by the sent to These when he came he was resisted very persons whom he was save; see ver. 25, 27, 35, 39. hints pointed to similar conduct on the part of the Jewish rulers towards Christ. That Christ was present to the speaker's mind is still further proved by his quotation of the prophecy of Moses, ver. 37; and in making it, he intended to lead his hearers still further Christward. A man might believe in Jesus, yet have the most profound reverence for Moses. THE EXPOSITION.-All the wisdom of the Egyptians,-natural philosophy, medicine, and mathematics. The priests were the teachers. Mount Sina, -Horeb, Exod. iii. 1. Both were peaks in the same mountain-range, and the names were convertibly used. An Angel of the Lord,-the Son of God. Worship the host of heaven, that is, the stars and planets; no mention is made of this in the Pentateuch; but the idolatry so often referred to by the prophets commenced in the Wilderness, 2 Kings xvii. 16; xxi. 3, 5; Jer. xix. 13. The tabernacle of Moloch." Ye carried about with you, not My tabernacle only, as your holy place and source of protection, but also the sacred tent for the image of Moloch, your false god." Your god, Remphan, -a name of the planet Saturn. REFLECTIONS.-1. God is free in His providence, does not follow our plan; often seems to travel out of the way to reach the contemplated result. Stephen dwells much on this; so in reference to Abraham, Joseph, the bondage of Egypt; now in reference to Moses, his infancy, youth, and exile. We must trust God, though we cannot trace Him. "Too wise to err, too good to be unkind." We are "the sheep of His pasture." The shepherd knows where to lead his sheep: the sheep are safe whilst they "hear his voice, and follow him." 2. God has regard to little ones, ver. 20, 21.-The fair face, the ark of bulrushes, the ablutions of a princess, the education of the palace,-all seemed very ordinary, natural events, but God was in them all. Instance Hannah bringing the child Samuel to the tabernacle; the deliverance of the infant Wesley from fire. God in His providence does what Jesus did, He takes the little ones in His arms. 3. God is the young man's best Guardian, ver. 22, 23.-Moses at court: riches, indulgence, idolatry; power in counsel, in war, in words and in deeds. Will he not turn out an Egyptian like the rest? "It came into his heart;" who put it there? read Heb. xi. 24— 27. God's voice within the soul rescued him from danger, and led him forth to a difficult but honourable path. God still puts it into the heart of the young to give up ease for goodness, sinners for saints, the treasures of Egypt for the reproaches of Christ. Remember the warning," Quench not the Spirit." 4. Trust in God is a cure-all of disappointment. See the first disappointment, and how bitter it must have been, ver. 25; then again ver. 40, 41. Disappointment meets us at the threshold of life, and recurs as we journey on. Compare Ps. i. 4; cxii. 7. The one like chaff; the other like a tree, which may shake and bend with the wind, but goes on putting out leaves and bearing fruit. It is best to have the heart rooted in God. 5. God has special comforts for those who trust Him.-Read ver. 30-34. New comforts out of the Word; new grace from the Spirit: new directions for duty; new courage for danger, are given again and again. "Light is sown for the righteous; God sows the seed of joy, and makes it spring just at the right time. 6. God-trusting men can leave an unfinished work calmly.-Stephen says nothing about the death of Moses, but the verses which conclude the Lesson convey the meaning that his work was left in painful incompleteness, but God continued working. No man finishes his work; but the good man can leave home, trade, plans for the future, all in the hands of that God Who will still live. QUESTIONS. To what paragraph of history does Stephen now turn? What circumstances marked the infancy of Moses? Where was his youth spent? What were the circumstances of his first effort to save Israel? How long was Moses in exile? In what manner did God appear to him? What command did He give to him? What singular prophecy did Moses utter? To Whom did it refer? How did the Israelites treat Moses? How was this example applicable to the treatment shown by the rulers to Christ and His Apostles? J. ROCHE, PRINTER, 25, HOXTON SQUARE, LONDON. W. O. SIMPSON. EXERCISES ON SCRIPTURE LESSONS. MORNING LESSONS. MARCH 8. THE DEATH OF ELI.-1 Samuel iv. 1-18. INTRODUCTION.-What was the purport of God's first revelation to Samuel? When had Eli heard similar evil tidings before? We now learn how one portion of the twice-told prophecy was fulfilled. ISRAEL SMITTEN.-V. 1, 2. