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Samuel assumes that the true path was clear before Israel; it knew its calling and destiny. To love God alone and to serve Him was the simple royal pathway. And Samuel here reminds the people that the imminent danger was not that they would execute a right-about and go back to Egypt, but that they should turn aside. So the grand path of life is clearly discovered to us. And our great danger is not that we should suddenly wheel about, but that we should deflect little by little. Let us note these points of departure from a higher to a lower life — from faith to unbelief, spirituality to worldliness, purity to laxity and immorality.

I. THESE POINTS OF DEPARTURE ARE NUMEROUS. Men begin to live afresh, to live a better and still better life, prompted by most diverse occasions. On the other side, from all kinds of happenings men begin to gravitate. Beginning school awakes in one child a higher sense, whilst for another it is the loss of innocence and the beginning of evil, proving, as Michelet writes, that the real fall is the day when a boy leaves him me, her. Leaving school initiates one youth into a more serious, manly life, whilst another takes advantage of the change to relax discipline and begins to play a baser part. A change of residence or situation leads one to greater devotion and circumspection, whilst another from that time forward is distinctly poorer in character, the change destroying old habits of good. Marriage proves a truly golden day in the life of some — the beginning of higher thought, love, and purpose; for others the same event is altogether disastrous to their moral and religious life. After Methuselah was born, Enoch his father walked with God. Events are always happening which are occasions of the rising or falling of souls, and herein lies the real seriousness of life. The danger comes from opposite directions. "Thou shalt not go aside...to the right hand, or to the left." Directly opposite phases of experience and circumstance prove equally fatal.

II. THESE POINTS OF DEPARTURE ARE SLIGHT. We do not go off at an acute angle, or down a steep incline, leading right away from the Christian course; we simply get a little wrong, and this may end with ruin. The first departure from God is of really tremendous significance, and yet it may appear absolutely trifling. The descent into error is rarely violent. We speak of men falling into error, but more commonly they slide into it. There are half-way houses to superstition. There is a literature which deftly saps solemn convictions, and which, like the thief in the night, despoils men of a faith infinitely more precious than gold. The "down grade" in belief is a masterpiece of engineering, and many who follow it are all the time unconscious of any declination. The lapse into worldliness is usually a process of fine shadings off. The "little rift" in the lute slowly widening stills the music; but that rift is never more subtle and slow than it is in the lute which makes musical the hearts and lives of righteous men. The descent into wickedness is equally gentle. The beginning of sin is always obscure. Insidious are the beginnings of evil. The agents of darkness, as our poet says,

Win us with honest trifles, to betray us

In deepest consequence.The slow and subtle way in which practical iniquity takes shape is one of the tragedies of life. M. Joly has recorded the experience of the police concerning the thefts that take place at the great Parisian shops. "This is the beginning. From a gallery one sees a woman — rich or well-to-do — who buys a certain number of objects and pays for them, but without asking permission she takes some little, almost insignificant, object — a little ribbon to fasten a parcel, more commodious paper bag. No one will say she is stealing; no one will think of speaking to her or disturbing her. But she is observed, and even watched; for one expects to see her again some time after taking, as she walks along, say, a flower worth twenty-five centimes. A little later she will appropriate an article of greater value, and henceforth she will take for the pleasure of taking." Amid the glaciers of the Alps an explosion is sometimes heard announcing the birth of a crevasse. At first the young fissure is almost too slight to be seen, and at no place is it wide enough to admit a knife blade. But the almost imperceptible fracture eventually becomes a gaping, impassable chasm. So it is when we break with good; the great gulf fixed between the lost and paradise began in a flaw hardly to be discerned.

III. THESE POINTS OF DEPARTURE ARE SPECIOUS. It seems in the hour of temptation as if we should secure a great advantage by departing from a strict, literal fidelity to the path of duty. When Israel first dabbled with idolatry, they had no thought of renouncing God. They imagined that certain advantages were to be gained by intercourse with idolatrous nations, and that such advantages might be secured without losing in any measure the blessing of Jehovah. They became worse than the heathen. Very specious still are many of the things which draw us from God. The point of departure to worldliness is often similarly specious. Care for his family — this is the reason why Demos abates his religious enthusiasm and applies himself to business. James Hinton said, "Wishing to tempt an Englishman, the devil generally appears in the shape of the man's wife and family." And how plausible he is in this shape! How much is to be said for prudence and diligence! Oh, very rational, promising, enticing seem those openings which lead to a lower life! This is what Shakespeare meant when he wrote:

But 'tis strange:

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,

The instruments of darkness tell us truths.At Bypath meadow Christian said to Hopeful, 'If this meadow lieth along by our wayside, let's go over into it.' Then he went to the stile to see, and behold a path lay along by the way on the other side of the fence. 'Here is the easiest going,' said he; 'let us go over.' Many paths on the other side of the fence seem to run parallel with Christian principle and doctrine, and yet they lead to death. The fence may be very narrow. Andrew Bonar writes: "Often I have wondered that I did not feel the temptations of Satan more frequently and plainly. But now I discover his plan. In short, he succeeds in reversing in my case, 'Seek first the kingdom of God.'"

IV. THESE POINTS OF DEPARTURE ARE ALWAYS SERIOUS. Even if they do not lead us altogether astray or far astray, turnings aside are great evils. A tree grows so grandly because without vagary it develops itself according to its nature; the flower is so glorious because it concentrates itself on bud and blossom; the bee is so rich in honey because it follows the shortest line: and if we are to attain wealth and glory of character we must avoid lapses, eccentricities, obliquities, waste of time and power by diversions and repentances. These branchings off from the King's highway may lead to utter ruin. All wanderings of heart or life begin in a lack of faith either in the prize or in the path. Let us keep alive, then, an ardent faith in the grand prize of life. Life is not like a suddenly twisted kaleidoscope which at every turn discloses startling scenery, events, and experiences; still there will not be a day without its stepping stones to higher things, and there will be critical, privileged days, bringing memorable chances and inspiration.

(W. L. Watkinson.)

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KJV: And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

WEB: Don't turn aside; for [then you would go] after vain things which can't profit nor deliver, for they are vain.