1 Sam. XV. 13 — 16. And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto lim\, Blessed he thou of the Lord : I have per- formed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen ivhich I hear ? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites : for the people spared^ the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto ' the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night.
IF the Holy Scriptures exhibit to us the most per- fect patterns of righteousness, they also bring to our view men devoid of righteousness, and living charac- ters of wickedness under all its diversified forms and operations. In truth, if we read them only as records of past events, without an application of them to our own business and bosoms, we may be amused and instructed by them, but we shall not be greatly edified. But if we view them as mirrors, in which our own countenance, and the countenances of those around us, are reflected, then, indeed, do we reap from them the benefit which they were intended to convey. Let us, then, take this view of the history before us, and see in it the state of the ungodly world at this time. Let us see in it,
I. Their presumptuous confidence —
Saul had been commanded to destroy the whole nation of Amalek, and every thing belonging to them : but he spared the best of their cattle ; and yet boasted to Samuel, that he had " performed the command- ment of the Lord." In this we see the conduct of multitudes around us.
We all have received a commandment to wage war with our spiritual enemies, and to '^ destroy the whole body of sin ^" —
a lloni. vi. 6.