' and to gather all the feelings excited by the retrospect of\na long life into 'Blessed be my Rock,' is to have reaped and garnered\nthe richest harvest which earth can yield. So at last sings the man\nwhose early years had been full of struggles and privations. A morning\nof tempest has cleared into sunny evening calm, as it will with us all\nif the tempest blows us into our true shelter.\n\nThis psalm begins with a rapturous heaping together of the precious\nnames of God, as the singer has had them revealed to him by experience.\nForemost among these stands that one, 'my Rock,' which is caught up\nagain in this closing burst of thanksgiving. That great Rock towers\nunchangeable above fleeting things. The river runs past its base, the\nwoods nestling at its feet bud, and shed their pride of foliage, but it\nstands the same. David had many a time hid in 'the clefts of the rocks'\nin his years of wandering, and the figure is eloquent on his lips.\n\nThese closing strains gather together once more the main points of the\nprevious verses, his deliverance from domestic foes, and his conquests\nover external enemies. These are wholly God's work. True thankfulness\ndelights to repeat its acknowledgments. God does not weary of giving,\nwe should not weary of praising the Giver and His gifts. We renew our\nenjoyment of our long-past mercies by reiterating our thankfulness for\nthem. They do not die as long as gratitude keeps their remembrance\ngreen.\n\nBut the Psalmist's experience impels him to a vow (verse 50). He will\ngive thanks to God among the nations. God's mercies bind, and, if\nrightly felt, will joyfully impel, the receiver to spread His name as\nfar as his voice can reach. Love is sometimes silent, but gratitude\nmust speak. The most unmusical voice is tuned to melody by God's great\nblessings received and appreciated, and they need never want a theme\nwho can tell what the Lord has done for their souls. 'Then shall... the\ntongue of the dumb sing.' A dumb Christian is a monstrosity. We are\n'the secretaries of His praise,' and have been saved ourselves that we\nmay declare His goodness.\n\nVerse 51 has been supposed by some to be a liturgical addition, on the\nground that, if David were the author, he would not be likely to name\nhimself thus. But there does not seem to be anything unnatural in his\nmentioning himself by name in such a connection, and the reference to\nhis dynasty, based as it is on Nathan's promise, is most fitting. The\nlast thought about his mercies which the humble gratitude of the\nPsalmist utters is that they were not given to him for any good in\nhimself, nor to be selfishly enjoyed, but that they were bestowed on\nhim because of the place that he filled in the divine purposes, and\nbelonged to 'his seed' as truly as to himself. So lowly had his\nprosperity made him. So truly had he sunk himself in his office, and in\nthe great things that God meant to do through him and his house. We\nknow better than David did what these were, and how the promise on\nwhich he rested his hopes of the duration of his house is fulfilled in\nhis Son, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and who bears God's\nname to all the nations.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DYING KING'S LAST VISION AND PSALM\n\n'Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and\nthe man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob,\nand the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake\nby me, and His word was in my tongue. 3. The God of Israel said, the\nRock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just,\nruling in the fear of God. 4. And he shall be as the light of the\nmorning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the\ntender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 5.\nAlthough my house be not so with God; yet He hath made with me an\neverlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all\nmy salvation, and all my desire, although He make it not to grow. 6.\nBut the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away,\nbecause they cannot be taken with hands: 7. But the man that shall\ntouch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they\nshall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.'--2 SAMUEL xxiii,\n1-7.\n\n\nIt was fitting that 'the last words of David' should be a prophecy of\nthe true King, whom his own failures and sins, no less than his\nconsecration and victories, had taught him to expect. His dying eyes\nsee on the horizon of the far-off future the form of Him who is to be a\njust and perfect Ruler, before the brightness of whose presence and the\nrefreshing of whose influence, verdure and beauty shall clothe the\nworld. As the shades gather round the dying monarch, the radiant glory\nto come brightens. He departs in peace, having seen the salvation from\nafar, and stretched out longing hands of greeting toward it. Then his\nharp is silent, as if the rapture which thrilled the trembling strings\nhad snapped them.\n\n1. We have first a prelude extending to the middle of verse 3. In it\nthere is first a fourfold designation of the personality of the\nPsalmist-prophet, and then a fourfold designation of the divine oracle\nspoken through him. The word rendered in verse 1 'saith' is really a\nnoun, and usually employed with 'the Lord' following, as in the\nfamiliar phrase 'saith the Lord.' It is used, as here, with the\ngenitive of the human recipient, in Balaam's prophecy, on which this is\nevidently modelled. It distinctly claims a divine source for the oracle\nfollowing, and declares, at the outset, that these last words of David\nwere really the faithful sayings of Jehovah. The human and divine\nelements are smelted together. Note the description of the human\npersonality. First, the natural 'David the son of Jesse,' like 'Balaam\nthe son of Beor' in the earlier oracle. The aged king looks back with\nadoring thankfulness to his early days and humble birth, as if he were\nsaying, 'Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this\ngrace given, that I should proclaim the coming King.' Then follow three\nclauses descriptive of what 'the son of Jesse' had been made by the\ngrace of God, in that he had been raised on high from his low condition\nof a shepherd boy, and anointed as ruler, not only by Samuel and the\npeople, but by the God of their great ancestor, whose career had\npresented so many points of resemblance to his own, the God who still\nwrought among the nation which bore the patriarch's name, as He had\nwrought of old; and that, besides his royalty, he had been taught to\nsing the sweet songs which already were the heritage of the nation.\nThis last designation shows what David counted God's chief gift to\nhim,--not his crown, but his harp. It further shows that he regarded\nhis psalms as divinely inspired, and it proves that already they had\nbecome the property of the nation. This first verse heightens the\nimportance of the subsequent oracle by dwelling on the claims of the\nrecipient of the revelation to be heard and heeded.\n\nSimilarly, the fourfold designation of the divine source has the same\npurpose, and corresponds with the four clauses of verse 1, 'The Spirit\nof the Lord spake in [or \"into\"] me.' That gives the Psalmist's\nconsciousness that in his prophecy he was but the recipient of a\nmessage. It wonderfully describes the penetrating power of that inward\nvoice which clearly came to him from without, and as clearly spoke to\nhim within. Words could not more plainly declare the prophetic\nconsciousness of the distinction between himself and the Voice which he\nheard in the depths of his spirit. It spoke in him before he spoke his\nlyric prophecy. 'His word was upon my tongue.' There we have the\nutterance succeeding the inward voice, and the guarantee that the\nPsalmist's word was a true transcript of the inward voice. 'The God of\nIsrael said,' and therefore Israel is concerned in the divine word,\nwhich is not of private reference, but meant for all. 'The Rock of\nIsrael spake,' and therefore Israel may trust the Word, which rests on\nHis immutable faithfulness and eternal being.\n\nII. The divine oracle thus solemnly introduced and guaranteed must be\nworthy of such a prelude. Abruptly, and in clauses without verbs, the\npicture of the righteous Ruler is divinely flashed before the seer's\ninward eye. The broken construction may perhaps indicate that he is\ndescribing what he beholds in vision. There is no need for any\nsupplement such as 'There shall be,' which, however true in meaning,\nmars the vividness of the presentation of the Ruler to the prophet's\nsight. David sees him painted on the else blank wall of the future.\nWhen and where the realisation may be he knows not. What are the\nmajestic outlines? A universal sovereign over collective humanity,\nrighteous and God-fearing. In the same manner as he described the\nvision of the King, David goes on, as a man on some height telling what\nhe saw to the people below, and paints the blessed issues of the King's\ncoming.\n\nIt had been night before He came,--the night of ignorance, sorrow, and\nsin,--but His coming is like one of these glorious Eastern sunrises\nwithout a cloud, when everything laughs in the early beams, and, with\ntropical swiftness, the tender herbage bursts from the ground, as born\nfrom the dazzling brightness and the fertilising rain. So all things\nshall rejoice in the reign of the King, and humanity be productive,\nunder His glad and quickening influences, of growths of beauty and\nfruitfulness impossible to it without these.\n\nThe abrupt form of the prophecy has led some interpreters to construe\nit as, 'When a king over men is righteous... then it is as a morning,'\netc. But surely such a platitude is not worthy of being David's last\nword, nor did it need divine inspiration to disclose to him that a just\nking is a great blessing. The only worthy meaning is that which sees\nhere, in words so solemnly marked as a special revelation closing the\nlife of David, 'the vision of the future and all the wonder that should\nbe,' when a real Person should thus reign over men. The explanation\nthat we have here simply the ideal of the collective Davidic monarchy\nis a lame attempt to escape from the recognition of prophecy properly\nso called. It is the work of poetry to paint ideals, of prophecy to\nforetell, with God's authority, their realisation. The picture here is\ntoo radiant to be realised in any mere human king, and, as a matter of\nfact, never was so in any of David's successors, or in the whole of\nthem put together. It either swings _in vacuo,_ a dream unrealised, or\nit is a distinct prophecy from God of the reign of the coming Messiah,\nof whom David and all his sons, as anointed kings, were living\nprophecies. 'The Messianic idea entered on a new stage of development\nwith the monarchy, and that not as if the history stimulated men's\nimaginations, but that God used the history as a means of further\nrevelation by His prophetic Spirit.\n\nIII. The difficult verse 5, whether its first and last clauses be taken\ninterrogatively or negatively, in its central part bases the assurance\nof the coming of the king on God's covenant (2 Samuel vii.), which is\nglorified as being everlasting, provided with all requisites for its\nrealisation, and therefore 'sure,' or perhaps 'preserved,' as if\nguarded by God's inviolable sanctity and faithfulness. The fulfilment\nof the dying saint's hopes depends on God's truth. Whatever sense might\nsay, or doubt whisper, he silences them by gazing on that great Word.\nSo we all have to do. If we found our hopes and forecasts on it, we can\ngo down to the grave calmly, though they be not fulfilled, sure that\n'no good thing can fail us of all that He hath spoken.' Living or\ndying, faith and hope must stay themselves on God's word. Happy they\nwhose closing eyes see the form of the King, and whose last thoughts\nare of God's faithful promise! Happy they whose forecasts of the\nfuture, nearer or more remote, are shaped by His word! Happy they who,\nin the triumphant energy of such a faith, can with dying lips proclaim\nthat His promises overlap, and contain, all their salvation and all\ntheir desire!\n\nIf we read the first and last clauses negatively, with Revised Version\nand others, they, as it were, surround the kernel of clear-eyed faith,\nin the middle of the verse, with a husk, not of doubt, but of\nconsciousness how far the present is from fulfilling the great promise.\nThe poor dying king looks back on the scandals of his later reign, on\nhis own sin, on his children's lust, rebellion, and tragic deaths, and\nfeels how far from the ideal he and they have been. He sees little\ntoken of growth toward realisation of that promise; but yet in spite of\na stained past and a wintry present, he holds fast his confidence. That\nis the true temper of faith, which calls things that are not as though\nthey were, and is hindered by no sense of unworthiness nor by any\ndiscouragements born of sense, from grasping with full assurance the\npromise of God. But the consensus of the most careful expositors\ninclines to take both clauses as questions, and then the meaning would\nbe, 'Does not my house stand in such a relation to God that the\nrighteous king will spring from it? It is, in this view, a triumphant\nquestion, expressing the strongest assurance, and the next clause would\nthen lay bare the foundation of that relation of David's house as not\nits goodness, but God's covenant ('_for_ He hath made'). Similarly the\nlast clause would be a triumphant question of certainty, asserting in\nthe strongest manner that God would cause that future salvation for the\nworld, which was wrapped up in the coming of the king, and in which the\ndying man was sure that he should somehow have a share, dead though he\nwere, to blossom and grow, though he had to die as in the winter,\nbefore the buds began to swell. The assurance of immortality, and of a\nshare in all the blessings to come, bursts from the lips that are so\nsoon to be silent.\n\nIV. But the oracle cannot end with painting only blessings as flowing\nfrom the king's reign. If he is to rule in righteousness and the fear\nof the Lord, then he must fight against evil. If his coming causes the\ntender grass to spring, it will quicken ugly growths too. The former\nrepresentation is only half the truth; and the threatening of\ndestruction for the evil is as much a part of the divine oracle as the\nother. Strictly, it is 'wickedness'--the abstract quality rather than\nthe concrete persons who embody it--which is spoken of. May we recall\nthe old distinction that God loves the sinner while He hates the sin?\nThe picture is vivid. The wicked--and all the enemies of this King are\nwicked, in the prophet's view--are like some of these thorn-brakes,\nthat cannot be laid hold of, even to root them out, but need to be\nattacked with sharp pruning-hooks on long shafts, or burned where they\ngrow. There is a destructive side to the coming of the King, shadowed\nin every prophecy of him, and brought emphatically to prominence in his\nown descriptions of his reign and its final issues. It is a poor\nkindness to suppress that side of the truth. Thorns as well as tender\ngrass spring up in the quickening beams; and the best commentary on the\nsolemn words which close David's closing song is the saying of the King\nhimself: 'In the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather\nup first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE ROYAL JUBILEE [Footnote: Preached on the occasion of Queen\nVictoria's Diamond Jubilee.]\n\n'... He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.\n4. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth,\neven a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the\nearth, by clear shining after rain.'--2 SAMUEL xxiii. 3, 4.\n\n\nOne of the Psalms ascribed to David sounds like the resolves of a new\nmonarch on his accession. In it the Psalmist draws the ideal of a king,\nand says such things as, 'I will behave myself wisely, in a perfect\nway. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of\nthem that turn aside. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land,\nthat they may dwell with me.' That psalm we may regard as the first\nwords of the king when, after long, weary years, the promise of\nSamuel's anointing was fulfilled, and he sat on the throne.\n\nMy text comes from what purports to be the last words of the same king.\n\nHe looks back, and again the ideal of a monarch rises before him. The\npsalm, for it is a psalm, though it is not in the Psalter, is\ncompressed to the verge of obscurity; and there may be many questions\nraised about its translation and its bearing. These do not need to\noccupy us now, but the words which I have selected for my text may,\nperhaps, best be represented to an English reader in some such sentence\nas this--'If (or when) one rules over men justly, ruling in the fear of\nGod, then it shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth,\neven a morning without clouds.'  With such a monarch all the interests\nof his people will prosper. His reign will be like the radiant dawn of\na cloudless day, and his land like the spring pastures when the fresh,\ngreen grass is wooed out of the baked earth by the combined influence\nof rain and sunshine. David's little kingdom was surrounded by giant\nempires, in which brute force, wielded by despotic will, ground men\ndown, or squandered their lives recklessly. But the King of Israel had\nlearned, partly by the experience of his own reign, and partly by\ndivine inspiration, that such rulers are not true types of a monarch\nafter God's own heart. This ideal king is neither a warrior nor a\ndespot. Two qualities mark him, Justice and Godliness. Pharaoh and his\nlike, oppressors, were as the lightning which blasts and scorches. The\ntrue king was to be as the sunshine that vitalises and gladdens. 'He\nshall come down like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that\nwater the earth.'\n\nWe do not need to ask the question here, though it might be very\nrelevant on another occasion, whether this portraiture is a mere ideal,\nfloating _in vacuo,_ or whether it is a direct prophecy of that\nexpected Messianic king who was to realise the divine ideal of\nsovereignty. At all events we know that, in its highest and deepest\nsignificance, the picture of my text has lived and breathed human\nbreath, in Jesus Christ, who both in His character and in His influence\non the world, fulfilled the ideal that floated before the eyes of the\naged king.\n\nI do not need to follow the course of thought in this psalm any\nfarther. You will have anticipated my motive for selecting this text\nnow. It seems to me to gather up, in vivid and picturesque form, the\nthoughts and feelings which to-day are thrilling through an Empire, to\nwhich the most extended dominion of these warrior kings of old was but\na speck. On such an occasion as this I need not make any apology, I am\nsure, for diverging from the ordinary topics of pulpit address, and\nassociating ourselves with the many millions who to-day are giving\nthanks for Queen Victoria.\n\nMy text suggests two lines along which the course of our thoughts may\nrun. The one is the personal character of this ideal monarch; the other\nis its effects on his subjects.\n\nI. Now, with regard to the former, the pulpit is, in my judgment, not\nthe place either for the discussion of current events or the\npronouncing of personal eulogiums. But I shall not be wandering beyond\nmy legitimate province, if I venture to try to gather into a few words\nthe reasons, in the character and public life of our Queen, for the\nthankfulness of this day. Our text brings out, as I have said, two\ngreat qualities as those on which a throne is to be established,\nJustice and Godliness. Now, the ancient type of monarch was the\nfountain of justice, in a very direct sense; inasmuch as it was his\noffice, not only to pronounce sentence on criminals, but to give\ndecisions on disputed questions of right. These functions have long\nceased to be exercised by our monarchs, but there is still room for\nboth of those qualities--the Justice which holds an even balance\nbetween parties and strifes, the Righteousness which has supreme regard\nto the primary duties that press alike upon prince and pauper, and the\nGodliness which, as I believe, is the root from which all\nrighteousness, as between man and man, and as between prince and\nsubject, must ever flow. Morality is the garb of religion; religion is\nthe root of morality. He, and only he, will hold an even balance and\ndischarge his obligations to man, whose life is rooted in, and his acts\nunder the continual influence of, the fear of God which has in it no\ntorment, but is the parent of all things good.\n\nWe shall not be flatterers if we thankfully recognise in our Sovereign\nLady the presence of both these qualities. I have spoken of the first\ninaugural words of the King of Israel, and the resolutions that he\nmade. It is recorded that when, to the child of eleven years of age,\nthe announcement was made that she stood near in the line of succession\nto the throne, the tremulous young lips answered, 'It is a great\nresponsibility; but I will be good.' And all round the world to-day her\nsubjects attest that the aged monarch has kept the little maiden's vow.\nContrast that life with the lives of the other women who have sat on\nthe throne of England. Think of the brilliant Queen, whose glories our\ngreatest poets were not ashamed to sing, with the Tudor masterfulness\nin her, and not a little of the Tudor grossness and passion, and\nremember the blots that stained her glories. Think of her sister, the\nmorbidly melancholy tool of priests, who goes down the ages branded\nwith an epithet only too sadly earned. Think of another woman that\nruled over England in name, the weak instrument of base intrigues. And\nthen turn to this life which we are looking upon to-day. Think of the\nnameless scandals, the hideous immorality of the reigns that preceded\nhers, and you will not wonder that every decent man and every modest\nwoman was thankful that, with the young girl, there came a breath of\npurer air into the foul atmosphere. I am old enough to remember\nhearing, as a boy, the talk of my elders as to the probabilities of\ninsurrection if, instead of our Queen, there had come to the throne the\nbrother of her two predecessors. The hopes of those early days have\nbeen more than fulfilled.\n\n\nIt is not for us to determine the religious character of others, and\nthat is too sacred a region for us to enter; but this we may say, that\nin all these sixty years of diversified trial, there has been no act\nknown to us outsiders inconsistent with the highest motive, the fear of\nthe Lord; and some of us who have worshipped in the humble Highland\nchurch where she has bowed have felt that on the throne of Britain sat\na Christian.\n\nNor need we forget how, from that root of fear of God, there has come\nthat wondrous patience and faithfulness to duty, the form of 'Justice'\nwhich is possible for a constitutional monarch. We have little notion\nof how pressing and numerous and continual the royal duties must\nnecessarily be. They have been discharged, even when the blow that\nstruck all sunshine out of life left an irrepressible shrinking from\npageantry and pomp. Joys come; joys go. Duties abide, and they have\nbeen done.\n\nNor can we forget, either, how the very difficult position of a\nconstitutional monarch, with the semblance of power and the reality of\nnarrow restrictions, has been filled. Our Sovereign has never set\nherself against the will of the people, expressed by its legitimate\nrepresentatives, even when that will may have imposed upon her the\nsanction of changes which she did not approve. And that is much to say.\nWe have seen young despots whose self-will has threatened to wreck a\nnation's prosperity.\n\nNor can we forget how all the immense influence of position and\npersonality has been thrown on the side of purity and righteousness.\nEven we outsiders know how, more than once or twice, she has\nsteadfastly set her face against the admission to her presence of men\nand women of evil repute, and has in effect repeated David's\nproclamation against vice and immorality at his accession: 'He that\nworketh wickedness shall not dwell within my house.'\n\nNor must we forget, either, the simplicity, the beauty, the tenderness\nof her wedded and family life, her love of rural quiet, and of\nwholesome communion with Nature, and her eagerness to take her people\ninto her confidence, as set forth in the book which, whatever its\nliterary merits, speaks of her earnest appreciation of Nature and her\nwish for the sympathy of her subjects.\n\nThen came the bolt from the blue, that sudden crash that wrecked the\nhappiness of a life. Many of us, I have no doubt, remember that dreary\nDecember Sunday morning when, while the nation was standing in\nexpectation of another calamity from across the Atlantic, there flashed\nthrough the land the news of the Prince's death; thrilling all hearts,\nand bringing all nearer to her, the lonely widow, than they had ever\nbeen in her days of radiant happiness. How pathetically, silently,\nnobly, devoutly, that sorrow has been borne, it is not for us to speak.\nShe has become one of the great company of sad and lonely hearts, and\nin her sadness has shown an eager desire to send messages of sympathy\nto all whom she could reach, who were in like darkness and sorrow.\n\nBrethren, I have ventured to diverge so far from the ordinary run of\npulpit ministrations because I feel that to-day all of us, whatever may\nbe our political or ecclesiastical relationships and proclivities, are\none in thanking God for the monarch whose life has been without a\nstain, and her reign without a blot.\n\nII. Now let me say a word as to the other line of thought which my text\nsuggests, the effect of such a reign on the condition of the subject.\n\nNow, of course, in the narrowly limited domain of that strange\ncreation, a constitutional monarchy, there is far less opportunity for\nthe Sovereign's direct influence on the Subject than there was in the\nancient kingdoms of which David was thinking in his psalm. The\nmarvellous progress of Britain during these sixty years is due, not to\nour Sovereign, but to a multitude of strenuous workers and earnest\nthinkers in a hundred different departments, as well as to the\nevolution of the gifts that come down to us from our ancient\ninheritance of freedom. But we shall much mistake if, for that reason,\nwe set aside the monarch's character and influence as of no account in\nthe progress,\n\nA supposition, which is a violent one, may be made which will set this\nmatter in clearer light. Suppose that during these sixty years we had\nhad a king on the throne of England like some of the kings we have had.\nThe sentiment of loyalty is not now of such a character as that it will\nsurvive a vicious sovereign. If we had had such a monarch as I have\nhinted at, the loyalty of the good would for all these years have been\nsuffering a severe strain, and the forces that make for evil would have\nbeen disastrously strengthened. Dangers escaped are unnoticed, but one\ntwelvemonth of the reign of a profligate would shake the foundations of\nthe monarchy, and would open the floodgates of vice; and we should then\nknow how much the nation owed to the Queen whose life was pure, and who\ncast all her influence on the side of 'things that are lovely and of\ngood report.'\n\nTake another supposition. Suppose that during these years of wonderful\ntransition, when the whole aspect of English politics and society has\nbeen transformed, we had had a king like George III., who set his\nopinion against the nation's will constitutionally expressed. Then no\nman knows with what storm and tumult, with what strife and injury, the\ninevitable transition would have been effected. Be sure of this, that\nthe wise self-effacement of our Sovereign during these critical years\nof change is largely the reason why they have been years of peace, in\nwhich the new has mingled itself with the old without revolution or\ndisturbance. It is due to her in a very large degree that\n                 'Freedom broadens slowly down\n                  From precedent to precedent.'\n\nI need not dilate on the changed Britain that she looks out upon and\nrules to-day. I need not speak--there will be many voices to do that,\nin not altogether agreeable notes, for there will be a dash of too much\nself-complacency in them--about progress in material wealth, colonial\nexpansion, the increase of education, the gentler manners, the new life\nthat has been breathed over art and literature, the achievements in\nscience and philosophy, the drawing together of classes, the bridging\nover of the great gulf between rich and poor by some incipient and\ntentative attempts at sympathy and brotherhood.\n\nNor need I dwell upon the ecclesiastical signs of the times, in which,\nmingled as they are, there is at least this one great good, that never\nsince the early days have so large a proportion of Christian men been\n'seeking after the things that make for peace,' and realising the\noneness of all believers who hold the Headship of Christ.\n\nAll this review falls more properly into other hands than mine. Only I\nwould put in a caution--do not let us mingle self-conceit with our\ncongratulations; and, above all, do not let us 'rest and be thankful.'\nThere is much to be done yet. Listening ears can catch on every side\nvague sounds that tell of unrest and of the stirrings into wakefulness\nof\n                'The spirit of the years to come,\n                 Yearning to mix itself with life.'\n\nI seem to hear all around me the rushing in the dark of a mighty\ncurrent that is bearing down upon us. Great social questions are\nrapidly coming to the front--the questions of distribution of wealth,\nabolition of privilege, the relations of labour and capital, and many\nothers are clamant to be dealt with at least, if not solved. There Is\nmuch to be done before Jesus Christ is throned as King of England. War\nhas to be frowned down; the brotherhood of man has to be realised,\ntemperance has to be much more largely practised than it is.\n\nI need not go over the catalogue of _desiderata,_ of _agenda_--things\nthat have to be done--in the near future. Only this I would\nsay--Christian men and women are the last people who should be ready to\n'rest and be thankful,' for the principles of the Gospel that we\nprofess, which have never been applied to the life of nations as they\nought to be, will solve the questions which make the despair of so many\nin this generation. We shall best express our thankfulness for these\npast sixty years by each of us taking our part in the great movement\nwhich, in the inevitable drift of things to democracy, is going to\n'cast the kingdom old into another mould,' and which will, I pray, make\nour people more of what John Milton long ago called them, 'God's\nEnglishmen.' We have taught the nations many things. Our Parliament is\ncalled the Mother of Parliaments. Ours is\n           'The land where, girt with friends or foes,\n            A man may say the thing he will.'\n\nIt has taught the nations a tempered freedom, and that a monarchy may\nbe a true republic. May we rise to the height of our privileges and\nresponsibilities, and teach our subject peoples, not only mechanics,\nscience, law, free trade, but a loftier morality, and the name of Him\nby whom kings reign and princes decree justice!\n\nWe, members of the free Churches of England, come seldom under the\nnotice of royalty, and have little acquaintance with courts, but we\nyield to none in our recognition of the virtues and in our sympathy\nwith the sorrows of the Sovereign Lady, the good woman, who rules these\nlands, and we all heartily thank God for her to-day, and pray that for\nlong years still to come the familiar letters V.R. may stand, as they\nhave stood to two generations, as the symbol of womanly purity and of\nthe faithful discharge of queenly duty.\n\n\n\n\nA LIBATION TO JEHOVAH\n\n'And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the\nwater of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! 16. And the\nthree mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew\nwater out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it\nand brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but\npoured it out unto the Lord. 17. And he said, Be it far from me, O\nLord, that I should do this; is not this the blood of the men that went\nin jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These\nthings did these three mighty men.'--2 SAMUEL xxiii. 15-17.\n\n\nDavid's fortunes were at a low ebb. He was in hiding in his cave of\nAdullam, and a Philistine garrison held Bethlehem, his native place. He\nwas little different from an outlaw at the head of a band of 'broken\nmen,' but there were depths of chivalry and poetry in his heart.\nSweltering in his cave in the fierce heat of harvest, he thought of his\nnative Bethlehem; he remembered the old days when he had watered his\nflock at the well by its gate, or mingled with the people of the little\ntown, in their evening assemblies round it. The memories of boyhood\nrose up radiant before him, and as he was immersed in the past, the\ngrim present, the perils that threatened his life, the savage, gaunt\nrocks without a trace of greenness that girded him, the privations to\nwhich he was exposed, were all forgotten, and he longed for one more\ndraught of the water that tasted so cool and sweet to memory. Three of\nhis 'mighty men,' bound to him by loyal devotion and unselfish love,\nwere ready to die to win for their chief a momentary gratification. So\nthey slipped away from Adullam, 'brake through the host of the\nPhilistines,' and brought back the longed-for draught. David's\nreception of the dearly-bought, sparkling gift was due to a noble\nimpulse. The water seemed to him to be dyed with blood, and to be not\nwater so much as 'lives of men.' It had become too precious to be used\nto satisfy his longing. It would be base self-indulgence to drink what\nhad been won by such self-forgetting devotion. God only had the right\nto receive what men had risked their lives to obtain, and therefore he\n'poured it out unto the Lord.'\n\nThe story gleams out of the fierce narratives in which it is embedded,\nlike a flower blooming on some grim cliff. May we not learn lessons\nfrom it?\n\nI. David's longing.\n\nDavid, a fugitive in the cave, haunted by the 'nostalgia' that made\nBethlehem seem so fair and dear, may stand for us as an example of the\nlongings and thirsts that sometimes force themselves into consciousness\nin every soul. Below the bustle and strife of daily life, occupied as\nit must be with material and often ignoble things, below the hardness\ninto which the world has compressed men's surface nature, there lies a\nyearning for the cool water that rises hard by the gate of our native\nhome. True, it is with many of us overlaid for the most part by coarser\ndesires, and may be as unlike our usual dominant longings and aims, as\nDavid's tender outbreak of sentiment was to the prevailing tenor of his\nlife, in those days when he was an outlaw and a freebooter. But the\nlonging, though often stifled, is not wholly quenched. It is\nmisinterpreted by the man who is conscious of it, and far too often he\ntries to slake the thirst by fiery and drugged liquors which but make\nit more intense. Happy are they who know what it is that their parched\npalates crave, and have learned, while yet the knowledge avails, to\nsay, 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God'! 'Blessed are they\nwho thirst after' the water of the well of Bethlehem, 'for they shall\nbe filled!'\n\nII. The three heroes' devotion.\n\nThese three rough soldiers, lawless and fierce as they were, had been\nso mastered by their chief that they were ready to dare anything to\npleasure him. Who would have looked for such delicacy of feeling and\nsuch enthusiastic self-surrender in such men?\n\nThey stand as grand instances of the height of devotion of which the\nrudest nature is capable, when once its love and loyalty to the Beloved\nare evoked.\n\nHow such deeds ennoble the lowest types of character, and make us think\nbetter of men, and more sadly of the contrast between their habitual\ncharacteristics and the possibilities that lie slumbering in their\nignoble lives! There are sparks in the hard cold flint, if only they\ncould be struck out. There is water in the rock, if only the right\nhand, armed with the wonder-working rod, smites it.\n\n\nLet us not judge men too harshly by what they do and are, but let us\ntry to bring their sleeping possibilities into conscious exercise.\n\nLet us remember that love and self-sacrifice, which is the very outcome\nand natural voice of love, ennoble the most degraded.\n\nBut these heroic three may suggest to us a sadder thought. They were\nready to die for David; would they have been as ready to die for God?\nThese noble emotions of love, leading to glad flinging away of life to\npleasure the beloved, are freely given to men, but too often withheld\nfrom God, We lavish on our beloveds or on our chosen leaders, a\ndevotion that ought to shame us, when contrasted with the scantiness of\nour grudging devotion and self-surrender to Him. If we loved God a\ntenth part as ardently as we love our wives or husbands or parents or\nchildren, and were willing to do and bear as much for Him as we are\nwilling to bear for them, how different our lives would be! We can love\nutterly, enthusiastically, self-forget-tingly, absorbed in the beloved,\nand counting all surrender of self to, and the sacrifice of life itself\nfor, him or her a delight. Many of us do love men so. Do we love God so?\n\nBut these heroic three may suggest another thought. Their\nself-sacrificing love was illustrious; but there is a nobler, more\nwonderful, more soul-subduing instance of such love. They broke through\nthe ranks of the Philistines to bring David a draught from the well of\nBethlehem. Jesus has broken through the ranks of our enemies to bring\nus the water of which 'if a man drink, he shall live for ever.' If we\nwould see the highest example of self-sacrificing love, we must turn to\nlook, not on the instances of it that shine through the ages on the\npage of history, and make men thrill as they gaze, and think better of\nthe human nature that can do such things, but on the Christ hanging on\nthe Cross because He loved those who did not love Him, and giving His\nlife a ransom for sinners.\n\n\nIII. David's reception of the water.\n\nThe chivalrous devotion of the three touched an answering chord in\ntheir chivalrous chief. His heart filled at the thought of what they\nhad risked, and revolted from employing what had been thus won for no\nhigher use than to gratify a piece of sentiment in himself. The\nsparkling water was too sacred to be taken for any baser use than as a\nlibation to Jehovah. And who can doubt that the three were more fully\nrepaid for their devotion, as David poured it out unto the Lord, than\nif he had drunk it eagerly up? His feeling and his act indicate\nbeautiful delicacy of instinct, and swiftness of perception of how to\nrequite the devotion of the three.\n\nWe may separate into its two parts the generous impulse which sprang as\none whole in David's breast. There was the shrinking from using the\nwater to slake his thirst merely, and there was the resolve to pour it\nout as a libation to God. Both parts of that whole may yield us\nprofitable thoughts.\n\nTo risk their lives for the water was noble in the three; to have\nquaffed it as if it had been drawn like any other water from a well,\nwould have been ignoble in David. There are things that it may be noble\nto give and ignoble to accept. There are sacrifices which we are not\nentitled to allow others to make for our sakes. Gratifications which\ncan only be procured at the hazard of men's lives are too dearly bought.\n\nWould not a civilisation, that draws much of its comforts and\nappliances from 'sweated industries,' and is languidly amused by seeing\nmen and women performers peril their lives nightly, and lose them too,\nfor its gratification, be the better for copying David's recoil from\ndrinking 'the blood of men that went in jeopardy of their lives'? Is\nthere not 'blood' on many a woman's ball-dress, on many an article of\nluxury, on many an amusement?\n\nThere are sacrifices which we have no right to accept from others. The\nthree had no right to risk life for such a purpose, and David would\nhave been selfish if he had drunk the water. Do not such thoughts lead\nus by contrast to Him who has done what none other can do? 'None of\nthem can by any means redeem his brother, nor give his life a ransom\nfor him'; but Jesus can and Jesus does, and what it would be\nimpossible, and wrong if it were possible, for one man to do for\nanother, He has done for us all, and what it would be base for a man to\naccept from another if that other could give it, it is blessed and the\nbeginning of all nobleness of character for us to accept from Him.\nDavid would not drink because the cup seemed to him to be red with\nblood. Jesus offers to us a cup, not of cold water only but of 'water\nand blood,' and bids us drink of it and remember Him.\n\nThe generous devotion of the three kindled answering emotions in\nDavid's breast. It would be a churlish soul that was not warmed into\nsome faint replica of such self-sacrifice, and most of us would be\nashamed of ourselves if we were unmoved by such love. But does the\nsupreme example of it affect us as much as the lesser examples of it\ndo? How many of us stand before it like the peaks of the Alps that\nfront full south, and lift an unmelted breastplate of snow to the\nmidday sun! How many of us have lived all our lives in presence of\nJesus' infinite love and self-surrender for us each, and never have\nfelt one transient touch of answering love!\n\nThe other part of David's impulse was to offer to God what was too\nprecious for his own use. That is the fitting destination of our most\nprecious and prized possessions. And whatever is thus offered becomes\nmore precious by being offered. The altar sanctifies and enhances the\nworth of the gift. What we give to God is more our own than if we had\nkept it to ourselves, and develops richer capacities of ministering to\nour delight. It is so with our greatest surrender, the surrender of\nourselves. When we give ourselves to Jesus, He renders us back to\nourselves, far better worth having than before. We are never so much\nour own as when we are wholly Christ's. And the same thing is true as\nto all our riches of mind, heart, or worldly wealth. If we wish to\ntaste their most delicate and refined sweetness, let us give them to\nJesus, and the touch of His hand, as He accepts them and gives them\nback to us, will leave a lingering fragrance that nothing else can\nimpart. Was not the water from the well of Bethlehem sweeter to David\nas he poured it out unto the Lord than if he had greedily gulped it\ndown?\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS\n\n\n\n\nDAVID APPOINTING SOLOMON\n\n'Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came\ninto the king's presence, and stood before the king. 29. And the king\nsware, and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of\nall distress, 30. Even as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel,\nsaying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall\nsit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.\n31. Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence\nto the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever. 32. And\nking David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and\nBenaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. 33. The\nking also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and\ncause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to\nGihon: 34. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him\nthere king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save\nking Solomon. 35. Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and\nsit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have\nappointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. 36. And Benaiah\nthe son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen; the Lord God of\nmy lord the king say so too. 37. As the Lord hath been with my lord the\nking, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the\nthrone of my lord king David. 38. So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the\nprophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the\nPelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David's\nmule, and brought him to Gihon. 39. And Zadok the priest took an horn\nof oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the\ntrumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.'--1 KINGS i.\n28-39.\n\n\nThe earlier part of this chapter must be taken into account in order to\nget the right view of this incident. David's eldest surviving son,\nAdonijah, had claimed the succession, and gathered his partisans to a\nfeast. Nathan, alarmed at the prospect of such a successor, had\narranged with Bathsheba that she should go to David and ask his public\nconfirmation of his promise to her that Solomon should succeed him, and\nthat then Nathan should seek an audience while she was with the king,\nand, as independently, should prefer the same request.\n\nThe plan was carried out, and here we see its results. The old king was\nroused to a flash of his ancient vigour, confirmed his oath to\nBathsheba, and promptly cut the ground from under Adonijah's feet by\nsending for the three who had remained true to him--Nathan, Benaiah,\nand Zadok--and despatching them without a moment's delay to proclaim\nSolomon king, and then to bring him up to the palace and enthrone him.\nThe swift execution of these decisive orders, and the burst of popular\nacclamation which welcomed Solomon's accession, shattered the nascent\nconspiracy, and its supporters scattered in haste, to preserve their\nlives. The story may be best dealt with, for our purpose, by taking\nthis brief summary and trying to draw lessons from it.\n\nI. It points anew the truth that 'whatsoever a man soweth, that shall\nhe also reap.' As Absalom, so Adonijah, had been spoiled by David's\nover-indulgence (verse 6), and having never had his wishes checked, was\nnow letting his unbridled wishes hurry him into rebellion. Nor was that\nfault of David's the only one which brought about the miserable\nsquabbles round his deathbed, as to who should wear the crown which had\nnot yet fallen from his head. Eastern monarchies are familiar with\nstruggles for the crown between the sons of different mothers when\ntheir father dies. David had indulged in a multitude of wives, and his\nlast days were darkened by the resulting intrigues of his sons. No\ndoubt, too, Solomon was disliked by his brethren as the child of\nBathsheba, and the shame of David's crime was an obstacle in his\nyounger son's way. Thus, as ever, his evil deeds came home to roost,\nand the poisonous seed which he had sown grew up and waved, a bitter\nharvest, which he had to reap. Repentance and forgiveness did not\nneutralise the natural consequences of his sin. Nor will they do so for\nus. God often leaves them to be experienced, that the experience may\nmake us hate the sins the more.\n\nII. The sad defection to Adonijah of such tried friends as Joab and\nAbiathar has its lesson. The reason for Joab's treachery is plain. He\nhad been steadily drifting away from David for years. His fierce temper\ncould not brook the king's displeasure on account of his murders of\nAbner and Amasa, and his slaying of Absalom had made the breach\nirreparable. No doubt, David had made him feel that he loved and\ntrusted him no longer; and his old comrade in many a fight, Benaiah,\nhad stepped into the place which he had once filled. Professional\nrivalry had darkened into bitter bate. Joab commanded the native-born\nIsraelites; Benaiah, the 'Cherethites and Pelethites,' who are now\ngenerally regarded as foreign mercenaries. They were David's bodyguard,\nand were probably as heartily hated by Joab and the other Israelite\nsoldiers as they were trusted by David. So there were reasons enough\nfor Joab's abetting an insurrection which would again make him the\nforemost soldier. He wanted to be indispensable, and would prop the\nthrone as long as its occupant looked only to him as its defender.\nBesides, he probably felt that he would have little chance of winning\ndistinction in a kingdom which was to be a peaceful one.\n\nAbiathar's motives are unexplained, but if we notice that he had been\nobliged to acquiesce in the irregular arrangement of putting the\nhigh-priest's office into commission, we can understand that he bore no\ngoodwill to Zadok, his colleague, or to David for making the latter so.\nSelf was at the bottom of these two renegades' action. The fair\nfellowship, which had been made the closer because of dangers and\nprivations faced together, crumbled away before the disintegrating\ninfluences of petty personal jealousies. When once self-regard gets in,\nit is like the trickle of water in the cracks of a rock, which freezes\nin winter and splits the hardest stone. No common action for a great\ncause is possible without the suppression of sidelong looks towards\nprivate advantage. Joab and Abiathar tarnished a life's devotion and\nbroke sacred bonds, because they thought of themselves rather than of\nGod's will. Surely they must have had some pangs as they sat at\nAdonijah's feast, when they thought of the decrepit old king lying in\nhis chamber up on Zion, and remembered what he and they had come\nthrough together.\n\nIII. We may note the pathetic picture of decaying old age which is seen\nin David. He was not very old in years, being about seventy, but he was\na worn-out man. His early hardships had told on him, and now he lay in\nthe inner chamber, the shadow of himself. His love for Bathsheba had\ndied down, as would appear both from her demeanour before him, and from\nher ignorance of his intentions as to his successor. She was little or\nnothing to him now. He seems to have been torpidly unaware of what was\ngoing on. The noise of Adonijah's revels had not disturbed his quiet.\nHe had not even taken the trouble to designate his successor, though\n'the eyes of all Israel were upon him that he should tell who was to\nsit on his throne after him' (v. 20). Such neglect was criminal in the\ncircumstances, and brings out forcibly the weary indifference which had\ncrept over him. Contrast that picture with the early days of swift\nenergy and eager interest in all things. Is this half-comatose old man\nthe David who flashed like a meteor and struck swift as a thunderbolt\nbut a few years before? Yes, and a like collapse of power befalls us\nall, if life is prolonged. Those who most need the lesson will be least\ntouched by it; but let not the young glory in their strength, for it\nsoon fades away; and let them give the vigour of their early days to\nGod, that, when the years come in which they shall say, 'I have no\npleasure in them,' they may be able, like David, to look back over a\nlong life and say, with him, that the Lord 'hath redeemed my soul out\nof all adversity.'\n\nIV. We note the flash of fire which blazed up in the dying embers of\nDavid's life. The old lion could be roused yet, and could strike when\nroused. It took much to shake him out of his torpor. Nathan's plan of\nbringing the double influence of Bathsheba and himself to bear was\nsuccessful beyond what he had hoped. All that they desired was a formal\ndeclaration of Solomon as successor. They knew that the king's name was\nstill dear enough to all Israel to ensure that his wish would settle\nthe succession; and they would have been content to have left the\nactual entrance of Solomon on office till after David's death, so sure\nwere they that his word was still a spell. But the old king, shaking\noff his languor, as a lion does the drops from his mane, goes beyond\ntheir wishes, and strikes one decisive blow as with a great paw, and no\nsecond is needed. Without a moment's delay, he sends for the trusty\nthree, and bids them act on the instant. So down to Gihon goes the\nprocession, with the youthful prince seated on his father's mule, in\ntoken of his accession, the trusty bodyguard round him with Benaiah at\ntheir head, and the great prophet Nathan, side by side with the\nhigh-priest Zadok, representing the divine sanction of the solemn act.\n\nIt would take stronger men than the spoiled Adonijah and his revellers\nto upset anything which that determined company resolved to do. The lad\nis anointed with the holy oil which Zadok as high-priest had the right\nto bring forth from the temporary sanctuary. That signified and\neffected the communication from above of qualifications for the kingly\noffice, and indicated divine appointment. Then out blared the trumpets,\nand the glad people shouted 'God save the king!' What thoughts filled\nthe young heart of Solomon as he stood silent there his vision in\nGibeon may partly tell. But the distant roar of acclaim reached\nAdonijah and his gang as they sat at their too hasty banquet.\n\nThey had begun at the wrong end. The feast should have closed, not\ninaugurated, the dash for the crown. They who feast when they should\nfight are likely to end their mirth with sorrow. David's one stroke was\nenough. They were as sure as Nathan and Bathsheba had been that the\ndeclaration of his wish would carry all Israel with it, and so they saw\nthat the game was up, and there was a rush for dear life. The empty\nbanqueting-hall proclaimed the collapse of a rebellion which had no\nbrains to guide it, and no reason to justify it. Let us learn that,\nthough 'the race is not always to the swift,' promptitude of action,\nwhen we are sure of God's will, is usually a condition of success. Life\nis too short, and the work to be done too pressing and great, to allow\nof dawdling. 'I made haste, and delayed not, but made haste to keep Thy\ncommandments.' Let us learn, too, from Adonijah's fiasco, to see the\nend of a thing before we commit ourselves to it, and to have the work\ndone first before we think of the feast.\n\nNathan and Bathsheba and David all believed that God had willed\nSolomon's succeeding to the throne. No doubt, the reason for their\nbelief was the divine word to David through Nathan (2 Samuel vii. 12),\nwhich designated a son not yet born as his successor, and therefore\nexcluded Adonijah as well as Absalom. But, while they believed this,\nthey did not therefore let Adonijah work his will, and leave God to\ncarry out His purposes. Their belief animated their action. They knew\nwhat God willed, and therefore they worked strenuously to effect that\nwill. We may bewilder our brains with speculations about the relation\nbetween God's sovereignty and man's freedom, but, when it comes to\npractical work, we have to put out the best and most that is in us to\nprevent God's will from being thwarted by rebellious men, and to ensure\nits being carried into effect through our efforts, 'for we are God's\nfellow-workers.'\n\n\n\n\nA YOUNG MAN'S WISE CHOICE OP WISDOM\n\n'In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God\nsaid, Ask what I shall give thee. 6. And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed\nunto Thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked\nbefore Thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart\nwith Thee; and Thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that Thou\nhast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7. And\nnow, O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead of David my\nfather: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come\nin. 8. And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast\nchosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for\nmultitude. 9. Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to\njudge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is\nable to judge this Thy so great a people? 10. And the speech pleased\nthe Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11. And God said unto him,\nBecause thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long\nlife; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of\nthine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern\njudgment; 12. Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have\ngiven thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none\nlike thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto\nthee. 13. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked,\nboth riches and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings\nlike unto thee all thy days. 14. And if thou wilt walk in My ways, to\nkeep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk,\nthen I will lengthen thy days. 15. And Solomon awoke; and, behold, It\nwas a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the\ncovenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace\nofferings, and made a feast to all his servants.'--1 KINGS iii. 5-15.\n\n\nThe new king was apparently some nineteen or twenty years old on his\naccession. He stepped at once out of seclusion and idleness to bear the\nwhole weight of the kingdom. The glories of David's reign, his brother\nAdonijah's pretensions to the crown, the smouldering hostility of\nSaul's old partisans, made his position difficult and his throne\nunsteady. No doubt, 'the weight of too much dignity' pressed on the\nyouth, and this dream found a point of origin in his waking thoughts.\nGod does not thus reveal Himself to men who seek Him not; and the offer\nin the vision is but the repetition of what Solomon felt in many a\nwaking moment of meditation that God was saying to him, and the choice\nhe makes in it is the choice that he had already made. He who seeks\nwisdom first is already wise.\n\nI. Note the wide possibilities opened by the divine offer. Our\nnarrative brings that gracious offer into connection with Solomon's\nlavish sacrifice before the Tabernacle at Gibeon. 'God loveth a\ncheerful giver' and because these thousand burnt offerings meant\ndevotion and thankfulness, therefore He who lets no man be the poorer\nfor what he gives to Him, and is honoured most, not by our givings to,\nbut by our takings from Him, comes in the quiet night, and puts the key\nof all His treasures into the young king's hands. In a very real sense\nthis divine voice is but the putting into words of the fact as to every\nyoung life. The all but boundless possibilities before every young man\nand woman give solemnity to their position, which they too often do not\nrecognise till youth is past. The future lies blank before them, ready\nto receive what they choose to write on its page. Once written, it is\nindelible. They are still free from the limitations of habit and\nassociations. They have still the capacity and the opportunity of\nchoice. There are limits, of course, but still it is scarcely\nexaggeration to say that a man may become almost anything he likes, if\nhe strongly wills it when young, and sticks to his resolve. When the\nliquid iron flows from the blast furnace, it may be run into any mould;\nbut it soon cools and hardens, and obstinately keeps its shape, in\nspite of hammers.\n\nIf young men and women could but see the possibilities of their youth,\nand the issues that hang on early choice, as clearly as they will see\nthem some day, there would be fewer wasted mornings of life and fewer\ngloomy sunsets. But the misery is that so many do not choose at all,\nbut just let things slide, and allow themselves to be moulded by\nwhatever influence happens to be strongest. For one man who goes wrong\nby deliberate choice, with open eyes, there are twenty who simply\ndrift. Unfortunately, there is more evil than good in the world; and if\na lad takes his colour from his surroundings, the chances are terribly\nagainst his coming to anything high, noble, or pure. This world is no\nplace for a man who cannot say 'No.' If we are like the weeds in a\nstream, and let it decide which way we shall point, we shall be sure to\npoint downwards. It would do much to secure the choice of the Good, if\nthere were a clear recognition by all young persons of the fact that\nthey have the choice to make, and are really making it unconsciously.\nIf they could be brought, like Solomon, to put their ruling wish into\nplain words, many who are not ashamed to yield to unworthy desires\nwould be ashamed to speak them out baldly. Let each ask himself,\n'Suppose that I had to say out what I want most, dare I avow before my\nown conscience, to say nothing of God, what it is?\n\nLooked at from a somewhat different point of view, God's offer to\nSolomon presupposes God's knowledge and approval of his wishes. He does\nnot give blank cheques to those whom He cannot trust to fill them up\nrightly. When James and John tried to commit Jesus to a blind promise\n'that Thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall ask of Thee,' their\nanswer was a question as to what they wished. 'Delight thyself also in\nthe Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.' God loves\nus too well to let us have _carte blanche_ unless our wills run\nparallel with His. He is a foolish and cruel father who promises\ncompliance with all his child's unknown wishes. Not such is our\nFather's loving discipline. It is to those who 'abide in Christ,' and\nhave Him abiding in them, moulding their longings and prayers, that the\ngreat promise is sealed: 'Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be\ndone unto you.'\n\nII. Note next the wise choice of wisdom. 'Had not Solomon been wise\nbefore, he had not known the worth of wisdom. The dunghill cocks of\nthis world cannot know the price of this pearl; those that have it know\nthat all other excellencies are but trash and rubbish unto it.'\nSolomon's prayer shows the temper with which he entered on his reign.\nThere is no exultation; his serious and clear-eyed spirit sees in rule\na heavy task. He contrasts his inexperienced rawness with the 'truth\nand righteousness' and veteran maturity of his great predecessor, and\ntrembles to think that he, a mere lad, sits on David's throne. But he\npleads with God that He has made him king, and implies that therefore\nGod is bound to fit him for his office. That is the boldness permitted\nto faith,--to remind God of His own past acts, which pledge Him to give\nwhat He has put us into circumstances to need. With beautiful humility,\nSolomon dwells on his youth and inexperience, and on the vastness of\nthe charge laid on him. All these considerations are the motives for\nhis choice of a gift, and also pleas with God to grant his request.\n\nHe asks for the practical wisdom needed for ruling in these old days,\nwhen the king was judge as well as ruler and captain. Was this the\nhighest gift that he could have asked or received? Surely the deep\nlongings of his father for communion with God were yet better. No doubt\nthe 'wisdom' of the Book of Proverbs is religion and morality as well\nas true thinking, but the 'understanding heart to judge Thy people'\nwhich Solomon asked and received is narrower and more secular in its\nmeaning. There is no sign in his biography that he ever had the deep\ninward devotion of his father. After the poet-psalmist came the prosaic\nand keen-sighted shrewd man of affairs. The one breathed his ardent\nsoul into psalms, which feed devotion to-day; the other crystallised\nhis discernment in 'three thousand proverbs,' and, though his 'songs\nwere one thousand and five' they touched a lower range, both of poetry\nand religious feeling, than his father's, as may be expressed by\ncalling them 'songs,' not 'psalms.'