Sermon 44: 1 Samuel 12:23-25

23. But far be this sin from me in the Lord, that I should cease to pray for you: and I will teach you the good and right way. 24. Therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth and with all your heart: for you have seen the magnificent things which He has done in you. 25. But if you persevere in malice, both you and your king together shall perish.

We saw in yesterday's sermon how, with God patiently bearing with us; and pardoning the offenses by which we provoked His anger against us, we must beware lest we abuse His patience. For He Himself... ...does not therefore demonstrate His goodness toward us that we may take license to sin from it: but rather to entice us to Himself, lest from fear of punishment we come into despair, and be prone to all evil. Therefore when we see that God is ready to be reconciled to us, we must beware lest we recoil from Him. For God is most especially offended unless as suppliants begging pardon we approach Him, and apply ourselves with the greater zeal in His worship, the more benefits we have been affected with: as Christ also admonishes us that he who is more loved by God ought also to love more, and from this also gathers that that wretched sinner who did not cease to detest her sins by weeping, and to testify her love toward our Lord Jesus Christ with tears and every duty, was not to be condemned. Namely because she was seriously affected with the sense of sins, which she showed by groaning and many tears, by which sign it appeared that her sin, however great, was pardoned her by the Lord. Therefore the more God shows Himself prone to our love, and the easier in pardoning sins, so much the more are we bound to love Him more ardently. Therefore again let us weigh that admonition of Samuel: 'Do not depart from following the Lord,' by which he admonishes the people that God cannot be worshipped unless the people follows Him. For it is sufficiently conspicuous how great is the stubbornness of men in this part, that they wish to go before God rather than follow Him, and, if it could be, prescribe laws to God Himself, and have authority over Him. Indeed whoever institute their life by the lust of their own choice, although a thousand times they profess to worship God, yet they signally lie: and they pay no honor whatever to God, whom they would rather wish subjected to their opinion. And this is sufficiently manifest to anyone from the fact that they wish their superstitious and idolatrous worships to be approved by God under the name of good intention, as if whatever they have devised in their brain God were bound to approve. From which it is conspicuous that men receding from the word of God wish to go before God Himself: and those who indulge their lusts, some in fornication, others in gluttony, others in still other such vices, wish God to conform Himself to them, and although they reach the height of impiety, yet to dissemble. You may see others arrogating to themselves so great wisdom that they wish to be held alone wise, and to give law to all, and not to think that the first parts of wisdom are to be conceded to God, but rather that they wish to show Him the way and go before Him. We however on the contrary from this place must learn that God must be served and worshipped in such a way that in the first place we esteem nothing good and just except what He Himself has commanded. Then since all our affections are immoderate, that they must be so restrained that in all our words, deeds, and thoughts we follow the norm prescribed by Him, and always follow God going before: and accordingly let us not, swelling with arrogance, do what shall seem good to us, nor obey our lusts, and grant ourselves license to sin. And so we shall follow God. But since it is difficult to compose one's affections, and bend them to spontaneous obedience, therefore frequent admonitions are necessary to stimulate us, and therefore Samuel adds: 'For you would turn aside after vain things.' We must therefore beware lest we follow our lusts, because that is to turn aside after vanities. Furthermore this place is variously expounded, for some translate the first word as if 'For' were not expressed: others interpret 'But', so that the sense is: Do not turn aside, but abstain from vanity, that is, from idols. For the name of vanity is referred to idols. And indeed the whole of Scripture testifies that idols are nothing but lies and illusion: and Paul says: An idol is nothing. But this word is not everywhere used in the Scriptures for idols. Isaiah indeed says that those by whom idols are fashioned and worshipped are vanity, and those who place their trust in them are like them. So that the name of vanity is attributed not so much to the idols themselves as to their sculptors and worshippers. But properly vanity is taken for a thing of no moment and empty which goes up in smoke. As if Samuel here said: If you turn aside from God, you will follow nothing but vanity, nothing firm and constant will be, your worship will go off into air and smoke, you will labor in vain. Therefore here the name of vanity is put for a thing which brings no fruit, and produces no effect. This appears from the first of Genesis, where the earth is said to have been vain and empty before it was adorned with its fruits, that it was unformed, and waste and uncultivated, and ugly to view, because there was no habitation in it as yet, but rather everywhere desert. In sum, Samuel by this word wished to teach the people turning away from God that it would follow nothing but vanity: and that those receding from God fall short of their hope and feed empty and vain hopes, since at last extreme confusion awaits them. Nor indeed does he exclude idols, but yet does not express the name of idol, because the admonition would be of less moment if he had only mentioned idols: and men are far more moved if they are admonished that their work will be vain and useless if they recede even a little from the rule prescribed in God's word. Therefore David also exclaims: 'Lord, what shall I seek beyond you? Neither heaven nor earth can bring me help.' Surely there is no doubt that he was well taught in this doctrine, and that it had taken deep roots in him. For by these words he shows that the true knowledge of God brings it about in us that He alone is acknowledged as our good, and we rest in Him alone: and on the contrary whatever men feign to themselves is nothing but lies and vanity. Well therefore David: 'Alas, Lord, where shall I flee? Nothing can console me but you, no one besides you in whom I can place hope.' Therefore... Lord, whoever has receded from you, who are the true light and our glory, and the only salvation, what shall he find outside you, but all things vain and empty which go off into wind and smoke? Truly not without grave cause are these things inculcated to men: for we know how they are wont to delight in their own inventions, and how pertinaciously they defend them, always feigning to themselves the best outcome of them: so that if they have begun to attempt anything, no one turns them from their purpose. Why so? Namely they do not wish to be reproved: and they arrogate to themselves so great wisdom that they think they know what is to be followed and what avoided without God's word. So we see idolaters promising themselves mountains of gold: and that they cannot by any reasons be brought to believe that all their counsels and efforts will at last be in vain, although God patiently bears with them for a time. The same happens to all profane men, and to those who place their happiness and beatitude in earthly things. For those who are addicted to pleasure and intemperance, who are drawn by avarice and the desire of gain, who labor under ambition and seek favor and authority by evil arts, will not allow themselves to be persuaded that all their efforts are in vain, and that they will produce nothing but wind: but they hold their dreams as gods. Hence it comes about that if they have devised anything new, taking glory away from God they ascribe it to themselves alone. So much the more diligently therefore must this doctrine be meditated, and how necessary it is must be considered, the more men are by nature prone to despise it, namely that those who decline from God and recede from His word produce nothing but wind, and labor in vain: and indeed with the devil bewitching them, whether one follows carnal pleasures, or another is maddened by superstition and idolomania; all these things, I say, are vanity and lies. Which Samuel himself also explains in express words, when he says, 'they shall not profit you, nor deliver you, because they are vain.' But here it is to be observed that there are many species of vanity and lying, when we say that someone has declined from God and committed Him to oblivion. For, as I said before, some are polluted with superstitions and idolatry: others give loose reins to their depraved lusts and lusts. But how many species of superstition are there, I ask? For each idolater has his own superstition and proper worship, so that it is a labyrinth from which there is no exit, as experience testifies. But the way which God shows in His word is plain and easy: while on the contrary the unbelievers wander uncertainly here and there, and are borne into bypaths, without any consensus, and with the highest confusion. And what is far worse, their opinions fluctuate with the highest uncertainty. For those who indulge their inventions and imaginations, are borne now this way, now that, doubtful; and use now this formula of praying God, now another, if the former has displeased: and feign for themselves as many patrons as their lust dictates, since we know human minds are most light and inconstant and very rash. Therefore unless we rest on God's word, it is certain that we shall have nothing firm and stable in God's worship: from where not amiss does Samuel admonish the Jews by name, that if they decline from the Lord, they shall labor in vain, and all their efforts shall be vain. So that he seems to have also looked at the arrogance of men attributing much to their works and merits. And yet we see idolaters indeed glorying in their idols, and especially trusting in them as in shields and the strongest fortresses: and yet they are always solicitous, and always adding something to their worship, never satisfying themselves, so that neither foot nor head appears in their worship. And we see others so indulging their lusts that their intemperance is insatiable. Rightly therefore Samuel inculcates this: 'You,' he says, 'although you may have labored much, and heaped ceremonies upon ceremonies, and burst with arrogance and rashness, yet you shall labor in vain, and shall have no help from it. Why so? It is vanity and an empty thing.' Hence therefore it becomes manifest to us that all our good and felicity is placed in God alone, in whom alone we should rest; that after we have known Him, we may suffer ourselves to be ruled and governed by Him, since He so familiarly reveals Himself to us: and accordingly whatever our reason shall dictate to us, by which we are tempted, let us hold for a diabolical illusion, which not only has no usefulness, but is most harmful. Meanwhile let us here observe trust in God as the foundation of His worship: for men always seek their own usefulness. For what is the cause that wretched and incautious men are so rashly carried away, that some invent ridiculous ceremonies, others feign for themselves many patrons, others so gape after earthly goods and faculties that they can never be filled, and with which their soul as a burning furnace is never sated, others so madden themselves with their fornications that they are held back by no barriers, others lay themselves open beyond measure to ambition and the desire of honors? What other cause, I say, is there, why these are borne headlong into such vices, except that they are not content with God and do not rest in Him alone, that they may constantly remain in His fear? Finally, that they do not acknowledge God to be the sole fount of all good? Therefore it must be established that faith is the most certain and only foundation of true worship of God. For if we shall have obtained that wisdom and prudence to know that our life and salvation is placed in God alone, and depends from Him alone: and if we have cast our souls and bodies into His hands, certainly persuaded that He is powerful to come to our aid at the opportune time and bring help, and even willing, provided we flee to Him in straitened circumstances, and place trust in Him: it is certain that we shall not be so prone... ...to fashioning idols for ourselves, but rather they shall be objects of execration to us, as vain and useless. But on the contrary if we shall come to such madness that we devote ourselves to superstitions and idolomanias, we shall be accused of supreme unbelief and ingratitude, because we do not acknowledge such a God as we ought, because we deprive Him of the honor due, because we detract so much from His power, might, and goodness as we attribute to created things, in which there is yet no certainty. For no worship is rendered to any creature without the foundation of this trust: just as the soul produces its effect. Let the same be said of all the other affections by which men are led to idolatry, that for each one his own desire is god. Therefore the apostle accuses the avaricious of idolatry: because money and riches are their god. So fornicators, drunkards, and other such wicked men leading life luxuriously and intemperately are guilty of the same crime, because their lust is god to them. For no one allows himself to be carried away by his affections unless he places trust in them, and promises himself all happy things from them.

