2. As denouncing his punishment —
[God had before threatened to deprive him of the kingdom for presuming to offer sacrifices without waiting for Samuel according as he had been enjoined ; and now that punishment was irreversibly decreed'. A sign too was now given him, that it should in due time be executed : as he rent the garment of Samuel, whom he endeavoured to detain, so would God rend from him that kingdom, which he was so unworthy to pos- sess'^. This itself was indeed but a slight punishment : but it was emblematic of the loss of God's eternal kingdom ; a loss which no finite intellect can appreciate. Yet is that the loss which every creature shall sustain, who by his rebellion offends God, and by stubborn impenitence cuts off himself from all hope of mercy ]
We will conclude the subject with some advice arising from it :
1. Learn how to estimate the path of duty — [We are very apt to think that right which is most agree- able to our own wishes ; and to lean rather to that which will
f Isai. i. 11—16.
g Ps. 1. 8-
-14. and li. 16, 17.
^ Matt, xxiii. 23.
5 ver. 2G.
k ver. 27, 28
o
gratify our pride or interest, than to that which calls for the exercise of self-denial. But we should be aware of the bias that is upon our own minds, and of our proneness to make the law of God bend to our prejudices and our passions. And we may be sm-e, that if a doubt exist about the path of duty, moral duties must be preferred to ceremonial; and, in general, it will be found safer to lean to that which thwarts our natural inclinations, than to that which gratifies them.]
2. Be open to conviction respecting any deviations from it —
[There is an extreme aversion in us all to acknowledge that we have done amiss. But to be " stout-hearted is to be far from righteousness ;" and wherever God sees such a dispo- sition, he will surely abase it^ We all see in others how ready they are to justify what is wrong, and to extenuate what they cannot justify. Let us remember that we also have this propensity ; and let us guard against it to the utmost of our power. Let us rather, if we have erred, desire to find it out, and not rest till we have discovered it. We would not, if an architect were to warn us that our house were likely to fall, go and lie down in our beds without carefully inquiring into the grounds of his apprehension : a sense of danger would make us open to conviction. Let us therefore not be averse to see and acknowledge our guilt before God, lest our conviction of its existence come too late to avert its punishment.]
3. Let your humiliation be candid and complete —
[Saul confessed his sin, but still shewed his hypocrisy by his anxiety to be honoured before men™. Hence, though Samuel so far complied as to go with him, and to execute on Agag the judgment that had been denounced", yet he left him immediately afterwards, and never visited him more°. Oh, fearful separation! The friend who just before had wept and prayed for him all night, forsook him now for ever. From henceforth Saul was given up to sin and misery, till at last the vengeance of an incensed God came upon him to the uttermost. Would we escape his doom ? let our humihation be deep, and our repentance genuine : let us be willing to take shame to our- selves both before God and man ; and be indifferent about the estimation of man, provided we may but obtain the favour of a reconciled God^.]
1 Jam. iv. G. "^ ver, 30. " ver. 32,33. « vcr. 35.
P Saul desired Samuel to " pardon him," ver. 25.