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SERMON XIX.

CONTINUAL RESPONSIBILITY.

1 SAMUEL, xii. 20, 21.

"And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; and turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver ; for they are vain."

THE children of Israel had frequently rebelled against God since He had brought them, by His great power, out of the land of Egypt. By their sins they had provoked God's anger, and had brought down grievous punishments upon themselves. They had forfeited many of their peculiar privileges, and were continually bringing themselves into a lower and less favoured condition. First they lost the tables of the commandments which God had made for them; then they were condemned to wander in the wilderness until one whole generation had perished; and then they were enslaved to one after another of their numerous enemies. At length they added to their other sins the sin of asking a king, when God

was their king. Tired of being immediately governed by God, they demanded to be reduced to the condition of the other nations round about, saying, "Make us a king to judge us, like all the nations."1 The immediate cause of this demand was their fear of Nahash, King of Ammon, from whose power they hoped that a warlike king would be able to deliver them. God, in His anger, gave them a king. He punished them for their unseemly request by granting it. And the more surely to mark His anger, the Lord wrought a miracle by the hand of Samuel. "Now therefore stand and see," said he, "this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest to-day? I will call unto the Lord, and He shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.” 2 Now, observe, the Lord punished them by giving them a king; they were henceforth in a lower and less favoured condition than before. The Lord was no longer their king as He had been. They had chosen an earthly king, and henceforward they were subject to an earthly king, and in this respect reduced to the level of the heathen nations round about; and very grievously, we know, they suffered through the sins of their self-chosen kings. God also manifested His wrath by fearful signs, sending thunder and rain at an unusual time, with considerable injury, probably, Chap. xii. 16-18.

11 Sam. viii. 5.

2

to their wheat harvest.. Observe, moreover, that their repentance could not restore them to their former state. They had asked for a king; and they must have a king. They had rejected the Lord for their king, and though they repented and confessed their sin, He refused any longer to be their king as He had been before.

You may ask, then, what were they to do? Of what use was their repentance? Were they now free to do as they liked? They had brought their punishment upon themselves-repentance would not turn it away—were they to bear their punishment as best they might, and make themselves as comfortable as possible under it, by pleasing themselves in all things? No, they were to bear their punishment, and be obedient still. They were to perfect their repentance by adding to it obedience, and then it would bring them a blessing, though not the blessing they had lost. They were not released from obedience by their loss of privilege, nor from the consequences of further disobedience. If they sinned again, they would again be punished, and more severely. Nor, on the other hand, were they cut off from all hope by their sin, though it was punished; but if they completed their repentance by obedience, they would still obtain a blessing, although a lower one than they might have had if they had not sinned. They had grievously failed once and again, and yet again were put upon their trial, and treated as persons who were still responsible for their actions; as persons who had a real interest in acting right rather than wrong. "Ye have done all this wickedness:

yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; and turn ye not aside : for then should ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain." As though he would say, 'Though you have sinned once, do not sin again. Do not think to satisfy yourselves for the loss of God's favour, and the blessings which flow from it, with earthly objects, for they can neither satisfy your wants nor save you from misery. Thus he warns them against the danger of adding sin to sin; and encourages them by the mercy of God to continue in His service, "For the Lord," he says, "will not forsake His people for His great name's sake; because it hath pleased the Lord to make you His people." Subjoining, however, a second warning, "But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king."

Now I have dwelt upon this event at some length, because I think, dear brethren, that it affords a lesson especially suitable to many of us. Many a one there is among us who has grievously sinned against God, and has forfeited (perhaps for ever) many of his Christian privileges, and brought grievous misery upon himself, which he must bear; and yet to him we say, "Thou hast done all this wickedness; yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all thine heart." We say, "Do not give up caring for your salvation; do not lose your soul for want of an earnest effort to save it. Do not argue, 'By committing sin I have forfeited God's favour, and therefore I may as well have the enjoyments which are left me;" for then you would "go

after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain."

Dear brethren, such thoughts as those I have just laid before you are very dreadful; yet they do often exist. Many there are who go on sinning because they have begun to sin. There are persons who know well that the happiest of all conditions is to be at peace with God. They feel that by sinning away their innocence they have lost their true happiness. They are quite conscious that if they could get back to the state from which they have fallen they should be happier not merely that it would be better for them hereafter, but that they should be happier at this moment than they are. They feel that they are degraded, and they look back with regret to the time when their consciences were undefiled by the stain of wilful sin. But yet they go on sinning. Why? Partly because they have got the habit of sinning it comes naturally to them, since they have so long used themselves to it; and partly because they have become careless and indifferent about themselves, as if they could not be much worse off than they are. Not that they are in despair. They have a sort of undefined hope, all the while, that some day it will be better with them. They have hope enough to keep them quiet, but not enough to encourage them to exertion. They are sufficiently conscious of their fall to make them reckless, but not enough so to rouse them. They look back with regret, as I said, to their childish innocence, but the door of return to it is shut against them; they could not regain it by any efforts. By