But what is it to be known and distinguished among men? The period approaches, when God himself shall in the face of the universe acknowledge the least of these as his sons, and seat them on heavenly thrones. It is natural for a man to wish his family built up, and for a good woman to wish the name and virtues of the husband of her youth preserved and propagated, even though she has not the fond desire, the flattering hope, of being a mother in Israel. But the determinations of Providence do not always accord with the innocent propensities of the human heart, much less with the insatiate demands of pride, avarice, and ambition. Even the wise, the amiable, and the virtuous are visited with this sore evil, the want of children. It is sometimes the calamity of those who have no other calamity. It demonstrates the imperfection of human bliss; it spreads a field for the exercise of resignation to the will of God! it furnishes both a motive and a subject for prayer: for we can carry with confidence, to the throne of grace, many a petition which we should be afraid or ashamed of preferring to a man like ourselves. Happy is the man, happy the woman, who can deposit this and every other care in the bosom of a Father in heaven. She may sit down with Hannah, and "eat," and drink, "and be no more sad." and he granted in love. How much it con- "She bare a son, and called his name Samuel." Gracious is the correspondence between a devout spirit and approving, assenting Heaven. Behold the prayer of faith ascending as on eagle's wings, and resting on the footstool of yonder radiant throne; behold the good and perfect gift coming down in return from the Father of lights. Thus the vapours exhaled from the briny deep, fall back in copious showers to refresh and fertilize the earth. What a holy contention is here presented to us! The pious soul striving with God in supplication, in praise, in obedience, in faithfulness; the God of mercy striving with the meek and humble one in showing kindness, in heaping favour upon favour. Samuel," asked and given of God," shall bear to the last hour of his life the memorial of his mother's fervent importunity at the throne of grace, and of God's hearing her in the time of need. It shall serve for ever to remind himself, that he was a gift obtained of God by prayer, and devoted to God in gratitude. Every tongue that pro shall be admonished of the union which devotion forms and maintains between earth and heaven. The mother names, the father assents, God approves, and time confirms the nomination. We are this evening presented with the history of the birth and infancy of one of those illustrious children whose fame is universally known, and shall be had in everlast-nounces, every ear that hears the sound, ing remembrance, namely, of Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, the judge of Israel, the setter up and the terror of kings; the glory of his own age and country; and the morning-star of a brighter day. The gift of this precious child was long withheld, that it might be more devoutly acknowledged, and more highly prized. Men overlook the ordinary appearances of nature, however stupendous and striking. In order therefore to rouse them to attention, and constrain them to observe the finger of God, the fiery comet is made to glare through the sky, and the earth shakes to the centre. The blessing was sweetened to Hannah by every circumstance that can affect the fond maternal heart. A child to one who had long been afflicted with barrenness, and cruelly insulted on that account; a manchild, the answer of prayer; the power of performing for her darling infant the sweetest, and one of the most important maternal duties; and the cordial concurrence of the father in all her prudent, affectionate, and pious purposes; present enjoyment, and blossoming prospects! If there be a pure and perfect bliss on earth, it is the portion of such a woman, in such a situation. "The Lord remembered her." Was he ever unmindful or unkind? No, he delayed, We find Elkanah, and all of his family, who were fit for the journey, again on the road to Shiloh, to celebrate the great yearly festival, after the birth of his son. The bounties of Providence bind more powerfully the duties of the law upon the heart as well as upon the conscience, and thereby render religion not only a reasonable, but a pleasant service. The pleasure of waiting upon God, in the ordinances of his appointment, was greatly heightened to this good man, by the company of those whom nature had endeared to him. The length and inconvenience of the road were relieved, and sweetened, and shortened, by friendly conversation, and mutual offices of attention and kindness. The bitterness of strife is heard no more. The sacrifice is offered up with greater ardour, when one flame of affection meets another in presenting it; and the feast of peace acquires a higher relish from its being eaten in the spirit, and in the bonds of love. Social worship, as has been observed, has a most blessed effect in producing, supporting, and improving social affections. The tie of duty is another, practising industry and economy, not she who is for ever rambling after vourite dogmas or favourite teachers; aiming at shining in the church, when she ought to be shining in her most honourable sphere. her own house; and engaging warmly in matters of doubtful disputation, while the food and clothing of her family are neglected. Who can call in question the piety of Hannah? And surely her absenting herself from the feast at Shiloh, on so just an occasion, will not be deemed an impeachment of it. strengthened between husband and wife; the bond of nature between parent and child, between brother and brother, is fortified and ennobled by going together to the house of God, and returning in company from thence. The eye of a stranger is caught and pleased with the sight of a decent family on their road to the temple. Your prayers arise with increased ardour from seeing your children around you, in the house of prayer; your hearts glow with a holier gratitude when you hear their voices join in the praises which you sing. Offence has been given, But though the history has led me to make