Sermon for the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost: On David and Goliath

“ And he chose five smooth stones out of the torrent, and put them into the shepherd’s scrip, and he took a sling in his hand, anda went forth against the Philistine.” —ı1 Kings xvi. 40.

We are told, my brethren, in the First Book of Kings, how Goliath, a man of prodigious size, presuming on the greatness of his strength and the massiveness of his body, called out to the army of Israel, asking for some one to engage him in single combat. We are likewise told how the Lord aroused the spirit of a certain youth so that he could not endure to hear this baseborn and uncircumcised Philistine insulting the camp of Israel and the soldiers of the Living God. We have watched, as it were, this young hero advancing with sling and stone against a mail-clad warrior, of gigantic stature, who was further defended with helmet and shield, and equipped with all the terror-inspiring weapons of war (1 Kings xvii.). If we had in us “ any bowels of commiseration’’ (Phil. ii. 1) we could not have helped feeling apprehensive for him who thus offered himself to so unequal a conflict, nor could we have helped participating later on in the joy of his victory. We have applauded the magnanimity of the boy whose soul was consumed with zeal for the house of God (John ii. 17), who did not regard as irrelevant to himself the reproaches of them that reproached Him (Ps. Ixvii. 10), but felt them as a personal injury and was deeply “concerned for the affliction of Joseph ” 317

(Amos. vi. 6). We have wondered at the confidence he manifested, such as was not found in all Israel (Matt. viii. 10). And at last our joy at the victory bestowed upon him by heaven, and evidently achieved by divine power, has been great in proportion to the anxiety we experienced whilst watching the battle between the stripling armed with faith and the giant glorying in the consciousness of his own superior strength.

Now if we remember that, according to the Apostle’s testimony, “ the law is spiritual” (Rom. vii. 14) and has been “ written for our learning’ (Rom. xv. 4), not only to delight us with a history of external events as with the contemplation of a beautiful exterior surface, but also and more particularly to nourish our minds with the sweetness of its mystical signification as with the marrow of the corn: if we bear this in mind, we ought to consider who is typified by the mighty Goliath that, elated and inflated with the wind of his own vanity, presumes alone to defy the people of God, even after they have already entered the promised land and triumphed over innumerable enemies. It is my own opinion that this proud man may be viewed not unreasonably as a type of pride. For pride is the greatest of sins, to the assaults of which the people of God are more liable than are any others, and it singles out for attack those especially who seem to have overcome all the other vices. Here you have the reason why it challenges us religious to single combat, because, namely, it usually makes its appearance when the rest of our enemies have been routed. Sothe Philistines at that time were too much afraid to join battle with the conquering hosts of Israel and it was then that they placed all their confidence in the massive strength of Goliath. For

ON DAVID AND GOLIATH 319 wherefore should pride attack the soul which has already succumbed to the assaults of envy, or of that tepidity whereof the Lord declares that it provokes Him to vomit (Apoc. iii. 16), or of sloth which causes the sluggard to be “ pelted with the dung of oxen ” (Ecclus. xxii. 2)? What motive for pride, I ask, or for “ haughtiness of the eyes ” (ibid. xxiii. 5) can he have who is so manifestly enslaved to the other vices that he knows himself to be reputed by all as a man of evil conscience ? Who, in fine, would dare to enter the lists against this worst of vices, except one mighty in arm who in the power of his virtue had triumphed over the rest? Let the strong-handed David go forth to this conflict, because it will require a strong hand to subdue so powerful a foe. Let him who has already conquered the lion and the bear prepare now to do battle with Goliath (xr Kings xvii.).

Let him try, by all means, whether the armour of Saul can be of any use to him, that is to say, whether worldly wisdom or the traditions of the philosophers, or the surface meaning of Holy Scripture—which the Apostle calls the “ killing letter ” (2 Cor. iii. 6)—can afford him any protection: let him try, I say, if with such arms he can overcome pride, if by such means he can attain to humility. Let him make the trial, so that finding such accoutrements to be more a hindrance than a help, he may “cast his care upon the Lord ” (Ps. liv. 23). Then, quite hopeless of gaining the victory by his own unaided powers, and armed with faith alone, let him not consider Goliath’s enormous stature, lest percharice he should grow fearful of being crushed under his weight, but rather let him “sing with the spirit, let him sing also with the understanding ” (I Cor, se xiv. 15), and say, “ The Lord is the Protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid? ”’ (Ps. xxvi. 1). So Peter also could neither perish nor fear whilst he paid no attention to the violence of the tempest or to the depth of the water, or to the weight of his body, but cast himself wholly upon the word of his Lord. But when he took notice that the wind was strong, he became alarmed, and under the weight of this fear began immediately to sink (Matt. xiv. 29, 30). King Saul endeavoured to inspire our youthful champion with the same fears. “Thou art not able,” he said, “to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him: for thou art but a boy, and he is a warrior from his youth ” (1 Kings XVii. 33). David, however, refused to entertain such thoughts ; but putting all his trust in the power of Him by Whose help he had triumphed over other enemies, he went forth without fear to the conflict. Laying aside, therefore, the aimour of Saul, “ he chose five smooth stones out of the torrent” (ibid. 40), which being heavy could not be carried away by the water with all the light objects lying in its course, but could only be polished by the friction. The torrent, my brethern, signifies the present wicked world—and would to God “ our soul had passed over that torrent ” (Ps. cxxiii. 5)! Hence the Holy Scripture tells us that “one generation passeth away and another generation cometh ” (Eccles. i. 4) just as one swelling wave pushes forward another. Consequently, since “all flesh is grass and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field ”? (Is. xl. 6), the force of this all-invading torrent will easily sweep away a thing so imponderable : “ but the word of the Lord endureth for ever’’ (Is. xl. 8), withstanding immovably the might of the current.

