Sermon 41: 1 Samuel 12:1-5 continued

...so that you might desire nothing further, and they may seem perfect and like the angels: whom then either pride blinds, or avarice drives astray, or other vices so transform them that they think anything is permitted to them, and they rule their subjects according to their own lust, because for a time they have conducted themselves well in office. The same happened to Saul, whom we see at the beginning of his reign to have been a most excellent and most moderate man, and to have feigned modesty in a wonderful way, which at last ended in tyranny. The histories testify the same about Nero: that there was no one among the Roman emperors in the beginning equal to Nero in courage, magnanimity, and other virtues, so that he seemed an example of all integrity and innocence. But how much he was changed, his monstrous tyranny and savagery give proof, so that he spared neither his relations, nor his intimates, nor even his own mother. Known are his horrible lusts, known his monstrous prodigality, his robberies, his extortions, his vexations of his subjects. In short, he was truly a gulf and abyss of empire, and rather a most impure demon than a man. Others indeed you may see in old age prudently administering the commonwealth, whose youth however had been notorious for many rash and inconsiderate deeds, or for cruelty, or for avarice, or for other excesses of that kind. This is conspicuous in the examples of many profane men, who in old age attained such praise for their administration that those who imitated them brought back no small glory, although their youth was not so commendable, but was befouled either with cruelty, or avarice, or lusts, or other affections of youth of that kind.

Therefore this protestation of Samuel is to be considered with so much the more diligence: namely, that from his youth up to that very day on which he speaks before them, he had given no one just occasion to complain of him, but had with all his might devoted himself to the convenience and utility of the people, and had never turned his eyes from their evils. And now that he has become an old and decrepit man, he has nevertheless continued to serve with unoffending step in that calling to which he had been called by the Lord, so that no one can rightly complain of injury done to him or contumely inflicted by him.

And thus far concerning Samuel: there follows next the people's reply, namely that they had observed in him nothing worthy of rebuke. "Then Samuel's rejoinder in these words: 'The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.' And in turn the people's response: 'He is witness.'" By which words indeed they confess their ingratitude and perfidy before Jehovah and the king, in that they had refused so praiseworthy a government of Samuel. Moreover, when Samuel calls Jehovah as witness against the people, it is certain that he was by no means led by any desire for vengeance, as will be seen below, but rather was impelled by zeal for promoting God's glory and worship, that the people, acknowledging their fault, might be humbled before God, and might detest their sin. For, as the Apostle says, we ought to procure good not only before God, but also before men, not desiring to safeguard our own glory and reputation, but out of love of virtue. For on the contrary we ought to be prepared against whatever afflictions, and to despise the calumnies of men: but especially of those to whom we have been most beneficent; so that with a moderate spirit we may swallow down their contumelies. But we must most greatly beware lest we be a stumbling-block to anyone, but as far as our strength allows compose our life so as to take away every occasion of thinking ill of us. And this is the precept of St. Paul, who speaking of himself says that, although he had never deviated from the right way, yet he had been rejected by men. But that he had nevertheless proceeded faithfully in his calling, and had counted whatever contumelies and injuries as of small account, and had sought the salvation and utility of all before God and men, and had been zealous for innocence and integrity, so that he might lead his life without crime, and be free from all suspicion of crime, and preserve the dignity of his ministry untouched and unimpaired, lest anyone should dare to object anything to him. Paul therefore strove to lead a pure and sincere life against all contumelies, just as we see Samuel also doing in this place. Therefore he called God as witness against the people, not that the people should be punished by him for ingratitude and malice with the utmost rigor, but that the people might be humbled, and he himself might preserve his innocence and integrity safe and sound against the contumelies of all; and that his conduct might be an example to posterity, so that they might not permit themselves anything they wish and think everything lawful because they have been raised to royal dignity. Therefore he calls God as witness of his past life; that the people might be led to recognition of their ingratitude, and might nevertheless be taught to expect from God's mercy prosperous successes hereafter, so that they might strive henceforth to propagate God's worship and honor with all their strength in all obedience.

But now come, brethren, etc.

## HOMILIA 41.

1 Samuel 12:6-9 — "And Samuel said to the people: The Lord who made Moses and Aaron, and brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand, that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the mercies of the Lord, which he has done with you and with your fathers. How Jacob entered into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and brought your fathers out of Egypt, and settled them in this place. Who forgot the Lord their God, and he delivered them into the hands of Sisera, chief of the army of Hazor, and into..." [Scripture text continues onto next page] ...into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 10. But afterwards they cried to the Lord, and said: We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Astaroth; now therefore deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you. [Note: verse 11 is here omitted.]

From what follows it appears more clearly and manifestly to be true what we taught in the previous sermon: that Samuel, in defending his integrity before the people, had no regard for himself, but rather for the instruction of the people; and that he took pains lest God's grace should be blotted out among the ungrateful. For, going on with the sermon he had begun, he says he wishes to contend with them, and in a certain manner to try the matter at law with them and to bring suit against them concerning the benefits God had conferred on them. Therefore he makes no further mention of himself, content with the testimony he had received of his own innocence and integrity, that it might hereafter be conspicuous to all that he had faithfully served God: lest perchance he should be a stumbling-block to anyone, but rather an example to which others should conform themselves. But he expressly reproaches the people with their ingratitude toward God, in these words: Now stand, that I may contend in judgment against you before the Lord concerning all the mercies, etc. He therefore terrifies the people, showing himself an enemy of their rebellion and stubbornness: to which he had neither consented himself, nor indulged those who were doing it; for otherwise he would not have been able with such freedom either to defend his own innocence or to plead God's cause. And so he freely accuses them before God, and teaches that God has a just cause for being angry and complaining of them, because he had never ceased to do them good, from the time when he brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and rescued them from the hands of their enemies.

And although he took punishments upon them on account of their vices and transgressions, yet he dealt with them with the utmost mercy, when, confessing their sins, they besought pardon; and he raised up Judges, Jephthah, Gideon, and others, by whom they were set free from the tyranny and yoke of their enemies into liberty. And indeed Samuel then reckons himself also among those whom God raised up for the people's salvation. But having recounted God's so many and so great benefactions toward them, he exaggerates their obstinacy and stubborn malice, and sharply reproaches the apostasy of their fathers and their defection to idols from the true God their creator and preserver; in which, their descendants persisting, he teaches that their iniquity has grown to its full measure. Nevertheless he gives them hope of obtaining pardon, provided they practice serious repentance, and turn from idols to God; and, mindful of how greatly they have despised God's benefits and as it were trodden them under foot, henceforth serve him earnestly, and change their morals and nature for the better, and no longer be stubborn nor shake off God's yoke. He therefore promises on these conditions God's favor to the people under Saul's reign, whose kingdom he says will be fortunate in prosperous affairs, provided they themselves also persevere in obedience. And each of these things is here to be more carefully weighed by us.

