The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-07-23
Mephibosheth had

which he holds toward my grandfather
Saul? It's too bad But go to the
| palace. Mephibosheth must, since the
king has commanded it. With staff
and crutches and helped by his friends,
see Mephibosheth going up the stairs
of the palace. hear his staff and
clutches rafting on the tessellated
] floor of the throne room. No sooner
have these two persons confronted
each other-Me phibosheth and David,
the king-than Mephibosheth throws
himself fat on his face before the
king, and styles himself a dead dog.
In the East when man styles himself
a dog, he utters the utmost term Of
self-abnegation. It is not a term so
strong in this country, where, if a dog
| has a fair chance, he sometimes shows
| more nobility Of character than some
| human specimens that we wot of; but
the NANCY ours Of the Oriental cities,
as | know by my own observation, are
| utterly detestable. Mephibosheth gives
| the utmost term of self loathing when
he compares himself to dog, and
| dead at that.
| Consider the analogy. When the
command is given from the palace of
heaven to the human soul to come. the
soul begins to tremble. It says, 'ttWhat
is God going to do with me now? Is
he going to destroy me? Is he going
to wreak his vengeance upon me?"
There is more than one Mephibosheth
trembling now, because God has sum
moned him to the palace of divine
grace! What are you trembling about?
God has no pleasure in the death Of a
sinner. He does not send for you to
| HINT ON Z n 1c fo1 un11 10 n In Vy011
good. A Scotch preacher had the fol
lowing circumstance brought under his
observation: There was poor woman
in the parish who was about to be
turned out because she could not pay
her rent. One night she heard a loud
knocking at the door, and she made no
answer, and hid herself. The rapping
continued, louder, louder, louder, but
she made no answer, and continued to
. hide herself. She was almost fright
ened unto death. She said: '"That's
the officer Of the law come to throw
me out OF my home.'' l
A few days after Christian philan-
thropist met her in the street, and said:
MY poor woman, where were you the
other night? / came round to your
house to pay your rent. Why didn't
you let me in? Where you at home?"
why" she replied, twas that you?'
eyes, that was me; came to pay your
rent" 'Why," she said, eff had had
any idea it was you would have let
you in. I thought it was an officer
| come to cast me out of my home" O
soul, that loud knocking at thy gate to-
day is not the sheriff come to put you
in Jail; it is the best friend you ever
had come to be your security. You
SILVER with terror because you think it
! is wrath. 1t is mercy. Why, then,
tremble before the king Of heaven and
earth when he calls you to his palace?
Stop trembling and start right away.
"Oh," you say, II can't start. I have
been so famed by sin, and SO famed by
evil habit, can't start. 1 am lame in
both feet" My friend, we come out
with our prayers and sympathies to
help you up to the palace. If you want
to get to the palace you may get there.
Start now. The Holy Spirit will help
you. All you have to do is just to
throw yourself on your face at the feet
of the King, as Mephibosheth did.
| Mephibosheth's caninal comparison
| seems extravagant to the world but
| when a man has seen himself as he
| really is, and seen how he has been
| treating the Lord, there is no term We
| hement enough to express his self-con-
demnation. The dead dog of Mephibo-
| sheth's comparison fails to describe
the mans utter loathing of himself
| Mephibosheth's posturing does not
| seem too PROSTATE. When soul is
| convicted, first he prays upright. Then
the muscles of his neck relax, and he
is able to bow his head: After awhile,
| by an almost superhuman effort, he
| kneels down to pray. After awhile,
| when he has seen God and seen him
self, he throws himself fiat on his face
| at the feet of the King just like Me-
! phiboSheth. The fact is, if we could
see ourselves as God sees us, we would
| perish at the spectacle. You would
| have no time to overhaul other people,
Your cry would be-, "God be merciful
| to me sinner"
| And again: Mephibosheth in my
| text stands for the disabled human
| soul saved for the sake Of another
| Mephibosheth would never have got
| into the palace on his own account.
| Why did David ransack the realm to
find that poor man, and then bestow
| upon him 4 great fortune, and COM
mand a farmer by the name of Ziba to
culture the estate and give to this in
valid Mephibosheth half the proceeds
every year? Why did King David
make such a mighty stir about a poor
fellow who would never be of any use
to the throne Of Israel? Is was for
Jonathan's sake. 1t was what Robert
Burns calls for ''auld lang syne." Da-
yid could not forget what Jonathan
had done for him in other days Three
times this chapter has it that all this
kindness on the part of David to Me
phibosheth was for his father iona
than's sake. The daughter of Peter
Martyr, through the vice Of her hus-
band, came down to penury, and the
senate Of Zurich took care Of her for
her fathers sake. Sometimes a person
has applied to you for help and you
have refused i,im, but when you found
he was the son or brother of some one
who had been your benefactor in
former days, and by glance you saw
the resemblance Of your old friend in
the face of the applicant, you relented,
and you said: 'sOh, Il will do this for
your fathers sake" You know by
your experience what my text means.
! Now, my friends, it is on that principle