Next Samuel proceeds, bidding the people hope well, with these words: 'But far be this sin from me in the Lord, that I should cease to pray for you.' By which he testifies his obligation toward the people, and professes that he, although they are ungrateful, and in no way deserve so great a benefit, will least of all take vengeance, but rather will make no end of praying and interceding for their salvation before God: and indeed acknowledges that he would gravely sin before God unless he performed this. From which a singular doctrine is to be drawn for us, if only, as is fitting, we use it for our instruction. For from where is it that we permit ourselves such great license in despising our neighbors, and counting their salvation as little, but rather rather procuring evil for them, except that we have care only for ourselves, and do not think that we are obliged by God to do good to them, and commanded to bring help in straits, and to recompense evil with good? For from this come those human excuses, as if someone pursues another with hatred, and is admonished about this deed, and accused as having done evil, immediately he excepts: What have I done against him? I have never affected him with any injury: but he first attacked me, and gave occasion of avenging the injury inflicted: in short by these and similar words he will defend his cause, and will think himself well advised by these excuses. Why so? Namely because he does not acknowledge himself bound and obliged to him whom he pursues with hatred, or by whom the injury inflicted is avenged. But far more grievously is sinned by men in this place, who, although affected with no injury, yet despise others, exercise enmities, or hate, and think only of themselves and their own advantages. And accordingly if anyone admonishes them of duty, they except: In what matter am I obliged to him? what dealings have I with him? what usefulness have I ever received from him? why should I be despoiled of my faculties for his sake? I do not care for that man: each one does and procures his own affairs; for my part I want to inflict no injury on him, but if he needs money or any other thing, let him receive from where he wishes. Behold by what excuses men defend themselves, withdrawing from duty, namely because they do not acknowledge how much they owe to neighbors by God's command, and are not seized by mercy of the wretched. But Samuel here teaches that God is gravely injured by contempt of our neighbor: and indeed brings us to ascend higher, namely that although by the ingratitude and depravity of others sin has been committed against us, indeed although others have persecuted us to death, yet we should be zealous for their advantages, and procure their salvation: and, with God commanding, embrace them with fraternal love; and labor to recall them to a better mind, if we see them erring. Then although men may be wretched and in extreme need, vile and abject, who, affected with our benefits, cannot make recompense, let us not therefore cease to help them in our straitened means. Why so? Because we are bound and obliged to that duty by God Himself. Therefore let us learn not to look at and consider only created things, that we should complain that we have been hurt by our neighbor, and affected with injury, but meanwhile not look at God's goodness toward us and His command, but neglect them as unknown. For that view of injury blocks our eyes, lest we look at what is our duty: but God meanwhile remits nothing of His right. For God adds the reason of His command, that we are all of the same nature, and others with others as members of the same body should converse with one another. Then He also requires from men, that for His honor and grace, although affected with many injuries and contumelies by wicked men, we should not yet cease to seek and procure their salvation: indeed not even of enemies: but rather we should bind them by benefits, and to the best of our power compensate their malice with good. This doctrine therefore first occurs to be drawn from those words of Samuel: 'But far be this sin from me in the Lord, that I should cease to pray for you.' For thus he declares that, although the people had no occasion of complaining about him, and could rightly reproach him with nothing, yet he would not therefore lack fault before God, and his excuses would have no place with Him, unless he had regard for the duty entrusted to him by God, and fulfilled its parts. But besides, of the special duty laid on him for interceding before God for the people, that he had regard for it is certain. For, as we taught in the previous sermon, all who are called by God to the prophetic office are constituted as patrons... ...before God: as we hear Peter speaking of the office of the apostles, said: 'But we will continue in prayers and the ministry of the word.' What then? Was it not also the office of other Christians to pray? Yes: but in that place Peter teaches that those who have received the office of teaching ought of duty to pray God earnestly that He would protect, increase, and amplify the church, and bless their labors, that He may propagate the kingdom of His Son, that He may compose those called to His knowledge into His obedience, that He may call to Himself those still far away. Such therefore should be the special zeal for praying of those whom God has constituted teachers and prophets and set as pastors over the peoples. And it is certain that Samuel looked at this, namely: With whatever ingratitude the people labors, yet sin is committed by the pastors unless they intercede for it before God. Furthermore from this it is also to be observed, that nothing is so commended to us by God as mutual prayers and intercession of others for others. And indeed each is bound to help his neighbor with his faculties, but yet because by no thing is one helped more than by God's favor and beneficence, therefore I say we are most bound to help them by prayers, by the office of charity, and indeed with greater and more ardent zeal by prayers than by our other faculties. Therefore although the Christian name extends far and wide, and those professing Christ are situated far from us, yet it is certain that we are bound together by God by so close a bond that it is necessary that some intercede for others before God by office. In which matter not only the necessity of neighbors must be looked at, but what rank each holds: that he who has been called by God to a higher rank, should feel himself the more bound, and not be ignorant that he must intercede the more vehemently before God.