\n\nBut though the request is not the highest, it may well be taken as a\npattern by the young. Note the view of his position from which it\nrises. To Solomon dignity meant duty; and his crown was not a toy, but\na task. The responsibilities, not the enjoyments, of his station were\nuppermost in his mind. That is the only right view to take. Youth is\nmeant to be enthusiastic, and to feed its aspirations on noble ideals,\nand if, instead of that, it does as too many do, especially in\ncountries where wealth abounds, namely, regards life as a garden of\ndelights, or sometimes as a sty where young men may wallow in\n'pleasures,' then farewell to all hopes of high achievements or of an\nhonourable career. Youthful ideals will fade fast enough; but alas for\nthe life which had none to begin with! Note the sense of insufficiency\nfor his task. Youth is prone to be over-confident, and to think that it\ncan do better than its fathers, who were as confident in their time.\nThere is a false humility which flattens the spirit and keeps from\nplain duty; and there is a true lowliness which feels that the task\nmust be attempted, though the heart may shrink, and which impels to\nprayer for fitness not its own. He who tells God his consciousness of\nimpotence, and asks Him to supply His strength to its weakness and His\nwisdom to its inexperience, will never shirk work because it is too\ngreat, nor ever fail to find power according to his need.\n\nIII. Note God's answer. Solomon gets his wish, and much which he had\nnot asked besides. The divine answer is in two parts. First, the\nreasons for the large gift; and second, the details of the gift. His\nnot wishing material good was the very reason why he obtained it. That\nis not always so; for often enough a man whose whole nature is\nsharpened to one point, in the intensity of his desire to make money,\nwill succeed. But what then? He will be none the better, but the\npoorer, for his wealth. But this is always true,--that the people who\ndo not make worldly good their first object are the people who can be\nmost safely trusted with it, and who get most enjoyment out of it.\nWhether in the precise form of the gift to Solomon or not, outward good\ndoes attend a life which sets duty before pleasure, and desires most to\nbe able to do it. All earthly good is exalted by being put second, and\ndegraded as well as corrupted by being put first. The water lapped up\nin the palm, as the soldier marches, is sweeter than the abundant\ndraughts swilled down by self-indulgence. 'Seek ye first the kingdom of\nGod, ... and all these things shall be added unto you.'\n\nNote the largeness of the gift. When God is pleased with a man's\nprayers, He gives more than was asked, and so teaches us to be ashamed\nof the smallness of our expectations, and widens our desires by His\noverlapping bestowments. First, He gives the wisdom asked. Dependence\non God, rising from the sense of our own ignorance, has a wonderful\npower of bringing illumination, even as to small matters of practical\nduty. Solomon asked it, to guide him in his judicial decisions; and the\nfirst case to which it was applied, when received, was a miserable\nquarrel between two disreputable women. A devout heart, purged from\nself-conceit, is often gifted with a piercing wisdom before which the\ncrafty shrewdness of the world is abashed. We cannot be 'wise as\nserpents' unless we are 'harmless as doves.' The world may think such\n'wisdom' folly, but she will be 'justified of her children.' Is the\nsaying of James's Epistle a reminiscence of Solomon's dream, 'If any of\nyou lack wisdom, let him ask of God, ... and it shall be given him'?\n\nThen follows the grant of the unasked goods,--riches, honour, and\nlength of days. Surely we hear an echo of these promises in that\nmagnificent description of Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs: 'Length of\ndays is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour'\nThese and similar gifts may or may not follow our choice of divine\nwisdom as our truest good If we have really chosen it, we shall regard\nthem as make-weights, to be thankfully received and rightly used, but\nnot as indispensable. If we pursue wisdom for the sake of getting\nthese, we shall lose both it and them. If we have set our desires most\nearnestly on the most worthy things, which are God's love and a\ncharacter hallowed by His grace, we shall be rich indeed, whether what\nthe world calls wealth be ours or no; and our days will be long enough\nif in them we have been prepared for the fuller wisdom and undying life\nof heaven.\n\nSolomon realised his youthful aspirations. The only way to be sure of\ngetting what we wish, is to wish what God desires to give,--even\nHimself,--and to ask it of Him. Solomon, like many a young man, outgrew\nhis early 'dream.' Was he happier or wiser when he was a worn-out\nvoluptuary, smiling with cynical scorn at his young self, or when, with\ngenerous enthusiasm, he felt the solemnity of life and the awfulness of\nduty, and asked God to help his insufficiency? Was not the dream truer\nand more real than the waking hours of profligacy and unreal\n'enjoyment'?\n\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT GAIN OF GODLINESS\n\n'And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under\nhis fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 26.\nAnd Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and\ntwelve thousand horsemen. 27. And those officers provided victual for\nking Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every\nman in his month: they lacked nothing. 28. Barley also and straw for\nthe horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the\nofficers were, every man according to his charge. 29. And God gave\nSolomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of\nheart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30. And Solomon's\nwisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and\nall the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan\nthe Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and\nhis fame was in all nations round about. 32. And he spake three\nthousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. 33. And he\nspake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the\nhyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of\nfowl and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34. And there came of all\npeople to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth,\nwhich had heard of his wisdom.'--1 KINGS iv. 25-34\n\n\nThe glories of Solomon's reign kindle the writer of this Book of Kings\nto patriotic enthusiasm, all the more touching if, as is probable, he\nwrote during Israel's exile. The fair vision of the past would make the\nsad present still sadder. But it is not patriotism only which guides\nhis pen; he recognises that Solomon's glory was the result of Solomon's\nreligion, and by portraying it he would teach the eternal truth that\ngodliness hath 'promise of the life that now is' as well as 'of that\nwhich is to come.' The passage brings out three characteristics of\nSolomon's reign and character: the peace enjoyed by Israel during his\ntime, his wealth, and his wisdom.\n\nI. That beautiful phrase for a time of secure enjoyment of modest,\nmaterial good in a simple state of agricultural society, 'dwelt safely,\nevery man under his vine and under his fig tree' occurs frequently in\nthe Old Testament, and breathes the very essence of a calm life of\nrural felicity and restful enjoyment of wholesome joys. How different\nfrom the feverish ideal predominant in our great cities to-day! Which\nis the nobler and the more likely to yield abiding content and to be\nthe ally of high and serious thought--this antique picture of\nleisurely, unambitious lives, or the scramble for wealth which destroys\nrepose, and is so busy getting that it has no time either rightly to\nenjoy, or nobly to expend, its wealth? Those who have their country's\ntruest prosperity at heart may well sigh for the return of the vanished\nideal of Solomon's days; and those who would make the most of\nthemselves must in some measure seek to conform their own lives to it.\n\nBut another view may be taken of this picture of national prosperity.\nRemember the time at which it was painted,--a time when the prosperity\nof a nation was thought to consist in conquest, and when the arts of\npeace were despised. How far beyond his era was the king who set his\nhighest glory in securing for his people tranquil lives on their\nfertile homesteads, and condemned the vulgar glory of the conqueror!\nHow far beyond his era was the writer who felt that the fairest page in\nhis book was not that which told of battles and triumphs, but that\nwhich portrayed a peaceful reign, when swords were turned into\nploughshares! The world has not yet learned that the highest function\nof government is to promote individual prosperity. The vulgar, wicked\nnotion of 'glory' bewitches the nations still. A Europe, armed to the\nteeth and staggering under the weight of its weapons, has need to go to\nschool to this old Hebrew ideal. 'They didn't know everything down in\nJudee,' but they knew that peace has nobler victories than war has. The\npeople who see nothing in the world's history but natural evolution\nhave a hard nut to crack in accounting for the singular fact that the\nJew somehow or other had got hold of a truth to which the most advanced\nnations to-day have scarcely grown up.\n\nII. The wealth of Solomon is illustrated by his large equipment of\nchariots and horsemen. The older habits of the nation had not favoured\nthe use of either, and their employment by Solomon was a sign of\ngrowing luxury, which had the seeds of evil in it. But the novelty was\ncharacteristic of the change coming over Israel in his day, and of its\ncloser intercourse with other nations. The number of forty thousand for\nthe stalls of the horses is an evident clerical error, which is\ncorrected in the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles ix. 25 to the more\nprobable number of four thousand. A well-organised staff looked after\nprovisioning the cavalry and chariot horses wherever they were\nquartered. This one instance of Solomon's resources should be connected\nwith the other details of these. The intention of all is, not only to\nmagnify his wealth, but to bring out the fulfilment of the promise made\nto him as part of the reward of his prayer for wisdom, that he should\nhave the inferior good which he had not asked, 'both riches and honour.'\n\nThe principle which the writer of this book would confirm and exemplify\nis, that to the man who seeks first the kingdom of God and His\nrighteousness all these things shall be added. Now the whole order of\nsupernatural providences in the Old Testament was directed to making\nmaterial prosperity depend on obedience to God. And we cannot assert\nthat the New Testament order has the same purpose in view. 'Prosperity\nwas the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the\nNew.' But even in Old Testament times outward prosperity did not always\nfollow godliness, and the problem which has tortured all generations\nhad already been raised, as the Book of Job and Psalm lxxiii show.\n\nUndoubtedly, religion does contribute to prosperity. The natural\ntendency of the course of life which Christianity enjoins is to lead to\nmoderate, modest success in a worldly point of view. Not many\nmillionaires owe their millions to the practice of Christian virtues,\nbut many a man owes his elevation from poverty to modest competence to\nthe character and habits which his religion has stamped on him. People\nwho get converted in the slums soon get out of the slums.\n\nBut, whether Christianity helps a man to worldly success or not, it\nhelps him to get all the good out of the world that the world can give.\nIt may, or may not, give dainties, but it will make brown bread sweet.\nIt may, or may not, give wealth, but it will make the 'little that a\nrighteous man hath better than the riches of many wicked.' They who\nknow no higher good than earth can yield know not the highest good of\nearth; they who put worldly prosperity and treasure second find them\nfar more precious and sweet than when they ranked them as first.\n\nIII. But the crown of Solomon's gifts was his wisdom. And his elevation\nof intellectual and moral endowments above material good is as\nremarkable as his similar elevation of peace above warlike fame, and\nsuggests the same questions as to the source of ideas so far ahead of\nwhat was then the world's point of view. Observe that Solomon's\n'wisdom' in all its departments is traced to God its giver. Observe,\ntoo, that expression 'largeness of heart,' by which is meant, not width\nof quick sympathy or generosity, but what we should call comprehensive\nintellect. The 'heart' is the centre of the personal being, from which\nthoughts as well as affections flow, and the phrase here points to\nthoughts rather than to affections.\n\nSolomon, then, was a many-sided student, and his 'genius' showed itself\nin very various forms. He lived before the days of specialists. The\nregion of knowledge was so limited that a man could be master in many\ndepartments. Nowadays the mass has become so unmanageable that, to know\none subject thoroughly, we have to be ignorant of many, like the\nscholar who had given his life to the study of the Greek noun, and,\ndying, lamented that he had not confined himself to the dative case!\nPractical wisdom, which had its field In doing justice between his\nsubjects; shrewd observation of life, with wit to discern resemblances\nand to put wisdom into homely, short sayings; poetic sensibility and\nthe gift of melodious speech; and, added to these manifold endowments,\ninterest in, and rudimentary knowledge of, natural history and botany,\nmake the points specified as Solomon's wisdom.\n\n'A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's\nepitome,'--\n\nthe first and greatest of the few students or philosophers who have sat\non thrones.\n\nBut the main thing to notice is that in Solomon we see exemplified the\nnormal relation between religion and intellectual power and learning.\nJudge, artist, scientist, and all other thinkers and students, draw\ntheir power from God, and should use it for Him. And, on the other\nhand, Solomon's example is a rebuke to those narrow-minded Christians\nwho look askance at men of learning, letters, or science, as well as to\nthose still more narrow-minded men of intellectual ability who think\nthat science and religion must be sworn foes. If our religion is what\nit should be, it will widen our understanding all round.\n\n'Let knowledge grow from more to more, But more of reverence in us\ndwell.'\n\n\n\n\nGREAT PREPARATIONS FOR A GREAT WORK\n\n'And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had\nheard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for\nHiram was ever a lover of David. 2. And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,\n3. Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto\nthe name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every\nside, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. 4. But now\nthe Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is\nneither adversary nor evil occurrent. 6. And, behold, I purpose to\nbuild an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto\nDavid my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in\nthy room, he shall build an house unto My name. 6. Now therefore\ncommand thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my\nservants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for\nthy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest\nthat there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto\nthe Sidonians. 7. And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of\nSolomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the Lord this\nday, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. 8.\nAnd Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which\nthou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber\nof cedar, and concerning timber of fir. 9. My servants shall bring them\ndown from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats\nunto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be\ndischarged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt\naccomplish my desire, in giving food for my household. 10. So Hiram\ngave Solomon cedar trees, and fir trees, according to all his desire.\n11. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat, for food\nto his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to\nHiram year by year. 12. And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He\npromised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they\ntwo made a league together.--1 KINGS v. 1-12.\n\n\nThe building of the Temple was begun in the fourth year of Solomon's\nreign (1 Kings vi. 1). The preparations for so great a work must have\ntaken much time, so that the arrangement with Hiram recorded in this\npassage was probably made very early in the reign. That probability is\nstrengthened if we suppose, as we must do, that the embassy from Hiram\nmentioned in verse I was sent to congratulate Solomon on his accession.\nIf so, the latter's proposal to get timber and stones from the Lebanon\nwould be made at the very commencement of the reign. Three years would\nnot be more than enough to get the material ready and transported.\nGreat designs need long preparation. Raw haste wastes time;\ndeliberation is as needful before beginning as rapid action is when we\nhave begun.\n\nI. Verses 3-5 set forth very forcibly the motives which impelled the\nyoung king to the work, and may suggest to us the motives which should\nurge us to diligence in building a better temple than he reared. He\nbegins by reference to his father's foiled wish, and to the reason why\nDavid could not build the house. Not only was it inappropriate that a\nwarlike king should build it, but it was impossible that, whilst his\nthoughts were occupied and his resources taxed by war, he should devote\nhimself to such a work. In Assyria and Egypt the great warrior kings\nare the great temple-builders, but a divine decorum forbade it to be so\nin Israel.\n\nSolomon next thankfully describes his own happier circumstances.\nObserve his designation of Jehovah in verse 4 as 'my God,' and compare\nwith verse 3, where He is called David's God. The son had inherited the\ndivine protection and the father's sense of personal relation to\nJehovah. That is a better legacy than a throne. Well had it been for\nSolomon if he had held by the faith of his first days of royalty! Such\na sense of a personal bond of love protecting on the one hand, and love\ntrusting and obeying on the other, is the spring of all true service of\nGod, whether it is busied in temple-building or in anything else.\n\nWe note also the grateful recognition of benefits received, and the\ntracing of peace and outward prosperity to God's care. There was not a\ncloud in the sky. The horizon was clear all round, and it was 'the Lord\nmy God,' who had made this ease for Solomon. We are often more ready to\nrecognise God's hand in sorrows than in joys. When He smites, we try to\nsay 'It is the Lord!' Do we try to say it when all things are smooth\nand bright?\n\nThe effect of blessings should be thankfulness, and the proof of\nthankfulness is service. So Solomon did not take prosperity as an\ninducement to selfish luxurious repose, but heard in it God's call to a\ngreat task. If all the rich men and all the leisurely women who call\nthemselves Christians would do likewise, there would be plenty of\nworkers and of resources for Christ's service, which now sorely lacks\nboth. How many of such 'lay up treasure for themselves, and are not\nrich toward God'! How many fritter away their leisure in vanities,\nhaving time for any amusement or folly, but none for Christian service!\n\nThe man whom Jesus called 'Thou fool!' not the wise king, is the\npattern for a sad number of professing Christians. 'Thou hast much\ngoods laid up for many years.' What then? 'I purpose to build an house\nfor the name of the Lord'? By no means. 'I will build greater barns,\nand that will give me something to do, and then I will take mine ease.'\n\nWe note, too, that Solomon was impelled to his great work by the\nknowledge that God had appointed him to do it. The divine word\nconcerning himself, spoken to his father, sounded in his ears, and gave\nhim no rest till he had set about obeying it (v. 5). The motives of the\ngreat temple-builders of old, as they themselves expound them in\nhieroglyphics and cuneiform, were largely ostentation and the wish to\noutdo predecessors; but Solomon was moved by thankfulness and by\nobedience to his father's will, and still more, to God's destination of\nhim. If we would look at our positions and blessings as he looked at\nhis in the fair dawning of his reign, we should find abundant\nindications of God's will regarding our work.\n\nSolomon uses a remarkable expression as to the purpose of the Temple.\nIt is to be 'an house for the _name_ of the Lord.' That is not the same\nas 'for the Lord.' Pagan temples might be intended by their builders\nfor the actual residence of the god, but Solomon knew that the heaven\nof heavens could not contain Him, much less this house which he was\nabout to build. We are fairly entitled, then, to lay stress on that\nphrase, 'the Name.' It means the whole self-revelation of God, or,\nrather, the character of God as made known by that self-revelation.\n\nThe Temple was, then, to be the place in which the God who fills earth\nand heaven was to manifest Himself, and where His servants were to\nbehold and reverence Him as manifested. The Shechinah was the symbol,\nand in one aspect was a part, of that self-revelation. However, in\ncommon speech the Temple was spoken of as the house of Jehovah. The\nsame thought which is expressed in Solomon's fuller phrase underlay the\nexpression,--_He_ dwelt 'not in temples made with hands' but His _name_\nwas set there, and the structure was reared, not so much for Him as\nthat worshippers might there meet Him.\n\nII. The rest of the passage deals with Solomon's request to Hiram, and\nthe preparation of the material for the Temple. Solomon's first care\nwas to secure timber and stone. His own dominions can never have been\nwell wooded, and there are many indications that the great central knot\nof mountainous land, which included the greater part of his kingdom,\nwas comparatively treeless. He therefore proposed to Hiram to supply\ntimber from the great woods on Lebanon, which have now nearly died out,\nand offered liberal payment.\n\nThe parallel account in 2 Chronicles makes Solomon offer specified\nquantities of provisions for Hiram's workmen, and makes Hiram accept\nthe terms. Verse 11 of this chapter says that the provisions named\nthere were for the Tyrian king's 'household.' This may possibly mean\nthe workmen, who would be regarded as Hiram's slaves, but, more\nprobably, 'household' means 'court,' and Solomon had not only to feed\nthe army of workmen, but to supply as much again for the great\nestablishment which Hiram kept up. The little slip of seacoast, with\nthe mountain rising sharply behind, which made Hiram's kingdom, could\nnot grow enough for his people's wants. His country was 'nourished' by\nPalestine, long centuries after this time (Acts xii. 20), and the same\nwas the case in Solomon's period. In verse 11, the quantity of oil is\nimpossibly small as compared with that of wheat. 2 Chronicles reads\n'twenty thousand' instead of 'twenty,' and the Septuagint inserts\n'thousand' in verse 11, which is probably correct.\n\nWith all his Oriental politeness and probably real wish to oblige a\npowerful neighbour, Hiram was too true a Phoenician not to drive a good\nbargain. He was king of 'a nation of shopkeepers,' and was quite worthy\nof the position. 'Nothing for nothing' seems to have been his motto,\neven with friends. He would love Solomon, and send him flowery\ncongratulations, and talk as if all he had was his ally's, but when it\ncame to settling terms he knew what his cedars were worth, and meant to\nhave their value.\n\nThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work, and\ntalk as if it were very near their hearts, who have as sharp an eye to\ntheir own advantage as he had. The man who serves God because he gets\npaid for it, does not serve Him. The Temple may be built of the timber\nand stones that he has supplied, but he sold them, and did not give\nthem, therefore he has no part in the building.\n\nHow different the uncalculating lavishness of Solomon! He knows no\nbetter use for treasures than to expend them on God's service, and 'all\nfor love, and nothing for reward.' That Is the true temper for\nChristian work. He to whom Christ has given Himself should give himself\nto Christ; and he who has given himself should and will keep back\nnothing, nor seek for cheap ways of serving the Lord, He who gives all,\nbe it two mites, or a fishing-boat and some torn nets, or great wealth\nlike that which Solomon found in his father's treasuries and devoted to\nbuilding the Temple, gives much; and he who gives less than he can\ngives little.\n\nSolomon's work was, after all, outward work, and fitter for that early\nage than the imitation of it would be now. The days for building\ntemples and cathedrals are past. The universal religion hallows not\nGerizim nor Jerusalem, but every place where souls seek God The\nspiritual religion asks for no shrines reared by men's hands; for Jesus\nChrist is the true Temple, where God's name is set, and where men may\nbehold the manifested Jehovah, and meet with Him. But we have work to\ndo for Christ, and a temple to build in our own souls, and a stone or\ntwo to lay in the great Temple which is being built up through the\nages. Well for us if we use our resources and our leisure, for such\nends with the same promptitude, thankful surrender, and sense of\nfulfilling God's purpose, as animated the young king of Israel!\n\n\n\n\nBUILDING IN SILENCE\n\n'. . . There was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of Iron heard In\nthe house, while it was in building.'--1 KINGS vi 7.\n\n\nThe Temple was built in silence. It 'rose like an exhalation.'\n\n'No hammer fell, no ponderous axes rung, Like some tall palm the mystic\nfabric sprung.'\n\nPerhaps it was merely for convenience of transport and to save time\nthat the stones were dressed in the quarries, but more probably the\nsilence was due to an instinct of reverence. We may fairly use it as\nsuggesting two thoughts.\n\nI. How God's house is mostly built in silence. 'The Kingdom of God\ncometh not with observation.'\n\n(1) In reference to its advance in the world. Destructive work is\nnoisy, constructive work is silent. God was in 'the still small voice,'\nnot in the wind or the earthquake or the fire. Christ's own career, how\nsilent it was! Drums are loud and empty. The spread of the kingdom was\nunnoticed by the world's great ones--Caesars, philosophers, patricians,\nand it silently grew underground. Hence may flow--\n\n(a) An encouragement to those whose work is inconspicuous.\n\n(b) A lesson not to mistake noise and notoriety for spiritual progress.\n\n(c) Guidance as to our expectations of the advance of Christ's kingdom.\nIt will transform society by slow, often unnoticed, degrees, by radical\nchange of individuals' habits. The elevation of humanity will be slow,\nlike the imperceptible rise of the Norwegian coast. Sudden changes are\nshort-lived changes. 'Lightly come, lightly go.' What matures slowly\nwill last long.\n\n(2) In reference to its growth in our souls.\n\nSilence is needed for that. There must be much still communion and\nquiet reflection. The advance in the Christian life is variously\nlikened to a battle, since there are antagonists and struggle is needed\nto overcome; and to vegetable or corporeal growth, which the mysterious\nindwelling life works without effort and almost without consciousness,\nbut it is also likened to the erection of a building, in which there is\ncontinuity, and each successive course of masonry is the foundation for\nthat above it. That work of building is work that must be done in\nsilence. If we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, we must\nsilently drink in the sunshine and dew, and so prosperously pass from\nblade to ear, and thence to full corn in the ear.\n\nSurely nothing is more needed in these days of noisy advertisement, and\nmeasurement of the importance of things by the noise that they can\nmake, than this lesson of the place of silence in Christian progress,\nboth for individuals and for the Christian Church as a whole.\n\nII. How God's house is built of prepared stones.\n\nThat is true, in one view of the matter, in regard to the Church on\nearth, for there must be the individual act of repentance and faith\nbefore a soul is fit to be built into the fabric of the Church.\n\nThere is providential training of men for their tasks before these are\ngiven to them.\n\nBut the highest application of the symbol which we venture to find in\nour text is to the relation between the earthly and the heavenly life.\n\nThis world is the quarry where the stones are dressed for the Temple in\nthe heavens.\n\n(_a_) Life is the chipping and hewing. The unnecessary pieces are\nstruck off with heavy mallet and sharp chisel. Pain and sorrow are thus\nexplained, if not wholly, yet sufficiently to bring about submission\nand trust.\n\n(_b_) The Builder has His plan clearly before Him, and works accurately\nto realise it. He perfectly knows what He means to build, and every\nstroke of the dressing-tool is accurately directed. There are no\nmistakes made in His quarrying.\n\n (_c_) We may be sure that the prepared stones will be brought to\nthe Temple site and built into it. There lie gigantic half-hewn pillars\nin abandoned quarries in Syria and Egypt. But no one will ever say of\nthe divine Temple-Builder: He began to build and was not able to\nfinish. It remains a problem how the old builders managed to transport\nthese huge stones from the quarries to the site, but we may be sure\nthat the Architect of the 'house not made with hands, eternal in the\nheavens,' knows how to bring every stone that has been prepared here,\nto the place prepared for it, and for which it has been prepared. We\nmay repose on the Apostle's assurance that 'He that has begun a good\nwork in you will perform it,' or rather on the more sure word of Jesus\nHimself, 'He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of\nMy God.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING 'BLESSING' HIS PEOPLE\n\nAnd it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this\nprayer and supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar\nof the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to\nheaven. 55. And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel\nwith a loud voice, saying, 56. Blessed be the Lord, that hath given\nrest unto His people Israel, according to all that He promised: there\nhath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by\nthe hand of Moses His servant. 57. The Lord our God be with us, as He\nwas with our fathers: let Him not leave us, nor forsake us: 58. That He\nmay incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep\nHis commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, which He\ncommanded our fathers. 59. And let these my words, wherewith I have\nmade supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day\nand night, that He maintain the cause of His servant, and the cause of\nHis people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require: 60. That\nall the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that\nthere is none else. 61. Let your heart therefore be perfect with the\nLord our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments, as\nat this day. 62. And the king, and all Israel with him, offered\nsacrifice before the Lord. 63. And Solomon offered a sacrifice of\npeace-offerings, which he offered unto the Lord, two and twenty\nthousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king\nand all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.'--1\nKINGS viii. 54-63.\n\n\nThe great ceremonial of dedicating the Temple was threefold. The first\nstage was setting the ark in its place, which was the essence of the\nwhole thing. God's presence was the true dedication, and that was\nmanifested by the bright cloud that filled the sanctuary as soon as the\nark was placed there. The second stage was the lofty and spiritual\nprayer, saturated with the language and tone of Deuteronomy, and\nbreathing the purest conceptions of the character and nature of God,\nand all aglow with trust in Him. Then followed, thirdly, this 'Blessing\nof the Congregation.' The prayer had been uttered by the kneeling king.\nNow he stands up, and, with ringing tones that reach to the outskirts\nof the crowd, he gathers the spirit of his prayer into two petitions,\npreceded by praise for national blessings, and followed by exhortation\nto national obedience. A huge sacrifice of unexampled magnitude closes\nthe whole.\n\nI. Note the thankful retrospect of the nation's past (verse 56).\n\nSolomon 'blessed the congregation' when, in their name, he lifted up\nhis voice to bless the Lord, prayed that God would incline their hearts\nto keep His law, and would maintain their cause, and exhorted them to\nkeep their hearts perfect with Him. We bless each other when we ask God\nto bless, and when we draw each other nearer Him. Standing there in the\nnew Temple, with a united nation gathered before him, the cloud filling\nthe house, and peace resting on all his land to its farthest border,\nthe king looks back on the long road from Sinai and the desert, and\nsums up the whole history in one sentence. The end has vindicated the\nmethods. There had been many a dark time when enemies had oppressed,\nand many a hard-fought field had been stained with Israel's blood; but\nall had tended to this calm hour, when Israel's multitudes were\ngathered in worship, and their unguarded homes were safe. There had\nbeen many heroes in the long line.\n\n'Time would fail' him 'to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of\nDavid and Samuel ... who ... turned to flight armies of aliens.' One\nname alone is worthy to be named,--the name of the true Deliverer and\nMonarch. It is the Lord who 'hath given rest unto His people.' We look\non the past most wisely when we see in it all the working of one mighty\nHand, and pass beyond the great names of history or the dear names\nwhich have made the light of our homes, to the ever-living God, who\nworks through changing instruments; and 'the help that is done on\nearth, He doeth it Himself.' We read the past most truly when we see in\nall its vicissitudes God's unchanging faithfulness, and recognise that\nthe foes and sorrows which often pressed sore upon us were no breach of\nHis faithful promises, but either His loving chastisement for our\nfaithlessness, or His loving discipline meant to perfect our\ncharacters. We read the past best from the vantage-ground of the\nTemple. From its height we understand the lie of the land. Communion\nwith God explains much which is else inexplicable. Solomon's judgment\nof Israel's checkered history will be our judgment of our own when we\nstand in the higher courts of the heavenly home, and look from that\nheight upon all the way by which the Lord our God hath led us. In the\nmeantime, it is often a trial for faith to repeat these words; but the\nblessing that comes from believing them true is worth the effort to\nstifle our tears in order to say them.\n\nII. Note the prayer for obedient hearts (verses 57, 58). The proper\nsubject-matter of this petition is 'that He may incline our hearts to\nwalk in His ways,' and God's presence is invoked as a means thereto.\nThe deepest desire of a truly religious soul is for the felt nearness\nof God. That goes before all other blessings, and contains them all.\nNothing is so needful or so sweet as that The presence of God is the\nabsence of evil, the evil both of pain and of sin, as surely as the\nrising sun is the routing of night's black hosts. 'The best of all is,\nGod is with us.' The prayer again looks back to the past, and asks that\nthe ancient experiences may be renewed. The generations of those who\ntrust in God are knit together, and the wonders of old time are capable\nof repetition to-day. Faith can say with deeper meaning than the\nPreacher, 'That which hath been is that which shall be.' However\nvarying may be the forms, the fact of a divine presence and help\naccording to need is invariable, and they that have gone before have\nnot exhausted the fountain, which will fill the vessel of the latest\ncomer as it did that of the first. How beautifully the abiding God and\nthe fleeting series of 'our fathers' is contrasted! A moment of\ntriumph, when some work, like that of building the Temple, which has\nfor ages been looked forward to, and into which the sacrifices and\naspirations of a long line of dead toilers are built, brings strongly\nbefore all thoughtful men the continuity of a nation or a Church, and\nthe transiency of its individual members. It should suggest the abiding\nGod yet more strongly than it does the passing fathers. The mercy\nremains the same, while the receivers change. The sunshine and the tree\nare the same, though the leaves which glisten and grow in the light\nhave but one summer to live.\n\nBut Solomon desires that God may be with him and his people for one\nspecific purpose. Is it to bring outward prosperity, or to extend their\nterritory, or to give them victory? As in his choice in his dream, so\nnow, he asks, not for these things, but for an inward influence on\nheart and will. What he wants most for himself and them is moral\nconformity to God's will. All must be right if that be right. The\nprayer implies that, without God's help, the heart will wander from the\npaths of duty. The weakness of human nature, and the consequent\nnecessity for God's grace in order to obedience, were as deeply felt by\nthe devout men of the Old Testament as by Apostles. They are felt by\nevery man who has honestly tried to measure the sweep and inwardness of\nGod's law, and to realise it in life. We need go but a very short way\non the road to discover that temptations to diverge lie so thick on\neither side, and that our feet grow weary so soon, that we shall make\nbut little progress without help from above.\n\nThe synonyms for the law are worthy of notice. Why are there so many of\nthese in the Old Testament? For the same reason that there are so many\nfor 'money' in English,--because those who made the language thought so\nmuch about the thing, and delighted in it so much. As 'commandments,'\nit was solemnly imposed by rightful authority, and obedience was\nobligatory. The word rendered 'statutes' means something engraved, or\nwritten, and recalls the tables inscribed by God's finger. 'Judgments'\nare the divine decisions or sentences as to what is right, and\ntherefore the infallible clue to the else bewildering labyrinth. To\nobey these commandments, to read that solemn writing, and to accept\nthese decisions as our guides, is man's perfection and blessedness; and\nfor that God's felt presence is indispensable.\n\nIII. Note the prayer for God's defence (verses 59, 60). The proper\nsubject-matter of this petition is that God would maintain the cause of\nking and nation; and it is preceded by a petition that, to that end,\nthe preceding prayer may be answered, and is followed by the desire\nthat thereby the knowledge of God may fill the earth. The prayer for\noutward blessings comes after the prayer for inward heart-obedience. Is\nnot that the right order? Our prayers need to be prayed for, and a true\ndesire is not contented with one utterance. To ask that what we have\nasked may be given is no vain repetition, nor a sign of weak faith, or\nundue anxiety. How bold the figure in asking that the prayer may lie\nbefore God day and night, like some suppliant at the foot of His throne!\n\nNote the grand aim of God's help of Israel,--the universal diffusion of\nHis name among all the peoples of the earth. Solomon understood the\ndivine vocation of Israel, and had risen above desiring blessings only\nfor his own or his subjects' sake. Later ages fell from that elevation\nof feeling, and hugged their special privileges without a thought of\nthe obligations which they involved. God's choice of Israel was not\nmeant for the exclusion of the Gentiles, but as the means of\ntransmitting the knowledge of God to them. The one nation was chosen\nthat God's grace might fructify through it to all. The fire was\ngathered into a hearth, that the whole house might be warmed. But\nselfishness marred the divine plan, and Israel became a nonconductor,\nand the privileges selfishly kept became corrupt; as the miser's corn\nstored in his barns in famine breeds weevils. Christians need no more\nsolemn lesson of what comes from selfishly hoarding spiritual blessings\nthan the fate of Israel. God hath shined into our hearts, that we may\ngive to others who sit in the dark the light which we possess; and if\nwe fail to do so, the light will darken within us.\n\nIV. The blessing ends with one brief, all-comprehensive charge to the\npeople, which seems based, by its 'therefore,' on the preceding thought\nof Jehovah as the only God. The only attitude corresponding to His sole\nand supreme Majesty is the entire devotion of heart, which leads to\nthoroughgoing obedience to His commandments. The word rendered\n'perfect' literally means 'entire' or 'sound,' and here expresses the\ncomplete devotion of the whole nature. Solomon meant that it should be\ncomplete, in contradistinction to any sidelong glances to idolatry. The\nprinciple underlying that 'therefore' is that, God being what He is,\nour only God and refuge, the only adequate hope and object of our\nnature, we should give our whole selves to Him. We, too, are tempted to\nbring Him divided hearts, and to carry some of our love and trust as\nofferings at other shrines. But if there be 'one God, and none other\nbut He,' then to serve Him with all our heart and strength and mind is\nthe dictate of common sense, and the only service which He can accept,\nor which can bring to our else distracted natures peace and\nsatisfaction. His voice to us is, 'My son, give Me thy whole heart.'\nOur answer to Him should ever be that prayer, 'Lord, ... unite my heart\nto fear Thy name.' A divided heart is misery. Partial trust is\ndistrust. 'Love me all in all, or not at all,' is the requirement of\nall deep, human love; and shall God ask less than men and women ask\nfrom and give to one another?\n\n\n\n\n'THE MATTER OF A DAY IN ITS DAY'\n\n'At all times, as the matter shall require.'--1 KINGS viii. 59.\n\n\nI have ventured to diverge from my usual custom, and take this fragment\nof a text because, in the forcible language of the original, it carries\nsome very important lessons. The margin of our Bible gives the literal\nreading of the Hebrew; the sense, but not the vigorous idiom, of which\nis conveyed in the paraphrase in our version. 'At all times, as the\nmatter shall require,' is, literally, 'the thing of a day in its day';\nand that is the only limitation which this prayer of Solomon places\nupon the petition that God would maintain the cause of His servants and\nof His people Israel. The kingly suppliant got a glimpse of very great,\nthough very familiar, truths, and at that hour of spiritual\nillumination, the very high-water mark of his relations to God--for I\nsuppose he was never half as good a man afterwards--he gave utterance\nto the great thought that God's mercies come to us day by day,\naccording to the exigencies of the moment.\n\nNow, I think that in the words 'the matter of a day in its day' we may\nsee both a principle in reference to God's gifts and a precept in\nreference to our actions. Let us look at these two things.\n\nI. A principle in reference to God's gifts.\n\nOf course, obviously--and I need not say more than a word about\nthat--we find it so in regard to the outward blessings that are poured\ninto our lives. We are taught, if the translation of the New Testament\nis correct, to ask, 'Give us this day our daily bread,' and to let\nto-morrow alone. Life comes to us pulsation by pulsation, breath by\nbreath, by reason of the continual operation, in the material world, of\nthe present God's present giving. He does not start us, at the\nbeginning of our days, with a fund of physical vitality upon which we\nthereafter draw, but moment by moment He opens His hand, and lets life\nand breath and all things flow out to us moment by moment, for no\ncreature would live for an instant except for the present working of a\npresent God. If we only realised how the slow pulsation of the minutes\nis due to the touch of His finger on the pendulum, and how everything\nthat we have, and the existence of us who have it, are results of the\ncontinuous welling out from the fountain of life, of ripple after\nripple of the waters, everything would be more sacred, and more solemn,\nand fuller of God than, alas! it is.\n\nBut the true region in which we may best find illustrations of this\nprinciple in reference to God's gifts is the region of the spiritual\nand moral bestowments which He in His love pours upon us. He does not\nflood us with them: He filters them drop by drop, for great and good\nreasons. I only mention three various forms of this one great thought.\n\nGod gives us gifts adapted to the moment. 'The matter of a day,' the\nthing fitted for the instant, comes. In deepest reality, all is one\ngift, for in truth what God gives to us is Himself; or, if you like to\nput it so, His grace. That little word 'grace' is like a small window\nthat opens out on to a great landscape, for it gathers up into one\nencyclopaediacal expression the whole infinite variety of beneficences\nand bestowments which come showering down upon us. That one gift is, as\nthe Apostle puts it in one of his eloquent epithets, 'the _manifold_\ngrace of God,' which word in the original is even more rich and\npicturesque, because it means the 'many-variegated' grace--like some\nrich piece of embroidery glowing with all manner of dyes and gold. So\nthe one gift comes to us manifold, rich in its adaptation to, and its\nexquisite fitness for, the needs of the moment. The Rabbis had a\ntradition that the manna in the wilderness tasted to every man just\nwhat each man needed or wished most. It Is as though in some imperial\ncity on a day of rejoicing, one found a fountain in the market-place\npouring out, according to the wish of the people, various costly wines\nand refreshing drinks, God's gift comes to us with like variety--the\n'matter of a day in its day.'\n\nGod never gives us the wrong medicine. In whatever variety of\ncircumstances we stand, that one infinitely simple and yet infinitely\ncomplex gift contains what we specially want at the moment. Am I\nstruggling? He extends a hand to steady me. Am I fighting? He is my\n'sword and shield, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my\nhigh tower.' Am I anxious? He comes into my heart, and brings with Him\na great peace, and all waves cease to toss and smooth themselves into a\nlevel plain. Am I glad? He comes to heighten the gladness by some touch\nof holier joy. Am I perplexed in mind? If I look to Him, 'His coming\nshall be as the morning,' and illumination will be granted. Am I\ntreading a lonely path? There is One by my side who will neither\nchange, nor fail, nor die. Whatever any man needs, at the moment that\nhe needs it, that one great Gift will supply 'the matter of a day in\nits day.'\n\nGod gives punctually. Many of us may have sometimes sent Christmas\npresents to India or Australia some weeks before. Some will arrive in\ntime and some will be too late. God's gifts never reach us before the\nday, and they never come after the day. 'The Lord shall help her, and\nthat right early,' said the grand psalm. What the Psalmist was thinking\nabout was, I suppose, that miraculous intervention when the army of\nSennacherib was smitten in a night. Timid and faithless souls in\nJerusalem, as they looked over the walls and saw the encircling lines\nof the fierce foes drawing closer and closer round the doomed city,\nmust have said, 'Our Lord delayeth His coming,' and could not stand the\ntest of their faith and patience, involved in God's apparent\nindifference to the need of His people. To-morrow the assault is to be\ndelivered. To-night\n\n        'The Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,\n         And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed';\n\nand the would-be assailants, when that to-morrow dawned, were lying\nstiff and stark in their tents. God's help comes, not too soon, lest we\nshould not know the blessedness of trusting in the dark; and not too\nlate, lest we should know the misery of trusting in vain.\n\nPeter is lying in prison. Herod intends, after the Passover, to bring\nhim out to the people. The scaffolding is ready. The first watch of the\nnight passes, and the second. If once it is fairly light, escape is\nimpossible. But in the grey dawn the angel touches the sleeper. He\nwakes while his guards sleep. There is no need for hurry. He who has\nGod for his Deliverer has no occasion to 'go out with haste.' So, with\nstrange and majestic leisureliness, the escaping prisoner is bid to put\non his shoes and gird himself. No doubt, he cast many a scrutinising\nglance at the four sleeping legionaries whom a heedless movement might\nhave wakened. When all is ready, he is led forth through all the wards,\neach being a separate peril, and all made safe to him. The first gate\nopens, and the second gate opens, and the iron gate that leads into the\ncity opens, and quietly he and the angel go down the street. It is\nlight enough for him to see his way to the house where the brethren are\nassembled. He gets safe behind Mary's door before it is light enough\nfor the gaolers to discover his absence, and for the pursuers to be\nstarted in their search. The Lord did help him, and that right early--'\nthe matter of a day in its day,'\n\nWe shall find, if we leave our times in His hand, that the old simple\nfaith has still a talismanic power to quiet us. His time is best, so be\npatient, and be trustful in your patience.\n\nAgain, God gives gifts enough, and not more than enough. He serves out\nour rations for spirit as for body, as they do on shipboard, where the\nsailors have to take their pots and plates to the galley every day and\nfor each meal, and get enough to help them over the moment's hunger.\nThe manna fell morning by morning. 'He that gathered much had nothing\nover, he that gathered little had no lack.' So all the variety of our\nchangeful conditions, besides its purpose of disciplining ourselves and\nof making character, has also the purpose of affording a theatre for\nthe display, if I may use such cold language--or rather let me say\naffording an opportunity for the bestowment--of the infinitely varied,\nexquisitely adapted, punctual, and sufficient grace of God.\n\nII. But now, secondly, a word about the text as containing a precept\nfor our action.\n\nLet me put what I have to say in three plain sentences.\n\nFirst, take short views of the future. Of course, we have to look\nahead, and in reference to many things to take prudent forecasts, but\nhow many of us there are who weaken ourselves and spoil to-day by being\n'over-exquisite to cast the fashion of uncertain evils'! It is a great\npiece of practical philosophy, and I am sure that it has much to do\nwith our getting the best out of the present moment, that we should\neither take very short or very long views of the future. Either\n\n                'Let the unknown to-morrow\n                 Bring with it what it may,'\n\nor look beyond the last of the days into the unseen light of an\nunsetting sun. If I must anticipate, let me anticipate the ultimate,\nthe changeless, the certain; and let me not condemn my faculty of\npicturing that which is to come, to look along the low ranges of\nearthly life, and torture myself by imagining all the possibilities of\nevil of which my condition admits, as being turned into certainties\nto-morrow. Take 'the matter of a day _in_ its day.' 'Sufficient unto\nthe day is the evil thereof.' Let us make the minute what it ought to\nbe, then God will make the whole what it ought to be.\n\nAgain I say, let us fill each day with discharged duties. If you and I\ndo not do the matter of the day in its day, the chances are that no\nto-morrow will afford an opportunity of doing it. So there will come\nupon us all, if we are unfaithful to this portioning out of tasks to\ntimes, that burden of an irrevocable past, and of the omitted duties\nthat will stand reproving and condemning before us, whensoever we turn\nour eyes to them. 'It might have been, and it is not'; does a sadder\nspeech than that fall from human lips? Brethren, the day, though it is\nshort, is elastic; and no one knows how much of discharged service and\naccomplished work and fulfilled responsibilities can be crammed into\nits hours, until he has earnestly tried to fill each moment with the\ntask which belongs to the moment. 'The sluggard will not plough by\nreason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest and have\nnothing.' If our day is not filled full of work, some to-morrow will be\nfilled full, in retrospect, of thorns and stings. Life is short; 'the\nnight cometh when no man can work.' 'I must work the works of Him that\nsent me while it is day.'\n\nLastly, I would say, keep open a continual communion with God, that day\nby day you may get what day by day you need. There are hosts of people\nwho call themselves, and, in some kind of surface way, are, Christian\npeople, who seem to think that they get all that they need of the grace\nof God in a lump, at the beginning of their Christian career, and who\nare living upon past communications and the memory of these, and are\nforgetting that they can no more live and be nourished upon past gifts\nof God's grace than upon the dinner that they ate this day last year.\nWe must hang continually upon Him, if we are continually to receive\nfrom His hand. No past blessing will avail for present use.\n\nDear friends, the purpose of this principle, which I have been trying\nto illustrate in God's way of dealing with us, is that we shall be\ncontent to be continually dependent, and consciously as well as\ncontinually dependent, upon Him. In the measure in which we keep our\nhearts open for the perpetual influx of His grace, in that measure\nshall we be ready for each day as it comes; for its trials and its\njoys, for its possibilities and its duties.\n\nThis, too, must be remembered--that the days bolted together make\nmonths; and the months, years; and the years, life; and that life as a\nwhole is 'a day'; and that there is a 'matter' of that day which can\nonly be done in its day. Oh that none of us may be the subjects of that\nsad wail from a Saviour's heart and a Saviour's lips, which lamented,\n'If thou hadst known, at least, in this thy day, the things that belong\nto thy peace; but now'--the night has come, and the darkness of the\nnight, and--'they are hid from thine eyes!'\n\n\n\n\nPROMISES AND THREATENINGS\n\n'And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the\nhouse of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which\nhe was pleased to do. 2. That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second\ntime, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3. And the Lord said unto\nhim, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made\nbefore Me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My\nname there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there\nperpetually, 4. And if thou wilt walk before Me, as David thy father\nwalked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to\nall that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep My statutes and My\njudgments: 5. Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon\nIsrael for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall\nnot fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. 6. But if ye shall at\nall turn from following Me, ye or your children, and will not keep My\ncommandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and\nserve other gods, and worship them: 7. Then will I cut off Israel out\nof the land which I have given them; and this house which I have\nhallowed for My name, will I cast out of My sight; and Israel shall be\na proverb and a byword among all people: 8. And at this house, which is\nhigh, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss;\nand they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to\nthis house? 9. And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord\ntheir God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt,\nand have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and\nserved them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this\nevil.'-1 KINGS ix. 1-9.\n\n\nThe successful end of a great work is often the beginning of a great\nreaction. When the tension is slackened, the whole nature of the worker\nis relaxed, and the temptation to slothful self-indulgence is strong.\nGod knows our frame, and mercifully times His manifestations to the\nmoments of special need. So, when Solomon had finished his great task,\n'the Lord appeared the second time, as He had appeared at Gibeon.'\nThere had been no manifest token of approval during all the years of\nbuilding the Temple, for none was needed; but now there was danger that\nthe finished work might be followed by languor and indifference, and\ntherefore once more God spoke words of stimulus, both promises and\nwarnings.\n\nA solemn alternative is set before the king, both parts of which are\nfitted to rouse his energy and inspire him to faithful obedience. The\nsame alternatives are presented to each of us. In verses 3-5 God\npromises blessed results from clinging to Him and keeping His statutes;\nin verses 6-9 He mercifully threatens the tragic issues of departure.\nIn applying these to ourselves we must remember that outward prosperity\nwas attached to a devout life more closely in Israel than it is now.\nBut, though the form of the blessings dependent on doing God's will\nalters, the reality remains unaltered.\n\nI. The promises to Solomon are preceded by the assurance that his\nprayer had been heard. The answer corresponds very beautifully to the\npetitions. God has 'put His name' in the Temple, as the descent of the\nGlory to rest between the cherubim visibly showed, and thus has\nfulfilled Solomon's petition; but the answer surpasses the prayer in\nthat the presence of 'the Name' is promised 'for ever.' Similarly, in\nPsalm cxxxii., the answer to the petition 'Arise into Thy rest'\ntranscends the petition which it answers, and adds the same promise of\nperpetuity, 'This is My rest for _ever_.' Again, Solomon had prayed,\n'that Thine eyes may be open towards this house,' and God answers with\nthe expanded promise that not His eyes only, but His heart shall be\nthere perpetually. He is 'able to do exceeding abundantly above all\nthat we ask or think,' and He delights to surprise us with over-answers\nto our prayers. We cannot widen our desires so far but that His gifts\nwill stretch beyond them on every side.\n\nBut the promise of perpetual dwelling in the Temple is conditional, as\nappears in the latter part of God's answer, though no condition is\nstated at first. The promises to Solomon individually are all\ncontingent. The all-important 'if' at the beginning of verse 4 governs\nthe whole. The divine eulogium on David, which introduces these\npromises, suggests how mercifully God regards the imperfect lives of\nHis servants. That merciful interpretation of conduct is removed by a\nwhole universe from palliation of sin. It affords no ground for our\nthinking little of our inconsistencies. David's crime was sternly\nrebuked and sorely punished, but still his life, in its main drift and\noutline, could be presented as a pattern, as being marked by integrity\nof heart and uprightness. The moon shines like a disc of silver, though\nits surface is pitted with extinct volcanoes.\n\nWe may note, too, the pregnant description in outline of the elements\nof a devout life, as here enjoined on Solomon. The first requisite is\nto walk before God; that is, to nourish a continual consciousness of\nHis presence, and to regulate all actions and thoughts under the\nthrilling and purifying sense of being 'ever in the great Taskmaster's\neye.' Only we are not to think of Him as only a Taskmaster, but as a\nloving Friend and Helper. A child is happy in its little work or play\nwhen it knows that its father is looking on with sympathy. The sense of\nGod's eye being on us should 'make a sunshine in a shady place,' should\nlighten labour and sweeten care. It is at the root of practical\nobedience, as its place in this sequence shows; for there follow it, in\nverse 4, 'integrity of heart and uprightness,' on which again follow\nobedience to all God's commandments.\n\nFirst must come the clear recognition of God's relation to us. That\nrecognition will influence our relation to Him, bending hearts to love\nand wills to submit, and the whole inward being to cleave to Him.\nThence, and only thence, will issue in the life the streams of\npractical obedience. It is vain to seek to produce righteous deeds\nunless our hearts are right, and it is as vain to labour at making our\nhearts right unless thoughts of what God is to us have purified them.\nMorality is rooted in religion. On the other hand, no knowledge of the\ntruth about God is worth anything unless it touches the hidden man of\nthe heart, and then passes outward to mould conduct. 'Faith without\nworks is dead.' Correct theology and glowing emotions lack their\nconsummation if they do not impel to holy and God-pleasing living.\n\nThe reward promised in verse 5 is for Solomon alone. His throne is to\nbe 'established for ever.' The duration intended by that expression is\ntherefore not absolutely unlimited, but equivalent to 'during thy\nlifetime.' Solomon could only affect himself by his obedience. The\ncontinuance of the kingdom after him depended on his successors. His\npossession of the throne during his life was the beginning of the\nfulfilment of the promise to David referred to in verse 5, but it was\nonly the beginning, and, like all God's promises, it was contingent on\nobedience. We receive no outward kingdom if we are servants of God;\nbut, in deepest truth, the righteous man is a king, 'lord of himself,\nthough not of lands.' All creatures serve the soul that serves God, and\nall Christ's brethren share in His royalty.