And in the first place it is to be observed, that those who bear public offices ought to be vehemently moved whenever God's honor and glory is violated by men; and if any wicked deeds are committed, they should bring suit against such abandoned men before judges and at God's tribunal, and stand as adversaries against them. For it is certain that those who are called to any public office, whatever it finally may be, obtain this honor from God, that they may be as it were his patrons; and accordingly he wills that they should plead his cause. Therefore this example of Samuel is to be imitated, both by those to whom God has given the administration of his word for the instruction of the people, and by those who have received the sword, for ruling the people and gaining authority for themselves. Let these therefore know, that if knowingly they suffer God's honor and glory to be held up to mockery and as it were trodden under foot, or wink at vices, and open the way by dissimulation, not only will they not bear their slothfulness with impunity, but they will one day render an account to God, that they have been perfidiously wanting in their duty, since God had committed his cause to them, and those whom he had called to the highest honors ought to show themselves defenders of God's cause; but moreover every individual, from the least to the greatest, ought to be so affected by God's glory, that if they perceive God to be offended, and have seen his honor in some part openly professed to be attacked, they should openly profess it. They therefore, that they may go before others by example, should appoint a day for the sinners, and stand in judgment as plaintiffs and patrons of the divine cause.

Furthermore Samuel says he wishes to contend against them concerning all the righteous deeds of Jehovah. The word "righteousness" is sometimes taken in the sacred writings for the grace which God bestows on the faithful, the name being used improperly. Nor yet does Scripture use the name of righteousness when it describes God's judgment joined with severity: but it marks that perfection of rectitude in God. But most often, with respect to us, it is called righteousness, because God shows himself faithful and just, when it pleases him to preserve us, and when with a kindly hand he heaps his benefits upon us; or delivers us from the greatest dangers; when he supplies strength to us when we are failing. In these things, I say, God makes his righteousness manifest. This word indeed contains useful doctrine. For from it we gather, that it is never to be feared, so long as God works righteousness, that we should be swallowed up by dangers and perish; and although many inconveniences and afflictions must be borne by us, yet we are never, as they say, except rightly... ...about to fall, or, if we do fall, to be raised up at once. From this it appears that it cannot happen that God's righteousness should ever come to an end; and in this consists the knowledge of our salvation, for these things are inseparable. And the singular love of God toward us becomes conspicuous from this, that He joins His fatherly care for us with His righteousness, which abides for all time, so that, with all fear removed, He may make us more certain that the goodness of God which we have once tasted will never fail us, nor indeed will the righteousness of God ever fail us, which cannot happen. Furthermore, since Sacred Scripture attributes to divine righteousness all the benefits we receive from His hand, besides offering us occasion for trust in God, and boldly leads us to this inexhaustible fount of grace, from which we may always draw what is necessary, it also admonishes us that God alone wishes to be acknowledged and glorified as the author of all good, and that therefore the cause of our blessings is not to be sought outside Him. And indeed in ourselves it is not found. What then, I ask, moves God, what impels Him, that He should wish to be acknowledged so inclined and beneficent toward us as to be called Father, and to show Himself so liberal and bountiful as to free us from the greatest difficulties and heap us with His gifts? Surely He will not find the cause in us, nor is He bound to anyone to do this; nor do we attract Him: in short, He finds the cause for being moved to do us good nowhere but in Himself: but because He is righteous, He does good to men.

Moreover, among the righteous deeds of Jehovah, this is reckoned in the first place, that God made Moses and Aaron his brother. This word 'made' is not understood of the creation common to all men, but of those excellent gifts which God bestowed upon Moses and upon his brother Aaron, that He might use their ministry in leading the people out of Egypt. And indeed in individual men a kind of double work may be observed. For God made us first when He created and brought us forth into the world, and gave intelligence by which we are distinguished from brute animals: and this title of human creature is common to all, and thus we are God's work because created by Him. But there is another divine work in man, when God distributes to men the powers of intellect, greater to these, lesser to others, to each according to his measure, so that one excels in one thing, another in another, not only in spiritual gifts, but also in bodily ones. These bodily gifts, though inferior to spiritual ones, are still to be highly regarded and esteemed according to their dignity. So great therefore is the diversity in men, that some far excel others and are more outstanding. For some are clear in spirit of prudence, others distinguished by other virtues. Others, who are not so clear in powers of intellect, will surpass in bodily gifts, as in courage and bodily strength, by which they become more capable than the rest of bearing various duties. And this is, as it were, a kind of second creation, God making each of us such as seems good to Him. Therefore Paul, treating of the diverse gifts of God, says that men are distinguished from one another not only by difference of countenance, but by the variety of gifts of mind or body, which is, as it were, a certain ordination of God by which God assigned to each his place and rank. Therefore we have no material for boasting in ourselves, since nothing is properly ours, but whatever is excellent in us flows from the pure liberality of God. To these two generations there is added a third, most properly belonging to the children of God, when by the power of the Holy Spirit they are regenerated, and grafted into the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, that through true faith they may become His members. Therefore Paul in Ephesians 2 says: We are God's work, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has prepared that we should walk in them. But Paul does not speak in that place of the first creation, by which we are men and sons of Adam: but he restricts this doctrine to those whom God has renewed and changed, and in whom He restores His image graven upon them. And therefore he says expressly 'in Christ Jesus.' Therefore let us acknowledge whatever good is in us to proceed from God, and to be ascribed to Him alone, by whom we have been twice or three times created and made a new work. For, I ask, what kind do we come forth from our mother's womb after the fall of our first parent Adam? Defiled with original sin, by which it comes about that God abominates us and judges us unworthy to be reckoned in the number of brutes. Truly a great change must have taken place in us, since we should otherwise perish, because by nature we are children of wrath and the shadow of death. Therefore God, having compassion on us, does in us what Paul teaches, namely that we may be His work, since He fashions us to good works, and makes us fit to be received into the number of His children, who before were unworthy and useless for any good. Now let us weigh what is said here of Moses and Aaron. God is said to have made them. But did He not also make Pharaoh, the enemy of God's people? Indeed thus God speaks of him in Moses: 'Yet for this purpose I have made you stand, that I may show in you my power, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth,' when, namely, so great and so terrible an enemy of my people shall be seen subdued and tamed by Me. God therefore creates even the wicked, that He may be glorified in them. But when Scripture mentions Moses and Aaron, and they are named as if from the very mouth of God, it is thus expressed that whatever was done by them flowed not from their natural strengths and intellect, but from the mere grace of God adorning them with His Spirit. When therefore we behold the vehement zeal of Moses, which he showed in killing the Egyptian to defend the right of his people... ...he showed, when, neglecting the riches and delights of the royal house, he then followed the wretched and abject condition of God's people, and as an exile from his fatherland and home dwelt so long in a foreign land; and afterwards, in order to obey God, endured so many insults from the people and the most grievous labors, and indeed wrestled in the desert with so many difficulties to show himself obedient to God: from these things we know that he was truly made by God. And therefore the apostle rightly says he 'endured', praising his constancy in overcoming many and dreadful temptations. But from where that patience, from where constancy in such great difficulties, except from God, who made him, and who gave him the gifts necessary to fulfill his office, and daily increased them, indeed always heaped them up with new grace, lest in such great difficulties he despair in mind and succumb? The same is the reason of Aaron: for whatever he did, flowed from the mere grace of God. And this is most conspicuous in Aaron. For as soon as God allowed him as it were with loosened reins to himself, he immediately fell, and listening to the people, melted an idol of gold, when rather a thousand times a hundred he ought to have died than obey the people and depart from God. Therefore when he stood undaunted before the threats of Pharaoh, and often stood before that raging beast, and with such constancy, despising his threats, brought God's commands to him, we cannot judge otherwise than that he was made by God, and adorned with such qualities. And these things are to be observed from those words: 'God made Moses and Aaron.' We are therefore admonished to ascribe to God whatever gifts He has bestowed on us and daily bestows, lest we be sacrilegious and claim for ourselves what is His. Therefore whoever excels in any matter, let him know that it flows from God, who has adorned him with the gifts of His Holy Spirit, which he did not have from his nature. Although therefore he may seem to have it as inherited, yet let him acknowledge himself made such by God: and thus it will come about that no one shall seem to himself to excel others except by divine grace. On the contrary, if we contemplate some idiot, or some stupid and dull person, in him as in a mirror let us look at ourselves, and see what we would be by nature unless God distinguished us from them. Therefore let us learn to give Him thanks for all His benefits toward us: and not only for those gifts which we ourselves have received, but also for those which have been bestowed on others for our usefulness. Thus, for example, when the word of God is faithfully announced to us, let us know that faithful preachers were sent by God to that purpose, raised up by the Lord, as we see Sacred Scripture often saying. For Paul says: 'How shall they preach unless they are sent?' And elsewhere: We are not sufficient of ourselves for anything, unless we are aided by Him in whom is the fullness of grace and the abundance of all virtues, who is our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom our tongues are directed through the power of His Holy Spirit. And thus it is to be reckoned that God exercises His power whenever the Gospel is sincerely and purely announced to us, and His ministers are sent to us, by whose preaching He testifies the care which He has for our salvation. So also when God raises up good magistrates, who are led by zeal to fulfill their office, and who faithfully administer those things which pertain to leading this life tranquilly, let us know that they are given to us by God's liberality, and are raised up and formed by Him. But why do we tarry longer on such excellent persons? Let us look at the very farmers themselves, whenever we eat bread, that we may know that God's providence extends even to them, as Isaiah teaches that farmers gather grain according to the manner God taught them. And indeed, unless God made farmers to till the earth for the production of bread, and other fruits by which the life of man is mostly sustained, unless also He created bakers to grind bread for our use, we should not have even a crumb of bread. So whenever we are clothed with garments, we ought to behold the goodness of God in the workers, whom God adorns with intelligence for our use; and finally in all other arts, the author and giver of all of which God must be acknowledged. In sum, let us learn from this doctrine to behold as in a mirror the goodness and liberality of God toward men, who is so munificent that we lack nothing, but has dispensed each thing for the use of men: so that, since God's benefits toward us are so great, we in turn may all the more ardently and diligently fulfill the parts of our duty and promote His glory, since we were created by Him for that end. And so far on this.

