Samuel asked Saul why he had disquieted him to bring him up; and Saul answered, that he might make known what he should do; for the Philistines made war upon him, and God was departed from him, and he was sore distressed. Samuel then asked him why he came to him since God had departed from him, and had become his enemy. Then he proceeded to tell him that the kingdom was rent out of his hand because he had failed to obey the Lord; that the Philistines should triumph in the battle, and that on the morrow he and his sons should die. This was the finishing stroke to the already breaking heart of Saul, and, utterly overwhelmed with his calamities, he fell senseless to the earth. Such are the essential facts brought to view in the narrative. Let us now look at what is claimed from them. 2. _The claim._ This can be expressed in few words. It is claimed that Samuel actually appeared on this occasion, and that therefore the dead are conscious, or that there is a spirit in man that lives on in consciousness when the body dies; and, therefore again, the soul is immortal. The validity of this claim rests very much on the question whether the transaction here recorded was wrought by the power of God or by the devil. If by God, then the representation was a true one; if by the devil, we may look for deception; for he commenced his work by becoming the father of all the lies in the world, and continues it by assiduously circulating them. We will therefore consider, 3. _The character of the actors._ These actors were, first, the woman that had a familiar spirit; and familiar spirits are spirits of devils. Compare together Num. 25:1-3; Ps. 106:28; and 1 Cor. 10:20. This work of dealing with familiar spirits, God had declared to be an abomination to him, he had expressly forbidden it, and sentenced to death all who practiced it. The other chief actor in this scene was Saul. And what was his condition at this time? He had so long lived in violation of divine instruction that God had departed from him, and answered him no more by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets, which were the ways he had himself appointed to communicate with his people. Query: Would the Lord refuse to communicate with him in ways of his own appointing, and then come to him by means the use of which he had expressly forbidden? We see then that neither of the actors in this scene were persons through whom, or for whom, we should expect the Lord to work. We will therefore notice further, 4. _The facts to be considered._ _a._ The wonders wrought on this occasion were all accomplished by the familiar spirit with whom this woman consorted. There were two things for this spirit to do: (1) Either to bring up in reality the dead person that was called for, or (2) to counterfeit the dead man so perfectly that those who were conversing with the familiar spirit would believe that they were conversing with their dead friend.