"Man in himself ho.d ever lacked the means Of satisfaction. . . . Then behoved That God should by his own ways lead him back Unto the life from whence he fell, restored; By both hie ways, I mean, or one alone. Bnt since the deed is ever prized the more. The more the doer's good intent appears; Goodness celestial, whose broad signature Is on the universe, of all its ways To raise ye up, was fain to leave ont none. Nor aught so vast or so magnificent, Either for him who gave or who received, Between the last night and the primll.l day, Was or can be. For God more bounty ebow'u, Giving himself to make man capable Of hie return to life, then had the terms Been mere and unconditional release. And for his justice, .every method else Were all too scant, liad not the Son of God Humbled himself to put on mortal flesh." (Dante, • Para.!iRe,' vii.)
3. Numerous messages, efficient motives, and gracious influences,_ in ~on_ne~tio1;1 with that provision, to dispoi.e him to av~ himself_ thereof: the Word, with its inv1tat10ns, warn- ings, appeals to reason, affection, conscience, hope and fear_;. mes~e~gers ~ver•. 31)- ministers and teachers of the Word; above all, the Holy Spmt, stnvmg WJth srnners, convicting of sin, etc. (John xvi 8), and renewing th? heart in righ~ousness. 4. The t:nd of all is reconciliation (ver. 33) filial fellowsh1p, perfect holiness, and endless blessedness in God. " Return;" "Be' ye reco.nciled to God." , . CoNCLUSION. 1. How wonderful is "the kwdness of God our Saviour, and h~~- love toward man" (Titus iii. 4) ! 2. How entirely is man hi.l: own destroyer (Hoe. xm. ~) I 3. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also o•Jght to love on~ another;". and to dev111e mcD.Ill! in order that no "banished one" may be utterly barushed from him. Oil, XIV, 1-3,1,] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL 359
" Oh let the dee.cl now hear thy voice ; Now let thy banished onea rejoice." D. Ver. 20.-Flattery. "My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God," etc. Commendation is often proper an<l beneficial (cb. ii. 5---7). But flattery (false, partial, or extravagant praise) is always improper and pernicious. This JanaL1age wns not mere Oriental compliment, but a flattering speech, intended to make the,,ki~" pleased with himself in doing what he was urged to do. 1. It is agreeable to most pe1·eons when skilfully administered. "Flattery and the flatterer are pleaoant · since tle flatterer is a seeming admirer and a seeming friend" (Aristotle,' Rhetoric'). ' " When I tell him he be.tes flatterers, He says he does; being then most flattered." (Sbakespee.re.) "We believe that we hate flattery, when all which we hate is the awkwardness of the flatterer" (La Rochefoncault). 2. It assumes various forms, and is usually obsequious and disingenuous; is direct or indirect; is shown in praisin~ personal qualities, advan- tages, achievements, etc., giving" flattering titles" (Job xxxii. 31-32), "good l\faster" (Mark x. 17; xii. 14), "my Lord," etc. Making or suggesting favourable comparisons, it ma.y be, by detracting from the good name of others (eh. iv. 8). It is sometimes sincere; but "people generally despise where they flatter and cringe to those they would gladly surpass." 3. It is commonly designed by those who employ it to serve somo interest of their own (ver. 22). Hence it is so frequently used to gain the favour of kings, and such as posses~ authority, influence, or wealth (Jude 16). ·when Alex- ander ,the Great was hit with an arrow in the siege of an Indian city, and the wound would not heal, he said to his flatterers, "You say that I am Jupiter's son, but this wound cries that I am but man." 4. It blinds those who listen to it to their defects, ministers to their vanity, and fills them with perilous self-complacency. "It's the death of virtue." 5. It also induces them to pursue erroneous and sinful courses, which they might otherwise have avoided. "A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet" (Prov. xxix. 5 ; xxvi. 28). "Ah! bow good might many men have been who are now exceedingly bad had they not sold their ears to flatterers! Flatterers are soul-murderers. Flattery is the very spring and mother of all impiety. It put our first parent on ta.sting the forbidden fruit. It put Absalom upon dethroning his father, It blows the trumpet and draws poor souls into rebellion against God, as Sheba drew Israel to rebel against David. It makes men call evil good and good evil, darkness light and light darkness" (T. Brooks). 6. It is only less culpable in those who listen to it than in those who employ it. They are willing captives. "As a wolf resembles a dog, so doth a flatterer a friend. Take heed, therefore, that, instead of guardian dogs, you do not incautiously admit ravening wolves" (Epictetus). 7. Its folly and guilt are sometimes discovered too late; when its ruinous consequences cannot be repaired (eh. xv. 13; Ps. xii. 3; Acts xii. 23).-D.
Ver. 25.-Physical beauty. "And in all Israel there was none to be so much prnise,l as Absalom for his beauty," etc. (see 1 Sam. xvi. 7, 12; eh. xi. 2; xiii. 1; ver. ~7). "Of e.11 God's works, which do this world adorn, There is no one more fair e.nd excellent Thun is man's body, both for power and form, Whilst it is kept in sober government; But none than it more foul and indecent, Distempered through misrule aud passions base: It grows a monster, and incontinent Doth lose its dignity and ne.tive grace: Behold, who list, boih one e.nd other in this place " (Spenser, 'The Faerie Queeue,' canto IX.) ltis- I. AN ADMIIlED ENDOWMENT; involunto.rily conferred, without personal effort and beyond humnn control (Matt. v. 36; vi. 27); yet one of the most personal and enviabl~ THE SFJCOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. [Ott, XIV, 1-83,