The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 248

outwards in forms true to our own personality. There is far more individuality in the Christian Chui'ch than is at present developed. \Vhen a Christian is, as the result of brooding over things, so permeated with a conviction of his obligation to Christ a ~-earning to sav~ men from sin, and :t spir\t of. self-sacrifice1 as to be mastered by thesl' forces, he will find out some way Ill winch Ins natural aptitudes and capabilitie& may be turned to account in Christ's service. All great and beneficial movements have borne the stamp of individuality, from the labours of the Apostle Paul on, by Luther, up to the latest endeavours to save the waifs of our city population. II. IT CONTEMrLATES AN END CONFORMABLE TO THE END FOR WHICH CHRIST DIED. Jonathan reveals his piety and his intelligence in using language to his armour-bearer to the ~ffect that he thought it probable that the Lord might save through his instru- mentality. He sought the salvation which God loves to accomplish, and for which the order of Providence was working. It is our privilege to take a wider and more spiritual view than even a devout Hebrew. There is an end contemplated by God, and being WTought out by the great sacrifice on the cross, with its concomitant influences-a multitude that no man can number redeemed out of every nation, kindred, and tribe from the bondage and pollution of sin. Whoever sets his heart on any good work, conformable, and therefore tributary, to that issue,--be it social amelioration, rescue of lost ones from vice, sanitary improvements, diffusion of knowledge,-is so far sharer in the true inspiration. But especially is that a true and noble inspiration which not only aims at ends which, being good and moral, are so far conformable and helpful to the end for which Christ died, but aims at that spiritual salvation on which the heart of Christ was supremely set when he gave himself a ransom for us. This is the longed-for issue of all those noble workers at home or abroad who visit the abodes of sin, and seek, as though they cannot refrain from it, to gather the poor degraded ones into the Saviour's blessed fold. Ill. IT IS ·cHARACTERISED BY FREEDOM FROM PERSONAL VANITY. Jonathan's motives were transparently pure. There was none of the restlessness of the inactive soldier craving for opportunity to display prowess; no regard for self in his self- denial and risks. His references to the Lord and the .saving of the people he loved reveal a true, generous, self-sacrificing spirit. It is when works of benevolence, and especially works strictly spiritual, are devised and carried through in this spirit that we are under the influence of a true inspiration. A love of praise, a desire for prominence, fondness for being counted a great and successful worker, an unreasonable sensitiveness to apparent neglect, and kindred feelings, are the "little foxes" that steal the grapes. IV. IT IS MARKED BY IMPLICIT DEPENDENCE ON THE POWER OF Goo. Jonathan sho\\-ed prudence and skill in the ascent of the precipice and in the encouragement lie souo·Lt for advancing by means of the "sign; 11 but the feat passes out of the "' of "reckless" or even in the common usage of t11e term, "d anng, cateo-ory • II w h en we ;fote that havino- tlie si= as' a kind of answer to the prayer of his heart, he rested Lis success -dot on bis skill or strength, but on the Lord, with whom there " is no restraint to saYe by many or by few." He was inspired every step of the way up the ro.cks by trust in the e,·er-preseut Power which shields the faithful and works the wonders of redemption for his people. Here lies the secret of the true inspiratiQ11, that has wrought so powerfully in the Church of God in its purest and most success- ful eras. The apostles felt that it was not of man, but of God, to save. A few feeble Jews were mighty, through God, to the pulling down of many a ~tronghold. It is this which enables tl1e missionary to toil on amidst the loathsome vices of the e.av,we and the friend of the outcast at home to attempt what none others dare. v."'1~ IS MARKED ALSO BY THE BUOYANCY OF HOPE. When Jonalhan said, "It may be that the Lord will work for us II it was not to express uncertainty, but to cheer a man of less faitL and to indicat~ the belief that God was about to use him in his nervice. He rightly interpreted his yearning to be used as an. inspiration of God, and when the "sign" came that assured him that his heart's desire was accept~d, he moYed on with a cheerful spirit. "Come up after me: for the Lord bath delivered them into the hand of IRrael. 11 The modesty of the assuran_ce I "The baud of Israel;" not "my hand.'' This buoyant spirit that looks o~ m hope founded on deep conviction of God's faithfulness inspires every one who 1s truly called to labour  en. XIV. 1-35.J THE FIRST BOOK OF SA:,lUEL.