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It seems to me, therefore, that by the five stones taken from the torrent we may not unreasonably understand the fivefold word of the word of God, that is to say, the word of warning, the word of promise, the word of charity, the word of example, and the word which relates to prayer. Instances of these five words abound in the various books of Holy Scripture. And possibly it is to the same St. Paul is alluding where he writes, “ I had rather speak five words with my understanding than ten thousand words in a tongue ” (r Cor. xiv. 10). “For the fashion of this world passeth away ” (1 Cor. vii. 31), and according to another inspired author, “The world passeth away and the concupiscence thereof” (rt John ii. 17). But whilst the world fades and passes, our five words remain, and not only do they remain, but they take on a brighter polish from the friction of the passing hours; for “while many (generations) shall pass over, knowledge shall be multiplied ” (Dan. xii. 4). Let our David, consequently, when preparing to encounter the spirit of pride, put his five stones, thus collected and smoothed, in the scrip of his memory, reflecting upon the awful menaces of God, upon the greatness of His promises, upon the proofs He has given us of His boundless charity, upon the manifold examples of holiness He has set before us, and upon His multiplied exhortations to us to “be instant in prayer” (Rom. xii. 12). Such, I say, are the stones which he must take with him, whosoever would enter into conflict with pride. And whenever this giant vice presumes to lift up its venomous head, he must use the first of them that comes to the hand of his thought, and smiting Goliath on the forehead, send him sprawling to the ground, covered with confu-

II, 22 sion. But manifestly he will want a sling also to fight against suth an enemy, that is to say, longanimity is a virtue which we can never dispense with, least of all when combating pride.

Therefore, my brother, as often as the temptation to vanity comes to knock at the door of thy mind, thou hast only to recall with heartfelt fear the terrible threats of God, or to reflect with ardent desire upon His infallible promises, and Goliath will be unable to endure the impact of either of these stones, but all his inflated bulk will immediately shrink to nothingness. But if the thought of that ineffable love which the Lord of Majesty has shown for thee happens to recur to thy mind, is it not certain that thou wilt begin to repudiate and utterly abominate the suggestion of vainglory ? And if thou wilt ponder in diligent consideration the examples of the saints, this reflection also will doubtless prove very useful for curbing the swelling of pride. It may be, however, that in the sudden elation thy hand can take hold of none of the stones I have just mentioned. When this happens, thou must turn to the best account the one other stone that remains to thee: I mean to say, thou must apply thyself to prayer with all the fervour thou canst command. So shall the wicked one whom thou seest “ highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus” (Ps. xxxvi. 35) be immediately overthrown and brought to naught.

Perhaps, my brethren, you would like to know how we can make use of Goliath’s sword to cut off the head of its owner? For such a deed would naturally give us as much pleasure as pain to our enemy. I will therefore inform you, but briefly, because I am addressing men who have experience of the spiritual warfare,

ON DAVID AND GOLIATH 323 and who consequently can easily understand and quickly discern what they have often felt in their own interior. Whenever, then, at the first whisper of vanity, you turn your thoughts with shame and confusion to the divine threats or promises, or take up any of the other stones I have been describing, you have now, indeed, cast down Goliath, but you have not yet killed him. Approach nearer to him, therefore, lest he should rise again, and standing over his prostrate form, cut off his head with his own sword, destroying vanity by means of the very vanity wherewith you have been attacked. For if you make the feeling of elation that stirs within your mind a motive and a reason for greater humility, condemning yourselves as proud men, and becoming thereafter more humble and abject in your conceit of yourselves, then in truth Goliath has been slain with the sword of Goliath.