srael, with nothing apparently to recommend him to God; the youngest
of his brethren, and despised by them. He was sent to feed the sheep;
and his father, though doubtless he loved him dearly, yet seems to have
thought little of him. For when Samuel came to Jesse at God's command,
in order to choose one of his sons from the rest as God might direct
him, Jesse did not bring David before him, though he did bring all his
other children. Thus David seemed born to live and die among his
sheep. His brothers were allowed to engage in occupations which the
world thinks higher and more noble. Three of them served as soldiers
in the king's army, and in consequence looked down upon David; on his
asking about Goliath, one of them said to him in contempt, "With whom
hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?" Yet God took him
from the sheepfolds to make him His servant and His friend. Now this
is fulfilled in the case of all Christians. They are by nature poor,
and mean, and nothing worth; but God chooses them, and brings them near
unto Himself. He looks not at outward things; He chooses and decrees
according to His will, and why He chooses these men, and passes over
those, we know not. In this country many are chosen, many are not, and
why some are chosen, others not, we cannot tell. Some men are born
within the bounds of holy Church, and are baptized with her baptism;
others are not even baptized at all. Some are born of bad parents,
irreligious parents, and have no education, or a bad one. We, on the
contrary, my brethren, are born in the Church; we have been baptized by
the Church's ministers; and why this is our blessedness, and not the
blessedness of others, we cannot tell. Here we differ from David. He
was chosen above his brethren, because he was better than they. It is
expressly said, that when Samuel was going to choose one of his elder
brethren, God said to him, "I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not
as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looketh on the heart[2];" implying, that David's heart was in a better
state than his brother's whom Samuel would have chosen. But this is
not our case; we are in nowise better by nature than they whom God does
not choose. You will find good and worthy men, benevolent, charitable,
upright men, among those who have never been baptized. God hath chosen
all of us to salvation, not for our righteousness, but for His great
mercies.