66 Desire more earnestly the best gifts; spiritual, heavenly eternal blessings. By all means, in your vows, stipulate for your portion of present and temporal good things, saying with Jacob, " If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God;"* --and with Hannah, pouring out the bitterness of an oppressed heart before God, and begging relief of the Father of mercies, saying, "O Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid." But forget not withal, to stipulate, with Solomon, for "an understanding heart," to prize and to improve mercies already be* Gen. xxviii. 20, 21. stowed; and with Jabez calling on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil that it may not grieve me." Hannah promised to devote to the Lord the child which should be given her; and ye have solemnly engaged to yield yourselves unto God; and "ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price." "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”* *Rom. xii. 1, 2. HISTORY OF HANNAH, THE MOTHER OF SAMUEL. LECTURE CIV. 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 rejoice 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 arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased; so that the barren hath borne 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 and maketh rich he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and fifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them 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 thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.-1 SAMUEL ii. 1-10. of the Almighty; that image of God in our nature. He contemplates, compares, reflects, reasons, plans, performs. By means of this he exercises dominion over all other creatures. Inferior to many, in some respects, by this he renders himself superior to all; and reduces all their powers to the subjection and obedience of himself. IN man, the masterpiece of creation, are | the power of thought, that productive faculty discernible various kinds of life, distinct from each other, yet most wonderfully blended and united, so as to form one great and astonishing whole. The animal, the intellectual, the moral life; to which we add, in man as he came from the hands of his Creator, and in man "renewed" by grace "in the spirit of his mind," the spiritual and divine life, the dawning light, the earnest and pledge, the celestial foretaste of everlasting life. The first of these we enjoy in common with the beasts that perish. Like theirs, our bodies grow and decline. Like them we are led by sense and appetite, and are susceptible of pleasure and pain. And, like them, we arose out of the earth, are supported by it, and feel ourselves returning to it again. The second or intellectual life, raises man far above every other animal. He possesses The moral life places man in society; connects him with intelligent beings like himself; opens a capacious field of duty and of enjoyment; stamps him an object of approba tion or blame, of reward or punishment. The divine life unites man to the Author and supporter of his existence, the source of all his comforts, the foundation of all his hopes; the witness and the judge of all his actions; the avenger of all unrighteousness, "the rewarder of them who diligently seek him." To Adam, as an animal, God said, "Be | shall we look for an example of the highest fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth; life of man, the life of God in the soul? behold I have given you every herb bearing Nature stands silent, the whole world lies seed, which is upon the face of the earth; dead; it presents every kind of life but this. and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree, Where is the model to which we refer ? yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Where is the idea of this most exalted exIn Adam the intellectual life discovered cellence of our nature? It is to be found. itself, when the Lord God brought unto him "I came not to do mine own will but the "every beast of the field, and every fowl of will of him that sent me." "I seek not the air, to see what he would call them; and mine own glory, but the glory of him who whatsoever Adam called every living crea- sent me." Read and ponder the seventeenth ture, that was the name thereof." chapter of John's gospel, and discover the author, the example, the giver of this divine life; and aspire after a participation of it. God having implanted a principle of moral life in man, said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him;" he took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it; and commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." 66 We have some of these holy aspirations in the passage now read. We behold a spirit alive unto God; sinking the creature in the Creator; discerning God in every object, and in every event that arises; referring all things to Him "who doth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." Let us blend our spirits, with that of pious Hannah, and may God grant us to know and feel the happiness of having fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. She re In Adam the spiritual and divine life was perfected, when "God created man in his own image." It was extinguished and lost when by transgression he fell; it was re"Hannah prayed." In affliction she prayvived by the promise of the Messiah and ed: and in prosperity she prayed. Tears salvation through his blood; and it will be and smiles are not more the expression of completely recovered when the image of God their