Then Samuel goes on, and says, 'and I will teach you the good and right way.' Although the people had shaken off his yoke, nevertheless he takes upon himself the province of teaching them and leading them into the right way. By these words therefore he teaches that he will not pray God for them perfunctorily, but will be of such affection toward the people that he will promote their advantages and salvation as best he can. Samuel testifies therefore that he will give effort that the people may understand that he is leaning on this one thing, that he may faithfully discharge his office, may fulfill the parts of that office which he received from God, that the people may be instructed, and led into the right way of salvation, lest it perish: which he promises he will do to the best of his powers. Many indeed promise many things in words, and indeed bear before them the highest love of neighbors, and praying God on their behalf even with hands joined, give appearance of feeling perfect benevolence. And although they do not attack with some greater violence, and do not lay violent hands, nevertheless they declare a depraved affection against those whom, since they hate, they envy: and they are anguished by their prosperous things, on which they imprecate all adverse and inconvenient things. But Samuel undertakes that he will, without simulation, intercede with God by his prayers for them, and meanwhile teach the people, and faithfully fulfill the office of a true pastor, although they have not behaved themselves toward him as sheep; but rather have been most like fierce beasts in that contumacy of which we treated above.

And so far on this. There follows next a grave exhortation: 'Therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for you have seen the magnificent things which He has done in you.' Not without grave cause does he again exhort the people to fear God, and to worship Him from the heart, and to persevere in fear and truth. For although all confess that nothing is more grateful to God than to worship Him from the heart, yet few apply the mind to His worship, and think they have satisfied God by words alone. But it is not enough that we be once admonished that God is to be worshipped from the heart, since by Him for this end we have been created and placed in the world, and it is not sufficient that this doctrine be properly held by us, but we ought more and more to be roused to God's worship. Therefore here the curiosity of those is gravely to be reproved, whose ears always itch with desire of new things, of which they are insatiable. For you may hear many complaining that the same song is always sung to them about worshipping and adoring God, that it is sufficiently and more than enough known to them, and inculcated to them to nausea, therefore something new ought to be shown them. But, I ask, have they ever entered into themselves, and weighed by what condition they are called to God's worship: for then they would observe enough that this doctrine is not superfluous. Therefore it should not seem new and unusual if Samuel so often inculcates this to this people, that they should serve the Lord, lest they decline from the Lord, fear the Lord with all their heart. Nor are these things repeated by him as if the previous things, more obscure, had to be explained with clearer and more open words, but that he might affect this people more, and burn them as it were to the quick. Nor is the word of God therefore preached to us, that we should perceive it only with the mind, or understand God's will, but that it may take deep and profound roots in our hearts. Now if we more accurately weigh ourselves, when first we were taught, shall we find ourselves so docile that we willingly composed ourselves to God's obedience, and nothing is required of us? Indeed rather, although doctrine stimulates us, yet it can hardly through innate hardness rouse our minds and penetrate the brain: but especially when Scripture exhorts us to God's worship, then... ...most of all our contumacy reveals itself: that we are utterly inept and refractory, so that we must be brought to Him as it were by great blows. Therefore Samuel often repeats this: 'Only fear the Lord.' Furthermore there is the greatest force for exhortation in this expression 'Lord': for the people is obliquely reproved, unless it shows itself obedient to the Lord, as if to say: See what I demand of you, namely that you fear God, and worship Him. What is more just and equitable? Therefore what excuse will you pretend at last, when you have withdrawn from duty, since I demand nothing from you which you do not yourselves confess to be just: when especially I require only your heart for the worship of the Lord, to whom for so many and so great benefits you are most bound? Elsewhere indeed the Lord calls His worship our salvation, from which we recede as much as we grow sluggish in God's worship. Therefore this expression must be made much of and diligently meditated. Furthermore he requires this further, that they serve God in truth and with all their heart. By truth he understands integrity and sincerity, which embraces both in itself. For nothing else is to serve God with all the heart, except truly to worship God. For God's worship is adulterated by our inventions, when yet we are commanded to serve God in truth, to follow His word, and to mix nothing of our own. What therefore shall we say of those idolatrous ceremonies and rites brought into the world other than that they are a false religion and a fictitious superstition of worshipping God? For there is one true religion, one true manner of worshipping God, which God Himself prescribes in His word. Thus also our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking in John about the truth of God's worship, opposes it to all simulation, and to all those legal shadows and figures which had preceded. For although God from all ages has required spiritual worship from men: yet under the law there were many ceremonies and legal rites, by which the light of truth was obscured. But our Lord Jesus Christ openly teaches us, that God wishes to be worshipped in spirit and in truth: by which words He condemns all simulation and external ceremonies. In this place therefore truth signifies a pure, right, and whole affection, which is opposed to a double heart, which is also expounded by the following words, 'with all your heart', as if he said: Beware that you do not fear God in the manner of hypocrites and pray Him, who indeed bear before themselves much sanctity, and swell with empty glory by external rites and ceremonies, applying the mind, but utterly alien from God. And who yet wish to satisfy God by those external rites, although they follow many empty and foul things, as if they had come into a share of divine power, or at least had received liberty of prescribing to God what is necessary for His worship. But here Samuel openly admonishes them not to serve God rashly and according to their own choice, and offer Him a mixed worship, but worship Him with all their heart. Furthermore it must be ingenuously confessed here, that as long as we walk on earth, we cannot be borne with such sincere affection in God's worship, as duty requires; but yet Sacred Scripture is wont to speak in this way, that something is said to be done with the whole heart, when we do not act feignedly, nor strive to deceive, nor worship Him perfunctorily, that we offer Him filth and imaginary worship: but when the mind is whole and sincere, and the affections right. Although therefore there are many defects in us and many blemishes, by which we are impeded, yet if there is good affection, then we are said to serve God with all the heart, that is, in integrity and sincerity. From which appears the singular benevolence and favor of God, by which He entices us to Himself. For if He should accept no worship from us unless perfect, and demand all our things to the level of His justice, what would become of us wretches, who would have to perish a thousand times? For we often fail. And accordingly although we to the best of our powers may try to do well: yet our infirmity and the weakness of mind cause that something is always wanting in our works, and we are deservedly condemned. Therefore if God should inquire into our sins by the strictest right, it is certain that we should be rejected by Him, and at every moment fall and cast down our souls. But since He deals with us with such gentleness, that if only we are not pretenders, nor hypocrites, and every malign mind is far from us, but with simple and right heart we worship Him, He promises that He will accept our worship, and hold it grateful as if it were perfect, with what affection ought we to be borne in love of God, when we see that the worship which we offer Him, although imperfect, He yet has grateful and accepted?

