1 Samuel 7:12

DISCOURSE: 289
MEMORIALS OF GOD’S GOODNESS

1 Samuel 7:12. 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.

THERE is in the generality of men a very culpable inattention to the ways of Providence. A variety of dispensations succeed each other without ever attracting their notice. Hence they are unconscious of any kindness exercised towards them; and are ready to ascribe their success to themselves, or even to chance, rather than to God. But, if they would observe the many strange and unforeseen events which arise, and notice how they concur to promote their welfare, they would “understand the loving-kindness of the Lord,” and be constrained to acknowledge his wise and gracious agency.
The veil with which modern occurrences are covered, is, in the Scriptures, removed; and we see “the holy arm of the Lord made bare.” We at this day should regard a storm as a mere accidental thing, common perhaps at the time of year; and think little of God, “who maketh the clouds his chariots, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But, in the passage before us, the victory gained by means of a storm is ascribed to the merciful interposition of Jehovah. By means of thunder which terrified the Philistine army, the unprepared Israelites were enabled to destroy them, and to break the power of those who for twenty years had grievously oppressed them: nor was it a little remarkable, that this victory was gained upon the very spot where, twenty years before, God had delivered both them and the ark in which they vainly trusted, into the hands of the Philistines. To commemorate the goodness of the Lord, “Samuel set up a stone, which he called Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”
From these words we shall take occasion to shew,

I. What reason we have to erect similar memorials—

Whether the agency of God be more or less visible, it is certain that not so much as a sparrow falls to the ground without his special direction. Let us then take a view of the mercies he has vouchsafed to us. These have been,

1. Public—

[These have been exceeding great [Note: Those specified at the close of the year 1804, were, our long-continued preservation from foreign invasion, or domestic tumults, or even the sound of war; as also our freedom from pestilences, earthquakes, and hurricanes, which had recently committed dreadful ravages in Spain, America, and the West Indies. But these things must of course be varied, according to the occasion on which the subject is used, whether it be Victory, or Peace, or any other signal mercy.] — — — and they demand our devoutest acknowledgments.]

2. Private—

[We shall find abundant cause of thankfulness, if we survey our temporal mercies. How are we indebted to God for life, when multitudes have been taken into the eternal world; and for health, when many have been pining away with sickness; or racked with acute disorders! What an unspeakable mercy is it that our reason is continued to us, when many are bereft of this noble faculty, and thereby reduced, like Nebuchadnezzar, to a level with the beasts! What do we owe to God, if we have found comfort in our relatives and connexions, (for “it is God that maketh men to be of one mind in a house,”) and if death has not been permitted to rob us of those, in whose welfare we are deeply interested! Perhaps during the preceding year we have entered into new connexions, or had our families enlarged. Perhaps our business has prospered; or the difficulties with which we have contended, have been overcome. In all these things we ought to acknowledge the hand of God, and to think how highly favoured we have been above myriads of our fellow-creatures.

But if we turn our thoughts to the contemplation of our spiritual mercies, what ground shall we find for the liveliest gratitude, and the profoundest adoration! That the ordinances of the Gospel are continued to us, when, for our misimprovement of them “our candlestick might so justly have been removed;” what a blessing is this! If we only consider that the preached Gospel is, though not the only, yet the principal mean which God makes use of for the salvation of men, we never can be sufficiently thankful that its sound has reached our ears, and its light been exhibited before our eyes; “for many prophets and kings have in vain desired to see and hear these things,” which we so richly enjoy.

We have all, more or less, been made the subjects of restraining grace: and O, what a tribute of praise does that demand! How many of our fellow-creatures have brought themselves to an untimely end, either by their excesses, or by the hands of the public executioner! How many unhappy females protract a miserable existence by the wages of prostitution! How many, either to conceal their shame, or to avenge a quarrel, have committed murder! How many, to rid themselves of their present troubles, have madly rushed on suicide! Whence is it, I would ask, that we have not fallen into one or other of these evils? Are we made of better materials than they? “Have we not all one father?” Did they, previous to the commission of their evil deeds, imagine themselves more likely to fall than we? Let us acknowledge “the good hand of God upon us;” it is God who alone has made us to differ: and if he had not preserved us by his restraining grace, we should at this moment have been numbered with the most miserable and abandoned of the human race.

Some amongst us, we trust, have been made to experience converting grace. And what cause for thankfulness have they! Look around, and see how few even of those who statedly hear the Gospel are savingly converted by it! What then do they owe to God, who have been quickened from the dead; who have had their sins blotted out by the blood of Jesus; who have been made partakers of a divine nature, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven! Should not they raise an Eben-ezer to the Lord?

