I Sam. i. 19, 23.— And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah : and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about, after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. But Hannah went not up: for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide forever. And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good ; tarry until thou have weaned him ; only the i Sam. i. 24, 28.–And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him into the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent | Sam. ii. 1, 10.And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord : mine horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies : because I re- foice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord : for there is none beside thee : neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly ; let not the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are gird- ed with strength. They that were full have hired out them- selves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased; so that the barren hath born seven : and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich : he bringeth low, and lifleth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make thein inherit the throne of glory : for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness : for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces: out of heaven shall he thun- der upon them : the Lord shall judge the ends of the i Sam. ii. 18, 21.-But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband, to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The Lord give thee seed of this woman, for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And they went unto their own home. And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord. | Sam. ii. 12, 17, 23, 24.Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial : they knew not the Lord. And the priests' custom with the people was, that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand : and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or chaldron, or pot : all that the flesh-hook brought up, the priest took for himsell: so they did in Shiloh, unto all the Isrselites that came thither. Also before they burned the fat, the priest's servant came and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest : for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently : and then take as much as thy soul desireth, then he would answer him, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force. Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his soos did unto al! Israel. And he said unto them, Why do ye such things ? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Nay, my sons : for it is no good report that I hear; ye make the Lord's people to transgress. LECTURE XXII. TIISTORY OF HANNAH. i Sam. ii. 26.--And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men. 435 Sacred Biography. LECTURE I. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from rohose face the earth and the heaven fied away, and there was found no place for them. And I surv the dead small and great stand before God, and the hooks were opened : and another book was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it : and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them ; and they were judged every man according to their works... Rev. xx. 11, 12, 13.". TT is a solemn thing for a man to be judged of his own conscience. How sweet is the approving testimony of that bosom monitor and witness ! but more bitter than death its upbraiding and reproaches. To stand at a buman tribunal, with life or reputation, death or infamy depending on the issue, can never appear a light matter to one who understands and feels the value of either. Even conscious innocence and integrity, accompanied with good hope toward God, court not the eye of public inquiry, but prefer the secret, silent feast of inward peace, and of divine applause, to the public banquet of innocence proved and proclaimed by sound of trumpet. Serious it is to reflect that your name, your words, your conduct may become matter of record, and ages to come mention VOL. III. B them with approbation and esteem, or with indignation and contempt. But every feeling of this sort is lost in the certain and more awful prospect of judgment to come. It is a light ibing to be judged of man, who can only kill the body, and blight the reputation, and beyond that both pothing more that he can do ; but how formidable is the judgment of him, who knows the heart, who records in “the book of his remembrance" the actions of the life, the words that fall from the tongue, the thoughts which arise in the heart; who will bring every secret thing to light, and “ render to every man according to his works ;” and who," after he has killed, has por ci to destroy body and soul in hell." Aided by the light which sacred history sheds on ages and generations past, we have ventured into the solemn mansions of the dead, and conversed with those silent instructors who know not either to flatter or to tear; and whom the Spirit of God has condescended to delineate in their true colors and just proportions, that they may serve to us “ for doctrine, and for reproof, and for correction, and for instruction in righteousness." We have plunged into ages beyond the flood, and conteinplated human nature in its original glory ; “ man,” as God made him,“ perfect;” and man, as he made himself, lost in the multitude of his own inventions. The “first man, by whom came death...the figure of Him who should come, by whom is the resurrection of the dead; Adam, in whom all die ; Christ, in whom all shall be made alive." We have attended “ righteous Abel” to the altar of God, and beheld the sinoak of his “ more excellent şacritice” ascending with acceptance to beaven : and “ by which, be being dead, yet speaketb.” : We have seen the hands of “ wicked Cain" besmeared with a brother's blood; and the earth refus ing to cover that blood, but calling to Heaven for ven |