Next Samuel, about to add force to his exhortation, adds: 'For you have seen the magnificent things which He has done in you.' And these things indeed ought to move us, otherwise sluggish and idle, to God's worship, namely the serious thought of God's benefits: which were not common, but in which a certain special favor of His appears. Therefore when God has revealed His power in some admirable way and by miracle, and has put forth His benevolence toward us, it is certain that we ought to be inflamed with the more ardent zeal in His worship, unless we wish to be worse than brutes themselves. Samuel therefore, about to rouse the Jews, recalled to their memory how many and how great benefits and miracles of God toward them, which God produced for preserving and protecting them, which if, as is fitting, they shall have brought back into memory, will excite an immense ardor in them, of worshipping and venerating God from the heart and not feignedly. But these things pertain to us also today, who far... ...have greater and more admirable testimonies of God's benevolence toward us than these. For how great, I ask, is the mystery of our redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ? Truly so great that it far surpasses the work of the world's creation, and whatever miracles ever happened. For how has it come about, that God descended to us in the person of His only Son: that He who is the fount of life took upon Himself our mortal life; that our Lord Jesus Christ, who inhabited that incomprehensible felicity, emptied Himself so far as to take upon Himself our curse, and reconcile us to God the Father, and make us partakers and co-heirs of His eternal kingdom? Finally, when He came into the world to us to rescue us from the tyranny of the devil by which we were oppressed and to assert us into liberty, it is so notable a miracle that no human mind can grasp it, nor sufficiently worthily proclaim it. But besides these things common to all the faithful, each must consider with himself how many and how great benefits he has obtained from the Lord, even from the womb of his mother, and from how many dangers freed, that he may rightly exclaim: 'Lord, how wonderful are your works toward me!' Then each in himself must also weigh how he has been called to the knowledge of the Gospel, and perseveres in it by God's grace. Which things if as is fitting we shall have weighed within ourselves, and meditated and applied the mind to them, we shall have ample material for exclaiming with David: 'Lord, Lord, how magnificent are your works: we may sooner number the hairs of the head than your benefits.' But how great here is our sluggishness and forgetfulness, by which it comes about that we hold the admirable works of God of little account, and trample them as it were under foot, and are so sluggish in His worship. Therefore there is no doubt that Samuel, who knew that people inside and out, and the vice innate to them, commands them to see the magnificent things of God, that is, to weigh them diligently, as if to say: 'O you stupid, you lost men, who bury and blot out by oblivion so many and so great benefits of God toward you, from where it comes that you do not observe His gifts, and are not moved by the zeal which is fitting to glorify and praise Him.' Therefore the prophet thus exhorts the people in the Psalms: 'Come and contemplate the marvelous things of God, since indeed men are so ungrateful, so sluggish in acknowledging God's gifts, that they let them pass as if unknown and neither seen nor heard, although they have most especially perceived them while they were enjoying prosperous things, for which yet they ought to have rendered immortal thanks in all sincerity and integrity.' For this reason therefore Samuel here commands the people to look upon the magnificent things of God, that thereafter they may serve Him in truth and sincerity.

To these exhortations he next subjoins a grave threat with these words: 'But if you do evil furthermore, both you and your king shall be consumed.' He therefore judged that the people must be terrified by threat, because men are never sufficiently affected as is fitting by God's promises. Surely Samuel had promised much, when he had said God would never abandon them, although gravely offended by them: but because He had chosen them as His peculiar treasure, and gratuitously adopted them into sons, He would have regard rather for the reason of His glory than of theirs, and on account of His great name fulfill His promises, by which He may be known faithful, supremely good and perfect. For this cause, he says, God will have mercy on you, and pardon offenses, and defend by His protection. These things ought to have great weight indeed to rouse them to penance: but since the nature of corrupt men is to abuse God's easiness and clemency, whose hand they persuade themselves they have escaped, when He does not put forth His severity, therefore they must also be driven by threats to do their duty. Samuel therefore threatens that, if they do evil furthermore, they will perish. Furthermore when he forbids them to do evil, this is not so to be understood, as if he were ignorant that the people, although most prone to God's worship, will yet stray in many things, on account of weakness innate in men: but to do evil he understands willingly to recede from God, and to indulge in evil, and give loose reins. Indeed the faithful feel that they cannot fulfill God's law as they ought: which D. Paul professes about himself, when he says that on account of fragility he was as a vessel full of filth, and that he did not wish to do evil: because indeed he was still surrounded by much weakness. He therefore confesses that sin dwells in him: but yet he detests the same, and confesses himself a wretched sinner. Yet he also feels God's favor and grace, by which he is delighted, and consoles himself in the same grace: that God having mercy on him has directed him into the way of salvation, and has given him the mind for arriving at the proposed goal. The same is the reason of each of the faithful. But on the contrary the wicked, with all bonds broken, and the yoke shaken off, rush into their lusts like beasts, and can be held back by no barriers, so that you might rightly call them monsters of men rather than men. Such is the condition of all despisers of God. Therefore it is certain that such men also shall perish, and shall go into eternal destruction: although not indeed at the very first time, but when the appointed time of divine vengeance has come. For it is to be noted what the prophet sings in the Psalms, namely, that God prepares a pit for those whom He is about to send to destruction, after He has patiently borne with them for some time, as long indeed as He uses them as instruments for testing the patience of His own. And if we have saluted Sacred Scripture even from the threshold, it is known to those who... ...are borne uncertainly in God's worship, that the gate of heaven is shut: of which sort are the hypocrites, who glory in their lusts, and seem about to transcend the very clouds, but whose eyes God blinds, that they may be borne headlong into destruction by their blindness, and rush into death by their contumacy. Often indeed you may see God's sons pressed by many straits, and afflicted as much in goods and faculties as in person: but yet all afflictions yield to their highest advantage, and by which they are made more cautious, lest they walk rashly before God: and accordingly it is dealt with them as with those who fall prone to the earth, and are immediately lifted up. But not the same is the reason of the wicked, whom God by His just judgment so pursues, that at last they utterly fall: and indeed especially when they shall seem to themselves to have made themselves objects of vows, He avenges their contumacy, when, namely, they shall seem to have brought their affairs to their end, and to offer themselves to be adored, so to speak: in a moment God overturns and prostrates the incautious. Therefore we must seriously think about these things, and beware lest we abuse the Lord's patience, lest we undergo greater condemnation. Finally Samuel admonishes them not to abuse the title or dignity of king, but to fear the Lord, because He alone protects and shelters us, and we ought to place all confidence in Him alone. Otherwise he threatens that both they and their king shall perish: with the Lord taking from them all their strength and reducing them to nothing. From which we must learn that we, although equipped with all things necessary to defend us against the violence of enemies, yet they will be to us more for destruction than for help, with God opposing us. And on the contrary, although we are unarmed, and destitute of all things by which we may repel the violence of enemies, and accordingly have neither great-souled kings to defend us, nor an ample dominion, nor those fortifications which are necessary to sustain great armies, and we are few against an immense multitude, in short, we have no forces, no fortifications, yet with God standing for us, it is by no means to be doubted that we shall be far stronger than infinite worlds conspiring and rising up against us. How greatly therefore ought these things to generate in us zeal for praying, and rouse us to placing trust in Him? Therefore the things proposed to us here must be diligently meditated, and drawn into our use: that if anything occurs by which we are solicited to defection from God, we hold it of no account, however great it may be, and trample it underfoot like dry grass. For if on the contrary it should happen to us to kick against Him in the manner of beasts, and to recede from Him and bear ourselves contumaciously, the result will be that we shall experience Him so contrary to us, that wherever on earth we flee, we fall into His hand, exacting most just punishments for all our sins.

