barren hath born feven, and fhe that hath many children is waxed feeble." There is a Jewish legend which faith, that for every child that Hannah bore, one of Peninnah's died. It is a mere conjecture; Hannah's triumphant fong is rather a proof of the contrary. She discovers a spirit too excellent, in other refpects, to permit us to fuppofe her capable of rejoicing in the devaftation which the hand of God had wrought, much less in the deftruction of her own husband's family. That heart must be loft to every feeling of humanity, loft to decency, loft to the fear of God, who can make the calamity of another, efpecially fuch a calamity, a ground of felf-gratulation, and complacency, or a fubject of thanksgiving to a holy and merciful God, as if he could become a party to our petty jealoufies and contentions. No, a fpirit fo regulated as hers, fo patient under mortification, fo long nurtured in the fchool of affliction, fo obfervant of, and fubmiffive to the will of Providence, could not tafte the mortality of even Peninnah's children as a fource of joy. Her expreffions amount to no more than a devout and humble acknowledgment of unerring wisdom, of unimpeachable juftice, in conducting all the affairs of this world: in building up families, and in bringing them low; in exercifing an abfolute right of fovereignty, which will not be compelled to give account of its matters to any one. The gift of children is not always withheld in anger, nor bestowed in kindness, as the character and history of Eli's family will fhortly evince. She proceeds to purfue the fame idea of a divine fuperintendence in every thing, through a variety of particulars ftrikingly contrafted one with another, all aiming at the fame end, all calculated to enforce the fame practical leffon. "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 lifteth up. He raifeth up the poor out of the duft, and lifteth up the beggar from the 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 fet the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his faints, and the wicked fhall be filent in darkness: for by ftrength fhall no man prevail." In the conclufion of her fong, Hannah, rapt into futurity, no doubt by the spirit of prophecy, contemplates the final confummation of the great mystery of Providence, as iffuing in the establishment of univerfal order in the fuppreffion and punishment of vice; and in the unchangeable and permanent glory of a Redeemer's kingdom. The fame hand which balances the fpheres, which conducts all the affairs of men, which preferves harmony and prevents confufion, in both the natural and moral worlds, fhall at length, by another almighty fiat, "make all things new." Then "the adverfaries of the Lord fhall be broken to pieces: out of heaven shall he thunder upon them." "But who may abide the day of his coming? and who fhall ftand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire; and he fhall fit as a refiner and purifier of filver." Chaftifement fhall, therefore, be preceded by righteous judgment, that every mouth may be stopped before God. "The LORD fhall judge the ends of the earth." Now these words of the prophetic mother of Samuel, taken in connexion with the clearer and fuller difplay of a judgment to come, in the writings of the New Teftament, clearly point out that glorious and divine perfon, in whofe hallowed name the fong terminates-God's Anointed. A woman was honoured first to announce the Saviour of the world, under that defcription; and a fucceffion of prophets. henceforward hold it up to the eyes of fucceeding generations, as "all their falvation, and all their defire." 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, wheth Ver. 6-9. er priefts, or prophets, or kings, were but a fhadow; and in whofe fuperior luftre they disappear, as the light of the stars is abforbed in the splendour of the fun. The prophetefs celebrates JEHOVAH who "fhall judge the ends of the earth," as that "King" to whom all authority is committed, to whom all ftrength is given," as that "anointed" One, Meffiah the prince, whofe "horn" fhould be finally "exalted," and before the brightnefs of whofe coming, all diforder, iniquity and misery shall flee away; who shall first " judge the ends of the earth," and then reign forever and ever. .. And thus is the voice of this holy woman, near twelve hundred years before Meffiah's day, in perfect unifon with the tongue of Chrift himself, and of the apostles of the Lord, after his afcenfion into heaven, and the defcent of the Holy Spirit. "The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men fhould honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath fent him."* "God now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appoinetd a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given affurance unto all men, in that he hath raifed him from the dead."t "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." And fuch, in every age, is the native expreffion of a foul alive to God, the natural afpiration of the fpiritual and divine life. -Art thou, O man, through grace a partaker of it? You fhall know it by its fruits." As it increafes, corruption dies. "If Chrift be in you, the body is dead because of fin, but the Spirit is life becaufe of righteoufnefs." To be deftitute of this life, in whatever state of perfection the intellectual life may Rev. xi. 15. * John v. 22, 23. + Ads xvii. 30, 31. may be, is to be under the power of everlasting death, a death of trefpaffes and fins. But if its very first breathings are felt, however feebly, it is a new creation begun, it is "Chrift in you, the hope of glory." 、 Attempts will be made to extinguifh it, but in vain. Like its Author it is immortal. It may be oppreffed, it may be fufpended, it may, at seasons, lie dormant, but it cannot expire. It doth not always make itself fenfible to the eyes and ears of the world; for the believer's life is bid with Chrift in God." But "when Chrift, who is our life, fhall appear, then fhall ye alfo appear with him in glory.' "Beloved, now are we the fons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he fhall appear, we fhall be like him; for we fhall fee him as he is."t * Col. iii. 4. + John iii. 2. History ters. 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 facrifice. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and faid, The Lord give thee feed of this woman, for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And they went unto their own home. And the Lord vifited Hannah, fo that he conceived, and bare three fons and two daughAnd the child Samuel grew before the Lord. 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 difpofed of as you please: that a little neglect may eafily be repaired, that a little irregularity may eafily be rectified. This is faying in other words, "never regard the morning; fleep it, trifle it, riot it away; a little clofer application at noon will recover the lofs." "The fpring returns, the flowers appear upon the earth, the time of the finging of birds is come. matter; it is foon enough to think of the labours of No fpring. |