\n\nII. The second part of this divine utterance is addressed to the whole\nnation, as is marked by the 'ye' there compared with the 'thou' in\nverse 4, and it lays down for succeeding generations the conditions on\nwhich the new Temple, that stood glittering in the bright Eastern\nsunshine, should retain its pristine beauty. While the address to\nSolomon incited to obedience by painting its blessed consequences, that\nto the nation reaches the same end by the opposite path of darkly\nportraying the ruin that would be caused by departure from God. God\ndraws by holding out a hand full of good things, and He no less\nlovingly drives by stretching out a hand armed with lightnings.\n\nA plain declaration of the evils that dog disobedience is as loving as\na bright vision of the good that attends on submission. The sternest\nthreatenings of Scripture are spoken that they may never need to be\nexecuted. There is no more foolish misconception of Christianity than\nthat which calls it harsh because it reveals that 'the wages of sin is\ndeath.' Note that the threatenings come second, not first. God's heart\nis averse to smite. To lavish blessing is His delight, and judgment is\n'His work, His strange work,' forced on Him by sin.\n\nThe special sin against which Israel was warned was that to which it\nwas specially prone and tempted by its circumstances. When all the\nnations 'worshipped stocks and stones,' it was hard to 'keep thy faith\nso pure' as to have no share in the universal bewitchment. So the whole\nhistory of the people is one of lapses into idolatry and of\nchastisements leading to temporary amendment, until the long, sharp\nlesson of the Captivity eradicated the disposition to be as the nations\naround. No doubt, idolatry in its crudest forms is outgrown now in\nWestern lands, but sense still craves material embodiment of the\nunseen, and still feels the pressure of the material and palpable.\nHence the earthward direction of so many lives. Asthmatical patients\noften breathe more easily in the slums of a city than in pure mountain\nair, and sense-bound men find difficulty in respiration on the heights\nof a religion which minimises the appeal to sense.\n\nThe penalty attached to departure from God was the loss of the land.\nIsrael kept it on a tenure like that of some of our English nobility,\nwho hold their estates on condition of doing some service to the\nsovereign. Of course, that connection between serving God and national\nprosperity involved continual supernatural intervention, and cannot be\napplied entirely to national prosperity now; but it still remains true\nthat moral and religious corruption saps the foundations of a people's\nwell-being, and, when carried far enough, destroys a people's\nexistence. The solemn threat of becoming 'a proverb and a byword' among\nall peoples is quoted, apparently from Deuteronomy xxviii. 37, and has\nbeen only too terribly fulfilled for weary centuries.\n\nThe promise in verse 3, that God's eyes and heart should be perpetually\non the Temple, has now the condition attached that Israel should cleave\nto the Lord. Otherwise it will be cast out of His sight, and be a mark\nfor scorn and wonder. The vivid representation of a dialogue between\npassers-by is quoted from Deuteronomy xxix. 24-26, where it is spoken\nin reference to the nation. It carries the solemn thought that God's\nname is made known among the heathen by the punishment of His\nunfaithful people, not less really, and sometimes more strikingly, than\nby the blessings bestowed on the obedient. If we will not magnify Him\nby joyous service, by rewarding which, with good He can magnify\nHimself, He will magnify Himself on us by retribution, the more severe\nas our blessings have been the greater. The lightning-scathed tree,\nstanding white in the forest, witnesses to the power of the flash, as\nits leafy sisters in their green beauty proclaim the energy of the\nsunshine. Israel has, perhaps, been a more convincing witness for God,\nin its homeless centuries, than ever it was when at rest in the good\nland. 'If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also\nspare not thee.'\n\n\n\n\nA ROYAL SEEKER AFTER WISDOM\n\n'And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning\nthe name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. 2. And\nshe came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare\nspices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come\nto Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. 3. And\nSolomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from\nthe king, which he told her not. 4. And when the queen of Sheba had\nseen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, 5. And the\nmeat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance\nof his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent\nby which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there was no more\nspirit in her. 6. And she said to the king, It was a true report that I\nheard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. 7. Howbeit I\nbelieved not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and,\nbehold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth\nthe fame which I heard. 8. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy\nservants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy\nwisdom. 9. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighteth in thee, to\nset thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for\never, therefore made He thee king, to do judgment and justice. 10. And\nshe gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices\nvery great store, and precious stones: there came no more such\nabundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king\nSolomon. 11. And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir,\nbrought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones.\n12. And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the\nLord, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for singers:\nthere came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day. 13. And\nking Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever\nshe asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So\nshe turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.'--1 KINGS\nx. 1-13.\n\n\nWe feel the breath of a new era in the accounts of Solomon's reign. One\nmost striking peculiarity is the friendly intercourse with the nations\naround. The horizon has widened, and, instead of wars with Philistines\nand Ammon, we have alliances with Egypt, Tyre, and, in the present\npassage, with Sheba, a district of Southern Arabia. The expansion was\nfruitful of both good and evil. It brought new ideas and much wealth;\nbut it brought, too, luxury and idolatry. Still Israel was meant to be\n'a light to lighten the Gentiles,' and in this picturesque story of the\nwisdom-seeking queen, we have the true relation of Israel to the\nnations in its purest form. The details of the narrative. Interesting\nas they are, need not occupy us long.\n\nThe queen had heard the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the\nLord, by which seems to be meant his reputation of being gifted with\ndeep knowledge of the divine character as revealed to him. The\nquestions which occupy earnest souls in all lands and ages were\nstirring in the heart of this woman-chief. The only way, in these old\ndays, to learn the wisdom of the wise, was to go to them. So the\nstreets of Jerusalem saw the strange sight of the long train which had\ncome toiling up from Arabia, laden with its characteristic produce,\ngold and spices and precious stones, in the enumeration of which is\nreflected the wonder of the beholders at the unaccustomed procession.\nBut better than all her wealth was the eager woman's thirst for truth.\nSurely it is a very unworthy and unlikely explanation of her 'hard\nquestions' and purpose to suppose that she came only for a duel of\nwit,--to pose Solomon with half-playful riddles. The journey was too\ntoilsome, the gifts too large, the accent of conviction in her\nsubsequent words too grave, for that. She was a seeker after truth, and\nprobably after God, and had known the torture of the eternal questions\nwhich rise in the mind, and, once having risen, leave no rest till they\nare answered.\n\nSo she came, though half incredulous, hoping to find some solution to\nwhat 'was in her heart,' and as thirsty for the answer as her country's\nsands for water. Only they who have known the pain of carrying such\nquestions, like a fire in their bones, can know the joy which she felt\nwhen she found one to whom she could speak them. It is something of a\ndrop to pass from Solomon's wisdom to the list of the splendours of his\nhousehold, and the effect which these produced on the queen; but the\nwhole account of Solomon's reign is marked by the same naive blending\nof wisdom and material wealth. In those days, outward prosperity was\nthe sign of divine favour. But even in those days they knew that wisdom\nwas 'better than rubies.' The two elements were both at their height in\nSolomon's reign, and the lower of them finally got uppermost, and\nwrecked him. Plain living and high thinking are better than 'wisdom,'\nwhich lets itself down to make much of 'the meat of the table,' and a\nretinue of servants in fine clothes. How many of us would listen much\nmore respectfully to wisdom, if it lived in a palace, than in 'dens and\ncaves of the earth'? The queen's words in verses 6 to 9 are graceful\nwith a woman's tact, and full of feeling. She confesses that she had\ncome half-doubting, even though she risked the journey, and fervently\navows how far fame had been unlike itself in this instance, and had\ndiminished, and not magnified. Then she envies the servants who wait on\nhim, because they are so near the fountain, and finally breaks into\npraise of Solomon's God, whose love to Israel was shown in giving it\nsuch a king. One does not know whether praise of God or compliments to\nSolomon were most in her mind. The words scarcely sound as if she had\nbecome a worshipper of God. He is to her but 'thy God.' But we may\nbelieve that she carried away some seed which grew up. Then, with\nmunificent interchange of gifts, she and her train glide out of the\nstory, and we lose them in the dark. The account of the wealth brought\nby Hiram's ships comes singularly in, breaking the narrative of the\nqueen. Its insertion seems to indicate some connection between the\nfleet and her, and to suggest that Sheba and Ophir were near each other\n(which would put Ethiopia, where some have located it, out of court),\nand that she heard of Solomon through it.\n\nThe whole incident may be regarded as an illustration of the spirit\nthat should mark all seekers after truth, whether earthly or heavenly.\nThis queen had to win a victory over national prejudices, over the\ndisabilities of her sex, over the temptations of her station, to travel\nfar, and face dangers, and to incur great cost. It was surely no mere\nplayful errand on which she was bent. She was smitten with the sacred\nimpulse to 'follow knowledge like a sinking star.' Seldom, indeed, have\nrulers made progresses from their dominions for such an end, and seldom\nhave two of them met to confer on such subjects. We shall not rightly\nmeasure the relative importance of things unless we resolutely set\nourselves to look at them with eyes purged from the illusions of sense,\nand cleared to see how much better than wealth and all outward good is\nthe possession of truth. All sacrifices made to win it are richly\nrepaid, and wise investments. Even in regard to lower kinds of truth,\nto win them is worth the effort of a life; and, in regard to the\nhighest kind, which is the personal Truth, he is the wise man who\ncounts all earthly good but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of\nit. This queen points the path by which all pilgrims of the truth must\ntravel. It is not to be won without effort, without conquest of\nprejudices, repression of weakness, sacrifices of delights, and long\neffort. There must be humility, which will gladly learn, if there is\never to be its possession.\n\n           'Nor can the man that moulds in idle cell\n            Unto her happy mansion attain.'\n\nBut in our days, the easier the attainment, the less the appreciation.\nThe queen of Sheba had no books, and she travelled far to get wisdom.\nWe are flooded with all appliances, and many of us would not cross the\nroad to get Solomon's wisdom, but would do much to be invited to feast\nat his table, or to secure some of the queen's camels' load.\n\nThis story brings out the true ideal of Israel's relation to the\nnations. Solomon is the embodiment of his people. His reign is marked\nby largely increased and amicable relations with his neighbours. These\nwere not all wholesome, and ultimately led to much mischief. But, while\nthe purely commercial connection with Tyre was defective, in that there\nwas no attempt to bring Hiram and the men who worked for the Temple to\nany knowledge of the God of the Temple, and the relation with Egypt was\nmore unsatisfactory still, in that it meant only the importation of\ncorrupting luxuries and the marriage with an Egyptian princess, an\nidolatress, this relation with the queen of Sheba was the true one.\nSolomon did in it what Israel was meant to do for the world. He\nattracted a seeker from afar, and imparted to her the wisdom that God\nhad given him. He answered the torturing questions and won the\nconfidence of this woman who was groping in the dark, till he led her\nby the hand to the light. A bond of friendship knit them together, and\nmutual gifts cemented their amity.\n\nAll this is but the putting into concrete form of God's purpose in\nchoosing Israel for His own. It was not meant to retain or to enclose,\nbut to diffuse, the light. The world can only get blessing by one man\nor people getting it first. As well charge the builder of the\nlighthouse with partiality because he puts the bright lamps in that\nnarrow room, as find fault with the divine method of making the earth\nknow His name. The lighthouse is reared that the beams may stream out\nover the tossing, nightly sea. So God appointed to His people of old\ntheir task. So He has appointed the same task to His Church to-day. We\nought to attract seekers from afar, to win their frank speech when they\ncome, to be able to answer their anxious questions, and to bind them to\nourselves in grateful bonds. In these days there are multitudes\nharassed by the modern forms of the same old, ever-pressing riddles\nwhich burdened this ancient queen's heart; and that Church but ill\ndischarges its office which repels rather than draws the seekers, or\nhas no word of illumination for them if they come.\n\nBut the highest use to be made of the story is that which Christ made\nof it. It stands as a perpetual witness against those who are too blind\nto see the beauty, or too careless to be drawn to listen to the wisdom,\nof a present Christ. The sacrifices which men can make for lower\nobjects are the most powerful rebukes of their unwillingness to make\nsacrifices for the highest, just as their capacity of love and trust is\nof their not loving and trusting Him. The same energy and effort which\nthis queen put forth to reach Solomon, and which men eagerly put forth\nfor some temporal good, would suffice to bring them to the feet of the\ngreat Teacher. Her longing for wisdom, her discernment of the person\nwho could give it, and her toilsome journey, rebuke men's indifference\nto Christ's gifts, their failure to recognise His sweetness and power\nto make blessed, and their laziness and self-indulgence, which will not\ntake a hundredth part of the pains to secure heaven which they\ncheerfully expend, and that often in vain, to secure earth. Will the\n'Queen of the south' stand alone as witness in that day, or will there\nnot be many out of other lands, who, like her, stretched out their\nhands to the dimly descried but yearned-for light, and came nearer to\nit, though they seemed far off, than many who lived in its full blaze\nand never cared for it? Will it be only Christ's contemporaries who\nwill be condemned by heathen seekers after God, or will there be many\nof ourselves, convicted of stolid indifference to the Christ who has\nbeen beside us all our lives, and has prayed us 'with much entreaty'\nand in vain, to 'receive the gift'?\n\nThey who find their way to Him, and tell Him all that is in their\nhearts, will have all their questions solved. We have not far to go;\nfor 'a greater than Solomon is here.' If we betake ourselves to Him,\nand learn of Him, we too shall find that 'the half was not told us';\nfor Christ possessed is sweeter than all expectation, however\nhigh-pitched it may be, and to win Him is the only gain in which there\nis no disappointment, either at first or at last. We may all have the\nblessedness of His servants, 'which stand continually before' Him, and\nnot only 'hear' but receive into their spirits His 'wisdom.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE FALL OF SOLOMON\n\n'For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away\nhis heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord\nhis God, as was the heart of David his father. 5. For Solomon went\nafter Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the\nabomination of the Ammonites. 6. And Solomon did evil in the sight of\nthe Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.\n7. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of\nMoab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the\nabomination of the children of Ammon. 8. And likewise did he for all\nhis strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.\n9. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned\nfrom the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, 10. And\nhad commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after\nother gods: but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. 11.\nWherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of\nthee, and thou hast not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have\ncommanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give\nit to thy servant. 12. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for\nDavid thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.\n13. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one\ntribe to thy son for David My servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake\nwhich I have chosen.'--1 KINGS xi. 4-13.\n\n\nScripture never blinks the defects of its heroes. Its portraits do not\nsmooth out wrinkles, but, with absolute fidelity, give all faults. That\npitiless truthfulness is no small proof of its inspiration. If these\nhistorical books were simply fragments of national records, owning no\nhigher source than patriotism, they would never have blurted out the\nerrors and sins of David and Solomon as they do. Where else are there\nnational histories of which the very central idea is the laying bare of\nnational sins and chastisements? or where else are there legends of the\npeople's heroes which tell their sins without apology or reticence? The\ndifference in tone augurs a different origin. The Old Testament\nhistories are not written to tell Israel's glories, or even, we may\nsay, to recount its history, but to tell God's dealings with Israel,--a\nvery different theme, and one which finds its material equally in the\nglories and in the miseries, which respectively follow its obedience\nand disobedience. So Solomon's fall is told in the same frank way as\nhis wisdom and wealth; for what is of importance is not Solomon so much\nas God's dealings with Solomon, when his heart was turned away. We are\ntold that the narrative of Solomon's reign is an ideal picture. Strange\nidealising which leaves the ideal king wallowing in a sty of sensuality\nand an apostate from Jehovah!\n\nHere we are simply told of the two things,--his sin, and the divine\njudgment which it drew after it.\n\nI. Verses 4-8 tell the black story of Solomon's apostasy. What was its\nextent? Did he himself take part in idolatrous worship, or simply, with\nthe foolish fondness of an old sensualist, let these foreign women have\ntheir shrines? The darker supposition seems correct. The expression\nthat he 'went after other gods' is commonly used to mean actual\nidolatry; and his wives could scarcely have been said to have 'turned\naway his heart,' if all that he did was to wink at, or even to\nfacilitate, their worship. But, on the other hand, he does not seem to\nhave abandoned Jehovah's worship. The charge against him is that 'his\nheart was not perfect,' or wholly devoted to the Lord, or, as verse 6\nputs it, that he 'went not fully' after the Lord. His was a case of\nhalting between two opinions, or rather, of trying to hold both at\nonce. He wanted to be a worshipper of Jehovah and of these idols also.\n\nWas his apostasy final? Yes, so far as we can gather from the\nnarrative. Not only is there no statement of his repentance, but the\nsilence with which he receives the divine announcement of retribution\nis suspicious; and the prophecy of Ahijah to Jeroboam, which obviously\ncomes later in time than the threatenings of the text, treats the\nidolatry as still existing (verse 33). Further, we learn from 2 Kings\nxxiii.13 that the shrines which he built stood till Josiah's time. If\nSolomon had ever abandoned his idolatry, he would not have left them\nstanding. So we seem to have in him a case of a fall which knew no\nrecovery, an eclipse which did not pass. The Book of Ecclesiastes, if\nof his composition, would somewhat lighten the darkness of such an end;\nbut his authorship of it is now all but universally given up.\n\nSo there, on Olivet's southern ridge, right opposite the Temple, stood\nthe three altars, and there the king worshipped; and, if he did, he\nwould have a crowd of imitators. The lessons of such a fall are many.\nFirst, it teaches the destructive effect of yielding to sensual\nindulgence. Solomon's unbridled and monstrous polygamy sapped his\nmanhood and his principle, darkened his clear spirit, blinded his keen\neye, and turned a youth of noble aspiration and a manhood of noble\naccomplishment into an old age without dignity, reverence, or calm. All\nhis wisdom was worth little if it could not keep him master of himself.\nA young man who lets his passions run away with him is less to be\ncondemned than an old sensualist. God means that reason should govern\nimpulses and desires, and that conscience should govern all and be\ngoverned by His will. The vessel is sure to be wrecked when the\nofficers are sent below and the mutineers get hold of the helm.\n\nSecond, it warns us that till the very end of life a fall is possible.\nThis ship went down when the voyage was nearly over. In sight of port\nit struck, and that not for want of beacons. What pathetic warning lies\nin that phrase, 'when Solomon was old'! After so many years of high\naims, so many temptations overcome, with such habits of wisdom and\nkingly nobility, after such prayers and visions, he fell; and, if _he_\nfell, who can be sure of standing? No length of life spent in holy\nthoughts and service secures us against the possibility of disastrous\nfall. Only one thing does,--'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe!'\nJohn Bunyan saw a door opening down to hell hard by the gates of the\nCelestial City. When a man that has been had in reputation for wisdom\nand honour shames the record of his life by a great splash of mud on\nthe white page, near its end, he seldom returns. An old apostate is\nusually finally an apostate.\n\nThird, may we not venture to see a warning here against marriages in\nwhich there is not unity in the deepest things, and a common faith?\n'When you run in double harness, take a good look at the other horse.'\nIf a young Christian man or woman enters on such a union with one who\nis not a Christian, it is a great deal more probable that, in the end,\nthere will be two unbelievers than that there will be two Christians.\n\nWe have nothing to do with pronouncing on Solomon's final condition,\nBut he stands on the page of this history, a sad, enigmatical figure, a\nwarning to all young people to take heed that the attrition of the\nworld does not rub off the bloom of early religion, or make them\ncynically ashamed of the unselfishness of their early desires. There is\nno sadder sight than an old man whose youthful enthusiasm for goodness\nand belief in the super-excellency of wisdom have withered, leaving him\na hard worldling or a gross sensualist. Better the early days, when he\nwas obscure and poor, and believed in wisdom and in the God of wisdom,\nthan the late ones, when worldly success has spoiled him!\n\nII. Verses 9-13 give the divine retribution announced. The immediate\nconnection of sin and punishment is the teaching intended by this close\njuxtaposition of these two halves of our narrative. However long the\nchastisement may be in bursting, the divine resolve to send it is\ninstantaneously consequent on the crime. The chain that binds departure\nfrom God with loss of blessing may be of many or few links, but it is\nriveted on when the evil is done. How gravely, as with the voice of an\nindictment drawn in heaven, the aggravations of Solomon's crime are set\nout, in that he had sinned against 'the Lord' who had appeared to him\ntwice (once in his youthful vision, and once after the completion of\nthe Temple), 'and had commanded him concerning' the very sin that he\nhad done. Sin is made more heinous by the abundance of God's favours\nand the plainness of His commands. If we would remember God's\nappearances to us and for us, and meditate on His revealed will, we\nshould be more impregnable to the assaults of temptation.\n\nWe do not learn _how_ the Lord said this to Solomon. Possibly it was by\nthe same prophet who afterwards announced to Jeroboam his destiny; but,\nhowever announced, it seems to have been received in sullen silence,\nand to have wrought no softening nor change. Like all God's\nthreatenings, it was spoken that it might not be inflicted. Solomon was\nthreatened before the prophet spoke to Jeroboam; and if Solomon had\nrepented, Jeroboam would never have been spoken to. But he is too far\ngone to be stopped, though he has God's own word for it that he is\nruining his kingdom by his sin. We have as clear declarations of worse\nresults from ours; but they do not stop some of us. How strange it is\nthat men will put out their hands to grasp their sins, even though they\nhave to stretch across the smoke of the pit for them!\n\nNote how forbearance delays and diminishes retribution. The separation\nof the kingdom is deferred, and one tribe is left to the Davidic house;\nprobably Judah is meant, and Benjamin is omitted as being small.\nObserve, too, how we have a double instance of the law of God's\nprovidence which visits the father's deeds on the children. The\nconsequences of David's goodness fall on Solomon, and the consequences\nof Solomon's evil fall on Rehoboam. Stated in the language of the\nsecular historian, that is to say that the consequences of great\nnational virtues or crimes are seldom reaped by the generation that\nsowed the seed and did the deed, but take time to mature and work\nthemselves out. Stated in the language of Scripture, it is, 'The\nfathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on\nedge.' The separation of the kingdom was not brought about by miracle,\nbut came in the natural course of things. A people ground down by heavy\ntaxation and forced labour, to keep up the luxury of a court containing\nall that disgusting crowd of wives and concubines, was ripe for revolt,\nand when the sceptre fell into the hands of a headstrong fool, and\nthere was a capable leader on the other side, discontent soon became\nrebellion, and rebellion soon became triumphant. It all flowed as\nnaturally as possible from the same fountain as the idolatry of which\nit was the punishment; and so it teaches once more the great truth that\n'the world's history is the world's judgment,' and that the so-called\n'natural consequences' of our deeds are, even here and now, God's\nretribution for our deeds.\n\nWhat a lesson as to God's great patience is here! What a solemn glimpse\ninto man's power to counterwork God's purpose! So soon after its\nestablishment did the house of David prove unworthy, and the experiment\nfail. Yet that long-suffering purpose is not turned aside, but\npersistently and patiently goes on its way, altering its methods, but\nkeeping its end unaltered, bending even sin to minister to its design,\npitying and warning the sinner ere it strikes the blow that the sinner\nhas made needful.\n\nBehind the figure of Solomon we see another. The wisest of men fell\nshamefully, captured by coarse lust, and apparently steeled against all\nremonstrances from Heaven. 'A greater than Solomon is here.' The faults\nof the human kings of Israel prophesy of the true King, who is to be\nthe substance of which they were but faint shadows, and whose manhood\nwas stained by no flaw, nor His kingdom ever rent from His pure hands.\nSolomon was wise, but Christ is 'Wisdom.' Solomon built a Temple, but\nalso altars to false gods overtopping it across the valley; and his\nTemple was burned with fire. But Christ is the true Temple as well as\nPriest and Sacrifice. Solomon was by name 'the peaceful,' and his land\nhad outward rest, darkened at the last by war and rebellion. But Christ\nis the Prince of Peace, and of His dominion there shall be no end.\nSolomon is the great example of the sad truth that the loftiest and\nwisest share in the universal sinfulness. Christ is the one flawless\nMan, who makes those who take Him for their King wise and peaceful,\nprosperous, and in due time sinless, like Himself.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NEW GARMENT BENT\n\n'And Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's\nservant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted\nup his hand against the king. 27. And this was the cause that he lifted\nup his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the\nbreaches of the city of David his father. 28. And the man Jeroboam was\na mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was\nindustrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of\nJoseph. 29. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of\nJerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way;\nand he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in\nthe field: 30. And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and\nrent it in twelve pieces: 31. And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten\npieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend\nthe kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to\nthee: 32. (But he shall have one tribe for My servant David's sake, and\nfor Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the\ntribes of Israel:) 33. Because that they have forsaken Me, and have\nworshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of\nthe Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not\nwalked in My ways, to do that which is right in Mine eyes, and to keep\nMy statutes and My judgments, as did David his father. 34. Howbeit I\nwill not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him\nprince all the days of his life for David My servant's sake, whom I\nchose because he kept My commandments and My statutes: 35. But I will\ntake the kingdom out of his ion's hand, and will give it unto thee,\neven ten tribes. 36. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David\nMy servant may have a light alway before Me in Jerusalem, the city\nwhich I have chosen Me to put My name there. 37. And I will take thee,\nand thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt\nbe king over Israel. 38. And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all\nthat I command thee, and wilt walk in My ways, and do that is right in\nMy sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant\ndid; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built\nfor David, and will give Israel unto thee. 39. And I will for this\nafflict the seed of David, but not for ever. 40. Solomon sought\ntherefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt,\nunto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of\nSolomon. 41. And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did,\nand his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of\nSolomon? 42. And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all\nIsrael was forty years. 43. And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was\nburied in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in\nhis stead.'--1 KINGS xi. 26-43.\n\nSolomon falls into the background in the last part of the story of his\nreign, and his enemies are more prominent than himself. So long as he\nwalked with God, he was of importance for the historian; but as soon as\nhe forsook God, and was consequently forsaken of His wisdom, he becomes\nas insignificant as an empty vessel which has once held sweet perfume,\nor a piece of carbon through which the electric current has ceased to\nflow. The sunbeam has left that peak, and shines on other summits.\nNever was there a sadder eclipse.\n\nWe are here told first how the instrument for shattering Solomon's\nkingdom was shaped by himself. It is the old story of a young man of\nmark, attracting the eyes of the king, being promoted to offices of\ntrust, which at once stir ambition, and give prominence and influence\nwhich seem to afford a possibility of gratifying it. The passion for\nbuilding, so common in Eastern kings, and the cause of so much misery\nto their subjects, had grown on Solomon; and as his later days were\nharassed by war, and he had lost the safe defence of God's arm,\nJerusalem had to be enclosed by a wall. His father had been able to\nleave a 'breach' because the Lord was a wall round him and his city;\nand if Solomon had kept in his paths, he would have had no need to add\nto the fortifications. The preservation of ancestral piety is for\nnations and individuals a surer protection than the improvement of\nancestral outward defences. Jeroboam made himself conspicuous by his\nenergy (for that rather than 'valour' must be the meaning of the word),\nand so got promotion. It was natural, but at the same time dangerous,\nto put him in command of the forced labour of his own tribe, as the\nnarrative shows us was done; for 'the house of Joseph' is the tribe of\nEphraim, to which, according to the correct translation of verse 26, he\nbelonged. In such an office he would be thrown among his kinsmen, and\nwould at once gain influence and learn to sympathise with their\ndiscontent, or, at any rate, to know where the sore places were, if he\never wanted to inflame them. One can easily fancy the grumblings of the\nEphraimites dragged up to Jerusalem to the hated labour, which Samuel\nhad predicted (1 Samuel viii. 16), and how facile it would be for the\nofficer in charge to fan discontent or to win friends by judicious\nindulgence. How long this went on we do not know, but the fire had\nsmouldered for some time under the unconscious king's very eyes, when\nit was fanned into a flame by Ahijah's breath.\n\nThat is the second stage in the story,--the spark on the tinder. We\nhave heard nothing of prophets during Solomon's reign; but now this man\nfrom Shiloh, the ancient seat of the Tabernacle, meets the ambitious\nyoung officer in some solitary spot, with the message which answered to\nhis secret thoughts and made his heart beat fast. The symbolic action\npreceding the spoken word, as usual, supplied the text, of which the\nword was the explanation and expansion. How pathetic is the newness of\nthe garment! Unworn, strong, and fresh, it yet is rent in pieces. So\nthe kingdom is so recent, with such possibilities of duration, and yet\nit must be shattered! Thus quickly has the experiment broken down! It\nis little more than a century since Saul's anointing, little more than\nseventy years since the choice of David, and already the fabric, which\nhad such fair promise of perpetuity, is ready to vanish away. If we may\nsay so, that 'new garment' represents the divine disappointment and\nsorrow over the swift corruption of the kingdom. It was probably merely\nsome loose square of cloth which Ahijah tore, with violence\nproportioned to its newness, into twelve pieces, ten of which he thrust\ninto the astonished Jeroboam's hands. The commentary followed.\n\nAhijah's prophecy is substantially the same as the previous\nthreatenings to Solomon, which had done no good. Their incipient\nfulfilment in the wars with Edom and Syria had been equally futile; and\ntherefore God, who never strikes without warning, and never warns\nwithout striking if men do not heed, now drops the message into ears\nthat were only too ready to hear. The seed fell on prepared soil, and\nJeroboam's half-formed plans would be consolidated and fixed. The scene\nis like that in which the witches foretell to Macbeth his dignity.\nSlumbering ambitions are stirred, and a half-inclined will is finally\ndetermined by the glimpse into the future. How easily men are persuaded\nthat God speaks, and how willing they are to obey, when their\ninclinations jump with Heaven's commandments! The prophet's message\nmakes the separation of the kingdoms a direct divine act, and yet it\nwas the breaking up of a divine institution. God's dealings have to be\nshaped according to facts, and He changes His methods, and lets the\nfeebleness of His creatures and their sins mould His august procedure.\nThe divine Potter, like mere human artisans, has His spoiled pieces of\nwork, and, with infinite resource and patience as infinite, re-shapes\nthe clay into other forms. The separation of the kingdoms was a divine\nact, and yet it is treated often in the later books as a crime and\nrebellion. God works out His purposes through men's deeds, and their\nmotives determine whether their acts are sins or obedience. A man may\nbe a rebel while he is doing the will of God, if what he does be done\nat the bidding of his own selfishness. The separation of the kingdoms\nwas God's doing, but it was brought about by the free action of men\nobeying most secular impulses of political discontent, and led by a\ncunning, self-seeking schemer.\n\nNote that the prophecy is in three parts. First, verses 31-33 announce\nthe punishment, with the reservation of a dwindled dominion to the\nDavidic house, for the sake of their great ancestor and of God's choice\nof Jerusalem, and solemnly charge on the people the idolatry which the\nking had introduced. The second part (verses 34-36) postpones the\nexecution of the sentence till after Solomon's death, and assigns the\nsame two reasons for this further forbearance. The third part (verses\n37-39) promises Jeroboam the kingdom, and lays down the conditions on\nwhich the favours promised to David and his house may be his. The whole\ncloses with the assurance that the affliction of the seed of David is\nnot to be for ever.\n\nThe punishment was heavy; for the disruption of the kingdom meant the\nwreck of all the prosperity of Solomon's earlier days, the hopeless\nweakness of the divided tribes as against the formidable powers that\npressed in on them from north and south, frequent intestine wars,\nbitter hatred instead of amity. Yet there was another side to it; for\nthe very failure of the human kings made the Messianic hope the more\nbright, like a light glowing in the deepening darkness, and tumult and\noppression might teach those whom prosperity and peace had only\ncorrupted. The great lesson for us is the ruin which follows on\ndeparture from God. We do not see national sins followed with equal\nplainness or swiftness by national judgments; but the history of Israel\nis meant to show on a large scale what is always true, in the long run,\nboth for nations and for individuals, that 'it is an evil thing and a\nbitter' to depart from the living God.\n\nMark, too, that the judgment is wrought out by perfectly natural\ncauses. The separation follows old lines of cleavage. The strength of\nDavid's kingdom lay in the south; and Ephraim was too powerful a tribe\nand too proud of its ancient glories, to acquiesce cheerfully in the\npre-eminence of Judah. The oppression of forced labour and heavy\ntaxation was put forward as the reason for the revolt, and, no doubt,\nwas the reason for the readiness with which the ten tribes rallied to\nJeroboam's flag. There are two ways of writing history. You can either\nleave God out, or trace all to Him. The former way calls itself\n'scientific' and 'positive.' The latter is the Bible way. Perhaps, if\nmodern history were written on the same principles as the Books of\nKings, the divine hand would be as plainly visible,--only it requires\nan inspired historian to do it. The way of bringing about the judgment\nfor departing from God has changed, but the judgment remains the same\nto-day as when Ahijah rent his garment.\n\nBetween verses 39 and 40 we must suppose an attempt at armed rebellion\nby Jeroboam. That is implied by the expression that he 'lifted his hand\nagainst the king' (verses 26, 27). That attempt must have been put down\nby Solomon. And that it should have been made shows how little Jeroboam\nwas influenced by religious motives. The prophet's words had set him\nall afire with ambitious hopes, and he paid no heed to the distinct\nassurance that Solomon was to be 'prince all the days of his life.' He\nstretched out a rash, self-willed hand to snatch the promised crown,\nand broke God's commandment even while he pretended to be keeping it.\nHow different David's conduct in like circumstances! He took no steps\nto bring about the fulfilment of Samuel's promise at his anointing, but\npatiently waited for God to do as He had said, in His own time, and\nmeantime continued his lowly work. God's time is the best time; and he\nwho greedily grasps at a premature fulfilment of promised good will\nhave to pay for it by defeat and exile from the modest good that he had.\n\nJeroboam's flight to Egypt brings that ill-omened name on the page for\nthe first time since the Exodus. It has given occasion to an\nextraordinary addition to the Septuagint, professing to tell his\nadventures there,--how he was high in Shishak's favour, and married a\nprincess. That is apparently pure legend; but his residence there was\nimportant, as the beginning of Egypt's interference in Israel's\naffairs. It is an old trick of aggressive nations to side with a\npretender to the throne of a country which they covet, and benevolently\nto strengthen him that he may weaken it. No doubt it was as Jeroboam's\nally that Shishak invaded Judah in the fifth year of Rehoboam, and\nplundered the Temple and the palace. It was a bad beginning for a king\nof Israel to be a pensioner of Egypt.\n\nThe narrative closes with the sad, reticent formula which ends each\nreign, and in Solomon's case hides so much that is tragic and dark.\nThis was all that could be said about the end of a career that had\nbegun so nobly. If more had been said, the record would have been\nsadder; and so the pitying narrative casts the veil of the stereotyped\nsummary over the miserable story. There are many instances in history\nof lives of genius and enthusiasm, of high promise and partial\naccomplishment, marred and flung away, but none which present the great\ntragedy of wasted gifts, and blossoms never fruited, in a sharper, more\nstriking form than the life of the wise king of Israel, who 'in his\nlatter days' was 'a fool.' The goodliest vessel may be shipwrecked in\nsight of port. Solomon was not an old man, as we count age, when he\ndied; for he reigned forty years, and was somewhere about twenty when\nhe became king. But it was 'when he was old' that he fell, and that\nthrough passion which should have been well under control long before.\nThe sun went down in a thick bank of clouds, which rose from undrained\nmarshes in his soul, and stretched high up in the western horizon. His\ncareer, in its glory and its shame, preaches the great lesson which the\nBook of Ecclesiastes puts into his mouth as 'the conclusion of the\nwhole matter': 'Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the\nwhole duty of man.'\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO SPLIT A KINGDOM\n\nAnd Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to\nmake him king. 2. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat,\nwho was yet in Egypt, heard of it (for he was fled from the presence of\nking Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt); 3. That they sent and\ncalled him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and\nspake unto Rehoboam, saying, 4. Thy father made our yoke grievous: now\ntherefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy\nyoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. 6. And he\nsaid unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And\nthe people departed. 6. And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men,\nthat stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How\ndo ye advise that I may answer this people? 7. And they spake unto him,\nsaying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt\nserve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they\nwill be thy servants for ever. 8. But he forsook the counsel of the old\nmen, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that\nwere grown up with him, and which stood before him: 9. And he said unto\nthem, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have\nspoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us\nlighter? 10. And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto\nhim, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto\nthee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter\nunto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be\nthicker than my father's loins. 11. And now whereas my father did lade\nyou with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath\nchastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. 12.\nSo Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the\nking had appointed, saying, 'Come to me again the third day. 13. And\nthe king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel\nthat they gave him; 14. And spake to them after the counsel of the\nyoung men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to\nyour yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise\nyou with scorpions. 15. Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the\npeople; for the cause was from the Lord, that He might perform His\nsaying, which the Lord spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the\nson of Nebat. 16. So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not\nunto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we\nin David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your\ntents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed\nunto their tents. 17. But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in\nthe cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.'--1 KINGS xii. 1-17.\n\n\n\nThe separation of the kingdom of Solomon into two weak and hostile\nstates is, in one aspect, a wretched story of folly and selfishness\nwrecking a nation, and, in another, a solemn instance of divine\nretribution working its designs by men's sins. The greater part of this\naccount deals with it in the former aspect, and shows the despicable\nmotives of the men in whose hands was the nation's fate; but one\nsentence (verse 15) draws back the curtain for a moment, and shows us\nthe true cause. There is something very striking in that one flash,\nwhich reveals the enthroned God, working through the ignoble strife\nwhich makes up the rest of the story. This double aspect of the\ndisruption of the kingdom is the main truth about it which the\nnarrative impresses on us.\n\nAs to the mere details of the incident, as a political revolution, they\nare in four stages. First come the terms of allegiance offered to the\nnew king. Rehoboam goes to Shechem, because 'Israel was gone' there.\nThe choice of the place is suspicious; for it was in the tribe of\nEphraim, and had been for a time the centre of national life; and its\nselection at once indicated discontent with the preponderance of\nJerusalem, and a wish to assert the importance of the central tribes.\nNo doubt, the choice of the latter city for the capital had caused\nheart-burning, even during David's time.\n\nAdopting the reading of the Revised Version, we see another suspicious\nsign in the recall of Jeroboam, and his selection as spokesman; for he\nhad been in rebellion against Solomon (1 Kings xi. 26), and therefore\nan exile. Probably he had now been the instigator of the discontent of\nwhich he became the mouthpiece; and, in any case, his appearance as the\nleader was all but a declaration of war. His former occupation as\nsuperintendent of the forced labour exacted from his own tribe taught\nhim where the shoe pinched, and the weight of the yoke would not be\nlessened in his representations.\n\nNo doubt, the luxury and splendour of Solomon's brilliant reign had an\nunder side of oppression, even though forced labour was not exacted\nfrom Israelites (1 Kings ix. 22); but probably the severity was\nexaggerated in these complaints, which were plainly the pretext for a\nrevolt of which tribal jealousy was the main cause, and Jeroboam's\nambition the spark that set light to the train. Certainly there was\nignoring of the benefits of the peaceful reign, which had brought\nsecurity and commerce. But there was enough truth in the complaint to\nmake it plausible and effective for catching the people. Had they a\nright to suspend their allegiance on compliance with their terms?\n\nIsrael was neither a despotism, nor simply a constitutional monarchy.\nGod appointed the kings, and had ordained the Davidic house to the\nthrone; and therefore this making terms was, in effect, asserting\nindependence of God's will. Jeroboam was scheming for a crown. The\npeople were shaking off their submission to God. It is very doubtful if\nconcession would have conciliated them. There is nothing elevated, not\nto say religious, in their motives or acts.\n\nThen comes Rehoboam on the scene. The one sensible thing that he did\nwas to take three days to think. Whether or no his little finger was\nthicker than his father's loins, his head was not half so wise.\nEcclesiastes, speaking in Solomon's name, reckons it a great evil that\nhe must leave his labour to his successor; 'and who knoweth whether he\nshall be a wise man or a fool?' Certainly Rehoboam had little 'wisdom'\neither of the higher or lower kind. It was the lower kind which the old\ncounsellors of his father gave him,--that wisdom which is mere cunning\ndirected to selfish ends, and careless of honour or truth. 'Flatter\nthem to-day, speak them fair, promise what you do not mean to keep, and\nthen, when you are firm in the saddle, let them feel bit and spur.'\nThat was all these grey-headed men had learned. If that was what passed\nfor 'wisdom' in Solomon's later days, we need not wonder at revolt.\n\nTo act on such motives is bad enough, but to put them into plain words,\nand offer them as the rule of a king's conduct, is a depth of cynical\ncontempt for truth and kingly honour that indicates only too clearly\nhow rotten the state of Israel was. Have we never seen candidates for\nParliament and the like on one side of the water, and for Congress,\nSenate, or Presidency on the other, who have gone to school to the old\nmen at Shechem? The prizes of politicians are often still won by this\nstale device. The young counsellors differ only in the means of gaining\nthe object. Neither set has the least glimmer of the responsibility of\nthe office, nor ever thinks that God has any say in choosing the king.\nNaked, undisguised selfishness animates both; only, as becomes their\nseveral ages, the one set recommends crawling and the other bluster.\nThink of Saul hiding among the staff, David going back to his sheep\nafter he was anointed, Solomon praying for wisdom to guide this people,\nand measure the depth of descent to this ignoble scramble for the\nsweets of royalty!\n\nAccording to I Kings xiv. 21, Rehoboam was forty-one at this time, so\nhis contemporaries could not have been very young. But possibly the\nnumber in the present text is an error for twenty-one, which would\nagree better with the tone of the reference to age here, and with the\nrash counsel. Note the recurrence, both in Rehoboam's question in verse\n9 and in the young advisers' answer in verse 10, of the obnoxious\nspeech of the people. That may be accidental, but it sounds as if both\nhe and they were keeping their anger warm by repeating the offensive\ncomplaint.\n\nThe Revised Version reads, 'My little finger is thicker,' etc., and so\nmakes the sentence not a threat, but the foundation of the following\nthreat in an arrogant and empty assertion of greater power. The fool\nalways thinks himself wiser than the wise dead; the 'living dog'\nfancies that his yelp is louder than the roar of 'the dead lion.' What\ncan be done with a Rehoboam who brags that he is better than Solomon?\n\nThe threat which follows is inconceivably foolish; and all the more so\nbecause it probably did not represent any definite intention, and\ncertainly was backed by no force adequate to carry it out. Passion and\noffended dignity are the worst guides for conduct. Threats are always\nmistakes. A sieve of oats, not a whip, attracts a horse to the halter.\nIf Rehoboam had wished to split the kingdom, he could have found no\nbetter wedge than this blustering promise of tyranny.\n\nNext in this miserable story of imbecility and arrogance comes the\nanswer to the assembly. Shechem had seen many an eventful hour, but\nnever one heavier with important issues than that on which the united\nIsrael met for the last time, and there, in the rich valley with Ebal\nand Gerizim towering above them, heard the fateful answer of this\nbraggart. A dozen rash words brought about four hundred years of\nstrife, weakness, and final destruction. And neither the foolish\nspeaker nor any man in that crowd dreamed of the unnumbered evils to\nflow from that hour. Since issues are so far beyond our sight, how\ncareful it becomes us to be of motives! Angry counsels are always\nblunders. No nation can prosper when moderate complaints are met by\nthreats, and 'spirited conduct,' asserting dignity, is a sign of\nweakness, not of strength. For nations and individuals that is true.\n\nHere the historian draws back the curtain. On earth stand the insolent\nking and the now mutinous people, each driving at their ends, and\nneither free of sin in their selfishness. A stormy scene of passion,\nwithout thought of God, rages below, and above sits the Lord, working\nHis great purpose by men's sin. That divine control does not in the\nleast affect the freedom or the guilt of the actors. Rehoboam's\ndisregard of the people's terms was 'a thing brought about of the\nLord,' but it was Rehoboam's sin none the less. That which, looked at\nfrom the mere human side, is the sinful result of the free play of\nwrong motives, is, when regarded from the divine side, the determinate\ncounsel of God. The greatest crime in the world's history was at the\nsame time the accomplishment of God's most merciful purpose. Calvary is\nthe highest example of the truth, which embraces all lesser instances\nof the wrath of man, which He makes to praise Him and effect His deep\ndesigns.\n\nAgain, the rending of the kingdom was the punishment of sin, especially\nSolomon's sin of idolatry, which was closely connected with the\nextravagant expenditure that occasioned the separation. So the\nso-called natural consequences of transgression constitute its temporal\npunishment in part, and behind all these our eyes should be\nclear-sighted enough to behold the operative will of God. This one\npiercing beam of light, cast on that scene of insolence and rebellion,\nlights up all history, and gives the principle on which it must be\ninterpreted, if it is not to be misread.\n\nAgain, the punishment of sin, whether that of a community or of a\nsingle person, is sin. The separation was sin, on both sides; it led to\nmuch more. It was the consequence of previous departure. So ever the\nworst result of any sin is that it opens the door, like a thief who has\ncrept in through a window, to a band of brethren.\n\nLastly, we have the fierce rejoinder to the empty boast of Rehoboam,\nand the definitive disruption of the nation. Jeroboam must have fanned\nthe flame skilfully, or it would not have burst out so quickly. There\nis no hesitation, nor any regret. The ominous cry, which had been heard\nbefore, in Sheba's abortive revolt, answers Rehoboam with instantaneous\nand full-throated defiance. Rancorous tribal hatred is audible in it.\nLong pent up jealousy and dislike of the dynasty of David has got\nbreath at last: 'To your tents, O Israel! now see to thine own house,\nDavid!'\n\nThat roar from a thousand voices meant a good deal more than the cowed\nking's vain threats did. The angry men who raised it, and were the\ntools of a crafty conspirator, the frightened courtiers and king who\nheard it, were alike in their entire oblivion of their true Lord and\nMonarch. 'God was not in all their thoughts.' An enterprise begun in\ndisregard of Him is fated to failure. The only sure foundations of a\nnation are the fear of the Lord and obedience to His will. If politics\nhave not a religious basis, the Lord will blow upon them, and they will\nbe as stubble.\n\n\n\n\nPOLITICAL RELIGION\n\n'Then Jeroboam built Shechera in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and\nwent out from thence, and built Penuel. 26. And Jeroboam said in his\nheart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: 27. If this\npeople go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem,\nthen shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even\nunto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to\nRehoboam king of Judah. 28. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made\ntwo calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up\nto Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of\nthe land of Egypt. 29. And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put\nhe in Dan. 30. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to\nworship before the one, even unto Dan. 31. And he made an house of high\nplaces, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of\nthe sons of Levi. 32. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth\nmonth, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is\nin Judah; and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el,\nsacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed In Beth-el\nthe priests of the high places which he had made. 33. So he offered\nupon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the\neighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart;\nand ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon\nthe altar, and burnt incense.--1 KINGS xii. 25-33\n\n\nThe details of this section need no long elucidation; for the one fact\nwhich it records, namely, the establishment of the calf worship in\nIsrael, is the main point to consider. As for details, we need touch\nthem lightly. The 'building' of Shechem and Penuel is probably to be\nunderstood as 'fortifying'; for, in regard to the former town, we know\nfrom the preceding section that it _was_ a town before the disruption,\nand the same is probably true of the latter. Two fortresses, one in the\nheart of his kingdom, one on the eastern border, where attack might be\nexpected, were Jeroboam's first care.\n\nIn estimating his conduct, the fact must be remembered that Ahijah had\npromised him God's protection and the establishment of his kingdom in\nhis family, on the sole condition of obedience. If he had believed the\nprophet, something else than building strongholds would have been his\nprime aim. But he evidently thought that promises were all very well,\nbut thick walls were better. The two things recorded of him are quite\nof a piece; and the writer seems, by putting them thus side by side, to\nwish us to note their identity of motive and similarity in character.\n\nThe establishment of the calf worship was entirely due, according to\nthis historian, to dread that religious unity would heal the schism of\npolitical duality, and that Jeroboam's kingdom and life would be\nsacrificed to the magnetism which would draw the revolted northern\ntribes back to render allegiance, where they went up to worship. The\ncalculation was reasonable: but why, in estimating chances, did\nJeroboam leave out God's promise? That should have kept him at ease.\nThe calves and the castles were signs of fear and of slight regard to\nthe prophet's word. No doubt, when it suited him, he could vindicate\nrebellion on the plea of obeying God. The plea would have sounded more\ngenuine if he had shown that he trusted God.\n\nThe calves were probably suggested by his Egyptian experiences, where\nhe had seen sacred bulls worshipped living, and mummied dead. But the\nremembrance of Aaron and the golden calf was evidently present to him,\nas the almost verbal quotation of Aaron's words shows. If so, the whole\ntransaction is still more accentuated as a revolt against the ritual of\nthe central sanctuary. 'The much-calumniated Aaron is our example. He\nwas mastered by his brother, but he was right, and we go back to the\nold original worship of our fathers.'\n\nJeroboam was among the first to employ the expedient, so often resorted\nto since, of white-washing old-world criminals, in order to provide an\nancestry for modern heresies. The calves seem to have been doubled\nsimply as a matter of convenience. When once the principle of saving\ntrouble comes in, in religion, it generally plays a great part. If it\nwere too much to go to Jerusalem, it would soon be too much to go to\nBethel, and so Dan must be provided for the north. The calves were\nsymbols of Jehovah, not of other gods, as must be carefully noted. The\nmaking of them implied all that followed; for a god must have shrine\nand priesthood and sacrifice and festivals. The Levites refusing to\nserve, and probably losing their inheritance, fled to Judah, and a new\npriesthood was made 'from among all the people' (Rev. Ver.), The Feast\nof Tabernacles was retained but its date shifted forward a month,\nperhaps because the harvest, which it closed, was later in the north,\nbut evidently with the design of, as it were, underscoring the\nreligious separation.\n\nThe latter part of this passage should perhaps be attached more closely\nto the next chapter, and understood as describing the one instance of\nJeroboam's sacrificing which was so grimly interrupted by the\ndenunciation by the anonymous prophet from Judah. Such are the outlines\nof the facts. What are the lessons taught by them?\n\nI. There is that one already mentioned,--the folly and sin of seeking\nto help God to fulfil His promises by our poor efforts at making their\nfulfilment sure to sense. No doubt many of His promises are contingent\non our activity in material things; and no man has a right to expect\nthat' his bread shall be given him,' for instance, unless he\ncontributes the 'sweat of his brow' towards it. But Jeroboam had had\nthe conditions of safety and stability clearly laid down. They were,\nobedience after the pattern of David (1 Kings xi. 38). So there was no\nneed for building Shechem and Penuel, nor for casting calves and\nserving them. The heavens will stand without our rearing brickwork\npillars to hold them up. But it takes much faith to trust God's bare\nword, and we are all apt to feel safer if we have something for sense\nto grasp. On the open plain, God guards those who trust Him more\nsecurely than if they lay in cities 'fenced up to heaven. 