The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-23
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
THE HUMILIATING CONFESSION
MADE ny A KING OF ISRAEL.
A short Sermon by Rev. Samuel w.
Reigart, ID. d., Pastor Presb yterf-
an Church, Salisbury, Md.


XVI 21.
What a confession for a man to make.
and that man a King, and that King sixty
years of age!
And the worst of it is that it was not
on one or two occasions that Saul had
played the fool, but he had done so all his
life He had assumed the fools character
years before, and had kept up the part,
with occasional intervals of nationality, as
on the present occasion, when his eyes We're
opened to his true condition. and he was
candid enough to admit his folly
Nor had he been without warming At his
first great wrong step. when he took mat
tiers into his own hands and offered the
sacrifices which it was Samuels place to
offer, the prophet reproached him with the
words: Thou hast done foolishly; thou
hast not kept the commandment of the
Lord thy God" But Saul persisted in his
folly, went from bad to worse, acted the
fool when he should have acted the man
and the King, and died the most disgraceful
death man can die-the death of a suicide
If ever man started out in life with
bright prospects and splendid advantages
it was Saul; if ever man threw away his
advantages and disappointed the hopes of
his friends it Saul; if ever man had
reason to repent his folly and lament the
failure of his life it was the King who adj
mitted to his subject, Il have played the
fool"
Wherein did Saul play the fool?
First. in making his own will the guide Of
his life. The word that comes nearest to
summing up the qualities of Sauls charac-
ter is self-will. He did what was right in
his own eyes, not what was right in the
eyes of the Lord He commenced his reign
dor. fl,a
this reason the same God who placed the
scepter in his hands that he might be the
Lords vice gerent. took it from him when
he swayed it as though it were his own.
We will not go to Webster for our defini-
ton of fool, but to the word of God.
Solomon. the wisest of men. said: He that
trusteth in his own heart is a fool" THE
way of a fool is right in his own eyes; but
he that is wise hearkeneth unto counsel"
Never had King wiser more faithful
counsellor that Saul had in Samuel He
was both the Gladstone and Bismarck OF
Israel But the youthful King would not be
governed by his advice. He thought he
knew better than his aged friend, even
though he was the Lords messenger, and
he became a law unto himself, taking no
ones advice but his own; we never read OF
his going to Samuel for counsel but twice,
once when he wanted his help in finding
his fathers lost asses, and, again, when
he sought through the incantations of an
old witch to communicate with the ghost
of Samuel on the eve of his last battle,
vainly expecting that help from the prophet
after death, whose counsels in life he had
treated with disdain.
Now this self-will would be quite right
in a being possessed of omnscience A
t1,;,
into the future as well as into the past,
who understood precisely the relation which
one action sustains to another whose mind
was entirely free from prejudice and
whose heart was incapable of impure mo-
tives-such an one might act Independently
of all external advice or control. He might
rightly be law unto himself. But for a
being whose powers are limited, whose
knowledge is imperfect, who is more or
less controlled by passion and prejudice, to
set himself up as a standard and refuse to
bow to any will but his own is to play
the fool" 1t is as true to-day as it was
in Sauls time.
Unless a man can formulate better sys-
tenn of truth than that contained in the
word of God, unless he can set higher
example of virtue than that exhibited in
the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, unless
he can organize a society better adapted to
reform the manners. of men than the
church which Christ founded, can he be
called a wise man in rejecting these?
Again. Saul played the fool in permitting
trifies to engage his time and energies, in
stead of pursuing aims and designs worthy
of a King. Instead of consolidating his
kingdom and advancing the interests Of
his people, he expended his strength in pet
tiness especially in seeking to crafty per-
sonal revenge upon one whom he jealousy
considered his enemy.
Thus David reproaches him: 1.-THE king
of Israel is come out to seek flea, as when
one doth hunt partridge on the noun
tains." AS though he had said, There is
bigger game for king to hunt than poor
subject who has done him no harm. There
We're the Philistines. the inveterate foes of
Israel; why did not Saul break their yoke
and free his people from their power? Why
did he not repress the evils that existed
among the people and give them wise and
salutary laws? why did he not do some
thing worthy of a king?
In what marked contrast to SauIs reign
was that of David, his successor How
powerful the kingdom became under his
rule How illustrious his own name. He
relieved the nation from the fear of the
nations around, he extended the borders of
the monarchy he organized the army he
consolidated the government he improved
the worship of the sanctuary he raised the
kingdom to a high pitch of national glory.
And this he did. not so much because of his
superior genius because he kept before
him nobler aims and purposes than Saul.
He played the king, the part he was called
upon to play while Saul, also a king threw
away his scepter and played the fool"
The reproach Of Nero is not that he could
drive successfully a four-horse chariot in
the race or play upon musical instruments
with a skilful hand but that, when Rome
was furnishing he sent ships to Alexandria
10 bring sand for the arena instead of corn
for the starving people, and that he fddied
while Rome was burning, and the people
were fleeing from the burning walls. The
shame of Dives is not that he was rich,
but that while 'he Jared sumptuously every
day" Lazarus lay starving at his gate.
O. the perversions of life! The high and
holy opportunities thrown away The gol-
den moments wasted! The glorious talents
trampled under foot!
King Henry " asked the Duke of Alva
If he had observed the great eclipse of the
sun which had lately occurred No" re-
piled the Duke, II have so much to do on
earth that L have no leisure TO look up to
heaven"
Alas is not this true of many of US? We
are so busy with the trifes of time, so in