Therefore come, before God, etc.

23. But far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. I will teach you the good and right way. 24. Only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. 25. But if you still do evil, both you and your king will be swept away.

In yesterday's sermon we saw how God patiently bears with us and pardons the offenses by which we provoke His anger. We must therefore be careful not to abuse that patience. God does not show His goodness toward us so that we may take it as a license to sin. He shows it to draw us to Himself — so that we do not despair from fear of punishment and become hardened to every evil. When we see that God is ready to be reconciled to us, we must be careful not to draw back from Him. God is especially displeased when we do not come to Him as suppliants begging for pardon — and He expects that the more we have benefited from His grace, the more eagerly we will give ourselves to His worship. Christ also teaches us that whoever has been loved more by God should love more in return. He uses the example of the sinful woman who did not stop expressing her grief over her sins — weeping and showing her love for our Lord Jesus Christ through tears and every act of devotion. Because she was genuinely struck with the sense of her sins, as her groaning and many tears showed, it was clear that her sins, however great, had been forgiven by the Lord. The more God shows Himself inclined to love us and willing to forgive sins, the more bound we are to love Him ardently in return. So let us once more weigh Samuel's warning: 'Do not turn aside from following the Lord.' He is warning the people that God cannot be worshipped unless they follow Him. It is obvious enough how stubborn people are in this regard — they want to go ahead of God rather than follow Him, and if it were possible they would prescribe laws to God Himself and assert authority over Him. Those who order their lives according to their own desires — however many times they claim to worship God — are lying. They pay God no honor at all, since what they really want is for God to be subject to their opinion. This is plain to anyone who sees how people want their superstitious and idolatrous practices approved by God under the banner of 'good intentions' — as if God were obligated to approve whatever they have invented in their own minds. It is clear that people who depart from God's Word want to go ahead of God Himself. Those who indulge their lusts — some in sexual immorality, others in gluttony, others in still other vices — want God to conform to them, and to overlook their impiety however deep it runs. You can also see others who claim such great wisdom that they want to be considered the only wise people, to lay down the law for everyone, and to refuse to grant God even the first place in wisdom — they want to show Him the way and walk ahead of Him. Instead, we must learn from this text that God must be served and worshipped in such a way that we consider nothing good or right except what He Himself has commanded. And since all our impulses are excessive, they must be restrained so that in all our words, deeds, and thoughts we follow the rule He has prescribed and always follow God as He leads. We must not do whatever seems good to us, inflated with arrogance, nor obey our desires and grant ourselves license to sin. That is what it means to follow God. But since it is difficult to bring our impulses under control and bend them to willing obedience, frequent warnings are necessary to stir us up. So Samuel adds: 'For you would turn aside after worthless things.' We must therefore guard against following our own desires, because that is what it means to turn after vanity. This part of the text is interpreted in different ways. Some translate the first word without the 'For,' while others read it as 'But,' so that the sense is: Do not turn aside, but keep away from vanity — that is, from idols. The word 'vanity' is indeed often used for idols. All of Scripture testifies that idols are nothing but lies and illusion. Paul says plainly: 'An idol is nothing.' But the word is not always used in Scripture to refer to idols specifically. Isaiah says that those who fashion and worship idols are vanity, and that those who trust in them become like them. The word 'vanity' is attributed less to the idols themselves than to those who carve and worship them. Properly speaking, vanity means something without substance — something that dissolves into smoke. So Samuel is saying: if you turn away from God, you will follow nothing but vanity. Nothing firm or lasting will exist for you. Your worship will dissolve into smoke and air, and all your effort will be wasted. The word 'vanity' here stands for something that produces no fruit and accomplishes nothing. This sense appears in Genesis 1, where the earth before it was adorned with its fruits is described as formless, empty, and waste — uncultivated and ugly, because it was not yet inhabited but a desert in every direction. In short, Samuel uses this word to tell the people that if they turn away from God they will pursue nothing but emptiness — that those who depart from God will be disappointed in their hopes and feed on hollow dreams, since extreme confusion is what awaits them in the end. He does not exclude idols from his warning, but he does not name idols specifically — because the admonition would have less force if he had only mentioned idols. People are far more moved when they are told that their work will be worthless and useless if they deviate even slightly from the rule God's Word prescribes. This is also why David exclaims: 'Lord, what should I seek beyond You? Neither heaven nor earth can bring me help.' There is no doubt this teaching had taken deep root in him. By these words David shows that the true knowledge of God brings it about that God alone is acknowledged as our good and we rest in Him alone — and that by contrast, whatever people invent for themselves is nothing but lies and vanity. Well said by David: 'Lord, where should I flee? Nothing can console me but You. There is no one besides You in whom I can place my hope.' Therefore — Lord, whoever has turned away from You, who are the true light, our glory, and the only salvation — what will he find outside of You but everything vain and empty, dissolving into wind and smoke? It is not without serious reason that these things are repeated to people. We know how they delight in their own inventions, how stubbornly they defend them, always imagining the best outcome — so that once they have set out on something, nothing will turn them from it. Why? Because they refuse to be corrected. They claim so great a wisdom that they think they can determine what to pursue and what to avoid without God's Word. So we see idolaters promising themselves the best of everything and refusing to believe — despite all arguments — that all their plans and efforts will in the end come to nothing, even though God patiently bears with them for a time. The same happens to all ungodly people who place their happiness in earthly things. Those addicted to pleasure and excess, driven by greed and the desire for gain, laboring under ambition and seeking influence by wicked means — none of them will be persuaded that all their efforts are pointless and will produce nothing but wind. They hold their dreams as if they were gods. This teaching must therefore be meditated on all the more diligently, and its necessity recognized, the more people by nature despise it: those who decline from God and drift from His Word produce nothing but wind and labor in vain. Whether someone follows bodily pleasures, or is driven mad by superstition and idol worship — all of it, I say, is vanity and lies. Samuel himself makes this explicit when he says: 'They will not profit you or deliver you, because they are vanity.' We should observe here that there are many forms of vanity and lying when someone turns away from God and forgets Him. As I said before, some are polluted with superstitions and idolatry; others give free rein to their corrupt desires. But how many forms of superstition are there? Every idolater has his own peculiar superstition and unique form of worship, so that it becomes a labyrinth with no exit — as experience confirms. But the way God shows in His Word is plain and clear. Unbelievers, by contrast, wander here and there without direction, drifting into byways, with no agreement among themselves and in the greatest confusion. What is worse, their opinions are constantly unstable. Those who indulge their own inventions and imaginations are tossed back and forth — uncertain, using one formula of prayer today and another tomorrow when the first displeases them, inventing for themselves as many patrons as their desires suggest, since human minds are notoriously fickle, changeable, and impulsive. Unless we are anchored in God's Word, it is certain that we will have nothing firm or stable in the worship of God. This is why Samuel rightly warns the Jews by name: if they turn away from the Lord, they will labor in vain and all their efforts will come to nothing. He seems also to be looking at the arrogance of people who attribute much to their own works and merits. And yet we see idolaters glorying in their idols and trusting in them as though they were shields and the strongest fortresses — and yet they are always anxious, always adding something to their worship, never satisfied, so that their religion has neither head nor foot. And we see others so enslaved to their desires that their excess is insatiable. Rightly therefore Samuel says: 'You may have worked hard and piled ceremony upon ceremony and burst with arrogance and rashness — but it will all be in vain, and you will get nothing from it. Why? Because it is vanity and emptiness.' From this it becomes clear to us that all our good and happiness is placed in God alone. In Him alone we are to rest. Once we have come to know Him, we must let ourselves be ruled and governed by Him, since He reveals Himself to us so freely. And whatever our reason suggests to tempt us away — let us treat it as a diabolical illusion that has not only no usefulness but is actively harmful. Meanwhile, let us note that trust in God is the foundation of His worship. People always seek their own advantage. What is the reason that foolish and careless people are carried so recklessly into trouble? Some invent ridiculous ceremonies; others invent many patrons; others gape so greedily after earthly possessions that they can never be filled — their soul is like a furnace that can never be satisfied; others drive themselves mad with immorality and are stopped by no boundaries; others throw themselves headlong into ambition and the craving for status. What other reason is there for these people being plunged into such vices? Simply that they are not content with God and do not rest in Him alone, that they might remain steadfastly in His fear. In short — they do not acknowledge God as the one fountain of all good. It must therefore be established that faith is the surest and only foundation of the true worship of God. If we possess the wisdom to know that our life and salvation are in God alone and depend on Him alone — if we have committed our souls and bodies into His hands, fully persuaded that He is able to help us at the right time, and willing to do so when we flee to Him in times of need and place our trust in Him — then it is certain that we will not be so quick... ...to fashion idols for ourselves. On the contrary, they will be objects of loathing to us as vain and useless. But if instead we fall into such madness as to give ourselves over to superstitions and idol worship, we will stand convicted of the worst unbelief and ingratitude — because we do not acknowledge God as we ought, because we rob Him of the honor that is due Him, because we take away from His power, might, and goodness to the degree that we attribute to created things, in which there is no certainty. No worship is offered to any creature without being grounded in this kind of trust — just as the soul produces its effects. The same must be said of all the other passions by which people are led into idolatry: for each person, his own desire becomes his god. This is why the apostle charges those who love money with idolatry — because money and wealth are their god. The same applies to those who live in sexual immorality, drunkenness, and other such vices — they are guilty of the same crime, because their desires are their god. No one allows himself to be swept away by his passions unless he places his trust in them and expects all good things from them.

