1 Samuel 8:19

10. It was indeed a matter of great rashness to ask for a king against God's will; of great hardness, to be unable to be overcome by the counsels of the prophet. It was of great rashness to put forth arguments to him whom they knew, by the Lord's revelation, to know beforehand all that he was about to do. Of great hardness, not to yield to him whom they knew to command only those things which he had learned by the Lord's revelation. For what is it that they say in response: "By no means, but a king shall be over us"? But those who say "By no means" surely deny what they hear. It is therefore openly shown by this word that the prophet set forth the heavy right of the king for this purpose: that he should by no means be requested. But they hear the right of the king, and they detest the very purpose for which it is set forth—so that the progress of reprobate hearts is expressed, in which there is the consummation of an evil purpose and the unconvertibility of the will. But we blame ancient times, we who do not care to see our own. Which times, indeed, the more aged they are as the world grows old, the more lax they become in many things through the fault of time and negligence. For so much the more boldly do we now propose evil things, inasmuch as already, with the vigorous youth of the age, the strength of the human condition has withered; so much the more difficultly do we recall what has been badly proposed, inasmuch as from the loosened vigor of the spirit, our mind becomes carnal. For such are human failings, that what is lacking in spiritual virtue is strengthened in carnal life. All these things indeed, according to the voice of the excellent teacher: "These things happened to them in figure, but they were written for our sake" (1 Cor. 10:11). Already indeed we openly recognize the audacity of these Israelites, which the judgments of divine indignation followed; and yet we do not fear to propose courses of action against the will of God, against the counsel of the prelates of Holy Church. When rebuked in an evil purpose, we also resist, and we attempt to overcome the salutary counsels of our superiors by the unconquerable evil of obstinacy. We see how great an increase of evil it is to behold those who perish, and not to fear to follow their footsteps to perdition; to see those running into the penal snares of death, and by no means to dread being entangled in the same snares. And they indeed asked for a king against the Lord's will; but from the royal dignity it afterward came about that the people, who had cast God aside, worshipped idols and adored images. We therefore see how worthy of reverence the counsels of our elders are, if we carefully consider this: that those who dared to despise them did not foresee that they were doing that by which they could be plunged into so deep a sea of error. Rightly therefore does the Lord complain that He was rejected in the petition for a king; rightly does He grant the royal dignity in anger. So great indeed was the iniquity of those asking, that when they sought that through which they would depart from God, it could be permitted by God's judgment but could not be prohibited. But since we have said these things according to the letter, let us also see what those things which are contained in the right of the king signify spiritually.

These things, as I said above, are foretold in the type of carnal prelates concerning the future conduct of the king: so that they might desist from petitioning for him in whom they had recognized such great evils. But it is the nature of the hearts of the reprobate that they quickly propose evil and do not more quickly come to their senses from an evil purpose. Therefore it is also added: (Verses 19, 20.) But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said: "By no means! For a king shall be over us, and we also shall be like all the nations, and our king shall judge us, and shall go out before us, and shall fight our battles for us."

11. By these words indeed the morals of carnal subjects are openly described: because while they seek after outward things, they do not attend to inner losses even when these are set before them. But those who rule carnally, by the very display of temporal power, give their lesser subjects great hope of protection. Therefore when they say, "A king shall be over us, and he shall fight our battles for us," what else do they suggest but the morals of reprobate subjects, who despise humble and spiritual preachers in order to be helped temporally by carnal men? This they would certainly never do, had they not first lost the light of the heart. For if they outwardly despise the humility of spiritual men, they do not deserve to discern by what sublimity of power these inwardly excel; in those others too they see the outward tyranny of power, but they do not see by what weakness he is inwardly oppressed. The former, because they cling to God, are powerful even in outward things when they wish; the latter, who depart from the Lord, cannot fulfill by strength of action the hope they promise from secular power. For, to take examples from nearby, Saul was chosen as king for those requesting one to fight their battles — strong and powerful, so that, as this sacred history testifies (1 Kings 9:2), he stood above all the people from the shoulder and upward. Chosen therefore by God to govern the kingdom, when he was good and no one among the sons of Israel was better than he, nevertheless, when so great and such a man was left to carnal strength, he lost the battles he had undertaken to fight, and lost his life as well (1 Kings 31:1). But Samuel, who was not exalted by the power of the world, who humbly ministered not only to God but also to men, powerfully displayed trophies from outward wars as well. For was it not said of him just above: "Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord, and Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And it came to pass, while Samuel was offering the burnt offering to the Lord, the Philistines began battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great crash on that day upon the Philistines and terrified them, and the Philistines were struck down by the sons of Israel" (1 Kings 7:9, 10). Let him therefore say: "The people refused to hear the voice of Samuel," so that in their disobedience the hearts of the proud may be designated, so cast off by the judgment of divine equity that great evils threaten which they are about to incur — yet they cannot see them.

But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, etc. This obstinacy of the disobedient people asking for a king instead of the Lord does not only pertain to the time of proclaimed grace, but also before the celebrated mysteries of the Lord's incarnation. It occupied the Synagogue, indeed nearly the entire human race, from the first parent, when he put the words of the serpent before God. For always the obstinate ones endeavor to place their free will's decision before the governance of divine grace. But the good children of the Father, supplicating in spirit, do not say 'our kingdom' or 'our will'; rather, they say, 'Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven' (Matthew 6).