There follows: 'When your fathers cried out to Jehovah, Jehovah sent Moses and Aaron, who led your fathers out of Egypt.' By these words Samuel reproaches the people with the wretched and abject condition of the fathers, and recalls it to memory, to teach them that they have no occasion for boasting. For your fathers, he says, Jacob and others went down into Egypt as slaves, urged of course by mighty famine, so that with all their family they were forced to submit to the rule of the king of Egypt. From which it came about that they were gradually subjected to the Egyptians, and oppressed with heavy burdens. Such, then, was the origin of your fathers, such their dignity. We know moreover how greatly this Jewish people boasted of their ancestors. And indeed they could rightly boast, provided they acknowledged the grace of God to His glory in all humility. But puffed up with mere arrogance, they exalted themselves with foolish and empty boasts about their ancestors, when they said: 'We are a holy seed, adopted by God Himself in our fathers; an everlasting covenant He entered into with us...' But all the more they ought to acknowledge themselves bound to God; instead they seize upon this very thing as occasion for exalting and boasting of themselves, from which they had a greater reason for humility and abasement, that they might serve God all the more humbly and diligently. For this cause, therefore, Samuel recalls to them the dignity of their ancestors: 'See,' he says, 'from where God has led you out. For that father of yours, Jacob, from whom, as it seems to you, all your glory and dignity flows, fled into Egypt to Pharaoh under the pressure of famine.' These things are described here in few words, but Samuel pursued them at greater length in words of which only the sum is described here. He therefore recalled to them the descent of their fathers into Egypt, and that hard tyranny which they had suffered for so many years, so that they were treated not only as slaves but as beasts, with these words, as if to say: 'Go now, and boast of your origin, of your ancestors, since their condition was so wretched and abject and servile that nothing could be added to it, except that they were spat upon in the face and trodden under foot. But what at last was the issue from such miseries, what mode of liberation appeared to them? Your fathers cried out to God. But what was the manner of your liberation? God raised up Moses and Aaron, by whose ministry God fulfilled His promises, to lead you out of Egypt.' In short, Samuel wishes to teach the people that whatever benefits they obtained were to be ascribed to the mercy of God alone, although they were not owed to them, but because it pleased God to use gentleness toward them, that they might know the greater occasion thus given them for praising and worshipping Him. But since, forgetful, they did not acknowledge God so beneficent and merciful toward them, is not their ingratitude all the more detestable, and worthy of greater punishment, and their crime so much heavier and worthy of heavier punishments? This therefore is the scope of this discourse. Hence let us learn that the promise was indeed made to us, that our cries and prayers shall reach God and be heard, so that we may direct all our prayers to God. And that God wills us, oppressed by the sense of our miseries, to flee to Him with sure hope of liberation: but yet not to be heard by God except from His own pure liberality and goodness. For, by way of example, although we are bound to help our neighbor begging alms, and we help the needy from our resources, yet he will not therefore say that we are bound to him, but he will give the alms to our liberality. But far different is the reason of God in respect of us. For He owes us nothing: while we are bound to help our neighbor by the bond of nature, which we have in common with both. Therefore Isaiah said: 'Do not despise your own flesh.' Therefore it is clear that God hearing our prayers does not act because of debt or obligation, but because of His mere goodness in showing mercy. Furthermore it is certain that the people's outcry was immoderate. For we know that they cried out as if put to the question. That cry then was not unlike the one of which the prophet speaks in Psalm 107, when wretched men in extreme distresses cry out to God, not indeed from love of God's worship, but driven by the magnitude of their pains. But by that natural impulse they are driven to cry out, and in this they are most convicted of malice, and are compelled to confess that all things hang on God's will and goodness alone. Let us weigh this in the people of Israel. They indeed cried out to God, but that cry was immoderate, and rather a groaning and howling of beasts than of men invoking God. For, I ask, when Moses offered himself as liberator sent by the Lord, was he received by them as a prophet of God? Did they show themselves obedient to him? Not at all. Far from it, they repulsed him, and if it had been placed in their judgment and power, they would have submerged that grace of God offered them in the deepest abyss. Nor did they sin and rebel against God once or twice only, but so great was their unbelief and ingratitude that, although confirmed by many miracles and evident signs of divine presence and favor, yet when they perceive Pharaoh angry and the Egyptians raging, they bid Moses and Aaron depart far away with these words: 'Withdraw from us, and let us live a quiet life; you are the cause of our evils.' Indeed they would have gladly torn Moses and Aaron with their own hands and killed them, although they had reached the height of misery, and had been informed about the help close at hand and the liberation through Moses and Aaron. From which it appears that their cries were not well-instituted and moderate prayers, but only voices and testimonies of supreme calamity and desperate safety, unless God Himself were the liberator at hand. God therefore, having compassion on them, sent Moses and Aaron as liberators. But how did they conduct themselves toward them? Samuel does not in this place institute a long narration of the things which happened in the desert, namely, of contumacy, continual murmuring, rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and against God Himself, but he teaches those things which seemed to pertain to the people's instruction and reproof: and so he touches them in few words, and mentions those things from which we may acknowledge God's admirable kindness toward this people, commendable for so many and so great benefits toward them: and on the contrary the supreme wickedness and ingratitude of the people, by which they were made guilty before God of the greatest crime.

Samuel therefore passes to the commemoration of those things which happened after their entry into the possession of the land of Canaan. God, he says, not only... [Note: OCR for this page interleaves the two columns badly in places, particularly at the top and middle. The reconstructed sense is given.] God led Moses and Aaron into the midst of the Egyptians, and through the midst of the sea He led them. But that they should pass through the deep ought to have stricken them with horror and trembling, when before their eyes God's goodness and power were made all the more conspicuous. The prophet beautifully expresses this same thing in Psalm 77, when he says that God led His people as a flock of sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron like shepherds. But God's power was most conspicuous in this, that when they were surrounded on every side by the most savage and deadly enemies, whom, even if they had been most well-equipped in arms and most warlike, they ought to have feared, much more being unarmed and unwarlike, and like wretched sheep in the midst of the jaws of wolves without protection, without arms, yet they not only did not fear, but stood undaunted with great spirit against them. Surely divine providence appears the more notable and illustrious in this, administering things in such a way that He willed to fulfill His promises, when He brought them, freed from the hand of the most powerful enemies, into the land promised to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and gave it to them as an inheritance. Therefore, since God had satisfied His promises, they in turn ought to have paid their faith and rendered to God the honor due Him, for the land received in possession and inheritance, in which they otherwise had no right, and of which they were unworthy, and in which their fathers had dwelt as strangers. Therefore they are bound and obligated to God's goodness in such a way that they could pretend no excuse for their contumacy and rebellion. And yet they sinned wretchedly in this part, which Samuel reproaches them with in these words: 'They forgot Jehovah their God.' By which words he indicates that they had forgotten God's benefits, which, if they had recalled to memory, would have been to them as a bridle, by which they would be retained in their duty and subjected to God. And indeed, if we thought, as is fitting, of God and His benefits to us, it is certain that, although solicited by the devil himself, by our concupiscences, and by the world, we would never depart from the obedience due to God, but would resist all temptations bravely, and run our course in His fear with unhindered foot. For if first we apprehended His immense and admirable majesty in our minds, it is certain that at the mere thought of Him, struck with trembling, we should be subject to Him. Then, if we considered that we were created in His image and given all goods necessary for life, but especially that we were regenerated by Him through the blood of His only Son, with whom we are joined that we may become partakers of His kingdom, and that the enjoyment of so great goods is laid up for us in heaven: these things, I say, if we considered, and impressed more deeply on our minds, it is certain that we would hold every offense in abomination, and avoid every occasion that would turn us away from the enjoyment of so great goods, and with the greatest zeal... [the sins by which we so often abuse His gifts and benefits, and bear ourselves contumaciously against His majesty, would be...] Samuel therefore says we forget God when we are turned away from Him. For if we always remembered Him, surely we would always be contained in His fear and reverence, and would shudder to sin against His majesty, and fear to resist His will. But men most especially cast aside all memory of God when they adulterate God's worship and addict themselves to superstitions, after God's will has been revealed to them. Those pagans indeed forgot God, but in the course of time and after a long interval after, by His just judgment, darkness came into the world. But where God chose for Himself a peculiar people, and consecrated and dedicated them to Himself and to His worship and name, and prescribed a law by which it was instructed and equipped for every duty of office, so that on the one hand it has God's word by which it may be taught, on the other miracles by which it may be confirmed in the faith of this doctrine: if it has defected to those superstitions of the heathen, and has fashioned for itself new worships from its own choice, and mixed itself with idolatrous pollutions, then truly that people may be said to have forgotten God. Nor is the crime of defection lessened by this forgetfulness (as most are wont to cover or defend their sins with the cloak of forgetfulness, as if they would never have sinned if they had seriously thought about God), since this forgetfulness and inconsideration is voluntary, the light having been extinguished which God had kindled before their eyes, and God being neglected, to whom they turned their backs: and willingly leaving aside all those things by which they could not only have been retained in the fear of God, but also impelled to Him. All these things therefore Samuel rightly objects to them. Therefore, if we wish to walk in obedience to God, and to conform our life to His will, this caution must be employed, that His graces and benefits toward us never escape our memory, but rather, refreshing their memory continually, that we meditate upon them with the highest zeal, as our duty requires, and exercise ourselves continually in His word, that we may be daily instructed in it, and have it always as it were freshly in memory: that He may peacefully enjoy us, and we may remain in Him to the end, and if it should happen that we fall away from Him, let us know that this happens because we have despised His instruction, and made it null by our wickedness.

Samuel goes on, saying that they were rightly chastened by God, and in this their ingratitude appeared doubly greater. For they ought to have been instructed by divine chastisements, and brought back to better fruit. But Samuel touches God's judgments in a few words, but the circumstances of all these things must be noted by us from the histories which are contained in the books of Judges. For not on one...

...occasion only did they provoke God to anger, so that He was forced to beat them with rods, but again and again they returned to their old ways. For when God raised up liberators for them, such as Jephthah and others, they would simulate a kind of obedience for the future, but they would suddenly return to their old character. And so as long as they were afflicted with punishments, if God sent a liberator, they would put on a wonderful ardor and zeal for worshipping God from the heart, but the impulse was only momentary, like fire from tow, or a flash from a basin, which immediately vanished: and therefore as often as they were called by God's hand into liberty, they always returned to their contumacy and began to provoke God to anger. Samuel therefore rightly objects to them that they were guilty of a double crime, since they had profited nothing when chastened by God, nor were they amended by chastisements. Therefore God also complains in the prophet Isaiah, that He had accomplished nothing by chastening His people of Israel. 'I have lost my labor,' He says, 'because nothing is whole for the multitude of stripes, and yet they have not done penance.' Just as some parent, having tried in vain all means to recall a son to a better mind, vehemently grieves and is anguished that he has labored in vain, so we ought to know that God, beating us with rods, that is, with His scourges, admonishes us about our sins, that we may pass from them to a sound mind: but if we are stupefied at the blows, and neglect to be converted to God, it is certain that we, like men past hope, resist Him and wage war against Him: since when God is solicitous about our salvation, we refuse to lend our ear, and to be amended by His corrections, by which we are both instructed and corrected. Let us therefore beware lest we draw upon ourselves the same accusation as the people of Israel, that we have forgotten God: and if, when He has admonished us and exhorted us to penance, we persist in our sins and contumacy, let us know that we shall be altogether inexcusable before God's throne.

