February 24

with you for ever: even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

Let us realize this promise, as the promise of One that cannot lie. And while it fills us with wonder and admiration, and induces us to exclaim, "Will God in very deed dwell with man upon the earth?" let it induce us to seek the blessedness of a union with his people, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And if we have reason to hope that we are in the number of his followers, let the promise establish our hearts with regard to the security of his Church, and the permanency and success of his cause. Let it animate us in every duty. Let it be a source of consolation in every trial. Are we reduced in circumstances? deserted? bereaved? looking into the valley of the shadow of death? Let us hear him saying, "Fear not; for I am with thee." And may we be enabled to answer—

"If Thou, my Jesus, still art nigh, Cheerful! live, and cheerful die: Secure, when mortal comforts flee, To find ten thousand worlds in Thee."

FEBRUARY 24.—"And he said, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good."—1 Sam. tit. 18.

Eli had many failings; but his behaviour on this occasion does him honour. Samuel had feared to show him the vision. But though Eli foreboded that it was against him, he adjured the young Levite to "hide nothing" from him. This was well. But it was better still when having heard "every whit," he exclaimed, "It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good."

We need not push this resignation to every extent. Eli considers the message as a temporal judgment, designed to degrade his family from the priesthood, but not as necessarily consigning them all to endless perdition. Some of the mystics have carried the principle of submission so far as even to include their future destruction; and have said, "If thou send me to hell, I shall continue to praise and love thee." The thing is impossible. It is not in our power to love a being that without compensation would make us miserable. By the law of our nature we are bound to pursue our welfare and happiness: and our resignation to be lost for ever, if it were a possible feeling, would oppose the revealed pleasure of the Almighty, "who will have all men to be saved," and "commands us to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ"—Neither should we suppose that the state of Eli's mind at this time excluded sensibility. A man of his tenderness must have felt—and he ought to have felt—and he could have exercised no resignation without feeling. Our Saviour himself said, "Now is my soul troubled;" and he prayed, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;" and so may you, consistently with the most perfect submission, if you can add as he did: "Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."

But Eli humbles himself under the mighty hand of God without murmuring and complaining. He does not accuse him of injustice or severity, but meekly accepts the dispensation—"It is the Lord: