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fortless our prospects were He to withdraw His energies! "It is the Spirit that quickeneth."

Finally, fire tends upwards. From every position it will always ascend; place it "under a bushel," take it down to the bowels of the earth, and gradually it will work itself to the surface. Hence the volcanic eruptions that so frequently take place, spreading devastation and death within their reach. When the Spirit works in the heart, the soul is drawn heavenwards. Whether a man be in a church or in a cloister, in a cave or on the mountain top, in private or in public, at home or abroad; nothing can prevent his aspirations from tending upwards. The beloved disciple in the Isle of Patmos, and John Bunyan in the prison of Bedford, could ascend in contemplation to heaven, and hold communion with their God. Every exercise of the Spirit's graces tends towards heaven. Faith goes up in confidence to explore the things that are at God's right hand; desire mounts as on eagle's wings to seek them, hope ascends to claim and appropriate them as her own, and love arising above the earth is absorbed in embracing them. As the treasure is above, the heart is there also; the whole soul is raised to contemplate heavenly and eternal objects.

But in conclusion, the text represents Christ coming to baptize with a baptism of fire in respect to His enemies, as well as His saints. By the same metaphor, He appears in a way of comfort to His children, and in a way of terror to His enemies. He is a fire unto both. He sits in His Church as a refiner by fire. He is among His enemies as a consumer by fire; a fire by which His people may take comfort, a fire by which His enemies must perish. Let the former be our lot; let us pray to be baptized with the purifying fire of the Holy Ghost, then shall we ascend in its ambient flame to where sin and sorrow can find no home.

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The Fourth Sunday after Trinity.

EVENING SERVICE.-First Lesson: 1 Sam. xiii.

Verses 13, 14.- "And Samuel said unto Saul, thou hast done foolishly: Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee; for now would the Lord establish thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee."

SAUL was exalted to a high station from a low position. He not only derived his origin from a low family, but also belonged to the smallest tribe in Israel. Some time before the days of Samuel the tribe of Benjamin was reduced by the consequences of an act of immorality to the number of six hundred men. From this insignificance it was never restored to any distinction as a tribe, but was afterwards incorporated with the tribe of Judah. This teaches us the solemn lesson that sin always bears in its train the retinue of poverty and disgrace. Saul's father was a husbandman, and devoted himself to his own private vocation. It is said that he was a mighty man of power," which refers to his physical strength, and not to any public authority which he possessed. God, in His providence, often chooses men of low degree to accomplish His purposes; and we are told by Samuel why Saul was chosen to be king over Israel. His qualification for the office seems to have been confined to his personal appearance. We are told that "there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he, from his shoulders and upwards he was higher than all the people." It must be remembered

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that Saul was the people's king, and not God's king. It is true that God instructed Samuel to select and anoint him to be their king; but it was in answer to their request to give them a king, "like other nations." Other nations at the time chose their kings from among men of the highest stature. Consistently with that a king was given to Israel. God and man see differently. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God regards the heart. The giant in body may be fit to rule men; but the great in mind are those who can please God. He listened to the people, and "gave them a king in His wrath," who should despise and oppress them. This He did because they persisted in having him after the faithful description given by Samuel of his character, chap. viii. 11-22. If at your leisure you will compare the character of Saul with the standard of God's choice, as detailed in Deut. xvii. 15-20, you will find that he was a king of human, not of divine, appointment.

To reduce the text to practical use we shall observe, first, the culpable points in Saul's character which displeased God, and, secondly, the serious consequences arising from those points.

I. The culpable points in Saul's character which displeased God.

We find that they were more of a negative than of a positive nature. There is no charge of any gross immorality brought against him throughout the whole of his history. Indeed, in this respect he excelled many of his successors, who professed to be better men. Even David and Solomon fell short of his example in external morals. However, his negative sins were highly blameable and offensive, which ought to serve as a beacon to warn us from adopting the same course.

Those sins may be considered under four heads. 1, impatience; 2, irreverence; 3, hypocrisy; and 4, disobedience. 1. Saul was guilty of the sin of impatience.

To this may be attributed the harshness which characterized his conduct throughout the whole of his reign. From the

time he went out to seek his father's asses until he voluntarily fell upon his own sword on Mount Gilboa, this was his constant failure. This was his first step towards losing the kingdom. If he had waited a few hours later for Samuel at Gilgal, who came after all within the appointed time, he would not, at least at that time, have incurred the sentence, "But now thy kingdom shall not continue." Alas! many kingdoms, many favours, many blessings, both temporal and spiritual, have been lost for the lack of this virtue. It is a characteristic which adorns the Christian profession, and commends us especially to the favour of God.

Impatience arises from want of trust. Thus it did in the case of Saul. Samuel had promised to meet him at Gilgal on the seventh day. That day had arrived,-it was fast wearing out,-Saul's impatience could not wait to see the close, for in the evening Samuel arrived. Why not have believed his word knowing that he had a Divine commission? How many instances of this kind there are in connexion with ourselves. God has given us great and precious promises; we expect their fulfilment in our time. God's time may not correspond. We mistrust His faithfulness, and take things into our own hands. This will not do: we thus incur His displeasure. Another instance of Saul's impatience was the rash command which he gave the people in the day of battle, not to eat any food in pursuing the enemy, saying with an oath, "Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day." The impetuosity of his temper on that occasion involved the loss of a much greater slaughter among the Philistines, and nearly cost his son Jonathan his life. Impatience leads to irritability. Unless the man obtains his desires at once his spirit becomes chafed, causing the greatest unhappiness to himself and all around him. This was evidently the evil spirit from the Lord which came upon Saul. It led him onward to all kinds of absurdities, and even incited him to kill David, the only man who was capable of soothing him in his distress.

2. Irreverence was another offensive trait in Saul's cha

racter. This was a uniform failure. When young, even his

servant knew more than he of the man of God. Any instance of reverence for Divine things drew forth remarks of surprise from his neighbours. When, on his return from his first interview with Samuel, he met with a company of prophets praising God, and being seized with their spirit he joined in that exercise, the surprise was so great that it occasioned the proverb, "Is Saul, the son of Kish, among the prophets?" From his history we may conclude that he never was what is properly called a changed man—never graciously renewed by the Holy Spirit, as every true believer is. He had "another heart," it is true; but it was a royal one, not a new and clean one; it was a spirit to govern, not a spirit to pray. Had this radical and spiritual change been effected in him, we should not find him uniformly disobeying God's command, making rash vows, manifesting horrible jealousy, becoming a prey to evil passions, being given up of God to work all manner of folly, even so far as to consult a witch. We see him, alas! throughout the whole of his life but a carnal man, upon whom external gifts and honours had been unmeritedly bestowed, but who possessed no genuine love towards God, nor hope for eternity. He built an altar for the first time unto the Lord, after his conquest of the Philistines; but it seemed more for show than for real worship, for he suggested that they should go and pursue the Philistines by night, and "spoil them until the morning," without waiting to consult the Lord at the altar which he had built. A practical remark suggests itself here; however costly may be the altars that may be raised, or sumptuous the sacrifices which may be offered, if we have no true reverence for God, we cannot expect a blessing to rest on any of our pursuits.

3. Saul was a hypocrite. There was no reality in his actions, especially in things pertaining to religion. We would not judge him too harshly, but there are no marks of sincerity to be traced in his conduct. His massacre of the Gibeonites, whom the Hebrews had bound themselves with a solemn oath to protect, his malicious treatment of David

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