And stubbornness, etc., iniquity is gross, grievous sin. To set up one's self as god, is indeed idolatry. The penalty is that the Lord will treat Saul as Saul treated Him; another instance of the law of retribution, see Matt. vii. 2, and references; Afternoon Lesson, July 30th, 1871. Now Saul confesses his sin, though he again pleads his former excuse; asks Samuel for forgiveness, as though any man could pardon sin; and urges him to join in worship with him. Samuel refuses; consent to that request might appear to be assent to the prayer for pardon; but God's sentence was irrevocable. Having delivered his message, the prophet turns to go; Saul seizes his mantle to detain him, the mantle tears; the rent cloak is a visible token of the truth of Samuel's words. A neighbour of thine, etc.,-as yet, Samuel was ignorant who that neighbour was. The Strength of Israel, -or the Glory of Israel: the Hebrew word signifies "what is bright and shines continually, and therefore what may be relied upon-as the sun and stars." See James i. 17. For He is not a man, etc.,-where has this been said befor? Num. xxiii. 19. Saul confesses his sin,-but his repentance was not real; he was sorry, not for the sin itself, but only for its consequences. This his next words manifest; he fears lest the elders should notice the prophet's departure without first offering a sacrifice. Saul had lost the favour of God, but he was still desirous of retaining his reputation with men. Samuel yields to this entreaty; Saul was yet the chief ruler of the nation, and could not now mistake the meaning of Samuel's compliance. Perhaps he hoped that, after all, the repentance might become genuine.

THE DEATH OF AGAG.-V. 32, 33. While Agag lived, the judgment upon Amalek was incomplete. True repentance would have led Saul to slay him. Since the King is false to his duty, the prophet, as God's representative, will perform it. He calls for Agag, who came to him delicately,-cheerfully. His life had been so long spared that he had no apprehension he would be put to death at all. He is soon undeceived, for Samuel hewed him in pieces before the Lord. "Hewing in pieces is still sometimes resorted to as an arbitrary punishment in different Eastern

countries; but we believe it is nowhere sanctioned by law, which indeed seldom directs the mode by which death shall be inflicted... It was not a Hebrew form of punishment, but appears to have been resorted to in the present instance in order to inflict on Agag the same kind of death which he had been accustomed to inflict on others: for the 'as,' with which Samuel's answer commences, implies analogy of action -that is, that his (Agag's) mother should be made childless, in the same manner as he had made women childless.'"-Kitto. Another illustration of the law of retribution. Saul's disobedience did not prevent the execution of the Divine sentence. God is never at a loss for an agent to fulfil His will.

SAUL AND SAMUEL PART.-V. 34, 35. Each went to his own home; they never met again in the body. Saul, as we shall see, went on from bad to worse. Samuel came no more to see him; how could he, when God had rejected him? Yet he mourned for Saul,-though Saul was governor of Israel in his place, he had no ill-feeling against him; nay, he seems to have loved him. But the prophet knew the King's case was hopeless.

REFLECTIONS.-1. Read Prov. xviii. 12.-Illustrate both statements from

the Lesson. An instructive parallel may be drawn between Saul of Tarsus and King Saul. See Portfolio. By some expositors the name "Paul" is interpreted to mean "little."

2. God's love of obedience; His estimate of the guilt of disobedience. 3. The difference between true and false repentance. True repentance hates the sin, false merely dreads the punishment; true repentance leads to amendment, false either passes away altogether or drives to despair. Contrast the repentance of Judas with that of Peter. Do you remember the Second Catechism definition of "true repentance"?

4. Though God delights to hear prayer, there are cases in which no prayer can avail to avert the punishment of sin.

5. The root of all Saul's sin was his self-will.-Show this from the previous history. Let us beware of following the devices of our own heart.

member of some school of prophets. Doubtless, Samuel informed David privately of the lofty destiny in store for him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon David.-Compare ch. x. 9, 10. So Samuel rose up, etc., we meet him but once more before his death. David was not above twenty years of age when he was anointed; perhaps a year or two younger.

REFLECTIONS.-1. God" seeth not as man seeth," they judge by the looks, He by the heart. What does God think of us? He knows the truth.

2. How much better is God's choice than man's!-If Jesse had selected the king, or even if the choice had been left to the aged, holy experienced prophet, David would not have ascended the throne of Israel.

