are parts of 11. great complex whole, and their worth in any particular concrete instl\nce depends on antecedent and concomitant facts. 'fher:i is a gradation or obligations, and virtues in name cease to be virtues in reality when they appear in isolation, or con- 11equent on a <lisregard of a higher law. The men of Israel were bound to Jove their country, and to show love to it by asserting the rights of their ruler. But nt the samo time they were bound to follow the guidance of God; to submit to his supremo will; and, making this the standard of feeling e.nd action, to modify the form of expresNlng love to country and ruler accordingly. Now, the men of I11racl, especie.lly the leaders, ought to have known, from the events and words of Samuel's life, and, indeed, from the manifest interposition in favour of David and against Saul, that it was the Divine will the.t they should not oppose David; that, in fact, love of country was to show itself in acoeptiug whom God had chosen. Any personal interest, therefore, which they may have felt in a son of Saul, and any re,_"&rd for what they deemed the good of their native land, should have shaped it.s form of expression in hRrmony with their primary and higher obligation. The principle is of wide range. Any passion for our country and sovereign must be exercised within the limits of a higher love. If so-called patriotism involves hatred of men as men, or injustice to them, or national selfishness, then it is • violation of the second great commandment. If upholding a ruler and seeking to subdne a nei.e:hbouring ruler involves a contravention of God's will, revealed in the order of manifest Providence or Scripture, then it is a spurious patriotism. Human feelings are not the tests of truth. II. BLE!o."DED IGNORANCE AND PASSION ENTAIL• SUFFERmG AND BLOW PROGRESS IN NATIONAL LIFE. Had Israel been alive to the lessons which God was teaching them all through the life of Saul, by means of Samuel and David and Jonathan, they would never have allowed the sentiment of interest in a monarch's son to have developed into a strong aversion to David and a passionate effort to expel him from Judah. Con-, sidering all the facts of the case, there is no valid excuse for their ignorance, and, therefore, none for their feelings, even though patriotism be pleaded. Thus we see how neglect t.o gather up and use the lessons of Providence, slight an evil as it may seem to be at the time, really is tbe aeed-sowing of the innumerable miseries of a civil war. If, during those painful years of contention, the energies of men are diverted from industrial channels into th11 wasting channels of war, and if, consequently, national progress is retarded, the cause is to be found in the domination of ignorance and passion. So has it been again and again. That t1oz populi has always been t100: Dei is little less than blasphemy. Generaticms looking back on their ancestors see how wars and strifes took their rise in stupidity; and yet, too often, there is an unwillingness to pause lest the same evil be repeated. 'l'he woes that have come upon nations in consequence of war are a dark foil, setting forth in wondrous light the wisdom and sweet reasonableness of the gospel of Christ. If peoples would find the clue to progressive national development, let them accept and pnt into practice the sober, generous precepts and principles of the New Testament. '!'his harmony of Christ's religion with economic law is no feeble strand in the evidence of its Divine origin. Ill. THE GREAT EIIBOR OF LEADERS TOO OFTEN LIEB IN THEIR INDISPOBITION TO TRACE OUT THE LEADINGS OF THE HlGHER LAW. Abner's suggestion that the dispute shoul<i be settled by combat of twelve on ea.eh side was an appearance of humanity and sobriety as compared with the indiscriminate use of force. But in the light of reason it is absurd; for right cannot be constituted by chance superiority of might. The complication in which he found himself was simply the result of previous indisposition to find out the Divine meaning of Samuel's dealings with Saul and of Jonathan's com- pact with David (1 Sam. xiii. 11-!6 ; xv. 24-31; xv!, 6-1? ; xx. 12-;7;. cf. xvi. 57 • xxv.i. 3-16). It had been easier to follow the family feeling and officml impulse (1 Sam. xiv. 50; ob. ii 8, 9) than to look at private and public interests in the light of such revelations of God's will as were then available. It is a good maxim in m9ral questions that :first promptings are best. The voice of conscience is quick to Rpeak, even though in low tone. Most probably Abner recognized that voice teJling of God's will io David. But where there is an unwilliugi.ess, because of personal or other interests, to give heed to that voice, it soon becomes easier to follow the lower impulses; and wheu once on the -slippery incline of lower impulse, every movement adds to the momentum downwards. Herein lies the danger of our public men. They especially an. u. 1-32,] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 47
need the "light of the Lord." Expediency and wrong principles gain on them uncon- sciously In so for RS they lose the primary sensitiveness of conscience. The contagion of their spirit and conduct e.ffects tho lower orders. They will have no difficulty in finding men willing, under the cover of pe.triotic sentiment, to enter the "field of sharp edges," 11nd kill a.ad be killed. Hence, it behoves preachers and all good men to bring the light of the higher law of life to bear wHh all its clearness and directness on the minds of those In authority,