man^" All these predictions came to pass accord- ingly ; and all the people, when they saw Saul pro- phesying, as skilfully as any of the other prophets, were filled with wonder, that he, who had never been instructed, should be able to perform his part in so extraordinary a way. They could scarcely believe their own senses. And so remarkable was it in their eyes, that it served them as a proverb, whereby to express to all future generations any great and un- looked-for improvement in the mind of man : " Is Saul also among the prophets ?"
Now this proverb we may consider as containing, I. A subject for grateful admiration —
What surprise this change in Saul occasioned amongst all who beheld it, we are informed in the verse before our text: " It came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw, that, behold, he pro- phesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another. What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul among the prophets?" A simi- lar surprise, too, is often created by the change wrought in persons at this day by the grace of God ; being wrought under circumstances which, to the eye of sense, appear most unfavourable. Many are con- verted to God, when no such change could have been hoped for,
1. From their age —
[Some are awakened after they have attained the middle period of life, v^hen it might have been supposed, that their sen- timents and habits were so firmly fixed as not to admit of any material alteration. Respecting such, we may suppose their friends to say, ' I am surprised at him, a man of sense and judgment! a man of correct habits and sound principles! How can it be, that he shovdd suffer himself to be warped by the statements of any fooHsh enthusiast? I can scarcely believe it:
Is HE become one of these deluded people?' — Amongst
the godly, too, the same surprise may prompt them to ask, ' And is he become one of us ? '
Others are turned to God at a very early age, before they could well be expected to exercise any just discretion on matters
c ver. 2 — G. VOL. III. M