How much is there in this melancholy history which applies to us, my
brethren, at this day, though it happened some thousand years ago! Man
is the same in every age, and God Almighty is the same; and thus what
happened to Saul, the king of Israel, is, alas! daily fulfilled in us,
to our great shame. We all, as Saul, have been raised by God to great
honour and glory; not, indeed, glory of this world, but unseen
spiritual glory. We were born in sin, and the children of wrath; and
He has caused us to be baptized with water and the Spirit in the Name
of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and as Saul, by being anointed with oil
by Samuel, was made king of Israel, so we, by baptism, are made kings,
not kings of this world, but kings and princes in the heavenly kingdom
of Christ. He is our head, and we are His brethren; He has sat down on
His throne on high, and has been crowned by His Eternal Father as Lord
and Christ; and we, too, by being made His brethren, partake His
unseen, His heavenly glory. Though we be poor in this world, yet, when
we were baptized, we, like Saul, were made strong in the Lord, powerful
princes, with Angels to wait upon us, and with a place on Christ's
throne in prospect. Hence, I say, we are, like Saul, favoured by God's
free grace; and in consequence we are put on our trial like Saul--we
are all tried in one way or another; and now consider how many there
are who fall like Saul.

1. How many are there who, when in distress of any kind, in want of
means, or of necessaries, forget, like Saul, that their distress,
whatever it is, comes from God; that God brings it on them, and that
God will remove it in His own way, if they trust in Him: but who,
instead of waiting for His time, take their own way, their own bad way,
and impatiently hasten the time, and thus bring on themselves judgment!
Sometimes, telling an untruth will bring them out of their
difficulties, and they are tempted to do so. They make light of the
sin; they say they cannot help themselves, that they are forced to it,
as Saul said to Samuel; they make excuses to quiet their conscience;
and instead of bearing the trial well, enduring their poverty, or
whatever the trouble may be, they do not shrink from a deliberate lie,
which God hears. Or, again, in like circumstances, they are tempted to
steal; and they argue that they are in greater want than the person
they injure, or that he will never miss what they take; and that they
would no