Samuel next moves to give the people reason for hope, saying: 'But far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you.' With these words he declares his duty toward the people and affirms that, even though they are ungrateful and have done nothing to deserve such kindness, he will not take revenge on them. Instead, he will pray and intercede for their salvation without stopping — and acknowledges that failing to do so would be a serious sin before God. This passage contains an important lesson for us, if we are willing to receive it. Why do we allow ourselves such freedom in despising our neighbors, caring so little about their wellbeing, or even working against their interests? It is because we think only of ourselves and do not recognize that God has commanded us to do good to others, help those in need, and return good for evil. From this self-centeredness come all our human excuses. If someone has been nursing hatred toward another person and is confronted about it, he immediately objects: 'What have I done to him? I never harmed him — he was the one who attacked me first and gave me reason to retaliate.' With words like these he defends himself and thinks his excuses are perfectly sound. Why? Because he does not acknowledge any obligation toward the person he hates or has wronged. But people sin even more seriously when, though no injury has been done to them, they still despise others, nurse hostility, and care only about themselves and their own interests. So if anyone rebukes them about their duty, they respond: 'What obligation do I have to him? What do I owe him? What good has he ever done for me? Why should I spend my resources for his sake? I want nothing to do with that man. Everyone looks out for himself. As for me, I won't harm him — but if he needs money or anything else, let him get it somewhere else.' These are the excuses people use to avoid their duty — because they do not recognize how much they owe to their neighbors by God's command, and they have no compassion for those who are suffering. But Samuel teaches here that despising our neighbor is a serious offense against God. He goes even further: even when others have sinned against us through ingratitude and wickedness — even when they have persecuted us — we must still seek their good, work for their salvation, and embrace them with brotherly love as God commands. If we see them going astray, we must labor to bring them back. Even when people are wretched, in desperate need, lowly and despised — people who cannot repay us for our help — we must not stop helping them as best we can. Why? Because God Himself has bound and obligated us to do so. We must learn, therefore, not to fix our eyes only on the wrong our neighbor has done to us — complaining about the injury while ignoring God's goodness toward us and His command. That fixation on injury blinds us to what our duty actually is, but God does not lower His standard on that account. God gives us a reason for His command: we all share the same nature, and we are to treat one another as members of the same body. Beyond that, God requires us, for the sake of His honor and grace, to continue seeking the good of others even when they have treated us with injury and contempt — even our enemies. We are to win them over by kindness and, as far as we are able, repay their malice with good. This is the first lesson drawn from Samuel's words: 'Far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you.' He is declaring that even if the people had no just complaint against him, he would still be guilty before God, and his excuses would mean nothing to Him, unless he fulfilled the duty God had entrusted to him. But there is also a special duty laid on Samuel specifically — the duty of interceding before God for the people, which he gladly embraces. As we noted in the previous sermon, all who are called to the prophetic office are appointed as advocates before God — just as Peter described the apostles' office: 'We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.' Was it not also the duty of all Christians to pray? Yes — but Peter's point is that those who have received the office of teaching must earnestly pray that God would protect and grow His church, bless their labors, advance the kingdom of His Son, bring the called into obedience, and draw the lost to Himself. This special zeal for prayer belongs to those whom God has appointed as teachers, prophets, and pastors over His people. Samuel understood this well: no matter how ungrateful the people might be, their pastors sin if they fail to intercede for them before God. We should also observe here that God commends nothing more highly to us than mutual prayer — believers interceding for one another. Each person is obligated to help his neighbor with his resources. But because nothing benefits a person more than God's favor and grace, we are most obligated to help others through prayer — and we should give this duty even more earnest and fervent effort than we give our other forms of help. So even though Christians are scattered far and wide across the world, God has bound us together so closely that we must intercede for one another before Him as a matter of duty. In this, each person's calling must be taken into account: the higher the position to which God has called someone, the more deeply that person is obligated — and the more urgently he must pray before God on behalf of others.

