REMARKS
ON THE SCRIPTURE HISTORY OF
SAUL, &c.

“Woe also to them when I depart from them.” Hosea ix, 12.

“God is departed From me, and answereth me not.”
1 Sam. xxviii. 15.

To all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity.

BELOVED,

It is your mercy the divine Spirit is the glorifier of Jesus; that he has set him forth in his word as the Christ of God; what he is, what he has done, and what he has graciously said to his people. This is the work of our faith, to receive as we need, these things, all the way to heaven.

The person of Jesus is the delight of the Father, the glory of heaven, and the foundation of the Church, considered as God-man Mediator.—The glories of his person is revealed in the word, but we must die to see them in full perfection, and no doubt that will be an heaven worth dying for: but blessed be God we are not wholly in the dark about these excellencies, so runs the promise, They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest.—His person is truly blessed; his love is immutable; his work is honorable and glorious, exactly suited to all the necessities, of his people. His covenant engagements, his precious offices, his sweet titles and characters, the Father’s gracious acceptance of the work he accomplished, and to which he had called and appointed him. These, and a thousand more interesting points, are set forth as matters of our faith, and the food of our souls. His everlasting righteousness is our justification, his precious blood-shedding is our atonement, and his prevalent intercession at the Father’s right-hand, is the basis of our hope, and the ground of our acceptance.—I say again, my dear friends in Jesus, what a mercy! This is our refuge, our remedy, our joy, our triumph, our present and eternal all: and that we have the most important evidence of interest in these capital blessings, by being led from every other refuge; and under a sense, a daily view of our need, we are enabled to fly for a refuge, to lay hold on this hope; nor can we have a pain, a sorrow, a cross, a misery of any kind, from sin, Satan or the world, but the holy Spirit designs thereby really to endear the Lord Jesus to us, as he is revealed in the word. There is another most blessed consideration for our faith, viz. What Jesus has graciously said to his people, in all the precious declarations of the Father’s love; the evidence he has given of this in the gift of the dear Son, to obey, suffer, and die—the declarative evidence of his own love, in his willingness to accomplish the work of redemption; and blessing his people with the gift of the holy Spirit, as the principal evidence of interest in his love and work. His precious invitations to poor, needy, helpless, lost, wandering, undone sinners, who being in the least imaginable degree convinced of their state, they are invited to him, with the most comfortable assurance of salvation; which assurance of, and to faith, will, in due time, produce the comfortable assurance of sense. His promises are exceeding glorious—hence the Church declared, after a beautiful, tho’ enigmatical description of her Beloved, His mouth is most sweet. The promises are very precious, yea, the Apostle calls them exceeding precious—they are exactly adapted to our cases, let them be what they may: if thirsting for the consolations of the Spirit, Jesus says, I will pour water on him, and floods on the dry ground. If ready to give up all, having waited long to little purpose, he says, The vision is for an appointed time, at the end it will speak. If a soul is groaning under guilt, he says, I will he merciful to your unrighteousness, and your sins and iniquities I will remember no more. If we feel our sins too strong for us, he promises he will subdue them. If we are made sensible of our backsliding, he says, I will heal your backslidings. If in great difficulties, and we know not which way to get out of them, he says, I will bring the blind by a way they know not: I will guide thee with mine eye. If harrassed by the Devil, he promises to bruise him under our feet shortly. If complaining of hardness of heart, he says, I will give you a new one—and if full of fears, he declares he will be an hiding place in every storm; and if we feel as if we were forsaken of God; and are actually forsaken of friends, relatives, acquaintance, and both professor and possessor shun us; and suppose every ray of sensible comfort gone, yet, he cannot, will not leave or forsake you; for he hath said, I will never, never, leave you: I will never, no, never, no never, forsake you! for so the learned say it is in the original, not less than five times mentioned. How sweet the thought!—so that we may confidently sing—

The soul that on Jesus bath lean’d for repose,
He can not, he will not forsake to his foes;
That soul though all Hell should endeavor to shake,
He’ll never, no never, no never, forsake!