behold it lost, and forgotten for ever, because these remarks, perhaps, in our day they the parties have bowed their knees together might have been spared. Have I not been before God, and pronounced together the pe- combatting a mistake into which neither the tition of reconciliation and peace. "Heavenly men nor the women of the present age are Father, forgive our trespasses as we forgive greatly disposed to fall? Ought I not rather them who trespass against us.' Cominon to caution my hearers against the prevalence mercies have been received; see how they of a worldly spirit, to the extinction not only increase and multiply, see with what addi- of the soul, but to the neglect of the very tional satisfaction they are felt and enjoyed, form of religion? What, warn this generawhile the notes of thanksgiving ascend from tion against "the danger of being religious hearts and lips in unison. Common distress overmuch?" What, warn them of the inpresses: lo, the burden is already made light, portance of attending to, and pursuing their the mourners have been together before the temporal interest? What, caution them Father of mercies, the refuge of the misera- against frequenting the temple on working ble; they have poured out their hearts before days, when they will not be diverted from God, and are lightened; they have cast all the pursuit of business or pleasure on the their care upon him, and are at rest. Lord's day? I was in the wrong; and I change the object of my exhortation. To you, O men, I call, who, absorbed in frivolous, transitory occupations, forget that "one thing is needful;" to you, who, wallowing in the bounties of an indulgent Providence, regard not the hand from which all your comforts flow; to you, who, rising into a little wealth, a little hope, a little consequence, have lost the recollection of your having once been needy, and obscure, and unimportant; and what is infinitely worse, have lost the recollection and the practice of that humility, and decency, and piety, which poverty, and obscurity, and dependence taught and enforced. Christians, you have no painful and expensive journey to undertake, in order to present yourselves before the Lord. Your Shiloh is at home. Of you no costly sacrifice is demanded. "Offer unto the Lord thanksgiving, and pay your vows unto the Most High; and call upon him in the day of trouble." Christian parent, Providence has made thee priest to that little church and congregation; bear them, as Aaron did the twelve tribes of Israel, engraven like jewels upon thy heart to the most holy place; to the altar of incense. "But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, Not until the child be weaned." Every duty of life and of religion has its proper place and season. God hath said, and the great Teacher sent from God, hath both by precept and practice established the word, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice." The religion which makes light of relative duty, which teaches carelessness or neglect in our lawful worldly concerns, and withdraws men from their place and station in society, is mistaken and erroneous; it is not the religion of the Bible; it has neither authority nor example to support it. That man is doing God service, who labours in his vocation, that he may have wherewith to do justly, and to show mercy; not he who is slothful in business, but eager in argument, and who gives himself to speculating, when he ought to be working with his hands. That woman is performing a religious service, who is looking well to her household; giving suck to one child and instruction to To you, O women, I call, who, without a shadow of reason, who, in the face of decency and propriety, who, in defiance of both feeling and conscience, who, entrusted with the education of children, female children, feel not the importanee of the charge, or are not aware of the influence of example; can dispense with the very externals of godliness, can become the patterns of sabbath neglect or violation; can trifle with any thing that effects the morals or religion of the rising generation. To you I call, and say, you are treasuring up for yourselves remorse; and for these young ones, whom you dearly love, shame, and sorrow, and distress. What is the lot of a female, without the consolations of religion; and how is a young woman to learn religion if not from her own mother? Let me remind you of what you once thought, felt, and resolved. You carried that child with uneasiness and anxiety in your womb; you formed a thousand fond wishes, you put | up a thousand prayers, you came under a thousand engagements. You employed not perhaps the very words of Hannah, but undoubtedly you entered entirely into her views, and the fruit of the womb was to be "holiness to the Lord." Well, God has been gracious to thee, and remembered thee. Thou hast survived the danger, and been delivered from the pangs of childbirth. You have enjoyed the satisfaction of training the beloved of your soul through the dangers, difficulties, and solicitude of infancy and childhood. God has graciously done his part, and you have so far performed yours. But did your engagements cease, when the infant was weaned? Did you rear that tender plant with so much anxiety, tenderness, and care, only to poison and corrupt it, after it had begun to take root, and bud, and blossom? Know you not, that the inconsideration and folly of a day may destroy the pains and labour of many years; and that the eyes of children are much quicker and more retentive than their ears? Samuel, who is his own biographer, has most judiciously drawn a veil over his infancy. Childish prognostics of future eminence are generally ridiculous and contemptible; they can impose only on the partiality of parental affection, or the credulity of superstition. The cynic snarls disdain at the relation of these premature prodigies of dawning wisdom, and the sage smiles indulgence and compassion on the fond belief. Let parents, by all means, amuse, delight themselves and each other with the sallies of infant, opening genius, but let them keep the delight to themselves. It is one of the joys in which "a stranger intermeddleth not." In the next Lecture we