Ver. 34-.-Poor Mephibosheth ! The name Merib-baal, or Mephiboslteth, recalls the story of one who was '11,nfort'IJ,nate from his birth to his grave; one on whom the burdens and disabilities of life pressed very heavily. And it reminds us that we find similar cases within the sphere of our personal experiences. '!'here are always among us the lifelong victims of accidents ; the bearers for weary years of congenital defects ; those heavily weighted with frailty of the vital organs; the victims of incurable disease; the blind, deaf and dumb, idiot, lame, etc. Of all such we may regard Mephibosheth as a type, and with the class before our minds so typified, we may learn somo lessons of practical importance and permanent application. The outline of the story of Mephi- bosheth is as follows :-He was the son of David's friend Jonathan, and, at the time of the catastrophe at Gilboa, when his father was slain, he was only five years old. In tho excitement and alarm of the defeat, his nurse caught up the child to flee away with hiru, but she stumbled and fell, and caused thereby the child's incurable lameness. Mephi- bosheth grew up a weak and helpless cripple. 'l'he family estates were secured to him, but his affliction put him sadly in the power of his bailiff and manager, Ziba, who was of a self-seeking and treacherous disposition. By Ziba's schemings and misrepresentations, Mephibosheth fell under the displeasure of David at the time of tbe Absalomic rebellion, and, though explan:i.tions were eventually made, the scheming servant was allowed to retain the advantages be had gained. The affliction of Mephibosheth had its influenco upon his charncter. He was of a 1?entle, retiring disposition, too ready to let others ridti over him, but capable of warm affections, faithful to those he loved and from whom he had received kindnesses, and in the difficult circumstances of his life able to manifest great magnanimity of spirit (seo 2 Sam. iv. 6; ix. ; xvi. 1-4; xix. 24-30; :ui. 7). ln tho different recorded passages of his life these points find illnstration. l. 'l'HE IMPORTANCE OF SECURING HEALTH AND VIGOUR IN THE TIME 011' OHILDIIOOD. The relation of robust childhood to energy, happiness, and success in the years of maturity is becoming every dny better understood and moro fully realized. 'l'ho con- ditions of civilized lile put infancy under much disability, and much motherhood is concerned in the mastery of those disabilities, and the strong growing of the young lifL•. Perils come out of hereditary taints, infantile diseases, nnd, as in Mcphiboshoth's case, the accidents, or ignorance, or carelessness of nurses. It is not, therefore, a littlo thing that mothers and all having to do with young children should be skilled in their work and trained into efficiency; and this duty we urge in faithfulness to tho great Father, who gives this trust of his young children to the mothers. And no nobler or more responsible earthly work is committed to any one than this watching and culturing of the children. II. 'l'nE INl"LUENCE WHICH FRAILTY IN CHILDHOOD MAY IIAVF, UPO~ CHARACTER. Tho relation between our bodily frame and our moral character is fully rcco;,;nizcd, though 112 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cH. rx.1-44
1t is too subtle for us precisely and adequately to trace. Scripture -admits it when it says of God, "He knoweth our frame." There is a kind of harmony between the two, so that strength in one is matched by a kind of strength in the other, and frailty in the one is matched by a kind of weakness in the other. This is seen in Timothy. He evidently bad a weak and sickly bodily organization, and it was matched by 11 shrin~ing, retiring disposition, w~ich St. Paul earnestly urged him to overcome, "eudunng hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." The secret of fretfulness in aft.er life, of suspiciousnu.~, despondency, absence of perseverance, and lack of proper selj-Teliance, may be found in the frailties of the childhood stages. .And oftentimes even the bodily pamperings and self-indulgences and failure to hold the passions under wise restraints, which are degrading features of the permanent character, find their true genesis in the unnourished early life. This is a subject of practical bearina on tha moral and spiritual well-being of the race, and deserves to be thoroughly thought out, and presented in careful and impressive detail. It becomes a consideration full of solemnity for all who deal with children, that the men and women may as plainly bear on their characters the marks of the neglect or error of mother and nurse, as Mephibosheth bore for his life the consequences of his childish fall. Ill. THE DIS.\DILITIES OF FRAILTY AND DEFORMITY IN THE IMPORTANT ORISES OF LIFE. As seen in Mephiboshetb's inability to show his real feeling to David when the rebellion tested David's friends. His frailty put him into Ziba's hands. So it is found, again and 11gain, that a man's poor constitution, or his lameness, or his partial deafness, or his deficient eyesight, or his passionate temper, come up against him, and close door after door which otherwise he might hopefully enter. .And while this thought should make us very considerate and gentle with any who thus spend life under infirmities, it should also serve to impress the one lesson we are learning from Mephibosheth's life, viz. that too much care cannot be shown in dealing with the young, tender, imperilled life of our children. .All this man's troubles were the fruitage of the fall in his childhood. IV. THE MEASURE OF JIII.ASTERY OVER FRAILTY GAINED BY A SINCERE PIETY j or, to put it in Christian form, by a full consecration of heart and life to Christ. This is seen in :M:ephibosheth, whose piety finds expression in his submission under wrong. It is well illustrated in the life of Calvin, Melancthon, or Baxter, and in such frail men as Henry Martyn. The young man who was thought too weak-bodied to go as a missionary, nobly urged that "he wanted to give his very weakness to Christ." The history of Christ's Church most encouragingly records that God has ever found gracious ways in which feeble instruments might do his noblest works.-R. T,