1 Samuel 28

And that we may endeavor after this to have God for our God: Consider 1. The misery of such as have not God for their God; in how sad a condition are they, when an hour of distress comes? This was Saul's case (1 Samuel 28:15). I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war a…

(Acts 9:31) If we leave God, where shall we go? When Saul left God, he went to the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:8). 3. The serpent has a subtlety in its wings; for naturalists report, such serpents are found in Ethiopia, as have wings; and the Scripture mentions a fiery flying se…

3. Worldly things cannot remove trouble of mind. King Saul being perplexed in conscience, all his crown jewels could not administer comfort to him (1 Samuel 28:15). The things of the world will no more ease a troubled spirit than a gold cap will cure the headache.

When men have waited upon God in the use of ordinances and yet find not that comfort they desire; now Satan disheartens them and [illegible] them upon resolves of declining all religion; they begin to say as that wicked king (2 Kings 6:33), Why should I wait on the Lord any long…

Psalm 89:15: 'They shall walk in the light of your countenance, in your name shall they rejoice all day.' And this is here utterly withdrawn: and it may thus come to pass that the soul, in regard of any sense or sight of this, may be left in that case that Saul really was left i…

The Apostle tells us that Satan is sometimes transformed into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). And we read that once he took the habit and guise of a prophet (1 Samuel 28:18), and indeed he deceives more by the voice of Samuel than by the voice of the Dragon. We read of…

Thus Jannes and Jambres turned their rods into serpents, before Pharaoh, and brought frogs, by deceiving the eye, and not in truth (Exodus 7 and 8). Thus the witch of Endor made a counterfeit of Samuel to rise out of the earth (1 Samuel 28). The second question is, if this witch…

In the grave there is a fourth rest better than all these, a rest from sin, a rest from the drudgery of Satan, a rest from the winnowings and buffetings of Satan; a rest from the law of our members, warring against the law of our minds. When Saul went to the witch of Endor for a…

What would'st you do then, or to whom will you turn? It may be you will cry to the Creatures for help and pity; but alas, to what purpose? they will give as cold and as comfortless an answer, as Samuel gave to Saul, 1 Samuel 28:15, 16. And Samuel said to Saul, Vvherefore hast [•…

When a man's hands begin to wax feeble, and he is discouraged in the ways of the Lord; My foot had well-nigh slipped, says David (Psalm 73:2). 5. There's closing with sinful means, and running to them for an escape: As Saul, when he was crossed (1 Samuel 28:7), Seek me a woman t…

'Tis better to pine away in affliction, than to be freed from it by sin; to be as a bottle in the smoke, than to forget our duty: therefore no trouble should drive us to sin, or to use sinful means for our escape; though worn out with expectation, let our duty hold our hands fro…

He did not say, nor mean, that he should be like the Elohim, (the Creators, as the word is, Job 35:10; Ecclesiastes 12:1) the God that made them, but like Elohim Gods, namely, such as I and my Angels are, who once knew good, but now know evil, both by doing it, and suffering the…

The fifth [illegible], [illegible] the discouraged Hypocrite, whom the Lord has exercised under his heavy displeasure, and the poison of his corruptions has been gall and wormwood to his conscience, the floods of iniquities have followed at the heels, and forced him to find his…

Outward things can no more cure the agony of conscience, than a silk stocking can cure a gouty leg. When Saul was sorely distressed (1 Samuel 28:15), could all the jewels of his crown comfort him? If God be angry, whose fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down…

That mourning which, like the flaming sword, keeps the soul from approaching to God and beats it off from duty, is a sinful mourning — it is a sorrow hatched in hell. Such was Saul's grief, which drove him to the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7). Evangelical mourning is a spur to…

He that walks in darkness, and has no light (but some glimmering of starlight, or half moon under the earth, and knows not the ground he walks in) — let him trust in the name of the Lord. 8. She runs not away from Christ under desertion: But 1. She comes to him — it's a question…

This argues a law-spirit, rising and falling asleep again. 3. There is a final doubting of despair, like the doom past on the condemned malefactor: as in Cain (Genesis 4:13-14), in Saul (1 Samuel 28:15-16). All these conclude men under the law, and the curse of it.