corresponding emotions, than supplicais restored through the spirit of sanctification. tion and thanksgiving are of that life which All these different kinds of life have their dictates them, in a suitableness to the variseveral and corresponding expressions; and ous aspects of Divine Providence. Sorrow according as any one prevails, such is the is no longer sorrow when it is poured out incharacter of the man. When the habitual to the bosom of sympathy and tenderness. cry is, "What shall I eat, what shall I drink, Every joy is multiplied an hundred fold by and wherewithal shall I be clothed?" it is every communication of it to the ear and the easy to determine what life is predominant: heart of friendship. Hannah prays, "and it is easy to discern when the brute runs her countenance is no more sad." away with the man. Solomon may be given stores her earnestly expected son to God; as an instance of the prevalence of intellec- and is infinitely enriched by the restitution. tual life. He looked through nature, and Whether the child cry for relief, or express spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is its gratitude by caresses and looks with satisin Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that spring-faction, it is equally grateful and soothing to eth out of the wall; he spake also of beasts, the parental heart. And will the great God and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of in the very deed vouchsafe to make himself fishes." "His wisdom excelled the wisdom known to us by the name of the hearer of of all the children of the east country, and prayer? Is he exalted to show mercy? Can all the wisdom of Egypt." The psalmist he be pleased with the effusions of a thankhas presented us with an exquisite repre- ful heart? Thoughtless, inconsiderate creasentation of the moral life of man, (would tures that we are; blind to our highest into God it were more frequently realized) interest, dead to our purest joy! the fifteenth psalm; "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour; in whose eyes a vile person is contemned: but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved." Where *Psalın xv. 2-5. We see nothing of God in that distress, in that deliverance. We attended to the creature only, and therefore found no comfort. We endured without hope, and we enjoyed without relish. Happy soul that can command itself to peace, and say, I have poured out my anguish before the Lord, I have cast all my care upon him, my burden is no longer mine, but his. "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. He hath delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." In the first transports of her joy, Hannah forgets every thing but the glorious object of it. The insults of Peninnah, her delight in Samuel, stand for a while suspended; they are lost and forgotten in the contemplation | of Him, who had delivered her from the one, and bestowed the other upon her. But God, as he is in himself, cannot long be an object of contemplation to mortals. It is only by what he doth, that he can be known, and loved, and enjoyed by us. The soul springs up to God, is instantly repelled and overwhelmed by "light inaccessible and full of glory," and seeks relief and employment in surveying the ways and works of God. 66 ture. It is his glory to be single and alone; to defy and prevent every idea of resemblance or comparison. When the whole world of nature is explored, when all the powers of nature are exhausted, the soul falls back upon itself, shrinks into nothing from the daring attempt, and exclaims, "There is none beside thee," "there is none holy as the Lord." "Who can find out the Almighty to perfection!" Hannah awakes from this holy rapture, to contemplate this, incomprehensible Jehovah, as exercising an intelligent uncontrollable, irresistible authority over all the ways of men; as the wise and righteous Governor of the world whom none can successfully oppose, from whose notice none can possibly conceal himself. "Talk no more so exceeding proud My heart rejoiceth in the Lord." But "who is this king of glory?" The spirit shrinks with reverence from the inquiry; and the heart sweetly slides into the observation and acknowledgment of what an incompre-ly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: hensive Jehovah hath done. "Mine horn is exalted in the Lord." "The horn," in scripture language, is the emblem of strength and empire. She was till now undistinguished, unprized, unimportant in Israel; a wife, without the honour of being a mother. But now she has risen into lustre, and place, and pre-eminence. Her Samuel is to her "a crown of glory, and a diadem for beauty!" She had power with God and prevailed; she asked, and God granted her request. This is naturally blended in her mind, with the derision and cruel mocking which she had endured. For the very devotions of fallen creatures must savour of the calamities to which they are exposed, and the imperfection in which they are involved. Both nature and piety accordingly concur in dictating the expression of thankfulness which follows; "My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies:" Here the woman speaks; but the saint instantly subjoins, "because I rejoice in thy salvation." for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength."