Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-08-08
SABBATH SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
AUGUST IL.
Lesson Text: "Samuers Farewell
Address, 1 Sam xiL, 1-15-
Golden Text: 1 Sam. xiii,
"a - Commentary.

...
After the servant passed on leaving Saul
and Samuel alone, Samuel took q vial Of oil
and annointed Saul captain over the Lords
Inheritance, at the same time telling hun of
several events which would happen to him as
be returned home: all Of which signs came 10
him 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 believe it Is the privilege OF
every true follower Of Jesus to appropriate
and enjoy, and yet find but few have noticed
1t; 1t Is In chapter T., Z: do as occasion
serve thee, for God Is with thee" It is q
helpful precept, and find great comfort In
1t. May every reader appropriate It,
!. "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 circumcised 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
tChap. H. II. 15.l
2. And now, behold, the king walketh be-
fore you" When Samuel SAYS In the first
verse that he had hearkened unto their voice
and made them king he was speaking as
Gods representative, for In verse Is he says:
''The Lord hath set king over you;" and
Whatever Samuel did he did as Gods servant
and as In His sight; II thene king would do
likewise all might yet be well.
Il have walked before you from nv 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 thiss and governs himself
accordingly.
8. 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
oppress or take bribe; he places himself be-
fore the Lord and asks their closest scrutiny.
ready to make anything right which they
may say has been wrong. . '2El'
4. Thou hast not defrauded us nor op-
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, A /:
and this life be began to live as a child, and
sany boy or 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.
3. THE Lord is witness against YOU"
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.
3O, IS to condemn God and confess ourselves
His enemies. .s.
8. ut is the Lord that advanced tap-
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,
24-26, that it is God who giveth to all life and
breath, and all things, and that in Him we
live and move and have our being; or as
when Daniel said to Delshazzar: 1.-The God
in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are
all thy ways, hast thou not glorifed." dan.
z. snow, therefore, stand still, that may
reason with you before the Lord of all the
righteous acts Of the Lord" Or as in verse
q, consider how great things He hath done
for you, and therefore fear the Lord, and
serve Him in truth with all your heart! Z.
8. 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 deliverance from cruel bondage
and gift OF land flowing with milk and
honey ought to have been enough to bind
them forever to such deliyerer in the most
loving and grateful service, but alas for hui
man ingFatitude; and are not Christians to-
day just as bad, when SO many who profess
to have received the forgiveness of sins and
deliverance from the bondage of Satan seem
SO ungratefnl that, instead of serving the
Lord constantly and wholly, they do not even
seem to acknowledge Him as their Lord, or
think their deliverance worth mentioning.
| Oil, ''They forgat the Lord their God; .
they cried unto the Lord; y I"
the Lord sent and delivered" This covers
the history of the nation for about 450 years,
or from the first of the judges until Samuel
(Acts xiii, 20), when, notwithstanding their
oft repeated transgressions, forsakings and
idolatry, as soon as they truly repented and
cried unto the Lord, He sent them judges
who delivered them and caused them to dwell
in safety. How sad that they should forsake,
forget and grieve such gracious God, but
how wonderful that He should again and
again forgive Ghem ana shower his mercleB
upon them. FI' .'i-
II, 13. "Now, therefore, behold the king
whom ye have chosen, whom ye have de-
sired" God had given them the desire Of
their hearts and they now had a king like
other nations, but it was on their part de-
parture from sole reliance upon God, and
putting Of man in His place. The same
sin is manifest now when the peol le of God in
any way lean on an arm Of flesh rather than
on the almighty arm Of the unseen but ever
present Lord Jesus Christ. ,i,as f:, i '.a5
IA, 15. Continue following the Lord your
God" Although they have sinned, and God
has given them their DESIRE yet here is 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 stin be upon them for good; but if not,
His hand win be against them as in the days
Of the judges. s.-Lesson Helper.
a.