(1 Sam. 25:)-Concluded.

Very often, beloved friends, the state in which we are would forbid our thus praising God. I mention this, not at all to discourage, but rather that we may be able to separate between what we are in Christ and our own practical condition as overcomers. Look again at David. He was in clanger, not only of not overcoming, but of being overcome and falling into deep sin. How did he act ? as the servant of God, bearing meekly Nabal's taunts and cutting reproach?-did he take it up in the name of God? No, it was in the spirit of his own wounded pride.

There was one, however, in the house of Nabal, and bound to him, too, by a tie which none but God could break, of altogether a different character to Nabal,-one who belonged to the Lord-a woman of faith. Abigail was able to discern in David (outcast and needy wanderer though he was,) the anointed one of the God of Israel,-him whom God was surely about to bring to greatness, as the chosen head of his people. "The Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord." Abigail was able to follow the path of David with the eye of faith, and to put herself on to the hour of his glory. Now this shows that her soul was deeply taught of God. But then the very circumstance of her being thus taught of God must have made her situation in Nabal's house most painful, and her connection with him a yoke. Harassed every day,-finding hindrances from, but having no communion with, him to whom she was bound,-able to see the folly of Nabal's position, and to contrast it with that of the man of faith ; she might have felt this to be a strange dealing of the Lord toward her. But her heart was being prepared for a service which before she knew not. She might have said, " Why is it thus with me ? Were I in other and different circumstances, what blessing-what happiness should I feel in serving the servants of God ; but here I am hindered."Many a soul is thus brought (not by self-chosen paths) into a very trying and painful position, distinctly from the desire to serve God. Now no real desire to serve God will ever be in vain. God may make some way for its being answered, even now, and the time will come when this will be fully the case. Meanwhile, there is great profit and discipline of heart in having our neck bowed to the yoke-in being brought to submit to God. Moses was not bound to Pharaoh's house, and therefore in faithfulness he quitted it for the Lord's sake. So with Abraham and his father's house. But there may be circumstances, as those of Abigail, which must be endured, where the soul is called to bear the yoke and to wait upon God. Yet these will be full of abundant blessing. There is in them a secret breaking of the will and bruising of the flesh which will be found most profitable in after-service to God.

Abigail, in her place of quiet retirement, stood much more in the place of communion with the truth than David in the circumstances of this chapter did. She was able to check the wrong feeling of even the man of faith. Whilst David was lost, as it were, in the mist of his own thoughts, Abigail brought in the clear light of the truth to bear on his actions. And David owned and thanked God for her counsel." Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me ; and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand." (10:32, 33.)These were the words of David when alive to the sin in which his pride had set him.

Now, beloved friends, who would have thought that Abigail would ever have been the counselor of David,- one suffering so much for, so beloved of, God, so distinctly His servant, high in grace and in faith,-one far beyond Abigail, as she would have thought. And yet she was tried and kept where she was alone, until the time came for her to be the effectual monitor of David and intercessor for Nabal.

Observe the teaching of God. She took the blessed place of intercession. David, in his wrath, was just about to give the blow-to avenge himself with his own hand, instead of leaving the case in the hand of God. Now this would have taken away one of the most blessed features in the character of David-the leaving all things to God. In Abigail's words we see the strong power of faith. She said, " The soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God ; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall He sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that He hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel, that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself ; but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid." (10:29-31.)

If David had placed himself forward thus to the time of his glory, he would never have thought of raising his hand to give the blow, or of shedding causeless blood ; whereas we know that his hands were nearly imbrued in that of the very young men who spoke so kindly of him to Abigail (10:14-17). Had he thought, How, in the hour of my glory, will this action appear to me? he would have been checked.

The place of faith is, always to look beyond present circumstances-on to the time of the end; then we begin to see and judge of things according to God. Thus it was with Abigail. And when we realize our association with God, and the appointed end of glory, we shall act as she did. In the most trying things which happen to us, if we can by faith associate ourselves with God,-if we can see Him with us as our friend-the One who hath said, "Vengeance is Mine:I will repay, saith the Lord," we shall never feel disposed to avenge ourselves, or think of any thing save intercession as it regards those who may have grieved and wronged us. The present actings of God are in grace and mercy. We should rather seek to bring down and subdue and melt."Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."There is nothing so suitable now as taking the place of grace, and desiring to bring under its power whatever meets us individually.

How highly honored was this poor tried and solitary witness for God in Nabal's house !

The hour will come when the hand of God will give the final blow. Nabal was spared by David, but God was about to deal with him in His own way. He cared for none of these things that were transpiring around him. He understood them not. Intercession had been made for him, he was careless about it ; the recipient of mercy, he passed that by." He held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken."(5:36.) But when that was over, his wife simply told him what had happened,-a tale of mercy and of grace. Yet though told in the simplicity of truth, it was as words of death to Nabal-it withered his heart, and "he became as a stone." (10:37, 38.)The hand of God was against him. Now this is intended to throw a very solemn shade over the chapter. Such is the end of all that is not of faith. The very things that are truly blessed turned into the power of withering. This will be felt to the full by and by, when persons are able to look back at mercies received, but see themselves entirely separated from all blessings and from God that gave them. This is remorse. There is nothing so painful as remorse-the sense of circumstances of mercy which have eternally passed away, and the person who has received them forever separated from God.