* Behold the cure of pride. There is a God on high, from whom descended every advantage which one possesses above another, who carefully notes the use that is made of his benefits, and will demand an account of them; who "seeth the proud afar off, but hath respect unto the lowly." By him actions are weighed;" they are judged, not according to their apparent circumstances, nor the maxims of the world, nor the rank of the parties concerned, but according to truth, according to the real merit or demerit of the action, according to the thoughts and intent of the heart. Thus is the mouth of arrogancy effectually shut, and the whole world laid low in the dust before a holy and righteous God. "The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girt with strength." Even in this world, "the Lord maketh himself known When the life of God is completely form- by the judgments which he executes;" and ed in the soul, every particle of human cor- causeth men to change conditions, and turnruption shall be purged away. There shall eth the world upside down. The affairs of be no feeling, nor recollection of unkindness men, like the frame of nature, are in a state or enmity. And in proportion as evil affec- of perpetual revolution, and the history of tions are rooted out, and kind affections are mankind is simply an account of the rise and implanted, cherished, and promoted, so is the depression of wretched mortals by means not image of God impressed, renewed, and pre-of their own contrivance, by events which served. The love of God perfected shall obliterate and efface every trace of resentment against man. After a short vibration on this string, the heart of the worshipper seems to recur with increased complacency and delight to a worthier subject of meditation, and loses itself in infinite perfection. "There is none holy as the Lord; for there is none beside thee; neither is there any rock like our God." When we attempt to meditate upon God, thought fails. When we attempt to address ourselves to him, language fails. In vain do we look round for a similitude that may enable us to form a clearer perception of his na they could not foresee, and over which they had no power. The victor of to-day is tomorrow a captive, and he who now lieth "among the pots, shall come forth as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” The greater part of Hannah's song of praise is employed in making a more enlarged display of the wisdom and justice of the Divine Providence in the government of the world. They that were full have hired themselves out for bread." Some are born to ease and affluence, and through indolence, inattention, or prodigality reduce themselves * 1 Samuel ii. 3. 4. to want. Some acquire wealth by frugality | be silent in darkness; for by strength shall and industry. But however gotten, it is but no man prevail.”* an uncertain possession, and we daily see multitudes, not through any apparent fault of their own, "waxing poor and falling into decay." Others, as unaccountably rise into distinction and opulence. There is an unseen hand which gives and takes away. In prosperity there is no ground of insolence and triumph; in adversity no reason to despair. Her own peculiar felicity again presents itself to view, and the incense of praise ascends to heaven. "The barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble." There is a Jewish legend which saith, that for every child that Hannah bore, one of Peninnah's died. It is a mere conjecture; Hannah's triumphant song is rather a proof of the contrary. She discovers a spirit too excellent, in other respects, to permit us to suppose her capable of rejoicing in the devastation which the hand of God had wrought, much less in the destruction of her own husband's family. That heart must be lost to every feeling of humanity, lost to decency, lost to the fear of God, who can make the calamity of another, especially such a calamity, a ground of self-gratulation and complacency, or a subject of thanksgiving to a holy and merciful God, as if he could become a party to our petty jealousies and contentions. No, a spirit so regulated as hers, so patient under mortification, so long nurtured in the school of affliction, so observant of, and submissive to the will of Providence, could not taste the mortality of even Peninnah's children as a source of joy. Her expressions amount to no more than a devout and humble acknowledgment of unerring wisdom, of unimpeachable justice in conducting all the affairs of this world; in building up families, and in bringing them low; in exercising an absolute right of sovereignty, which will not be compelled to give account of its matters to any The gift of children is not always withheld in anger, nor bestowed in kindness, as the character and history of Eli's family will shortly evince. one. She proceeds to pursue the same idea of a divine superintendence in every thing, through a variety of particulars strikingly contrasted one with another, all aiming at the same end, all calculated to enforce the same practical lesson. "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 Jifteth up. He raiseth up the poor qut of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to inake them 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 In the conclusion of her song, Hannah, rapt into futurity, no doubt by the spirit of prophecy, contemplates the final consummation of the great mystery of Providence, as issuing in the establishment of universal order in the suppression and punishment of vice; and in the unchangeable and permanent glory of a Redeemer's kingdom. The same hand which balances the spheres, which conducts all the affairs of men, which preserves harmony and prevents confusion, in both the natural and moral worlds, shall at length, by