by degrees educated into the loftier spiritual aims of the national life. Therefore failing to rise to the level essential to the Messianic conception of the kino·dom 0 h~- proYed the moral unfitness of his prineiples and methods for transmittal to su ccess~rs. Ha,·e we not here a truth of constant recurrence.? Sin is committed to realise a purpose, and the purpose is not realised, but is missed by the very uct of sin. Our first parents sought the rest of satisfaction in taking the forbidden fruit; but what- ever rest they had before was lost in the act of disobedience, as aleo the kind of rcet soug:ht by the deed. The un_h_appy man who, under prcss~re of circumstances as trying to him as the hosts of Plnhst1a were to Saul, forces lnmself to commit a· fraud in order to insure relief and final success in his enterprise, learns to his cost when once the act is committed, that mental relief is further off than ever, and a 'remorseless course of e,ents ultimately brings on ruin to the enterprise. "He that seeketh his life shall lose it." General lessons :-1. When pursuing a path of duty,. impatience with God's ways s~ould be strictly s_uppress~d, or it will lay us open to. th~ pr~ssure of· strong tempta- tions. 2. In the lngh service of God we may be placed m c1rcumstances of extreme- peril, b?t these should ~ever shake_ confidence in his all-sufficiency.. 3. -Sometimes the loftiest path of duty 1s "to be still," and pray for grace "to enter not into tempt~ ation." 4. The Christian is warranted, by the fact of the existence of" the-kingdom,'!. as also by the experiences of the past, to believe that above. all the forces ,that threaten, the ~h1:11"c_h there is a_ Power that sometimes restrains its manifestation for purpose& of d1sc1plme. 5. It 1s a profitable study for the Church to consider how:far prayer is not effectual in consequence of the constant breach of .plain,commands., 6.. It i& the sig-n of a guilty conscience, and of the hardening .effect of even one ein, that plausible reasons are ready at hand to· justify cimduct. ,7,. If we prove .ourselve& unfit for service by our lack of spirituality, Providence will sooner or later remove- us for others more spiritual.
Yers. 17-23.-The ramifications of evil. The facts are-:-1. In the absen.ce_of' Di.ine interposition, and consequent on Saul's inability to resist.advance, the Philis- tines develop their forces and plunder certain districts of country. 2. Ae a matter· of policy on their part, and as one result of Saul's tranegreseion, the Philistines deprive the people of the ordinary means of conducting· warfare. 3. Thie state of things necessitates Saul's protracted inactivity, and inflicts considerable inconveni- ence on the people with respect to their daily pursuits in agriculture. ~!though we- cannot say precisely what course events would have taken had Saul, m loyalty to. God, awaited the arrival of Samuel (vers. 8-10), yet the whole history of Israel and the recent promises made through Samuel (eh. x_ii. 20-25) lead to the belief that, as when J abeeh-Gilead was in danger help came from God ( eh. xi. 6), eo now the Philistines would have been scattered by a Power more than human. The facts. given in this· paragraph appear to be designed to prepare the way for the narrative of Jonathan'e heroism in the following chapter; at the same time they illustrate, in, themselves, some truths of wider range than Israel's political and 11ooial condition. We have here an instance of- I. THE DEPRESSING INFLUENCE OF A SENSE (JF GUILT ON THE. CONDUCT OF AFFAIRS. The military inactivity and general helplessness of Saul after Samuel's interview witl1 him (vers. 11-14) are in striking contrast with hie energy at other times, and are not altogether to be ascribed to the absence of special Divine interposition. The explanation is to be sought in his personal conviction of ein. There wae no joy, no, hope, no spring in his eoul, no eagerness for a close conflict with the foe; and that, too, because a sense of sin brought moral paralysis upon hie entire .nature. Th~ ~ense of guilt is not always present in men, but when it is brought home to a mai~ it exercises a depressing influence on his entire life, and seriously affects the trane_act10n of affairs. Conscience, when guilty, not only "makes cowards o~ us all," but 1t r?bs life of brightness, drains·the springs of hope, fetters the operat10n of the facult1ee, and impairs the eum total of energy. No man's life is made the most of as long as some unrepented and unforgiven ein haunts hie spirit.· Thie is the reverse side of ,mother fact, namely, that the eoul possessed of the peace and joy of the reconcile(i en. xm. 1-23.J THE FIRST BOOK OF SA:\1Uf:L. 23&