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of the God of Israel! It is possible enough that he might pretend to give God the glory; but God, who knew his heart, saw that he was lifted up with pride: so we are in danger of erecting memorials rather for our own honour, than for God's: but we must be exceeding jealous upon this head, lest, instead of pleasing, we offend the Majesty of heaven; and lest, instead of bringing a blessing upon ourselves, we entail a curse. We may boast; but our boast must be of God, and not of ourselves: we may raise monuments; but they must be truly "Eben-ezers," ascribing every thing to "the Lord's help," and not to an arm of flesh.]

3. We must testify our sense of it by an increased devotion to his service

[If we are sincere in our acknowledgments, we shall be inquiring, "What shall I render to the Lord, for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?" The end for which our God vouchsafes his mercies to us, is, that we may bring forth fruit to his glory and, if he find that all his pains and culture are without effect, he will cut us down as "cumberers of the ground." Whatever be our character then, we must make this improvement of the Lord's goodness to us: if we are impenitent, it must lead us to repentance; if we are already his servants, it must constrain us to increased diligence in his service, and cause us to abound more and more in every good word and work. We must not satisfy ourselves with empty commendations, crying, "Lord, Lord;" but must do with cheerfulness and delight whatsoever he commands us.]

4. We must trust him in all future difficulties and dangers

[This is a very principal end of raising memorials of any kind: it is, not merely to remind us of what God has done, but of what he is ever ready to do, if we call upon him. Here again we are called to admire the conduct of David, who regarded the deliverances which he had experienced from the paws of the lion, and of the bear, as arguments for trusting in God, and for expecting a similar deliverance from the sword of Goliath. St. Paul also made a similar improvement of the mercies vouchsafed to him; saying, "God hath delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." Trials will succeed each other, as "clouds coming after rain:" we are not to expect a termination of them, till we are called to our rest above. Yet while on this account we can only say, "Hitherto hath the Lord

d 2 Kings xx. 12-18. with 2 Chron. xxxii. 24, 25, 31.

e Isai. v. 3-6. Heb. vi. 7, 8.1 Sam. xvii. 37. 8 2 Cor. i. 10.

helped us," we may safely commit ourselves into his hands, knowing, that "whoso trusteth in the Lord, shall be even as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but standeth fast for ever."]

h Ps. cxxv. 1.

CCXC.

THE DUTY OF COMMEMORATING GOD'S MERCIES.

1 Sam. vii. 12. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

The Jews lived under a Theocracy, and received from God a greater number of visible interpositions in their favour than any other nation under heaven. In remembrance of these, many different memorials were erected, and many rites instituted; that so the people might be kept in a steadfast adherence to him as their rightful Sovereign, and in a constant dependence on him as their almighty Protector. But they were ever prone to depart from him, and to transfer their allegiance to the gods of the heathen that were no gods, but idols of wood and stone. For these iniquities that were frequently given up into the hands of their enemies, and left to feel the bitter consequences of their impiety. But, when they were made sensible of their guilt, and brought to humble themselves before God, he returned in mercy to them, and effected for them the deliverance they implored. Such an interposition was obtained for them by the prayers of Samuel; and in remembrance of it was the stone erected, to which my text refers.

But, as God is the Governor of all the earth, and interposes still for his people as really, though not so visibly, as in the days of old, we will not confine our views of this transaction to the particular deliverance to which it primarily refers, but will extend them generally to the Church at large; and consider

it as,

I. A commemorative act

The Jews at this time were grievously oppressed by the Philistines. Samuel called them to repentance, and promised, that, if they would put away their false gods, and return with penitential sorrow to the Lord their God, they should be delivered out of the hands of their enemies. That their return to Jehovah might be the more solemn and universal, Samuel appointed all the heads of the nation to meet him at Mizpeh. But the Philistines, jealous of so large an assemblage of Israelites on the borders of their country, came forth to attack them and God, in answer to the prayers of Samuel, rescued his people from their hands, and utterly discomfited the Philistine armies. To commemorate this deliverance, Samuel "put up the stone, which he called. Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." But, to understand the precise scope of this memorial, we must advert to the means by which the deliverance was obtained. Then we shall see that the stone thus raised, proclaimed, to the whole nation,

1. That God is a hearer of

prayer

[This the people could not but acknowledge, since they all had applied to Samuel to entreat the Lord in their behalfa. And this was a truth which it was of the utmost importance to commemorate, since it demonstrated Jehovah to be the only true God. To this truth the whole Scriptures bear witness. It was in answer to the cries of Israel that God had formerly delivered them from Egypt, and brought them in safety through the Red Sea. When Amalek came forth against them to destroy them in the wilderness, it was not by the sword of Joshua, but by the prayers of Moses, that Israel obtained the victory: for, when the hands of Moses hanged down, Amalek prevailed; but, in consequence of their being held up until the evening, Israel prevailed, and gained at last a complete triumph. In every part of their history the same truth was manifested. And to this hour are the memorials of it the greatest possible encouragements to seek for mercy at his hands.]

