News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-08-08
THE |. S. S. LESSON.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
AUGUST II.
Lesson Text: SamueIs Farewell
Address," 4 Sam. xii, 1-15-
Golden Text: 1 Sam. xii,
24-COmmentary.

| After the servant passed on leaving Saul
ana Samuel alone Samuel took a vial of oil
and Amounted Saul captain over the Lords
Inheritance, at the same time telling him Of
several events which would happen to him as
! he returned home; all of which signs came to
nm that day. Soon after that Saul was pub
Ecly elected and ordained as king, the Lord
ordering the lot In the instruction of Sam
uel to Saul that memorable day there Is one
sentence which l believe it is the privilege of
every true follower of Jesus to appropriate
and enjoy, and yet find but few have noticed
10, ~ Is tb IN chapter 4 DO as occasion
helpful precept and 1 find great comfort in
1t. May every reader appropriate it.
l. and Samuel said unto all Israel" The
place of to-day's lesson is Gilgal, the first
camping ground of Israel in the promised
land, after they crossed the Jordan, where
the twelve stones from Jordan were set up
the people clrcumcised and the reproach of
Egypt rolled away, the passover kept, and
Joshua's headquarters from which he set out
and to which he returned as he subdued the
land where, also, they had just now been
Offering sacrifice and renewing the kingdom
Chap. XII, IA, 15)
2. And now, behold the king walketh be-
Tore you" When Samuel says in the first
verse that he had hearkened unto their voice
ana made them king he was speaking as
Gods representative, for in verse 13 he saws:
The Lord hath set king over you;n and
whatever Samuel did he did as Gods servant
and as in His sight; if the new king would do
likewise all might yet be well
Il have walked before you from my child
hood until this day" There are two sides to
your life and mine as well as to that of Sam
uel, that which is seen of men and that which
is seen only by God. The outward words and
acts and the motives back of all; happy the
man whose first thought always is, 'What
does God think of this? and governs himself
accordingly.
3. ''Witness against me before the Lord"
With all his life from his youth up lived be-
fore the people, he now asks them to testify
if they have ever known him to defraud, or
Cypress or take bride; he places himself be-
fore the Lord and asks their closest scrutiny,
ready to make anything right which they
may say has been wrong
4. Thou hast not defrauded US nor 3D.
pressed us, neither hast thou taken aught of
any mans hand" Surely here is a righteous
man, one against whom, like Daniel, they
could find none occasion nor fault; for as
much as he was faithful neither was there
any error of fault found in him DAN vi. ~;
and this life he began to live as child, and
any boy OF girl may begin to-day to live the
same righteous life and live it all their days
on the earth, for the same Holy Spirit who
lived this life in Samuel and Daniel, and in
many others, is ready to live it again in any
one who is willing to let Him.
5. 1.-THE Lord is witness against youn
Their testimony to Samuels faithfulness was
their own condemnation; his faithfulness tes
titled against their unfaithfulness; their ac-
acknowledgement of his righteousness was their
own evidence against their unrighteOusness;
to believe God is to condemn self and to re-
ject the counsel of God against self, as did
the lawyers in the time of Christ luke vii
30), is to condemn God and confess ourselves
His enemies.
6. 1T is the Lord that advanced zap
pointed, r. W Moses and Aaron and that
brought your fathers out of the land of
Egypt" Samuel would not keep them face
to face with God and remind them of His
love to them and His gracious dealings with
them, as when Paul tells us in Acts xvii,
A-2S, that it is God who giveth to all life aud
breath, and all things and that in Him VIC
live and move and have our being; or a.
when Daniel said to Delshazzar: ''The God
in whose hand thy breath is, and whose arc
all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." dan
", 49,
T. Snow, therefore, stand still, that may
reason with you before the Lord of all the
righteous acts of the Lord" Or as in verse
"a, consider how great things He hath done
for you, and therefore fear the Lord, and
serve Him in truth with all your heart.
s. Your fathers cried unto the Lord, then
the Lord sent Moses and Aaron" Samuel re
minds them first how God heard the cry from
the iron furnace of Egypt and delivered them
and brought them into the land of Canaan.
This great dehverance from cruel bondage
VI
honey ought to have been enough to bind
them forever to such a deliverer in the most
loving and grateful service, but alas for hui
man ingratitude; and are not Christians to-
day just as bad, when many who profess
to have received the forgiveness of sins and
deliverance from the bondage of Satan seem
so ungrateful that instead of serving the
Lord constantly and wholly, they do not even
seem to acknowledge Him as their Lord, or
think their delverance worth mentioning.
fl,,NT SNV-1 fl,..fY. (1xN1.
r they cried unto the Lord;
the Lord sent and delivered" This covers
the history of the nation for about $50 years,
or from the first of the judges until Samuel
ACTS xiii, 20 when, notwithstanding their
oft repeated transgressions, forsakings and
dolatry, as soon as they truly repented and
cried unto the Lord, He sent them judge.
who delivered them and caused them to dwcI'
in safety How sad that they should forsakc
forget and grieve such u gracious God, ht
how wonderful that He should again and
again forgive them and shower His ncrciu
upon them.
10, 10 Now, therefore, behold the kin.
whom We have chosen, whom ye have df
sired" God had given them the desire q.
their hearts and they now had a king hike
other nations but it was ON their part a dc
parture from Il t5ls reliance upon God, and
putting of a man In His place. The SAME
sin is manifest now when the people OIL Goa Ill
any way lean on an arm of flesh rather than
on the almighty arm of the unseen but ever
present Lord Jesus Christ.
IA, Is. Continue following the Lord your
Cod Although they have sinned, and God
has given them their desire, yet here is a way
of blessing still left to them. If they and
their king will fear the Lord as Samuel did,
and serve Him and obey His voice, and not
rebel against Him, then the hand Of the Lord
will still be upon them for good; but if not,
His hand will be against them as in the days
of the Judges eSSon Helper.