Nor have they less cause for thankfulness who have received establishing grace. Consider how many have “begun to run well, and afterwards been hindered:” some waxing cold in their regard to religion; others “turning aside to vain jangling;” some drawn into infidelity; and others making religion itself hateful and abominable, by their hypocrisy or open impiety. Never does a year pass, but some instances of grievous backsliding occur, to the great dishonour of God, and the grief of all his people. And why are not we the persons that have been left to fall? Have we felt no secret inclination to sin? Have we on no occasion yielded to the suggestions of our great adversary, so that nothing but Omnipotence, snatching us like brands out of the burning, could have preserved us? Have we never inwardly backslidden, so that if God had not for his own mercy’s sake restored us, we must have departed for ever? Let us only examine the records of our own hearts, and call our own ways to remembrance; and there is not one of us who will not be ready to look upon himself as the greatest monument of mercy that can be found on earth.

Whether then we consider our temporal or our spiritual mercies, we cannot but find unbounded occasion to raise grateful memorials to the Lord our God.]
But it will be proper to shew,

II.

In what manner we should do it—

External and visible monuments are very proper expressions of national gratitude: but, as individuals, we must erect very different memorials;—

1. We must get a sense of God’s goodness engraven on our hearts—

[We need not to form inscriptions on stone or brass: we are concerned rather to have the mercies of our God written upon our hearts. But here is our great fault: we do not “keep his great goodness in remembrance:” we “forget him at the sea, even at the Red Sea.” One single calamity will call forth complaints in abundance: but ten thousand mercies are scarcely sufficient to raise the soul to God, or to excite one desire to requite his love. Sensible of this, David stirred up his soul to the performance of its duty: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless his holy name: bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” It is in this way that we must raise memorials to God: and such memorials he will not despise. One grateful and devout acknowledgment is a more pleasing sacrifice to him than the cattle upon a thousand hills: “Whoso offereth him praise, glorifieth him.”]

2. We must endeavour to impress others also with a sense of it—

[This is a method of perpetuating the remembrance of his goodness, which the Lord himself has prescribed [Note: Psalms 78:5.]. And the more sensible we ourselves are of his kindness to us, the more shall we exert ourselves to preserve the knowledge of it in this way. How admirable is the example of David in this particular! He seems to have laboured with all his might, not merely to praise God with his own lips, but to interest all, whether of his own or future generations, in the same blessed employment [Note: Psalms 145:1.]. On the contrary, how severely was Hezekiah rebuked for ostentatiously displaying his own riches, when he should have been magnifying to the Babylonish ambassadors the Lord’s goodness, and commending to them the knowledge of the God of Israel [Note: 2 Kings 20:12 with 2 Chronicles 32:24; 2 Chronicles 32:31.]! 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 [Note: Isaiah 5:3; Hebrews 6:7.].” 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 [Note: 1 Samuel 17:37.]. 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 [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:10.].” 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 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 [Note: Psalms 125:1.].”]

DISCOURSE: 290
THE DUTY OF COMMEMORATING GOD’S MERCIES

1 Samuel 7:12. 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 behalf [Note: ver. 8.]. 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 [Note: See Psalms 106:43 and Psalms 107 throughout.] — — — 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—

[Here we must have an especial eye to the occasion before us. 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 [Note: ver. 6.].” 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 Israel [Note: 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 10:43.].

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. 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 [Note: Psalms 63:7.]:” “Because the Lord hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live [Note: Psalms 116:2.].” 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 [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:10.].” 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.]

Application—
1.

Take now a review of all that God has done for you in times past—

[Let those who are yet living as without God in the world contemplate God’s forbearance towards them — — — Let those who have been brought out of darkness into the marvellous light of the Gospel survey the riches of divine grace displayed towards them — — — Let believers bring to their remembrance their manifold temptations, their grievous back-slidings, their repeated falls; or, if they have been kept from falling, the almost miraculous succours by which they have been upheld — — — Then will the example before us have its due effect; and God will receive the glory due unto his name.]

2. Look forward now to all that you can need from God in times to come—

[Nothing but a sense of our necessities will keep us properly dependent on God. Let your minds then be continually intent on this subject. Think of all you need for body — — — or for soul — — — for time — — — or for eternity — — — And then see what need you have for help from God in future. Yet be not disheartened by the sight of all your necessities; but remember, that however great they be, “God is able to supply all your need out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Call to mind the promises of help which God has given you in his word [Note: Isaiah 41:10.]; see how ample they are; how repeated; how strong! Though thou art but “a worm,” yet through him “thou shalt thresh the mountains.” In a full persuasion of this, commit your every concern to him, and expect that he will be “a very present help to you in every time of need.” Only trust in him with your whole hearts, and “you shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end.”]