'Jerusalem\nshall be inhabited as towns without walls. ... For I, saith the Lord,\nwill be unto her a wall of fire round about.'\n\nII. Another lesson taught here is the sin of degrading religion to be a\nmere instrument for securing personal ends. Jeroboam has had many\nfollowers among politicians, The average 'statesman' looks on all\nreligions as equally true or untrue, and is ready to be polite to any\nof them, if he can carry his measures thereby. The long history of the\nrelations of Church and State in the Old World has been little else\nthan the State's hiring and muzzling the Church for its own advantage,\nand the protests of a faithful few against the degradation of State\npatronage and consequent control.\n\nIn England, Jeroboam and his calves used to be the favourite shocking\nexample of the sin of schism, with which High Church orators were fond\nof pelting Nonconformists. The true lesson from him and them is\nprecisely the opposite one; namely, the weakening of religion, when it\nis favoured and endowed by the civil power. The priests of Bethel, who\nwere the creatures of Jeroboam, were not likely to be his or his\nsuccessors rebukers. When Amos the prophet spoke bold words against a\nking, it was Amaziah the priest who gave the shameful counsel, 'O thou\nseer, flee into the land of Judah, and prophesy there; but prophesy no\nmore at Bethel: for it is the king's sanctuary.' Is there no such thing\nknown as a flaming profession of religion, because it is respectable,\nor opens the way to some good position? Does nobody pose in public,\nespecially about election times, as a liberal supporter of Churches and\na devout Church-member, with an eye mainly to votes? Do political\nparties think it a good thing to get the religious people to go for\ntheir ticket? Or, to take less base instances, is there not a whole\nschool who estimate Christianity mainly as valuable as a social force,\nand, without any deep personal recognition of its loftier aspects,\nthink it well that it should be generally accepted, especially by other\npeople, as it makes them easier to govern, and cements the social\nfabric?\n\nChristianity is something more than social cement. Jeroboam's policy\nwas a great success, as policy. It both united his kingdom and\ndefinitively separated it from Judah. But it was a success purchased at\nthe price of degrading religion into the lackey of a court. Samson went\nto sleep on Delilah's lap, and she cut off the clustering locks in\nwhich his strength lay.\n\nIII. The true nature of idolatry is brought out in the incident.\nJeroboam did not draw Israel away to worship other gods. No charge of\nthat sort is ever made against the calf worship. The images were meant,\njust as Aaron's, of which they were a reproduction, was meant, to be\nsymbols of Jehovah. The true object of worship was worshipped in a\nfalse way. No matter though the image represented Him, its worship was\nidol worship. There is no ground in the narrative for the surmise of\nStanley,--who in this, as usual, simply says ditto to Ewald,--that\nJeroboam's motive was the desire to prevent Israel's adopting false\ngods, and that the calves were a compromise by which he hoped to stem\nthe tide of apostasy to Baal worship. The single motive stated in the\ntext is policy inspired by fear. Jeroboam did not care enough about the\nworship of Jehovah to mould his statecraft with the view of conserving\nit. If he had so cared, he could not have set up the calves. His doing\nso is uniformly regarded in Scripture as idolatry pure and simple; and\nthough it is clearly distinguished from the worship of false gods, it\nis none the less branded as rebellion against Jehovah.\n\nA visible representation of Jehovah was as much an idol as a similar\none of Baal would have been. It necessarily degraded the conception of\nHim. It brought sense into dangerous prominence as an aid to worship.\nThe symbol might at first, and to the more devout, be a mere symbol,\nand transparent; but it would soon become opaque, and from symbol turn\nembodiment, and thence pass to being the very deity represented. It is\na feat of abstraction impossible for the ordinary man, to worship\nbefore an idol, and not to worship the idol. The strange, awful\nfascination which idolatry exercised is perhaps gone now from the\ncivilised world. But the lesson remains ever in season, that it is\ndangerous work to bring in sense as an ally of devotion, because\noutward things, which at first may be only symbols and helps, are\nalmost certain to become something more.\n\nIV. Jeroboam may stand, finally, as a type of the men who suppose\nthemselves to be worshipping God when they are only following their own\nwills. All his ceremonial had this damning characteristic, that it was\n'devised of his own heart'; and so it was himself that was enshrined in\nhis new house of the high places, and himself to whom the sacrifices\nwere offered. Absolute obedience to God's will, whatever perils may\nseem to attend it, is true worship. Wherever apparent devotion to Him\nis mingled with burning incense to our own net, the mixture ruins the\ndevotion. 'Obedience is better than sacrifice.' Temptations to take our\nown way will often appear as the dictates of sound policy, and to\nneglect them as culpable carelessness. But such paltering with plain\ncommandments is as ruinous as sinful, and is not to be atoned for by\noutward worship.\n\nWhat did Jeroboam win by his intrusion of self-will into the region\nwhich ought to be sacred to perfect obedience? A troubled reign and the\ndestruction of his house after one generation. One more thing he won;\nnamely, that terrible epithet, which becomes almost a part of his name,\n'Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.' What a title to\nbe branded on a man's forehead for ever! It is always a mistake to\ndisobey God. Every sin is a blunder as well as a crime. This only is\nthe safe motto for churches and individuals, in all the details of\nworship and of life: 'Lo, I come to do Thy will, O Lord, and Thy law is\nwithin my heart.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE RECORD OF TWO KINGS\n\n'In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign\nover Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah. 24. And he\nbought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built\non the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the\nname of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. 25. But Omri wrought evil\nin the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him.\n26. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in\nhis sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of\nIsrael to anger with their vanities. 27. Now the rest of the acts of\nOmri which he did, and his might that he shewed, are they not written\nin the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 28. So Omri slept\nwith his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned\nin his stead. 29. And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of\nJudah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son\nof Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. 30. And\nAhab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that\nwere before him. 31. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light\nthing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he\ntook to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethibaal king of the Zidonians,\nand went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32. And he reared up an\naltar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33.\nAnd Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of\nIsrael to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.'-1\nKINGS xvi. 23-33.\n\n\nJeroboam's son and successor was killed by Baasha, Baasha's son and\nsuccessor was killed by Zimri, who reigned for a week, and then burned\nthe palace and died in the flames. A struggle for the throne followed\nbetween Omri, the commander-in-chief, and Tibni, 'Tibni died, and Omri\nreigned.' So, in fifty years, the kingdom that was to relieve Israel\nfrom oppression staggered through seas of blood, and four kings, or\nwould-be kings, died by violence.\n\nOmri's dynasty lasted about as long, namely, through the reigns of four\nkings, and was then swept away like the others, in blood and fire. The\ntext gives a meagre outline of the reigns of himself and his son Ahab,\nof which perhaps the meagreness is the most significant feature. The\nonly fact told of the father is that he built Samaria, and his whole\nreign is summed up in the damning sentence that he 'walked in the way\nof Jeroboam.' We learn from the Moabite stone that he waged successful\nwar against that country, and that it was tributary to Israel for forty\nyears. In Micah vi. 16, mention is made of the statutes of Omri, as if\nhe had given edicts for idolatry. The reign of Ahab is similarly\nsummarised. His marriage with Jezebel, and the flood of Baal worship\nwhich that let loose over the land, are told with horror, in\npreparation for Elijah's appearance like a dark background that throws\nup a brilliant figure.\n\nThe lessons to be drawn from these severely condensed records, cut down\nto the bone, as it were, are plain. The first of them is, that when a\nlife is over, the one thing which lasts, or is worth thinking about, is\nthe man's relation to God and His will. Here are twelve years' reign in\nthe one case, and twenty-two in the other, all boiled down, so to\nspeak, into half a dozen sentences, and estimated according to one\nstandard only. What has become of all the eager strife, the joys and\nsorrows, the hopes and fears, that burned so fiercely for awhile? All\ndied down into a handful of grey ashes. And what lies in them like a\nlump of solid metal that has been melted out of the huge heap of days\nand deeds that fed the fire? The man's relation to God. That abides;\nthat is recorded; that determines everything else about him. Waving\nforests that once had sunshine pouring down on their green fronds are\nrepresented in a thin seam of coal. Our lives will all come down to\nthis at last. How did he stand towards God and His will is the final\nquestion that will be asked about each of us, and the answer to it is\nthe only thing that concerns the dead--or the living either. Men write\nvoluminous biographies of each other. How little their judgments matter\nto the dead men! Praise or blame are equally indifferent to them. But\nwhat matters is, whether God will have to record of us what is recorded\nof these two wretched kings, or whether He will recognise that the main\ndrift of our poor lives was to serve Him and do His will. He was a\ngreat scholar; he made a huge fortune; he rose to be a peer; she was a\nnoted beauty, a leader of fashion, a queen of society--what will all\nsuch epitaphs be worth, if God's finger carves silently below them, 'He\ndid that which was evil in the sight of the Lord'?\n\nAnother lesson from these two reigns is the certain widening of the\nsmallest departure from God. Jeroboam professed to retain the worship\nof Jehovah, and to introduce only a small alteration in setting up a\nsymbol of Him. He would vehemently have asserted that he was no\nidolater, and would have shuddered at the very notion of bowing down to\nthe gods of the nations, but in less than fifty years a temple to the\nSidonian Baal rose in Samaria, and his worship, with its foul\nsensuality, was corrupting all Israel. However acute the angle of\ndeparture, the line has only to be prolonged, and the distance between\nit and that from which it diverged will be the distance between heaven\nand hell, Let no one say: 'Thus far and no farther will I go.' There is\nno stopping at will on that course, any more than a man sliding down a\nsteeply sloping sheet of smooth ice can pull himself up before he\nplunges over the edge into the abyss below. That is true as to all\ndepartures from God and His law, but it is eminently true as to every\ntampering with the spirituality of worship. Jeroboam's symbolism led\nstraight to Ahab's unblushing pagan worship of the hideous Sidonian\nBaal. The craving for symbolical and sensuous accessories of worship,\nwhich is strong in most Churches in this aesthetic generation, is\nperilous. Material aids to worship there must be, so long as we are in\nthe flesh, but the fewer and simpler they are the better, for they are\naids which very swiftly become hindrances.\n\nAnother lesson from Ahab's reign is the need of detachment from\nentangling alliances, if we would keep ourselves right with God. It was\nIsrael's calling to be separate from the nations. It was Israel's\ntemptation either to mix with them, or to keep aloof from them in\ncontempt and hatred. Ahab's marriage with Jezebel was, no doubt,\nthought by his father a clever stroke of policy, assuring them of an\nally. But it flooded the nation with the cruel and lustful cult of\nBaal, and that finally ruined Ahab and his house. God's servants can\nnever mingle themselves with His enemies without harm, unless they\nmingle with them for the purpose of turning them into His servants. If\nwe prefer the company of those who do not love Jesus, our love to Him\nmust be faint, and will soon be fainter. If Ahab takes Jezebel for his\nwife, Ahab will soon take Jezebel's foul god for his god.\n\n\n\n\nA PROPHET'S STRANGE PROVIDERS\n\n'And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said\nunto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there\nshall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. 2. And\nthe word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 3. Get thee hence, and turn\nthee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before\nJordan. 4. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I\nhave commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 5. So he went and did\naccording unto the word of the Lord, for he went and dwelt by the brook\nCherith, that is before Jordan. 6. And the ravens brought him bread and\nflesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank\nof the brook. 7. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook\ndried up, because there had been no rain in the land. 8. And the word\nof the Lord came unto him, saying, 9. Arise, get thee to Zarephath,\nwhich belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a\nwidow woman there to sustain thee. 10. So he arose and went to\nZarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow\nwoman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said,\nFetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.\n11. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring\nme, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. 12. And she said, As\nthe Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a\nbarrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two\nsticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may\neat it, and die. 13. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as\nthou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it\nunto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14. For thus saith\nthe Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither\nshall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain\nupon the earth. 15. And she went and did according to the saying of\nElijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16. And the\nbarrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according\nto the word of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah.'-1 KINGS xvii. 1-16.\n\n\nThe worst times need the best men. The reign of Ahab brought a great\noutburst of Baal worship, imported by his Phoenician wife, which\nthreatened to sweep away every trace of the worship of Jehovah. The\nfeeble king was absolutely ruled by the strongwilled Jezebel, and\neverything seemed rushing down to ruin. One man arrests the downward\nmovement, and with no weapon but his word, and no support but his own\ndauntless courage, which was the child of his faith, works a revolution\nin Israel. 'Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a\ngreater than' Elijah the Tishbite. Bugged, stern, solitary, he has no\ncommission to reveal new truth. He is not a 'prophet,' like later ones\nwhose words were revelation.\n\nLittle is preserved of his sayings. His task was to reform and restore,\nnot to advance; and his endowments of 'spirit and power' corresponded\nto his work. The striking peculiarities of this heroic figure will\nappear as we go on with his history. For the present, we have to\nconsider the three points of this narrative.\n\nI. The Prophet and the King.--The startling suddenness of Elijah's leap\ninto the arena, where he appears without preface or explanation, helps\nthe impression of extraordinary force which his whole career makes. He\ncrashes into the midst of Ahab's court like a thunderbolt. What did\nJezebel think of this wild man from the other side of Jordan, with his\nlong hair and his loose mantle, who thus fronted Ahab and her? Nothing\nis told us of his descent; it is even questionable whether the reading\nwhich calls him 'the Tishbite' is correct. We only know that he was of\nGilead, and therefore used to a ruder, freer, simpler life than that in\nkings' palaces.\n\nThe natural conclusion from the narrative is that the prophet and the\nking had never met before; and, if so, the stern brevity of the threat\nis even more remarkable. In any case, the absence of explanation of\nreasons for the drought, or of credentials of Elijah, or of offers of\nmercy on condition of repentance, give a peculiarly grim aspect to the\nmessage, and make it a dangerous one to carry to such a hearer as Ahab,\nstirred up by Jezebel. When God commands us to speak, no thought of\nperil must make us dumb. If the 'word of the Lord' is to sound from our\nlips with power, it must first have absolute sway over ourselves. One\nman with God at his back, who fears nothing, can work marvels.\n\nGod's servant is men's master. The vision of God's Presence paled the\nsplendour, and blunted the perils, of the court of Samaria. Ahab was\nbut a poor puppet in the sight of eyes that 'saw the Lord sitting on\nHis throne, high and lifted up.' So the very first words of Elijah lay\nbare the secret spring of his fiery energy and courage. 'Before whom I\nstand,'--that is the thought to put nerve, daring, and disregard of\nearth into a man.\n\nJames's comment on this incident assumes that the declaration to Ahab\nfollowed earnest prayer that it might not rain, and that the 'word'\nwhich should end the drought was also prayer. The truest lover of his\ncountry or of any men may sometimes have to wish for losses and\nsorrows. Elijah did not open and shut the heavens, but his prayer had\npower to move the Hand that 'openeth and no man shutteth.'\n\nII. The Prophet and the Ravens.--One would like to know how Elijah made\nhis escape from Ahab; but the whole story is marked by sudden\nappearances and disappearances. He flashes into sight and flames for a\nmoment, and then is swallowed up in the dark again. The exact position\nof the brook Cherith is doubtful. It would seem most natural to look\nfor it across Jordan, as safer and more familiar ground to Elijah than\nany of the tributaries on the western side. At all events, somewhere\namong the savage rocks in some wady with a trickle of water down it,\nand rank vegetation that would help to hide him, he lurked for an\nindefinite period, alone with God.\n\nWhy did he flee? Not only for safety, but that the period of the\ndrought might be prolonged till it had done its work, and that the\nprophet might learn more lessons for his calling. Good Obadiah would\nhave made a place for the chief of the prophets in his caves; but the\nman who is to do work like Elijah's must live in solitude. Cherith was\npart of the training for Carmel. The flight thither was as much an act\nof obedient faith as was the appearance before the king. However the\nnecessity of flight was impressed on the prophet, it _was_ impressed on\nhim as manifestly not his own plan, but God's command; and though the\njourney was a weary one, and the appointed place of refuge\ninhospitable, the command was unhesitatingly obeyed. He was not left to\nwonder how he was to be fed when he got there, but God gave him, what\nHe seldom gives--a previous assurance of miraculous provision, which\nobviously met some unspoken thought. We do not usually know how we are\nto be fed in the solitude till we get there; but if our doubting hearts\nobject, 'But, Lord, there is nothing at Cherith but a brook and some\nravens,' He sometimes gives us assurance that these will be enough.\nWhether or no, the duty is the same,--to follow God's voice, whether it\ntake us face to face with Ahab and Jezebel or into the wild gorge.\n\nNote that the same words are employed about the ravens and the widow:\n'I have commanded the... to feed thee.' God has ways of reaching the\nmysterious animal instinct and the mysterious human will, and each, in\nits own way, obeys. It is needless to try to pare down the miracle by\nsaying that, of course, ravens would haunt the water-courses in\ndrought, and that the food which they brought might be for their young,\nand so on. The daily regularity of the supply takes it out of the\nnatural category, to say nothing of the remarkable breed which the\nravens must have been of, if they brought their young ones' food within\nreach and let the prophet take it.\n\nPeople take offence at the abundance of miracles in the lives of Elijah\nand Elisha, and assert that some of them, this among the rest, are for\nunworthily trivial occasions. But the grave crisis in Israel is to be\ntaken into account, which involved the necessity for unusual\nmanifestations of divine power, and very evident credentials for the\nprophets; and the preparation of Elijah for his tremendous struggle\nwas, even to our eyes, surely an adequate end for miracle. How could he\ndoubt that God had sent him and would care for him, with such memories\nas those of his winged purveyors? How could he doubt future words which\nshould come to him, when he recalled how marvellously this one had been\nfulfilled? The silence of the ravine, the long days and nights of\nsolitude, the punctual arrival of his food, would all tend to weld his\nfaith into yet more close-knit strength. If we may so say, it was worth\nGod's while to work miracles, to make Elijah. The highest end of\ncreation is the production of God-fearing men. All things serve the\nsoul that serves God.\n\nIII. The Prophet and the Widow.--The little stream that came down the\nwady dried up 'after a while'; and Elijah, no doubt, would wonder what\nwas to be done next, as he saw it daily sending a thinner thread to\nJordan. But he was not told till the channel was dry, and the pebbles\nin its bed bleaching in the sun. God makes us sometimes wait on beside\na diminishing rivulet, and keeps us ignorant of the next step, till it\nis dry. Patience is an element in strength. It was a far cry from\nCherith to Zarephath, right across the kingdom of Ahab; and to run for\nrefuge to a dependency of Zidon, Jezebel's country, looked like putting\nhis head in the lion's mouth. But the same 'command' which the ravens\nhad obeyed had smoothed his way.\n\nSo he girded up his loins, and left, no doubt reluctantly, the brook\nfor a city. How his heart would bow in adoring thankfulness, when the\nfirst person he saw outside the little 'city' was 'the widow'! He knew\nher; did she know him? The natural interpretation of verse 9 is that,\nat the time when God spoke to Elijah, he had already 'commanded' the\nwoman. But the despondent tone of her answer seems against that idea;\nand perhaps we are to suppose that, just as the ravens were commanded\nand knew not by whom, so this woman received the command, when she saw\nthe travel-stained and gaunt stranger, through her womanly impulses of\ncompassion, not knowing who moved them nor what she did when she\nsheltered the man whose life was, at that moment, the most important in\nthe world. The motions of pity and charity are of God, and He commands\nus to help when He sets before us those who need help.\n\nThe whole incident was a lesson to the prophet. He might well have\nthought that God had sent him to a strange helper in this poor widow\nwith her empty cupboard; and it must have taken some faith on his part\nto reassure her with his cheery 'Fear not!' The prediction of the\nundiminishing stores demanded as much faith from its speaker as from\nits hearer.\n\nIt was a lesson in faith for the woman too. Her use of the phrase 'the\nLord thy God' may imply some inclination to the worship of Jehovah, and\nso there may have been a little glimmer of faith in her; but she was\nfull of sorrow and despair, and yet willing to help the stranger with\nthe 'little water in a vessel,' though the 'morsel of bread in thine\nhand' was beyond her power. Elijah's apparently selfish demand that his\nwants should be looked after first was a test of her faith. Sometimes\nself-denying duty is made clearly imperative on us, before we hear the\npromise which, believed, will make it easy. They who have ears to hear\nthe command, and hearts to obey, even if it seem to strip them of all,\nwill soon hear the assurance that secures abundance. The barrel would\nhave been empty by nightfall, if the meal in it had been used for the\nwoman and her son. The continuance of supply depended on her obedience,\nwhich, in its turn, depended on faith in the prophet as a messenger of\nGod. 'There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.' The use of earthly\ngoods for God's service may not be rewarded with the increase of them;\nbut, if the barrel is not kept full of meal, the heart will be kept\nfull of peace, which is better. No sacrifice for God is ever thrown\naway. He remains in no man's debt.\n\nThe incident has a further bearing, as an instance of a divine\nbenediction resting on heathendom. The synagogue at Nazareth pointed\nthat lesson for us. Elijah and the widow both learned that the God of\nIsrael is the God of all the earth, and that His prophets have a\nmission to every race. The woman rebuked, by her pity and self-denying\nbenevolence, the prejudices of Israel; the prophet foreshadowed, by his\nfamiliar abode with one won from idolatry to the worship of God, the\nuniversal aspect of the Jewish religion, and its destiny to overleap\nthe narrow bounds of the nation. Charity and pity have no geographical\nlimits. Much less can the love of God and the light of His revelation\nbe bounded by any narrower circle than the circumference of the world.\n\n\n\n\nELIJAH STANDING BEFORE THE LORD\n\nAnd Elijah the Tishbite ... said ... As the Lord God of Israel liveth,\nbefore whom I stand.--1 KINGS xvii. 1.\n\n\nThis solemn and remarkable adjuration seems to have been habitual upon\nElijah's lips in the great crises of his life. We never find it used by\nany but himself, and his scholar and successor, Elisha. Both of them\nemploy it under similar circumstances, as if unveiling the very secret\nof their lives, the reason for their strength, and for their undaunted\nbearing and bold fronting of all antagonism. We find four instances in\ntheir two lives of the use of the phrase. Elijah bursts abruptly on the\nstage and opens his mouth for the first time to Ahab, to proclaim the\ncoming of that terrible and protracted drought; and he bases his\nprophecy on that great oath, 'As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand.'\nAnd again, when he is sent to confront Ahab once more at the close of\nthe period, the same mighty word comes, 'As the Lord of Hosts liveth,\nbefore whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him this day.' And\nthen again, Elisha, when he is brought before the three confederate\nkings, who taunt, and threaten, and flatter, to try to draw smooth\nthings from his lips, and get his sanction to their mad warfare, turns\nupon the poor creature that called himself the King of Israel with a\nsuperb contempt that stayed itself on that same great name and tells\nhim, 'As the Lord liveth before whom I stand, were it not that I had\nregard for the King of Judah, I would not look toward you or see you,'\nAnd lastly, when the grateful Naaman seeks to change the whole\ncharacter of Elisha's miracle, and to turn it into the coarseness of a\nthing done for reward, once again the temptation is brushed aside with\nthat solemn word, 'As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will\nreceive none.'\n\nSo at every crisis where these prophets were brought full front with\nhostile power; where a tremendous message was laid upon their hearts\nand lips to utter; where natural strength would fail; where they were\nlikely to be daunted or dazzled by temptations, by either the sweetness\nor the terrors of material things, these two great heroes of the Old\nCovenant, out of sight the strongest men in the old Jewish history,\nsteady themselves by one thought,--God lives, and I am His servant.\n\nFor that phrase, 'before whom I stand,' obviously means chiefly 'whom I\nserve.' It is found, for instance, in Deuteronomy, where the priest's\noffice is thus defined: 'The sons of Levi shall stand before the Lord\nto minister unto Him.' And in the same way, it is used in the Queen of\nSheba's wondering exclamation to Solomon, 'Blessed are thy servants,\nand blessed are the men that stand before thy face continually.'\n\nSo that the consciousness that they were servants of the living God was\nthe very secret of the power of these men. This expression, which thus\nstarted to their lips in moments of strain and trial, lets us see into\nthe very inmost heart of their strength. These two great lives, which\nfill so large a apace in the records of the past, and will be\nremembered for ever, were braced and ennobled thus. The same grand\nthought is available to brace and ennoble our little lives, that will\nsoon be forgotten but by a loving heart or two, and yet may be as full\nof God and of God's service as those of any of the great of old. We too\nmay use this secret of power, 'The Lord liveth, before whom I stand.'\n\nWhat thoughts then, which may tend to lift and invigorate our days, are\nincluded in these words? The first is surely this--Life a constant\nvision of God's presence.\n\nHow distinct and abiding must the vision of God have been, which burned\nbefore the inward eye of the man that struck out that phrase! 'Wherever\nI am, whatever I do, I am before Him. To my purged eye, there is the\nApocalypse of heaven, and I behold the great throne, and the solemn\nranks of ministering spirits, my fellow-servants, hearkening to the\nvoice of His word.' No excitement of work, no strain of effort, no\ndistraction of circumstances, no glitter of gold, no dazzle of earthly\nbrightness, dimmed that vision for these prophets. In some measure, it\nwas with them as it shall be perfectly with all one day, 'His servants\nserve Him, and see His face,'--action not interrupting vision, nor\nvision weakening action. To preserve thus fresh and unimpaired, amidst\nstrenuous work and many temptations, the clear consciousness of being\n'ever in the great Taskmaster's eye,' needs resolute effort and much\nself-restraint. It is hard to set the Lord always before us; but it is\npossible, and in the measure in which we do it, we shall not be moved.\n\nHow nobly the steadfastness and superiority to all temptations which\nsuch a vision gives, are illustrated by the occasions, in these\nprophets' lives, in which this expression came to their lips! The\nservant of the Heavenly King speaks from his present intuition. As he\nspeaks, he sees the throne in the heavens, and the Sovereign Ruler\nthere, and the sight bears him up from quailing before the earthly\nmonarchs whom he had to beard, and in connection with whom three out of\nthe four instances of the use of the phrase occur. How small Ahab and\nhis court must have looked to eyes that were full of the undazzling\nbrightness of the true King of Israel, and the ordered ranks of _His_\nattendants! How little the greatness! How tawdry the pomp! How impotent\nthe power, and how toothless the threats! The poor show of the earthly\nking paled before that awful vision, as a dim candle will show black\nagainst the sun. 'I stand before the living God, and thou, O Ahab! art\nbut a shadow and a noise.' Just as we may have looked upon some\nmountain scene, where all the highest summits were wrapt in mist, and\nthe lower hills looked mighty and majestic, until some puff of wind\ncame and rolled up the curtain that had shrined and hidden the icy\npinnacles and peaks that were higher up. And as that solemn white\napocalypse rose and towered to the heavens, we forgot all about the\ngreen hills below, because our eyes beheld the mighty summits that live\namongst the stars, and sparkle white through eternity.\n\nMy brethren, here is our defence against being led away by the gauds\nand shows of earth's vulgar attractions, or being terrified by the poor\nterrors of its enmity. Go with that talisman in your hand, 'The Lord\nliveth, before whom I stand,' and everything else dwindles down into\nnothingness, and you are a free man, master and lord of all things,\nbecause you are God's servants, seeing all things aright, because you\nsee them all in God, and God in them all.\n\nStill further, we may say that this phrase is the utterance and\nexpression of a consciousness that life was echoing with the voice of\nthe divine command. Elijah stands before the Lord, not only feeling in\nhis thrilling spirit that God is ever near him, but also that His word\nis ever coming forth to him, with imperative authority. That is the\nprophet's conception of life. Wherever he is, he hears a voice saying,\n'This is the way, walk ye in it.' Every place where he stands is as the\nvery holy place of the oracles of the Most High, the spot in the\ninnermost shrine where the voice of God is audible, All circumstances\nare the voice of God, commanding or restraining. He is evermore\npursued, nay, rather upheld and guided, by an all-embracing law. That\nlaw is no mere utterance of cold impersonal duty,--a thought which may\nmake men slaves, but never makes them good. But it is the voice of the\nliving God, loving and beloved, whose tender care for His children\nmodulates His tone, while He commands them for their good. He speaks\nbecause He loves; His law is life. The heart that hears Him speak is\nfilled with music.\n\nAhab and Jehoram, and all the kings of the earth, may thunder and\nlighten, may threaten and flatter, may command and forbid, as they\nlist. They and their words are nought to him whose trembling ears have\nheard, and whose obedient heart has received, a higher command, and to\nwhom, 'across the storm,' comes the deeper voice of the one true\nCommander, whom alone it is a glory absolutely to obey, even 'the Lord,\nbefore whom I stand.' People talk about the consciousness of 'a\nmission.' The important point, on the settling of which depends the\nwhole character of our lives, is--Who do you suppose gave you your\n'mission'? Was it any _person_ at all? or have you any consciousness\nthat any will but your own has anything to say about your life? These\nprophets had found One whom it was worth while to obey, whatever came\nof it, and whoever stood in the way. May it be so with you and me, my\nfriend! Let us try always to feel that in the commonest things we may\nhear the command of God; that the trifles of each day--trifles though\nthey be--vibrate and sound with the reverberation of His great voice;\nthat in all the outward circumstances of our lives, as in all the deep\nrecesses of our hearts, we may trace the indications and rudiments of\nHis will concerning us, which He has perfectly given us in that Gospel\nwhich is 'the law of liberty,' and in Him who is the Gospel and the\nperfect Law. Then quietly, without bluster or mock-heroics, or making a\nfuss about our independence, we can put all other commands and\ncommanders in their right place, with the old words, 'With me it is a\nvery small matter to be judged of you, or of man's judgment; He that\njudgeth me,' and He that commandeth me, 'is the Lord,' In answer to all\nthe noise about us we can face round like Elijah, and say, 'As the Lord\nliveth, before whom I stand.' He is my 'Imperator,' the Autocrat and\nCommander of my life; and Him, and Him only, must I serve. What\ncalmness, what dignity that would put into our lives! The never-ceasing\nboom of the great ocean, as it breaks on the beach, drowns all smaller\nsounds. Those lives are noble and great in which that deep voice is\never dominant, sounding on through all lesser voices, and day and night\nfilling the soul with command and awe.\n\nThen, still further, we may take another view of these words. They are\nthe utterance of a man to whom his life was not only bright with the\nradiance of a divine presence, and musical with the voice of a divine\ncommand, but was also, on his part, full of conscious obedience. No man\ncould say such a thing of himself who did not feel that he was\nrendering a real, earnest, though imperfect obedience to God. So,\nthough in one view the words express a very lowly sense of absolute\nsubmission before God, in another view they make a lofty claim for the\nutterer. He professes that he stands before the Lord, girt for His\nservice, watching to be guided by His eye, and ready to run when He\nbids. It is the same lofty sense of communion and consecration, issuing\nin authority over others, which Elijah's true brother in later days,\nPaul the Apostle, put forth when he made known to his companions in\nshipwreck the will of 'the God, whose I am, and whom I serve.' We may\nwell shrink from making that claim for ourselves, when we think of the\npoor, perfunctory service and partial consecration which our lives\nshow. But let us rejoice that even we may venture to say, 'Truly I am\nThy servant'; if only we, like the Psalmist, rest the confession on the\nperfectness of what He has done for us, rather than on the imperfection\nof what we have done for Him; and lay, as its foundation, 'Thou hast\nloosed my bonds.' Then, though we must ever feel how poor our service,\nand how unprofitable ourselves, how little we deserve the honour, and\nhow impossible that we should ever earn the least mite of wages; yet we\nmay, in all lowliness, think of ourselves as set free that we may\nserve, and lift our eyes, as the eyes of a servant turn towards his\nmaster, to 'the living Lord, before whom we stand.\n\nSuch a life is necessarily a happy life. The one misery of man is\nself-will, the one secret of blessedness is the conquest over our own\nwills. To yield them up to God is rest and peace. If we 'stand before\nGod,' then that means that our wills are brought into harmony with His.\nAnd that means that the one poison drop is squeezed out of our lives,\nand that sweetness and joy are infused into them. For what disturbs us\nin this world is not 'trouble' but our opposition to trouble. The true\nsource of all that frets and irritates, and wears away our lives, is\nnot in external things, but in the resistance of our wills to the will\nof God expressed by external things. I suppose that we shall never here\nbring these wills of ours into perfect correspondence with His, any\nmore than we shall ever, with our shaking hands and blunt pencils, draw\na perfectly straight line. But if will and heart are brought even to a\nrude approach to parallelism with His, if we accept His voice when He\ntakes away, and obey it when He commands, we shall be quiet and\npeaceful. We shall be strong and unwearied, freed from corroding cares\nand exhausting rebellions, which take far more out of a man than any\nwork does. 'Thy word was found, and I did eat it.' When we thus take\nGod's command into our spirits, and feed upon it with will and\nunderstanding, it becomes, as the Psalmist found it, the 'joy and\nrejoicing of our hearts.' Elijah-like, we shall 'go in the strength of\nthat meat many days.' The secret of power and of calm is--yield your\nwill to the loving Lord, and stand ever before Him with, 'Here am I,\nsend me!'\n\nWe may add one more remark to these various views of the significance\nof this expression, to which the last instance of its use may help us.\nHere it is: 'And Naaman said, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy\nservant. But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will\nreceive none.'\n\nThe thought, which made all Elisha's life bright with the light of\nGod's presence, which filled his ear with the unremitting voice of a\nDivine Law, which swayed and bowed his will to joyful obedience,\nchilled and deadened his desires for all earthly rewards. 'I am not thy\nservant. I am God's servant. It is not your business to pay my wages. I\ncannot dishonour my Master by taking payment from thee for doing His\nwork. I look for everything from Him, for nothing from thee.'\n\nAnd is there not a broad general truth involved there, namely, that\nsuch a life as we have been describing will find its sole reward where\nit finds its inspiration and its law? The Master's approval is the\nservant's best wages. If we truly feel that 'the Lord _liveth_, before\nwhom we stand, 'we shall want nothing else for our work but His smile,\nand we shall feel that the light of His face is all that we need. That\nthought should deaden our love for outward things. How little we need\nto care about any payment that the world can give for anything we do!\nIf we feel, as we ought, that we are God's servants, that will lift us\nclear above the low aims and desires which meet us. How little we shall\ncare for money, for men's praise, for getting on in the world! How the\nthings that we fever our souls by pursuing, and fret our hearts when we\nlose, will cease to attract! How small and vulgar the 'prizes' of life,\nas people call them, will appear! 'The Lord liveth, before whom I\nstand,' should be enough for us, and instead of all these motives to\naction drawn from the rewards of this world, we ought to 'labour that,\nwhether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him.'\n\nNot the fading leaves of the victor's wreath, laurel though they be,\nnor the corruptible things as silver and gold, whereof earth's diadems\nand rewards are fashioned, but the incorruptible crown that fadeth not\naway, which His hand will give, should fire our hope, and shine before\nour faith. Not Naaman's gifts but God's approval is Elisha's reward.\nNot the praise from lips that will perish, or the 'hollow wraith of\ndying fame,' but Christ's 'Well done! good and faithful servant,'\nshould be a Christian's aim.\n\nMay we, brethren, possess the 'spirit and the power of Elias';--the\nspirit, in that we know ourselves to be the servants of the living God;\nand then we shall have some measure of his dauntless power and heroic\nunworldliness!\n\nStill better, may we have the Spirit of Him who was '_the_ Servant of\nthe Lord,' diviner in His gentle meekness than the fiery prophet in his\nlonely strength! Make yours the mind that was in Christ, that you too\nmay say, 'Lo, I come! in the volume of the book it is written of me, I\ndelight to do Thy will, yea, Thy law is within my heart.'\n\n\n\n\nOBADIAH\n\n_To the Young_\n\n'... I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.--1 KINGS xviii.12.\n\n\nThis Obadiah is one of the obscurer figures in the Old Testament. We\nnever hear of him again, for there is no reason to accept the Jewish\ntradition which alleges that he was Obadiah the prophet. And yet how\ndistinctly he stands out from the canvas, though he is only sketched\nwith a few bold outlines! He is the 'governor over Ahab's house,' a\nkind of mayor of the palace, and probably the second man in the\nkingdom. But though thus high in that idolatrous and self-willed court,\nhe has bravely kept true to the ancient faith. Neither Jezebel's\nflatteries nor her frowns have moved him. But there, amid apostasy and\nidolatry he stands, probably all alone in the court, a worshipper of\nJehovah. His name is his character, for it means 'servant of Jehovah.'\nIt was not a light thing to be a worshipper of the God of Israel in\nAhab's court. The feminine rage of the fierce Sidonian woman, whom Ahab\nobeyed in most things, burned hot against the enemies of her father's\ngods, and hotter, perhaps, against any one who thwarted her imperious\nwill. Obadiah did both, in that audacious piece of benevolence when he\nsheltered the Lord's prophets--one hundred of them--and saved them from\nher cruel search. The writer of the book very rightly marks this brave\nantagonism to the outburst of the queen's wrath as a signal proof of a\nmore than ordinary devotion to the worship and fear of Jehovah. His\nfirmness and his religion did not prevent his retaining his place of\nhonour and dignity. That says something for Ahab, and more perhaps for\nObadiah.\n\nMost of you believe that you ought to 'fear the Lord': but you are apt\nto put off, and so I wish to urge on you that you should give your\nhearts to Jesus Christ at once.\n\nI. The blessedness of youthful religion.\n\n(a) It guards from many temptations, and keeps a character innocent of\nmuch transgression.\n\nThink of the dangers that lie thick in the streets of every great city,\nand of a lad coming up from a country home of godliness, where he was\nsurrounded by a mother's love and an atmosphere of purity, and launched\ninto some lonely lodging, or some factory or warehouse with many\ntempters. Nothing will be such a help to resistance and victory as to\nbe able to say, 'So did not I because of the fear of the Lord.'\n\n(_b_) It will save from remorse. Even if a man 'sobers down' after\n'sowing his wild oats,' which is a very problematical 'if,' what bitter\nmemories of wasted days, what polluting memories of filthy ones, will\nhaunt him! And if he does not sober down, what then?\n\nIt is folly to begin life on a wrong tack, in regard to which the best\nthat you can say is that you do not mean to continue it. If you do not,\nthen the wise thing is to get at once on to the road on which you do\nmean to continue, and to save the weary work of retracing steps and the\npainful consciousness of having made a false start. Are you so sure\nthat you will wish, or that it will be possible, to face right about\nand get on to a new line? Fishermen catch lobsters and the like by\nmeans of baskets with one opening, the withes of which are so set that\nthe entrance is easy, but that a ring of sharp points oppose all\nattempts at turning back and getting out. The world lays 'pots' of that\nsort, and many a young man and woman glides smoothly in, and finds it\nimpossible to get out.\n\n(_c_) It usually leads to a deeper and more peaceful and harmonious\nreligion than is attained by those who have given the world the better\npart of their days, and have only the last fragment of them to give to\nGod. Obadiah had feared God from his youth, and that had a good deal to\ndo with his brave stand against Jezebel. It is a grand thing to enlist\nhabit on the side of godliness.\n\nII. The foes of youthful religion.\n\nThere are foes within .... the strong self-reliance and bounding life\nproper to youth, without which at the opening of the flower, the bloom\nwould be poor and the fruit little, ... the power of appeals to the\nunjaded and physically strong senses, ... the difficulty at such a\nstage of life of looking forward and soberly regarding the end.\n\nThere are foes without ....the crowds of tempters of both sexes, men\nand women who take a devilish pleasure in polluting innocent minds, ...\nthe companions whose jeers are worse to face than a battery, ... the\ninconsistencies of so-called Christians, the anti-Christian literature\nwhich is peculiarly fascinating to the young, with its brave show of\nbreaking with mouldy tradition and enthroning reason and emancipating\nfrom rusty fetters.\n\nIII. The too probable alternative to youthful religion.\n\nIt is but too likely that, if a man does not 'fear the Lord' from 'his\nyouth,' he will never fear Him. Thank God, there is no time nor\ncondition of life in which the wicked man cannot 'forsake his way,' or\n'the unrighteous man his thoughts,' and 'turn to the Lord' with the\nassurance that 'He will abundantly pardon.' But it is sadly too plain\nto observation, and to the experience of some of us, that obstacles\ngrow with years, that habits and associations grip with increasing\npower, that in all things our natures become less flexible, the supple\nsapling becoming gnarled and tough, that a middle-aged or old man is\nmore inextricably 'tied and bound by the cords of his sins,' than a\nyoung one is.\n\nSin lies to us by first saying, 'It is too soon to be religious,' and\nthen it lies to us by saying, 'It is too late.'\n\nThe inclination diminishes.\n\nThe Gospel long heard and long put aside, loses power.\n\nContrast the beauty of a course of life, begun on the same lines as\nthose on which it ends, and being like 'the shining light, that shineth\nmore and more unto the meridian of the day,' with one which gave the\ngreater part of its years to 'the world, the flesh, and the devil,' or\nat least to one's godless self, and the dregs of it only to God.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TRIAL BY FIRE\n\n'And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose yon one bullock for\nyourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name\nof your gods, but put no fire under. 26. And they took the bullock\nwhich was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of\nBaal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there\nwas no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar\nwhich was made. 27. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked\nthem, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he Is talking, or he\nis pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and\nmust be awaked. 28. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after\ntheir manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon\nthem. 29. And it came to pass, when midday was passed, and they\nprophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice,\nthat there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.\n30. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the\npeople came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that\nwas broken down. 31. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the\nnumber of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the\nLord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: 32. And with the stones he\nbuilt an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the\naltar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. 33. And he put\nthe wood in order, and cut the bullock in nieces, and laid him on the\nwood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt\nsacrifice, and on the wood. 34. And he said, Do it the second time. And\nthey did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And\nthey did it the third time. 35. And the water ran round about the\naltar; and he filled the trench also with water. 36. And it came to\npass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah\nthe prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of\nIsrael, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel, and that\nI am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word.\n37. Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may know that Thou art\nthe Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again. 38.\nThen the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and\nthe wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that\nwas in the trench. 39. And when all the people saw it, they fell on\ntheir faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is\nthe God.--1 KINGS xviii. 25-39.\n\nThe place, the purpose, and the actors in this scene, make it among the\ngrandest in history. A nation, with its king, has come together, at the\nbidding of one man, to settle no less a question than whom they shall\nworship. There, on the slope of Carmel, with the brassy heaven gleaming\nhard and dry above them, and the yellow, burnt-up plain of Jezreel at\ntheir feet, the expectant people stand. The assembly was a singular\nproof of Elijah's ascendency; for Ahab's bluster had sunk, cowed in his\npresence, and he had meekly done the prophet's bidding in summoning\n'all Israel' and the eight hundred and fifty Baal and Asherah prophets,\nfor an unexplained purpose. The false priests would come unwillingly;\nbut they came.\n\nThen Elijah takes the command, and, though utterly alone, towers above\nthe crowd in the courage of his undaunted confidence in his message.\nHis words have the ring of authority as he rebukes indecision, and\ncalls for a clear adhesion to Baal or Jehovah. If the people had\nanswered, the trial by fire would have been needless. But their silence\nshows that they waver, and therefore he makes his proposal to them.\n\nNote that the priests are not consulted, nor is Ahab. The former would\nhave had some excuse for shirking the sharp issue; but the people's\nassent forced them to accept the ordeal,--reluctantly enough, no doubt.\n\nI. The vain cries to a deaf God. It is strange that one of the parties\nto the test has power to determine its conditions, especially as\nElijah's prophetic authority was one of the things in dispute; but it\nis a sign of the magnetic power which one bold man with absolute\nconfidence in his own convictions exercises over men. The Baal prophets\nare given every advantage in priority of action. Error is best unmasked\nby being allowed free opportunity to do its best; for the more\nfavourable the circumstances of trial, the more signal the defeat.\nGod's servants must never be suspected of unfair tricks in their\ncontroversy with error. They can afford to let it try first. Notice the\nsubstitution of 'your god,' in the Revised Version, for 'your gods' in\nthe Authorised Version. That is obviously right; for the only question\nwas about one god,--namely, Baal.\n\nSo, in the early morning, with all the people gazing at them, the Baal\npriests or prophets begin their attempt. It was easy to prepare the\nsacrifice, and lay it on the altar,--though, no doubt, it was done\nsullenly, with foreboding of the coming exposure. The whole account of\nthe wild invocations of the priests may suggest some of the\ncharacteristics of idolatry, and touch our hearts with pity, as well as\nwith the sense of its absurdity, which animated Elijah's mockery.\n\nNote, then, the vivid picture, in verse 27, of the long hours of vain\ncrying. On the one hand, we hear the wild chorus echoing among the\nrocks; on the other, we feel the dead silence in the heavens.\n\nThe monotonous and almost mechanical repetition of the invocation,\nprolonged till the syllables have no meaning to the yelling crowd, is\ncharacteristic of the frenzied excitement so common in idolatry. To\ncall such howlings prayer, degrades the name. They are the very\nopposite of that sacred communion of a believing soul with the God whom\nit knows, trusts, and beseeches with submission. Neither knowledge nor\ntrust is in these shrieks, which seek to propitiate the stern god by\nrepeating his name as a kind of charm. Heathenism has no true prayer.\nWild cries and passionate desires, flung upwards to an unloved god, are\nnot prayer; and that solace and anchor of the troubled soul is wanting\nin all the dreary lands given up to idolatry.\n\nThe melancholy persistence of the unanswered cries may stand as a\nsymbol of the tragic obstinacy with which their devotees cling to their\nvain gods,--a rebuke to us with a more enlightened faith. The silence,\nwhich was the only answer, is put in strong contrast with the\ncontinuous roar of the four hundred and fifty,--so long and loud the\nhoarse cries here, so unmoved the stillness in the careless heaven.\nThat, too, is typical of heathenism, which is sad with unavailing cries\nand ignorant of answers to any. As the day wore on, and the voices grew\nhoarse, and hope declined, more violent bodily exercise was resorted\nto, and the shouting crowd danced (or, perhaps, as the margin says,\n'limped,'--a picturesque and contemptuous word for the grotesque\ncontortions around the altar), as if that might bring the answer. That\nagain is a feature common to all heathenism. No wonder that Elijah's\nscorn broke forth vehemently at such a sight. Noon was the hour of the\nsun's greatest power, and, since Baal was probably a solar deity, it\nwas the hour when, if ever, he would spare one of his abundant fiery\nbeams to light the pyre. So Elijah's taunts came just when they were\nmost biting, and none can say that they were undeserved. His fiery zeal\nand his naturally stern character broke out in the bitter irony with\nwhich he imagines a variety of undignified positions for Baal.\n\nSarcasm is not the highest weapon, and the 'spirit of Elijah' is not\nthe spirit of Jesus; but the exposure of the absurdity of idolatry is\nlegitimate, and even ridicule may have its place in pricking\nwind-distended bladders. A man throttling a serpent may be excused\nusing anything that comes handy for the purpose. But, at the same time,\nthe right attitude for us as Christians in the presence of that awful\nfact of idolatry, is neither contempt nor scientific curiosity, but\npity deep as Christ's, and earnest resolve to help our darkened\nbrethren. The taunts stirred to fiercer excitement and more extravagant\nacts, as ridicule is wont to do, and therein proves itself an\nunreliable instrument of controversy. Laughing at a man generally makes\nhim more obstinate. The priests answered Elijah by savagely gashing\ntheir half-naked bodies with knives and lances,--a ready way to make\nblood come, but not to bring fire. The frenzy became wilder as the day\ndeclined, and at last, covered with blood, hoarse with shouting,\npanting with their gymnastics, they 'prophesied,' having wrought\nthemselves into that state of excitement in which incoherent rhapsodies\nburst from their lips. What a scene to call worship! That is what\nmillions of men are ready to practise to-day. And all the while there\nis no voice, no answer, no care for them, in the pitiless sky. The very\ngenius of idolatry is set before us in that tumultuous crowd on Carmel.\n\nII. The sacrifice of faith and the answer by fire. We pass from a scene\nof wild commotion into an atmosphere of sacred calm in verse 30. The\ncontrast is striking. The fiery fervours of the day are past, and the\nsun is sinking behind the top of Carmel, and there is much to do before\nit sets. Elijah with his own hands, as would appear, repairs a ruined\naltar among the woods. Probably it had been erected for secret worship\nof Jehovah by some faithful amid the national apostasy, when access to\nJerusalem was forbidden them, and had been destroyed by Ahab in his\ncrusade against Jehovah worshippers. The selection of the twelve stones\nwas symbolical of the unbroken unity of the nation, and was Elijah's\nprotest against the very existence of the Northern kingdom, and its\nassumption of the name of 'Israel' The writer explains what was meant,\nwhen he reminds us that Israel was the name given to Jacob, and\ntherefore, as he would have us infer, was the common property of all\nhis descendants. Judah was a part of Israel, and Israel should be an\nundivided whole, uniting in all its tribes in bringing offerings to\nJehovah.\n\nIt was a daring thing to do before Ahab's face; but the weak king was,\nfor the time, subjugated by the imperious will and courage of Elijah.\nThe building of the altar, with its mute witness to God's purpose,\nwould touch some hearts in the gazing, silent crowd. The next step was,\nof course, meant to make the miracle more conspicuous by drenching\neverything with water, probably brought, even in that drought, from the\nperennial fountain near at hand. Perhaps, too, the number of barrels\nwas intended, again, as symbolical of the twelve tribes.\n\nOne can fancy the wonder and eagerness of the people, and the dark\nfrowns of the baffled and exhausted Baal priests, as they gradually\ncame out of their frenzy, and knew that they had lost their\nopportunity. The tranquil though earnest prayer of the prophet is in\nsharpest contrast with the meaningless bellowings to Baal. Note in it\nthe solemn invocation. The great Name, which all listening to him had\ndeposed from rule over them, is set in the front; and the ancestral\nworship, as well as the divine gifts and dealings with the patriarchs,\nis pleaded with God as the reason for His answer now. The name of\n'Israel' instead of the more common 'Jacob,' has the same force as in\nverse 31.\n\nNote the substance of the petitions. The deepest desire of a truly\ndevout soul is that God would make His name known. Zeal for God's\nhonour and love for men who have gone astray from Him, conspire to make\nthat the head and front of His true servant's prayers. It is God, not\nhis own credit, about which Elijah thinks first. For himself, all that\nhe desires is to be known as an obedient servant, and as not having\ndone anything at the bidding of his own will or judgment, but in\naccordance with the all-commanding Voice.\n\nClearly we must suppose that in all the ordering of this sublime trial\nby fire, Elijah had been acting 'at Thy word,' even though we have no\nother record of the fact. He had no right to expect an answer unless he\nhad been bidden to propose the test. God will honour the drafts which\nHe bids us draw on Him; but to suspend our own or other people's faith\nin Him, on the issue of some experiment whether He will answer prayers,\nis not faith, but rash presumption, unless it is in obedience to a\ndistinct command. Elijah had such a command, and therefore he could ask\nGod to vindicate his action, and to prove that he was God's servant.\nHis last petition is beautiful, both in its consciousness of power with\nGod and recognition of his place as a prophet, and in its lowly\nsubordination of all personal aims to the restoration of Israel to the\ntrue worship. He asks, with reiteration which is earnestness and faith,\nand therefore the sharpest contrast to the mechanical repetition by\nBaal's priests, that God would hear him; but his sole object in that\nprayer is, not that his name may be exalted as a prophet, or that any\ngood may come to him, but that the blinded eyes may be opened, and the\nhearts, that have been so sadly led astray, be brought back to the\nworship of their fathers' God.\n\nThe whole brief prayer, in its calm confidence; its adoring recognition\nof the name and past dealings of Jehovah as the ground of trust; its\nthrobbing of earnest desire for the manifestation of His character\nbefore men; its consciousness of personal relation to God, which\nhumbles rather than puffs up; its beseeching for an answer, and its\nclosing petition, which comes round again to its first, that men may\nknow God, and fasten their hearts on Him,--may well stand as a pattern\nof prayer for us.