3. God chose David because of the good qualities, the devotion to Himself, He perceived in Him.-Depend upon it, David was a faithful shepherd, discharging the duties of his lowly station efficiently. Doubtless the twenty-third

Psalm was composed during David's shepherd-life. It may be used to illustrate his confidence and joy in the Lord at this period. The Lord notices the disposition and work of the youngest and humblest. Be faithful in little; if not in this world, in the next God will entrust you with more.

4. The spirit in which the call of God should be accepted,-modestly, cheerfully, implicitly.

5. The judicious teacher may use the remainder of the sixteenth chapter as a contrast to the Lesson. The evil spirit on Saul, the Good Spirit on David; Saul rejected, David "called of God;" the one happy watching his sheep, the other miserable on a throne. What made the difference? Neither happiness nor usefulness, neither God's love to us, nor our love to God, depend upon our station. Upon what do they depend?

6. How little we know of the future! -How little David thought that morning he would be the Lord's anointed that night!

MAY 31.

INTRODUCTION.-The present Lesson affords admirable material for pictorial instruction. Street preaching; the cripple; the arrested sacrifices; the sorrowing disciples astonished; homeward; home again! Our expository Notes are constructed to assist the teacher in painting his pictures.

THE CRIPPLE.-V. 8-10. The place is Lystra, a quiet little country town: no mention made of Jews or of a synagogue. Where would the missionaries begin their work? In the streets, just as missionaries now do in heathen towns. And their address would refer not to Israelitish hopes, but heathen thoughts, heathen worship, and God's mercy for the heathen also. The same heard Paul speak,-the poor cripple sat and listened and looked. What strange meaning in his look! Could these strangers heal him?

Would they? His eyes said, "Yes." Who steadfastly beholding him,-Paul's eyes had power in them also; see how he looked upon Elymas, ch. xiii. 9. Paul's mind, taught of God, looked into the cripple's soul, and saw faith there. An eye of faith upward, an eye of love downward. Now a few startling words; what were they? ver. 10. Many ears besides those of the cripple caught the words, for the speaker uttered them in a tone much louder than that in which he had previously addressed the people. What followed? By Whose power was the lame man healed? Acts iii. 6.

THE ARRESTED SACRIFICES.-V. 11 -18. A great cry rose from the crowd; but the Apostles did not know the words which composed it: they were in the speech of Lycaonia, which the missionaries did not under

stand; so they leave the excited crowd, and retire to the house where they have found a lodging. They learned the meaning afterwards; what? ver. 11. That was just what these poor people believed. There was no philosophy, no scepticism in their superstition. Jupiter in their mythology was the "father of gods and men;" Mercury, the messenger of the gods and patron of eloquence. Paul in bodily presence" was "weak," 2 Cor. x. 10; but his words were fluent and powerful. He must be Mercury. Barnabas was a much older man ; probably of noble appearance and bearing he must be Jupiter. The excited crowd rush to the city gates; just outside the city, before it, was the temple of Jupiter: the officiating priest is summoned to a sudden service. Victims are selected, garlands woven hastily for the necks of the victims and for the pillars of the house where the supposed gods are residing, and for their sacred persons. The excited crowd moves back again to the outer gates or doors of the house where the Apostles were. How did the Apostles show their grief? They rush out of the house in amongst the people, and Paul once more becomes chief speaker. His speech contained the thoughts he usually employed in addressing the heathen or speaking of idolatry. Compare ver. 15, with 1 Thess. i. 9; ver. 16, with Rom. iii. 25, Acts xvii. 30; ver. 17, with Rom. i. 19, 20. Excited, disappointed, bewildered, the priest and people lead the intended victims back again.

SORROWING DISCIPLES.-V. 19, 20. Probably some little time elapsed after the preceding event, during which the missionaries resumed their work. Then old enemies appeared. Who? whence? What would these Jews say about the miracle? See Matt. xii. 24. Now delight turned to terror; the two strangers were malicious, not benevolent powers; the sooner the town was rid of them the better. How was this done? Paul was set upon in the street, stunned with stones, dragged violently along the streets apparently lifeless, left outside the city, as a dead dog might be. Then the sorrowing disciples gather round him; they weep for him; by and by they will bury

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him. The life returns again, as the narrative implies, supernaturally. One night of sweet and secret intercourse with the members of the young Church, and the two missionaries are off to a neighbouring town. What? ver. 20.