shall be led forward to consider the presentment of Samuel before the Lord in Shiloh; the sacrifice which accompanied that solemn ceremony; the farther discovery of the amiable and excellent spirit by which the mother was actuated; and the infant prophet's entrance on his important of fice. Behold once more, Christians, the spirit of prophecy still pointing to one and the same great object. The persons and circumstan ces of the prophets were various; but amidst that variety, some one striking feature of character, office, or condition announced Happy that daughter who is betimes formed to habits of discretion, of purity, of regularity, of piety, by the tender guardian and guide of her early days! Happy that mother whose attention is bent on infusing betimes, in her female offspring at least, the principles of wisdom, virtue, and true godli-"Him that was to come," more clearly or ness, who is honoured to exemplify what she teaches, and is blessed with a docile, affectionate, and improving disciple! The manner in which Elkanah and Hannah live and converse together, is exemplary and instructive. They have one common interest; they have one darling object of affection; they express one and the same will, in terms of mutual kindness and endearment. "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 for ever. And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good, tarry until thou have weaned him, only the Lord establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she had weaned him." There was in all this a commanding principle of religion, of zeal for the will and glory of God, which regulated the spirit, and inspired the tongue; without which, I am afraid there is but a slender security for domestic felicity in the exercise of even good nature and good manners, much less in a mere sense of decency, or regard to the opinion of the world. These may overawe at particular seasons and in particular situations; but the fear and love of God are permanent and unvarying principles; they enforce and assist relative duty till it grows into a habit, and habit renders even difficult things easy and agreeable. 66 more obscurely reflected his image, and "prepared the way of the Lord." The tongues of the prophets are many; but they all speak the same language, they all pronounce one name. The periods of their existence and predictions were widely remote; but all meet in one central point of light, in one auspicious instant, "the fulness of time," in one illustrious personage, "to whom all give witness," in one commanding "purpose and grace"the salvation of the world. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high."* Behold all created glory thus absorbed in one glorious, divine person, "who is above all, and through all, and in all.”— "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."t HISTORY OF HANNAH, THE MOTHER OF SAMUEL. LECTURE CIIL 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 unto 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 him to the Lord as long as he liveth; he shall be lent to the Lord. And he wor shipped the Lord there.-I SAMUEL i. 24-28. "LORD, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?" Every serious reflection on the nature, and perfections, and works of God, suggests this rapturous meditation of the holy psalmist. Every view of Deity is at once humiliating and encouraging to the soul. We seem to shrink into nothing, while we contemplate the regions of unbounded space; while the eye wanders from orb to orb; and the mind loses itself in calculating their number, distances, magnitude, lustre, and harmony; while imagination wings its daring flight to the world of spirits, and surveys myriads of angels adoring before the throne of the Most High: and "the spirits of just men made perfect," rejoicing “with joy unspeakable and full of glory." But man rises into greatness and importance, when we reflect that "God created him in his own image ;" that eternal Providence exercises an unremitting solicitude about him; and that for his redemption the Son of God suffered and died. The little concerns of individuals, and of private families, acquire value and dignity when we consider them as stamped with the seal of omnipotence, as the operation of infinite wisdom, as links in the great chain of divine administration, and as extending their influence to eternity. But destroy this connexion, and we perceive only a strange and unaccountable scene of vanity, folly, and confusion. The holy scriptures, which exhibit the justest representation, and enable us to form the justest estimate of human life, keep this continual interposition and commanding influence of Divine Providence constantly in view. We meet with domestic feelings and occurrences exactly similar to our own, and we find a proof that the Bible is the word of God, in our own personal daily experience. The transactions which led to the scene represented in the passage now read, have been too recently submitted to your notice, to need repetition. In the spirit and deport ment of Elkanah and Hannah to each other, we have an useful example of conjugal complacency and affection. In the character of Hannah, we behold the feelings of the woman sweetly blended with the piety of the saint; and the child of sorrow seeking and finding refuge in the power and mercy of God. We are now to contemplate one of the most pleasing objects that human life presents a good and honest heart in possession of its wish, and making the proper use of the expected blessing; the spirit of prayer changed into the spirit of praise, and vows formed in the hour of distress faithfully performed. Let our first meditations turn on the wisdom and goodness of that great Being, who has established human felicity on such a solid foundation; or rather has drawn it from so many combined sources. How manifold and how tender in particular, are the ties which unite a mother and her son? She carried him in her womb with solicitude and uneasiness, and brought him into the world at the hazard of her life. She sustained his infant days with the blood of her own veins, and slumber was a stranger to her eyes, that he might sleep in tranquillity. The first object