\n\nThe short prayer of faith does in a moment what all the long day of\ncrying could not do. The language in which the answer is described\nemulates the rapidity of the swift tongues of fire which licked up\nsacrifice, altar, and water. They were the tokens of acceptance,\nreminding of the consuming of the first sacrifices in the Tabernacle,\nand, like them, inaugurating a new beginning of the worship of God. The\nburning of the altar, as well as of the sacrifice, expressed the\nacceptance of the people whom it, by its twelve stones, symbolised. And\nthe people, on their part, were--for the time, at all events--swept\naway by the miracle, and by the force of the prophet's example and\nauthority. Short-lived their faith may have been, as certainly it was\nsuperficial; but the fire had for the time melted their hearts, and set\nthem flowing in the ancient channels of devotion. The faith that is\nfounded on miracle may be deepened into something better; but unless it\nis, it speedily dies away. The faith that is due to the influence of\nsome strong personality may lead on to an independent faith, based on\npersonal experience; but, unless it does, it too will perish.\n\nWe may find a modern reproduction of the test of Carmel in the\nimpotence of all other schemes and methods of social and spiritual\nreformation and the power of the Gospel. In it and its effects God\nanswers by fire. Let the opposers, who are so glib in demonstrating the\nfailure of Christianity, do the same with their enchantments, if they\ncan.\n\n\n\n\nELIJAH'S WEAKNESS, AND ITS CUBE\n\n'And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had\nslain all the prophets with the sword. 2. Then Jezebel sent a messenger\nunto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make\nnot thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time.\n3. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to\nBeersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 4. But\nhe himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat\ndown under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might\ndie; and said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am\nnot better than my fathers. 5. And as he lay and slept under a juniper\ntree, behold, then, an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and\neat. 6. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the\ncoals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and\nlaid him down again. 7. And the angel of the Lord came again the second\ntime, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is\ntoo great for thee. 8. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in\nthe strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the\nmount of God. 9. And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there,\nand, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said unto him,\nWhat doest thou here, Elijah? 10. And he said, I have been very jealous\nfor the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy\ncovenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the\nsword; and I, even I only, am left: and they seek my life, to take it\naway. 11. And He said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the\nLord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent\nthe mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the\nLord was not In the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the\nLord was not in the earthquake: 12. And after the earthquake a fire,\nbut the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small\nvoice. 13. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his\nface in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the\ncave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him and said, What doest\nthen here, Elijah! 14. And he said, I have been very jealous for the\nLord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken Thy\ncovenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the\nsword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it\naway. 15. And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the\nwilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king\nover Syria: 16. And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king\nover Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou\nanoint to be prophet in thy room. 17. And it shall come to pass, that\nhim that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that\nescapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. 18. Yet I have left\nme seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto\nBaal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.'--1 KINGS xix. 1-18.\n\n\nThe miracle on Carmel cowed, if it did not convince, Ahab, so that he\ndid not oppose the slaughter of the Baal prophets; but Jezebel was made\nof sterner stuff, and her passionate idolatry was proof against even a\nsign from heaven. Obstinacy in error is often a rebuke to tremulous\nfaith in God. She fiercely puts her back to the wall, and defies Elijah\nand his God. Her threat to the prophet has a certain audacity of\nfrankness almost approaching generosity. She will give her victim fair\nplay. This woman is 'magnificent in sin.' The Septuagint prefixes to\nher oath, 'As surely as thou art Elijah and I Jezebel,' which adds\nforce to it. It also reads, by a very slight change in the Hebrew, in\nverse 3, 'he was afraid,' for 'he saw,'--which is possibly right, as\ngiving his motive for escape more distinctly.\n\nI. We may note, first, the prophet's flight (verses 3-8). Beersheba, on\nthe southern border of the kingdom of Judah, was eloquent of memories\nof the patriarchs, but though it was nearly a hundred miles from\nJezreel, Jezebel's arm was long enough to reach the fugitive there, and\ntherefore he plunged deeper into the dreary southern desert. He left\nbehind him his servant, his 'young man,' as the original has it, whom\nRabbinical tradition identified with the miraculously resuscitated son\nof the widow of Zarephath, and supposed to become afterwards the\nprophet Jonah. Thus alone but for the company of his own gloomy\nthoughts, and wearied with toilsome travel in the sun-smitten waste, he\ntook shelter under the shadow of a solitary shrub (the Hebrew\nemphatically calls it '_one_ juniper,' or rather 'broom-plant'), and\nthere the waves of depression went over him.\n\nHis complaint is not to be wondered at, though it was wrong. The very\noverstrain of the scene on Carmel brought reaction. The height of the\ncrest of one wave measures the depth of the trough of the next, and no\nmortal spirit can keep itself at the sublime elevation reached by\nElijah when alone he fronted and converted a nation. The supposed\nnecessity for flight, coming so immediately after apparent victory,\nshowed him how hollow the change in the people was. What had become of\nall the fervency of their shout, 'The Lord, He is the God!' if they\ncould leave Jezebel the power to carry out her threat? Solitude and the\nawful desert increased his gloom. The strong man had become weak, and\nit was ebb-tide with him. His prayer was petulant, impatient,\npresumptuous. What right had he to settle what was 'enough'? If he\nreally wished to die, he could have found death at Jezreel, and had no\nneed to travel a hundred miles to seek a grave. He was weary of his\nwork, and profoundly disappointed by what he hastily concluded was its\nfailure, and in a fit of faithless despondency he forgot reverence,\nsubmission, and obedience.\n\nIf Elijah can become weak, and his courage die out, and his zeal become\ntorpid apathy and cowardly wish to shuffle off responsibility and shirk\nwork, who shall stand? The lessons of self-distrust, of the nearness to\none another of the most opposite emotions in our weak natures, of the\ndepth of gloom into which the boldest and brightest servant of God may\nfall as soon as he loses hold of God's hand, never had a more striking\ninstance to point them than that mighty prophet, sitting huddled\ntogether in utter despondency below the solitary retem bush, praying\nhis foolish prayer for death.\n\nThe meal to which an angel twice waked him was God's answer to his\nprayer, telling him both that his life was still needful and that God\ncared for him. Perhaps one of Elijah's reasons for taking to the desert\nwas the thought that he might starve there, and so find death. At all\nevents, God for the third time miraculously provides his food. The\nravens, the widow of Zarephath, an angel, were his caterers; and,\ninstead of taking away his life, God Himself sends the bread and water\nto preserve it. The revelation of a watchful, tender Providence often\nrebukes gloomy unbelief and shames us back to faith. We are not told\nwhether the journey to Horeb was commanded, or, like the flight from\nJezreel, was Elijah's own doing; but, in any case, he must have\nwandered in the desert, to have taken forty days to reach it.\n\nII. The second stage is the vision at Horeb (verses 9-14). The history\nof Israel has never touched Horeb since Moses left it, and it is not\nwithout significance that we are once more on that sacred ground. The\nparallel between Moses and Elijah is very real. These two names stand\nout above all others in the history of the theocracy, the one as its\nfounder, the other as its restorer; both distinguished by special\nrevelations, both endowed with exceptional force of character and power\nof the Spirit; the one the lawgiver, the other the head of the\nprophetic order; both having something peculiar in their departure, and\nboth standing together, in witness of their supremacy in the past, and\nof their inferiority in the future, by Jesus on the Mount of\nTransfiguration. The associations of the place are marked by the use of\nthe definite article, which is missed in the Authorised Version,--'the\ncave,' that same cleft in the rock where Moses had stood. Note, too,\nthat the word rendered 'lodged' is literally 'passed the night,' and\nthat therefore we may suppose that the vision came to Elijah in the\ndarkness.\n\nThat question, 'What doest thou here?' can scarcely be freed from a\ntone of rebuke; but, like Christ's to the travellers to Emmaus, and\nmany another interrogation from God, it is also put in order to allow\nof the loaded heart's relieving itself by pouring out all its griefs.\nGod's questions are the assurance of His listening ear and sympathising\nheart. This one is like a little key which opens a great sluice. Out\ngushes a full stream. His forty days' solitude have done little for\nhim. A true answer would have been, 'I was afraid of Jezebel.' He takes\ncredit for zeal, and seems to insinuate that he had been more zealous\nfor God than God had been for Himself. He forgets the national\nacknowledgment of Jehovah at Carmel, and the hundred prophets protected\nby good Obadiah. Despondency has the knack of picking its facts. It is\ncolour-blind, and can only see dark tints. He accuses his countrymen,\nas if he would stir up God to take vengeance.\n\nHow different this weak and sinful wail over his solitude from the\nheroic mention of it on Carmel, when it only nerved his courage I\n(verse 22). The divine manifestation which followed is evidently meant\nto recall that granted to Moses on the same spot. 'The Lord passed by'\nis all but verbally quoted from Exodus xxxiv. 6, and the truth that had\nbeen proclaimed in words to Moses was enforced by symbol to Elijah. If\nthe vision was in the night, as verse 9 suggests, it becomes still more\nimpressive. The fierce wind that roared among the savage peaks, the\nshock that made the mountains reel, and the flashing flames that\nlighted up the wild landscape, were all phenomena of one kind, and at\nonce expressed God's lordship over all destructive agencies of nature,\nand symbolised the more vehement and disturbing forms of energy, used\nby Him for the furtherance of His purposes in the field of history or\nof revelation. Elijah's ministry was of such a sort, and he had now to\nlearn the limitations of his work, and the superiority of another type,\nrepresented by the 'sound of gentle stillness.'\n\nIt is the same lesson which Moses learned there, when he heard that the\nLord is 'a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and\nplenteous in mercy and truth.' It was exemplified in the gentle Elisha,\nthe successor of Elijah. It reached far beyond the time then present,\nand was indeed a Messianic prophecy, declaring the inmost character of\nHim in whom 'the Lord is,' in an altogether special sense. Elijah as a\nprophet brought no new knowledge, and uttered no far-reaching\npredictions; but he received one of the deepest and clearest prophecies\nof the gentleness of God's highest Messenger, and on Horeb saw afar off\nwhat he saw fulfilled on the Mountain of Transfiguration. Nor is his\nvision exhausted by its Messianic reference. It contains an eternal\ntruth for all God's servants. Storm, earthquake, and fire may be God's\nprecursors, and needed sometimes to prepare His way; but gentleness is\n'the habitation of His throne,' and they serve Him best, and are\nnearest Him whom they serve, who are meek in heart and gentle among\nenemies, 'as a nurse cherisheth her children.' Love is the victor, and\nthe sharpest weapons of the Christian are love and lowliness.\n\nThe lesson was not at first grasped by Elijah, as his repetition of his\ncomplaint, word for word, with almost dogged obstinacy, shows. The best\nof us are slow to learn God's lessons, and a habit of faithless gloom\nis not soon overcome. It is much easier to get down into the pit than\nto struggle out of it.\n\nIII. The commission for further service, which closes the scene, is a\nfurther rebuke to the prophet. He is bidden to retrace his way and to\ntake refuge in the desert lying to the south and east of Damascus,\nwhere he would be safe from Jezebel, and still not far from the scene\nof his activity. The instructions given to anoint a king of Syria and\none of Israel were not fulfilled by Elijah, but by his successor; and\nwe have to suppose that further commands were given to him on that\nsubject. The third injunction, to anoint his successor, was obeyed at\nonce on his journey, though Ahelmeholah, on Gilboa, was dangerously\nnear Jezreel. The designation of these future instruments of God's\npurpose was at once a sign to Elijah that his own task was drawing to a\nclose (having reached its climax on Carmel), and that God had great\ndesigns beyond him and his service. The true conception of our work is\nthat we sire only links in a chain, and that we can be done without.\n'God removes the workers and carries on the work.' To anoint our\nsuccessor is often a bitter pill; but self-importance needs to be taken\ndown, and it is blessed to lose ourselves in gazing into the future of\nGod's work, when we are gone from the field.\n\nFurther, the commissions met Elijah's despondency in another way; for\nthey assured him of the divine judgments on the house of Ahab, and of\nthe use of the Syrian king as a rod to chastise Israel. He had thought\nGod too slow in avenging His dishonoured name, and had been taught the\nmight of gentleness; but now he also learns the certainty of\npunishment, while the enigmatical promise that Elisha should 'slay'\nthose who escaped the swords of Hazael and Jehu dimly points to the\nmerciful energy of that prophet's word, his only sword, which shall\nslay but to revive, and wound to heal. 'I have hewed them by the ...\nwords of my mouth.'\n\nFinally, the revelation of the seven thousand--a round number, which\nexpresses the sacredness as well as the numerousness of the elect,\nhidden ones--rebukes the hasty assumption of his being left alone,\n'faithful among the faithless.' God has more servants than we know of.\nLet us beware of feeding either our self-righteousness or our\nnarrowness or our faint-heartedness with the fancy that we have a\nmonopoly of faithfulness, or are left alone to witness for God.\n\n\n\n\nPUTTING ON THE ARMOUR\n\nAnd the king of Israel answered and said. Tell him. Let not him that\ngirdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.'--1\nKINGS xx. 11.\n\n\n_For the Young_.\n\n\nAhab, King of Israel, was but a poor creature, and, like most weak\ncharacters, he turned out a wicked one, because he found that there\nwere more temptations to do wrong than inducements to do right. Like\nother weak people, too, he was torn asunder by the influence of\nstronger wills. On the one side he had a termagant of a wife, stirring\nhim up to idolatry and all evil, and on the other side Elijah\nthundering and lightning at him; so the poor man was often reduced to\nperplexity. Once in his lifetime he did behave like a king, with some\nflash of dignity. My text comes from that incident. His next neighbour,\nand, consequently, his continual enemy, was the king of Damascus. He\nhad made a raid across the border and was dictating terms so severe as\nto invite even Ahab to courageous opposition. His back was at the wall,\nand he mustered up courage to say 'No!' That provoked a bit of\nblustering bravado from the enemy, who sent back a message, 'The gods\ndo also unto me and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for\nhandfuls for all the people that follow me.' And then Ahab replied in\nthe words of our text. They have a dash of contempt and sarcasm, all\nthe more galling because of their unanswerable common-sense. 'The time\nto crow and clap your wings is _after_ you have fought. Samaria is not\na heap of dust just yet. Threatened men live long.' The battle began,\nand the bully was beaten; and for once Ahab tasted the sweets of\nsuccess.\n\nNow, I have nothing more to do with Ahab and the immediate application\nof his message, but I wish to apply it to my young friends, whom I have\ntaken it upon me to ask now to listen to two or three homely words to\nthem in this sermon.\n\nYou are beginning the fight; some of us old people are getting very\nnear the end of it. And I would fain, if I could, see successors coming\nto take the places which we shall soon have to vacate. So my message to\nyou, dear friends, young men and young women, is this, 'Let not him\nthat putteth on the harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.'\n\nI. Now, look for a moment at the general view of life that is implied\nin this saying thus understood.\n\nThere is nothing that the bulk of people are more unwilling to do than\nsteadily to think about what life as a whole, and in its deepest\naspects, is. And that disinclination is strong, as I suppose, in the\naverage young man or young woman. That comes, plainly enough, from the\nvery blessings of your stage of life. Unworn health, a blessed\ninexperience of failures and limitations, the sense of undeveloped\npower within you, the natural buoyancy of early days, all tend to make\nyou rather live by impulse than by reflection. And I should be the last\nman in the world to try to damp the noble, buoyant, beautiful\nenthusiasms with which Nature has provided that we should all begin our\ncourse. The world will do that soon enough; and there is no sadder\nsight than that of a bitter old man, who has outlived, and smiles\nsardonically at, his youthful dreams. But I do wish to press upon you\nall this question, Have you ever tried to think to yourself, 'Now what,\nafter all, is this life that is budding within me and dawning before\nme--what is it, in its deepest reality, and what am I to do with it?'\n\nThere are some of us to whom, so far as we have thought at all, life\npresents itself mainly as a shop, a place where we are to 'buy and\nsell, and get gain,' and use our evenings, after the day's work is\nover, for such recreation as suits us. And there are young men among my\nhearers who, with the flush of their physical manhood upon them, and\nperhaps away from the restraints of home, and living in gloomy town\nlodgings, with no one to look after them, are beginning to think that\nlife after all is a kind of pigs' trough, with plenty of foul wash in\nit for whoso chooses to suck it up--a garden of not altogether pure\ndelights, a place where a man may gratify the 'lusts of the flesh.'\n\nBut, dear brethren, whilst there are many other noble metaphors under\nwhich we can set forth the essential character of this mysterious,\ntremendous life of ours, I do not know that there is one that ought to\nappeal more to the slumbering heroism which lies in every human soul,\nand to the enthusiasms which, unless you in your youth cherish, you\nwill in your manhood be beggared indeed, than that which this picture\nof my text suggests. After all, life is meant to be one long conflict.\nWe are like the fellahin that one sometimes sees in Eastern lands, who\ncannot go out to plough in their fields, or reap their harvests,\nwithout a gun slung on their backs; for the condition under which we\nwork in this world is that everything worth doing has to be done at the\ncost of opposition and antagonism, and that no noble service or\nbuilding is possible without brave, continuous conflict. Even upon the\nlower levels of life that is so. No man learns a science or a trade\nwithout having to fight for it. But high above these lower levels,\nthere is the one on which we all are called to walk, the high level of\nduty, and no man does what his conscience tells him, or refrains from\nthat which his conscience sternly forbids, without having to fight for\nit. We are in the lists and compelled to draw the sword. And if we do\nnot realise this, that all nobility all greatness, all wisdom, all\nsuccess, even of the lowest and most vulpine kind, are won by conflict,\nwe shall never do anything in the world worth doing. You are a soldier,\nwhether you will or no, and life is a fight, whether you recognise the\nfact or not.\n\nSo, standing at the beginning, do not fancy that there is opening\nbefore you a scene of enjoyment, or that you are stepping into a world\nin which you can take your ease, and come out successfully at the other\nend. It is not so; and you will find that out before long. Better that\nyou should settle it in your minds at first. When you were born you\nwere enrolled on the roll-call of the regiment; and now you have to do\na man's part in the battle.\n\nII. Note the boastful temper which is sure to be beaten.\n\nNo doubt there is something inspiring in the spectacle of the young\nwarrior standing there, chafing at the lists, eagerly pulling on his\ngauntlets, fitting on his helmet, and longing to be in the thick of the\nfight. No doubt, as I have already said, there is something in your\nearly days which makes such buoyant hopes and anticipations of success\nnatural, and which gives you, as a great gift, that expectation of\nvictory. I do not wish to shatter any of your enthusiasms or ideals,\nbut I do wish to suggest a consideration or two that may calm and sober\nthem.\n\nSo I ask, have you ever estimated, are you now estimating rightly, what\nit is that you have to fight for? To make yourselves pure, wise,\nstrong, self-governing, Christlike men, such as God would have you to\nbe. That is not a small thing for a man to set himself to do. You may\ngo into the struggle for lower purposes, for bread and cheese, or\nwealth or fame, or love, or the like, with a comparatively light heart;\nbut if there once has dawned upon a young soul the whole majestic sweep\nof possibilities in its opening life, then the battle assumes an aspect\nof solemnity and greatness that silences all boasting. Have you\nconsidered what it is that you have to fight for?\n\nHave you considered the forces that are arrayed against you? 'What act\nis all its thought had been?' Hand and brain are never paired. There is\nalways a gap between the conception and its realisation. The painter\nstands before his canvas, and, while others may see beauty in it, he\nonly sees what a small fragment of the radiant vision that floated\nbefore his eye his hand has been able to preserve. The author looks on\nhis book and thinks what a poor, wretched transcript of the thoughts\nthat inspired his pen it is. There is ever this same disproportion\nbetween the conception and accomplishment. Therefore, all we old people\nfeel, more or less, that our lives have been failures. We set out as\nyou do, thinking that we were going to build a tower whose top should\nreach to heaven, and we are contented if, at the last, we have\nscrambled together some little wooden shanty in which we can live. We\nthought as you do; you will come to think as we do. So you had better\nbegin now, and not go into the fight boasting, or you will come out of\nit conscious of being beaten.\n\nHave you realised how different it is to dream things and to do them?\nIn our dreams we are, as it were, working _in vacuo_. When we come to\nacts, the atmosphere offers resistance. It is easy to imagine ourselves\nvictorious in circumstances where things are all going rightly and are\nbending according to our own desires, but when we come to the grim\nworld, where there are things that resist and people are not plastic,\nit is a very different matter. You do not yet understand, as you will\nsome day, the fatal limitations of power that hem us all round and the\nobstinate way that circumstances have of not falling in with our\nwishes. And you have not yet learned how completely and constantly\nfailure accompanies success, like its shadow. The old Egyptians had no\nneed to put a skeleton at their tables, nor the Romans to set a mocker\nbehind the hero as he rode in triumph up to the Capitol. The world\nprovides the skeleton at the banquet, and circumstances supply the\nmocker to add a dash of failure to all our triumphs.\n\nHave you ever realised how certainly, into the brightest and most\nbuoyant and successful lives, there will come crushing sorrows, blows\nas from an unseen hand in the dark, that fell a man? O friend! when one\nthinks of the miseries and the misfortunes, the sorrows and the losses,\nthe broken and bleeding hearts that began life buoyant, elastic,\nhopeful, perhaps boasting, like you, there ought to be a sobering tint\ncast over our brightest visions.\n\nI suppose that our colleges are full of students who are going, to far\noutstrip their professors, that every life-school has a dozen lads who\nhave just begun to handle brush and easel, and are going to put\nRaffaelle in the shade. I suppose that every lawyer's office has a\nbudding Lord Chancellor or two in it. And I suppose that that sharp\ncriticism of us fumblers in the field, and half-expressed thought, 'How\nmuch better I could do it!' belong to youth by virtue of its youth. It\nis a crude form of undeveloped power, but it wants a great deal of\nsobering down, and I am trying now to let out a little of the blood,\nand to bring you to a clear conception of the very limited success\nwhich is likely to attend you. All we old people, whose deficiencies\nand limitations you see so clearly, had the same dreams, impossible as\nit may appear to you, fifty years ago. We were going to be the men, and\nwisdom was going to die with us, and you see what we have made of it.\nYou will not do much better.\n\nHave you ever taken stock honestly of your own resources? 'What king,\ngoing to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and\ncounteth the cost, whether with his ten thousand he can meet him that\ncometh against him with twenty thousand?' Boast if you like, but\ncalculate first, and boast after that, if you can.\n\nYour worst enemy is yourself. When you are counting your resources and\nsaying, 'I have this, that, and the other thing,' do not forget to say,\n'I have a part of me, that takes all the rest of me all its time to\nkeep it down and prevent it from becoming master.' You have traitors in\nthe fortress who are in communication with the enemy outside, and may\ngo over to him openly in the very crisis of the fight. You have to take\nthat fact into account, and it ought to suppress boasting whilst you\nare putting on the harness.\n\nYou are not old enough to remember, as some of us do, the delirious\nenthusiasm with which, in the last Franco-German war, the Emperor and\nthe troops left Paris, and how, as the train steamed out of the\nstation, shouts were raised, 'A. Berlin!' Ay! and they never got\nfarther than Sedan, and there an Emperor and an army were captured. Go\ninto the fight bragging, and you will come out of it beaten.\n\nIII. Note the confidence which is not boasting.\n\nI can fancy some of you saying, 'These gloomy views of yours will lead\nto nothing but absolute despair. You have been telling us that success\nis impossible; that we are bound to fight, and are sure to be beaten.\nWhat are we to do? Throw up the sponge, and say, \"Very well! then I may\nas well have my fling, and give up all attempts to be any better than\nmy passions and my senses would lead me to be.\"' And if there is\nnothing more to be said about the fight than has been already said,\nthat _is_ the conclusion. 'Let us eat and drink,' not only 'for\nto-morrow we die,' but 'for to-day we are sure to be beaten.' But I\nhave only been speaking about this self-distrust as preliminary to what\nis the main thing that I desire to urge upon you now, and it is this:\nYou do not need to be beaten. There is no room for boasting, but there\nis room for absolute confidence. You, young men and women, standing at\nthe entrance of the amphitheatre where the gladiators fight, may dash\ninto the arena with the most perfect confidence that you will come out\nwith your shield preserved and your sword unbroken.\n\nThere is one way of doing it. 'Be of good cheer! I have overcome the\nworld.' That was not the boast of a man putting on the harness, but the\ncalm utterance of the conquering Christ when He was putting it off. He\nhas conquered that you may conquer. Remember how the Apostle, who has\npreserved for us that note of triumph at the end of Christ's life, has,\nlike some musician with a favourite phrase, modulated and varied it in\nhis letter written long after, when he says, 'This is the victory that\novercometh the world, even our faith.' My dear young friends, distrust\nyourselves utterly, and trust Jesus Christ absolutely, and give\nyourselves to Him, to be His servants and soldiers till your lives'\nend. Then you will not be beaten, for it is written of those who move\nin the light, wearing the victor's palm: 'These are they who overcame\nby the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of His testimony.' That blood\nsecures our victory in a threefold fashion. By that great death of\nJesus Christ all our past sins may be forgiven, and they no longer have\npower to tyrannise over us. In His sacrifice for us there are motives\ngiven to us for noble, grateful, Godlike living, stronger than all the\ntemptations that can arise from our own hearts, or from the evils\naround us. And if we put our humble trust in Him, then that faith opens\nthe door for the entrance into our hearts, in simple reality, of a\nshare in His conquering life which will make us victorious over the\nworld, the flesh, and the devil.\n\n'This is the victory that overcometh the world,' and the youngest,\nfeeblest Christian who lays his or her hand in Christ's strong hand,\nmay look out upon all the embattled antagonisms that front them, and\nsay, 'He will cover my head in the day of battle, and teach my hands to\nwar and my fingers to fight.'\n\nDear young friends, people sometimes preach to you that you should be\nChristians, because life is uncertain and death is drawing near, and\nafter death the judgment. I preach that too; but the gospel that I seek\nto press upon you now is not merely a thing to die by, but it is _the_\nthing to live by; and it is the only power by which we shall be sure of\novercoming the armies of the aliens. This confidence in Christ will\ntake away from you no shred of your natural, youthful, buoyant\nelasticity, but it will save you from much transgression and from\nbitter regrets.\n\nOne last word. There is possible a triumph which is not boasting, for\nhim who puts _off_ the harness. The war-worn soldier has little heart\nfor boasting, but he may be able to say, 'I have not been beaten.' The\nbest of us, when we come to the end, will have to recognise in\nretrospect failures, deficiencies, palterings with evil, yieldings to\ntemptation, sins of many sorts, that will put all boasting out of our\nthoughts. But, whilst that is so, there is sometimes granted to the\nman, who has been faithful in his adherence to Jesus Christ, a gleam of\nsunshine at eventime, which foretells Heaven's welcome and 'Well\ndone!', before it is uttered. He was no self-righteous braggart, but a\nvery rigid judge of himself, who, close by the headsman's block that\nended his life, said: 'I have fought a good fight; I have finished my\ncourse; I have kept the faith.' 'Put on the whole armour of God,' and\nwhen the time comes to put it off, you will have a peaceful assurance\nas far removed from despair as it is from boasting. Distrust\nyourselves; do not underestimate your enemies; understand that life is\nwarfare; trust utterly to Jesus Christ, and He will see to it that you\nare not conquered, will give you the calm confidence of which we have\nbeen speaking here, and a share hereafter in the throne which He\npromises to him that overcometh. If you will trust yourselves to Him,\nand take service in His army, you cannot be too certain of victory. If\nyou fling yourself into the battle in your own strength, with however\nhigh a hope, and fight without the Captain for your ally, you cannot\nescape defeat.\n\n\n\n\nROYAL MURDERERS\n\n\n\n'And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had\na vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of\nSamaria. 2. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard,\nthat I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my\nhouse: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it\nseem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. 3. And\nNaboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the\ninheritance of my fathers unto thee. 4. And Ahab came into his house\nheavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite\nhad spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the\ninheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and\nturned away his face, and would eat no bread. 5. But Jezebel his wife\ncame to him, and said unto him. Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou\neatest no bread? 6. And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth\nthe Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money: or\nelse, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and\nhe answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. 7. And Jezebel his wife\nsaid unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and\neat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard\nof Naboth the Jezreelite. 8. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and\nsealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to\nthe nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. 9. And she\nwrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high\namong the people: 10. And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to\nbear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the\nking. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. 11. And\nthe men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the\ninhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it\nwas written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12. They\nproclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13. And\nthere came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the\nmen of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the\npresence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king.\nThen they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with\nstones, that he died. 14. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is\nstoned, and is dead. 15. And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that\nNaboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take\npossession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused\nto give thee for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead. 16. And it\ncame to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up\nto go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession\nof it.'-1 KINGS xxi. 1-16.\n\n\nThere are three types of character in this story, all bad, but in\ndifferent ways. Ahab is wicked and weak; Jezebel, wicked and strong;\nthe elders of Jezreel, wicked and subservient. Amongst them they commit\na great crime, which was the last drop in the full cup of the king's\nsins, and brought down God's judgment on him and his house.\n\nI. We have to look at the weakly wicked Ahab. His wish for Naboth's\nvineyard was a mere selfish whim. He was willing to give more for it\nthan it was worth. It suited his convenience for a kitchen-garden. In\nthe true spirit of an Eastern despot, he expected everything to yield\nto his caprice, and did not think that a subject had any rights. What\nbusiness has a poor man with sentiment? Naboth is to go, and a handful\nof silver will set all right. Samuel's warning of what a king would be\nand do was fulfilled. This highhanded interference with private rights\nwas what Israel's revolt had led to. The sturdy Naboth was influenced\nnot only by love for the bit of land which his fathers had cultivated\nfor more years than Ahab had reigned days, but by obedience to the law\nof God; and he was not afraid to show himself a Jehovah worshipper, by\nhis solemn appeal to 'the Lord,' as well as by the fact of his refusal.\nThe brusque, flat refusal shows that some independence was left in the\nnation.\n\nThe weak rage and childish sulking of Ahab are very characteristic of a\nfeeble and selfish nature, accustomed to be humoured and not thwarted.\nThese fits of temper seem to have been common with him; for he was in\none at the end of the preceding chapter, as he is now. The 'bed' on\nwhich he flung himself is probably the couch for reclining on at table,\nand, if so, the picture of his passion is still more vivid. Instead of\npartaking of the meal, he turns his face to the wall, and refuses food.\n'No meat will down with him for want of a salad, because wanting\nNaboth's vineyard for a garden of herbs.' As he lies there, like a\nspoiled child, all because he could not get his own way, he may serve\nfor an example of the misery of unbridled selfishness and unregulated\ndesires. An acre or two of land was a small matter to get into such a\nstate about, and there are few things that are worth a wise or a strong\nman's being so troubled. Hezekiah might 'turn his face to the wall' in\nthe extremity of sickness and earnestness of prayer; but Ahab in doing\nit is only a poor, feeble creature who has weakly set his heart on what\nis not his, and weakly whimpers because he cannot have it.\n\nTo be thus at the mercy of our own ravenous desires, and so utterly\nmiserable when they are thwarted, is unworthy of manhood, and is sure\nto bring many a bitter moment; for there are more disappointments than\ngratifications in store for such a one. We may learn from Ahab, too,\nthe certainty that weakness will darken into wickedness. Such a mood as\nhis always brings some Jezebel or other to suggest evil ways of\nsucceeding. In this wicked world there are more temptations to sin than\nhelps to virtue, and the weak man will soon fall into some of the\nabundant traps laid for him. Unless we have learned to say 'No' with\nmuch emphasis, because we are 'strong in the Lord,' we shall fall.\n'This did not I because of the fear of the Lord.' To be weak is to be\nmiserable, and any sin may come from it.\n\nII. Jezebel is a type of a different sort of wickedness. She is wicked\nand strong. Notice how she takes the upper hand at once, in her abrupt\nquestion, not without a spice of scorn; and note how Ahab answers,\nbemoaning himself, putting in the forefront his fair proposal, and\nmaking Naboth's refusal ruder than it really had been, by suppressing\nits reason. Then out flashes the imperious will of this masterful\nprincess, who had come from a land where royalty was all-powerful, and\nwho had no restraints of conscience. She darts a half-contemptuous\nquestion at Ahab, to stir him to action; for nothing moves a weak man\nso much as the fear of being thought weak. 'Dost thou govern?' implies,\n'If thou dost, thou mayest trample on a subject.' It should mean, 'If\nthou dost, thou must jealously guard the subject's rights.' What a\nproud consciousness of her power speaks in that 'I will give thee the\nvineyard'! It is like Lady Macbeth's 'Give me the dagger!' No more is\nsaid. She can keep her own counsel, and Ahab suspects that some\nviolence is to be used, which he had better not know. So, again, his\nweakness leads him astray. He does not wish to hear what he is willing\nshould be done, if only he has not to do it. So feeble men hoodwink\nconscience by conniving at evils which they dare not perpetrate, and\nthen enjoying their fruits, and saying, 'Thou canst not say I did it.'\n\nJezebel had Ahab's signet, the badge of authority, which she probably\ngot from him for her unspoken purpose. Her letter to the elders of\nJezreel speaks out, with cynical disregard of decency, the whole ugly\nconspiracy. It is direct, horribly plain, and imperative. There is a\nperfect nest of sins hissing and coiled together in it. Hypocrisy\ncalling religion in to attest a lie, subornation of evidence, contempt\nfor the poor tools who are to perjure themselves, consciousness that\nsuch work will only be done by worthless men, cool lying, ferocity, and\nmurder,--these are a pretty company to crowd into half a dozen lines.\nMost detestable of all is the plain speaking which shows her hardened\naudacity and conscious defiance of all right. To name sin by its true\nname, and then to do it without a quiver, is a depth of evil reached by\nfew men, and perhaps fewer women.\n\nThe plot gives a colour of legality, which is probably often unobserved\nby readers. Naboth was to be accused of treason: 'renouncing God and\nthe king'; and that was, according to the law of Moses, a charge which,\nif proved, merited capital punishment. But it is Satan accusing sin for\nJezebel, the Baal worshipper, who had done her best to root out the\nname of Jehovah, to accuse Naboth of departing from God. Much\nhighhanded oppression must have gone before such outspoken contempt of\njustice; and, if Ahab represents the fatal connection of weakness and\nwickedness, Jezebel is an instance of the fatal audacity with which a\nstrong character may come, by long indulgence in self-willed\ngratification of its own desires, to trample down all obstacles and go\ncrashing through all laws, human and divine. The climax of sin is to\nsee a deed to be sinful, and to do it all the same. Such a pre-eminence\nin evil is not reached at a bound, but it can be reached; and every\nindulgence in passion, and every gratifying of desire against which\nconscience protests, is a step toward it. Therefore, if we shrink from\nsuch a goal, let us turn away from the paths that lead to it. 'No\nmortal man is supremely foul all at once.' Therefore resist the\nbeginnings of evil. Elijah was strong by natural temperament, and so\nwas Jezebel. But the strength of the prophet was hallowed by obedience,\nand, like some great river, poured blessings where it flowed. Jezebel's\nstrength was lawless, and foamed itself away in fury, like some\ndevastating torrent that spreads ruin whithersoever it bursts out. 'Be\nstrong' is good advice, but it needs the supplement, 'Let all your\ndeeds be done in charity,' and the foundation,' Be strong in the Lord,\nand in the power of His might.'\n\nIII. The last set of actors in this pitiful tragedy are the\nsubserviently wicked elders. The narrative sets their slavish\ncompliance in a strong light. It puts emphasis on the tie between them\nand Naboth, in that they 'dwelt in his city,' and so should have had\nneighbourly feeling. It lays stress on their cowardly motive and their\ncomplete execution of orders, both by reiterating that they acted 'as\nJezebel had sent' and 'as it was written,' and by taking the letter\nclause by clause, in the narrative of the shameful parody of justice\nwhich they acted. It suggests both their eagerness to do her pleasure,\nand her impatient waiting, in her palace, by the message sent in hot\nhaste as soon as the brave peasant proprietor was dead. 'It is ill\nsitting at Rome and striving with the Pope,' as the proverb has it. No\ndoubt these cowards were afraid for their own necks, and were too near\nthe royal tigress to venture disobedience. But their swift,\nunremonstrating, and complete obedience indicates the depth of\ndegradation and corruption to which they and the nation had sunk, and\nthe terror exercised by their upstart king and his Sidonian wife.\n\nCowardice is always contemptible, and wickedness is always odious; but\nwhen the two come together, and a man has no other reason for his sin\nthan 'I was afraid,' each makes the other blacker. Israel had cast off\nthe fear of the Lord, which would have preserved it from the ignoble\nterror of men, and the consequence was that it trembled before an\nangry, unscrupulous woman. It had revolted from Rehoboam and his\nfoolish bluster about whips and scorpions, and the consequence was a\nworse slavery. If we fear God, we need have no other fear. The sun puts\nout a fire. If we rebel against Him, we do not become free, but fall\nunder a heavy yoke. It is never prudent to do wrong. The worst\nconsequences of resistance to powerful evil are easier to bear than\nthose of compliance, though it may seem the safer. Better be lying dead\nbeneath a heap of stones, like the sturdy Naboth, who could say 'No' to\na king, than be one of his stoners, who killed their innocent neighbour\nto pleasure Jezebel!\n\nHer indecent triumph at the success of the plot, and her utter\ncallousness, are expressed in her words to Ahab, in which the main\npoint is the taking possession of the vineyard. The death of its owner\nis told with exultation, as being nothing but the sweeping aside of an\nobstacle. Ahab asks no questions as to how this opportune clearing away\nof hindrance came about. He knew, no doubt, well enough that there had\nbeen foul play; but that does not matter to him, and such a trifle as\nmurder does not slacken his glad haste to get his new toy. There was\nother red on the vines than their clustering grapes, as he soon found\nout, when Elijah's grim figure, like an embodied conscience, met him\nthere. Whoever reaches out to grasp a fancied good by breaking God's\nlaw, may get his good, but he will get more than he expected along with\nit,--even an accusing voice that prophesies evil. Elijah strides among\nthe leafy vines in the field bought by crime. Ahab meant to make it a\ngarden of pot-herbs. 'Surely the bitter wormwood of divine revenge grew\nabundantly therein.'\n\n\n\n\nAHAB AND ELIJAH\n\n'And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy!'--1 KINGS\nxxi. 20.\n\n\nThe keynote of Elijah's character is force-the force of righteousness.\nThe New Testament, you remember, speaks of the 'power of Elias.' The\noutward appearance of the man corresponds to his function and his\ncharacter. Gaunt and sinewy, dwelling in the desert, feeding on locusts\nand wild honey, with a girdle of camel's skin about his loins, he\nbursts into the history, amongst all that corrupt state of society,\nwith the force of a hammer that God's hand wields. The whole of his\ncareer is marked by this one thing,--the strength of a righteous man.\nAnd then, on the other hand, this Ahab;--the keynote of _his_ character\nis the weakness of wickedness, and the wickedness of weakness. Think of\nhim. Weakly longing--as idle and weak minds in lofty places always\ndo--after something that belongs to somebody else; with all his\ngardens, coveting the one little herb-plot of the poor Naboth; weak and\nworse than womanly, turning his face to the wall and weeping when he\ncannot get it; weakly desiring to have it, and yet not knowing how to\nset about accomplishing his wish; and then--as is always the case, for\nthere are always tempters everywhere for weak people--that beautiful\nfiend by his side, like the other queen in our great drama, ready to\nscrew the feeble man that she is wedded to, to the sticking-place, and\nto dare anything to grasp that on which the heart was set. And so the\ndeed is done: Naboth safe stoned out of the way; and Ahab goes down to\ntake possession! The lesson of that is, my friend,--Weak dallying with\nforbidden desires is sure to end in wicked clutching at them. Young\nmen, take care! You stand upon the beetling edge of a great precipice,\nwhen you look over, from your fancied security, at a wrong thing; and\nto strain too far, and to look too fixedly, leads to a perilous danger\nof toppling over and being lost! If you know that a thing cannot be won\nwithout transgression, do not tamper with hankerings for it. Keep away\nfrom the edge, and '_shut_ your eyes from beholding vanity.'\n\nBut my business now is rather with the consequences of this apparently\nsuccessful sin, than with what went before it. The king gets the crime\ndone, shuffles it off himself on to the shoulders of his ready tools in\nthe little village, goes down to get his toy, and gets it--but he gets\nElijah along with it, which was more than he reckoned on. When, all\nfull of impatience and hot haste to solace himself with his new\npossession, he rushes down to seize the vineyard, he finds there,\nstanding at the gate, waiting for him--black-browed, motionless, grim,\nan incarnate conscience--the prophet whom he had not seen for years,\nthe prophet that he had last seen on Carmel, bearding alone the\nservants of Baal, and executing on them the solemn judgment of death;\nand there leaps at once to his lip, 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?'\n\nI. I find here, in the first place, this broad principle: Pleasure won\nby sin is peace lost.\n\nIt does not need that there should be a rebuking prophet standing by to\nwork out that law. God commits the execution of it to the natural\noperations of our own consciences and our own spirits. Here is the fact\nin men's natures on which it partly depends: when sin is yet tempting\nus, it is loved; when sin in done, it is loathed. Action and reaction,\nas the mechanicians tell us, are equal and contrary. The more violent\nthe blow with which we strike upon the forbidden pleasure, the further\nback the rebound after the stroke. When sin tempts--when there hangs\nglittering before a man the golden fruit which he knows that he ought\nnot to touch--then, amidst the noise of passion or the sophistry of\ndesire, conscience is silenced for a little while. No man sins without\nknowing that it is wrong, without knowing that in the long run it is a\nmistake; but at the instant, in the delirium of yielding, as in moments\nof high physical excitement, he is blind and deaf, deaf to the voice of\nreason, blind to the sight of consequences. Conscience and consequence\nare alike lost sight of. Like a mad bull, the man that is tempted\nlowers his head and shuts his eyes, and rushes right on. The moment\nthat the sin is done, that moment the passion or desire which tempted\nto it is satiated, and ceases to exist for the time. It is gone as a\nmotive. Like some savage beast, being fed full, it lies down to sleep.\nThere is a vacuum left in the heart, the noise is stilled, and\nthen--and then--conscience begins to speak. Or, to take another image,\nthe passion, the desires, the impulses that lead us to do wrong\nthings--they are like a crew that mutiny, and take for a moment the\nwheel from the steersman and the command from the captain, but then,\nhaving driven the ship on the rocks, the mutineers get intoxicated, and\nlie down and sleep. Passion fulfils itself, and expires. The desire is\nsatisfied, and it turns into a loathing. The tempter draws us to him,\nand then unveils the horrid face that lies beneath the mask. When the\ndeed is done and cannot be undone, then comes satiety; then comes the\nreaction of the fierce excitement, the hot blood begins to flow more\nslowly; then rises up in the heart conscience; then rises up in majesty\nin the soul reason; then flashes and flares before the eye the vivid\npicture of the consequences. His 'enemy' has found the sinner. He has\ngot the vineyard--ay, but Elijah is there, and his dark and stern\npresence sucks all the brightness and the sunniness out of the\nlandscape; and Naboth's blood stains the leaves of Naboth's garden!\nThere is no sin which is not the purchase of pleasure at the price of\npeace.\n\nNow, you will say that all that is true in regard to the grosser forms\nof transgression, but that it is not true in regard to the less vulgar\nand sensual kinds of crime. Of course it is most markedly observable\nwith regard to the coarsest kind of sins; but it is as true, though\nperhaps not in the same degree--not in the same prominent, manifest way\nat any rate--in regard to every sin that a man does. There is never an\nevil thing which--knowing it to be evil--we commit, which does not rise\nup to testify against us. As surely as (in the words of our great\nphilosopher poet) 'lust dwells hard by hate,' and as surely as\nto-night's debauch is followed by to-morrow's headache, so surely--each\nafter its kind, and each in its own region--every sin lodges in the\nhuman heart the seed of a quick-springing punishment, yea, is its own\npunishment. When we come to grasp the sweet thing that we have been\ntempted to seize, there is a serpent that starts up amongst all the\nflowers. When the evil act is done--opposite of the prophet's roll--it\nis sweet in the lips, but oh! it is bitter afterwards. 'At the last it\nbiteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder!'\n\nThen, you may say again, 'All that is very much exaggerated. That is\nnot the sort of feeling which men that go on persistently doing wrong\nthings, cherish. They live quietly and contentedly enough. \"There are\nno bands in their death, and their strength is firm.\"' All that would\nbe true if men's consciences kept sensitive in the midst of men's sins,\nbut they do not; and so it cannot be that every transgression has thus\nits quick result in loss of peace. I grant you at once that it is quite\npossible for men to sin away the delicacy and susceptibility of their\nconsciences. I dare say there are people here now who, after they have\ndone a wrong thing, go on very quietly, with no knowledge of those\nagonies that I have been speaking about, with scarcely ever a prick of\nconscience for their sin. But what then? I did not say that all sin\npurchased pleasure by inflictions of agony; but I do say, that all sin\npurchases pleasure by loss of peace. The silence of a seared conscience\nis not peace. For peace you want something more than that a conscience\nshall be dumb. For peace you want something more than that you shall be\nable to live without the daily sense and sting of sin. You want not\nonly the negative absence of pain, but the positive presence of a\ntranquillising guest in your heart--that conscience of yours testifying\nwith you, blessing you in its witness, and shedding abroad rest and\ncomfort. It is easy to kill a conscience--after a fashion at least. It\nis easy to stifle it. It is easy to come to that depth of wrongdoing\nthat one gets used to it, and does it without caring. But oh! that cold\nvacuum, that dead absence in such a spirit of all healthy\nself-communing, that painful suspicion, 'If I look into myself, and be\nquiet for a little while, and take stock of my own character, and see\nwhat I am, the balance will be on the wrong side,'--that is _not_\npeace. As the old historian says about the Roman armies that marched\nthrough a country, burning and destroying every living thing, 'They\nmake a solitude, and they call it peace.' And so men do with their\nconsciences. They stifle them, sear them, forcibly silence them,\nsomehow or other; and then, when there is a dead stillness in the\nheart, broken by no voice of either approbation or blame, but doleful\nlike the unnatural quiet of a deserted city, then they call that peace,\nand the man's uncontrolled passions and unbridled desires dwell\nsolitary in the fortress of his own spirit! You _may_ almost attain to\nthat. Do you think it is a goal to be set before you as an ideal of\nhuman nature? The loss of peace is certain--the presence of agony is\nmost likely--from every act of sin.\n\nAnd so, it is not only a _crime_ that men commit when they do wrong,\nbut it is a _blunder_. Sin is not only guilt, but it is a mistake. 'The\ngame is not worth the candle,' according to the French proverb. The\nthing that you buy is not worth the price you pay for it. Sin is like a\ngreat forest-tree that we may sometimes see standing up green in its\nleafy beauty, and spreading a broad shadow over half a field; but when\nwe get round on the other side, there is a great dark hollow in the\nvery heart of it, and corruption is at work there. It is like the\npoison-tree in travellers' stories, tempting weary men to rest beneath\nits thick foliage, and insinuating death into the limbs that relax in\nthe fatal coolness of its shade. It is like the apples of Sodom, fair\nto look upon, but turning to acrid ashes on the unwary lips. It is like\nthe magician's rod that we read about in old books. There it lies; and\nif, tempted by its glitter, or fascinated by the power that it proffers\nyou, you take it in your hand, the thing starts into a serpent with\nerected crest and sparkling eye, and plunges its quick barb into the\nhand that holds it, and sends poison through all the veins. Do not\ntouch it, my brother! Every sin buys pleasure at the price of peace.\nElijah is always waiting at the gate of the ill-gotten possession.\n\nII. In the second place, Sin is blind to its true friends and its real\nfoes.\n\n'Hast thou found me, _O mine enemy?'_ Elijah was the best friend that\nAhab had in his kingdom. And that Jezebel there, the wife of his bosom,\nwhom he loved and thanked for this new toy, she was the worst foe that\nhell could have sent him. Ay, and so it is always. The faithful\nrebuker, the merciful inflicter of pain, is the truest friend of the\nwrongdoer. The worst enemy of the sinful heart is the voice that either\ntempts it into sin, or lulls it into self-complacency. And this is one\nof the most certain workings of evil desires in our spirits, that they\npervert for us all the relations of things, that they make us blind to\nall the moral truths of God's universe. Sin is blind as to itself,\nblind as to its own consequences, blind as to who are its friends and\nwho are its foes, blind as to earth, blind as to another world, blind\nas to God. The man who walks in the 'vain show' of transgression, whose\nheart is set upon evil,--he fancies that ashes are bread, and stones\ngold (as in the old fairy story); and, on the other hand, he thinks\nthat the true sweet is the bitter, and turns away from God's angels and\nGod's prophets, with, 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' That is the\nreason, my friend, of not a little of the infidelity that haunts this\nworld--that sin, perverted and blinded, stumbles about in its darkness,\nand mistakes the face of the friend for the face of the foe. God sends\nyou in mercy a conscience to prick and sting you that you may be kept\nright; and you think that _it_ is your enemy. God sends in His mercy\nthe discipline of life, pains and sorrows, to draw us away from the\nwrong, to make us believe that the right in this world and the next is\nlife, and that holiness is happiness for evermore. And then, when,\nhaving done wrong, God's merciful messenger of a sharp sorrow finds us\nout, we say, 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' and begin to wonder\nabout the mysteries of Providence, and how it comes that there is evil\nin the creation of a good God. Why, physical evil is the best friend of\nthe man that is subject to moral evil. Sorrow is the truest blessing to\na sinner. The best thing that can befall any of us is that God shall\nnot let us alone in any wrong course, without making us feel His rod,\nwithout hedging up our way with thorns, and sending us by His grace\ninto a better one. There is no mystery in sorrow. There is a mystery in\nsin; but sorrow following on the back of sin is the true friend, and\nnot the enemy, of the wrong-doing spirit.\n\nAnd then, again, God sends us a gospel full of dark words about evil.\nIt deals with that fact of sin, as no other system ever did. There is\nno book like the Bible for these two things,--for the lofty notion that\nit has about what man may be and ought to be; and for the low notion\nthat it has of what man is. It does not degrade human nature, because\nit tells us the truth about human nature as it is. Its darkest and\nbitterest sayings about transgression, they are veiled promises, my\nbrother. It does not make the consequences of sin which it writes down.\nYou and I make them for ourselves, and it tells us of them. Did the\nlighthouse make the rock that it stands on? Is it to be blamed for the\nshipwreck? If a man _will_ go full tilt against the thing that he knows\nwill ruin him, what is the right name for him who hedges it up with a\nprickly fence of thorns, and puts a great light above it, and writes\nbelow, 'If thou comest here thou diest'? Is that the work of an enemy?\nAnd yet that is why people talk about the gloomy views of the gospel,\nabout the narrow spirit of Christianity, about the harsh things that\nare here! The Bible did not make hell. The Bible did not make sin the\nparent of sorrow. The Bible did not make it certain that 'every\ntransgression and disobedience' should reap its 'just recompense of\nreward.' We are the causes of their coming upon ourselves; and the\nBible but proclaims the end to which the paths of sin must lead, and\nbeseechingly calls to us all, 'Turn ye, turn ye! why will ye die?' And\nyet when it comes to you, how many of you turn away from it, and say,\n'It is mine enemy'! How many shrink from its merciful knife, that cuts\ninto all the wounds of the festering spirit! How many of you feel as if\n'the truth that is in Jesus' was a hard and bitter truth; when all the\nwhile its very heart's blood is love, and the very secret of its\nmessage is the tenderest compassion, the most yearning sympathy, for\nevery soul amongst us!\n\nAy, and more than that:--sin makes us fancy that God Himself is our\nenemy; and sin makes that thought of God that ought to be most blessed\nand most sweet to us, the terror of our souls. You have the power, my\nfriend, by your own wrongdoing, of perverting the whole universe, and,\nworst of all, of distorting the image of the merciful Father, of the\nloving God. God loves. God is the Father. God watches over us. God will\nnot let us alone when we transgress, God in His love has appointed that\nsin shall breed sorrow. But _we_--we do wrong; and then, for God's\nProvidence, and God's Gospel, and God's Son, and God Himself, there\nrises up in our hearts a hostile feeling, and we think that He is\nturned to be our enemy, and fights against us! But oh! He only fights\nagainst us that we may submit to, and love, Him. Will you, then, have\nit that God's highest mercy should be your greatest sorrow, that your\ntruest friend should be your worst foe? You can make the choice. To you\nGod and His truth are like that ark of His covenant which to Dagon and\nthe Philistines was a curse, but to the house of Obededom was a\nblessing. He and His gospel are to you like that pillar that was\ndarkness and trouble to the hosts of the Egyptians, but light by night\nto His children. To you, my brother, the gospel may be either 'the\nsavour of life unto life, or the savour of death unto death!' If He\ncomes to you with rebuke, and meets you when you are at the very door\nof your sin, and busy with your transgression,--usher Him in, and thank\nHim, and bless Him for words of threatening, for merciful severity, for\nconviction of sin;--because conviction of sin is the work of the\nComforter; and all the threatenings and all the pains that follow and\ntrack, like swift hounds, the committer of evil, are sent by Him who\nloves too wisely not to punish transgression, and loves too well to\npunish without warning, and desires only when He punishes that we\nshould turn from our evil way, and escape the condemnation. An enemy,\nor a friend,--which is God in His truth to you?