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.Perhaps this clause should be connected with the last verse of the preceding chapter, showing still further how Samuel was established to be a prophet. At this time Israel was subject to the Philistines. They rebelled against them. Two hostile camps were formed, one beside Ebenezer, the other in Aphek. The first place lay between Mizpeh and Shen, in the tribe of Benjamin; the situation of the second has not been ascertained, it could not have been far off. The battle was obstinately contested; four thousand Israelites fell in the field, i.e., not fleeing, but fighting. The victory, however, remained with the Philistines. A COUNCIL OF WAR.-V. 3, 4. The leaders could only account for the defeat in one way. They felt sure their army was strong enough to conquer their enemies; God must be angry with them. Indeed, He was angry; some of the nation were actually guilty of idolatry; most, of neglecting and slighting His worship. To be victorious, Israel must have Jehovah on their side. How might they obtain His help? We should answer at once, by penitence and prayer. The elders chose a different method. They would force the Almighty to favour them. They would fetch the ark to the battle-field; God, they thought, must protect that. They remembered what miracles had been wrought through it in time past; how the Jordan had parted, and the walls of Jericho had fallen flat before it, Josh. iii. 14-16; vi. 12-16, 20. They were right in their explanation of their defeat; right, too, in believing in God's power to aid them. In two VOL. IX. NEW SERIES.-March, 1874. respects they were most seriously wrong. They had no authority to move the ark from the holy of holies; they were presumptuous. Then they trusted to the ark rather than to the Lord,-note, IT may save us,-they made an idol of the ark of the covenant. No one resisted them : Eli was old and weak; Samuel, probably by God's direction, left them to discover their mistake by its sad consequences. So Hophni and Phinehas brought the ark into the camp. THE HEBREWS' JOY; THE PHILISTINES' CONSTERNATION.-V. 5-9. We can easily understand the Israelites' elation; now, they thought, we are certain of victory. Verses 7 and 8 explain the Philistines' terror. Notice how they say "gods," they had no idea of one God alone. This accounts for the resolution of ver. 9. The God of the Hebrews was "mighty," but not Almighty; they had gods who would contend with, and perchance conquer Him. Even their own strength might overmatch His. So little did they know about Jehovah. THE LOSS OF THE ARK.-V. 10, 11. This defeat of the Israelites was more terrible than the last. Thirty thousand men were slain; and, worse than all, the ark of God was taken. Had Jehovah forsaken His people altogether? Was He powerless to deliver them? Could He not protect His own ark? How tremblingly and anxiously would the Israelites ponder such questions! How the Philistines would triumph! In our next Lesson we shall see what became of the ark; it is sufficient now for us to know that God permitted the enemy to capture His ark, not because He could not keep it, but to punish the Israelites, and to teach them to trust in God Himself, not in a mere symbol of His presence. In this battle Eli's two sons were killed, thus the threatened judgment began to be performed. THE DEATH OF ELI.-V. 12-18. The story is told with admirable simplicity in the text. With all his weakness, Eli was sincerely devoted to God. Though his two sons were in the battle-field, his heart trembled for the ark of God. He sat by the side watching, anxious to hear the first news. His seat would be, probably, a sort of throne without a back. A messenger passed him; if Eli had not been blind, the man's garb would have informed him of disaster. The news reaches the city; the people's cry of sorrow and alarm comes to Eli; he inquires the meaning of it; he soon hears the dreadful truth. Mark how the evil tidings rise one over another, ver. 17. Ver. 18 relates Eli's death, and its cause: he could bear anything better than the loss of the ark, the sign of Jehovah's residence with Israel, the token of the covenant. What a sad close to a life nearly a century long, to a judgeship of forty years! The ark never returned to Shiloh again, Jer. vii. 12. REFLECTIONS.-1. The chief lesson of the narrative is the folly, danger, wickedness of relying upon forms and signs, rather than on God Himself.— With elder scholars, the teacher might apply the principle to the Sacraments, the Class-meeting, means of grace. They cannot benefit us by themselves, but Jesus Christ will save and strengthen us through them, if our trust is in Him. Wesley's Hymns, No. 92. To younger children it will be sufficient to show the uselessness of merely saying their prayers, etc. 2. Eli's "heart trembled for the ark of God."-Hence show the deep interest we should take in God's cause. 3. Mark the literal fulfilment of God's threatenings. 4. " Quit yourselves like men,"-the Philistines meant in valour and determination. In what does genuine manliness consist? Try to answer the question from Jer. v. 1; and 1 Cor. xiv. 20. See also 1 John ii. 12-14. MARCH 15.- ——THE ARK IN CAPTIVITY.-1 Samuel v. 1-5; vi. 1—3, 7—15. DAGON DISHONOURED.-Ch. v. 1-5. While the Israelites were mourning the loss of the ark, the Philistines were finding it a plague and a terror to them. At first they bore it in triumph to the house of their god Dagon, and solemnly presented it to him as a token of his victory over the God of Israel. The next morning the image had fallen upon its face in front of the ark, as though worshipping it. They set it up again: a poor god he must be that required human hands to lift him from the ground. The Philistines thought his fall accidental. Ver. 4 describes the scene in the morning. The words, the stump of, are in italics, showing that they are not in the Hebrew; the clause reads, only Dagon was left to him. "Dagon means a fish. The idol had the tail of a fish and the body of a man. The hands and head, the symbols of strength and knowledge, were lying upon the threshold, where they could not have fallen of themselves; not broken off by the fall, but cut as by an intelligent agent, -a clear miracle. Thus any Philistine entering the temple might tread upon the noblest members of his god's body. So Jehovah vindicated His majesty. But the idolaters would not learn thence to forsake so helpless a deity, they reverenced the very spot where the god had been dishonoured, ver. 5. THE ARK RESTORED.-Ch. vi, 1—3; 7-15. Seven months had the ark remained in the land of the Philistines, when its captors took counsel how they should rid themselves of so dreadful & possession. [The teacher should explain how it had been carried from city to city, how disease and dearth invariably accompanied it.] The Philistines asked advice of their priests. The priests did not openly admit that the calamities had proceeded from Jehovah, but directed the inquirers to put the question to the test. A trespass offering must be sent with the returning ark. All must be placed upon a new cart, to which shall be attached two kine that have never borne the yoke. Even the priests dare not treat the ark with anything but the greatest respect and veneration. Their calves were to be shut up away from the cows, the MORNING LESSONS. mothers left to journey whither they would. Naturally they would turn back to their calves; in that case the Philistines would judge their distresses were not owing to the ark: but if, contrary to nature, they travelled towards Bethshemesh, a city of Israel wherein priests dwelt, then it would be manifest that God had afflicted the Philistines. Everything was arranged accordingly. How curiously and anxiously the spectators would watch the experiment! "The kine took the straight way to Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went,"-expressing their desire to return to their calves, yet travelling away from them in obedience to a supernatural impulse. When the ark arrived at the city, the inhabitants were reaping the harvest. How gladly would they welcome the symbol of the covenant! God had not forsaken them; the gods of the Philistines were not stronger than He. They showed their sacred gladness by offering the kine that drew the cart in sacrifice to the Lord. Having witnessed the issue of their trial, the lords of the Philistines, who had followed the ark, went home to report the event to their fellows. REFLECTIONS.-1. The superiority of the true God to idols.-Show this from the Lesson. You know the hymn beginning, "I thank the goodness and the grace." 2. The attachment of idolaters to their idols.-Show this from the Lesson. Apply to the comparatively scant success of missions in certain lands,India, China, for instance. 3. Dagon bowing before the ark, is symbolic of all idols at last yielding to the Lord. 4. God's dominion over animals."The reasonless creatures also do the will of their Maker; every act that is done, either by them or to them, makes up the decree of the Almighty; and if, in extraordinary actions and events, His hand is more visible, yet it is no less certainly present in the common." -Bishop Hall. MARCH 22.- -EBENEZER.-1 Samuel vii. 1-12. For repetition, verse 12. THE ARK AT KIRJATH-JEARIM.V. 1, 2. The last three verses of the preceding chapter explain why the ark did not remain at Bethshemesh. Kirjath-jearim was the nearest large town on the road to Shiloh. The ark waited there pending God's directions as to its disposal. It stayed there nearly fifty years. The twenty years of ver. 2 express the length of time between the restoration of the ark and the repentance of Israel. "The phrase, to lament after God, is taken from human affairs, when one person follows another with earnest solicitations and complaints, until he at length assents. We have an example of this in the Syrophoenician woman in Matt. xv." -Schmidt. REPENTANCE.-V. 3-6. And Samuel spake, etc.