Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-10-26
TIE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON ~ FouRvH QUARTER. ~
TERNATioNAL sERlEs. OCT a..

Text 81 the Lesson, sam. iil. lis Mems
ory verses. I-s-Golden Text. sam.
/ iii. Commentary by the Rev. d. n.
st~arns.
And the child samuel minissescd
unto the Lord We have SO forth in this
book tho blessings OF Submission and che.
aience and the opposite Hannah Ia The
bitterness Of her soul. looked unto the
Lord, and He heard her and gave her this
child Therefore she called his name sam
uel which means asked OF Sod (chap-
ter j. 90, marginl When she had weaned
him, she returned him 10 the Lord tchaptes
/, Is, margin). Then She praised God IN
the beautiful words Of chapter H. 40 Ia
this song we have the first use of the word
Messiah" translated "His anointed"
(verse 10, see also verse 500. We have
also in chapter /, 8, II, the title " Lord OF
hosts for the first time Both of these
titles suggest many things concerning the
kingdom, and in this book sometimes
called the first book of Kings, " we have
the story OF the first two kings, one man
after the peoples heart, the other man
after the Lords heart.
., 8 Ere the lamp of God went out-in
the temple of the Lord, where the ark Of
God was Eli was now old and was not
walking before God in the matter of his
sons and very early in the morning the
Lord came 90 talk with this child, samuel,
Of whom it is written that he ministered
unto the Lord, grew before tho Lord. the
Lord was with him and revealed Himself
10 Samuel in Shiloh 10y the word of the
Lord chapters ii, II, is, 81. 26; i'll, 10. 2l).
See how even child may minister unto
the Lord and have place in the Lord 5
house and receive messages from the Lord
while older ones are passed by. Many
things are still hidden from theNise and
prudent and revealed unto babes (Math.
XII, 25l. Tho thing that greatly ploases
God is TO live "beforc Him. and unto
Him, seeking in all things His glory
A. 1.-THE Lord called Samuel, and he an.
swered, Here am l. Ii Is evident from
verse 10 that He called him by name, This
makes us think of that beautiful verse in
Issi. xiii, 1 " Fear not, for have redeemed
thee / have called thee by thy name;
thou art mine" And also Of lisa. vi, s,
where the Lord says, Whom shall send,
and who will 60 for usg" And the prophet
beautiful to be ready for His every call, an
ear always open to Him.
g. And he ran unto ELI and said, Here
am /, for thou calledst me But Eli did
not recognize that it was the Lord calling
him and 50 told him to lie down again
ELI had not the ear for God which he should
have had, and God saw 1t, and that He
could communicative him only through
Samuel. 1t was rare thing to get word
from the Lord in those days, and visions
such rs those granted to Abram and Jacob
Moses and Joshua were unknown See
verse l. X. ", margin
8. And the Lord called yet again, Sam
uel. +" Behold the patience OF the Lord
Samuers readiness and Ellis continued
dizziness. How difficult it often is for the
Lord to get our ear and make known 90 us
His Will What contrast TO watching
to see what He will say unto us, - or
watching daily at His gates (Hab ii, /
Prov viii, 34).
z. "Now, Samuel did not yet know the
Lord neither was the word of the Lord yet
revealed unto him." He must have known
the Lord through Moses and Joshua, but
not yet by direct communication. Known
means to perceive, understand, acknowl-
edge, so there may easily be many degrees
In knowledge When Paul said, ''That
may know Him. (Phil. iii, 10), he certain
ly knew Him as Saviour and Lord, His
wisdom and His righteousness, but he
longed to know Him better.
s. And the Lord called Samuel again
the third time. And Eli perceived that the
Lord had called the child" The third
time did Samuel rise and promptly go 10
Eli believing that he called him. What
unwearied obediencel What blessed som
When he would tell his mother of his ex-
perience and how he had acted how glad
she would be- l think this is the only in
stance of God speaking directly 60 a little
boy, but all, young and old, may hear His
voice in His written word (John vi, 63).
8. IF He call thee, say, Speak, Lord,
for Thy servant heareth. " ELI is by this
time wide awake and also wide awake to
the fact that the Lord has something TO
say, but not directly to him. II is preba-
BILE that he remained awake till he heard
the tidings, and then he would be more
awake than ever. Awake, thou that
slecpest, F" is a good word for many of us
1t would be wise also TO say, Speak,
Lord for Thy servant heareth, " Whenever
we open our Bibles, and il would also be
appropriate to add the prayer in Ps. cxix,
Is.
TO- "And the Lord came and stood and
called as at other times, Samuel, Samuelp'
This is the fourth time that He came and
called, suggesting the question: How often
has He called us2 And have we as yet sub
missively said "Speak, for Thy servant
hearethY" The attitude Of servant is
well described in these words: Ready to
do whatsoever my lord, the king, shall
appoint" "For any manner of service
wholly at thy commandment" Gil Sam.
XIV, Is; Chron. xviii, 21).
IL IA. "And the Lord said TO Samuel,
Behold, / will do thing in Israel at which
both the ears of every one that hcareth it
shall Jingle" And then follows the thing
that He will do--a Judgment upon the
house of Eli, as told to Eli by man Of
God some time before and fully recorded
in chapter ii, 27-36. Mercy always pre-
cedes Judgment, for God is slow TO anger
and plenteous in mercy. He had given Eli
fair warming, but Eli had bonored his sons
above God iii, 29). The law was very Sc
we're, but very plain concerning rcbellious
sons (Deut. xxi, 1921, and the ruler who
refused to see the law carried out because
the transgressors happened to be bis sons
certainly thought more Of his sons than Of
God. Only those can truly serve the Lord
who serve Him in sincerity and in truth
(Joshua xiv, Ia, or, as our Lord Jesus
said, He that loyeth father or mother
son or daughter, more than Die is not
worthy of Me- (Alatb. K, 80. In the
morning Eli called Samuel and begged
him to hide nothing from him that the
Lord had said, so Samuel told him every