Finally Samuel also makes mention of himself, and names himself last among those liberators; in which the Israelites are accused of the greatest impiety, and are charged as having reached the highest pitch. For God had through his hand asserted them into liberty from the power of their enemies, no otherwise than through Jephthah, Gideon, and others, whose work God had used to vindicate His own, ruling them by His own power and the efficacy of His Holy Spirit, to whom in their time Samuel had succeeded. We saw above how God had made his governance august with prosperous successes, and had granted peace and tranquility to the people, the enemies not daring to be stirred up against the people or to attempt anything: which grace the people did not regard, and therefore Samuel here expressly makes mention of himself. Where it is to be observed, that as often as God gives experience of His goodness and favor, we should so much the more rest in His providence: and therefore if we have acknowledged His power and might in preserving us, of which we then begin to doubt, our unbelief is so much the worse and more wicked. For even if we had never in fact experienced divine help, His providence and protection alone ought to be a firm enough testimony against any dangers, once we had experienced it. But where God has, as it were, set His help before our very eyes, and we have been made certain that God never abandons His own in straitened circumstances, from this let us know that God gives a confirmation of His power and goodness toward us. And therefore if afterwards we are pressed by some temptation, and despairing in mind, as if things were desperate, seek help and aid from this side and that, leaving God, must we not rightly say that our stupor is enormous, and the forgetfulness of God will rightly be reproached to us? Therefore care must be taken that we apply each of God's benefits toward us to our use, that we may be made more certain of God's help, and confirmed more and more in hope, that God will never fail us, sought with ardent vows: and let us consecrate ourselves wholly to Him, and depend on Him alone in any urgent necessity: and let us pay Him this honor, that we trust His promises which He has ratified by many testimonies, not doubting that He will bring prompt help, even if we are pressed by six hundred dangers. Even if divine help does not at once present itself, as we ourselves would wish, yet let us never despair: but let us be certainly persuaded that no difficulty shall be so great that we cannot most easily overcome it. Therefore although we may see the enemies with open jaws gaping to devour us, let us know our patience and obedience are thus tested by the Lord: who nevertheless is not far from us, but offers a helping hand, provided we flee to Him from the heart: and on the contrary He stretches forth His arm against the most hostile enemies, to consume them and strike them with thunderbolt, so that we ought to be persuaded that God will never abandon His work, and will not rest until He makes us partakers of the promised salvation.

Come then, suppliants, etc.

...so that you could desire nothing more — they seem perfect, almost angelic. But then either pride blinds them, or greed leads them astray, or other vices so transform them that they begin to think everything is permissible, and they rule their subjects according to their own desires, reasoning that they earned this license by their previous good behavior. This is what happened to Saul — at the beginning of his reign he was an outstanding and restrained man, displaying what appeared to be remarkable modesty, which in the end collapsed into tyranny. History records the same of Nero: at the beginning, no Roman emperor seemed his equal in courage, generosity, and other virtues — he appeared to be a model of all integrity and innocence. But how completely he changed is proven by his monstrous tyranny and cruelty — he spared neither relatives, nor close companions, nor even his own mother. His horrible lusts are well known, as are his monstrous extravagance, his plundering, his oppression and exploitation of his subjects. In short, he became a true abyss of empire — more a filthy demon than a man. On the other hand, you may see others who governed the commonwealth wisely in old age, even though their youth was notorious for rash and unthinking acts, or for cruelty, or greed, or similar excesses. This is evident in the examples of many public figures who in old age earned such praise for their governance that those who followed their example gained no small glory — even though their youth had not been commendable, having been marked by cruelty, greed, lust, or other passions typical of youth.

Samuel's testimony here therefore deserves all the more careful attention: from his youth up to that very day when he spoke before them, he had given no one just reason to complain of him. He had devoted himself with all his strength to the benefit and welfare of the people, and had never turned his eyes from their troubles. Now that he had grown old and feeble, he had nonetheless continued to walk faultlessly in the calling to which the Lord had appointed him — so that no one could rightly complain that he had done them injury or offered any insult.

So much for Samuel. Next comes the people's reply — that they had found nothing in him worthy of rebuke. Samuel then responds: 'The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness today, that you have found nothing in my hand.' And the people answered: 'He is witness.' By these words they confessed before the Lord and before the king their own ingratitude and faithlessness — in that they had rejected so praiseworthy a government as Samuel's. Moreover, when Samuel called the Lord as witness against the people, he was driven by no desire for vengeance, as will become clear below. He was moved rather by zeal for God's glory and worship — so that the people, confronted with their fault, might humble themselves before God and detest their sin. For as the apostle teaches, we ought to pursue what is good not only before God but also before people — not to safeguard our own reputation and glory, but out of genuine love of virtue. By contrast, we must be prepared to face whatever hardships come upon us, and to endure the slanders of people with a steady spirit — especially from those we have served most generously. But we must above all take care that we are no stumbling block to anyone. As much as we are able, we must shape our lives so as to remove every occasion for people to think badly of us. This is the teaching of Paul, who says of himself that though he had never departed from the right way, he had still been rejected by people — yet he had remained faithful in his calling, counted all insults and injuries as small things, sought the salvation and benefit of all before God and people, and been zealous for innocence and integrity, so that he might live without crime, be free from all suspicion, and preserve the dignity of his ministry untouched and unimpaired, leaving no one grounds for accusation against him. Paul therefore strove to lead a pure and sincere life against all criticism — just as we see Samuel doing in this passage. He called God as witness against the people — not so that they would be punished to the fullest extent for their ingratitude and malice, but so that they might be humbled, and so that his own innocence and integrity would be preserved intact against all criticism. And his conduct would serve as an example for future generations, so that those raised to royal dignity would not allow themselves to do as they pleased and think everything lawful. He therefore called God as witness to his past life — so that the people might be brought to recognize their ingratitude, and might be taught to expect from God's mercy a prosperous future, and might from that point forward strive with all their strength to advance God's worship and honor in full obedience to Him.

But now come, brethren, etc.

Sermon 41.

1 Samuel 12:6-9 — 'Samuel said to the people: It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of Egypt. Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and for your fathers. After Jacob entered Egypt, your fathers cried out to the Lord. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot the Lord their God; so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 10. Then they cried out to the Lord and said, "We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You."' [Note: verse 11 is omitted here.]

What follows makes even clearer what we taught in the previous sermon: that Samuel, in defending his integrity before the people, had no concern for himself — only for the people's instruction. He was determined that God's grace not be buried among the ungrateful. Continuing the sermon he had begun, he declares his intention to take the matter up with them — to lay before them, as in a formal case, the benefits God had bestowed on them. He makes no further mention of himself, satisfied with the testimony to his innocence and integrity that had already been given. The purpose was that it should be plain to all that he had faithfully served God — so that he would be no stumbling block to anyone, but rather an example for others to follow. He then directly charges the people with ingratitude toward God in these words: 'Now stand here, because I am going to confront you before the Lord concerning all His righteous acts toward you.' In this he shows himself an adversary of their rebellion and stubbornness — rebellion he had neither shared nor indulged. Had he done so, he could not have defended his own innocence or pleaded God's cause with such freedom. He freely accuses them before God and demonstrates that God has just cause for anger — because He had never stopped doing good for them, from the time He brought their fathers out of Egypt and rescued them from their enemies.

And even when God punished them for their sins and transgressions, He dealt with them in the utmost mercy whenever they confessed their sins and sought pardon — raising up judges like Jephthah, Gideon, and others, through whom He delivered them from the tyranny and oppression of their enemies. Samuel also counts himself among those whom God raised up for the people's deliverance. After recounting God's many and great benefits toward them, Samuel intensifies his charge — rebuking the stubborn malice of the people and reproaching them sharply for the apostasy of their fathers and their abandonment of the true God for idols. He shows that their descendants have continued in the same path, and that their guilt has now reached its full measure. Nevertheless, he holds out hope of receiving pardon — if they practice genuine repentance, turn from idols to God, and, mindful of how greatly they have despised and trampled underfoot God's benefits, serve Him earnestly from this point forward, changing their ways and no longer throwing off God's yoke. On these conditions he promises God's favor to the people under Saul's reign — saying the kingdom will prosper, provided they themselves persevere in obedience. Each of these things deserves careful attention from us.

