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perhaps it may palliate, but certainly not excuse his indecision. It informs us that he heard all that his sons did unto all Israel,' and gives us a brief account of the very inadequate steps which he took to remove their wickedness. 'He said unto them, why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil doings by all this people. Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord's people to transgress.' This mildness of parental reproof, however, had no effect to remove or decrease the evil. These disobedient sons 'hearkened not to the voice of their father,' and went on adding sin to sin. A prophet of the Lord was sent to warn Eli of the fatal consequences which his neglect of restraint would inevitably produce, yet heeded he not the warning.

At this period of the history of Eli, commences the interesting story of Samuel. From his birth he was dedicated to the service of the Lord by his mother, and at the tender age of three years he was taken to Shiloh, according to the tenor of the maternal vow. Here he was suffered to wait on the aged Eli, whose eyes had 'waxed dim.' It came to pass in the early stage of his ministration,

that on one occasion he was waked by a supernatural voice, calling him by name, and he answered, 'Here am I,' supposing that it had been Eli who had called him. He ran in haste to the couch of the aged priest, and found that it had not been he who called him. Scarcely, however, had he rested his head on the pillow again, than the same voice audibly pronounced his name, and quickly rising up, he went to Eli's couch and confidently said, 'Here am I, for thou didst call me.' Eli again remanded him to his rest, and a third time the same voice pronounced his name. Then Eli understood that the call was supernatural, and he directed Samuel how to receive the divine communication. The Lord opened to the mind of this infant prophet the disasters which were to befall the house of Eli, and the cause of which is distinctly stated, 'Because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.'

The beautiful plate which has given occasion to these remarks, exhibits aged Eli in the robes of office, the infant Samuel in the act of communicating the will of the Lord, in the ruin of his house.

The whole relation has a word of caution to

those unhappy parents who, having in their early years indulged their children, find no method of restraint for their wickedness as they advance in life. Early parental neglect paves the way for the ruin of the child, and the bitter, though unavailing, repentance of the parents. 'A neglect of parental duties, or an injudicious manner of performing them, are among the most prevalent and threatening evils which are to be found among us. is perhaps nothing which threatens more evil to the cause of religion, and I may say, the prosperity of our country.' If parents would not experience the heart-breaking sorrow of Eli, in their old age, let them shun his example, and never have it said of them, that their sons made themselves vile, and they restrained them not.'

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