Samuel continues: 'I will teach you the good and right way.' Even though the people had thrown off his authority, he still takes up the responsibility of teaching them and guiding them into the right path. By these words he shows that he will not pray for them in a halfhearted or mechanical way. He will be fully devoted to the people's wellbeing and salvation, doing everything within his power to promote it. Samuel is committing himself to faithfully carrying out every part of the office God gave him — instructing the people, leading them in the way of salvation, and preventing their ruin. He promises to do this to the fullest extent of his ability. Many people make grand promises with their lips and put on a great show of love for their neighbors — praying for them with hands folded, appearing to wish them every good thing. Yet even without resorting to open violence or physical harm, they reveal a corrupt inner attitude toward those they hate. They envy them, resent their prosperity, and inwardly wish all manner of misfortune on them. Samuel, by contrast, commits himself to interceding with God for the people without any pretense — and at the same time to faithfully teaching and guiding them as a true pastor, even though the people had not behaved like sheep but had acted more like wild animals in the stubborn rebellion we discussed above.

So much for that. A solemn exhortation follows: 'Therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for you have seen the great things He has done for you.' Samuel does not repeat this call to fear God and worship Him sincerely without good reason. Although everyone readily agrees that nothing is more pleasing to God than wholehearted worship, very few actually direct their minds to it — most people think they have satisfied God by outward words alone. A single reminder that God is to be worshipped from the heart is not enough. We were created for this very purpose. Knowing the doctrine correctly is not sufficient — we need to be stirred again and again to the worship of God. The restless curiosity of those who always crave something new therefore deserves a sharp rebuke. You can hear many people complaining that they are always hearing the same message about worshipping and adoring God — that they know it well enough already, that it has been repeated to the point of tedium, and that they need something fresh. But I ask: have such people ever truly examined themselves and considered what it means to be called to God's worship? If they did, they would see clearly that this teaching is not superfluous at all. We should not find it strange, then, that Samuel repeats this so often to the people — 'serve the Lord, do not depart from the Lord, fear the Lord with all your heart.' He is not repeating himself because the earlier words were unclear and needed clearer explanation. He is repeating himself to move the people more deeply, to press the truth into their hearts. God's Word is not preached merely so we can grasp it mentally or understand His will intellectually — it must take deep root in our hearts. If we examine ourselves honestly, when we were first taught, were we so willing that we immediately shaped ourselves to God's obedience with nothing more needed? Hardly. Even when the teaching stirs us, our innate hardness of heart resists it — it can barely penetrate our minds. This is especially true when Scripture calls us to worship God: that is precisely when our stubbornness shows itself most clearly. We are so stiff and resistant that we have to be driven to God almost by force. This is why Samuel keeps repeating: 'Only fear the Lord.' There is also great force in the word 'Lord' itself, which quietly rebukes the people: see what I am asking of you — fear God and worship Him. What is more fair and right than this? What excuse will you have when you fail in this duty, since I am demanding nothing you yourselves do not acknowledge to be right? I am asking only that you give your heart to the worship of the Lord, to whom you owe so much for so many great benefits. Elsewhere the Lord calls His own worship our salvation — which means that as much as we grow cold in His worship, we pull back from our own wellbeing. This is therefore a truth to treasure and meditate on carefully. Samuel adds that they must serve God in truth and with all their heart. By truth he means integrity and sincerity — and these two things go together. Serving God with all the heart is nothing other than truly worshipping God. God's worship is corrupted when we mix in our own inventions, but we are commanded to serve Him in truth — to follow His Word and add nothing of our own. What then shall we say about all the idolatrous ceremonies and rites that human beings have introduced into religion, except that they are a false religion and a man-made counterfeit of true worship? There is one true religion and one true way of worshipping God — the way God Himself prescribes in His Word. Our Lord Jesus Christ said the same in John, where He speaks of true worship. He sets it against all pretense and against all the legal shadows and types that preceded His coming. Although God has always required spiritual worship from people, the Old Testament era contained many ceremonies and legal rituals that dimmed the light of truth. But Jesus openly teaches us that God is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth — condemning all outward ceremony and pretense. In this passage, then, truth means a pure, sincere, and wholehearted devotion — the opposite of a divided heart. Samuel explains what he means with the words 'with all your heart': do not fear God in the way hypocrites do, who make a great show of holiness and puff themselves up with pride over their outward religious acts, while their minds are utterly far from God. Hypocrites want to satisfy God with outward rituals even while they freely pursue much that is vile and corrupt — as though they shared in divine authority, or at least had the right to prescribe to God what He requires for His worship. Samuel plainly warns the people not to serve God haphazardly or according to their own preferences, offering Him a mixed-together worship — but to worship Him with all their heart. We must honestly admit, however, that as long as we live in this world, we are not capable of the perfect sincerity that our duty requires. Yet Scripture commonly uses this kind of language — saying something is done 'with the whole heart' — when we do not act with pretense, do not try to deceive God, and do not offer Him empty or counterfeit worship. It means that our intent is genuine and our affections are rightly directed. So even though we have many faults and failings that hold us back, if our basic disposition is sincere, we are said to serve God with all the heart — that is, in integrity and genuineness. This reveals the remarkable kindness and generosity of God, by which He draws us to Himself. If He required perfect worship and held us to the strict standard of His justice, what would become of us? We would perish a thousand times over. We fail constantly. Even when we try as hard as we can to do well, our weakness and the frailty of our minds mean that something is always lacking in what we do — and we deserve to be condemned for it. If God were to examine our sins by the strictest standard, we would be rejected by Him at every moment and brought low. But He deals with us so gently that if only we are not pretenders and hypocrites — if all malice is far from us and we worship Him with a sincere and upright heart — He promises to accept our worship and regard it with favor as though it were perfect. With what depth of love, then, ought we to respond to God, knowing that He graciously accepts even our imperfect worship?