And he is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Let our faith plead these things, and may we rejoice in him who is the faithful God—he never can leave or forsake his dear Children, his Bride, his jewels, his crown, his honour, his glory, his own flesh and blood. This is our security and our triumph. His love cannot change; his nature is immutable; his purposes cannot be broken; the bond of union cannot be dissolved; he is one with them, he is in them, and they are engraven on his heart, on his arms, and on the palms of his hands; and he has sworn, Because, or As I live you shall live also. Yet there may be some apparent forsakings, these are chiefly imaginary; yet they have caused these sad complaints—Why hidest thou thy face, O Lord? Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me—my God hath forgotten me! The Lord may depart from his people, in the suspensions of his keeping hand; and the light of his countenance, the sense of his favour, and the divine comforts of his spirit—this may be seen in the sad tale of the fall, of the children of God, especially in the history of Sampson, of whom it is written, that he went out to shake himself, as at other times, and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him: the Lord may seem as if he had forsaken his people when he delays answering prayer; when the soul is shut up for a season; when sin prevails; when no power is felt under the word; when providences are dark; when temptations are strong; when the Church is under long persecution; and when distress abound. Thus we may be partially forsaken; but faith can still triumph in this—What shall separate us from the love of Christ? David still loved his Absalom, though he refused him the sight of his face. The loss of the light of God’s countenance, loudly proclaims the direful effects of the believer’s sin, sloth, and unbelief—O! for grace to fly from sin as from the face of a Serpent—O! for grace to cleave to Jesus continually. But the Lord may be said to leave a man, when he withdraws his sustaining, creative, providential hand, as in the case of some who are lunatic; of others who push into dreadful crimes, and suffer for them; and of others, who are left to their own pride and despair, and who rush headlong, by their own hands, into an awful eternity. It is a mercy for a natural man to be kept by the almighty power of God, even as the God of nature. The Lord may be said to leave a people, when they have slighted the Gospel, rejected his servants, despised his ordinances, and wholly cast out his messages of love to his people. This we all know was the case with the Jews, which is to be seen to this day: God has given them up to their own blindness, pride, prejudice, and enmity; and no doubt they will remain so till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Hence he has said, I will drive them out of my house. Yea, woe is to them when I depart from them. Your sin remaineth. Behold your house is left unto you desolate, until ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. But finally; the Lord has left some individuals to themselves, who have come into a profession, and who have, uncalled, claimed the Lord as theirs; who have been awfully proud, arrogant, lovers of themselves, heady, high minded, and cruelly envious of others; whose hearts were never truly humbled; whose enmity was never slain; whose secret prejudice was never subdued; nor were such taught out of either the Law, the Gospel, or affliction: such may have wonderful talents, but no love of God, of Christ, or the Spirit; no real love to the word of God, the house of God, the people of God, or the operations of the grace of God. Such may make a fair shew in the flesh, for a season; may be useful in some external things to others, as the scaffolding to a building, which will be taken away when the building is compleat; and if not immediately by death, yet will, sooner or later, take offence and stumble at the word, leave their profession, find their gifts wither; hide that talent in a napkin; mount the scorner’s chair; go from bad to worse; stab religion in its vitals, and are by and by, given up to a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. Such awful characters there have been, and it would be well if the world did not groan with many at the present time. Such cannot be said to fall from grace received, alas, they had none—but only from a presumptuous confidence, a feigned faith, a false zeal, and an hypocritical hope; and surely nobody in their right mind, can call these things Grace, however God makes use of them for a season, and then leaves them to their own heart’s pride and cruelty; and the awful source of such things is, in general, black despair. This was partly the sad case of SAUL, which I now present to my friends, that the affecting story may excite fear, and self-examination; gratitude and praise for distinguishing grace and mercy. Doubtless much has been and may be said, in commendation of some actions in Saul’s life, but the review of his religious character is truly sad, nor can any one suppose, for a single moment, he ever possessed the grace of God in truth; for surely that grace saves a soul from the curse of the Law, the guilt of sin, the damnation of hell, and the power of Satan: converting grace saves us from the world, self, and a form of godliness; the grace of faith saves from damning unbelief; the grace of hope from wretched despair; and the grace of love from the carnal enmity of the heart; leads us to love God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit; teaches us to love his word and ways, and to love all that love Jesus, who bear his image, and serve him in godly sincerity. But none of these marks of the elect were found in Saul: not faith, because he daily manifested his intention to destroy the promised Messiah, who was David’s offspring, as well as David’s Lord; nor hope, for he died in awful despair: nor love, for his soul was filled with carnal entity against the love of God; nor access to God; nor a spirit of supplication; nor the grace of patience; nor humility; nor resignation to the will of God; and being destitute of those things, his end was according to his works. He was a slave to his sin, but God’s children are set at liberty from these things, that they should not serve sin; and can there be greater sin in the sight of God than envy, hatred, and malice in the heart against the children of God? impossible!

