be, where our Father God is, where our Rasband Christ Is, where our chief kiadred and acquaintance be, all the prophets and apostles and martyr~ of God departed are; that is our home, and thither should we go" (R. Harris). "I am now passing through the latest stage of my pilgrimage on earth. My sun is speedily going down; but ere it wholly disappear, its parting beams stream sweetly forth npon the face of all things, and cover all the horizon with a blaze of glory. My Father's house shines bright before my eyes. Its opening door invites me onward, and fills me with an earnest longing to be safe at home. My richest treasures and my dearest hopes are all packed up and gone before, while my whole soul is on the wing to follow after" (W. Gilpin). VI. His CONSIDERATE REGARD for the welfare of those who survive him. "Let thy servant Chimham go over," etc. (vers. 38, 40). He is not wholly absorbed in thoughts of past time or of his final rest; but is interested in the younger man now present with him, and sympathizes with his enjoyments and aspirations. He remembera his own youth. What he declines for himself, he seeks and obtains for his son (Jer. xii. 17). "When the king could not persuade the father, he gladly accepts the charge of his son. He seems to feel as if the care of this young man would bring comfort to his heart, which was still bleeding for the loss of Absalom. It was not in lightness that he made,tbe request, and when on his death-bed he remembered it and charged Solomon to show kindness to the son for the sake of what his father had done for him when he fled from the face of Absalom. In Barzillai we have (1) a man who knows that he is old/but is not distressed by the thought of it; (2) who is rich, but is satisfied with his natural possessions ; (3) of long experience, who has kept up his love of simple pleasures; (4):and is attached to the past, but does not distrust the future n (John Ker). "It is a .very reasonable conjecture of Grotius, that David, having a patrimony in the field.of Bethlehem, the place of his nativity, bestowed it on Barzillai's son; and from thence this place took the name of Chimham, which remained unto the days of Jeremiah ".(Patrick). His descendants continue for ages to partake of the fruit of his piety 9:1;1d benefice~_ce, to perpetuate his name and honour his memory (Ezra ii. 61 ; Neh. vu. 63; Ps. cu. 28).-D. Ver. 6.-Loving enemies and hating friends. "Thon lovest thine enemies, and batest thy friends.". Joab's remonstrance with David was rude, and in the laoguage of exaggeration; yet in substance it was wise, as the issue proved. The king's lamen- tations did show excessive love for his deceased son, who had been his deadly enemy; and his abandonment of himself to grief when he ought to have been thanking his brave. friends as they returned from the battle, and congratulating them on the victory they had won for him, did indicate a present insensibility to their services and claims which might easily be construed as enmity. It is, however, no unusual thing for men to love their enemies and hate their friends ; or at least, by their conduct, to give good reason for others to charge them with doing so. I. THOSE DO, BO .WHO LOVE ERROR AND HATE THE TRUTH. For truth is one of our best friends, error one of our worst enemies. Moral and religious truth especially is life, health, guidance, happiness, to the soul; it leads to God and goodness and heaven. But error in such matters is death, disease, delusion; producing false peace and leading to destruction. Yet men often love the errors which favour what they are inclined to, and hate the truth which shows them their duties, sins, and dangers. They "love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil" (John iii. 19). "l!'ools hate knowledge ".(Prov. i. 22). Hence they love false teachers and hate the true. "I hate liim," said Ahab of Micaiah, "for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil" (1 Kings xxii. 8). II. '!'HOSE WHO LOVE THEIR LOWER RATHER THAN THEIR HIGHER SELF. Our lower nature is good in itself, but is very prone to run to excess, and become evil. Then, from a friend, it is transformed into an enemy. Our higher nature is a friend, espe- cially when informed and directed by the Holy Spirit. Man's worth and blessedness depend on his obeying the latter and subduing the former. Too often, however, he takes the opposite course, yielding himself to the government of the flesh, and resisting the promptings of the spirit. Ill. THOSE WHO LOVE THE WICKED AND HATE THE GOOD. Associating with the former and finding pleasure in their practices, but avoiding the society of the latter; 488 THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMU:EL, [ olr, XIX. 1-43,
loving flBtwrerB, Bnd bating faithful reproverB and advis11rs, Ungodly and unholy men Brc ncceeHrily, though it may be unconsciously and unintentionally, the enemies of the souls of those whom they influence, whether by conversation or example• and the more attractive they are, llO much the more dangerous. "Evil company' doth corrupt good manner11" ( 1 Cor. xv. 33, Revised Version). IV. THOSE 'WHO DELIGHT IN BAD nooKS, AND DISLIKE AND NEGLE0T GOOD ONES. Good books are good friends, promoting in us that which is JlO()d. The Bible is the best of books. Bad books, books which suggest and foster evil, are enemies; and the more they interest their readers, the more they injure them. Yet many delight in them, and dislike the books which would profit them. V. 'l'HOSE, IN A WORD, WHO LOVE, IF NOT SAT.AN, ms WAYS, AND LIVE IN ENMITY WITH GoD AND CeaIST. Satan is our chief enemy, the head and ruler of all other spi_ritue.l foes. He seeks our ruin by manifold devices, and, so that we serve him, is quite content that we should do so in the fashion we most approve. We may join which company of bis servants-the coarser or the more refined, the open or the secret -we may prefer. But to follow him in any way is, in effect, to love our worst enemy. Christ, on the other b1.nd, and God in him, is our best Friend, who loves us most truly and most wisel.v, who has made greater sacrifices for us than any other can make, who has done for us what no other can do, who proffers us blessings beyond the power of any other to confer, who exalts those who love him to a position of honour and happi- ness to which no other e&n raise their friends, and lives on to bless them when others die and pass away. To reject him, to refuse him the love, allegiance, and obedience which he claims, is, in effect, to hate the Friend who is most of all needed by us, and most worthy to be loved with all the power of loving which our hearts possess. Let those to whom these representations apply reflect on the sin and folly of which they are guilty; the incalculable good they are losing; the incalculable evils they are choosing. Their ey~ will at length be opened; may it be in time !-G. W.