\n\nIII. Lastly, the sin which mistakes the friendly appeal for an enemy,\nlays up for itself a terrible retribution. Elijah comes to Jezreel and\nprophesies the fall of Ahab. The next peal, the next flash, fulfil the\nprediction. There, where he did the wrong, he suffered. In Jezreel,\nAhab died. In Jezreel, Jezebel died. That plain was the battlefield for\nthe subsequent discomfiture of Israel. Over and over again there\nencamped upon it the hosts of the spoilers. Over and over again its\nsoil ran red with the blood of the children of Israel; and at last, in\nthe destruction of the kingdom, Naboth was avenged and God's word\nfulfilled. The threatened evil was foretold that it might lead the king\nto repentance, and that thus it might never need to be more than a\nthreat. But, though Ahab was partially penitent, and partially listened\nto the prophet's voice, yet for all that, he went on in his evil way.\nTherefore the merciful threatening becomes a stern prophecy, and is\nfulfilled to the very letter.\n\nSo, when God's message comes to us, friends, if we listen not to it,\nand turn not to its gentle rebuke, Oh! then we gather up for ourselves\nan awful futurity of judgment, when threatening will darken into\npunishment, and the voice that rebuked will swell into the voice of\nfinal condemnation. When a man fancies that God's prophet is his enemy,\nand dreams that his finding him out is a calamity and a loss, that man\nmay be certain that something worse will find him out some day. His\nsins will find him out, and that is worse than the prophet's coming. My\nfriend, picture to yourself this--a human spirit shut up, with the\ncompanionship of its forgotten and dead transgressions. There is a\nresurrection of acts as well as of bodies. Think what it will be for a\nman to sit surrounded by that ghastly company, the ghosts of his own\nsins!--and as each forgotten fault and buried badness comes, silent and\nsheeted, into that awful society, and sits itself down there, think of\nhim greeting each with the question, 'Thou too? What! are ye all here?\nHast _thou_ found me, O mine enemy?' and from each bloodless spectral\nlip there tolls out the answer, the knell of his life, 'I _have_ found\nthee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the\nLord.' Ah, my friend! if that were all we had to say, it might well\nstiffen us into stony despair. Thank God--thank God! such an issue is\nnot inevitable. Christ speaks to you. Christ is your _Friend_. He loves\nyou, and He speaks to you now--speaks to you of your danger, but in\norder that you may never rush into it and be engulfed by it; speaks to\nyou of your sin, but in order that you may say to Him, 'Take Thou it\naway, O merciful Lord'; speaks to you of justice, but in order that you\nmay never sink beneath the weight of His stroke; speaks to you of love,\nin order that you may know, and fully know, the depth of His\ngraciousness. When He says to you, 'I love thee; love thou Me: I have\ndied for thee; trust Me, live _by_ Me, and live _for_ Me, 'will you not\nsay to Him, 'My Friend, my Brother, my Lord, and my God'?\n\n\n\n\nUNPOSSESSED POSSESSIONS\n\n'And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in\nGilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the\nking of Syria?'--1 KINGS xxii. 3.\n\n\nThis city of Ramoth in Gilead was an important fortified place on the\neastern side of the Jordan, and had, many years before the date of our\ntext, been captured by its northern neighbours in the kingdom of Syria.\nA treaty had subsequently been concluded and broken a war followed\nthereafter, in which Ben-hadad, King of Syria, had bound himself to\nrestore all his conquests. He had not observed that article of peace,\nand the people of Israel had not been strong enough to enforce it until\nthe date of our text; but then, backed up by a powerful alliance with\nJehoshaphat of Judah, they determined to make a dash to get back what\nwas theirs, but whilst theirs was also not theirs.\n\nNow, I have nothing more to do with Ahab and Jehoshaphat, but I wish to\nturn the words of my test, and the thoughts that may come from them,\ninto a direction profitable to ourselves. 'Know ye that Ramoth in\nGilead is ours?' and yet it had to be got out of the hands of the King\nof Syria.\n\nI. What is ours and not ours.\n\nEvery Christian man has large tracts of unannexed territory, unattained\npossibilities, unenjoyed blessings, things that are his and yet not\nhis. How much more of God you and I have a right to than we have the\npossession of! The ocean is ours, but only the little pailful that we\ncarry away home to our own houses is of use to us. The whole of God is\nmine if I am Christ's, and a dribble of God is all that comes into the\nlives of most of us.\n\nHow much inward peace is ours? It is meant that there should never pass\nacross a Christian's soul more than a ripple of agitation, which may\nindeed ruffle and curl the surface; but deep down there should be the\ntranquillity of the fathomless ocean, unbroken by any tempests, and yet\nnot stagnant, because there is a vital current running through it, and\nevery drop is being drawn upward to the surface and the sunlight. There\nmay be a peace in our hearts deep as life; a tranquillity which may be\nsuperficially disturbed, but is never thoroughly, and down in its\ndepths, broken. And yet, let some little petty annoyance come into our\ndaily life, and what a pucker we are in! Then we forget all about the\nstill depths in which we ought to be living; and fears and hopes and\nloves and ambitions disturb our souls, just as they do the spirits of\nthe men that do not profess to have any holdfast in God. The peace of\nGod is ours; but, ah! in how sad a sense it is true that the peace of\nGod is _not_ ours!\n\nWhat 'heights'--for Ramoth means 'high places'--what heights of\nconsecration there are which are ours according to the divine purpose\nand according to the fulness of God's gift! It is meant, and it is\npossible, and well within the reach of every Christian soul, that he or\nshe should live, day by day, in the continual and utter surrender of\nhimself or herself to the will of God, and should say, 'I do the little\nI can do, and leave the rest with Thee'; and should say again, 'All is\nright that seems most wrong, If it be His sweet will.' But instead of\nthis absolute submission and completeness and joyfulness of surrender\nof ourselves to Him, what do we find? Reluctance to obey, regret at\nprovidences, Self dominant or struggling hard against the partial\ndomination of the will of God in our hearts. The mind which was in\nJesus Christ, who was able to say, 'It is written of Me, lo! I come to\ndo Thy will, O Lord!' is ours by virtue of our being Christians; but,\nalas! in practical realisation how sadly it is not ours!\n\nWhat noble possibilities of service, what power in the world, are\nbestowed on Christ's people!' All power is given unto Me in heaven and\nin earth,' says He. 'And He breathed on them, and said, As My Father\nhath sent Me, even so send I you.' The divine gift to the Christian\ncommunity, and to the individuals that compose it--for there are no\ngifts given to the community, but to the individuals that make it\nup--is of fulness of power for all their work. And yet look how, all\nthrough the ages, the Church has been beaten by the corruption of the\nworld; and how to-day many of us are standing, either utterly careless\nand callous about the diseases that we have the medicine to cure, or in\ndesperation looking about for other healing for the social and moral\ncondition of the community than that which is granted to us in Jesus\nChrist. 'Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and\ntake it not out of the hands of the King of Syria?'\n\nThere is ever so much in the world which belongs to our Master, and\ntherefore belongs to us, and which the Church is bound to lay its hand\nupon and claim for its own and for its Lord's. For remember, brethren,\nthat all the gifts at which I have been glancing--and I might have\nlargely increased the catalogue--all these spiritual endowments of\npeace, and safety, and purity, and joy, of religious elevation, and\nconsecration, and power for service, and the like--are ours by a\nthreefold title and charter. God's purpose, which is nothing less for\nevery one of us than that we should be 'filled with all the fulness of\nGod,' and that He should 'supply all our need, according to His riches\nin glory,'--that is the first of the parchments on which our title\ndepends. And the second title-deed is Christ's purchase; for the\nefficacy of His death and the power of His triumphant life have secured\nfor all who trust Him the whole fulness of this divine gift. And the\nthird of our claims and titles is the influence of that Holy Spirit\nwhom Jesus Christ gives to every one of His children to dwell in him.\nThere is in you, working in you, if you have any faith in that Lord, a\npower that is capable of making you perfectly pure, perfectly blessed,\nstrong with an immortal strength, and glad with a 'joy that is\nunspeakable and full of glory.'\n\nOh! then, let us think of the awful contrast between what is ours and\nwhat we have. It is ours by the divine intention, by the divine gift in\nits fulness and all-sufficiency, and yet think of the poor, partial\nrealisation of it that has passed into our experience. Be sure that you\nhave what you have, and that you make your own what God has made yours.\n\nII. Then, let me suggest, again, how our text hints for us, not only\nthe difference between possession and realisation, but also our strange\ncontentment in imperfect possession.\n\nAhab's remonstrances with his servants, which make the starting-point\nof my remarks, seem to suggest that there were two reasons for their\nacquiescence in the domination of a foreign power on a bit of their\nsoil. They had not realised that Ramoth was theirs, and they were too\nlazy and cowardly to go and take it. Ignorance of the fulness of the\ngift, and slothful timidity in daring everything in the effort to make\nit ours, explain a great deal of the present condition of Christian\npeople.\n\nIs not that condition of passive acquiescence in their small present\nattainments, and of careless indifference to the great stretch of the\nunattained, the characteristic of the mass of professing Christians?\nThey have got a foothold on a new continent, and their possession of it\nis like the world's drawing of the map of Africa when we were children,\nwhich had a settlement dotted here and there along the coast, and all\nthe broad regions of the interior were blank. The settlers huddle\ntogether upon the fringe of barren sand by the salt water, and never\ndream of pressing forward into the heart of the land. And so, too, many\nof us are content with what we have got, a little bit of God, when we\nmight have Him all; a settlement on the fringe and edge of the land,\nwhen we might traverse the whole length of it; and behold! it is all\nours.\n\nThat unfamiliarity with the thought of unattained possibilities in the\nChristian life is a damning curse of thousands of people who call\nthemselves Christians. They do not think, they never realise--and some\nof us are guilty in this respect--they never realise that it is\npossible for them to be all unlike what they are now, and that, instead\nof the miserable partial hallowing of their nature, and the poor,\nweak--I was going to say strength, but it is not worth calling strength,\nthat they possess, they might be as the angels of God: 'the weakest as\nDavid,' and David as a very angel of heaven itself. Why is it, why is\nit, that there is this unfamiliarity?\n\nAnd then, another reason for the woful disproportion between what we\nhave and what we utilise is the love of ease, such as kept these\nIsraelites from going up to Ramoth-Gilead. It was a long way off; there\nwas a river to be forded; there were heights to be climbed; there were\nweary marches to be taken; there were hard knocks going in front of the\nwalls of Ramoth before they got inside it; and on the whole it was more\ncomfortable to sit at home, or look after their farms and their\nmerchandise, than to embark on the quixotic attempt to win back a city\nthat had not been theirs for ever so long, and that they had got on\nvery well without.\n\nAnd so it is with hosts of Christian people; we do not realise how much\nwe have that we never get any good out of. And, in the second place, we\nhad rather just stay where we are, and make the best of the world as it\nis, and the desires of our hearts go in another direction than for our\nincrease in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. Ah,\nbrethren! if we had a claim to some great property, or any other wealth\nthat we really cared about, should we be so very indifferent as to\nasserting our rights? Should we not fight to the death, some of us, for\nthe last inch of soil, for the last ounce of treasure, that belonged to\nus? When you really value a thing, you secure the greatest possible\namount of it; and there is very little margin between what you own and\nwhat you use.\n\nAnd if there is such a tremendous difference between the breadth of the\none and the narrowness of the other in our Christian life, there can be\nno reason for it except this, that we do not care enough about\nspiritual blessings and forces to make the effort that is needed to win\nand keep, and get the good of, all that is ours.\n\nAnd is not that something like despising the birthright? Is it not a\ncriminal thing for Christian people thus to neglect, and to put aside,\nand never to seek to obtain, all these great gifts of God? There they\nlie at our doors, and they are ours for the taking. Suppose a carrier\nbrought you a whole waggon full of precious goods, and put them down at\nyour door, and you were not at the trouble to open your doors, or to\ncarry the goods into your cellars. That would not look as if you cared\nmuch either for the goods or for the giver. And I wonder how many of us\nare chargeable with that criminal despising of God's gifts, which is\nclearly the explanation of our letting them lie rotting, as it were, at\nour gates? We are starving paupers in the midst of plenty.\n\n'My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory, by\nChrist Jesus,' says Paul. You have the right to them all. Draw cheques\nagainst the capital that is lodged in your name in that great bank.\n\nIII. And so, lastly, my text suggests the effort that is needed to make\nour own ours.\n\n'We be still, and take it not out of the hands of the King of Syria.'\nThen these things that are ours, by God's gift, by Christ's purchase,\nby the Spirit's influence, will need our effort to secure them. And\nthat is no contradiction, nor any paradox. God does exactly in the same\nway with regard to a great many of His natural gifts as He does with\nregard to His spiritual ones. He gives them to us, but we hold them on\nthis tenure, that we put forth our best efforts to get and to keep\nthem. His giving them does not set aside our taking. However much we\ntried we could not take them out of His hand if it were clenched. Open\nas His hand is, and stretched out to us as it is, the gifts that\nsparkle in it are not transferred to our hands unless we ourselves put\nforth an effort.\n\nSo let me say that one large part of the discipline by which men make\ntheir own their own is by familiarising themselves with the thought of\nthe larger possibilities of unattained possessions which God has given\nthem. That is true in everything. To recognise our present\nimperfection, and to see stretching before us glorious and immense\npossibilities, opening out into a vista where our eyesight fails us to\ntravel to its end, is the very salt of life in every region. Artist,\nstudent, all of us 'are saved by hope,' in a very much wider sense than\nthe Apostle meant by that great saying. And whosoever has once lost, or\nfelt becoming dim, the vision before him of a possible better than his\npresent best, in any region, is in that region condemned to grow no\nmore. If we desire to have any kind of advancement, it is only possible\nfor us, when there gleams ever before us the untravelled road, and we\nsee at the end of it unattained brightnesses and blessings.\n\nAnd we Christian people have an endless prospect of that sort\nstretching before us. Oh, if we looked at it oftener, 'having respect\nunto the recompense of the reward,' we should find it easier to dash at\nany Ramoth-Gilead, and get it out of the hands of the strongest of the\nenemies that may bar our way to it. Let us familiarise ourselves with\nthe thought of our present imperfection, and of our future\ncompleteness, and of the possibilities which may become actualities,\neven here and now; and let us not fitfully use what power we have, but\nmake the best of what graces are ours, and enjoy and expatiate in the\nspiritual blessings of peace and rest which Christ has already given to\nus. 'To him that hath shall be given,' and the surest way to lose what\nwe have is to neglect to increase it.\n\nAnd, above all, let us keep nearer to our Master, and live more in\nfellowship with our Lord, and that will help us to deny ourselves to\nungodliness and worldly lusts. It is the prevalence of these, and the\nabsence of self-denial, that ruins most of the Christian lives that are\nruined in this world. If a man wants to be what he is not, he must\ncease to be what he is.\n\nSelf-sacrifice, and the emptying of our hearts of trash and trifles, is\nthe only way to get our hearts filled with God and with His blessing.\nLet us keep near Jesus Christ. If we have Him for ours we have peace,\nwe have power, we have purity. 'He of God is made unto us' all in all,\nand every gift that may adorn humanity, and make our lives joyous and\nourselves noble, is given to us in Jesus Christ. Let us put away from\nourselves, then, this slothful indifference to our unattained\npossessions. 'Know ye that Ramoth is ours?' 'Let us be still' no\nlonger. 'All things are yours, whether the world, or life, or death, or\nthings present, or things to come: all are yours if ye are Christ's.'\n\n\n\n\nAHAB AND MICAIAH\n\n'And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides,\nthat we might enquire of him? 8. And the king of Israel said unto\nJehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we\nmay enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good\nconcerning me, but evil.'--1 KINGS xxii. 7,8.\n\n\nAn ill-omened alliance had been struck up between Ahab of Israel and\nJehoshaphat of Judah. The latter, who would have been much better in\nJerusalem, had come down to Samaria to join in an assault on the\nkingdom of Damascus; but, like a great many other people, Jehoshaphat\nfirst made up his mind without asking God, and then thought that it\nmight be well to get some kind of varnish of a religious sanction for\nhis decision. So he proposes to Ahab to inquire of the Lord about this\nmatter. One would have thought that that should have been done before,\nand not after, the determination was made. Ahab does not at all see the\nnecessity for such a thing, but, to please his scrupulous ally, he\nsends for his priests. They came, four hundred of them, and of course\nthey all played the tune that Ahab called for. It is not difficult to\nget prophets to pat a king on the back, and tell him, 'Do what you\nlike.'\n\nBut Jehoshaphat was not satisfied yet. Perhaps he thought that Ahab's\nclergy were not exactly God's prophets, but at all events he wanted an\nindependent opinion; and so he asks if there is not in all Samaria a\nman that can be trusted to speak out. He gets for answer the name of\nthis 'Micaiah the son of Imlah.' Ahab had had experience of him, and\nknew his man; and the very name leads him to an explosion of passion,\nwhich, like other explosions, lays bare some very ugly depths. 'I hate\nhim; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.'\n\nThat is a curious mood, is it not? that a man should know another to be\na messenger of God, and therefore know that his words are true, and\nthat if he asked his counsel he would be forbidden to do the thing that\nhe is dead set on doing, and would be warned that to do it was\ndestruction; and that still he should not ask the counsel, nor ever\ndream of dropping the purpose, but should burst out in a passion of\npuerile rage against the counsellor, and will have none of his\nreproofs. Very curious! But there are a great many of us that have\nsomething of the same mood in us, though we do not speak it out as\nplainly as Ahab did. It lurks more or less in us all, and it largely\ndetermines the attitude that some of us take to Christianity and to\nChrist. So I wish to say a word or two about it.\n\nI. My text suggests the inevitable opposition between a message from\nGod, and man's evil.\n\nNo doubt, God is love; and just because He is, it is absolutely\nnecessary that what comes from Him, and is the reflex and cast, so to\nspeak, of His character, should be in stern and continual antagonism to\nthat evil which is the worst foe of men, and is sure to lead to their\ndeath. It is because God is love, that 'to the froward He shows Himself\nfroward.' and opposes that which, unopposed and yielded to, will ruin\nthe man that does it. So this is one of the characteristic marks of all\ntrue messages from God, that men who will not part with their evil call\nthem 'stern,' 'rigid,' 'gloomy,' 'narrow' Yes, of course; because God\nmust look upon godless lives with disapprobation, and must desire by\nall means to draw men away from that which is drawing them away _from_\nHim and to their death.\n\nNow, I suppose I need not spend time in enumerating or describing the\npoints in the attitude of Christianity towards the solemn fact of human\nsin, which correspond to Ahab's complaint that the prophet spake always\n'not good concerning him, but evil.' The 'gospel' of Jesus Christ\nproves its name to be true, and that it _is_ 'good news,' not only by\nits graciousness, its promises, its offers, and the rich blessings of\neternal life with which its hands are full, but by its severity, as men\ncall it. One characteristic of the gospel is the altogether unique\nplace which the fact of sin fills in it. There is no other religion on\nthe face of the earth that has so grasped and made prominent this\nthought: 'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' There is\nnone that has painted human nature as it is in such dark colours,\nbecause there is none that knows itself to be able to change human\nnature into such radiance of glory and purity. The gospel has, if I\nmight so say, on its palette a far greater range of pigments than any\nother system. Its blacks are blacker; its whites are whiter; its golds\nare more lustrous than those of other painters of human nature as it is\nand as it may become. It is a mark of its divine origin that it\nunfalteringly looks facts in the face, and will not say smooth things\nabout men as they are.\n\nSide by side with that characteristic of the dark picture which it\ndraws of us, as we are in ourselves, is its unhesitating restraint or\ncondemnation of deep-seated desires and tendencies. It does not come to\nmen with the smooth words on its lips, 'Do as thou wilt.' It does not\nseek for favour by relaxing bonds, but it rigidly builds up a wall on\neither side of a narrow path, and says, 'Walk within these limits and\nthou art safe. Go beyond them a hair's-breadth, and thou perishest.' It\nmay suit Ahab's prophets to fling the reins on the neck of human\nnature; God's prophet says, 'Thou shalt not,' That is another of the\ntests of divine origin, that there shall be no base compliance with\ninclinations, but rigid condemnation of many of our deep desires.\n\nSide by side with these two, there is a third characteristic that the\nWord, which is the outcome and expression of the divine love, is\ndistinguished by its plain and stern declarations of the bitter\nconsequences of evil-doing. I need not dwell upon these, brethren. They\nseem to me to be far too solemn to be spoken of by a man to men in\nother words than Scripture's. But I beseech you to remember that this,\ntoo, is the characteristic of Christ's message. So a man should feel,\nwhen he thinks of the dark and solemn things that the Old Testament\npartially, and the New Testament more clearly, utter as to the death\nwhich is the outcome of sin, that these are indeed the very voice of\ninfinite love pleading with us all. Brother I do not so misapprehend\nfacts as to think that the restraints and threatenings and dark\npictures which Christ and His servants have drawn are anything but the\nutterance of the purest affection.\n\nII. Now, secondly, let me ask you to look for a moment at the strange\ndislike which this attitude of Christianity kindles.\n\nI have said that Ahab's mental condition was a very odd one. Strange as\nit is, it is, as I have already remarked, in some degree a very\nfrequent one. There are in us all, as we see in many regions of life,\nthe beginnings of the same kind of feeling. Here, for example, is a\ncourse that I am quite sure, if I pursue it, will land me in evil. Does\nthe drunkard take a glass the less, because he knows that if he goes on\nhe will have a drunkard's liver and die a miserable death? Does the\ngambler ever take away his hand from the pack of cards or the dice-box,\nbecause he knows that play means, in the long run, poverty and\ndisgrace? When a man sets his will upon a certain course, he is like a\nbull that has started in its rage. Down goes the head, and, with eyes\nshut, he will charge a stone wall or an iron door, though he knows it\nwill smash his skull. Men are very foolish animals; and there is no\ngreater mark of their folly than the conspicuous and oft-repeated fact\nthat the clearest vision of the consequences of a course of conduct is\npowerless to turn a man from it, when once his passions, or his will,\nor, worse still, his weakness, or, worst of all, his habits, have bound\nhim to it.\n\nTake another illustration. Do we not all know that honest friends have\nsometimes fallen out of favour, perhaps with ourselves, because they\nhave persistently kept telling us what our consciences and common-sense\nknew to be true, that if we go on by that road we shall be suffocated\nin a bog? A man makes up his mind to a course of conduct. He has a\nshrewd suspicion that an honest friend will condemn him, and that the\ncondemnation will be right. What does he do, therefore? He never\nconsults his friend, but if by chance that friend should say what was\nexpected of him, he gets angry with his adviser and doggedly goes his\nown road. I suppose we all know what it is to treat our consciences in\nthe style in which Ahab treated Micaiah. We do not listen to them\nbecause we know what they will say before they have said it; and we\ncall ourselves sensible people! Martin Luther once said, 'It is neither\nsafe nor _wise_ to do anything against conscience.' But Ahab put\nMicaiah in prison; and we shut up our consciences in a dungeon, and put\na gag in their mouths, and a muffler over the gag, that we may hear\nthem say no word, because we know that what we are doing, and we are\ndoggedly determined to do, is wrong.\n\nBut the saddest illustration of this infatuation is to be found in the\nattitude that many men take in regard to Christianity. There is a great\ncraving to-day, more perhaps than there has been in some other periods\nof the world's history, for a religion which shall adorn, but shall not\nrestrain; for a religion which shall be toothless, and have no bite in\nit; for a religion that shall sanction anything that it pleases our\nsovereign mightiness to want to do. We should all like to have God's\nsanction for our actions. But there are a great many of us who will not\ntake the only way to secure that--viz. to do the actions which He\ncommands, and to abstain from those which He forbids. Popular\nChristianity is a very easy-fitting garment; it is like an old shoe\nthat you can slip off and on without any difficulty. But a religion\nwhich does not put up a strong barrier between you and many of your\ninclinations in not worth anything. The mark of a message from God is\nthat it restrains and coerces and forbids and commands. And some of you\ndo not like it because it does.\n\nThere is a great tendency in this day to cut out of the Old and New\nTestaments all the pages that say things like this, 'The soul that\nsinneth it shall die'; or things like this, 'This is the condemnation,\nthat light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than\nlight'; or things like this, 'Then shall the wicked go away into outer\ndarkness.' Brethren, men being what they are, and God being what He is,\nthere can be no divine message without a side of what the world calls\nthreatening, or what Ahab called' prophesying evil.' I beseech you, do\nnot be carried away by the modern talk about Christianity being gloomy\nand dark, or fancy that we put a blot and an excrescence upon the pure\nreligion of the Man of Nazareth, when we speak of the death that\nfollows sin, and of the darkness into which unbelief carries a man.\n\nIII. Once more, let me say a word about the intense folly of such an\nattitude.\n\nAhab hated Micaiah. Why? Because Micaiah told him what would come to\nhim as the fruit of his own actions. That was foolish. It is no less\nfoolish for people to take up a position of dislike, and to turn away\nfrom the gospel of Jesus Christ because it speaks in like manner. I\nsaid that men are very foolish animals; there is surely nothing in all\nthe annals of human stupidity more stupid than to be angry with the\nword that tells you the truth about what you are bringing down upon\nyour heads. It is absurd, because Micaiah did not make the evil, but\nAhab made it; and Micaiah's business was only to tell him what he was\ndoing. It is absurd, because the only question to be asked is. Are the\nwarnings true? are the threatenings representations of what really will\ncome? are the prohibitions reasonable? And it is absurd, because, if\nthese things are so--if it is true that the soul that sinneth dies, and\nwill die; if it is true that you, who have heard of the name and the\nsalvation of Jesus Christ over and over again, and have turned away\nfrom it, will, if you continue in that negligence and unbelief, reap\nbitter fruits here and hereafter therefrom--if these things are true,\nsurely the man that tells you so, and the gospel that tells you so,\ndeserve better treatment than Ahab's petulant hatred or your stolid\nindifference and neglect.\n\nWould you think it wise for a sea-captain to try to take the clapper\nout of the bell that floats and tolls above a shoal on which his ship\nwill be wrecked if it strikes? Would it be wise to put out the\nlighthouse lamps, and then think that you had abolished the reef? Does\nthe signalman with his red flag make the danger of which he warns, and\nis it not like a baby to hate and to neglect the message that comes to\nyou and says, 'Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die'?\n\nIV. So, lastly, I notice the end of this foolish attitude.\n\nAhab was told in plain words by Micaiah, before the interview closed,\nthat he would never come back again in peace. He ordered the bold\nprophet into prison, and rode away gaily, no doubt, to his campaign.\nWeak men are very often obstinate, because they are not strong enough\nto rise to the height of changing a purpose when reason condemns it.\nThis weak man was always obstinate in the wrong place, as so many of us\nare. So away he went, down from Samaria, across the plain, down to the\nfords of the Jordan. But when he had crossed to the other side, and was\ncoming near his objective point, the memories of Micaiah in prison at\nSamaria began to sit heavy on his soul.\n\nSo he tried to deceive divine judgment, and got up an ingenious scheme\nby which his ally was to go into the field in royal pomp, and he to\nslip into it disguised. A great many of us try to hoodwink God, and it\ndoes not answer. The man who 'drew the bow at a venture' had his hand\nguided by a higher Hand. Ahab was plated all over with iron and brass,\nbut there is always a crevice through which God's arrow can find its\nway; and, where God's arrow finds its way, it kills. When the night\nfell, he was lying dead on his chariot floor, and the host was\nscattered, and Micaiah, the prisoner, was avenged; and his word had\ntaken hold on the despiser of it.\n\nSo it always will be. So it will be with us, dear brethren, if we do\nnot give heed to our ways and listen to the word which may be bitter in\nthe mouth, but, eaten, turns sweet as honey. Nailing the index of the\nbarometer to 'set fair' will not keep off the thunderstorm, and no\nnegligence or dislike of divine threatenings will arrest the slow,\nsolemn march, inevitable as destiny, of the consequences of our doings.\nThings will be as they will be. Believed or unbelieved, the avalanche\nwill come.\n\nDear brethren, there is one way to get Micaiah on your side. Listen to\nhim, and then he will speak good to you, and not what you foolishly\ncall evil. Let God's word convince you of sin. Let it bring you to the\nCross for pardon. Jesus Christ addresses each of us in the Apostle's\nwords: 'Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?'\nThe sternest threatenings in the Bible come from the lips of that\ninfinite Love. If you will listen to Him, if you will yield yourselves\nto Him, if you will take Him for your Saviour and your Lord, if you\nwill cast your confidence and anchor your love upon Him, if you will\nlet Him restrain you, if you will consult Him about what He would have\nyou do, if you will accept His prohibitions as well as His permissions,\nthen His word and His act to you, here and hereafter, will be only good\nand not evil, all the days of your life.\n\nRemember Ahab lying dead on the floor of his chariot in a pool of his\nown blood, and bethink yourselves of what despising the threatenings,\nand turning away from the rebukes and prohibitions of the divine word,\ncome to. These threatenings are spoken that they may never need to be\nput in effect. If you give heed to them they will never be put in\neffect in regard to you, if you neglect them and 'will none of' God's\n'reproof,' they will come down on you like a mighty rock loosed from\nthe mountain, and will grind you to powder.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHARIOT OF FIRE\n\n'And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by\na whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2. And Elijah\nsaid unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to\nBeth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul\nliveth, I will not leave thee. 80 they went down to Beth-el 3, And the\nsons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha and said\nunto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy\nhead to-day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 4. And\nElijah laid unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord\nhath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy\nsoul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. 5. And the\nsons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and laid unto\nhim, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head\nto-day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 6. And\nElijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here: for the Lord hath sent\nme to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth,\nI will not leave thee. And they two went on. 7. And fifty men of the\neons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two\nstood by Jordan. 8. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it\ntogether, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and\nthither, so that they two went over on dry ground. 9. And it came to\npass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what\nI shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said,\nI pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 10. And he\nsaid, Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when I\nam taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not\nbe so. 11. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked,\nthat, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and\nparted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into\nheaven.'--2 KINGS ii. 1-11.\n\n\nElijah's end is in keeping with his career. From his first abrupt\nappearance it had been fitly symbolised by the stormy wind and flaming\nfire which he heard and saw at Horeb, and now these were to be the\nvehicles which should sweep him into the heavens. He came like a\nwhirlwind, he burned like a fire, and in fire and whirlwind he\ndisappeared. The story is wonderful in pathos and simplicity. Surely\nnever was such a miracle told so quietly. The actual ascension is\nnarrated in a sentence. Its preliminaries take up the rest of this\nnarrative.\n\nI. This journey from Gilgal to the eastern side of Jordan is minutely\ndescribed in its stages. Apparently this Gilgal is not the well-known\nplace so called, which was down in the Jordan valley close to Jericho,\nelse the road from it to Bethel could not have been called a going down\n(v. 2). It probably lay to the north of Bethel, which would then be\nbetween it and Jericho, where the Jordan was to be passed. Elijah was\nnot sent on an aimless round of farewell visits, but by the direct road\nto his destination. Note that he and Elisha and the 'sons of the\nprophets' all know that he is near his end. How this came about we are\nnot told, and need not speculate; but though all knew, none seems to\nhave known that the others knew. Elijah does not explain to Elisha why\nhe wished him to stay behind, nor Elisha to Elijah why he was so\nresolved to keep by him. The knowledge and the silence would give\npeculiar solemnity and sweet bitterness to these last hours. How often\na similar combination weighs on the hearts of a household, who all know\nthat a dear one is soon to be taken away, and yet can only be silent\nabout what is uppermost in their thoughts!\n\nWhy did Elijah wish Elisha to stay behind? Apparently to spare him the\npain of seeing his master depart. With loving concealment, he tried to\nmake Elisha suppose that his errand to Bethel and then to Jericho was\nbut a common one, to be soon despatched. It was a little touch of\ntenderness in the strong, rough man. Note, too, the gradual disclosure\nto Elijah of the places to which he was to go. He is only bid to go to\nBethel, and not till he gets there is he further sent on to Jericho,\nand, presumably, only when there is directed to cross Jordan. God does\nnot show all the road at once, even if it lead to glory, but step by\nstep, and a second stage only when we have obediently traversed the\nfirst. We get light as we go. Elisha's clinging to his master till the\nvery last is but too intelligible to many of us who have gone through\nthe same sorrow, and counted each moment of companionship with some\ndear one about to leave earth as priceless gain, to be treasured in the\nsacredest recesses of memory for evermore.\n\nIt has been thought that the object of the visits to Bethel and Jericho\nwas to give parting directions to the schools of the prophets at each\nplace; but that is read into the narrative, which gives no hint that\nElijah had any communication with these. Rather the contrary is\nimplied, both in the fact that the 'sons of the prophets' came to the\ntravellers, not the travellers to them, and in their addressing Elisha,\nas if some awe of the master kept them from speaking to him. An Elijah\nmarching to his chariot of fire was not a man for raw youths to\napproach lightly. Their question is met by Elisha with curtness and\nscant courtesy, which indicates that it was asked in no sympathetic\nspirit, but from mere love of telling bad news, and of vulgar\nexcitement. Even the gentle Elisha is stirred to rebuke the gossiping\nchatterers, who intrude their curiosity into that sacred hour. There\nare abundance of such busy-bodies always ready to buzz about any\nbleeding heart, and sorrow has often to be stern in order to be\nunmolested.\n\nII. The second stage is the passage of Jordan. The verbal repetition of\nthe same dialogue at Jericho as at Bethel increases the impression of\nprolonged loving struggle between the two prophets. At last, they stand\non the western bank of Jordan, at their feet the spot where the\nhurrying river had been stayed by the ark till the tribes had passed\nover, before them the mountains bordering Elijah's homeland of Gilead\non the left, and away on the right the lone peak where Moses had died\n'by the mouth of the Lord.' The soil was redolent of the miracles of\nthe Mosaic age, and the dividing of the waters by Elijah is meant to\nbring the present into vital connection with that past, and to\ndesignate him as parallel with the former leader. Note the vigour with\nwhich he twists his characteristic mantle into a kind of rod, and\nstrikes the waters strongly. The repetition of the former miracle is a\nsign that the unexhausted Power which wrought it is with Elijah. The\nGod of yesterday is the God of to-day, and nothing that was done in the\npast but will be repeated in essence, though not in form, in the\npresent. 'As we have heard so have we seen.' The former miracle had\nbeen done for a nation; this is performed for two men. It teaches the\npreciousness of His individual servants in God's eyes. The former had\nbeen done through the ark; this, by the prophet's mantle. Power is\nlodged in the faithful messenger. God's strength dwells in those who\nlove Him. The former miracle had been the close of the desert\nwanderings and the gateway to Canaan. Though Elijah's face is turned in\nthe opposite direction, does not its repetition suggest that for him,\ntoo, the impending translation was to be the end of wilderness\nweariness and toil, and the entrance on rest?\n\nIII. Elisha's request is the next stage in the story. How far they two\n'went on' is not told. The Bible does not foster the craving to know\nthe exact situation where sacred things happened, the gratification of\nwhich might feed superstition, but could not increase reverence.\nPossibly they had drawn near the eastern hills, and were out of sight\nof the fifty curious gazers on the other hank. Elijah at last spoke the\ntruth which both knew. How true to nature is that reticence kept up\ntill the last moment, and then broken so tenderly!--'Ask what I shall\ndo for thee, before.' Probably he did not mean any supernatural gift,\nbut simply some parting token of love; for he is startled at the\nresponse of Elisha. A true disciple can desire nothing more than a\nportion of his master's spirit. 'It is enough for the disciple that he\nbe as his Master.' They covet wisely and with a noble covetousness who\nmost desire spiritual gifts to fit them for their vocation. It was an\nunworldly soul which asked but for such a legacy.\n\nThe 'double portion' does not mean twice as much as Elijah's portion\nhad been, but twice as much as other 'sons of the prophets' would\nreceive. Elisha reckoned himself Elijah's first-born spiritual son, and\nasked for the elder brother's share, because he had been designated as\nsuccessor, and would require more than others for his work. The new\nsense of responsibility is coming on him, and teaching him his need.\nWell for us if higher positions make us lowlier, in the consciousness\nof our own unfitness without divine help! Elijah knows that his spirit\nwas not his to give, and can only refer his successor to the Fountain\nfrom which he had drawn; for the sign which he gives is obviously not\nwithin his power to determine. If the Lord shows the ascending master\nto him who is left, He will give the servant his desire.\n\nA portion of their 'spirit' is the very thing which teachers and\nprophets cannot give. They may give their systems or their methods,\ntheir favourite ideas or cut-and-dry maxims and principles, and so\nleave a race of pygmies who give themselves airs as being their\ndisciples, but their spirit they cannot impart. Contrast with this\nlimitation of power confessed by Elijah, His consciousness who breathed\non eleven poor men, and said, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost.' No man could\nsay that without absurdity or blasphemy. The gift impossible to man is\nthe very characteristic gift of Jesus, who 'has power over the Spirit\nof holiness.'  Must He not thereby be 'declared to be the Son of God'?\n\nIV. The climax of this lesson is that stupendous scene of the\ntranslation. Note how the 'Behold' suggests the suddenness of the\nappearance of the fiery chariot, which came flaming between the two men\neagerly talking, and drove them apart. The description of the\ndeparture, in its brevity and incompleteness, sounds like the report of\nthe only eye-witness, who had the fiery chariot between him and Elijah,\nand was too bewildered to see precisely what happened. All he knew was\nthe sudden appearance of the fiery equipage, and then that, suddenly,\nand apparently swiftly, a rushing mighty wind swept away chariot and\nprophet into the heavens. He saw it, as the next verse after this\npassage tells us, only long enough to break into one rapturous and yet\nlamenting cry, and then all vanished, and he stood alone with an\napparently empty heaven above him, the whirlwind sunk to calm, and\nElijah's mantle at his feet.\n\nThe teaching of the event is plain. As for the pre-Mosaic ages the\ntranslation of Enoch, and for the earlier Mosaic epoch the mysterious\ndeath of Moses, so for the prophetic period the carrying to heaven of\nElijah, witnessed of a life beyond death, and of death as the wages of\nsin, which God could remit, if He willed, in the case of faithful\nservice. Enoch and Elijah were led round the head of the valley on the\nheights, and reached the other side without having to go down into the\ncold waters flowing in the bottom; and though we cannot tread their\npath, the joy of their experience has not ceased to be a joy to us, if\nwe walk with God. Death is still the coming of the chariot and horses\nof fire to bear the believer home. The same exclamation which fell from\nElisha's lips, as he saw the chariot sweep up the sky, was spoken over\nhim as he lay sick 'of the sickness whereof he should die.'\n\nBut the most instructive view of Elijah's translation is its parallel\nand contrast with Christ's Ascension. The one was by outward means; the\nother by inward energy. Storm and fire bore Elijah up into a region\nstrange to him. Christ 'ascended up where He was before,' returning by\nthe propriety of His nature to His eternal dwelling-place. The one is\naccomplished with significant disturbance, of whirlwind and flame; the\nother is gentle, like the life which it closed, and the last sight of\nHim was with extended hands of blessing. Each life closed in a manner\ncorresponding to its character. The one was swift and sudden. The other\nwas a slow, solemn motion, vividly described as being 'borne upwards'\nand as 'going into heaven.' The one bore a mortal into 'heaven.' In the\nother, the Son of God, our great High Priest, 'hath passed through the\nheavens,' and now, far above them all, He is 'Head over all things.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH AND THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST\n\n'And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold,\nthere appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them\nboth asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.'--2 KINGS\nii. 11.\n\n'And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them,\nand carried up into heaven.'--LUKE xxiv. 51.\n\n\nThese two events, the translation of Elijah and the Ascension of our\nLord, have sometimes been put side by side in order to show that the\nlatter narrative is nothing but a 'variant' of the former. See, it is\nsaid, the source of your New Testament story is only the old legend\nshaped anew by the wistful regrets of the early disciples. But to me it\nseems that the simple comparison of the two narratives is sufficient to\nbring out such fundamental difference in the ideas which they\nrespectively embody as amount to opposition, and make any such theory\nof the origin of the latter absurdly improbable, I could wish no better\nfoil for the history of the Ascension than the history of Elijah's\nrapture. The comparison brings out contrasts at every step, and there\nis no readier way of throwing into strong relief the meaning and\npurpose of the former, than holding up beside it the story of the\nlatter. The real parallel makes the divergences the more remarkable,\nfor likeness sharpens our perception of unlikeness, and no contrast is\nso forcible as the contrast of things that correspond. I am much\nmistaken if we shall not find almost every truth of importance\nconnected with our Lord's Ascension emphasised for us by the comparison\nto which we now proceed.\n\nI. The first point which may be mentioned is the contrast between the\nmanner of Elijah's translation, and that of our Lord's Ascension.\n\nIt is perhaps not without significance that the place of the one event\nwas on the uplands or in some of the rocky gorges beyond Jordan, and\nthat of the other, the slopes of Olivet above Bethany. The lonely\nprophet, who had burst like a meteor on Israel from the solitudes of\nGilead, whose fervour had ever and again been rekindled by return to\nthe wilderness, whose whole career had isolated him from men, found the\nfitting place for that last wonder amidst the stern silence where he\nhad so often sought asylum and inspiration. He was close to the scenes\nof mighty events in the past. There, on that overhanging peak, the\nlawgiver whose work he was continuing, and with whom he was to be so\nstrangely associated on the Mount of Transfiguration, had made himself\nready for his lonely grave. Here at his feet, the river had parted for\nthe victorious march of Israel. Away down on his horizon the sunshine\ngleamed on the waters of the Dead Sea; and thus, on his native soil,\nsurrounded by memorials of the Law which he laboured to restore, and of\nthe victories which he would fain have brought back, and of the\njudgments which he saw again impending over Israel, the stern, solitary\nascetic, the prophet of righteousness, whose single arm stayed the\ndownward course of a nation, passed from his toil and his warfare.\n\nWhat a different set of associations cluster round the place of\nChrist's Ascension--'Bethany,' or, as it is more particularly specified\nin the Acts, 'Olivet'! In the very heart of the land, close by and yet\nout of sight of the great city, in no wild solitude, but perhaps in\nsome dimple of the hill, neither shunning nor courting spectators, with\nthe quiet home where He had rested so often in the little village at\ntheir feet there, and Gethsemane a few furlongs off, in such scenes did\nthe Christ 'whose delights were with the sons of men,' and His life\nlived in closest companionship with His brethren, choose the place\nwhence He should 'ascend to their Father and His Father.' Nor perhaps\nwas it without a meaning that the Mount which received the last print\nof His ascending footstep was that which a mysterious prophecy\ndesignated as destined to receive the first print of the footstep of\nthe Lord coming at a future day to end the long warfare with evil.\n\nBut more important than the localities is the contrasted manner of the\ntwo ascents. The prophet's end was like the man. It was fitting that he\nshould be swept up the skies in tempest and fire. The impetuosity of\nhis nature, and the stormy energy of his career, had already been\nsymbolised in the mighty and strong wind which rent the rocks, and in\nthe fire that followed the earthquake; and similarly nothing could be\nmore appropriate than that sudden rapture in storm and whirlwind,\nescorted by the flaming chivalry of heaven.\n\nNor is it only as appropriate to the character of the prophet and his\nwork that this tempestuous translation is noteworthy. It also suggests\nvery plainly that Elijah was lifted to the skies by power acting on him\nfrom without. He did not ascend; he was carried up; the earthly frame\nand the human nature had no power to rise. 'No man hath ascended into\nheaven.' The two men of whom the Old Testament speaks were alike in\nthis, that 'God _took_ them.' The tempest and the fiery chariot tell us\nhow great was the exercise of divine power which bore the gross\nmortality thither, and how unfamiliar was the sphere into which it\npassed.\n\nHow full of the very spirit of Christ's whole life is the contrasted\nmanner of His Ascension! The silent gentleness, which did not strive\nnor cry nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets, marks Him even\nin that hour of lofty and transcendent triumph. There is no outward\nsign to accompany His slow upward movement through the quiet air. No\nblaze of fiery chariots, nor agitation of tempest is needed to bear Him\nheavenwards. The outstretched hands drop the dew of His benediction on\nthe little company, and so He floats upward, His own will and\nindwelling power the royal chariot which bears Him, and calmly 'leaves\nthe world and goes unto the Father.' The slow, continuous movement of\nascent is emphatically made prominent in the brief narratives, both by\nthe phrase in Luke, 'He was carried up,' which expresses continuous\nleisurely motion, and by the picture in the Acts, of the disciples\ngazing into heaven 'as He went up,' in which latter word is brought\nout, not only the slowness of the movement, but its origin in His own\nwill and its execution by His own power.\n\nNor is this absence of any vehicle or external agency destroyed by the\nfact that 'a cloud' received Him out of their sight, for its purpose\nwas not to raise Him heavenward, but to hide Him from the gazers' eyes,\nthat He might not seem to them to dwindle into distance, but that their\nlast look and memory might be of His clearly discerned and loving face.\nPossibly, too, it may be intended to remind us of the cloud which\nguided Israel, the glory which dwelt between the cherubim, the cloud\nwhich overshadowed the Mount of Transfiguration, and to set forth a\nsymbol of the Divine Presence welcoming to itself, His battle fought,\nthe Son of His love.\n\nBe that as it may, the manner of our Lord's Ascension by His own\ninherent power is brought into boldest relief when contrasted with\nElijah's rapture, and is evidently the fitting expression, as it is the\nconsequence, of His sole and singular divine nature. It accords with\nHis own mode of reference to the Ascension, while He was on earth,\nwhich ever represents Him not as _being taken_, but as _going_: 'I\nleave the world and go to the Father.' 'I ascend to My Father and your\nFather.' The highest hope of the devoutest souls before Him had been,\n'Thou wilt afterwards take me to glory.' The highest hope of devout\nsouls since Him has been, 'We shall be caught up to meet the Lord.' But\nthis Man ever speaks of Himself as able when He will, by His own power,\nto rise where no man hath ascended. His divine nature and pre-existence\nshine clearly forth, and as we stand gazing at Him blessing the world\nas He rises into the heavens, we know that we are looking on no mere\nmysterious elevation of a mortal to the skies, but are beholding the\nreturn of the Incarnate Lord, who willed to tarry among our earthly\ntabernacles for a time, to the glory where He was before, 'His own calm\nhome, His habitation from eternity.'\n\nII. Another striking point of contrast embraces the relation which\nthese two events respectively bear to the life's work which had\npreceded them.\n\nThe falling mantle of Elijah has become a symbol known to all the\nworld, for the transference of unfinished tasks and the appointment of\nsuccessors to departed greatness. Elisha asked that he might have a\ndouble portion of his master's spirit, not meaning twice as much as his\nmaster had had, but the eldest son's share of the father's possessions,\nthe double of the other children's portion. And, though his master had\nno power to bestow the gift, and had to reply as one who has nothing\nthat he has not received, and cannot dispose of the grace that dwells\nin him, the prayer was answered, and the feebler nature of Elisha was\nfitted for the continuance of the work which Elijah left undone.\n\nThe mantle that passed from one to the other was the symbol of office\nand authority transferred; the functions were the same, whilst the\nholders had changed. The sons of the prophets bow before the new\nmaster; 'the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.'\n\nSo the world goes on. Man after man serves his generation by the will\nof God, and is gathered to his fathers; and a new arm grasps the mantle\nto smite Jordan, and a new voice speaks from his empty place, and men\nrecognise the successor, and forget the predecessor.\n\nWe turn to Christ's Ascension, and there we meet with nothing analogous\nto this transference of office. No mantle falling from His shoulders\nlights on any of that group, none are hailed as His successors. What He\nhas done bears and needs no repetition whilst time shall roll, whilst\neternity shall last. His work is unique: 'the help that is done on\nearth, He doeth it all Himself.' His Ascension completed the witness of\nheaven, begun at His resurrection, that 'He has offered one sacrifice\nfor sins, for ever.' He has left no unfinished work which another may\nperfect. He has done no work which another may do again for new\ngenerations. He has spoken all truth, and none may add to His words. He\nhas fulfilled all righteousness, and none may better His pattern. He\nhas borne all the world's sin, and no time can waste the power of that\nsacrifice, nor any man add to its absolute sufficiency. This King of\nmen wears a crown to which there is no heir. This Priest has a\npriesthood which passes to no other. This 'Prophet' does 'live for\never,' The world sees all other guides and helpers pass away, and every\nman's work is caught up by other hands and carried on after he drops\nit, and the short memories and shorter gratitudes of men turn to the\nrising sun; but one Name remains undimmed by distance, and one work\nremains unapproached and unapproachable, and one Man remains whose\noffice none other can hold, whose bow none but He can bend, whose\nmantle none can wear. Christ has ascended up on high and left a\nfinished work for all men to trust, for no man to continue.\n\nIII. Whilst our Lord's Ascension is thus marked as the seal of a work\nin which He has no successor, it is also emphatically set forth, by\ncontrast with Elijah's translation, as the transition to a continuous\nenergy for and in the world.\n\nClearly the other narrative derives all its pathos from the thought\nthat Elijah's work is done. His task is over, and nothing more is to be\nhoped for from him. But that same absence from the history of Christ's\nAscension, of any hint of a successor, to which we have referred in the\nprevious remarks, has an obvious bearing on His present relation to the\nworld as well as on the completeness of His unique past work.\n\nWhen Christ ascended up on high, He relinquished nothing of His\nactivity for us, but only cast it into a new form, which in some sense\nis yet higher than that which it took on earth. His work for the world\nis in one aspect completed on the Cross, but in another it will never\nbe completed until all the blessings which that Cross has lodged in the\nmidst of humanity, have reached their widest possible diffusion and\ntheir highest possible development. Long ages ago He cried, 'It is\nfinished,' but we may be far yet from the time when He shall say, 'It\nis done'; and for all the slow years between His own word gives us the\nlaw of His activity, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.'\n\nChrist's Ascension is no withdrawal of the Captain of our salvation\nfrom the field where we are left to fight, nor has He gone up to the\nmountain, leaving us alone to tug at the oar, and shiver in the cold\nnight air. True, there may seem a strange contrast between the present\ncondition of the Lord who 'was received up into heaven, and sitteth on\nthe right hand of God,' and that of the servants wandering through the\nworld on _His_ business; but the contrast is harmonised by the next\nwords, 'the Lord also working with them.' Yes, He has gone up to sit at\nthe right hand of God. That session at God's right hand to which the\nAscension is chiefly of importance as the transition, means the repose\nof a perfected redemption, the communion of the Son with the Father,\nthe exercise of all the omnipotence of God, the administration of the\nworld's history. He has ascended that He might fill all things, that He\nmight pour out His Spirit upon us, that the path to God may be trodden\nby our lame feet, that the whole resources of the divine nature may be\nwielded by the hands that were nailed to the Cross, that the mighty\npurpose of salvation may be fulfilled.\n\nElijah knew not whether his spirit could descend upon his follower. But\nChrist, though, as we have said, He left no legacy of falling mantle to\nany, left His Spirit to His people. What Elisha gained, Elijah lost.\nWhat Elisha desired, Elijah could not give nor guarantee. How firm and\nassured beside Elijah's dubious 'Thou hast asked a hard thing,' and his\n'If thou see me, it shall be so,' is Christ's 'It is expedient for you\nthat I go away. For if I go not away the Comforter will not come, but\nif I depart, I will send Him unto you.'\n\nManifold are the forms of that new and continuous activity of Christ\ninto which He passed when He left the earth: and as we contrast these\nwith the utter helplessness any longer to counsel, rebuke or save, to\nwhich death reduces those who love us best, and to which even his\nglorious rapture into the heavens brought the strong prophet of fire,\nwe can take up, with a new depth of meaning, the ancient words that\ntell of Christ's exclusive prerogative of succouring and inspiring from\nwithin the veil: 'Thou hast ascended on high; Thou hast led captivity\ncaptive; Thou hast received gifts for men.'\n\nIV. The Ascension of Christ is still further set forth, in its very\ncircumstances, by contrast with Elijah's translation, as bearing on the\nhopes of humanity for the future.\n\nThe prophet is caught up to the glory and repose for himself alone, and\nthe sole share which the gazing follower or the sons of the prophets\nstraining their eyes there at Jericho, had in his triumph, was a\ndeepened conviction of his prophetic mission, and perhaps some clearer\nfaith in a future life. Their wonder and sorrow, Elisha's immediate\nexercise of his new power, the prophets' immediate transference of\ntheir allegiance to their new head, show that on both sides it was felt\nthat they had no part in the event beyond that of awe-struck beholders.\nNo light streamed from it on their own future. The path they had to\ntread was still the common road into the great darkness, as solitary\nand unknown as before. The chariot of fire parted their master from the\ncommon experience of humanity as from their fellowship, making him an\nexception to the sad rule of death, which frowned the grimmer and more\ninexorable by contrast with his radiant translation.