Then the Lord was wroth with Eli; and He sent a prophet to rebuke him for his sin, and declare his punishment. The man of God came to Eli, and said, "Thus saith the Lord, Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at my offering which I have commanded in my habitation, and honourest thy sons above me? . . . Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

Then the man of God told Eli that the curse of the Lord should be upon all his house; upon his children and their children after them for ever; they should be cut off in the flower of their age, so that there should not be an old man in his house

for ever. And he said that Hophni and Phinehas, his wicked sons, should die both of them in one day, and that this should be a sign to Eli, that all the words of the Lord should surely come to pass. And the Lord said that He would raise up for Himself a faithful priest who should do accord

ing to His will; and that those who remained of Eli's family should come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread.

1 Samuel ii.

To purpose, is to intend to do a thing.

To reprove, is to tell a person of his faults, and try to make him feel how wrong they are.

To restrain a person, is to prevent him from doing a thing; to compel him to stop from doing it.

To suffer, is to bear: it generally means to bear pain. To suffer a person to do a thing, is to bear his doing it ; to let him go on doing it without stopping him, when we have the power to do so.

Chapter XCVI.

THE CALL OF SAMUEL TO BE THE PROPHET OF THE LORD.

AFTER the man of God had made known to Eli the wrath of the Lord against himself and his wicked sons, he had departed; and Hophni and Phinehas lived on as before. But while the wicked sons of Eli were defiling the tabernacle of the Lord with their evil deeds, and provoking His

anger against themselves, and their father's house, the child Samuel grew on, and served the Lord with fear and reverence, and the blessing of the Lord was upon him.

And after a while the Lord again sent to warn Eli of the thing which He purposed to do, and He chose the child Samuel to be His prophet. For in those days the Lord did not make known His will to the high priest in the tabernacle, as He had done of old; the voice of God was not now heard from above the mercy seat, between the cherubims that were upon the ark.

Eli, the high priest, was laid down in his place at night by the tabernacle of the Lord, and the child Samuel was sleeping near him, when the Lord called Samuel. And when Samuel heard the voice of the Lord, he thought that it was the voice of Eli, and said, "Here am I; for thou calledst me." "" And Eli said, "I called not; lie down again." And he went and laid down. And the Lord called yet again, "Samuel." And Samuel arose and went again to Eli; and Eli answered as before, "I called not, my son." And

:

the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went again to Eli, and said, "Here am I; for thou didst call me." Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child; and therefore he said to Samuel, "Go lie down and it shall be, if He call thee that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and called as at other times, "Samuel, Samuel." Then Samuel answered, "Speak, for thy servant heareth." And the Lord said, "Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not."

And Samuel lay until the morning; then he arose, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord, but he feared to show Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel, and said, "What is the thing

which the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me." Then Samuel told him all

وو

that the Lord had said, and hid nothing from him. And Eli said, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth Him good."

From this time the Lord was with Samuel: and the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, and revealed Himself by His word to Samuel from time to time, and made known His will by Samuel to His people. "And all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord."

1 Sam. iii.

To defile, or to pollute, is to make a thing unclean or unholy; the tabernacle of the Lord was holy, and was defiled when unholy persons ministered there before the Lord.

A vision is a kind of dream, by which God made known to men His will, or the things which were about to happen. When God appeared to men by an angel, or made them hear his voice, it is called a vision.

To reveal, is to make a thing known. God revealed Himself to men when He made known His will to them.

NOTE.-Dan was a small town at the extreme north part of the