And o'er the road that now is dark and dreary, This soul, made buoyant by the strength of rest, ^ C H. Spurgeon.
I SAMUEL VII. 12 287
Shall walk untired, shall run and not be weary, To bear the blessing that has made it blest.
2. The Present. — Those pillars, the sacraments, the songs of praise to which past mercies prompted, are scenes or means of present fellowship with God. We cannot live upon a vanished vision, or a good impression twenty or twenty-five years old. God is always new and fresh and bright as the dawn. The light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun. Have we a fellowship with God as we see Him in Christ, sweet and restful and refreshing, every day as we read a chapter of the Holy Book, as we kneel or walk about with Him in heart- easing conversation ?
3. The Future. — "Hitherto" means more than it says. It looks forward as well as backward, and sees the future in the past. Memory passes into hope, and the radiance in the sky behind throws light upon our forward path. God's "hitherto" carries " henceforward " wrapped up in it. His past reveals the eternal principles which will mould His future acts. "He has helped, therefore He will help " is no good argument concerning men ; but it is valid concerning God.
We may reason from the past to the future, but our con- fidence for the future must be based on the help of Him who in the past has not suffered us to be overthrown. The Christian's life is bound up in God, and only he can say of the past, the present, and the future : " But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us."
^ When a man gets up to a certain mark and writes " hitherto," he is not yet at the end, there is still a distance to be traversed. More trials, more joys; more temptations, more triumphs ; more prayers, more answers ; more toils, more strength ; more fights, more victories; and then come sickness, old age, disease, and death. Is it over now ? No ! there is more yet — awakening in Jesus' likeness, thrones, harps, songs, psalms, white raiment, the face of Jesus, the society of saints, the glory of God, the fulness of eternity, the infinity of bliss. 0 be of
288 THE STONE OF HELP
good coui'age, believer, and with grateful confidence ' raise thy " Ebenezer," for
He who hath helped thee hitherto Will help thee all thy journey through.^
Before us lie the hills, sunlit with promise. Fairer fulfilments than the past could know,
New growths of soul, new leadings of the Spirit. And all the glad surprises God will show.
^ 0. H. Spuigeon.
Friendship.
DEUT.-ESTH. — 19
Literature.
Belfrage (H.), Sacramental Addresses, 23. Henson (H. H.), Preaching to the Times, 146. Hutton (R. E.), The Crown of Christ, ii. 253. Kingsley (C), The Gospel of the Pentateuch, 299, 313. Mackenzie (W. L.), Pure Religion, 63. Skrine (J. H.), The Mountain Mother, 17. Spurgeon (C. H.), Evening by Evening, 32.
„ „ Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xzxix. (1893), No. 2336.
Stalberg (I. 0.), The Lamp of Friendship, 9. Webster (F. S.), My Lord and I, 52. Church of England Pulpit, lii. 134 (Cooper). Churchman's Pulpit : Sixth Sunday after Trinity, x. 347, 351 (Kingsley) ;
Sermons to the Young, xvi. 310 (Gregory).
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J
Friendship.
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: Very pleasant hast thou been mito me: Thy love to me was wonderful, Passing the love of women. — 2 Sam. i. 26.
When the youthful David appeared before Saul after his duel with Goliath, he attracted the notice and won the heart of the king's eldest son. As he told his story with the winning modesty of a boy who has done a really brave thing as a matter of course and dislikes talking about it, we read that " the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." It was a sudden friendship. David was one of those divinely favoured natures that irresistibly attract every one they touch, and whose charm no one is able to withstand. The chivalrous nature of Jonathan fell at once under the spell of the heroic youth, introduced to him under circumstances so remarkable and so romantic. The sudden friendship was mutual and lasting. " Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul."
That friendship was soon severely tested. Jonathan had to choose between his own interests and those of his friend. He did not hesitate. The covenant was renewed with the distinct understanding on his part that David might, and probably would, come between him and the throne. The friends pledged them- selves to stand by one another to death, and then they parted ; for Saul's jealousy now threatened David's Ufe and he was a fugitive. The sacred narrative is plainly a transcript from life. The friends have arranged a meeting in a secret place, and determined on a sign to indicate whether David must fly or not. Jonathan draws his famous bow and shoots an arrow beyond the