HOMEWARD-BOUND. - V. 21-23. When at Derbe, the missionaries were close to a pass through the mountainchain of Taurus, down to the province of Cilicia. A short and easy journey would have taken them past Tarsus and the home of Paul, down to the sea, and so on to Antioch, in Syria. But Paul preferred to go back by the way which they had come, to establish the members of the newly-formed churches. They stayed at Lystra, and we may suppose that there Paul had sweet intercourse with at least one family, amongst whom one youth was found who had been converted under his ministry, and who afterwards would be his "companion in tribulation" and labour, Acts xvi. 1; 1 Tim. i. 2, 18; 2 Tim. ii. 1.

HOME AGAIN. -V. 24-28. The Apostles had been absent, probably, two years. (See Chronological Table, Conybeare and Howson.) Perhaps scattered rumours had reached the Church at Antioch of the work going on in the interior of the country. What excitement would throb through the Church when the news spread that the two missionaries had returned at last! So the disciples come together, and the Christian Church holds its first missionary meeting.

REFLECTIONS.-1. Think of the missionaries of our day.--Daniel James Draper, drowned in the "London; " India, with its "journeyings" oft. Fiji, with its perils amongst the heathen.

2. Help the missionaries.-Their work is apostolic; every little helps. What do you often sing? "Little drops of water."

3. Be thankful for your position."I thank the goodness and the grace." Contrast your knowledge with the superstitions of Lystra.

4. Be yourself a Christian, and then a missionary.-Timothy began with his Bible and his mother, 2 Tim. i. 5: was a missionary in word and conduct in his native place, Acts xvi. 2; then a missionary to foreign lands, Acts xvi. 3.

5. Let no opposition frighten you out of godliness, ver. 22.-"Onward, Christian soldiers."

QUESTIONS.-What miracle did Paul perform at Lystra? How was it done? What effect had it? What did the people propose to do?

How did Paul arrest them? What arguments did he use? What led to a change in the mind of the people? What happened to Paul in consequence? Where did the missionaries go then? By what route did they return? why? Where did they remain a long time?

"DISSENSION AND DISPUTATION."V. 1-3. We have here elements of danger, not only to the peace, but the very existence of the Church: evil persons, strong language, old prejudices, new rights. Compare Gal. ii.

4.

Rumours of free social intercourse in the mixed Church at Antioch reach Jerusalem. Men "unawares brought in" to the Church there, come down with the pretence of fellowship, but really to "spy out" the liberty of the Christians, with the determination that Jewish priority should not be surrendered without a struggle. These were just the persons to make mischief. Contrast the character and conduct of Barnabas under similar circumstances, Acts xi. 22, 23. The language employed left no room for agreement, Ye cannot be saved. These words shifted salvation from Christ to Moses, from the Gospel to the Law. On the other side were rights, so recently gained, so joyous in themselves, that they could not be surrendered. The following passages will indicate the arguments with which Paul and Barnabas would meet the "false brethren," Rom. ii. 25-29; iii. 1, 2, 30; iv. 8-12. But the question was so important that it must be settled once for all; at Jerusalem, not Antioch; with Peter, James and John, not the false brethren. So the Church decides, ver. 2. But Paul had more than man's authority,

Gal. ii. 2. His companions were "representative men," Barnabas, the Gentile-loving Jew, who had solved the difficulty in his own person, and Titus, (Gal. ii. 1,) a converted Greek. The sympathy of their brethren followed them, for many of the Church accompanied them a portion of the way; as at Miletus, ch. xx. 36; and equal sympathy awaited them at every stage of their journey, ch. xv. 3, last part.

PRIVATE CONFERENCES. V. 4, 5; with Gal. ii. 1, 2, 9, 10. Fifteen years before, Paul had passed the gates of Jerusalem as a persecutor; twice since, he has entered the city as a Christian, compare Gal. i. 18; Acts ix. 26; xi. 30; now, the third time he enters it to advocate the claims of the world versus Jerusalem. When the missionaries reached the city, the Church was called together to hear their story, at the conclusion of which some Christian Pharisees entered a protest against their teaching and conduct. Mark the issue upon which they placed the question, "it was needful," that is, for salvation. This informal meeting having broken up, Paul had private conferences with those who were the pillars of the Church, Gal. ii. 9. With them, he would go over all the details of his mission life; answer questions, give explanations; and to them he put the question, Was his course wrong,-a failure; was it to be given up or continued? The decision of the three was clear and kindly, Gal. ii. 9.

THE FIRST CHURCH COUNCIL.-V. 6-21. A great meeting of officers, from Jerusalem, and neighbouring places,-Joppa, Lydda, Cæsarea,—was now summoned to decide upon a principle vital to the growth of Christianity. The question raised at Antioch was now to be settled, ver. 1, 6. Men of