The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-12-28

| Egypt
destroy all that they have, and spare them not
but Stay both man and woman, infant and
sucking, OK and sheep, camel and ass.
4. And Saul gathered the people together
and numbered them in Team two hundred
thousand footmen, and ten thousand men OF
Judah
8. And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and
laid wait in the valley.
6. And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, de-
part, get you down from among the Amalekites,
lest destroy you with them for We showed
kindness to all the children of Israel, when they
came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed
from among the Amalekites
7. And Saul smote the Amalekites from
| Havilah until thou contest to Shur that is over
against Egypt.
8. And he took Agag the king of the Amalek-
ties alive, and utterly destroyed all the people
with the edge of the sword
8. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and
the best of the sheep and of the oxen, and of
the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that .1cas
good, and would not utterly destroy them but
every thing that ,cas vile and refuse, that they
destroyed utterly.
10. Then came the word of the Lord unto
Samuel, saying
| II. 1t repenteth me that have set up Saul
to be king for he is turned back from following
me, and hath not performed my command
unto the Lord all night
II. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul
in the morning it was told Samuel, saying, Saul
came to Carmel, and, behold he set him up a
place, and is gone about, and passed on, and
gone down to Gilgal
13. And Samuel came to Saul and Saul said
unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord l have
performed the commandment of the Lord.
ID. And Samuel said, What medneth then this
bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the 10 "
ing of the oxen which hear?
10. And Saul sand, They have brought them
from the Amalekites: for the people spared the
be of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice
unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have
utterly destroyed
l6. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and
will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me
this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
II. And Samuel said, When thou l0ast little
in thine own sight, aoast thou not made the head
of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord Amounted
thee king over Israel?
is. And the Lord sent thee on journey, and
said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the
Amalekites and fight against them until they be
consumed.
10. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the
voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil
and didst evil in the sight of the Lord
20. And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, l have
obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone
the way which the Lord sent me, and have
brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have
utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
q. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and
oxen, the chief of the things which should have
been utterly destroyed, tosacrifce unto the Lord
thy God in Gilgal.
%. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great
delight IN burnt offerings and sacrifices as in
obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey
IS better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the
fat of -us.
%. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and dolatry
Because thou hast rejected the word OF the
Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being
king.
"a. And Saul said unto Samuel, have sin
ned for have transgressed the commandment
of the Lord, and thy words: because feared the
people, and obeyed their voice..
20. Now therefore, pray thee, pardon my
sin, and turn again with me- that l may worship
the Lord
26. And Samuel said unto Saul, Will not
return with thee for thou hast rejected the word
of the Lord, and the Lord hath reiecte thee
from being king over Israel
27. And as Samuel turned about to 90 away,
he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it
rent.
rs. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord
hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this
day, and hath given it to neighbour of thine
that Is better than thou.
20. And also the Strength of Israel will not
lie nor repent for he is not man, that he
should repent.
80. Then he said, have sinned yet honour
me now, / pray thee, before the elders of my
people, and before Israel, and turn again With
me, that may worship the Lord thy God.
81. So Samuel turned again after Saul; and
Saul worshipped the Lord.
: 80. Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to
me Agag the king of the Amalekites And
Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag
said, Surely the bitterness Of death is past
80. And Samuel said AS thy sword hath made
women chIldless, 80 shall thy mother be childless
among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in
pieces before the Lord in Gilgal
"a. Then Samuel went to Ramah and Saul
went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul
80. And Samuel came no more to see Saul
until the day of his death nevertheless Samuel
mourned for Saul and the Lord repented that
he had made Saul king over Israel.
There are many who go their own way,
and say, II have performed the com
mandment of the Lord !" but if the pro-
phet could revisit the earth, and come
unto them as he did unto Saul, he would
ask, " What meaneth then this bleating
Of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing
Of the oxen which hear?"
Examine yourself, my friend, ere it be
too late, whether in your department and
conduct as a Christian, some tell-tale