bccn-t.l1e trne David, restorer and enlarger of the true kingdom of God upon earth " (Stanley). lll. lNRTRUCTION. 1. Religions advantages and eminent positions are of no renl benefit unless they be rightly used. 2. 'l'he nntural qualities which make one man a power for evil, make another, when sanctified, a· power for good. 3. Tho heart rnust be ~ight with God in order to . a proper use of his gifts and a worthy courge of life. "If the heart be not upnght, whatever favourable beginnino·s there may be, there cannot be a uniform perseverance in goodness or any happy con- c] nsion" (Robinson). 4. Divine grace when persistently resisti>d is withdrawn kaving the soul a prey to the "evil spirit;" when humbly and faithfully received, i; follo\\·ed by rnore grace. 5. In proportion as a man lives to himself or to God he becomes weak, sinful, and miserable, or strong, holy, and happy. 6. There is no standing still in moral life; if men do not become better they infallibly become worse. 7. As a man li,es so he dies. "Think of the end of Saul of Gibeah and learn in time to be wise." Think of the end of Saul of Tarsus and "be faithful unto death."-D. ' Vers. 3-6.-The bitter end. The tragic element, so conspicuous in this history, is intense in the last scene of all. I. SAUL'S DEATH. 1. His de;;pair. When the battle went against-him, and the Philistines, keeping beyond reach of his long arm and terrible sword hit him from a distance with their arrows, the king's spirit suddenly fai_led and di~d within him. " He trembled sore because of the archers." Always fitful in his moods, liable to Rudden elation and sudden depression, he gave up all for lost. He wouid not flee, but he would fight no more. Probably the horrible recollection of the words spoken to him by the spectre at Endor increased his despair, and he thought only how to -die. 2. His pride. Saul had never shown much regard for the sacredness of human life, but he cherished a most exalted sense of the sacredness of his own person as the Lord's anointed. No descendant bf a long line of so-styled Christian or Catholic sovereigns has held a loftier claim of personal inviolability. So he resolved that no heathen should cut him down in battle. Anything rather than this. If his armour- hearer would not kill him, he would kill himself. 3. His suicide. With all his horrpr of being slain by a heathen, Saul died like a heathen-dismissed himself from life after the manner of the pagan heroes ; not with any sanction from the word of God or the history of his servants. (Illustrate from the stories of Brutus and Cassius and the younger Cato.) The only instance of what can be called self-destruction among the men of Israel prior to the days of Saul was that of Samson, and his was a self-devotion for the destruction of his country's enemies which ranks with the herou;m of one dying in battle rather than with cases of despairing suicide. There is a case after the days of Saul, viz., that of Ahithophel, who, in a fit of deep cha- _grin, deliberately hanged himself. To the servants of God suicide must always appear as a form of murder, and one that implies more cowardice than courage. English law regards it as a very grave crime, and to mark this our old statutes, unable tc punish the self-murderer, assigned to his oody ignominious burial. It is, however, the charitable custom of our times to assume that one who kills himself must be bereft of reason, and so to hold him morally irresponsible. Apology of this kind may be pleaded for King Saul, and pity for his disordered brain takes away the sharpness from our censure. Still we must not overlook-4. The admonition which his death conveys. Saul had really prepared_ for himself tl~is wretched de~th. He had disregarded the prophet, and so wa.s without consolat10n. He had killed the priests, and so was without sacrifice or intercession. He had driven away David, and so was without the help of the best soldier in the nation, a leader of 600 men inured to service and familiar with danger. He had lived, in his later years at least, like a madman; and, like a madman, he threw himself on his sword and died. Here lies admonition for us. As a man sows he reaps. As a life is shaped, RO is the death determined. We speak of the penalty on evil-doers, but_it is no mere arbitrary-infliction; it is the natural fruit and necessary result of the mis- conduct. One leads a sensual life, and the penalty on him is that of exhaustion, .disease, and p,emature decay. Or.e leads a selfish life, hardening· his henrt ag·ai11et OH. XXXI. 1-13.] THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 673
appeal or reproach, ancl his cloom is to lose all power and experience of sympJl,thy, to pass through the worlcl winning no love, and pass out of the worlcl drawing after him no regret. II. JONATHAN's DEATH. 1. Its innocence. Look at the pious, generous prince, as well as the proud and wilful king, slain on that woeful day. A man who loves God nnd whom God loves may be innocently involved in 11 cause which is bound to fail. It may be by ties of family, or by official position which he cannot renounce ; and, unable to check the fatal course of his comrades, he is dragged down in the common catastrophe. Jonathan died in the same battle with his father, but not as his father died. Let us remember. that men are so involved with one another in the world, in ways quite defensible, sometimes unavoidable, that as one may share the success of another without deserving any part of the praise, so also may one share the downfall of others without being at all to blame for the courses or transactions which brought about the disastrous issue. 2. Its timeliness. The death of Jonathan, occurring when it did, brought more advantage to the nation than his continued life could possibly have rendered. It opened the way for David's succession to the throne. Had Jonathan survived his father, he might have been willing to cede the succession to David, but it is not at all probable that the people would have allowed his obvious claim to be set aside, and any conflict between the partisans of two such devoted "friends would have been most painful to both. So it was well ordered and well timed that Jonathan died as a brave soldier in the field. He missed an earthly throne indeed, but he gained all the sooner a heavenly home. So is it with many a death which seems to be sad and untimely. A man of God cannot lose by dying. To die is gain. But he may by dying advance the cause of God more than he could by living. His departure may clear the ground for other arrangements under Divine providence, for which the time is ripe, or open the way for some one who is chosen and called to do a work for God and man that must no longer be delayed.-F. HOMILETICAL INDEX TO
THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL.
THEM& CHAPTER I. - PAGE THEME CH.APTER Ill .PA.OIi: