_And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel._ PARENTAL TRIALS The best sometimes meet with the bitterest disappointment, and their grey hairs are brought down with sorrow to the grave by the unprincipled conduct of their sons. The most exemplary home has beco... [ Continue Reading ]
_Make us a king to judge us like all the nations._ MAKING A KING As a matter of public notoriety, Samuel’s sons were not like Samuel himself in their moral tone and in their moral example. This brings before us a sad and humiliating fact--that the children of great men and of good men are not alwa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee._ PRAYER ANSWERED UNDER PROTEST Prayer is certainly a most salutary exercise whenever one is agitated beyond his strength. When the elders of Israel came to Samuel he discovered that the complication was too deep for an old man l... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king._ AN ADMONITION TO THE WILFUL When about to frame the Tabernacle in the wilderness, Moses was specially instructed by God to make it after the pattern which had been shown him in the holy mount. When Jeremiah was se... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us._ A KING DESIRED If we were asked what is the prevailing feeling which the study of this history is calculated to produce, we should answer in one word--disappointment. I. The request of the Israelites brings before us a melancholy view of the p... [ Continue Reading ]
_Make us a king to judge us like all the nations._ MAKING A KING As a matter of public notoriety, Samuel’s sons were not like Samuel himself in their moral tone and in their moral example. This brings before us a sad and humiliating fact--that the children of great men and of good men are not alwa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king._ “VOX POPULI, VOX DEI” Perhaps there is no proverb which is more familiar, as it is certain there is none more faulty, than this: “The voice of the people is the voice of God.” And since the motto is Latin, it might as well go now with a comment upo... [ Continue Reading ]