L That God is a hearer of prayer —
[This the people could not but acknowledge, since they all
had applied to Samuel to entreat the Lord in their behalf^
And this was a truth which it was of the utmost importance to
commemorate, since it demonstrated Jehovah to be the only
true God. To this truth the whole Scriptures bear witness.
It was in answer to the cries of Israel that God had formerly
dehvered them from Egypt, and brought them in safety through
the Red Sea. When Amalek came forth against them to
destroy them in the wilderness, it was not by the sword of
Joshua, but by the prayers of Moses, that Israel obtained the
victory : for, when the hands of Moses hanged dovm, Amalek
prevailed ; but, in consequence of their being held up until
the evening, Israel prevailed, and gained at last a complete
triumph. In every part of their history the same truth was
manifested'' And to this hour are the memorials of it
the greatest possible encouragements to seek for mercy at his hands.]
2. That he will deliver his penitent and believing people —
* ver. 8. *> See Ps. cvi. 43, 44. and Ps. cvii. throughout.
152 1 SAMUEL, Vll. 12. [290.
[Here we must have an especial eye to the occasion before us. The people, in compliance with the exhortations of Samuel, prayed, and fasted, and confessed their sins, and put away their strange gods, and gave themselves up to Jehovah, " to serve him only"^." This shewed the sincerity of their repentance, without which they could not hope for mercy at God's hands.
But, as humiliation aIo7ie could be of no avail, Samuel offered a sucking lamb as a burnt-offering to God, thereby acknow- ledging the people's desert to be utterly consumed, and their hope of acceptance only through a \acarious sacrifice. And it is remarkable, that, as Samuel was in the very act of offering this sacrifice, " God thundered with a great thmider upon the Philistines," and, by the terror which those thunders inspired, caused them to fall an easy prey to the sword of Israel*^.
Thus the people were reminded, that in all their approaches to the throne of grace there must be an union of penitence and faith : and that, whenever they so approached God, they should assuredly be delivered, however great might be the difficulties in which they were involved, or imminent the dangers to which they were exposed.]
But to all future ages also was this memorial intended to convey, II. An instructive lesson —
It plainly teaches us,
1. That we should often review our past mercies —
[All have received mercies in abundance, which they ought from time to time to review, in order to impress a sense of them the more deeply on their minds. For want of this, how many mercies are forgotten ! and what a loss do we sus- tain by means of our forgetfulness ! Blessings that are unnoticed are no more to us than they are to the brute creation : but if we bring them frequently to our remembrance, we have fre- quently in the retrospect a sweeter taste of them than we had in the actual possession. From this act of Samuel's then let us learn to pass over no mercy -without labouring to imprint it on our minds, and to retain the remembrance of it to our dying hour.]
2. That we should especially view the hand of God in them —
[It is this wliich gives the chief zest to all our mercies.
f" ver. 6.
d ver. 9 — 1 1 . A still more glorious testimony he gave to Peter's exhibition of this Lamb of God as crucified for the sins of men. See Acts X. 43, 44.
^90.1 THE DUTY OF COMMEMORATING GOd's MERCIES. 153
And to whom can we trace them but to God ? Look at your temporal mercies ; the tmie, and j)! ace of your hirth, when tlie light of the Gospel was shining all around you — your pre- servation during the helpless state of infancy, which so many myriads of human beings never survive — the many deliverances, seen, and unseen, which you have experienced since — the blessings of health and abundance, whilst so many have spent their days in sickness and want. View but the last year, and see how many have been plunged into deep distress, from which you are exempt ; or been called away into the eternal world, whilst you are left with protracted opportunities of working