-Mark the connection with the statement that all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.-Israel had begun to repent already, perhaps in response to repeated appeals from Samuel. His answer presupposes inquiry how they might return to God. It shows that Israel had been guilty of idolatry, and that the Philistines still ruled over them. Strange gods,-Baalim, as next verse. Baal and Ashtaroth were the names under which Israel had worshipped the heavenly bodies and the powers of nature. The process of repentance was: first, the idols must be forsaken; second, the children of Israel must prepare their hearts unto the Lord, steadfastly resolve to cleave to Him, (compare Ps. lxxviii. 8, and its Margin); lastly, they must serve the Lord only,-He could not be served as one of a number of deities. To attempt it would be to break the first commandment. A promise is added, Then He will deliver, etc. Ver. 4 describes the Israelites' obedience. Samuel's exhortation was followed by a genuine revival of religion throughout the land. The gathering at Mizpeh was for the purpose of formal confession and reconciliation to Jehovah, preparatory to a revolt against the Philistines. The national penitence was expressed by drawing water and pouring it out before the Lord, by fasting, by words, We have sinned against the Lord. The first peculiar and impressive ceremony is nowhere prescribed in the law. "To pour out water on the ground is, in the East, an ancient way of taking a solemn oaththe words and promises that had gone forth from their mouth being 'as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.'"-Kitto. It was also an expressive symbol of the nation's penitence and conscious weakness, Ps. vi. 6; xxii. 14; 2 Sam. xiv. 14; Lam. ii. 18, 19. Mizpeh lay on the western border of Benjamin; it was most suitable for renewing the war with the Philistines. EBENEZER.-V. 7-12. The Philistines understood that the assembly at Mizpeh meant rebellion. They would suppress it before it had time to organize itself. They marshalled their forces,and went up against Israel.-What aid Israel do? They did not rush to battle rashly and confidently, nor did they fetch the ark to their help. They begged Samuel to pray for them. The sucking-lamb he offered to the Lord was an emblem of the people's newborn sincerity and entire consecration. And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him.Evidently the prophet was a man of prayer; compare Ps. xcix. 6; Jer. xv. 1. The enemy attacked as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, hoping to take Israel by surprise. The result: ver. 10, 11. The exact situations of Beth-car and Shen are not known, both were west of Mizpeh. Ebenezer,— "stone of help; a memorial of mercy and thankfulness. Compare Gen. xxviii. 18. REFLECTIONS.-1. The nature of true repentance. It includes sorrow for sin, confession of sin, forsaking sin. Illustrate from the Lesson. See Prov. xxviii. 13. 2. We do well to beg the people of God to pray for us.-We are often beholden for blessings to the faith of others. 3. Repeat the verse for repetition. What does "Ebenezer" mean? God's benefits should be remembered and acknowledged. 4. God's mercies in the past form a strong ground of hope for mercies in the future. Our need of them will never cease, nor will His compassions fail. "Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by Thy help I've come; 5. "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us"-even through the defeat and oppression that led them to repentance. MARCH 29.- -THE PEOPLE CRY FOR A KING.-1 Samuel vii. 13-17; THE RESULTS OF VICTORY.—Ch. vii. 13, 14. Recall last Lesson. All the days of Samuel the Philistines were confined to their own territories. The cities they had taken from Israel were recovered. Ekron and Gath remained in the possession of the Philistines, but the country up to the borders of those towns belonged to the Hebrews. Even the Amorites, the most powerful of the Canaanitish tribes, were awed into peace by the miraculous victory. Thus once more was Israel at ease. THREE JUDGES.-Ch. vii. 15-viii. 3. Just as our judges travel on circuit to administer the laws, so did Samuel. Once a year he visited certain stations; the rest of the year he spent at Ramah, his birth-place. What do you know about Bethel? Gen. xxviii. 10-22. About Gilgal? Josh. iv. 19, 20. About Mizpeh? (See last Lesson.) Doubtless God directed Samuel to build an altar at Ramah. The tabernacle at Shiloh was without the ark. For a time, Ramah became the place where God recorded His name to dwell there. Samuel judged uprightly; in a subsequent Lesson we shall see how faultless was his rule. When he began to grow old, he appointed his two sons to assist him. They were settled at Beersheba, beyond their father's control. Their conduct is described ver. 3. THE REQUEST FOR A KING.-Ch. viii. 4-9. Soon the people grew anxious about their government. What would |