2. That he will deliver his penitent and believing people

a ver. 8.

b See Ps. cvi. 43, 44. and Ps. cvii. throughout.

us.

[Here we must have an especial eye to the occasion before The people, in compliance with the exhortations of Samuel, prayed, and fasted, and confessed their sins, and put away their strange gods, and gave themselves up to Jehovah, "to serve him only." This shewed the sincerity of their repentance, without which they could not hope for mercy at God's hands.

But, as humiliation alone could be of no avail, Samuel offered a sucking lamb as a burnt-offering to God, thereby acknowledging the people's desert to be utterly consumed, and their hope of acceptance only through a vicarious sacrifice. And it is remarkable, that, as Samuel was in the very act of offering this sacrifice," God thundered with a great thunder upon the Philistines," and, by the terror which those thunders inspired, caused them to fall an easy prey to the sword of Israeld.

Thus the people were reminded, that in all their approaches to the throne of grace there must be an union of penitence and faith: and that, whenever they so approached God, they should assuredly be delivered, however great might be the difficulties in which they were involved, or imminent the dangers to which they were exposed.]

But to all future ages also was this memorial intended to convey,

II. An instructive lesson

It plainly teaches us,

1. That we should often review our past mercies[All have received mercies in abundance, which they ought from time to time to review, in order to impress a sense of them the more deeply on their minds. For want of this, how many mercies are forgotten! and what a loss do we sustain by means of our forgetfulness! Blessings that are unnoticed are no more to us than they are to the brute creation: but if we bring them frequently to our remembrance, we have frequently in the retrospect a sweeter taste of them than we had in the actual possession. From this act of Samuel's then let us learn to pass over no mercy without labouring to imprint it on our minds, and to retain the remembrance of it to our dying hour.]

2. That we should especially view the hand of God in them

[It is this which gives the chief zest to all our mercies.

c ver. 6.

d ver. 9-11. A still more glorious testimony he gave to Peter's exhibition of this Lamb of God as crucified for the sins of men. See Acts x. 43, 44.

And to whom can we trace them but to God? Look at your temporal mercies; the time, and place of your birth, when the light of the Gospel was shining all around you your preservation during the helpless state of infancy, which so many myriads of human beings never survive the many deliverances, seen, and unseen, which you have experienced since the blessings of health and abundance, whilst so many have spent their days in sickness and want. View but the last year, and see how many have been plunged into deep distress, from which you are exempt; or been called away into the eternal world, whilst you are left with protracted opportunities of working out your salvation - - - Think of your spiritual mercies. Have you any measure of light in your minds, of softness in your hearts, of holiness in your lives? Have you any hopes in Christ as your Saviour; any experience of the Spirit as your Comforter; any prospects of heaven, as your inheritance? Think of multitudes around you, or look at those who are gone beyond redemption, and say, whether it is within the power of language to express your obligations to your God. For who is it that has made you to differ? Will you, or can you, trace these blessings to your own superior wisdom, or goodness, or strength? Must you not of necessity acknowledge the hand of God in them, and say, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us?" Surely in reference to every blessing, whether temporal or spiritual, you must say with David, “ Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise."]

3. That we should make our experience of past mercies the ground of expecting all that we can need from God in future

[Doubtless the memorial raised by Samuel was particularly intended to answer this end. And so should the memorials that are raised in our hearts: "Thou hast been my help; therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice":" "Because the Lord hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I livef." This was St. Paul's mode of improving past mercies: "God," says he, "delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." From what we have received "hitherto," we know what to expect henceforth. O blessed effect of preserving memorials of past mercies in our minds! What holy confidence will it introduce into the soul, and what a happy anticipation even of eternal blessedness! Only let the "Eben-ezer" which Samuel erected teach us this, and we shall ourselves raise in due time a similar memorial in the realms of bliss.]

e Ps. lxiii. 7.

f Ps. cxvi. 2.

g 2 Cor. i. 10.

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