another almighty fiat, "make all things new." Then "the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces: out of heaven shall he thunder upon them.” “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire; and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Chastisement shall, therefore, be preceded by righteous judgment, that every mouth may be stopped before God. "The LORD shall judge the ends of the earth." Now these words of the prophetic mother of Samuel, taken in connexion with the clearer and fuller display of a judgment to come, in the writings of the New Testament, clearly point out that glorious and divine person, in whose hallowed name the song terminates-God's Anointed. A woman was honoured first to announce the Saviour of the world, under that description; and a succession of prophets henceforward hold it up to the eyes of succeeding generations, as "all their salvation, and all their desire." Samuel, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Habakkuk, each in his day proclaims the approach of this King of glory, of whom all who were anointed with material oil, whether as priests, or prophets, or kings, were but a shadow; and in whose superior lustre they disappear, as the light of the stars is absorbed in the splendour of the sun. The prophetess celebrates JEHOVAH who "shall judge the ends of the earth," as that "King to whom all authority is committed, to whom all "strength is given," as that "anointed” One, Messiah the prince, whose "horn," should be finally "exalted," and before the brightness of whose coming, all disorder, iniquity, and misery shall flee away; who shall first "judge the ends of the earth," and then reign for ever and ever. Ånd thus is the voice of this holy woman, near twelve hundred years before Messiah's day, in perfect unison with the tongue of Christ himself, and of the apostles of the Lord, after his ascension into heaven, and the descent of the Holy Spirit. "The Father judgeth no man; it hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the 1 Samuel ii. 6-9. Father. He that honoureth not the Son, ] ness.' "To be destitute of this life, in what honoureth not the Father which hath sent him."* "God now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained: whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."+ "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." And such, in every age, is the native expression of a soul alive to God, the natural aspiration of the spiritual and divine life. ever state of perfection the intellectual life may be, is to be under the power of everlasting death, a death of trespasses and sins. But if its very first breathings are felt, however feebly, it is a new creation begun, it is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Attempts will be made to extinguish it, but in vain. Like its Author it is immortal. It may be oppressed, it may be suspended, it may at seasons, lie dormant, but it cannot expire. It doth not always make itself sensible to the eyes and ears of the world; for the believer's "life is hid with Christ in God." But "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."+ "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."‡ HISTORY OF HANNAH, THE MOTHER OF SAMUEL. LECTURE CV. But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. Moreover his mothe 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.-1 SAMUEL ii. 18-21. and an old age full of regret; a day of unnecessary toil, and a night of vexation; a hurried summer, a meagre autumn, a com fortless winter. THE character of most men is formed and fixed, before it is apprehended that they have, or can have, any character at all. Many vainly and fatally imagine, that the few first years of life may be disposed of as you please: that It is the ordinance of Providence that the a little neglect may easily be repaired, that heaviest and most important part of educaa little irregularity may easily be rectified. tion should devolve upon the mother. It beThis is saying in other words, "never regard gins before the child is born; her passions the morning; sleep it, trifle it, riot it away; and habits affect the fruit of her womb. a little closer application at noon will reco- From her bosom the infant draws the prever the loss." "The spring returns, the cious juice of health and virtue, or the baleflowers appear upon the earth, the time of ful poison of vice and disease. The fleeting the singing of birds is come. No matter; period he passes under the shadow of her it is soon enough to think of the labours of wing, is a season sacred to wisdom and piety. spring. Sing with the birds, skip with the If the mother lead not her son to the hallowfawn, the diligence of a more advanced, ed spring, if she fail to disclose to his eager more propitious season will bring every thing eye and panting heart the loveliness of good. round; and the year shall be crowned withness, the excellency of religion; if she perthe horn of plenty.' A single ray of reason is sufficient to detect and expose such absurdity; yet human conduct exhibits it, in almost universal prevalence. Infancy and childhood are vilely cast away; the morning is lost; the seedtime neglected-And what is the consequence? A life full of confusion, mit the luxuriant soil to be overrun with briars and thorns, in vain will she strive to redeem the lost opportunity, by restraints and punishments, by precepts and masters. by schools and colleges, in a more advanced stage of life. The good or the mischief is done by the time he comes out of her hands. |