shame and dishonour to him. He reaped as he had sown. He had not restrained them when they sinned, and they had followed their wicked ways till they were cut off by the Lord. He had not taught them the fear of the Lord, and "they knew Him not" (ver. 12), neither "hearkened they to the voice of their father." It was too late when he remonstrated with them; the Lord's word was passed: "In one day they shall die both of them." (Chap. ii. 34.)

These two examples stand side by side in Scripture. Surely we may learn from them how the Lord looks upon the training of children, and that He gives them to us to tend and to train for Him. Let us aim at nothing lower, and let it be said of our little ones as St. Paul wrote to Timothy, that "from a child they have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make wise unto salvation, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim. iii. 15.)

XII.

SAUL'S DISOBEDIENCE.

1 SAMUEL XV.

THIS chapter contains a very sad story, the story of Saul's disobedience to the word of the Lord, and the consequences of that disobedience. But it is a very instructive history, and there is in it much that may be, with God's blessing, most profitable to us. Let us look at all the details. Saul was the King of Israel. The beginning of his reign had been very bright. As long as he observed God's ways, and obeyed the words of Samuel, he was happy and prosperous. But those days did not last very long : his head was soon turned with his prosperity, and little by little he declined from the strict observance of God's Word, and thus came to the open departure from the right way described here.

The Prophet Samuel was charged by the Lord with a commission to Saul, desiring him to go and fight against Amalek. Amalek was a very wicked nation, idolatrous, and without any fear of God at all. (Deut. xxv. 18.) Moreover, in years past he

had so vexed the people of Israel, that God had then declared that he was to be utterly destroyed, and his latter end was to be that "he perish for ever." (Num. xxiv. 20.) This was the command given to Saul (ver. 3): "Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not."

Nothing loth, Saul collected together an immense army, and went against one of their cities to fight with Amalek. He certainly intended to obey God fully. We see this in his immediate acceptance of the charge given him by Samuel, also by his way of dealing with the Kenites; for he goes to them and says, "Get you from amongst the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them." (Ver. 6.) Then he fought desperately, and destroyed all the army of the Amalekites, and many of their cities. But there was one exception made: he took Agag, the King of the Amalekites, alive, and spared the best of the sheep and cattle. Everything that was vile and refuse was destroyed, but all that was good in their eyes was spared. (Ver. 8, 9.)

When the word of the Lord came to Samuel informing him of this act of disobedience on Saul's part, we read "it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night." To that holy man of God the glory of God was very dear, and he felt how great was the dishonour put upon Him and His word. Had not that word been, "Utterly destroy, even to the very cattle"? and Saul had presumed to say that was good which God had pronounced cursed, and to spare what God had said was to be destroyed.

Then, too, Samuel loves Saul. He had been the one to tell him at first how God had chosen him from all others to reign over His people Israel; he had anointed him King, and had been ever since a true and faithful friend to him. How enthusiastically he speaks of him in chap. x. 24, when, looking upon his youthful and goodly person and his royal bearing, he exclaims, "See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people?"

In this night of anguish he would recall all that had passed between them at that time: how they had eaten together before the Lord,-how they had communed on the house-top, Samuel "showing to Saul the word of the Lord." (1 Sam. ix. 24-27.) He would remember how at first Saul's heart was entirely under the influence of the Spirit of God; and then would come the sorrowful recollection of how, after two years, he had had to reprove him for his want of faith and obedience, the beginning of his declension from close walking with God. All this would come before him, and he would feel the danger (temporal as well as spiritual) in which Saul now was. No wonder that he was grieved, and cried unto the Lord all night.

But, though it must have been with a heavy heart, Samuel rose early in the morning from his sleepless couch, and came to speak with Saul. There is a great want of honesty in the way in which Saul greeted this faithful messenger. (Ver. 13.) Probably he did not think that Samuel knew as much of the truth as he did, or maybe he had deceived himself

into the thought that he really had fulfilled God's commandment.

There is great force in that word in Heb. iii. 13: "Hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." The conscience, at one time tender, and quick to discern evil, will soon lose that tenderness and quickness if sin is indulged.

When Samuel let him know that his reservation of spoil was manifest (ver. 14), Saul, like our first parents, laid the guilt on others rather than himself (ver. 15); and even when the Prophet had delivered God's message to him, he still maintained that he was right, and the people were to blame. (Ver. 20.) Not till Samuel had declared to him the full purpose and counsel of God, was Saul brought to acknowledge his sin; then we read that he said, "I have sinned." (Ver. 24.) But there was no true penitence, although there was some remorse. Saul cared more for his own honour and reputation than for the glory of God. (Ver. 30.) There is something very touching in the way in which he still clung to Samuel, as if he connected with him all that was good, and all the happiness which might have been his, but which he had thrown away by his wilful disobedience. Let us now look out for the lessons for ourselves.

I. GOD'S WORD MUST BE OBEYED.

In the olden days God made known His will through the Prophets. The word of the Lord came to them, and they told it to the people. We continually meet with the expression, "The word of the