First, those who hold public office must be deeply moved whenever God's honor and glory is violated — and when wicked acts are committed, they must bring suit against such wrongdoers before human judges and before God's tribunal, standing as adversaries against them. Those called to any public office — whatever it may be — receive from God this honor: to act as His advocates, and therefore to plead His cause. Samuel's example here must be imitated both by those to whom God has entrusted the ministry of His Word for the instruction of the people, and by those who have received the sword to govern the people and maintain order. Let all such people know: if they knowingly allow God's honor and glory to be mocked and trampled underfoot, or if they wink at vices and by their silence open the door for them — they will not only fail to escape punishment for their neglect, but will one day give account to God for having faithlessly abandoned their duty. God had entrusted His cause to them, and those He called to the highest honors must show themselves defenders of that cause. Indeed, every individual — from the least to the greatest — must be so committed to God's glory that if they see Him dishonored and His honor openly attacked, they must openly say so. Therefore those who are to lead others by example must call wrongdoers to account and stand before them as plaintiffs and advocates of God's cause.

Samuel says he wishes to contend with them concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord. The word 'righteousness' is used in Scripture in a range of ways. Sometimes it refers to the grace God bestows on the faithful — an extended use of the term. Scripture does not use 'righteousness' specifically to describe God's judgment accompanied by severity. It marks, rather, that perfection of uprightness that belongs to God Himself. Most often, when used in relation to us, it is called righteousness because God shows Himself faithful and just — when it pleases Him to preserve us, when He generously heaps His blessings on us, when He delivers us from the gravest dangers, when He supplies strength to us when we are failing. In all these things, God makes His righteousness known. This word carries genuinely useful teaching. From it we gather that as long as God is working righteousness, there is never reason to fear that we will be swallowed up by danger and perish. Though many hardships and trials must be endured, we will never — if we stand rightly — be abandoned to fall, or, if we do fall, will be immediately raised up. From this it is clear that God's righteousness can never come to an end — and in this rests the knowledge of our salvation, for the two are inseparable. God's remarkable love for us is seen in this: He joins His fatherly care for us together with His righteousness, which endures forever — so that, with all fear removed, He may assure us that the goodness we have once tasted will never fail us, and that God's righteousness will never fail us — a thing that cannot happen. Moreover, since Scripture attributes to God's righteousness all the blessings we receive from His hand, this gives us a double gift: it opens for us an inexhaustible fountain of grace from which we may always draw what is needed, and it reminds us that God alone is to be acknowledged and glorified as the author of all good — so that the cause of all our blessings is never to be sought outside of Him. And indeed the cause is not found in us. What is it, then, that moves God — what drives Him to reveal Himself as so inclined and generous toward us, to be called our Father, and to show Himself so freely giving as to rescue us from the greatest difficulties and shower us with His gifts? He will not find the cause in us. He owes no one anything. We bring nothing to attract Him. In short, the reason He is moved to do us good exists nowhere but in Himself — and it is because He is righteous that He does good to people.

Among the righteous acts of the Lord, the first that Samuel names is that God made Moses and his brother Aaron. The word 'made' here does not refer to the creation common to all people, but to the exceptional gifts God bestowed on Moses and Aaron so He could use their service in leading the people out of Egypt. In each person we can observe, in a sense, a double work of God. God made us first when He created us and brought us into the world, giving us reason and intelligence by which we are distinguished from animals — and this is common to all people. In this sense we are all God's work, created by Him. But there is another divine work in people: when God distributes different capacities of intellect to different people — greater to some, lesser to others, each according to his measure. One excels in one thing, another in another, and this applies not only to spiritual gifts but to physical ones as well. These physical gifts, though inferior to spiritual ones, are still to be honored and valued according to their dignity. So great is the diversity among people that some far surpass others and are more outstanding. Some are gifted with sharp wisdom and prudence; others are distinguished by different virtues. Still others, less strong in intellectual gifts, surpass in physical qualities — in courage and bodily strength — which makes them more suited for various demanding duties. This is, as it were, a second creation — God making each of us as He sees fit. Paul, when treating of God's diverse gifts, says that people are distinguished from one another not only by the variety of their faces, but by the variety of mental and physical gifts — and this is a kind of ordering by which God has assigned each person his place and role. We therefore have no grounds for boasting about ourselves, since nothing of what is excellent in us is properly our own — everything flows from the pure generosity of God. To these two kinds of creation there is added a third — the one that truly belongs to the children of God: when by the power of the Holy Spirit they are regenerated and grafted into the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that through true faith they become His members. Paul says in Ephesians 2: 'We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.' Paul is not speaking there of the first creation by which we are people and sons of Adam — he is limiting this teaching to those whom God has renewed and transformed, restoring His own image in them. That is why he says specifically 'in Christ Jesus.' Let us therefore acknowledge that whatever good is in us proceeds from God — and must be credited to Him alone, by whom we have been created, re-created, and made a new work. After all, what do we come out of the womb as, after the fall of our first parent Adam? Defiled with original sin — from which it follows that God abhors us and judges us unworthy to be counted even among the animals. A great change must take place in us, for we would otherwise perish — by nature we are children of wrath and under the shadow of death. Therefore God, having compassion on us, does in us what Paul teaches: He fashions us for good works and makes us fit to be received as His children — we who before were unworthy and useful for nothing good. Now let us consider what is said here about Moses and Aaron. God is said to have made them. But did He not also make Pharaoh, the enemy of God's people? Indeed, God says of Pharaoh in Moses: 'For this very purpose I have raised you up — to display My power in you and to proclaim My name through all the earth' — that is, so that so great and terrible an enemy of His people would be seen subdued and broken by God. God therefore creates even the wicked so that He may be glorified in them. But when Scripture mentions Moses and Aaron as if from the very mouth of God, it expresses the fact that whatever was accomplished through them flowed not from their natural abilities and intellect but from God's pure grace, which adorned them with His Spirit. When we behold the intense zeal of Moses — the zeal he showed in defending his people's right even at great personal cost; the zeal by which, turning his back on the riches and comforts of the royal household, he chose to share the wretched and lowly condition of God's people; the zeal by which, as an exile from his home and country, he endured so many insults from the people, worked through enormous hardships, and struggled through the desert wilderness in obedience to God — from all of this we know that he was truly made by God. The apostle rightly praises his constancy in enduring so many dreadful trials. But where did that patience come from? Where did that steadfastness in such great difficulty come from — if not from God, who made him, who gave him the gifts necessary for his calling, who increased them daily, and who continually renewed them with fresh grace so that in such great difficulties he would not lose heart and break down? The same holds for Aaron: whatever he accomplished flowed from God's pure grace. This is most vividly demonstrated in Aaron himself. As soon as God allowed him, as it were, free rein to himself, he immediately fell — listening to the people and melting a golden idol, when he should rather have died a hundred times over than obey the people and depart from God. Therefore when Aaron stood unmoved before Pharaoh's threats, when he repeatedly faced that raging king and with such constancy brought God's commands to him while despising his threats — we cannot conclude anything other than that he was made and equipped by God. These observations are drawn from the words 'God made Moses and Aaron.' We are therefore reminded to credit to God whatever gifts He has given us and daily gives — lest we become sacrilegious and claim for ourselves what belongs to Him. Whoever excels in any area must know that it flows from God, who adorned him with the gifts of His Holy Spirit — gifts he did not possess by nature. Even if a person seems to have a gift as though it were natural to him, let him still acknowledge that God made him that way — and in this way no one will think of himself as surpassing others except by divine grace. On the other side, when we see someone who is dull or simple-minded, let us look at them as in a mirror and see what we ourselves would be by nature, were it not for God distinguishing us from them. Let us therefore learn to give God thanks for all His blessings to us — not only for the gifts we have personally received, but also for the gifts bestowed on others for our benefit. For example, when God's Word is faithfully proclaimed to us, let us know that faithful preachers were sent by God for that purpose — raised up by the Lord, as Scripture repeatedly says. Paul says: 'How are they to preach unless they are sent?' And elsewhere: 'We are not adequate in ourselves for anything — only in Him who is the fullness of grace and the source of every virtue, our Lord Jesus Christ, who directs our tongues by the power of His Holy Spirit.' We must therefore reckon that God is exercising His power whenever the Gospel is sincerely and purely proclaimed to us, and His ministers are sent to us — by whose preaching He testifies to His care for our salvation. Likewise, when God raises up good magistrates who are driven by genuine zeal to fulfill their office and faithfully administer the affairs of this life, let us know that they are given to us by God's generosity — raised up and formed by Him. But why limit this to such prominent figures? Let us look even at the farmers themselves. When we eat bread, let us know that God's providence extends even to them, as Isaiah teaches — that farmers gather grain according to the manner God taught them. Indeed, if God did not make farmers to till the earth for bread and other fruits that sustain human life, and if He did not create bakers to grind grain for our use, we would not have so much as a crumb of bread. Likewise, when we are clothed with garments, we should behold God's goodness in the workers who have been equipped by God with skill for our benefit. And in all the other trades and crafts, God must be acknowledged as the author and giver of them all. In short, let us learn from this teaching to behold, as in a mirror, the goodness and generosity of God toward people — so generous that we lack nothing, having dispensed each thing for human use. Since God's blessings toward us are so great, let us all the more ardently and diligently fulfill our own duties and promote His glory — for it is for that end that He created us. So much for this.