which he distinguished was the smiling face of his guardian angel, the first sound that struck his opening ear was the murmur of maternal affection: the first idea he formed was that of seeking refuge from want, and pain, and danger in the fond bosom of a parent. The very anguish and trouble which she endured on his account, but endear him the more to her; a sense of early assured protection, "grows with his growth and strengthens with his strength," and forms a bond of mutual attachment, which on one side is hardly to be dissolved, and on the other, is one of the most powerful securities against the inroads of vice, and is the last convulsive grasp of expiring virtue. Nature has laid upon you, mothers, the heaviest and most important part of educa tion. The good or the evil is already done, | rance; will lead to idleness and irregularity before the child is taken out of your hands. in conduct; and, out of an affected zeal for Happily the weakness of your constitution the first table of the law, will erase the chais strengthened and upheld for the arduous task, by the force of affection, and your very labour thereby is rendered your delight. And, O how glorious is your reward! you desire, you can desire none higher, than to see your son, the son of your womb, the son of your vows, remembering and practising the early lessons which his mother taught him. How happy was Eli in having for a pupil a child sucked, and weaned, and instructed in early life, by a Hannah! How great the goodness of the compassionate and merciful Father of all, who by means so simple, so pleasant, so powerful, so effectual, makes constant provision for the comfort, the protection, and improvement of man! racters of the second, or through negligence and disuse, suffer them to be disfigured by filth, or corrupted and impaired by rust, so as to become at length wholly illegible. Where piety and prudence are found united, the love of God and man will perfectly consist; both tables of the law will be equally clear and distinct, and their combined influ ence will instruct the person by whom it is felt and understood, to "use the world so as not to abuse it." At length the time of presenting herself before the Lord, and of performing her vow arrives. The precious child must be no longer hers, but God's. And did he indeed cease to be the parent's by being dedicated to the Most High? Surely no, he became theirs by a firmer and more sacred tie, they have an interest in him unknown, unfelt before. Their treasure has acquired infinite value from the place in which it is deposited; and attendance at God's altar has conferred nobility on the little Levite, which al the possessions on mount Ephraim could not countervail. Let us proceed to meditate, for a moment, on the amiable and instructive pattern here set before us, of a faithful and obedient heart. Distress naturally dictates wishes, and prayers, and vows; it makes us sensible of subjection and dependence; but when the blessing is obtained, the load removed, and the hour of performance come, men are as forgetful and as niggardly as once they were Hannah presented herself before the Lord attentive and liberal. Ten lepers were at a former solemnity with bitter crying and cleansed, but "where are the nine?" Has tears; she "went forth then weeping, bear one only returned to give thanks? Ingrati- ing precious seed, she cometh again rejoicing, tude is one of those crimes which no man bringing her sheaves with her; for they is either bold or depraved enough to defend, that sow in tears shall reap in joy." She but with which all men are justly charge- presents herself before the Lord, but neither able. How few earthly benefactors but with a contracted heart nor an empty hand. have reason to complain of an ungracious The law demanded for God the first-born of return? How few parents but have that every creature. The whole tribe of which bitter ness of bitterness, filial ingratitude, Samuel was a son, was accepted in place of mingled in their cup? How verily guilty is a the first-born of all Israel, and the first-born whole "world lying in wickedness," before of her family might be redeemed by the subGod, in this respect? There is really no stitution of a victim. Thus clearly was the merit in gratitude, but what arises from its spirit of the gospel inculcated by the institurarity; and that rarity stamps it one of the tions of the law; and the doctrine of the highest of moral virtues. Would it be doing atonement through the blood of the "Lamb injustice to the other sex, to say, that grati- slain from the foundation of the world," was tude is a quality more frequently to be taught unto them as it is taught unto us. found in the female character? I have no Throughout we see the innocent suffering for hesitation in affirming, that it is one of the the guilty; from the sacrifice of Abel down most powerful attractions in any character, to the sacrifice on mount Calvary, of "the and that all other attractions whatever are just suffering for the unjust, that he might good for nothing without it. bring us unto God." We observed formerly in the conduct of Hannah, a happy mixture of piety and prudence. While the state of her child confined her to mount Ephraim, it would have been the reverse of a religious service to repair to the feast at Shiloh; when he could with safety be removed to the place of God's presence, to keep him back had been unfaithfulness and impiety. Prudence without piety will quickly degenerate into selfishness and the love of this world; will harden the heart, and lull the conscience asleep. Piety without prudence will inspire pride and intole With what mixed emotions must an Israelitish parent of any sensibility, have presented this sacrifice? Behold the darling child, the first-born led to the altar, but not to bleed and die: no, that innocent lamb, that bullock in the prime of life, is to bleed and die in his stead; and, mournful to reflect, though religion does not now demand such sacrifices, necessity and the appetites of men constantly require them, and we behold the whole brute "creation groaning and travailing in pain together," to perform the drudgery, minister to the pleasure, or with their |