_THE TEST OF VICTORY_
"_David behaveth himself wisely._"
--1 SAMUEL xvii. 55--xviii. 5.
The hour of victory is a more severe moral test than the hour of defeat.
Many a man can brave the perils of adversity who succumbs to the
seductions of prosperity. He can stand the cold better than the heat! He
is enriched by failure, but "spoilt by success." To test the real quality
of a man, let us regard him just when he has slain Goliath! "David behaved
himself wisely"!
He was not "eaten up with pride." He developed no "side." He went among
his friends as though no Goliath had ever crossed his way. He was not for
ever recounting the triumph, and fishing for the compliments of his
audience. He "behaved wisely." So many of us tarnish our victories by the
manner in which we display them. We put them into the shop-window, and
they become "soiled goods."
And in this hour of triumph David made a noble friend. In his noonday he
found Jonathan, and their hearts were knit to each other in deep and
intimate love. It is beautiful when our victories are so nobly borne that
they introduce us into higher fellowships, and the friends of heaven
become our friends.