\n\nThe very reverse is true of Christ's Ascension. In Him our nature is\ntaken up to the throne of God. His Resurrection assures us that 'them\nwhich sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him,' His passage to the\nheavens assures us that 'they who are alive and remain shall be caught\nup together with them,' and that all of both companies shall with Him\nlive and reign, sharing His dominion, and moulded to His image.\n\nIf we would know of what our manhood is capable, if we would rise to\nthe height of the hopes which God means that we should cherish, if we\nwould gain a living grasp of the power that fulfils them, we have to\nstand there, gazing on the piled cloud that sails slowly upwards, the\npure floor for our Brother's feet. As we watch it rising with a motion\nwhich is rest, we have the right to think, 'Thither the Forerunner is\nfor us entered.' We see there what man is meant for, what men who love\nHim attain. True, the world is still full of death and sorrow, man's\ndominion seems a futile dream and a hope that mocks, but 'we see\nJesus,' ascended up on high, and in Him we too are 'made to sit\ntogether in heavenly places.' The Breaker is gone up before them. Their\nKing shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.'\n\nThere is yet another aspect in which our Lord's Ascension bears on our\nhopes for the future, namely, as connected with His coming again. In\nthat respect, too, the contrast of Elijah's translation may serve to\nemphasise the truth. Prophecy, indeed, in its latest voice, spoke of\nsending Elijah the prophet before the coming of the day of the Lord,\nand Rabbinical legends delighted to tell how he had been carried to the\nGarden of Eden, whence he would come again, in Israel's sorest need.\nBut the prophecy had no thought of a personal reappearance, and the\ndreams are only dreams such as we find in the legendary history of many\nnations. As Elisha recrossed the Jordan, he bore with him only a mantle\nand a memory, not a hope.\n\n'Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same\nJesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like\nmanner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.' How grand is the use in\nthese mighty words of the name Jesus, the name that speaks of His true\nhumanity, with all its weakness, limitations, and sorrow, with all its\ntenderness and brotherhood! The man who died and rose again, has gone\nup on high. He will so come as He has gone. 'So'--that is to say,\npersonally, corporeally, visibly, on clouds, perhaps to that very spot,\n'and His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives.' Thus\nScripture teaches us ever to associate together the departure and the\ncoming of the Lord, and always when we meditate on His Ascension to\nprepare a place for us, to think of His real presence with us through\nthe ages, and of His coming again to receive us to Himself.\n\nThat parting on Olivet cannot be the end. Such a leave-taking is the\nprophecy of happy greetings and an inseparable reunion. The King has\ngone to receive a kingdom, and to return. Memory and hope coalesce, as\nwe think of Him who is passed into the heavens, and the heart of the\nChurch has to cherish at once the glad thought that its Head and helper\nhas entered within the veil, and the still more joyous one, which\nlightens the days of separation and widowhood, that the Lord will come\nagain.\n\nSo let us take our share in the 'great joy' with which the disciples\nreturned to Jerusalem, left like sheep in the midst of wolves as they\nwere, and 'let us set our affection on things above, where Christ is,\nsitting at the right hand of God.'\n\n\n\n\nELIJAH'S TRANSLATION AND ELISHA'S DEATHBED\n\nAnd Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of\nIsrael, and the horsemen thereof.'--2 KINGS ii. 12.\n\n'...And Joash, the King of Israel, came down unto him, and wept over\nhis face, and said. O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and\nthe horsemen thereof.'--2 KINGS xiii. U.\n\n\nThe scenes and the speakers are strangely different in these two\nincidents. The one scene is that mysterious translation on the further\nbank of the Jordan, when a mortal was swept up to heaven in a fiery\nwhirlwind, and the other is an ordinary sick chamber, where an old man\nwas lying, with the life slowly ebbing out of him. The one speaker is\nthe successor of the great prophet, on whom his spirit in a large\nmeasure fell; the other, an idolatrous king, young, headstrong, who had\ndespised the latter prophet's teaching while he lived, but was now for\nthe moment awed into something like seriousness and reverence by his\ndeath.\n\nNow the remarkable thing is that this unworthy monarch should have come\nto the dying prophet, and should have strengthened and cheered him by\nthe quotation of his own words, spoken so long ago, as if he would say\nto him, 'All that thou didst mean when thou didst stand there in\nrapturous adoration, watching the ascending Elijah, is as true about\nthee, lying dying here, of a common and lingering sickness. My father,\nmy father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.' Seen or\nunseen, these were present. The reality was the same, though the\nappearances were so different.\n\nI We have in the first case the chariot and horsemen seen.\n\nTo feel the force of the exclamation on the lips of Joash, we must try\nto make clear to ourselves what its original meaning was. What did\nElisha intend when he stood beyond Jordan, and in wonder and awe\nexclaimed, 'The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof'?\n\nIt does not seem to me that the interpretation of the words now in\nfavour is at all satisfactory. It tells us that the expression is to be\ntaken as in apposition with the exclamation 'My father, my father'; and\nthat both the one phrase and the other mean--Elijah! Yet what a\npreposterous and strange metaphor it would be to call a man a chariot\nand pair, or a chariot and cavalry! It seems to me that the very\nstatement of this explanation, in plain English, condemns it as\nuntenable. It is surely less probable that Elisha in that exclamation\nwas describing Elijah than that he was speaking of that wondrous\nchariot of fire and horses of fire that had come between him and his\nmaster, and that his exclamation was one of surprised adoration as he\ngazed with wide-opened eyes on the burning angel-hosts, and saw his\nmaster mysteriously able to bear that fire, ringed round by these\nflaming squadrons, possibly standing unscathed on the floor of the\nchariot, and swept with it and all the celestial pomp, by the\nwhirlwind, into heaven.\n\nBut why should he say 'the chariot of _Israel_'? I think we take for\ngranted too readily that 'Israel' here means the nation. You will\nremember that that name was not originally that of the nation, but of\nits progenitor and founder, given to Jacob as the consequence and\nrecord of that mysterious wrestling by the brook. And I think we get a\nnobler signification for the words before us if, instead of applying\nthe name to the nation, we apply it here to the individual. When Elijah\nand Elisha crossed Jordan they were not far from the spot where that\nname was given to Jacob, 'the supplanter,' whom discipline and\ncommunion with God had elevated into Israel. And they were near another\nof the sites consecrated by his history, the place where, just before\nthe change of his name, the angels of God met him and 'he called the\nname of the place Mahanaim.' That means '_the two camps_,' the one,\nJacob's defenceless company of women and children, the other, their\ncelestial guards.\n\nIt seems reasonable to suppose that, in all probability, a reminiscence\nof that old story of the manifestation of the armed angels of God as\nthe defenders and servants of His children broke from Elisha's lips. As\nhe looks upon that strange appearance of the chariot and horses of fire\nthat parted him and his friend, he sees once more 'the chariot of\nIsrael and the horsemen thereof,' the reappearance of the shining\narmies whose presence had of old declared that 'the angel of the Lord\nencampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.' And now\nthe same hosts in their immortal youth, unweakened by the ages which\nhave brought earthly warriors to dust and their swords to rust, are\nflaming and flashing there in the midday sun. What was their errand,\nand why did they appear? They came, as God's messengers, to bear His\nservant to His presence. They attested the commission and devotion of\nthe prophet. Their agency was needful to lift a mortal to skies not\nnative to him. Strange that a body of flesh should be able to endure\nthat fiery splendour! Somewhere in the course of that upward movement\nmust this man, who was caught up to meet the Lord in the air, have been\n'changed.' His guards of honour were not only for tokens of his\nprophetic work, but for witnesses of the unseen world and in some sort\npledges, suited to that stage of revelation, of life and immortality.\n\nHow striking is the contrast between the translation of Elijah and the\nAscension of Christ! He who ascended up where He was before needed no\nwhirlwind, nor chariot of fire, nor extraneous power to elevate Him to\nHis home. Calmly, slowly, as borne upwards by indwelling affinity with\nheaven, He floated thither with outstretched hands of blessing. The\nservant angels did not need to surround Him, but, clad no longer in\nfiery armour, but 'in white apparel,' the emblem of purity and peace,\nthey stood by the disciples and comforted them with hope. Elijah was\ncarried to heaven. Christ went. The angels disappeared with the prophet\nand left Elisha to grieve alone. They lingered here after Christ had\ngone, and turned tears into rainbows flashing with the hues of hope.\n\nII. We have in our second text the chariot and horsemen present though\nunseen.\n\nWe are now in a position to appreciate the meaning of Joash's\nrepetition to Elisha of his own words, spoken under such different\ncircumstances.\n\nElisha was by no means so great a prophet as Elijah. His work had not\nbeen so conspicuous, his character was not so strong, though perhaps\nmore gentle. No such lofty and large influence had been granted to him\nas had been given to the fiery Tishbite to wield, nor did he leave his\nmark so deep upon the history of the times or upon the memory of\nsucceeding generations. But such as it had been given him to be he had\nbeen. He was a continuer, not an originator. There had been a long\nperiod during which he appears to have lived in absolute retirement,\nexercising no prophetic functions. We never hear of him during the\ninterval between the anointing of Jehu to the Israelitish monarchy and\nthe time of his own death, and that period must have extended over\nnearly fifty years. After all these years of eclipse and seclusion he\nwas lying dying somewhere in a corner, and the king, young but\nimpressible, although, on the whole, not reliable nor good, came down\nto the prophet's home, and there, standing by the pallet of the dying\nman, repeated the words, so strangely reminiscent of a very different\nevent--' My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen\nthereof!'\n\nAnd what does that exclamation mean? Two things. One is this, that the\nangels of the Divine Presence are with us as truly, in life, when\nunseen as if seen. So far as we know, it was only to Elisha that the\nvision had been granted of that chariot of fire and horses of fire. We\nread that at Elijah's translation on the other side of Jordan, and\nconsequently at no great distance off, there stood a company of the\nsons of the prophets from Jericho to see what would happen, but we do\nnot read that they did see. On the contrary, they were inclined to\nbelieve that Elijah had been caught up and flung away somewhere on the\nmountains, and that it was worth while to organise search-parties to go\nafter him. It was only Elisha that saw, and Elijah did not know whether\nhe would see or not, for he said to him, 'If thou shalt see me when I\nam taken from thee, then' thy desire shall be granted.\n\nThe angels of God are visible to the eyes that are fit to see them; and\nthose eyes can always see them. It does not matter whether in a miracle\nor in a common event--it does not matter whether on the stones by the\nbanks of Jordan or in a close sick chamber, they are visible for those\nwho, by pure hearts and holy desires, have had their vision purged from\nthe intrusive vulgarities and dazzling brightnesses of this poor, petty\npresent, and can therefore see beneath all the apparent the real that\nblazes behind it.\n\nThe scenes at Jordan and in the death-chamber are not the only times in\nElisha's life when we read of these chariots and horses of fire. There\nwas another incident in his career in which the same phrase occurs.\nOnce his servant was terrified at the sight of a host compassing the\nlittle city where Elisha and he were, with horses and chariots, and\ncame to his master with alarm and despair, crying, 'Alas! my master,\nhow shall we do?' The prophet answered with superb calmness, 'Fear not:\nfor they that be with us are more than they that be with them ....\nLord, I pray Thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened\nthe eyes of the young man, and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was\nfull of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.' They had\nalways been there, though no one saw them. They were there when no one\nbut Elisha saw them. They were no more there when the young man saw\nthem than they had been before. They did not cease to be there when the\nfilm came over his eyes again, and the common round took him back to\nthe trivialities of daily life.\n\nAnd so from the mouth of this not very devout king the prophet was\nreminded of his own ancient experiences, and invited to feel that,\nunseen or seen, the solemn forms stood 'bright-harnessed,' and strong,\n'in order serviceable,' ranged about him for his defence and blessing.\n\nAnd are they not round about us? If a man can but look into the\nrealities of things, will he see only the work of men and of the forces\nof nature? Will there not be--far more visible as they are far more\nreal than any of these--the forces of the Eternal Presence and ever\noperative Will of our Father in Heaven? We need not discuss the\npersonality of angels. An angel is the embodiment of the will and\nenergy of God, and we have that will and energy working for us, whether\nthere are any angel persons about us or not. Scripture declares that\nthere are, and that they serve us. We may be sure that if only we will\nhonestly try to purge our eyes from the illusions and temptations of\n'things seen and temporal,' the mountain or the sick chamber will be to\nus equally full of the angel forms of our defenders and companions.\n\nDo we see them for ourselves; and, not less important, do we, like\nElisha, lying there on his deathbed, help else blind men to see them,\nand make every one that comes beside us, even if he be as little\nimpressible and as little devout as this king Joash was, recognise that\nin our chambers there sit, and round our lives there flutter and sing,\nsweet and strong angel wings and voices? Will anybody, looking at you,\nbe constrained to feel that with and around you are the angels of God?\n\nStill further, another cognate application of these great words is that\none which is more directly suggested by their quotation by Joash. It\ndoes not matter in what way the end of life comes. The reality is the\nsame to all devout men; though one be swept to heaven in a whirlwind,\nand another lady slowly away in old age, or 'fall sick of the sickness\nwherewith he should die.' Each is taken to God in a chariot of fire.\nThe means are of little moment, the fact remains the same, however\ndiverse may be the methods of its accomplishment. The road is the same,\nthe companions the same, the impelling--I was going to say the\nlocomotive--power, is the same, and the goal is the same.\n\nOf Enoch we read, 'He was not, for God took him.' Of Elijah we read,\n'He went up in a whirlwind to heaven.' Of Elisha we read, 'He died and\nthey buried him.' And of all three--the two who were translated that\nthey should not see death, and the one who died like the rest of us--it\nis equally true that 'God took' them, and that they were taken to Him.\nSo for ourselves and for our dear ones we may look forward or backward,\nto deathbeds of weariness, of lingering sickness, of long pain and\nsuffering, or of swift dissolution, and piercing beneath the surface\nmay see the blessed central reality and thankfully feel that Death,\ntoo, is God's angel, who' does His commandments, hearkening to the\nvoice of God's word' when in his dark hearse he carries us hence.\n\n\n\n\nGENTLENESS SUCCEEDING STRENGTH\n\n'He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went\nback, and stood by the bank of Jordan; 14. And he took the mantle of\nElijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the\nLord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they\nparted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. 15. And when the sons\nof the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The\nspirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and\nbowed themselves to the ground before him. 16. And they said unto him,\nBehold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go,\nwe pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the\nLord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some\nvalley. And he said, Ye shall not send. 17. And when they urged him\ntill he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and\nthey sought three days, but found him not. 18. And when they came again\nto him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say\nunto you, Go not! 19. And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold,\nI pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth:\nbut the water is naught, and the ground barren. 20. And he said, Bring\nme a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. 21.\nAnd he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in\nthere, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there\nshall not be from thence any more death or barren land. 22. So the\nwaters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha\nwhich he spake.'--2 KINGS ii. 13-22.\n\n\nThe independent activity of Elisha begins with verse 13. How short the\ngap between the two prophets, and how easily filled it is! Not the\ngreatest are indispensable. God lays aside one tool, but only to take\nup another. He has inexhaustible stores. The work goes on, though the\nworkers change, and there is little time for mere mourning, and none\nfor idle sorrow. Elisha's first miracle is almost an experiment. The\nmantle which lay at his feet had been thrown over him by Elijah when he\nwas called to his service, and it was now a token that office and power\nhad devolved on him. His first steps tread closely in Elijah's track;\nas those of wise and humble men, called to higher work, will mostly do.\nThe repetition of the miracle by the same means, and the invocation of\nthe Lord as the 'God of Elijah,'--a new name, to be set by the side of\n'the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob'--express the humility which\nseeks to shelter itself behind the example of its mighty predecessor.\nThe form of the invocation as a question indicates that Elisha had not\nyet attained certainty as to his power, as not yet having proved it.\n'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' is not the question of unbelief, but\nneither is it the voice of full confidence, which asks no such\nquestion, because it knows Him to be with it. It is the cry, 'Oh that\nThou mayest be here, even with unworthy me! and art Thou not here?' The\nfaith was real, though young, and clouded with some film of doubt. But,\nbeing real, it was answered; and it was because of Elisha's trust, not\nElijah's mantle, that the waters parted. God will listen to a man\npleading that ancient deeds may be repeated to-day, and, by answering\nthe cry addressed to Him as the God of saints and martyrs of old, will\nembolden us to cry to Him as our very own God. We may learn from that\nfirst half-tentative miracle the spirit in which men should take up the\nwork of those that are gone, the lowliness fitting for beginners, the\nwisdom of seeking to graft new work on the old stock, the encouragement\nfrom remembering the divine wonders through His servants in the past,\nand the true way to assure ourselves of our God-given power; namely, by\nattempting great things for Him, in dependence on His promise.\n\nThe miracle was wrought partly for Elisha, and partly for others who\nwere to acknowledge his authority. These sons of the prophets, who\nstood on the eastern bank of Jordan, had probably not been witnesses of\nthe translation, even if their position commanded a view of the spot.\nPurer eyes and more kindred spirits than theirs were needed for that.\n\nBut they saw Elisha returning alone, and the waters parting before him,\nand, no doubt, as he came nearer, would recognise what he bore in his\nhand--Elijah's well-known mantle. They hasten to recognise him as the\nhead of the prophets, and their acknowledgment accurately expresses his\nplace and work. Elijah's spirit rests on him, even though the two men\nand their careers are very different, and in some respects opposite.\nElisha is distinctly secondary to Elijah. He is in no sense an\noriginator, either of fresh revelations or of new impulses to\nobedience. He but carries on what Elijah had begun, inherits a work,\nand is Elijah's 'Timothy' and 'son in the faith.' The same Spirit was\non him, though the form of his character and gifts was in strong\ncontrast to the stormier genius of his mightier predecessor. Elisha had\nno such work as Elijah--no foot-to-foot and hand-to-hand duels with\nmurderous kings or queens; no single-handed efforts to stop a nation\nfrom rushing down a steep place into the sea; no fiery energy; no\nbursts of despair. He moved among kings and courts as an honoured guest\nand trusted counsellor. He did not dwell apart, like Elijah, the strong\nson of the desert; but, born in the fertile valley of the Jordan, he\nlived a life 'kindly with his kind,' and his delights were with the\nsons of men. His miracles are mostly works of mercy and gentleness,\nrelieving wants and sicknesses, drying tears and giving back dear ones\nto mourners. He is as complete a contrast to his stern, solitary,\nforceful predecessor, as the 'still small voice' was to the roar of the\nwind or the crackling hiss of the flames.\n\nBut, nevertheless, 'there are diversities of operations, but the same\nGod.' It is well to remember that one type of excellence does not\nexhaust the possibilities of goodness, nor the resources of the\ninspiring Spirit. The comparative merits of strength and gentleness\nwill always be variously estimated; but God's work needs them both, and\nboth may join hands as serving the same Lord in diverse ways, which are\nall needed. We should seek to widen our discernment to the extent of\nthe rich variety of forms of good and of service which God gives.\nElijah and Elisha, Paul and Timothy, Luther and Melanchthon, are all\nHis servants. Well is it when the strong can recognise the power of the\ngentle, and the gentle can discern the tenderness of the strong, and\nwhen each is forward to say of the other, 'He worketh the work of the\nLord, as I also do.'\n\nThe search after Elijah, insisted on by the sons of the prophets, is of\nimportance only as showing their low thoughts and Elisha's gentle\nspirit. He is their head, but he holds the reins loosely. Fancy anybody\n'urging' Elijah 'till he was ashamed'! The shame would very soon have\nmantled the cheek of the urger. But though, no doubt, Elisha would tell\nwhat had happened, these 'prophets' only think that Elijah has been\nmiraculously borne somewhither, as he had been before, and seem to have\nno notion of what has really happened. How hard it is to heave heavy\nmen up to any height of spiritual vision! How vulgar minds always take\nrefuge in the most commonplace explanations that they can find of high\ntruths! 'Gone up to heaven! Not he! He is lying, living or dead, in\nsome gorge or on some hillside. Let us go and look for him!' There is\nnothing on which some people pride themselves more than upon being\npractical--which generally means prosaic, and often means blind to\nGod's greatest deeds. To go scouring wady and mountain for a man who\nhad been taken up into heaven was practical common sense indeed! But\nElisha's gentleness is to be noted. He let them have their own way.\nOften that is the only plan for convincing people of their errors. And,\nwhen the fifty scouts come back empty-handed, all he says is a quiet\n'Did I no say unto you, Go not?' 'The servant of the Lord must not\nstrive,' but 'in meekness' instruct 'those that oppose themselves'; and\nthe effectual instruction is often to let them take their own course.\n\nThe miracle of healing the waters is of the beneficent kind usual with\nElisha, inaugurates his course with blessing, and typifies the healing\npower which God through him would exert on men. Jericho had been\nrecently rebuilt in spite of the curse against its builders. The\nbitterness of the spring seems to have been part of the malediction;\nfor men would not be so foolish as to rebuild a city which had only\nimpure water to depend on. However that may be, the main lesson of the\nmiracle, beyond its revelation of the spirit of gentle compassion in\nElisha, is the symbolical one. The new cruse and the salt are emblems\nof the divine gift which cleanses the human heart. Salt is an emblem of\npurification, and its emblematic meaning prevails here over its natural\nproperties; for the last thing to cure a brackish spring was to put\nsalt into it. The very inadequacy, as well as inappropriateness, of the\nremedy, points the miraculous and symbolical character of the whole. A\njar full of salt could do little to a gushing fountain. But it figured\nthe cleansing power which God will bring to bear on us, if we will; and\nit taught the great truth that sin must be cleansed at the\nfountain-head in the heart, not half a mile down the stream, in the\ndeeds. Put the salt in the spring, and the outflow will be sweet.\n\n\n\n\nWHEN THE OIL FLOWS\n\n'And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto\nher son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a\nvessel more. And the oil stayed.'--2 KINGS iv. 6.\n\n\nThe series of miracles ascribed to Elisha are very unlike most of the\nwonderful works of even the Old Testament, and still more unlike those\nof the New. For about a great many of them there seems to have been no\nspecial purpose, either doctrinal or otherwise, but simply the relief\nof trivial and transient distresses. This story, from which my text is\ntaken, is one of that sort. One of the sons of the prophets had died in\nShunem. He left a widow and two little children. The creditor,\naccording to the Mosaic law, had the right, which he was about to put\nin practice, of taking the children to be bondmen. And so the\npenniless, helpless woman comes to Elisha, as a kind of\ndeliverer-general from all sorts of distresses, and tells him her\npitiful tale. He asks her what she wants him to do, and she has no\ncounsel to give. Then the thing to do strikes _him._ He asks what she\nhas in the house. It was a poor, bare hovel of a place. There was not\nanything in it save a pot of oil, which was all her property. He sends\nher to borrow vessels, of all sorts and sizes. He takes the pot of oil,\nand shuts the door. Then she sets the two boys fetching and carrying;\nand herself taking up the one possession that she has, in faith she\npours; and dish after dish is filled, and still she pours; and they\nwere all filled, and she kept on pouring. Then she said, 'Bring some\nmore'; and the boys answered, 'There are not any more,' so then the oil\nstopped.\n\nThere was no very special reason for all this. It is not at all like\nmost Biblical miracles. I do not suppose it had any symbolical\nintention; but I venture to do a little gentle violence to the\nincident, and to see in the staying of the oil when no more vessels\nwere brought to be filled, a lesson addressed to us all, and it is\nthis: God keeps giving Himself as long as we bring that into which He\ncan pour Himself. And when we stop bringing, He stops giving.\n\nNow, if I may venture to be fanciful for once, let me tell you of three\nvessels that we have to bring if we would have the oil of the Divine\nSpirit poured into us.\n\nI. The vessel of desire.\n\nGod can give us a great many things that we do not wish, but He cannot\ngive us His best gift, and that is Himself, unless we desire it. He\nnever forces His company on any man, and if we do not wish for Him He\ncannot give us Himself, His Spirit, or the gifts of His Spirit. For\ninstance, He cannot make a man wise if he does not wish to be\ninstructed. He cannot make a man holy if he has no aspiration after\nholiness. He cannot save a man from his sins if the man holds on to his\nsin with both hands, like some shellfish with its claws when you try to\ndrag it out of its cleft in the rock. He cannot give the oil unless we\nbring the vessels of our hearts opened by our desires.\n\nIf God could He would. 'Ye have not because ye ask not.' But we are\nnever to forget that God is not led to begin His giving because we\npetition Him, but that the infinitude of His stores, and the endless,\nchangeless, unmotived, perfect love of His heart, make\nself-communication--I was going to use a very strong word, and I do not\nknow that it is too strong--necessary to the blessedness of the blessed\nGod, and, long before we ever thought of Him, or sought anything from\nHim, there was pouring out from Him all the fulness of His love: just\nas we may conceive of the sunshine raying out before the orbs that were\nto circle round it had been completely shaped, but were still diffused\nand nebulous.\n\nBut, while God is always giving, our capacity to receive determines the\ndegree of our individual possession of Him. Or, to put it in the\nplainest words--we have as much of God as we can take in; and the\nprincipal factor in settling how much we can take is--how much we wish.\nMeasure the reality and intensity of desire, and you measure capacity.\nAs the atmosphere rushes into every vacuum, or as the sea runs up into\nand fills every sinuosity of the shore, so wherever a heart opens, and\nthe unbroken coast-line is indented, as it were, by desire, in rushes\nthe tide of the divine gifts. You have God in the measure in which you\ndesire Him.\n\nOnly remember that that desire which brings God must be more than a\nfeeble, fleeting wish. Wishing is one thing; _willing_ is quite\nanother. Lazily wishing and strenuously desiring are two entirely\ndifferent postures of mind; the former gets nothing and the latter gets\neverything, gets God, and with God all that God can bring.\n\nBut the wish must not only rise to intensity and earnestness, but it\nmust be steadfast. Suppose these two little boys of the widow had held\ntheir vessels below the spout of the oil-pot with tremulous hands,\nwhile they looked away at something else, sometimes keeping the vessels\nright under, and sometimes shifting them on one side, it would have\nbeen slow work filling the unsteadily held vessels. So it is in regard\nto receiving God's best gift. Our desires must be unwavering. A cup\nheld by a shaking hand will spill its contents, or will never receive\nthem. 'Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the\nLord.' The steadfast wish is the wish that is answered.\n\nIs it not a strange indifference to our true good that we who have\nlearned, as most of us have learned only too well, that in this world\nto wish is not to have, should turn away from the possibility that lies\nbefore us each, of passing from this disappointing world of vain\nlongings into a region where we cannot wish anything that we do not\nget? There is only one thing about which it is true that, if you want,\nand as much as you want, you will have; and that thing is found when we\nturn away our wishes from the false, fleeting, and surface\nsatisfactions of earth, and fasten them upon God, 'Who is able to do\nexceeding abundantly above all that we ... think.' Wish for Him, and\nyou have what you have wished. Wish for anything else, and you may have\nit or you may not, but depend upon it the fish is never half as big\nwhen it is out of the water as it felt to be when it was tugging at the\nhook.\n\nII. Another vessel that we have to bring is the vessel of our\nexpectancy.\n\nDesire is one thing; confident anticipation that the desire will be\nfulfilled is quite another. And the two do not certainly go together\nanywhere except in this one region, and there they do go, linked arm in\narm. For whatsoever, in the highest of all regions, we wish, we have\nthe right without presumption to believe that we shall receive.\nExpectation, like desire, opens the heart.\n\nThere are some expectations, even in lower regions, that fulfil\nthemselves. Doctors will tell you that a very large part of the\ncurative power of their medicine depends upon the patient's\nanticipation of recovery. If a man expects to die when he takes to his\nbed, the chances are that he will die; and if a man expects to get\nbetter, Death will have a fight before it conquers him. There are\nhundreds of cases, in all departments of life, where he who sets\nhimself to a task with assured persuasion that he is going to do such\nand such a thing will do it. 'Screw your courage to the sticking-place,\nand we'll not fail,' said the heroine in the tragedy; and there is a\ngreat truth in her fierce encouragement.\n\nAll these illustrations fall far beneath the Christian aspect of the\nthought that what we expect from God we receive. That is only another\nway of putting 'According to thy faith be it unto thee.' It is exactly\nwhat Jesus Christ said when He promised, 'Whatsoever things ye ask when\nye stand praying believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.'\n\nI am afraid that a great many of us often have expectations fainter\nthan desires; and that we should be very much surprised if the thing\nthat we ask for, in the prayers that we so often repeat by rote, were\ngranted to us. You will hear men praying for holiness, for clean\nhearts, for progress in the Christian life, for a hundred other such\nblessings. They do not expect that anything is going to come in\nconsequence, and they would be mightily at a loss what to do with the\ngift if it did come. The absence of expectancy in our public petitions\nis to me one of the saddest features in the Christian life of this day.\nIf you expect little, you will get little; and we do expect far less\nthan we ought. We cannot raise our confident expectations too high; for\n'He is able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask' as\nwell as 'think.' The Apostle has set the limit of our expectations, in\nthe same context, and here it is: 'That we may be filled with all the\nfulness of God.' There are two limits: one is the boundless\nillimitableness of God's perfection, and the possibilities of our\npossession of Him are not exhausted until we have reached that infinite\ncompleteness. But then, there is a practical, working limit for each of\nus; and that is--what do you desire? and what do you expect? God can\ngive more than we can ask or think, but He cannot at the moment give\nmore than we expect or desire.\n\nTrue, the vessels that we bring to be filled with the oil are not like\nthe vessels that the fatherless boys brought. These were of a definite\ncapacity; and the little cup when it was filled was filled, and there\nwas an end of it. But the vessels that we bring are elastic, and widen\nout. The more that is put into them the more they can hold, so that\nthere is no bound to the capacity of a heart for the reception and\ninrush of God; and there will not be a bound through all the ages of a\ngrowing possession of Him in eternity. But for to-day, desire and\nexpectancy determine the measure of the gift.\n\nIII. Lastly, one more vessel that we have to bring is obedience.\n\n'If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.' _There_\nis one case of the general principle that wishes and anticipations are\nall right and well, but unless they are backed up and verified by\nconduct, even wishes and anticipations will not bring God's gift. For\nit is possible for a man who, in his better moments of devotion, has\nsome desires after a loftier range of goodness and a completer\nconformity to God than he ordinarily has, to rise from his knees and\nrush into the world, and there live in some lust, or uncleanness, or\nvice, or indulgence, or absorption in the cares of this life, in such a\nway as that desires and anticipations shall vanish. If we fill our\nvessels full, before we take them to the source of supply, with all\nmanner of baser liquids, there will be no room for the oil. We may\ncontradict and stifle our desires by our conduct, and by it make our\nexpectations perfectly impossible to be fulfilled. Are our daily doings\nof such a nature as that the Spirit of God, which is symbolised by the\noil, can come into our hearts; or are we quenching and grieving Him so\nthat He\n\n                  'Can but listen at the gate\n                   And hear the household jar within'?\n\nDesire, Expectancy, and Obedience--these three must never be separated\nif we are to receive the gift of Himself, which God delights and waits\nto give. All spiritual possessions and powers grow by use, even as\nexercised muscles are strengthened, and unused ones tend to be\natrophied. It is possible, by neglect of God and of the gift given to\nus, to incur the stern sentence passed on the slothful servant--'Take\nit from him.' By disobedience and negligence we choke the channel\nthrough which God's gifts can flow to us. So, brethren, bring these\nthree vessels, and you will not go away with them empty. 'Open thy\nmouth wide, and I will fill it.'\n\n\n\n\nA MIRACLE NEEDING EFFORT\n\n'So she went, and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came\nto pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi\nhis servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: 26. Run now, I pray\nthee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well\nwith thy husband! is it well with the child? And she answered, It is\nwell. 27. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught\nhim by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man\nof God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the\nLord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. 28. Then she said, Did\nI desire a son of my lord! did I not say, Do not deceive met 29. Then\nhe said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand,\nand go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute\nthee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the\nchild. 30. And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as\nthy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.\n31. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face\nof the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he\nwent again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.\n32. And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was\ndead, and laid upon his bed. 33. He went in therefore, and shut the\ndoor upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. 34. And he went up, and\nlay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon\nhis eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the\nchild: and the flesh of the child waxed warm. 35. Then he returned, and\nwalked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon\nhim: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.\n36. And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called\nher. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. 37.\nThen she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the\nground, and took up her son, and went out.'--2 KINGS iv. 25-37.\n\n\nThe story of Elisha is almost entirely a record of his miracles, and\nthe story of his miracles is almost entirely a record of deeds of\nbeneficence. Exception has been taken to it on the ground of the\nstrange accumulation of supernatural works, which have been said to\nmake it like some mediaeval saint's legend. But why should it not be\ntrue that, after Elijah had proclaimed the truth, his successor's\nfunction was to enforce it chiefly by his acts, and to seek to draw\nIsrael back to God by 'the cords of love' and the gentle compulsion of\nmercies? The careful consideration of the work of the two prophets\nmakes the peculiarities of Elisha's perfectly intelligible. This story\nof the great lady at Shunem, her joy over her only child and his\npiteous death 'on her knees,' is one of the tenderest and sweetest\npages in the history. Late won and early lost, the poor boy lies pale\nand dead on Elisha's bed at Shunem, while the mother hurries across the\nplain of Jezreel to Carmel,--a distance of some fifteen or sixteen\nmiles,--where Elisha was then living, probably near the place of\nElijah's sacrifice. This passage begins with her approach.\n\nI. Note first the meeting (verses 25-28). Somewhere on the slopes of\nCarmel, commanding a view of the plain stretching away in the blue\ndistance eastward, sat the prophet. His eye was keen, though probably\nhe was now old, and he recognised the lady at a distance, as she rode\nswiftly towards the mountain. He appears to have suspected that this\nunusual visit meant some calamity, and his gentle heart went out\ntowards his hostess and friend. Gehazi could not get back sooner than\nshe could come, but sympathy could not sit passive and watch her\napproach. So the instinctively despatched message beautifully witnesses\nthe prophet's keen affection, and, as it were, the eager leap of his\nsympathy. So swift and ready to flash into act is the fellow-feeling of\nthe Highest with the sorrows of us all; so should be the compassion of\neach with another. The higher in gifts or office in the kingdom a man\nis, the more is he bound to carry his sympathy in an outstretched hand.\nIt is worth very little when it comes slowly. It is priceless when it\nruns to meet the mourner before she speaks.\n\nThe detailed question put into Gehazi's mouth describes the circle\nwithin which this woman's heart moved,--her husband, her child,\nherself. If these were well, nothing could be very ill; if ill, nothing\ncould be well. But the message, which came so warm from Elisha's lips,\nhad been cooled on the road, and sounded formal from Gehazi. It is hard\nfor selfish indifference to carry tender words without freezing them.\nThe bearer of sympathy must be sympathetic. As Gehazi spoiled Elisha's\nmessage, so we Christians too often do our Master's, and cool it down\nto our own temperature. The fact that Gehazi had done so is suggested\nby the curt answer, 'Peace!' It is often quoted as the language of\nresignation, but it seems much rather to be evasion of the question,\nand that because her sorrow shrank from unveiling itself to the\nquestioner. Nothing makes grief dumb so surely as prying and yet\nindifferent intrusion. A tenderer hand than Gehazi's is needed to\nunlock the sad secret of that burdened breast.\n\nIt was perhaps partly pique at her silencing him, and partly mere\nunfeeling attention to 'propriety,' which made the servant wish to\ncheck the convulsive grasp of the feet, which the master allowed.\nUnderlings are more careful of what they suppose to be their superior's\ndignity than he is. Much is permitted to love and sorrow, by a prophet,\nwhich would be repressed by smaller men. 'Her soul is bitter within\nher' pardons much, and only unfeeling critics will be punctilious in\ndealing with even the extravagances of grief. But Elisha had another\nreason than pity. He wished to know her pain, and therefore he let her\ncling to his feet; for only there would she find her tongue. Does there\nnot shine through the figure of the gentle prophet the image of the\ngentler Christ, who will not have the poorest and foulest spurned from\nHis feet, though it be 'a woman who was a sinner,' and lets us come as\nclose to Him as we will, even to hide our faces on His breast, that we\nmay pour out all our sorrows and sins to Him?\n\nThe limitations of the prophet's knowledge he frankly owns. How much\nbetter would it have been for the Church if its teachers had been more\nwilling to copy his modesty, and said about a great many things, 'The\nLord hath hid it from me'!\n\nThe mother's answer is indeed the cry of a 'bitter' heart. Its abrupt\nquestions and its reticence as to the child's death are pathetically\ntrue to nature, and sound yet across all these centuries as if the\nbitter cry were for a grief of to-day. 'Did I desire a son?' She\nupbraids Elisha and Elisha's God for having forced on her an unasked\nblessing. 'Did I not say, Do not deceive me?' She did (verse 16); and\nshe upbraids Elisha again for a worse deceit than she had meant then,\nby mocking her with a gift which was wrenched from her hands so\nsuddenly and soon. How many a sad heart is to-day tempted to raise this\ncry of anguish! And how patient is Elisha with wild words, and how he\ndiscerns, beneath the apparent rough reproach, the misery which it\nimplies and the petition which it veils! Elisha's Lord is no less\ntender in His judgment of our hasty, whirlwind words, when our hearts\nare sore; and if only we speak them to Him and cling to His feet, He\ntranslates them into the petitions which they mean, and is swift to\nanswer the meaning and pass by the sound of our bitter cry.\n\nII. We note the ineffectual experiment of the staff (verses 29-31). The\nsupposition that Gehazi was sent in such haste with the hope that the\ntouch of the staff might bring back life, is dismissed as 'impossible'\nby most commentators, who have therefore some difficulty in saying what\nhe was sent for. Some of the Rabbis answered, 'To prevent\nputrefaction,' which would set in soon on that harvest day. Others say\nthat the intention was to 'prevent more life escaping from him.' But\n'dead' is not usually supposed to be an adjective admitting of\ncomparison. Others find the reason in the wish to deliver Israel from\nthe superstitious veneration of such things as the staff, by showing\nthat it was powerless. But verse 31 plainly implies that the result of\nGehazi's attempt was not what had been expected. Why need there be any\nhesitation in taking the natural meaning, and supposing that Elisha\nsent his servant quickly, 'if peradventure' the touch of his staff\nmight suffice, and followed in person, because he did not know whether\nit would. There is nothing unworthy of a prophet who had just confessed\nhis ignorance in the supposition. His unobtrusive spirit delighted to\nhide its power behind material vehicles, as is seen in most of his\nmiracles; and, if he remembered how he himself, in his early days, had\nparted the waters with his master's cloak, he might think it possible\nthat his servant should work a miracle with his staff.\n\nThe Shunemite quotes his own words on that far-off day; and perhaps she\nwas reminded of them by perceiving the analogy of the two incidents.\nBut her clinging to Elisha shows her doubt of the success of the\nattempt; and she was right. Why did the staff fail? Perhaps because of\nits bearer. Gehazi always appears unfavourably, and Elisha's staff\nloses its power in such hands. The mightiest instruments are weak when\nselfishness and coldness wield them. An unworthy minister can make the\nGospel itself impotent. It is an awful thing to carry 'the rod of Thy\nstrength' and to hinder its exerting its energy. But possibly the\nnon-success of the attempt was meant to teach Elisha and us that\nmiracles of life-giving are not to be wrought so easily, but need the\neffort of the prophet himself. We cannot delegate the work of God, and\nno sending of others will do instead of going ourselves. Such things\nare not achieved without much personal toil, pains, and self-sacrifice.\n\nIII. So we come to the last step, the communication of life (verses\n32-37). It was noon when the child died. The mother's journey would\ntake three or four hours, and the return at least as much. It would\nthen be dark when the two reached her desolate home. She had laid the\nboy on Elisha's bed, as if even that brought her some comfort. It is\ndifficult to say whether 'them twain' (verse 33) means him and the\nmother, or him and the child; but the expression of the next verse,\n'went up,' suggests that the prayer with shut door was in the lower\npart of the house, and that the mother's cry was joined to the\nprophet's petitions. Such prayer is the true preparation for such a\nmiracle. Beautiful consideration, born of sympathy, led him to shut out\ncurious onlookers, and then to go up alone to the little chamber where\nthat pale, tiny corpse lay. No eye but a mother's could have seen what\nfollowed without profanation; and a mother's heart would have been torn\nby hopes and fears if she had seen.\n\nThe actual miracle is remarkable for two peculiarities--the effort\nrequired and the slowness of the process. Of course, there is a\nprofound and beautiful use to be made of the prophet's action in laying\nhimself upon the dead child, mouth to mouth, and hand to hand, if we\nregard it as symbolic of that closeness of approach to our nature, dead\nin sins, which the Lord of life makes in His incarnation and in His\ncontinual drawing near. It is His own life which Jesus imparts, and it\nis imparted because He comes near and touches us. It is the warmth of\nHis own heart which passes into those who live by derivation of life\nfrom Him. And Elisha may well stand as symbol of Jesus in this miracle.\nBut besides that use of the narrative, which is no mere fanciful\nplaying with it, we should also note the difference between the prophet\nand Christ in their miracles. Jesus raises the dead by His bare word.\nHis expressed will is all-sufficient. Elisha prays, and then puts forth\nsomewhat prolonged efforts, from which at first there is no effect, and\nwhich drain him of force, so that he is obliged to pause and leave the\nchamber, and gather himself together for a renewal of them. The ease of\nthe one sets the difficulty of the other in a strong light. And the\nlife which came back with a rush, in full stream, at Christ's bidding,\ncomes only by degrees at Elisha's prayer and work. The one worker is\nthe Lord of life, who speaks and it is done; the other is but the\nchannel of power, and the appearance of effort and gradualness in\nresult is owing to the narrowness of the channel, not to the inadequacy\nof the power.\n\nIn all Elisha's gentleness and lowliness there is yet a certain dignity\nas God's prophet; and it was not fitting that he should come from the\nscene of such a miracle with the glow of it upon him, to seek for the\nmother. So he summons her by Gehazi, and then, with beautiful delicacy,\nleaves her to go alone into the chamber. None are to see the transports\nof her joy, not even the author of it. How beautiful, too, are the\nquiet words, 'Take up thy son'! She has no words; but, for all answer,\ncomes close to him (there is no 'in' in verse 37), and once again, but\nwith what different feelings, clasps his feet. Not even Gehazi, or any\nother stickler for propriety, has the heart to thrust her back this\ntime. The story draws a curtain over that meeting in the prophet's\nchamber. Sad hearts who have vainly longed for such a moment, can fancy\nthe rapture. But the day will come, not here, but in the upper chamber,\nwhen parted ones shall clasp each other again; and many a mourner shall\nhear Jesus say from the throne what He once said from the Cross,\n'Woman, behold thy son; son, behold thy mother.'\n\n\n\n\nNAAMAN'S WRATH\n\n'And Elisha sent a messenger unto Naaman, saying, Go and wash in Jordan\nseven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be\nclean. 11. But Naaman was wroth, and went away.'--2 KINGS v. 10,11.\n\n\nThese two figures are significant of much beyond themselves. Elisha the\nprophet is the bearer of a divine cure. Naaman, the great Syrian noble,\nis stricken with the disease that throughout the Old Testament is\ntreated as a parable of sin and death. He was the commander-in-chief of\nthe army of Damascus, high in favour at Ben-hadad's court; his\nreputation and renown were on every tongue, _but_ he was a leper. There\nis a 'but' in every fortune, as there is a 'but' in every character.\n\nSo he comes to the prophet's humble home in Samaria, and we find him\nwaiting, a suppliant at the gate, with his cavalcade of attendants, and\na present worth many thousands of pounds in our English money.\n\nHow does the prophet receive his distinguished visitor? In all the rest\nof his actions we find Elisha gentle, accessible, forgetful of his\ndignity. Here his conduct would be discourteous if there were not a\nreason for it. He is reserved, unsympathetic, keeps the great man at\nthe staff-end, will not even come out to receive him as common courtesy\nmight have suggested; sends him a curt message of direction, with not a\nword more than was necessary.\n\nAnd then, naturally enough, the hot soldier begins to explode. His\npride is touched; he has not been received with due deference. If the\nprophet would have come out and chanted incantations over him, and made\nmystical motions of his hands above the shining patches of his leprous\nskin, he could have believed in the cure. But there was nothing in the\ninjunction given for his superstition to lay hold of. His patriotic\nsusceptibilities are roused. If he is to be cleansed by bathing, are\nnot the crystal streams of his own city, the glory of Damascus, better\nthan the turbid and muddy Jordan that belongs to Israel? So he flounced\naway, and would have sacrificed his hope of cure to his passion if his\nservants had not brought him to common-sense by their cool\nremonstrance. He would have done any great thing which he had been set\nto do; he had already done a great thing in taking the long journey,\nand being ready to expend all that vast amount of treasure, and so\nsurely there need be no difficulty in his complying, were it only as an\nexperiment, with the very simple and easy terms which the prophet had\nenjoined.\n\nNow, all these points may be so put as to suggest for us\ncharacteristics of that gospel which is God's cure for our leprosy. And\nthe whole story shows us as in a glass what human nature would like the\ngospel to be, and how we sick men quarrel with our physic, and stumble\nat those very characteristics of the gospel which are its main glory\nand the secret of its power. My only purpose in this sermon is to bring\nout two or three of these as lying on the surface of the story before\nus.\n\nI. First, then, God's cure puts us all on one level.\n\nNaaman wished to be treated like a great man that happened to be a\nleper; Elisha treated him like a leper that happened to be a great man.\n'I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the\nname of the Lord his God.' The whole question about his treatment turns\non this, Whether is the important thing his disease or his dignity? He\nthought it was his dignity, the prophet thought it was his disease. And\nso he served him as he would have served any one else that in similar\ncircumstances, and for a like necessity, had come to him.\n\nAnd now, if you will generalise that, it just comes to this--that\nChristianity brushes aside all the surface differences of men, and goes\nin its treatment of them straight to the central likenesses, the things\nwhich, in all mankind, are identical. There are the same wants, the\nsame sorrows, the same necessity for the same cleansing beneath the\nqueen's robes and the peer's ermine, the workman's jacket and the\nbeggar's rags.\n\nWhatever differences of culture, of station, of idiosyncrasy there may\nbe, these are but surface and accidental. We are all alike in this,\nthat we 'have sinned, and come short of the glory of God'; and our\nGreat Physician, in His great remedy, insists upon treating us all as\npatients, and not as this, that, or the other, kind of patients. The\ncholera, when it lays hold of ladies and gentlemen, deals with them in\nprecisely the same fashion that it does when it lays hold of waifs on\nthe dunghill; and a wise doctor will treat the Prince of Wales just as\nhe will treat the Prince of Wales's stable-boy. Christianity has\nnothing to say, in the first place, to the accidents that separate us\none from the other, but insists on looking at us all as standing on the\none level and partaking of the one characteristic. We may be wise or\nfoolish, we may be learned or ignorant, we may be rich or poor, we may\nbe high or low, we may be barbarian or civilised, but we are all\nsinners. The leprosy runs through us all, according to the diagnosis of\nChristianity, and our Elisha deals with Naaman as he deals with the\npoorest footboy in Naaman's cavalcade who is afflicted with the same\ndisease.\n\nNow that rubs against our self-importance; a great many of us would be\nquite willing to go to heaven, but we do not like to go in a common\ncaravan. We want to have a compartment to ourselves, and to travel in a\nmanner becoming our position. We are quite willing to be healed, but we\nwould like to be healed with due deference. You are an educated man, a\nstudent; you do not like to take the same place as the most unlettered,\nand to feel that the common fact of sin puts you, in a very solemn\nrespect, upon the level of these narrow foreheads and unlettered\npeople. And so some of you turn away because Christianity, with such\nimpartiality and persistency, insists upon the identity of the fact of\nsin in us all, and passes by the little diversities on which we plume\nourselves, and which part us the one from the other. Dear brethren, I\nam sure that some of my audience have been kept away from the gospel by\nthis humbling characteristic of it, that at the very beginning it\ninsists on bringing us all into the one category; and I venture to ask\nyou to ponder with yourselves this question, Is it not wise, is it not\nnecessary that the physician should look only at the disease and think\nnothing of all the other facts of the patient's character or life?\nSurely, surely, it is a fact that we are transgressors, and surely it\nis a fact that if we be transgressors that is the most important thing\nabout us--far more important than all these diversities of which I have\nbeen speaking. They are skin-deep, this is the central truth, that we\nhave souls which ought to stand in a living relation of glad obedience\nto our Father in heaven; and which, alas! do stand in an attitude often\nof sulky alienation, often of indifference, and not seldom of\nrebellion. If so, then it is both wise and kind to deal with that\nsolemn fact first. In wisdom and in mercy Christianity deals with all\nmen as sinners, needing chiefly to be healed of that disease. 'The\nScripture hath concluded all under sin'--shut up the whole race as in a\ngreat chamber, that so cleansing and forgiveness might reach them all.\nThey are gathered together as patients in a hospital are gathered, that\ntheir sickness may be medicined and their wounds dressed.\n\nFor this impartiality of the gospel, putting us all on one level, and\nits determination to deal with us all as sinners, is but the other side\nof, and the preparation for, that blessed universality of a sacrifice\nfor all, and a gospel for the whole world. Do not quarrel with your\nphysic because the Physician insists upon dealing with you as sick men.\n\nII. Then take another of the thoughts that come out of the incident\nbefore us. God's cure puts the messengers of the cure well away in the\nbackground.\n\nNaaman, heathen-like, wanted something sensuous for his confidence in\nthe prophet's cure to lay hold upon. If the prophet would only have\ncome out, and done like the sorcerers and magic-workers of whom he had\nhad experience; if he would have come weaving mystical incantations,\nand calling upon the God whom he worshipped, but whom Naaman did not,\nand making passes with his hands over the leprous places--then there\nwould have been something for his sense to build upon, and he would\nhave been ready to believe in the prophet's power to cure. But that was\nthe very thing which the prophet did not want him to believe in. Elisha\ndesired to conceal himself, and to make God's power prominent. He\nwished to cure Naaman's soul of the leprosy of idolatry as well as to\ncure his body; and we see, in the sequel of the story, that the very\nsimplicity of the means enjoined and the absence of any human agency,\nwhich at first staggered the sensuous nature and offended the pride of\nNaaman, at last led him to see and confess that there was no God in all\nthe earth but in Israel. Therefore the prophet keeps in the background.\nHis part is not to cure, but to bring God's cure. He is only a voice.\nHe brings the sick man and God's prescription face to face, and there\nleaves him. Naaman would have liked to force him into the place of a\nmagician, in whom miracle-working power resided. Elisha will only take\nthe place of a herald who proclaims how God's power may be brought to\nheal. So men have always sought to turn the messengers of God's cure\ninto miracle-workers. Making the ministers of God's word into priests\nwho by external acts convey grace and forgiveness, is a superstition\nthat has its roots deep in human nature. It is not that the priests\nhave made themselves so much as that the people have made the priests.\nHere is an instance in a rude form of the tendency which has been at\nwork in all generations, and has been the corruption of Christianity\nfrom the beginning, and is doing mischief every day--the tendency to\nplace one's confidence in a man who is supposed to be, in some\nmysterious manner, the bearer of a grace that will cure and cleanse.\nAnd the prophet's position in our story brings out very clearly the\nposition which all Christian ministers hold. They are nothing but\nheralds, their personality disappears, they are merely a voice. All\nthat they have to do is to bring men into contact with God's own word\nof command and promise, and then to vanish.\n\nChristianity has no 'priests,' Christianity has no 'sacraments.'\nChristianity has no external rites which bring grace or help except in\nso far as by their aid the soul is brought into contact with the truth,\nand by meditation and faith is thus made capable of receiving more of\nChrist's Spirit. Our only commission is to bring to you God's message\nof how you may be healed. When we have said, 'Wash, and be clean,' as\nplainly, earnestly, and lovingly as we can, we have done all our\nappointed office. We are heralds, and nothing more. Our business is to\npreach, not to do rites, or minister sacraments. Our business is to\npreach, not to argue. We are neither priests nor professors, but\npreachers. We have to deliver the message given to us faithfully. We\nhave to ring out the proclamation loudly. The virtue of a town crier is\nthat he make people hear and understand. The virtue of a messenger is\nthat he repeats precisely what he was told. And a Christian minister\nhas to lift up his voice and not be afraid, to see to it that his\nspeech be plain, and that it do not overlay the message with fripperies\nof ornament, or affectations, or personalities, and to plead earnestly\nand lovingly with men to come to the divine Healer. John Baptist's\ndescription of himself is true of them. With rare self-abnegation, he\nwould only reply to the question, 'Who art thou?' with 'I am a voice.'