This poor unhappy man was the son of Kish, a Benjamite. The children of Israel, to be like the nations around them, loudly called out for a King, which God gave in his anger and took away in his wrath. Samuel was appointed to anoint Saul; he then assembled the Hebrews to receive their new king; the people shouted, and wished him joy. A spirit of prophecy fell on him at times, which astonished many, but it does not appear to have been in a covenant way, so that no one appears to have reaped any benefit from his talent. Coming to the kingdom, God furnished him with natural abilities for the government of the people. Hence it is said, God gave him another heart—not the new heart and the right spirit he has promised his people, but a mind capable of managing the affairs of a kingdom. Soon after this advancement, Saul distinguished himself in some very great exploits, but fell an awful victim to his pride, which was manifested in his envying David, whose fame began to spread among his people. Who can stand before envy? After God had so particularly honoured David, Saul’s sun set at noon day, while light was rising on David, never to go dawn. The enmity of Saul was great indeed, which set him upon the awful act of murder; this infernal intention he prosecuted till the last stage of his life, and finding David had taken shelter among the Philistines, he gave over thoughts of getting him destroyed. About the year of the world three thousand and forty nine, the Philistines invaded his kingdom, and encamped in the very heart of it, perhaps at the very time he was troubling the afflicted David. Saul now fell into the deepest distress of mind; his measure was now, nearly filled up, and a righteous God was now about to take vengeance on him for his disobedience in the matter of the Amalekites; his horrid cruelty in the murder of the priests and their families; and his enmity to David, of course to David’s God. Despair seizing his soul and preying on his spirits, he first calls on God, but most probably not in the appointed way; nor did he wait God’s answer, but fled from him in the pride of his heart, and applied to the devil and his daughter, the Witch of Endor, for relief to his mind. Sad refuge, miserable comforters indeed! He wanted to see and speak with Samuel the Prophet, whom he had neglected and disobeyed in his life time, and therefore as God was departed from him, nor would answer him, he was determined, in defiance of Jehovah, to seek redress, from the Devil. The Witch, no doubt, retiring to another apartment than that in which Saul was, used her spells and enchantments, to bring up the pretended Samuel, who first told her who her client was, which made her cry out, Thou art Saul, come to me in disguise. After Saul had assured her no harm should come to her, of course she had nothing to fear from man, and no doubt much conversation took place, which is not recorded, between the Witch and Saul. But he being in haste, asked her what she saw when she had used her spells. She answered and said, I saw gods ascending out of the earth: the learned say it is not a plural, but ought to be rendered a god—Angels, and Magistrates used to be so called. This idea of the singular number is supported by the question, What form is he of? And the Witch said, An old man with a mantle. She did not say she saw Samuel, nor did the Ghost say it was; and it is queried whether Saul saw the spectre at all; but he bowed himself to the ground; perhaps to hear what the spectre had to say, as their speech was called muttering; or if Saul saw the figure, then the conversation that passed is recorded, at least part of it. The spectre pretends he was Samuel in a glorified state; and that Saul had disquieted him. He told him that Saul and his sons should be with him the next day. He then brought up some of his sins, and charged them home to his conscience, in order to drive him into desperation: this made Saul faint in the house of the Witch, and he could scarcely be prevailed on to take any refreshment. He then travelled all night to his troops. When the battle was fought, the Hebrews were routed, but they maintained a running fight till they came to Gilboa, where the enemy overpowered them; three of Saul’s sons were slain; Saul being pressed by the enemy be begged his Armour-Bearer to run him through with his sword, which he refusing, Saul took his owe sword and fell upon it, and went to his place. The subject of enquiry is the Circumstance of his application to a Witch to raise up Samuel. Many have been, and still are of opinion, that it was really Samuel the Prophet, the man of God; the principal reason why even some good men are of this opinion is, simply, on account of the prophecy. The question with them is, how could Satan foretel what would happen to Saul? I shall therefore shew the very important reasons why I think the appearance was not the true Samuel. 2ndly, shew the possibility of Satan knowing what would shortly befal Saul. 3rdly, produce the testimony of some of the best writers on this subject.

The whole circumstance we find recorded in the first book of Samuel, 28th chap. which I humbly conceive, if attentively read, and well weighed in the mind, it will appear evident that the spectre which appeared to Saul, could not be the true Samuel. I state my reason to those friends of mine who are not clear in their judgments on this subject, and request their attention to the following observations: