_That he did so, is due amongst other reasons to the fact that he was a
generous man_.
His unsolicited assistance of David clearly proves this, while the very
length of the catalogue of articles with which he and his friends
supplied the fugitive's needs, proves that when he gave, he did so in
no stinted fashion, but freely and liberally.
It is an excellent example for all who are feeling themselves burdened
by the possessions and the opportunities with which God has enriched
them. Let them remember that they hold them only in trust, and in
helping to bear others' burdens, they will actually, strange to say,
lighten their own.
"'Tis worth a wise man's best of life,
'Tis worth a thousand years of strife,
If thou canst lessen but by one,
The countless ills beneath the sun."
While, on the other hand, can there be a sadder thought for the man
whose earthly course is nearly run, than the thought that there will be
none to rise up after him and call him blessed, but that he will die,
as he has lived, unhonoured, unwept?
If that, then, is not to be our fate, we cannot use too diligently
every opportunity of well-doing which God has placed within our reach;
we cannot live too earnestly, not for ourselves only, but for others:
that from the seeds which we sow now, there may spring up hereafter a
rich and abundant harvest.