He was early introduced to the prophetic office, and in a very remarkable manner.

It seems the attachment of the aged priest had kept Samuel 'near him at night as well as during the day.

One night his youthful slumbers were broken by a voice which pronounced his name. With prompt attention the lad started from his couch, and hastened to the bedside of his aged lord, who, he supposed, had called him.

This he repeated three times, for so often was he called, and each time supposed that Eli had called him.

The strangeness of the circumstance led the high priest to think there was something more than human in it; and directed him to go and lie down once more, and if again called, to say, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."

Samuel did as he was directed, and the Divine voice then declared the terrible judgments which should speedily fall upon Eli and his house; upon his sons because they had "made themselves vile," and upon him because he "restrained them not."

The reluctance of Samuel to afflict the spirit of his venerable lord kept him silent, till by a solemn adjuration he was constrained to let him know all that had passed.

He withheld nothing of Jehovah's denunciations, but told the whole of the Divine communication, as it had been revealed to him.

After the account of this remarkable judgment upon Eli and his house, the sacred historian carries forward the history of Samuel to another point. The death of the high priest made the people desirous of a judge, and there was no one in Israel who stood before the people with any claims to attention comparable to those of Samuel.

His constant presence at the tabernacle, had made the Is raelites familiar with his person and history from childhood. and convinced that their best course to prosperity and health would be secured by placing themselves under the guidance a man so wise and holy as Samuel, he was formally recognized by them as their judge, although most of the

of

essential functions of that office had already come insensibly into his hands, and been exercised by him.

His first act was to extirpate idolatry; and he hesitated not to promise the people that at this cost God would not fail to deliver them from the yoke of the Philistines.

He then called an assembly of the people at Mizpeh, on the borders of Judah and Benjamin, to engage with him in a solemn act of prayer and humiliation before the Lord, as a suitable commencement of a new and more prosperous career. Wise determination! How unlike the counsels

of the world.

The next act, as we may well suppose, is to raise a monument commemorative of the Lord's goodness to them.

As Samuel advanced in years he appointed his sons judges; but failing to walk in the right way, the people were dissatisfied, and became clamorous for a king.

Notwithstanding the remonstrance of their judge, and his advice to the contrary, they still persisted, until Samuel sorrowfully dismissed them to their homes, (they having gathered together at Ramah,) that he might have time to take the necessary measures for effecting this great change. As usual, he had recourse to Divine aid, and in obedience to the word of the Lord, annointed them a king according to their desire.

At a subsequent assemblage of the people, he testified of his own integrity to them; spoke of the dealings of God with them, and exhorted them to future obedience.

Saul proving unfaithful to his trust, Samuel deserted him, and never more acknowledged him king.

He "Mourned for him," and continued to perform his prophetic functions at Ramah and at Naioth, superintending the school of the prophets in that place.

He was afterward sent to annoint the son of Jesse king; and then with the characteristic brevity of the sacred wri ters, it is said that "Samuel died."

The estimation in which he was held, is shown by the simple sentence," the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him."

He is supposed to have lived about one hundred years. Supposing this to be so, he filled the office of judge sixty years, as he was about forty years of age at the commence'ment of his reign.

A prime minister, deeply devoted to God, and faithful to his king, and to his country, is so rare a character in the world, that when he does occur, he should be held up to public admiration. There scarcely seems a parallel for

Samuel.

If there was ever a heaven-born minister, it was he. In his public and private conduct there was no blemish. He gave a bright example of zeal, diligence, inflexible integrity, and uncorruptedness.

He reproved both the people and their king for transgressions, with a boldness which nothing but a sense of the Divine authority could inspire; and yet he tempered it with a sweetness which showed the interest he felt in their welfare, and the deep and distressing concern he felt for their backslidings and infidelities.

He reformed many abuses in the Jewish state, and raised it to a pitch of political consequence to which it had long been a stranger. He was very zealous for the honor of God, and supported the rights of pure religion, of the king, and of the people, against all encroachments.

He is supposed to have been the first who established academies, or schools for prophets; at least, we do not hear of them before his time; and it is granted that they continued till the Babylonish captivity.

This was a wise institution, and no doubt contributed much to the maintenance of pure religion, and the prevention of idolatry among the people.

He sought not to make his office subservient to his own pecuniary advantage. He was among the Hebrews what Aristides is said to have been among the Greeks,-so poor at his death, though a minister of state, that he did not leave property enough to bury him.

Justice was by him duly and impartially administered, and oppression and wrong had no existence.

Let those in like position, who have sought their own glory, fall down at the feet of this heaven-born man, and learn from this immaculate judge of Israel, what an incorruptible minister of state means.

How seldom in the annals of the world, from the assembled heads of the great body politic, can the departing prime minister hear, "Thou hast not defrauded us; thou hast not oppressed us; neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand!"

This voice can be heard from Gilgal; but of what other minister can this be spoken but of Samuel the Seer, who was the gift of God's mercy to the people of Israel; whose memory was too precious to be intrusted to public monuments, but stands, and alas! almost unique in the Book of God.

CHAPTER VIII.

David.

FIRST APPEARANCE IN PUBLIC LIFE; SENT TO HIS BROTHERS; DESTROYS GOLIATH; SIN AND SORROW; NUMBERS THE PEOPLE, AND THEREBY INCURS GOD'S DISPLEASURE; GENIUS AS A POET;

CHARACTER AS A MAN OF GOD.

RIOR to the appearance of David on the occasion of his being anointed by Samuel, at Behlehem, nothing is distinctly stated of his history and character.

There are, however, a few retrospective intimations regarding his youthful life, and some materials left in his divino songs, from which some particulars may be gleaned.

Singled out from all the sons of Jesse as one particularly calculated to be the ruler of the people, by the disposition of appropriate graces from God's own hand, he at once comes into public notice, and his history afterward recorded more at length, than any other one in the Old Testament.

The rare combination in him of all that was gentle, tender,

and mild,-with the most exalted enthusiasm, the most noble aspirations, the most generous sentiments, the most manly deportment, the most heroic daring, and the most invincible prowess,-joined to his invariable consideration for others, his open heartedness, his humbleness, and the entire absence of all pretension in him, excited the admiration of the people. He was known to be a man of God, and to be much in communion with him-and this diffused an ineffable grace over his demeanor and conversation, to which beyond question, much of the extraordinary influence he possessed over the minds and hearts of others must be ascribed.

To these personal qualities, David added all the accomplishments of his age and country. His age was not one of scholarship or books. Yet such scholarship as was valued among his countrymen, he possessed-and the books that were found among them, he well knew. Above all, he had deeply studied such parts of the Sacred Scripture as then existed. His writings continually evince his close acquaintance with it-his admiration of it-his intense appreciation of its value-his love for it. This shows that he had attained the same state of grace, had been subject to the same teachings of the Divine Spirit, by which all true, that is, all vital, spiritual knowledge must be imparted-as we are bound to realize under a more perfect system, and with more ample materials, and broader revelations.

There has been but one Spirit from the beginning; and David was taught of him.

Thus early in life was he distinguished as the "man after God's own heart."

The first record we have of him, after his designation for the kingly office, is his appearance before the king, to soothe his unhappy mind by the irresistible charms of music.

He succeeds, and returns again to his father's house, and his wonted employment as a shepherd; but again we see him traversing the road from Bethlehem, bent on a kindly errand to his brothers, who were in the war against the Philistines. It was there he met the proud Goliath, and his taunting words to the hosts of Israel.