Nabal's way was "folly," and his end was that of "the fool." But thus will it be with every thing around that disowns communion with the ways and with the lowly place of David. He said, " Shall I take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give them unto men whom I know not whence they be?" (5:2.) Abigail knew whence they were, and she thought lightly of all these things compared to the service of God. Now although we may not be like Nabal, yet we have each of us this Nabal propensity to watch against-the habit of soul which would incline us to say, "my bread," "my goods," "my reputation," "my standing," etc., wherever the word "my" comes across the blessed privilege of being identified with Christ in the lowly place. No heart can be more miserable than one having the Spirit condemning its ways, and, if there be this seeking of our own things and not of the things which be Christ's, the Spirit of God must condemn and be against it. Very often you will find in saints who have sought to serve God, that when they come to die, they have not the same joy as those who have been just converted. Look at the thief, who believed in Christ after He hung upon the cross, and at one who has served God, it may be, for twenty years. Though both are equally accepted and made complete in Christ, yet the latter ought to be able to say, in addition to that which the poor thief said, " I have kept the faith." It is a thing of deep importance even to the practical peace and joy of the saints to be in circumstances where the desires of the Spirit are met. This is not said to hinder or take away the joy of the feeblest saint. If there be need for humiliation, let it be ; but whether we be led to prayer or praise or humiliation, let it have the character of truthfulness before God.

We see, then, the end of Nabal. Nevertheless, awful as that end was, it freed Abigail from her painful situation, and she became associated with him upon whom she knew the blessing of God to rest (10:39-42). She gave up her house, her riches,-all, it would seem, to cast in her lot with him who was yet a wanderer, hunted for his life " as a partridge in the mountains."

But soon the scene is changed ;-Abigail is taken captive, and apparently about to be separated forever from David (chap. 30:).How strange, after a little moment of blessing, to be placed in circumstances more terrible than before !But this only opened a further occasion for faith. Supposing there had been any undue feeling of elation-any unsubdued thought in Abigail's mind, how must this trial have been felt by her as chastening from the hand of God. Otherwise, she may have acted in very distinct and holy faith, receiving the blessing as directly from God. Blessings must be received in one or other of these ways. If exalted, and walking in the flesh, she must have felt the blow as chastisement, and been taught by it to humble herself, to judge her ways, and consider the difference between resting in the creature and in God. But suppose she had received and sustained her situation in the power of faith, this trial would only strengthen her faith, and thus God would be glorified, whilst she was taught a lesson of the weakness of nature, and of of resting in the creature
instead of in God. Sooner or later, the time must come when we are brought to feel the nakedness of the creature When flesh and heart fail, none but God can be our strength.

It is for us to consider which of the places brought before us in this chapter is ours. We may not be able to take the forward place of David, but then there is that place of Abigail,-at least, we can look at that which is suffering for the sake of Jesus, and give it all, or a portion of that we have. It is not the measure or amount, the question is, whether there be the link between us and them. I trust, through the Lord's mercy, all are able to see distinctly what was the place of Nabal, and to turn from it, as Abigail did. We should be conscious of the trials and difficulties of others, and never think lightly of them, or of any evil in Satan's world.

I know of nothing that will so open the Scriptures, and guide our thoughts as to passing events, and as to those with whom we should seek to become identified, as acquaintance with these things. Seek, then, to have your souls deepened in the knowledge of them,-to judge of present circumstances as placing yourselves on, by faith, to the time of the end. David will then have to see standing before him Uriah; and Paul, Stephen, to whose death he was accessory. It is a marvelous thought,- but will Paul's or David's joy be less on this account? No :there will be a power of blessing, such as none but God can give, that will take away every such bitter sting. I say this, believe me, not to make light of sin, but to associate your minds with that hour. Past sins cannot be undone-seek not to have those things or persons about you now that you might not be able to think of with joy. If you bring in the thought of that day on your ways, you will soon be able to discern the nature of all around. There never is a soul that seeks to bring in God's judgments on its ways, that does not glorify God. Faith, though feeble, must lead to the glory of God. There may be faith about trivial things,-about things that we could not speak of to another ; and here we find the nearness of God to us. So, whether you are threatened by coming danger, or tried by past or present circumstances, seek to bring in the power of faith-let God be your counselor. The character of the enemies of God is that of "children in whom is no faith." May your refuge and strength be distinctly in God. This alone can sustain the soul. "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have received the reconciliation."

It is our privilege to know, not only that we have peace with God, but that He also watches over us, and leads us in the paths of service. May we be able to learn this as being under His hand. Would we desire to be brought into practical fellowship with Him in His ways, let us seek it by prayer and supplication.

Do you love Christ?-I ask not if you feel
The warm excitement of that party zeal
Which follows on while others lead the way,
And makes His cause the fashion of the day ;
But do you love Him when His garb is mean,
Nor shrink to let your fellowship be seen?
Do you love Jesus 'midst blind, halt, and maimed ?
In prison succor Him-nor feel ashamed
To own Him,-though His injured name may be
A mark for some dark slanderer's obloquy?
Say not, "When saw we Him?"-each member dear,
Poor and afflicted, wears His image here.

C.H.M.