\nHis personality was nothing. His message was all. A musical string\ncannot be seen as it vibrates. So the man should be lost in his\nproclamation. We are heralds and nothing more, and the more we keep in\nthe background and the less our hearers depend on us, the better. If\nyou want priests who will 'call on the name of their God, and wave\ntheir hands over the place,' and convey grace and healing to you by\nanything that they do for or to you, you will have to go beyond the\nlimits of New Testament Christianity to find them. So men quarrel with\ntheir medicine because their cure is purely a spiritual process,\ndepending on spiritual forces, and sense cries out for sacred rites and\npersons to be the channels of God's healing.\n\nIII. And now, lastly, God's cure wants nothing from you but to take it.\n\nNaaman's servants were quite right: 'My father! If the prophet had bid\nthee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?' Yes! Of\ncourse he would, and the greater the better. Men will stand, as Indian\nfakirs do, with their arms above their heads until they stiffen there.\nThey will perch themselves upon pillars, like Simeon Stylites, for\nyears, till the birds build their nests in their hair: they will\nmeasure all the distance from Cape Comorin to Juggernaut's temple with\ntheir bodies along the dusty road. They will give the fruit of their\nbody for the sin of their soul. They will wear hair shirts and scourge\nthemselves. They will fast and deny themselves. They will build\ncathedrals and endow churches. They will do as many of you do, labour\nby fits and starts all through your lives at the endless task of making\nyourselves ready for heaven, and winning it by obedience and by\nrighteousness. They will do all these things and do them gladly, rather\nthan listen to the humbling message that says, 'You do not need to do\nanything--wash!' Is it your washing, or the water, that will clean you?\nWash and be clean! Ah, my brother! Naaman's cleansing was only a test\nof his obedience, and a token that it was God who cleansed him. There\nwas no power in Jordan's waters to take away the taint of leprosy. Our\ncleansing is in that blood of Jesus Christ that has the power to take\naway all sin, and to make the foulest amongst us pure and clean.\n\nBut the two commandments--that of the symbol in my text, that of the\nreality in the Christian gospel--are alike in this respect, that both\nthe one and the other are a confession that the man himself has no part\nin his own cleansing. And so Naamans, in all generations, who were\neager to do some great thing, have stumbled, and turned away from that\ngospel which says, 'It is finished!' 'Not by works of righteousness\nwhich we have done, but by His mercy He saved us.' Dear brother, you\ncan do nothing. You do not need to do anything. It is a hard pill for\nmy pride to swallow, to be indebted to absolute mercy, which I have\ndone nothing to bring, for all my hope, but it is a position that we\nhave to take. Hard to take for all of us, very hard for you who have\nnever looked in the face the solemn fact of your own sinfulness, and\npondered upon the consequences of that; but most blessed if only you\nwill open your eyes to see that the stern refusal to accept anything\nfrom us as working out our salvation is but the other side of the great\ntruth that Christ's death is all-sufficient, and that in Him the\nfoulest may be clean.\n\n                'Nothing in my hand I bring.'\n\nIf you bring anything you cannot grasp the Cross. Do not try to eke out\nChrist's work with yours; do not build upon penitence, or feelings, or\nfaith, or anything, but build only upon this: 'When I had nothing to\npay He frankly forgave me all.' And build upon this: 'Christ alone has\ndied for me'; and Christ alone is all-sufficient. 'Wash and be clean';\naccept and possess; believe and live!\n\n\n\n\nNAAMAN'S IMPERFECT FAITH\n\n'And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came\nand stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no\nGod in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a\nblessing of thy servant. 16. But he said, As the Lord liveth, before\nwhom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he\nrefused. 17. And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be\ngiven to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will\nhenceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice unto other gods,\nbut unto the Lord. 18. In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that\nwhen my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he\nleaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow\ndown myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this\nthing. 19. And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a\nlittle way. 20. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said,\nBehold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at\nhis hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run\nafter him, and take somewhat of him. 21. So Gehazi followed after\nNaaman: and when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from\nthe chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 22. And he said, All is\nwell. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to\nme from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give\nthem, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two charges of garments. 23.\nAnd Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and\nbound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments\nand laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.\n24. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and\nbestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.\n25. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto\nhim, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no\nwhither. 26. And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when\nthe man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to\nreceive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards,\nand sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? 27. The leprosy\ntherefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever.\nAnd he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.'--2 KINGS\nv. 15-27.\n\nLike the Samaritan leper healed by Jesus, Naaman came back to give\nglory to God. Samaria was quite out of his road to Damascus, but\nbenefit melted his heart, and the pride, which had been indignant that\nthe prophet did not come out to him, faded before thankfulness, which\nimpelled him to go to the prophet. God's gifts should humble, and\ngratitude is not afraid to stoop. Elisha would not see Naaman before,\nfor he needed to be taught; but he gladly welcomes him into his\npresence now, for he has learned his lesson. Sometimes the best way to\nattract is to repel, and the true servant of God consults not his own\ndignity, but others' good, whichever he does.\n\nI. The first point is the offer and refusal of the gift. The benefited\nis liberal and the benefactor disinterested. Naaman was a convert to\npure monotheism. His avowal is clear and full. But what a miserable\nconclusion he draws with that 'therefore'! He should have said,\n'Therefore I come to trust under the shadow of His wings.' But he is\nnot ready to give himself, and, like some of the rest of us, thinks to\ncompound by giving money. When the outward giving of goods is token of\ninward surrender of self, it is accepted. When it is a substitute for\nthat, it is rejected. No doubt, too, Naaman thought that Elisha was,\nlike the sorcerers of heathenism, very accessible to gifts; and if he\nhad come to believe in Elisha's God, he had yet to learn the\nloving-kindness of the God in whom he had come to believe. He had to\nlearn next that 'the gift of God' was not 'purchased with money' and\nthe prophet's acceptance of his present would have dimmed Elisha's own\ncharacter, and that of his God, in the newly opened eyes of Naaman.\n\nElisha's answer begins with the solemn adjuration which we first hear\nfrom Elijah. In its use here, it not only declares the unalterable\ndetermination of Elisha, but reveals its grounds. To a man who feels\never the burning consciousness that he is in the presence of God, all\nearthly good dwindles into nothing. How should talents of silver and\ngold, and changes of raiment, have worth in eyes before which that\nawful, blessed vision flames? A candle shows black against the sun. If\nwe walk all the day in the light of God's countenance, we shall not see\nmuch brightness to dazzle us in the pale and borrowed lights of earth.\nThe vivid realisation of God in our daily lives is the true shield\nagainst the enticements of the world. Further, the consciousness of\nbeing God's servant, which is implied in the expression 'before whom I\nstand,' makes a man shrink from receiving wages from men. 'To his own\nMaster he standeth or falleth,' and will be scrupulously careful that\nno taint of apparent self-seeking shall spoil his service, in the eyes\nof men or in the judgment of the 'great Taskmaster.' Elisha felt that\nthe honour of his order, and, in some sense, of his God, in the eyes of\nthis half-convert, depended on his own perfect and transparent\ndisinterestedness. Therefore, although he made no scruple of taking the\nShunemite's gifts, and probably lived on similar offerings, he\nsteadfastly refused the enormous sum proffered by Naaman. 'The labourer\nis worthy of his hire,' but if accepting it is likely to make people\nthink that he did his work for the sake of it, he must refuse it. A\nhireling is not a man who is paid for his work, but one who works for\nthe sake of the pay. If once a professed servant of God falls under\nreasonable suspicion of doing that, his power for good is ended, as it\nshould be.\n\nII. The next point to notice is the alloy in the gold, or the\nimperfection of Naaman's new convictions. He had been cured of his\nleprosy at once, but the cure of his soul had to be more gradual. It is\nunreasonable to expect clear sight, with the power of rightly\nestimating magnitudes, from a man seeing for the first time. But though\nNaaman's shortcomings are very natural and excusable, they are plainly\nshortcomings. Note the two forms which they take,--superstition and\nselfish compromise. What good would a couple of loads of soil be, and\ncould he not have taken that from the roadside without leave? The\nconnection between the two halves of verse 17 makes his object plain.\nHe wished the earth 'for' he would not sacrifice but to Jehovah. That\nis, he meant to use it as the foundation of an altar, as if only some\nof the very ground on which Jehovah had manifested Himself was sacred\nenough for such a purpose. He did not, indeed, think of 'the Lord' as a\nlocal deity of Israel, as his ample confession of faith in verse 15\nproves; but neither had he reached the point of feeling that the Being\nworshipped makes the altar sacred. No wonder that he did not unlearn in\nan hour his whole way of thinking of religion! The reliance on\nexternals is too natural to us all, even with all our training in a\nbetter faith, to allow of our wondering at or severely blaming him. A\nsackful of earth from Palestine has been supposed to make a whole\ngraveyard a 'Campo Santo'; and, no doubt, there are many good people in\nEngland who have carried home bottles of Jordan water for christenings.\nDoes not the very name of 'the Holy Land' witness to the survival of\nNaaman's sentimental error?\n\nThe other tarnish on the clear mirror was of a graver kind. Notice that\nhe does not ask Elisha's sanction to his intended compromise, but\nsimply announces his intention, and hopes for forgiveness. It looks ill\nwhen a man, in the first fervour of adopting a new faith, is casting\nabout for ways to reconcile it with the public profession of his old\nabandoned one. We should have thought better of Naaman's monotheism, if\nhe had not coupled his avowal of it, where it was safe to be honest,\nwith the announcement that he did not intend to stand by his avowal\nwhen it was risky. It would have required huge courage to have gone\nback to Damascus and denied Rimmon; and our censure must be lenient,\nbut decided.\n\nNaaman was the first preacher of a doctrine of compromise, which has\nfound eminent defenders and practisers, in our own and other times. To\nseparate the official from the man, and to allow the one to profess in\npublic a creed which the other disavows in private, is rank immorality,\nwhoever does or advocates it. The motive in this case was, perhaps, not\nso much cowardice as selfish unwillingness to forfeit position and\nfavour at court. He wants to keep all the good things he has got; and\nhe tries to blind his conscience by representing the small compliance\nof bowing as almost forced on him by the grasp of the bowing king, who\nleaned on his hand. But was it necessary that he should be the king's\nfavourite? A deeper faith would have said, 'Perish court favour and\neverything that hinders me from making known whose I am.' But Naaman is\nan early example of the family of 'Facing-both-ways,' and of trying to\n'make the best of both worlds.' But his sophistication of conscience\nwill not do, and his own dissatisfaction with his excuse peeps out\nplainly in his petition that he may be forgiven. If his act needed\nforgiveness, it should not have been done, nor thus calmly announced.\nIt is vain to ask forgiveness beforehand for known sin about to be\ncommitted.\n\nElisha is not asked for his sanction, and he neither gives nor refuses\nit. He dismissed Naaman with cold dignity, in the ordinary conventional\nform of leave-taking. His silence indicated at least the absence of\nhearty approval, and probably he was silent to Naaman because, as he\nsaid about the Shunemite's trouble, the Lord had been silent to him,\nand he had no authoritative decision to give. Let us hope that Naaman's\nfaith grew and stiffened before the time of trial came, and that he did\nnot lie to God in the house of Rimmon. Let us take the warning that we\nare to publish on the housetops what we hear in the ear, and that, if\nin anything we should be punctiliously sincere, it is in the profession\nof our faith.\n\nIII. The last point is Gehazi's avarice, and what he got by it. How\ndifferently the same sight affected the man who lived near God and the\none who lived by sense! Elisha had no desires stirred by the wealth in\nNaaman's train. Gehazi's mouth watered after it. Regulate desires and\nyou rule conduct. The true regulation of desires is found in communion\nwith God. Gehazi had a sordid soul, like Judas; and, like the traitor\nApostle, he was untouched by contact with goodness and unworldliness.\nPerhaps the parallel might be carried farther, and both were moved with\ncoarse contempt for their master's silly indifference to earthly good.\nThat feeling speaks in Gehazi's soliloquy. He evidently thought the\nprophet a fool for having let 'this Syrian' off so easily. He was fair\ngame, and he had brought the wealth on purpose to leave it. Profanity\nspeaks in uttering a solemn oath on such an occasion. The putting side\nby side of 'the Lord liveth' and 'I will run after him' would be\nludicrous if it were not horrible. How much profanity may live close\nbeside a prophet, and learn nothing from him but a holy name to sully\nin an oath!\n\nThe after part of the story suggests that Naaman was out of sight of\nthe city before he saw Gehazi coming after him. The cunning liar timed\nhis arrival well. The courtesy of Naaman in lighting down from his\nchariot to receive the prophet's servant shows how real a change had\nbeen wrought upon him, even though there were imperfections in him.\nGehazi's story is well hung together, and has plenty of 'local colour'\nto make it probable. Such glib ingenuity in lying augurs long practice\nin the art. If he had been content with a small fee, he needed only to\nhave told the truth; but his story was required to put a fair face on\nthe amount of his request. And in what an amiable light it sets Elisha!\nHe would not take for himself, but he has nothing to give to the two\nimaginary scholars, who have come from some of the schools of the\nprophets in the hill-country of Ephraim, thirsting for instruction. How\nsweet the picture, and what a hard heart that could refuse the request!\nTruly said Paul, 'The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.'\nAny sin may come from it, and be done to gratify it. 'Honestly if you\ncan, but get it,' was Gehazi's principle, as it is that of many a man\nin the Christian Churches of this day. Greed of gain is a sin that\nseldom keeps house alone. Naaman no doubt was glad to give, both\nbecause he was grateful, and because, like most people in high\npositions, he was galled by the sense of obligation to a man beneath\nhim in rank. So back went Gehazi, with the two Syrian slaves carrying\nhis baggage for him, and he chuckling at his lucky stroke, and\npleasantly imagining how to spend his wealth.\n\n'The tower' in verse 24 is more correctly 'the hill,' and it was\nprobably there where the little group would come in sight of Elisha's\nhouse. So Gehazi gets rid of the porters before they could be seen or\nspeak to any one, and manages his load for a little way himself,\ncarefully hides it in the house, and, seeing the men safely off,\nappears obsequious and innocent before Elisha. The prophet's gift of\nsupernatural knowledge was intermittent, as witness his ignorance of\nthe Shunemite's sorrow; but Gehazi must have known its occasional\naction, and we can fancy that his heart sank at the ominous question,\nso curt in the original, and conveying so clearly the prophet's\nknowledge that he had been away from the house: 'Whence, Gehazi?' One\nlie needs another to cover it, and every sin is likely to beget a\nsuccessor. So, with some tremor, but without hesitation, he tries to\nhide his tracks. Did not Elisha's eye pierce the wretched hypocrite as\nwith a dart? and did not his voice ring like a judgment trumpet, as he\nconfounded the silent sinner with the conviction that the prophet\nhimself had been at the spot, though his body had remained in the\nhouse? So, at last, will men be reduced to stony dumbness, when they\ndiscover that an Eye which can see deeper than Elisha's has been gazing\non all their secret sins. The question, 'Is this a time to receive?'\netc., suggests the special reasons, in Naaman's new faith, for\nconspicuous disregard of wealth, in order that he might thereby learn\nthe free love of Elisha's God and of Jehovah's servant, both of which\nhad been tarnished by Gehazi's ill-omened greed. The long enumeration\nfollowing on 'garments' includes, no doubt, the things that Gehazi had\nsolaced his return with the thought of buying, and so adds another\nproof that his heart was turned inside out before the prophet.\n\nHis punishment is severe; but his sin was great. The leprosy was a\nfitting punishment, both because it had been Naaman's, from which\nobedient reliance on God had set him free, and because of its\nsymbolical meaning, as the type of sin. Gehazi got his coveted money,\nbut he got something else along with it, which he did not bargain for,\nand which took all the sweetness out of it. That is always the case.\n'Ill-gotten gear never prospers'; and, if a man has set his heart on\nworldly good, he may succeed in amassing a fortune, but the leprosy\nwill cleave to him, and his soul will be all crusted and foul with that\nliving death. How many successful men, perhaps high in reputation in\nthe Church as in the world, would stand 'lepers as white as snow,' if\nwe had God's eyes to see them with!\n\n\n\n\nSIGHT AND BLINDNESS\n\n'Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with\nhis servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. 9. And\nthe man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that them\npass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. 10. And\nthe king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and\nwarned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice. 11.\nTherefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this\nthing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew\nme which of us is for the king of Israel? 12. And one of his servants\nsaid, None, my Lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel,\ntelleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy\nbedchamber. 13. And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send\nand fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.\n14. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host:\nand they came by night, and compassed the city about. 15. And when the\nservant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an\nhost compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant\nsaid unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16. And he answered,\nFear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with\nthem. 17. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray Thee, open his\neyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man;\nand he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots\nof fire round about Elisha. 18. And when they came down to him, Elisha\nprayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray Thee, with\nblindness. And He smote them with blindness according to the word of\nElisha.'--2 KINGS vi 8-18.\n\n\nThe revelation of the angel guard around Elisha is the important part\nof this incident, but the preliminaries to it may yield some\ninstruction. The first point to be noted is the friendly relations\nbetween the king and the prophet. The king was probably Joram, who had\ngiven up Baal worship, though still retaining the calves at Bethel and\nDan (2 Kings iii 2). The whole tone of things is changed from the\nstormy days of Elijah. The prophet is frequently an inhabitant of the\ncapital, and a trusted counsellor. No doubt much of this improvement\nwas owing to Elijah's undaunted denunciation, but much, too, was due to\nElisha's gentle persuasion. We are often tempted to do injustice to the\nsterner predecessors when we see how the gentler ways of their\nfollowers seem to accomplish more than theirs did. Unless winter storms\nhad come first, spring sunshine would draw forth few flowers. All\nhonour to the heroes who begin the fight, and do not see the victory.\n\nThe Syrian king's way of warfare was not by a regular continued\ninvasion, but by dashes across the border on undefended places; and\ntime after time he found himself out in his calculations, and troops\nenough to beat him off massed where he meant to strike. No wonder that\nhe suspected treachery. The prompt answer of his servants implies that\nElisha's intervention was well known by them, and measures the\nreputation in which he stood. Let no one suppose that thwarting Syria\nwas an unworthy use of a supernatural gift. The preservation of Israel\nand the revelation of God were worthy ends, and all that is accessory\nto a worthy end is worthy. It is foolish to call anything a trifle\nwhich serves a great purpose.\n\nJoram had learned to obey the prophet, and his people and their enemies\nhad learned that Elisha was a prophet. That was much. He had no great\nrevelations of the deep things of God to give to his generation or to\nposterity, but he gave directions as to practical life which bore on\nthe wellbeing of the state; and that office was not less divinely\nconferred. It is a good thing when God's servants are not afraid to\nmake their voices heard in politics, and a safeguard for a nation when\ntheir counsels are taken. The quiet prophet was more to Israel than an\narmy.\n\nThe 'great host' sent to capture Elisha shows the terror which he had\ninspired, and the importance attached to getting possession of him. It\nis, too, an odd instance of the inconsistency of godless men, in that\nit never occurs to the Syrian king that Elisha, who knew all his\nschemes, might know this one too, or that horses and chariots were of\nlittle use against a man who had Heaven to back him. Dothan lay on an\nisolated hill in a wide plain, and could easily be surrounded. A\nnight-march offered the chance of a surprise, which seems to have been\nprevented by the unusually early rising of Elisha's servant, the young\nsuccessor of Gehazi. Apparently he had gone out of the little city\nbefore he discovered the besiegers, and then rushed back in terror.\nNote the strongly contrasted pictures of the lad and his master,--the\none representing the despair of sense, the other the confidence of\nfaith. The lad's passionate exclamation was most natural, and fear\ndarkening to bewildered helplessness is reasonable to men who only see\nthe material and visible dangers and enemies that beset every life. The\nwonder is, not that we should sometimes be afraid, but that we should\never be free from fear, if we look only at visible facts. Worse foes\nring us round than those whose armour glittered in the morning sunshine\nat Dothan, and we are as helpless to cope with them as that frightened\nyouth was. Any man who calmly reflects on the possibilities and\ncertainties of his life will find abundant reason for a sinking heart.\nSo much that is dreadful and sad may come, and so much must come, that\nthe boldest may well shrink, and the most resourceful cry 'Alas! how\nshall we do?' It is not courage, but blindness, which enables godless\nmen to front life so unconcernedly.\n\nHow nobly the calmness of Elisha shows beside the lad's alarm! Probably\nboth were now outside the city, as the immediately following verse\nspeaks of the mountain as the scene. If so, Elisha had gone forth to\nmeet the enemy, and that must have brought fresh terror to his servant.\nThe quiet 'Fear not!' was of little use without the assurance of the\nnext clause; for there is no more idle expenditure of breath than in\ntelling a man not to be afraid, and doing nothing to remove the grounds\nof his fear. That is all that the world can do to comfort or hearten.\n'Fear not?' the youth might well have said. 'It is all very easy to say\nthat; but look there! How can I help being afraid?' There is only one\nway to help it, and that is to believe that 'they that be with us are\nmore than they that be with them.' The true and only conqueror of\nreasonable fear is still more reasonable trust. The two parts played by\nthe servant and the prophet are united in the man who cleaves to Jesus\nChrist as his defence. He would not cling so close to Him but for the\nfear that tightens his grip. He would tremble far more but for that\ngrip. He who says in his heart, 'What time I am afraid, I will trust in\nThee,' will presently get to saying, 'I will trust, and not be afraid.'\n\nNote, further, the sight seen by opened eyes. Elisha did not pray that\nthe heavenly guards might come; for they were there already. Nor does\nit appear that he saw them; for he did not need that heightened\ncondition of spiritual perception which appears to be meant by the\nopening of the eyes. And what a sight the trembling young man saw!\nWhere he had seen only barren rock or sparse vegetation, he saw that\nsame fiery host that had attended Elijah in his translation, now\nenclosing the unarmed prophet and himself within a flaming ring. The\nmanifestation, not the presence, of the angel guards was the miracle.\nIt was a momentary unveiling of what always was, and would be after the\ncurtain was drawn again. I suppose that no reverent reader of Scripture\ncan doubt the existence of angelic beings, or their office to 'minister\nto the heirs of salvation.' To us, indeed, who know Him who is the\n'Head of all principalities and powers,' the doctrine of angelic\nministration is of less importance than that of Christ's divine help;\nbut the latter truth does not supersede the former, though its\nbrightness throws the other, about which we know so much less, into\ncomparative shadow. But we may still learn from this transient\ndisclosure of 'the things that are,' the permanent truth of the\never-active presence of divinely sent helps and guards, with all who\ntrust in Him.\n\nThis manifestation has several features of resemblance to that given to\nJacob, in his most defenceless hour, when he saw beside his unprotected\ncamp of women and children 'God's host,' and, in a rapture of thankful\nwonder, named the place 'Mahanaim,'--'Two Camps.' The sight teaches us\nthat God's messengers are ever near, and then most near when needed\nmost. It tells us, too, that they come in the form needed. They are\nwarriors when we are ringed about by foes, counsellors when we are\nperplexed, comforters when we mourn. Their shapes are as varied as our\nneeds, and ever correspond to 'the present distress.' They come in\npower sufficient to conquer. There was force enough circling the\nprophet to have annihilated all the Syrians. True, they did not draw\ntheir celestial swords, but they were there, and their presence was\nenough for the triumphant faith of the guarded men. What living thing\ncould come through that wall of fire?\n\nOur eyes are blinded and we need to have them cleared, if not in the\nsame manner as this lad's, yet in an analogous way. We look so\nconstantly at the things seen that we have no sight for the unseen.\nWorldliness, sin, unbelief, sense and its trifles, time and its\ntransitoriness, blind the eyes of our mind; and we need those of sense\nto be closed, that these may open. The truest vision is the vision of\nfaith. It is certain, direct, and conclusive. The world says, 'Seeing\nis believing'; the gospel says, 'Believing is seeing.' If we would but\nlive near to Jesus Christ, pray to Him to touch our blind eyeballs, and\nturn away from the dazzling unrealities which sense brings, we should\nfind Him 'the master-light of all our seeing,' and be sure of the\neternal, invisible things, with an assurance superior to that given by\nthe keenest sight in the brightest sunshine. When we are blind to\nearth, we see earth glorified by angel presences, and fear and despair\nand helplessness and sorrow flee away from our tranquil hearts. If, on\nthe other hand, we fix our gaze on earth and its trifles, there will\ngenerally be more to alarm than to encourage, and we shall do well to\nbe afraid, if we do not see, as in such a case we shall certainly not\nsee, the fiery wall around us, behind which God keeps His people safe.\n\nNote, finally, the blindness. Elisha's dealing with the advancing host\nof Syria can only be rightly estimated by looking beyond the limits of\nthe text. His object was to carry the whole army into Samaria, that\nthey might there be won by giving them bread to eat and water to drink,\nand so heaping coals of fire on their head. The prophet, who was in so\nmany points a foreshadowing of the gospel type of excellence, was the\nfirst to show the right way to conquer. Nineteen centuries of so-called\nChristianity have not brought 'Christendom' to practise Elisha's recipe\nfor finishing a war. It succeeded in his hands; for, after that feast\nand liberation of a captured army, 'the bands of Syria came no more\ninto the land of Israel.' How could they, as long as the remembrance of\nthat kindness lasted? Pity that the same sort of treatment were not\ntried to-day!\n\nThe blindness which fell on the Syrians does not seem to have been\ntotal loss of sight,--for, if so, they could not have followed Elisha\nto Samaria, nearly fifteen miles off,--but rather an ocular affection\nwhich prevented them from recognising what they saw. It was a\nsupernatural impediment in any case, however far it extended. God did\n'according to the word of Elisha,' a wonderful inversion of the\nordinary formula. But that was because Elisha was doing according to\nthe word of the Lord. The prayers which are 'according to His will' are\nthe answered prayers.\n\nThey who see not the angels, see nothing clearly. There is a mist over\nevery eye that beholds only the things of time, which prevents it from\nseeing these as they are, and from recognising a prophet when he is\nbefore them. If we would rightly estimate the objects of sense, we must\ndiscern, shining through them, the far loftier and greater things of\neternity. That flaming background is needed to supply a scale by which\nto measure the others. The flat plain of Lombardy is most beautiful\nwhen its flatness is seen girdled by the giant Alps, where lies the\npurity of the snow which feeds the rivers that fertilise the levels\nbelow.\n\n\n\n\n'IMPOSSIBLE,--ONLY I SAW IT'\n\n'Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord,\nTomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour he sold for a\nshekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of\nSamaria. 2. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man\nof God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven,\nmight this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine\neyes, but shalt not eat thereof. 3. And there were four leprous men at\nthe entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we\nhere until we die? 4. If we say, We will enter into the city, then the\nfamine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still\nhere, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of\nthe Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us,\nwe shall but die. 5. And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the\ncamp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of\nthe camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. 6. For the Lord had\nmade the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise\nof horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to\nanother, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the\nHittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. 7. Wherefore\nthey arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their\nhorses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their\nlife. 8. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp,\nthey went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence\nsilver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and\nentered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid\nit. 9. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day\nof good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning\nlight, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may\ngo and tell the king's household. 10. So they came and called unto the\nporter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of\nthe Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man,\nbut horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. 11. And he\ncalled the porters; and they told it to the king's house within. 12.\nAnd the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now\nshew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry;\ntherefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the\nfield, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them\nalive, and get into the city  13. And one of his servants answered and\nsaid, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain,\nwhich, are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of\nIsrael that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the\nmultitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and\nsee. 14. They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent\nafter the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. 15. And they went\nafter them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and\nvessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the\nmessengers returned, and told the king. 16. And the people went out,\nand spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was\nsold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according\nto the word of the Lord.'--2 KINGS vii. 1-16.\n\n\nThe keynote of this incident lies in the promise in the first verse.\nThe whole story illustrates man's too frequent rejection of God's\npromise, and God's wonderful way of fulfilling it.\n\nI. We note first the promise which common-sense finds incredible. It\ncame from Elisha when all seemed desperate. The wonderfully vivid\nnarrative in the previous chapter tells a pitiful tale of women boiling\ntheir children, of unclean food worth more than its weight in silver,\nof a king worked up to a pitch of frenzy and murderous designs, and\nrenouncing his allegiance to Jehovah. Such faith as he had was strained\nto the breaking point, and his messenger was sent to tell the prophet\nthat the king would not 'wait for the Lord any longer.' That was the\nmoment chosen to speak the promise. It came, as God's helps, both of\npromise and act, so often come, at the very nick of time, when faith is\nready to fail and human aid is vain. Before we had learned our hopeless\nstate, they would come too soon for our good; after faith had wholly\nparted from its moorings, they would come too late.\n\nNote the precision and confidence of the promise. The hour of the\nfulfilment, and the price of flour and the cheaper barley are stated.\nMan's promises are vague; God's are specific. Mark, too, the entire\nsilence of the promise as to the mode of its fulfilment. Probably\nElisha knew as little as any one, how it was going to be accomplished.\nThe particularity and vagueness combined are remarkable. A hint as to\nhow the thing was to be done would have made the belief in the fact so\nmuch easier. Yes, and just because it would have smoothed the road for\nworthless belief, it was not given, but the apparently impossible\npromise was left in nakedness, for any one who needed sense to animate\nhis faith, to scoff at. Is not that emphatic assertion of the fact, and\nemphatic silence as to the 'how,' a frequent characteristic of God's\npromises? If ever we are kept in the dark as to the latter, it is for\nour good, and for the encouragement of our growth in utter dependence\nand perfect trust. It is not well for the trusting soul to ask too\ncuriously about methods intervening between the promise in the present\nand its accomplishment in the future. It is better for peace and the\nsimplicity of our trust, that we should be content to cling to the\nfaithful word, and to 'believe... that it shall be even as it was told'\nus, without troubling ourselves about His way of effecting His\npurposes. Passengers are not admitted to the engine-room, nor allowed\non the bridge. Let them leave all the working of the ship to the\ncaptain.\n\nII. The noble who blurted out his incredulity had a great deal to say\nfor himself from the common-sense and worldly point of view. But he\nneed not have sneered, in the same breath, at old miracles and new. His\nsarcasm about 'windows in heaven' refers to the story of the flood; and\nperhaps there is a hint of allusion to the manna. He neither believed\nthese ancient deeds, nor the promise for to-morrow. Why not? Simply\nbecause he--wise as he thought himself--could not see any way of\nbringing it about. There are many of us yet who have the same modest\nopinion of our own acuteness, and go on the supposition that what we do\nnot see is invisible, and what we cannot do, or imagine done, is\nimpossible. Why should not the Lord 'make windows in heaven' if He\nplease? Or, how does the pert objector know that that is the only way\nof fulfilling the promise? He will be taught that he has not quite\nexhausted all the possibilities open to Omnipotence, and that something\nmuch simpler than windows in heaven can do what is wanted. Unbelief\nwhich rejects God's plain promises because it does not see how they can\nbe fulfilled is common enough still, and is as unreasonable as it is\nimpertinent. Elisha was as ignorant as this nobleman was, of the means,\nbut his faith fixed its eyes on the faithful word, and trusted, while\nsense, self-conceit, and worldliness, a mole pretending to have an\neagle's eye, declared that to be impossible which it could not see the\nway to bring about, and thereby exposed only its own blind arrogance.\n\nIII. Elisha's answer (v. 2) sounds like Elijah. The utmost gentleness\nis stirred to pronounce condemnation on self-confident unbelief, and a\ngentler gentleness than Elisha's, even Christ's, shrinks not from\nexecuting the sentence. Is not the sentence on this scoffing lord the\nvery sentence pronounced ever on unbelief? In his case, it was\nfulfilled by the crowd that pressed, in their ravenous hunger, through\nthe gate, and trod him down; but in ordinary cases, in our days, the\nnatural operation of unbelief is to shut men out from the fruition, of\nwhich faith is the necessary and only condition. It is no avenging and\narbitrarily imposed exclusion, but the necessary result of self-made\ndisqualification, which brings on the unbeliever the doom, 'Thou shalt\nnot eat thereof.' The blessings of the religious life on earth, and the\nglories of its perfection in heaven, are only enjoyable through faith.\nThese are not so plainly visible to the unbelieving heart as the scene\nat the gate was to the nobleman; but, in some measure, even those who\ndo not possess them do, in some lucid moments, see their worth. It is\none sad part of the sad lives of godless men that they have their\nseasons of calm weather, when, in the clearer atmosphere, they catch\nglimpses of their true good, but that they yet do not behold it long\nand close enough to be smitten with the desire to possess it; and so\nthe sight remains inoperative, or adds to their condemnation. Not to\ntaste is the sadder fate, because there has been sight. To have eyes\nopened at last to our own folly, and to see the rich provision of God's\ntable, when it is too late, will be a chief pang of future\nretribution,--as it sometimes is of present god-lessness.\n\nIV. Passing over for the present the account of the discovery by the\nfour lepers, we may next note God's way of fulfilling His promise. A\npanic would spread fast in an undisciplined army, and history supplies\nexamples of the swift change into a mob under the influence of\ngroundless terror. There is nothing wonderful in the helter-skelter\nrush for the Jordan, or in the road being littered with abandoned\nbaggage. The divine intervention produced the impression which\nnaturally brought the flight about, and the coincidence of the prophecy\nand the panic which fulfilled it stamp both as divinely originated. But\nif we looked on events as devoutly, and saw into their true character\nas deeply as the author of the Books of Kings does, we should see that\nmany a similar coincidence, which we trace no farther than to men or\ncircumstances, was due to the same divine cause which made the Syrians\nto hear 'the noise of a great host.' Track the river of life to its\nsource, and you come to God.\n\n'The wicked fleeth when no man pursueth.' Imaginary terrors are apt to\nbeset those who have no trust in God. If we fear Him, we need have no\nother fear; but if we have not Him for our anchorage, we shall be\ndriven by gusts of passion and terror. The unseen possibilities of\nattack and defeat may well terrify a man who has not the unseen God to\nkeep him calm.\n\nWindows in heaven, then, were not needed, and the arrogance which said\n'Impossible!' had not measured all the resources of God. A very wise\nscientist here in England proved that the Atlantic could not be crossed\nby a steamer, and the first steamer that did cross took out copies of\nhis book. How foolish men's demonstrations of impossibility look beside\nGod's deliverances! We have not gone through all the chambers of His\nstorehouse, and 'His ways are far above, out of our sight.' Let us hold\nfast by the faith that His arm is strong to do whatever His lips are\ngracious to engage, nor let our inability to see where the river gets\nthrough the mountains ever make us doubt that it will reach the sunlit\nocean.\n\nV. We may throw together the remaining parts of the incident, as\nshowing how the fulfilled promise was received. These four lepers had\nheard nothing of it, when despair made them venturesome. How reckless\nthey were, and how they harp on the one gloomy word 'die'! The thought\nwas familiar to them, and yet, lepers though they were, life was sweet,\nand a chance of prolonging it, even as slaves, was worth trying. They\nchose twilight, that they might be unobserved. We can see them creeping\ncautiously, with beating hearts, towards the camp, expecting every\nmoment to be challenged, and possibly slain. How their caution would\ndiminish and their wonder grow, as they passed from end to end, and\nfound no one! There stood the horses and asses, left behind lest their\nfootfalls should betray the flight, and every tent empty of men and\nfull of spoil. The lepers seem to have gone right through the camp\nbefore they ventured to begin plundering; for the 'uttermost part' in\nverse 5 and that in verse 8 are naturally understood of its opposite\nextremities. Then, secure against surprise, they eat and drink as\nravenously as men who had been starving so long would do. Twilight had\ndeepened into darkness before hunger and greed were satisfied. Not till\nthen did they awake to their duty; and even when they bethink\nthemselves, it is fear of punishment, not care for a city full of\nhungry men, that moves them. But their tardy awaking to duty is couched\nin words which carry a great truth, especially to all who have tasted\nthe Bread of Life. It is 'not well' to 'hold our peace' in 'a day of\ngood tidings.' If we have good news, especially _the_ good news, its\npossession obliges us to impart it. If we have tasted the graciousness\nof the Lord, we are bound to tell of the stores we have found. 'He that\nwithholdeth corn, the people shall curse him.' 'Of how much sorer\npunishment...shall he be thought worthy,' who keeps to himself the food\nof the world?\n\nLepers were strange messengers of good, but the message graces the\nbringer, and they who tell good tidings are sure of a welcome. God does\nnot choose great men for the heralds of His mercy, but the\nqualification is personal experience. These four could only say, 'We\nhave seen and tasted,' but that was enough. The king's caution was very\nnatural, and would have been quite blameless, if God's promise had not\nbeen spoken the day before. But that made the slowness to believe a\nsin. Feeling one's way over untried ice is prudent; but if we have\npreviously been told that it will bear, it proves our distrust of him\nwho told us. The despatch of the chariots to make a reconnaissance was\nneedless trouble. But men are always apt to think that faith is but a\nshaky ground of certitude unless it be backed up by sense. When God\ngives us His word to trust to, we are wisest if we trust to it alone,\nand we may save ourselves the trouble of sending out scouts to see if\nit is really beginning to be fulfilled. Elisha had no need to wait the\nreport of the charioteers before he believed in the fulfilment of the\npromise, which others had found incredible when spoken, and too good to\nbe true even when fulfilled. Let us trust God, whether sense can attest\nthe incipient accomplishment of His words or no.\n\n\n\n\nSILENT CHRISTIANS\n\n'Then they said one to another, We do not well; this day is a day of\ngood tidings, and we hold our peace; if we tarry till the morning\nlight, some mischief will come upon us; now therefore come, that we may\ngo and tell the king's household.'--2 KINGS vii. 9.\n\n\nThe city of Samaria was closely besieged, and suffering all the horrors\nof famine. Women were boiling and eating their children, and the most\nrevolting garbage was worth its weight in silver. Four starving lepers,\nsitting by the gate, plucked up courage from the extremity of their\ndistress, and looking in each other's bloodshot eyes, whispered one to\nanother, with their hoarse voices: 'If we say we will enter into the\ncity, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we\nsit still here we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto\nthe host of the Syrians; if they save us alive we shall live; and if\nthey kill us we shall but die.' So in the twilight they stole away. As\nthey come near the camp there is a strange silence; no guards, no stir.\nThey creep to the first tent and find it empty; and then another, and\nanother, and another, till at last it admits of no doubt that certainly\nthe enemy has gone, leaving all his baggage behind him, So for awhile\nthey feast and plunder--small blame to them! And then conscience wakes,\nand the same thought occurs to each of them: 'This is not patriotic;\nthis is scarcely human; it is a shame for us to be sitting here gorging\nourselves whilst a city is starving within a stone's-throw.' So they\nsay one to another in the words of my text.\n\nNow these men's consciousness of the obligation imposed upon them by\nthe knowledge of glad news, their self-reproach for their silence,\ntheir conviction that retribution would fall on them if it continued,\nand their resolve therefore to clear themselves, may all be transferred\nto higher regions, and may fairly illustrate Christian responsibilities\nand duties.\n\nI wish to say one or two very homely, plain things about Christian\nmen's obligation to speech, and the sin of their silence. My remarks\nwill have no special reference to any particular forms of Christian\nactivity, but if I succeed in impressing on any a deeper sense of duty\nin reference to declaring the Gospel than they possess, then all forms\nof it will be prosecuted with greater vigour and consecration.\n\nI. I wish first to dwell for a moment on that--I was going to use a\nplain word and say--_hideous_; I will substitute a milder term, and\nsay--_remarkable_, fact of Christian silence.\n\nI take this congregation as a fair average representative of the\nordinary habitudes of professing Christians of this generation. How\nmany men and women there are sitting in these pews, who, if I asked\nthem the question, would say that they were Christians? and what\nproportion of these, if I asked them the further question, 'Did you\never tell anybody anything about Jesus Christ?' would say, 'No, never!'\nI know this, that in regard to all the recognised and associated forms\nof Christian work which cluster round a Christian congregation, it is\nthe same handful of people that do them all. It is just like the bits\nof glass in a kaleidoscope, there are not many of them though you can\nshake them up into a great number of patterns, but they are always the\nvery same bits. So I could go through pew after pew, if it would not be\nvery personal, and find men and women, one after another--rows of\nthem--that, so far as any of the united work of a church goes, are\nabsolutely idle. They are worthy kind of people, too, with some real\nreligion in them; but yet, partly from shyness, partly from indolence,\npartly because (as they think) they have so much else to do, and for a\nnumber of other reasons that I do not need to dwell upon, they fall\ninto the great army of idlers, and are just so much dead weight and\nsurplusage, as far as the work of the Church is concerned.\n\nNow I do not mean to say that, because professing Christian people do\nnot work in any recognised forms of Christian service which are\nattached to a congregation, therefore they are not doing anything. God\nforbid! There are many of you, for instance, mothers of families, whose\nbest service is to speak about Jesus Christ to your children, and to\nlive according as you speak, and that is work enough for you. There are\nmany more of us, who, for various legitimate reasons, are precluded\nfrom taking part in organised forms of Christian service. Do not so\nfatally misunderstand me as to suppose that I am merely beating a drum\nto get recruits for societies. What I want to impress upon every\nChristian person listening to me now is simply this, the anomaly of the\nfact, if it be a fact, that you are a _dumb_ Christian. You can all\nspeak, if you will; you all have people with whom your speech is\nweighty and powerful. There are doors open before each of you. Ask\nyourselves, have you gone in at the open doors? or is it true about you\nthat you have never felt the obligation to make your Master known to\nothers, or, at all events, have never felt it so strongly that it\ncompelled you to obey? The strange fact of Christian silence is one\nthat I emphasise to begin with.\n\nII. Let me say a word next about the sin of this silence.\n\nThese four poor lepers had not had much kindness dealt out to them in\ntheir lives, and they might have been pardoned if in their moment of\njoy they had remained in the isolation to which they had been condemned\nby reason of their disease. But they think to themselves of the hollow\neyes in Samaria there, and the hideous meals, that might stay hunger\nbut brought no nourishment, and of the king with sackcloth beneath his\nroyal robes, and, forgetting everything but their abundance and these\npeople's empty stomachs, they say, '_Not thus_ must we do,' as the\nHebrew might be translated, 'this is a day of good tidings, and we hold\nour peace; and that is a sin. And if we continue dumb, then before\nmorning some kind of punishment will come down upon us.'\n\nNow, let me put what I have to say on this matter into two sentences.\n\nFirst of all, I say that such silence is inhuman. You would all\nrecognise that in the case of an actual, literal, instead of a\nmetaphorical, famine. What would you say about a man who contented\nhimself with sitting in his own back room, where nobody could see his\nabundance, and feasting to the full, whilst his fellow-citizens were\ndying of starvation? Why! you would say he was a brute. And if\nChristian people believed as thoroughly that men and women without 'the\nBread of God which comes down from Heaven' were starving and dying of\nhunger, as they believe that men without literal bread must die, there\nwould not be so many dumb ones amongst them; and they would feel more\ndistinctly than any of us feel now, the responsibility that is laid\nupon them, and the inhumanity of the sin.\n\nDear brethren! God has made this strange brotherhood of humanity in\nwhich we live, all intertwined and intertangled together, mainly in\norder that there may be scope for brotherly impartation to the needy,\nof the gifts that each possesses. And He has given to each of us\nsomething or other which, by the very terms of the gift and the purpose\nof the bestowment, we are bound to impart to others. The meaning of our\nbeing born into the brotherhood of humanity is that God's grace, in\nsome shape or other, may fructify through us to all; and I say that the\nman who possesses any kind of gift, and, especially, God's highest\ngifts of wisdom and of knowledge, and most of all, the highest gift of\nspiritual knowledge and moral and religious truth, and keeps them to\nhimself, in his idleness is sinfully active, and in his selfishness is\ninhuman and cruel. The very constitution of humanity says to us that\n'we do not well,' if in the 'day of good tidings' of any sort 'we hold\nour peace.' The possession of mere physical or abstract truth does not\nturn its possessors into its apostles, but the possession of moral and\nspiritual truth does. We are, every one of us, responsible for all the\neyes which we could have opened and which are still dark, and for every\nsoul that gropes in ignorance, if we possess something that would\nenlighten its darkness.\n\nBut then, further, let me say that this sin of silence is in sheer\ncontradiction of every principle of Christianity. Why has God given you\nHis grace, do you suppose? For what purpose comes it that you are\nChristians? Were you converted that you might go by yourselves into a\nsolitary heaven, do you think? Are you important enough to be an\nultimate end of God's mercy? Or are you indeed an end, but only that in\nyour turn you might be a means of transmitting? Does the electric\ninfluence terminate when it reaches you, or is it turned on to you that\nfrom you it may be passed to others? The very purpose of the existence\nof a Christian Church is counterworked and thwarted by dumb Christians.\nWe Nonconformists can talk abundantly when ecclesiastical assumptions\nhave to be fought against, about the priesthood of all believers. Very\nwell, if that principle is a true one--and it _is_ a true one--it has\nother applications than simply controversial, and is meant for other\nuses than simply that you should brandish it in the face of sacerdotal\nclaims and priest-ridden churches. 'Ye are all priests,' that is to\nsay, the meaning of the existence of a Christian Church is to raise up\na cloud of witnesses, and make every lip vocal with the name of Jesus\nChrist the Lord. And you, dear brethren, you, the idlers of a church\nand congregation, are doing all that you can to thwart the divine\npurpose, and to destroy the very meaning of the existence of the church\nto which you belong.\n\nAnd let me remind you, too, that such silence is clearly contrary to\nall Christian principle, inasmuch as one main purpose of the Gospel\nbeing given us is to shift our centre from ourselves, first to Christ,\nand then, if I may so say, to others. The very thing from which\nChristianity is meant to deliver us is the very thing that these idle,\nsilent believers are indulging in, namely, the possession of God's\ngifts for their own profit and enjoyment. What is the use of your\nsaying that you are Christian people if, in your very religion, you are\npractising the very vice that Jesus Christ has come to destroy?\nSelfishness is the opposite, the formal contradiction, of Christianity,\nand in the measure in which your religion is self-regarding, it is no\nreligion at all. You are doing your best to counterwork the very main\npurpose of the Gospel upon yourselves, when in silence you possess, or\nfancy that you possess, the gift of His love.\n\nAnd then, still further, let me remind you that this absolutely\nun-Christian character of silence is manifested, if you consider that\nthe end of the Gospel for each of us is to bring us into full and happy\nsympathy with Christ, and likeness to Him. And how is that purpose\nbeing effected in His professed 'followers,' if they know nothing of\nthe experience of looking on the world with Christ's eyes, or of the\nthrill of pity caught from Him, and have no sympathy with, in the sense\nof any reflected experience of, the sense of obligation to help the\nhelpless which nailed Him to the Cross? We say that we are followers of\nOne who 'so loved the world' that He died for it; we say that we long\nto be transformed into His likeness, and yet we put away from ourselves\nthe spirit that regards our brethren as He regarded us all; and never\ndream of copying, howsoever feebly in our lives and efforts, the\npattern that was set before us in His death.\n\nO dear brethren! 'if a man see his brother have need, and shutteth up\nhis bowels of compassion against him, how dwelleth the love of God in\nhim?' And if a Christian looks upon a world without Christ, and has\nonly a tepid sympathy and a faint realisation of the misery, and never\ndoes anything to lighten it by a grain, how can he pretend that he\ntakes Jesus Christ for his Pattern and Example? Silence is manifestly a\nsin by reason of its inhumanity, and its contrariety to every principle\nof the Gospel.\n\nIII. Now, still further, let me point you to the retribution on silence.\n\nThese four men, no doubt, had some superstitious idea that mischief\nmight come to them in the darkness. But they expressed a truth when\nthey said, 'If we be silent, some evil'--or, as the word might be\ntranslated, 'some _punishment_ will find us.' I desire to lay this on\nyour hearts, dear brethren, that like all other selfish things, the\nsilence of the Christian does him harm instead of good.\n\nFor instance, if you want to learn anything, set yourself to teach it.\nIn trying to spread the name of Jesus Christ by your own personal\neffort, you will get a firmer hold of the truths that you attempt to\nimpress upon others. I do not know any better cure for a great deal of\nunwholesome and superfluous speculation than to go into the slums and\nsee what it is that tells there. That is a test of what is central and\nwhat is surface, in Christianity. I do not know any better discipline\nfor a man whose religion is suffering from too much leisure and\ncuriosity than to take a course of evangelistic work. He will find out\nthen where the power is, and a great many cobwebs will be blown away.\nBe sure of this, that convictions unspoken, like plants grown in a\ncellar, will get very white in the stems, and will bear no fruit. Be\nsure of this, that a religion which is dumb will very soon tend to lose\nits possession of the truth, and that if you carry that great gift hid\naway in your heart it will be like locking up some singing-bird in a\nbox. When you come to open it, the bird will be dead. There are, I have\nno doubt, many whom I am now addressing whose religion has all but, if\nnot entirely, ebbed away from them, mainly because they have all their\ndays been dumb Christians. That is one part of the punishment.\n\nAnd another part is that silence is avenged by the dying out of the\nsympathies which inspire speech. It is the punishment of the selfish\nman that he becomes more selfish. It is the punishment of the heart,\nwhich never expands in sympathy, that its walls shrivel and contract,\nuntil there is scarcely blood enough between them to be impelled\nthrough the veins. Feelings which it is joy and nobleness to possess\nare nurtured and strengthened by expression; and the silent Christian\nis punished by becoming at last utterly indifferent to the woes of the\nworld and to the spread of the Gospel. I think I could lay my finger,\nif I dared, on some of my audience who have got perilously near to that\npoint.\n\nAnd then again let me remind you that there is another form of the\npunishment, and that is the loss of all the blessed experience of the\nreaper's joy; and let me point you in a sentence to the final time of\nretribution. There shall stand in that last day, as Scripture teaches\nus, humble workers before the Throne who will say, 'Behold! I, and the\nchildren whom Thou hast given me.' And there will stand some before the\nThrone, solitary; and I wonder if they will not feel lonely when they\ngo into heaven, and find not a soul there to look them in the eyes and\nsay, 'Thou didst lead me to the Christ, and I am here to welcome thee.'\n'He that soweth and he that reapeth shall rejoice together.' Do you not\nthink that then there will steal a shadow of shame across the spirit of\nthe servant who stood idle in the market-place all the day with the\nwretched excuse, 'No man hath hired me,' when the Master had hired him\nbeforehand, and given him such wages in advance?\n\nO dear brethren! the cure for silence is to keep near that Master, and\nto drink in His Spirit; and then, as I beseech you to do, think, think,\nthink of your obligations in the light of the Cross until you can say,\n'Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this _grace\ngiven_,' not this burden imposed, 'that I, even I, should preach' the\nName that is above every name. 'Open Thou my lips, and my mouth _shall_\nshew forth Thy praise.'","title":"Expositions of Holy Scripture: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and First Book of Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, and Second Kings chapters I to VII","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":267638}