all; then does the heart shrink into itself with a strange aching sense of loneliness; which, but for the consciousness that there is still One unseen and invisible, who knows the heart, and knows too, our own inability to still its throbbings, would render us, of all most miserable.

The trial to which Hannah was subject on account of her childless state, was augmented by the kind remonstrances of Elkanah, not less than by the reproaches of Peninnah, and the severe animadversion of Eli. "Hannah," said Elkanah, "why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons?" The expostulation was well meant and made in the spirit of affection; but even the provocations of Peninnah must have been less hard to bear than this ill-timed consolation. Elkanah's love for Hannah had not restrained him from profiting by that negative permission which the law gave of endeavouring to remedy the defects of an unfruitful marriage: and in the sons and daughters of Peninnah, the father's pride and affection were sufficiently gratified. True it was that the Levite sought by acts of kindness and attention, by gifts of double cost, and words of affection, to reconcile his childless wife to her lot of tacit reproach. He did not know, that, to the wounded pride which ever lurks at the bottom of a sorrow which has the stain of reproach upon it, the very favours which compassion bestows are but an added indignity to the too sensitive heart, which divines their motive even when most furtively hidden, and which shrinks back agonized, when the open avowal-" am not I a consoler, why is thy heart grieved,"-shews how little

sympathy the speaker has with the soul's grief. In the seclusion of Ramathaim-Zophim, Hannah's heart, perchance, wanted not consolation: but in the thronged courts of Shiloh, how saddening the thought, that not one of the thousand worshippers, not even the dearest heart and next her own, had any sympathy with the oppression that weighed down her spirit. But this was not all: for here, here in the scene of Peninnah's malicious triumphs and of Elkanah's humiliating bounties, the very consolations of religion were denied her. In vain was the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the hallowed feast of the peace-offering spread before one who could not "cat thereof in her mourning." The sound of the trumpet in the day of gladness awoke in her soul no responsive echoes, or those only of a deeper and more piercing woe. The thousands of Israel had assembled in Shiloh, "eating and drinking, and making merry:" mothers smiled around her; children sported at her feet; the foe of her own household was there to mock her sadness, and her best friend to reprove it: whence then Elkanah's illtimed interrogatory-"Hannah, why weepest thou, and why is thy heart grieved?"

The great festival in Shiloh found one at least among the worshippers who could not keep the feast with gladness: but religion has other regimen to administer than the cordials of consolation. It has humbling lessons for the heart in the day of festivity: sackcloth for the soul beneath the robe of rejoicing. "Is any afflicted? let him pray." The heart that cannot respond to Shiloh's song of praise, may steal apart and pour out its bitterness where there is a High Priest at hand "touched with the

feeling of our infirmities, and able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him."

Upon his throne-seat of dignity, close to the entrance of the Tabernacle, sat the High Priest Eli; a miserable spectator of the corruptions which had mingled with the service in Jehovah's courts. Perhaps it was the sanctity of his presence; the desire to be near him who was the acknowledged medium of God's communications with Israel, which induced Hannah, when the feast of which she had not partaken was ended, to take her station there; while the grief which was too deep for utterance, moved indeed upon her lips, but found no voice to articulate its woe. She prayed: and her prayer, having the seal of the High Priest's approval, was heard in heaven :-she prayed for removal of the overshadowing sorrow, and promised such a dedication of the blessing solicited, as should bring a noble thank-offering for the service of God: a vessel meet to receive the fulness of his grace, and consecrated to his use and honor. She prayed, and with such fervor of assurance drawn from the recorded experience of those who "cried unto the Lord and were delivered," that when the benediction of Eli descended upon her prayer, and he who was the way of the sinner's access to the mercy-seat bade "go in peace," joy took the place of sorrow, "the woman went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad."

"Christ our passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast." The sound of the Gospel-trumpet invites to joy and gladness; but are there none that mourn the while? Whence are the streaming eyes, the looks of sorrow, the grief which

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never utters plaint to mortal ear, and is dumb in its unutterable agony even before the mercy-seat? "Those are not of the true Israel," says the stern religionist (looking on the outward appearance ;) “ these are the victims of a debasing superstition, or the drooping slaves of the bondage of this world." "And these" exclaim the malicious and the worldly, are of like passions with ourselves:" see how they pine for a share in our honors and enjoyments, even while they profess to be governed by another code and to look for another recompense. And, "these," says the sure word of prophecy (withdrawing the veil that hides the things which are, from those that shall be ;) "these are they which have come out of tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Viewed by the light of immortality, how sacred appear the vestiges of sorrow. It is as though the hand of the Divine Fabricator were visibly seen moulding the pillars of that temple which he designs for his glory : it is a witness to man's forfeit and redemption, for he who took the curse away, left the sorrow behind : and it is often (oh how often) a pledge of more entire conformity to the life and death of the Son of God.

But besides the uses of adversity, as respects the eternal welfare of those who are thus tested; it is often seen that the path of pre-eminence in this world, has a steep and toilsome ascent and an initiatory course of abasement. Joseph, from the pit and the dungeon; Moses, from exile and obscurity, and Daniel, from the dishonors of captivity, all win their painful way to eminence and fame. And Hannah too;-she whose lips first uttered in pro

phetic song the sacred name of Christ:*-she whose strains are destined to be recorded till time shall be no more, by the thousand tongues of earth in which their utterance shall be syllabled: she, mother of the minstrels to whom was given in the first glorious temple the honored "service of song," (i Chron. vi. 31-37.) as of him, the prophet, historian, judge, and ruler of his people:-Hannah also, was not an exception to that rule of Divine Providence which ordains that the fine gold of the sanctuary be purified in a furnace seven times heated.

Time passed on, and thrice had the household of Elkanah repaired to the yearly commemoration in Shiloh, leaving Hannah behind in the solitude of her home. The grief, so hard to endure, had been removed: the blessing so earnestly solicited, had been obtained; and now, will the happy mother fail of that dedication of the boon bestowed, to which in her hour of anguish she had so solemnly pledged herself? What a fair shew of reason would Elkanah's wife have had on her side, had she been disposed to shrink from fulfilment of the conditions on which she sought relief; and to yield indulgence to maternal tenderness or maternal fear. True; she had vowed in her sorrow—“ I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life; and there shall no razor come upon his head;" and her husband had not, "in the day when he heard thereof," disallowed her vow, for he had said, "Do what seemeth thee good, only the Lord establish his word:" but how subtlely would the voice of nature suggest that the restrictions of Nazarite-ship could be observed as

The word, "anointed," first occurs in Hannah's song of thankfulness.