Next: 'When your fathers cried out to the Lord, the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who led your fathers out of Egypt.' With these words Samuel confronts the people with the wretched and humble condition of their ancestors — bringing it to their memory so they might understand they have no grounds for boasting. Your ancestors, he says — Jacob and the others — went down into Egypt as slaves, driven by a severe famine, forced with their whole households to submit to the rule of the king of Egypt. From that beginning they were gradually brought under Egyptian domination and crushed with heavy burdens. Such was the origin of your ancestors. Such was their dignity. We know, of course, how greatly the Jewish people prided themselves on their ancestors. And they could rightly take pride in them — provided they acknowledged God's grace in all humility and gave Him the glory. But instead, swollen with arrogance, they boasted foolishly and emptily about their ancestors, saying: 'We are a holy seed, adopted by God Himself in our fathers; He entered into an everlasting covenant with us.' The very thing that should have given them greater reason for humility and lowliness — and should have moved them to serve God all the more diligently — they seized on as occasion for self-exaltation. Therefore Samuel recalls to them the true dignity of their ancestors: 'Look,' he says, 'at where God brought you out from. That ancestor of yours, Jacob — from whom all your glory and dignity seems to flow — fled to Pharaoh in Egypt, driven by famine.' These things are summarized briefly here, but Samuel developed them at length in words of which only the substance is recorded. He recalled to them their ancestors' descent into Egypt, and the harsh tyranny they suffered for so many years — treated not as slaves but as animals. It was as if he were saying: 'Go ahead and boast of your origin, your ancestors — when their condition was so wretched, so degraded, so servile, that nothing could have been added to their humiliation short of being spat on and ground underfoot.' But how did liberation finally come from such misery? Your ancestors cried out to God. And how did their deliverance come? God raised up Moses and Aaron, through whose ministry He fulfilled His promises and led you out of Egypt. In short, Samuel wants to teach the people that every benefit they received must be ascribed to God's mercy alone — not because it was owed to them, but simply because it pleased God to deal gently with them, which gave them all the more reason to praise and worship Him. But since, forgetting all this, they did not acknowledge God as so beneficent and merciful — is their ingratitude not all the more detestable, all the more worthy of punishment? Is their crime not all the heavier for requiring a heavier penalty? This is the thrust of Samuel's address. Let us therefore learn from this that the promise was indeed made to us: our cries and prayers will reach God and be heard. We may direct all our prayers to Him — and God wills that those who are oppressed by their miseries flee to Him with genuine hope of deliverance. But let us understand that God hears us not because He is obligated to us, but entirely from His own pure generosity and goodness. For example, when we help a neighbor who begs for alms, even though we are bound to help the needy out of the bond of our common humanity — the poor man does not therefore say that we owed it to him. He attributes the gift to our generosity. But God's relationship to us is completely different. He owes us nothing at all — whereas we are bound to help our neighbor by the bond of our shared nature. Isaiah says: 'Do not despise your own flesh.' It is therefore clear that when God hears our prayers, He does not act out of debt or obligation — but solely out of His goodness in showing mercy. It is also worth noting that the people's crying out was not a well-ordered prayer. We know they cried out as if under torture. That cry was not unlike the one Psalm 107 describes — wretched people in extreme distress crying out to God, not from love of God's worship, but driven purely by the intensity of their pain. Yet by that natural impulse they were driven to cry out, and in this they stand most convicted of their wretchedness — compelled to confess that everything depends on God's will and goodness alone. Consider this in the people of Israel. They cried out to God, yes — but their cry was disordered, more like the howling of animals in pain than the prayer of people calling on God. When Moses offered himself as the liberator sent by the Lord, did they receive him as God's prophet? Did they show themselves obedient to him? Not at all. They pushed him away, and if it had been in their power, they would have drowned that offered grace of God in the deepest abyss. Nor did they rebel only once or twice — so great was their unbelief and ingratitude that even after being confirmed by many miracles and clear signs of God's presence and favor, when they saw Pharaoh enraged and the Egyptians threatening, they told Moses and Aaron to go away: 'Leave us alone — let us live in peace. You are the cause of all our troubles.' They would gladly have torn Moses and Aaron apart with their own hands and killed them — even though they had been told that help was close and that deliverance was coming through Moses and Aaron. From all this it is clear that their cries were not properly ordered prayers — only voices testifying to their extreme misery and desperate situation, with no salvation in sight unless God Himself stepped in as their deliverer. God, having compassion on them, sent Moses and Aaron as liberators. But how did they conduct themselves toward them? Samuel does not here launch into a long account of what happened in the wilderness — the stubbornness, the constant grumbling, the rebellion against Moses and Aaron and against God Himself. He draws out only what seemed most relevant for the people's instruction and correction, touching on those things from which we can recognize both God's remarkable kindness toward this people — a kindness demonstrated by so many great blessings — and on the other side, the people's supreme wickedness and ingratitude, by which they made themselves guilty of the gravest offense against God.

