These men came to bring David up to Hebron with one single purpose in
their hearts. They had no sidelong glances to their own self-interest,
they had no wavering loyalty, they had no trembling fears, so we may
take their spirit as expressing generally the deepest requirements for
prosperity in a church.
The foundation of all prosperity is a passion of personal attachment
to Christ our King.
Christ is Christianity objective. Love to Christ is Christianity
subjective. The whole stress of Christian character is laid on this.
It is the mother of all grace and goodness, and in regard to the work
of the Church, it is the ardour of a soul full of love to Jesus that
conquers. The one thing in which all who have done much for Him have
been alike in that single-hearted devotion.
But such love is the child of faith. It rests upon belief of truth,
and is the response of man to God. Dwelling in the truth is the means
of it. How our modern Christianity fails in this strong personal bond
of familiar love!
Consider its effect on the individual.
It will give tenacity of purpose, will brace to strenuous effort, will
subdue self, self-regard, self-importance, will subdue fear. It is the
true anaesthetic. The soldier is unconscious of his wounds, while the
glow of devotion is in his heart and the shout of the battle in his
ears. It will give fertility of resource and patience.
Consider its effect on the community.
It will remove all difficulties in the way of discipline arising from
vanity and self which can be subdued by no other means. That flame
fuses all into one glowing mass like a stream that pours from the
blast furnace. What a power a church would be which had this! It is
itself victory. The men that go into battle with that one firm
resolve, and care for nothing else, are sure to win. Think what one
man can do who has resolved to sell his life dear!
Consider the worthlessness of discipline without this.
It is a poor mechanical accuracy. How easy to have too much machinery!
How the French Revolution men swept the Austrian martinets before
them! David was half-smothered in Saul's armour. On the other hand,
this fervid flame needs control to make it last and work. Spirit and
law are not incompatible. Valour may be disciplined, and the
combination is irresistible.
And so here, till we exchange the close array of the battlefield for
the open ranks of the festal procession on the Coronation day, and lay
aside the helmet for the crown, the sword for the palm, the
breastplate for the robe of peace, and stand for ever before the
throne, in the peaceful ranks of 'the solemn troops and sweet
societies' of the unwavering armies of the heavens who serve Him with
a perfect heart, and burn unconsumed with the ardours of an immortal
and ever brightening love, let us see to it that we too are 'men that
can keep rank and are not of double heart.'