HISTORY OF SAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR***


Transcribed from the 1816 R. Thomas edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org

                   [Picture: Public domain book cover]





                                    A
                               FEW REMARKS
                                  ON THE
                            Scripture History
                                    OF
                                  SAUL,
                                   AND
                          _THE WITCH OF ENDOR_,


                                * * * * *

                              BY J. CHURCH,
                           _SURRY TABERNACLE_.

                                * * * * *

              TRY THE SPIRITS WHETHER THEY BE OF GOD.—John.

       FOR SATAN TRANSFORMETH HIMSELF INTO AN ANGEL OF LIGHT.—Paul.

       WHAT WILL YE DO IN THE DAY OF YOUR VISITATION, WHERE WILL YE
                          FLEE FOR HELP.—Isaiah.

                                * * * * *

                           Sold in the Vestry.

                                * * * * *

                               _SOUTHWARK_;
             PRINTED BY R. THOMAS, RED LION STREET, BOROUGH.

                                  1816.

                                * * * * *




_REMARKS_
ON THE SCRIPTURE HISTORY OF
SAUL, &c.


          “WOE ALSO TO THEM WHEN I DEPART FROM THEM.”  Hosea ix, 12.

               “GOD IS DEPARTED FROM ME, AND ANSWERETH ME NOT.”
                              1 Sam. xxviii. 15.

       _To all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity_.

BELOVED,

IT is your mercy the divine Spirit is the glorifier of Jesus; that he has
set him forth in his word as the Christ of God; what he is, what he has
done, and what he has graciously said to his people.  This is the work of
our faith, to receive as we need, these things, all the way to heaven.

The person of Jesus is the delight of the Father, the glory of heaven,
and the foundation of the Church, considered as God-man Mediator.—The
glories of his person is revealed in the word, but we must die to see
them in full perfection, and no doubt that will be an heaven worth dying
for: but blessed be God we are not wholly in the dark about these
excellencies, so runs the promise, _They __shall all know me_, _from the
least to the greatest_.—His person is truly blessed; his love is
immutable; his work is honorable and glorious, exactly suited to all the
necessities, of his people.  His covenant engagements, his precious
offices, his sweet titles and characters, the Father’s gracious
acceptance of the work he accomplished, and to which he had called and
appointed him.  These, and a thousand more interesting points, are set
forth as matters of our faith, and the food of our souls.  His
everlasting righteousness is our justification, his precious
blood-shedding is our atonement, and his prevalent intercession at the
Father’s right-hand, is the basis of our hope, and the ground of our
acceptance.—I say again, my dear friends in Jesus, what a mercy!  This is
our refuge, our remedy, our joy, our triumph, our present and eternal
all: and that we have the most important evidence of interest in these
capital blessings, by being led from every other refuge; and under a
sense, a daily view of our need, we are enabled to fly for a refuge, to
lay hold on this hope; nor can we have a pain, a sorrow, a cross, a
misery of any kind, from sin, Satan or the world, but the holy Spirit
designs thereby really to endear the Lord Jesus to us, as he is revealed
in the word.  There is another most blessed consideration for our faith,
viz. What Jesus has graciously said to his people, in all the precious
declarations of the Father’s love; the evidence he has given of this in
the gift of the dear Son, to obey, suffer, and die—the declarative
evidence of his own love, in his willingness to accomplish the work of
redemption; and blessing his people with the gift of the holy Spirit, as
the principal evidence of interest in his love and work.  His precious
invitations to poor, needy, helpless, lost, wandering, undone sinners,
who being in the least imaginable degree convinced of their state, they
are invited to him, with the most comfortable assurance of salvation;
which assurance _of_, and _to_ faith, will, in due time, produce the
comfortable assurance of sense.  His promises are exceeding
glorious—hence the Church declared, after a beautiful, tho’ enigmatical
description of her Beloved, _His mouth is most sweet_.  The promises are
very precious, yea, the Apostle calls them _exceeding precious_—they are
exactly adapted to our cases, let them be what they may: if thirsting for
the consolations of the Spirit, Jesus says, _I will pour water on him_,
_and floods on the dry ground_.  If ready to give up all, having waited
long to little purpose, he says, _The vision is for an appointed time_,
_at the end it will speak_.  If a soul is groaning under guilt, he says,
_I will he merciful to your unrighteousness_, _and your sins and
iniquities I will remember no more_.  If we feel our sins too strong for
us, he promises he will subdue them.  If we are made sensible of our
backsliding, he says, _I will heal your backslidings_.  If in great
difficulties, and we know not which way to get out of them, he says, _I
will bring the blind by a way they __know not_: _I will guide thee with
mine eye_.  If harrassed by the Devil, he promises to _bruise him under
our feet shortly_.  If complaining of hardness of heart, he says, _I will
give you a new one_—and if full of fears, he declares he will be _an
hiding place in every storm_; and if we feel as if we were forsaken of
God; and are actually forsaken of friends, relatives, acquaintance, and
both professor and possessor shun us; and suppose every ray of sensible
comfort gone, yet, he cannot, will not leave or forsake you; for he hath
said, _I will never_, _never_, _leave you_: _I will never_, _no_,
_never_, _no never_, _forsake you_! for so the learned say it is in the
original, not less than five times mentioned.  How sweet the thought!—so
that we may confidently sing—

    The soul that on Jesus bath lean’d for repose,
    He can not, he will not forsake to his foes;
    That soul though all Hell should endeavor to shake,
    He’ll never, no never, no never, forsake!

And he is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he
should repent.  Let our faith plead these things, and may we rejoice in
him who is the faithful God—he never can leave or forsake his dear
Children, his Bride, his jewels, his crown, his honour, his glory, his
own flesh and blood.  This is our security and our triumph.  His love
cannot change; his nature is immutable; his purposes cannot be broken;
the bond of union cannot be dissolved; he is one with them, he is in
them, and they are engraven on his heart, on his arms, and on the palms
of his hands; and he has sworn, _Because_, or _As I live you shall live
also_.  Yet there may be some apparent forsakings, these are chiefly
imaginary; yet they have caused these sad complaints—_Why hidest thou thy
face_, _O Lord_?  Zion said, _The Lord hath forsaken me—my God hath
forgotten me_!