Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-09-12
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON FOR SUNDAY, SEPT. 10
"Qavid Spares SAUL" Sam, xiv,
4,17-Golden Tex, Rom xiI., Fl.

4. sand the men of David said unto him,
Behold the day, Of which the Lord said unto
thee" Saul, who so persistently sought
David's life. is now completely In Davidt
power and his men seem to suggest that now
he slay him; but as David himself had cried
"Be merciful unto me, o God, be merciful
unto me" (Ps. Ii, and Title), so he would
show mercy even to Saul. and is content tN
lay no hand upon him, but simply cut of the
skirt of his robe privily to show him after
ward that he had him in his power. Jesui
our King could any moment overthrow and
Danish Satan forever from this earth, and
He will do it in due time, but He is content
to wait patiently, and permit His people and
His earth to groan little longer.
5. 'David's heart smote him because h1
had cut off Sauls skirt" Even for asserting
this slight token Of his power, he feels con,
demned. His enemy was off his guard and
unable to defend himself, and David would
rather meet an enemy, if he must be met, al
he met the lion and the bear and Goliath
in open fight, that the power of God might bj
manifest. There is nothing of the Spirit oi
Christ in secret sayings or doings which viii
not bear the light.
6. 1.-THE Lord forbid that l should do thiI
thing unto my Master, the Lords anointed.'
Here is another view of the case; Saul was
not acting like the anointed Of the Lord
should act, his life did not testify in that di
rection, but as to his Office he was ''thS
anointed of the Lord, " and therefore respon
sible to God to act as such; and if he failed
it was for the Lord and notfor David to deal
with him. Two great practical thoughts are
presented here: II we are children of God by
faith Of Christ Jesus, then we have received
the Spirit, and are anointed kings and priesti
unto God, and are responsible every day ia
walk worthy of our High Calling; and on
the other hcud, though failure and even sin
may be manifest in the lives of the anointed
Of the Lord, it is for their Lord and not fol
their fellows to judge and chasten them.
z. $50 David stayed his servants with
these words; y y Saul rose up out d
the cave and went his way" We may do
very much by kind words and the manifesto.
tion of Christ-like spirit to hinder other,
from speaking against or touching in any
way the anointed of the Lord. We should
remember that it is written, "He that touch
eth you toucheth the apple of His eyeH
(Zech. H., 81 Every redeemed one, however
full of failure, is dear to God; even Israel, in
all her sins, He called 'the dearly beloved OF
His SOUL" Jer. xii, ~ Saul, rising up
and going his way, unconscious of the loss Of
a part Of his robe, reminds us that when we
are not in the Lords way we may lose many
things and yet be unconscious of it.
s. David u Il cried after Saul, say
ing, My Lord the King * and stoopet
with his face to the earth" Notwithstanding
David's fears and ofttimes questionable con.
duct, here is truly humble and forgiving
spirit Whatever were his sins, his heart
was in the main right with God, and his fail
ures tell us the truth of that which he him
self wrote: "Verily, every man at his best
estate is altogether vanity" FPS. xxx, 81
9. "Wherefore nearest thou mems words,
hold ,, h,,,,ke
Saul had turned deaf ear to the words Of
God, and was giving heed to thelying andde
ceitful words of men, and was, therefore, fal
from the way of peace. The only rest oi
soul for man is upon the words and thought
of God; but how few, even among Chris
tians, rest quietly there? The words of thii
or that man, what some one has said or re.
ported, is constantly needed, and there is
therefore, such unrest, while all the while
the God Of peace is speaking peace and long.
ing to give peace to all who will hear Him.
As to the false reports that David sought
Sauls hurt, is it not commonly believed by
the unsaved that to be Christian would de
prive them of some happiness. or, in other
words, that Jesus is seeking their hurt?
10, II. "Some bade me kill thee; but mine
eye spared thee; + yet thou huntest
my soul to take it." Here David recounti
the incident in the cave and displays al
proof of the truth of it the part of Sauls robS
which he had cut off, thus testifying most
unmistakably that there was no evil in his
heart against Saul
12. 'The Lord judge between me and thee,
and the Lord avenge me Of thee; but my hand
David's part: this is surely casting his burden
upon the Lord Oh, what a resting place il
is; we have not to fight our own battles, for
it is God who fghteth for us; we have not to
defend our reputation, but commit all untd
Him: we have no revenge to take, but mas
much as whosoever toucheth us toucheth the
apple of Gods eye, just let Him see to it in
His own good time and way.
H. "Wickedness proceedeth from the
wicked, but mine hand shall not be upon
thee" If the boys of all our Sunday-schools
would act upon this principle and remem-
bering that wicked words and deeds proceed
from wicked hearts avoid all such, refusing
even, when injured by them, to lay a hand
upon them, it might be that some wicked
hearts would be won by such spirit and
learn of the new and clean heart which alone
can act in such way. If men and women
who bear the beautiful name of Jesus would
in this respect show more of His spirit, how
many they might win to Him.
IA. 'After whom dost thou pursue? After
a dead dog, after a fea." David was as
noi LiAese " Sau as ueau uoS, IOr ne ndu
no thought of doing him any injury; but
Saul, tempted by the evil spirit of envy which
had taken possession of him, fancied all
manner Of things against David, and his
fancies were helped by the liars and
slanderers about him. How many wretched
people live to-day who imagine that evil Is
surely coming to them from this or that
direction, while the truth is that the inn
aginary source of evil is as harmless as Q
dead dog or flea.
15 .'The Lord be judge, y II and see
and plead my cause and deliver me out of
thine hand" Judge nothing before the
time, until the Lord come" "We shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ"
EVERY one of us shall give account of him
self to Cod" These are some helpful words
OF the Holy Spirit upon this matter from the
New Testament.
16. Saul said: Is this thy voice, nv son
David? And Saul lifted up his voice and
wept." There are many such words and
tears nowadays, but they do not amount to
anything. That they did not mean much
from Saul at this time is evident from chap.
XVI, where we see him as hotly as ever pur-
suing. David to take his life. Saul had good
occasion to weep, for he had sinned greatly
against David and against God; and if his
tears had indicated true penitence, it had
Deen well for him; but he seems to stand with
Esau and Judas and others whose repentance
needed to be repented of, and whose sorrow
was not heart deep.
II. "And he said to David, Thou art
more righteous than I, for thou hasb reward
ed me good, whereas / have rewarded thee
evil. These are true words from Saufs lips,
and II You read to the end of the chapter and
notice all he said, and especially the words
about David and the kingdom, and il this
was the the last we ever heard of Saul, we might
say: We'll surely Saul is changed man.
for he could not otherwise talk this wavn
But alas for the wickedness of our iDcurabiv