SERMON
I.
THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL. 41
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.”
—
i
Sam.
Samuel was one
i.
20.
of the great leaders of the Jewish nation.
was long. His virtue was true and courageous. His influence was pure and powerful. His death was honoured with his nation’s tears. All the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him at his house in Ramah. His
life
The
glory of the
Word
wisdom and importance
of in
God its
is
that
it
discloses lessons of
outer, as well as in
its
inner
The
Bible, as that name implies, is the Book above “ Thou hast magnified thy Word, above all all other books.
meaning.
thy name,” is true of the literal sense, when devoutly and thoughtfully considered, as well as of the spirit and tends to make a man who loves and meditates upon it, “ thoroughly The period to which the furnished to every good work.” divine history before us applies, was about three hundred The nation had passed years after the death of Joshua. through a long series of declensions, and sunk at last into a condition of lawless anarchy, division and impurity, but little better than that of the more ancient Sodom. The weakness of some judges, the wickedness of others, and the turbulence, of the people, had brought the twelve tribes, formerly so wonderfully led from Egypt, to the brink of ruin ; and a man was needed, who could once more introduce divine government among them, and be to them as the preserving God gave them such a man in answer to “salt of the earth.” This gift of God was Samuel. the pious Hannah’s’ prayer. The sacred narrative, in portraying the deep feeling of Hannah, a prayer too deep for words places strongly before us
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A
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