and justice; to train
them to be, not a terror and a scourge to the yeomen and peasants round,
but a protection and a guard against the Philistines and Amalekites, and,
in due time, his trusty bodyguard of warriors--men who have grown grey
beside him through a hundred battles, who are to be the foundation of his
national army, and help him to make the Jews one strong and united
prosperous kingdom.

All this the shepherd lad has to do, and he does it, by faith in the
Living God, and so makes himself for all ages to come the pattern of
perfect loyalty. And now, let us take home this one lesson--That the
secret of David's success is not his beauty, his courage, his eloquence,
his genius; other men have had gifts from God as great as David's, and
have misused them to their own ruin, and to the misery of their fellow-
men. No; the secret of David's success is his faith in the Living God;
and that will be the secret of our success. _Without_ faith in God, the
most splendid talents may lead a man to be a curse to himself and to his
neighbours. _With_ faith in God, a very common-place person, without any
special cleverness, may do great things, and make himself useful and
honoured in his generation.

XIII. DAVID AND NABAL, OR SELF-CONTROL.

"And David said to Abigail, 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."--1 SAMUEL xxv. 32, 33.

The story of David and Nabal needs no explanation. It tells us of part
of David's education--of a great lesson which he learnt--of a great
lesson which we may learn. It is told with a dignity and a simplicity,
with a grace and liveliness which makes itself understood at once, and
carries its own lesson to any one who has a human heart in him.

"And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel"--the park
grass upland with timber trees--not the northern Carmel where Elijah slew
the prophets of Baal, but the southern one on the edge of the desert.
"And the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a
thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of
the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman
of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was
churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house