May 16

MAY 16.—“Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord.”—1 Sam. 1. 29.

This must have been an exercise of great self-denial in Hannah, to resign so dear a child for ever. But it was only an act of fidelity to religious engagement: it was the condition of her prayer: “She vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.” Distress will often gender purposes and resolutions, because we then feel our weakness and dependence; but when the danger is removed, or the blessing obtained, and the hour of performance is arrived, we resemble the lepers who, when healed, returned not to give glory to God. How many have howled upon their bols, and poured out a prayer when God’s chastening hand was upon them! But the vows of sickness have been violated by renewed health, and their iniquities, like the wind, have taken them away. Even Hezekiah, affected as he was by the divine goodness, so that he composed a writing to fix and perpetuate the sentiment, and said, “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth: The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments, all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord:” yet after all this he rendered not according to the benefit done him. So it was with Jacob. When, going from home a forlorn youth, he was indulged with the vision at Beth-el, and alluding to the divine intimation so suited to his circumstances of distress, he “vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Yet when he returned, multiplied and enriched, he passed year after year, comparatively in the neighbourhood, forgetful of his engagements, till God said to him, “Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau, thy brother.” Then, and not till then, “Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.”

We do not much recommend vowing; we would rather urge praying: but if vows are to be made, let them be made in the strength of divine grace; and let them not be trifled with, but fulfilled. “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay.” How noble was the conduct of David upon his deliverance! “I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings; I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my