To drive his exhortation home, Samuel adds: 'For you have seen the great things He has done for you.' This is exactly what ought to shake us out of our spiritual laziness and move us to worship God — a serious, sustained reflection on His benefits toward us. And not ordinary benefits, either, but those in which a special, personal favor appears. When God has revealed His power in some remarkable, even miraculous way and displayed His goodness toward us, we ought to be set ablaze with all the more fervent zeal for His worship — unless we want to be worse than animals. Samuel, wanting to rouse the people, called back to their memory the many great miracles and acts of God done on their behalf to preserve and protect them. If they would genuinely reflect on these things as they deserved, those memories would kindle in them an immense desire to worship and honor God from the heart, not merely in outward show. But these things apply to us today as well — and in fact we have far greater and more remarkable testimonies of God's goodness toward us than the Israelites had. Consider the mystery of our redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ. How great is it? It far surpasses the creation of the world, and every miracle that has ever occurred. How did it happen that God descended to us in the person of His only Son — that He who is the fountain of life took on our mortal life; that our Lord Jesus Christ, who dwelt in incomprehensible blessedness, humbled Himself so completely as to take our curse upon Himself, reconcile us to God the Father, and make us sharers and co-heirs of His eternal kingdom? When He came into this world to rescue us from the tyranny of the devil that oppressed us and to set us free — this is so remarkable a miracle that no human mind can fully grasp it or adequately declare it. Beyond these blessings common to all believers, each person must also reflect privately on how many great benefits he has personally received from the Lord — from the very womb of his mother — and from how many dangers he has been rescued. He should rightly cry out, 'Lord, how wonderful are Your works toward me!' Each person must also consider how he was called to the knowledge of the Gospel and how he continues in it by God's grace. If we weigh these things honestly within ourselves, meditate on them, and give our minds to them, we will have more than enough reason to join David in crying out: 'Lord, how magnificent are Your works — we could sooner count the hairs of our heads than number Your benefits.' Yet how great is our sluggishness and forgetfulness! Because of it, we treat the remarkable works of God as worthless, all but trampling them underfoot, and we grow cold in His worship. Without question, Samuel — who knew human nature thoroughly, and knew the vice that was native to them — commands the people to 'see the great things of God': that is, to look at them carefully and meditate on them. It is as if he were saying: 'You foolish, you lost people — you bury and blot out by forgetfulness so many great benefits God has given you. That is why you fail to recognize His gifts and are not moved with the zeal you should have to glorify and praise Him.' The psalmist exhorts the people in the same way: 'Come and contemplate the marvelous works of God.' For people are so ungrateful and so slow to recognize God's gifts that they let them pass as though they never happened — as though they never saw or heard them — even while they were enjoying the very prosperity those gifts produced, for which they should have rendered endless and sincere thanksgiving. For this reason Samuel commands the people to look upon the great works of God, so that afterward they may truly and sincerely serve Him.

To these exhortations Samuel adds a solemn warning: 'But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.' He judged that the people needed to be moved by fear, because people are never moved as deeply as they ought to be by promises alone. Samuel had indeed promised much — he had said that God would never abandon them despite their serious offenses, because He had chosen them as His special treasure and graciously adopted them as His children. God would act out of regard for His own glory rather than their worthiness, and would keep His promises for the sake of His great name, showing Himself faithful, supremely good, and perfect. For that reason, Samuel had said, God will show them mercy, pardon their offenses, and protect them. These promises ought to have great weight in moving them to repentance. But corrupt human nature tends to abuse God's patience and kindness, convincing itself that it has slipped out of God's reach as long as He does not strike immediately — so people must also be driven to their duty by the threat of consequences. Samuel therefore warns that if they persist in evil, they will perish. When he forbids them to 'do evil,' he does not mean that he is unaware that even the most devoted believers will stumble in many ways due to the weakness inherent in human nature. By 'doing evil' he means willfully turning away from God and giving themselves over to sin without restraint. The faithful know they cannot keep God's law as they ought. Paul himself confesses this — he says that because of his weakness he was like a vessel full of filth, and that he did not want to do evil, yet he was still surrounded by great weakness. He confesses that sin dwells in him — but he also hates it and calls himself a wretched sinner. Yet even so he knows God's favor and grace, which brings him joy and consolation: God has had mercy on him, directed him in the way of salvation, and given him the desire to press on toward the goal. This is the situation of every believer. The wicked, by contrast, break all restraint, throw off every yoke, and rush headlong into their desires like animals that cannot be fenced in — so that you could rightly call them monsters rather than human beings. This is the condition of all who despise God. It is therefore certain that such people will perish and go to eternal destruction — not necessarily immediately, but when the appointed time of divine judgment arrives. The psalmist notes that God prepares a pit for those He is about to send to ruin, after He has patiently endured them for a time — using them as instruments to test the patience of His own people. For those who are carried along uncertainly in their worship of God — like the hypocrites who glory in their lusts and seem ready to climb above the very clouds — the gate of heaven is shut. God blinds their eyes so that they rush headlong to destruction through their own blindness and plunge into death through their own stubbornness. God's own children are often pressed hard by many afflictions and struck in their possessions and in their persons — but all those afflictions work together for their ultimate good, making them more careful about walking before God. They are like people who stumble and fall but are immediately helped back up. It is not so with the wicked. God pursues them with just judgment until they fall completely — and precisely when they imagine they have arrived and are worthy of admiration, God overturns them in an instant and lays them low. We must therefore take these things seriously and beware of abusing the Lord's patience, lest we bring on ourselves an even greater condemnation. Finally, Samuel warns the people not to put their trust in the title and dignity of a king. They must fear the Lord, because He alone protects and shelters us, and all our confidence must rest in Him alone. Otherwise, Samuel threatens, both they and their king will perish — with the Lord stripping away all their strength and reducing them to nothing. From this we must learn that even when we are fully equipped to defend ourselves against our enemies, all those resources will work against us rather than for us if God opposes us. On the other hand, even when we are unarmed and stripped of every resource — without powerful kings to defend us, without a wide dominion, without the fortifications needed to sustain great armies — even when we are few against a vast multitude and have neither forces nor strongholds, if God stands for us, there is no doubt whatsoever that we will be far stronger than countless worlds conspiring and rising against us. How greatly, then, should all of this kindle in us a zeal for prayer and move us to place our full trust in God? Let us therefore meditate carefully on what is set before us here and apply it to our lives. If anything arises that tempts us to turn away from God — no matter how large it seems — let us count it as nothing and trample it underfoot like dry grass. But if instead we kick against Him like animals, turn away from Him, and carry ourselves defiantly, the result will be that we experience Him as so completely against us that wherever on earth we flee, we will fall into His hand — exacting the most just punishment for all our sins.

Therefore come, before God, etc.