Samuel moves on to recall what happened after their entry into the land of Canaan. God, he says, led the people through the midst of the Egyptians and through the midst of the sea. The passage through the deep ought to have struck them with awe and trembling — and God's goodness and power were made all the more unmistakably clear before their eyes. The prophet beautifully expresses this in Psalm 77, saying that God led His people like a flock of sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron as their shepherds. But God's power was most vividly displayed in this: when the people were surrounded on every side by savage and lethal enemies — enemies they would rightly have feared even if fully armed and experienced in war, much more so being unarmed and untrained, like helpless sheep in the midst of wolves, without protection, without weapons — they not only did not run in terror, but stood with great courage against their enemies. God's providence is all the more remarkable and glorious in this — that while fulfilling His promises, He brought the people, freed from the hand of the most powerful enemies, into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and gave it to them as an inheritance. Since God had kept His promises, they in turn were bound to keep faith with Him and render to God the honor He deserved — for the land they received as possession and inheritance was not theirs by any right, and they were unworthy of it. Their fathers had lived in it only as strangers. They were therefore so deeply bound and obligated to God's goodness that no excuse remained for their stubbornness and rebellion. Yet they sinned miserably in precisely this area — which Samuel rebukes them for with these words: 'They forgot the Lord their God.' By this he shows that they had forgotten God's blessings, which, if they had kept them in memory, would have worked like a bridle to hold them to their duty and keep them subject to God. And indeed, if we thought of God and His blessings as we ought, it is certain that — even when tempted by the devil himself, by our own desires, and by the world — we would never depart from the obedience we owe to God, but would resist all temptations bravely and run our course in His fear without stumbling. If first we took hold of His immense and wonderful majesty in our minds, it is certain that at the mere thought of Him, struck with reverence, we would be wholly subject to Him. Then, if we considered that we were created in His image and given all things necessary for life — and above all, that we were regenerated through the blood of His only Son, joined to Him so that we might become partakers of His kingdom, and that the enjoyment of such great blessings is stored up for us in heaven — if we considered these things and pressed them more deeply into our minds, it is certain we would hold every offense in abomination. We would avoid every occasion of turning away from those great blessings, and with the greatest zeal we would flee the sins by which we so often abuse His gifts and carry ourselves arrogantly against His majesty. Samuel therefore says that we forget God when we turn away from Him. For if we always remembered Him, we would always be held in His fear and reverence — we would shudder at sinning against His majesty and would fear to resist His will. People most especially cast aside all memory of God when they corrupt His worship and give themselves over to superstitions, after God's will has been revealed to them. The pagans indeed forgot God — but only gradually, over a long course of time, and only after God, in just judgment, allowed darkness to fall over the world. But where God chose for Himself a special people and consecrated them to Himself, to His worship and His name — where He prescribed a law by which they were equipped for every duty of obedience, and gave them both His Word to instruct them and miracles to confirm them in that teaching — if such a people defected to heathen superstitions, fashioning new forms of worship from their own imagination and mixing themselves with idolatrous pollutions, then truly that people may be said to have forgotten God. Nor is the guilt of their apostasy reduced by this forgetfulness. Most people try to cover or excuse their sins under the cloak of forgetfulness, as if they would never have sinned if they had truly thought about God. But this forgetfulness and carelessness is entirely voluntary — they extinguished the light God had kindled before their eyes, turned their backs on God, and willingly set aside all the means by which they could have been held in His fear and drawn closer to Him. All of these things, therefore, Samuel rightly brings against them. If we want to walk in obedience to God and conform our lives to His will, we must take this precaution: never let His grace and blessings toward us slip from memory. Instead, let us continually refresh their memory and meditate on them with the zeal our duty requires. Let us be constantly engaged in His Word, daily learning from it and keeping it fresh and alive in our minds — so that He may dwell peacefully in us, and we remain in Him to the end. And if it should happen that we fall away from Him, let us know that this has happened because we have despised His instruction and made it void by our own wickedness.

Samuel goes on to say that God justly chastened them — and in this their ingratitude appeared doubly worse. They should have been instructed by God's disciplines and brought to better fruit. Samuel touches on God's judgments only briefly here, but the full details of these events must be noted from the histories recorded in the book of Judges. For not on one...

...not just once did they provoke God to anger so that He was forced to discipline them — they returned to their old ways again and again. When God raised up deliverers for them — Jephthah and others — they would put on a show of obedience, but they would soon slide back to their old character. As long as they were suffering under punishment, and God sent a deliverer, they would display a burst of zeal and apparent devotion to God from the heart — but the impulse lasted only a moment, like fire kindled from tinder, or a flash in a pan, which immediately vanished. As often as God's hand called them back to freedom, they returned to their stubbornness and resumed provoking Him. Samuel therefore rightly charges them with a double crime: they gained nothing from God's discipline, and they were not improved by His correction. God Himself complains of this in Isaiah, saying He had accomplished nothing by disciplining His people. 'I have wasted My effort,' He says, 'because the whole head is sick and every heart is faint, and yet they have not turned back.' It is like a parent who has tried every means to bring a wayward son back to his senses, and is deeply grieved to have labored in vain. We must understand that when God strikes us with His rod — that is, with His disciplines — He is calling us to repent of our sins and return to a sound mind. But if we become numb under the blows and neglect to turn back to God, we are like people who have given up all hope — we are resisting Him and waging war against Him. While God is working for our salvation, we refuse to listen and refuse to be corrected by His discipline, which is meant both to instruct and to correct. Let us therefore take care not to bring on ourselves the same charge that Israel did — that we have forgotten God. And if, after He has admonished us and called us to repentance, we persist in our sins and stubbornness, let us know that we will be entirely without excuse before God's throne.

Finally Samuel also names himself — and he places himself last among the deliverers. By doing so, he adds the greatest weight to the charge of ingratitude against the Israelites. Through his hand, as through the hands of Jephthah, Gideon, and the others before him, God had asserted the people's liberty from the power of their enemies. God governed these deliverers by His own power and the working of His Holy Spirit — and Samuel had succeeded them in his own time. We saw above how God had made Samuel's governance outstanding through prosperous outcomes, and had given the people such peace and tranquility that enemies dared not stir up against them or attempt anything. This gift the people simply disregarded — and that is why Samuel expressly names himself here. We must observe from this: whenever God gives us experience of His goodness and favor, we should so much the more rest in His providence. If we have once acknowledged His power in preserving us, and then begin to doubt it, our unbelief is all the more inexcusable. Even if we had never personally experienced God's help, His providence and protection alone — once we had come to know it — ought to be a firm enough testimony against all dangers. But where God has placed His help before our very eyes, and has made us certain that He never abandons His own in times of difficulty — from this let us know that God is giving us confirmation of His power and goodness. If we are later pressed by some trial and begin to despair, looking desperately for help on every side while leaving God — must we not confess that our stupidity is enormous, and that we rightly deserve the charge of forgetting God? Therefore let us apply each of God's blessings toward us to our spiritual use — so that we are made more certain of His help and grow increasingly confident that God will never fail those who seek Him with earnest prayer. Let us consecrate ourselves wholly to Him, depend on Him alone in every pressing necessity, and pay Him this honor: to trust the promises He has ratified by many testimonies, never doubting that He will bring timely help, even if we are pressed by six hundred dangers. Even if God's help does not appear as quickly as we would wish, let us never despair. Let us be fully persuaded that no difficulty will be so great that we cannot overcome it through Him. Therefore even when we see enemies opening their jaws to devour us, let us understand that the Lord is testing our patience and obedience. He is not far from us — He extends His helping hand, provided we flee to Him from the heart. And on the other side He stretches out His arm against our fiercest enemies to consume them and strike them down — so that we should be persuaded that God will never abandon His work, and will not rest until He makes us partakers of the promised salvation.

Come then, suppliants, etc.