"Before I formed thee, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations ?" And did not Paul say, "It pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, to reveal his son in me?" Defended by the Word of God, is it contrary to the testimony of a believer's own heart? What numerous influences flow like tributary streams to swell the tide of character! Who can presume to say that any period of life, however dark the mind might then have been to spiritual things, contributed nothing to the development of his own disposition and propensities? Or, who would dare to limit the guardianship of the Lord? He did not begin to love us when our affections were first turned toward him, nor did he begin to show grace toward us when we first saw the fountain bubble up at a day or an hour of our limited chronology.

According to Josephus, Samuel was about twelve years old when the spirit of prophecy was vouchsafed to him. The entire freshness to his mind of the Lord's manifestation is carefully noted by the sacred historian. Samuel, already trained in the outward observance of the statutes and ordinances of the law, was an entire stranger to any present inspiration. Well as he knew the function of the priesthood, he was totally ignorant of the extraordinary vocation of the prophet. "The Word of the Lord was precious in those days: there was no open vision." Dreams of seer and visions of God were rare. Samuel, on the alert for the call of duty, knew nothing of the call of God. Quick to obey, he has no notion of any summons likely to arrest him, but such as comes through the constituted order of the priesthood. Three times, therefore, does he arise at the sound of his own name sharply striking on his ear. Three times does he repair to Eli, ready to answer at his bidding, or to do his injunctions. Not till the third time, when the voice was reiterated, as if in special earnestness, Samuel, Samuel! does Eli apprehend that it is the voice of the Almighty which cites the child; not till then does he direct him accordingly. Here I want to accommodate the narrative to a case of Christian experience by no means uncommon. "God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord." You may not be able to remember the time when you were called out of the profane world, for you never mixed with it. You do not remember when you first obtained a taste for the services of divine worship: you always liked them. So far you can go with Samuel. But do you remember, as Samuel could, when you were brought to see for yourself, to hear for yourself and to exercise faith for yourself, through a new channel that had not previously been opened to you? What a grateful advance this was in your spiritual attainment! You had heard the Word of God in sermons that seemed more or less adapted to meet the cravings of your heart; but now, when shut out from public ordinances, you have heard the Lord's voice speaking to you. Prayer, heretofore a sacred duty in your estimation, henceforth becomes a means of intercourse with God. Very long had you mingled with the many who assemble in the tabernacle, not at all discriminating between the devout and the formal, so long as outward decorum was common to both, for you were a stranger yourself to any inward witness or attesting seal that set a mark on your profession; but now the Lord has called you by name, put you among the children and shown you your title to the inheritance as one whose name is written in the Lamb's book of life. What marvel then that your soul should be bowed with gratitude while you realise the heavenly assurance that you have found grace in the eyes of the Lord!

Light gradually broke upon the mind of Samuel. In the immediate response that he was instructed to give to the Lord there is a beautiful feature. Eli had counselled him to say, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth," but, timid of any presumption, and because he did not yet know the Lord," he only said, "Speak, for thy servant heareth." It was not till after the Lord had shewn Samuel that he knew him, and discovered himself to his soul, that Samuel could know the Lord. This acquaintance, which is the introduction to the highest of all privileges, must originate in the gracious condescension of the Sovereign. The

doom of Eli's house, that night made known to Samuel, did not compass the entire purpose for which the Lord called him. From that time forward, Samuel did know the Lord, and he walked in the light of that knowledge, and Israel profited thereby. "The Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord."

I would not wilfully indulge in any curious or eccentric suggestions, but I am prone to think that there is a testimony given us respecting Samuel which admirably fits him to be held up as a model.

We are told that "the Lord revealed himself to Samuel by the Word of the Lord." This appears by the record to have been habitual, as though it were said that the Lord, after that memorable occasion, constantly communed with him. But the manner of privileged intercourse was not by vision or dream, in which symbolical imagery passed before his eyes, but it was simply by "the Word of the Lord." In beautiful accordance with this we have in his entire career, a record of unswerving consistency. He came on to the stage at one of the darkest epochs of the nation's history, and he died just before day-break of the brightest chapter in the nation's annals. Though he anointed two kings, his life was not passed amidst the pageantry of courts. In the presence of any extraordinary crisis he proved his superior wisdom, yet the greater part of his lifetime was passed in the busy activities of practical assiduity. And surely the moral may thrust itself on our notice, that it is by communion with God, through the Word of the Lord, that we must look for the spiritual strength which can enable us to do our daily task eminently well, and to perform any eminent services that may come to our lot, with unruffled serenity.

The publicity of Samuel's life does not destroy the privacy of his character. In a green old age he lays down an office which had entailed the cares without conferring on him the crown of a king, having a conscience void of offence. He had used his vocation well. Many were benefited by his judicial dignity, while he was himself uncorrupted by deceitful emoluments. His retirement was not idle.

"At least not rotting like a weed,

But having sown some generous seed,
Fruitful in further thought and deed,"

He established "the school of the prophets" at Ramah. Such a tradition exists among the Jews and receives countenance from scripture. He most certainly held an appointment over the company of the prophets at Naioth, whether he was the founder of that college or not. (1 Sam. xix. 18-20.)

The biography of Samuel will, therefore, teach us not to neglect or distrust the careful training of our children, because no education, however sound, can communicate the Spirit of the Lord. Nor are we to despise the ordinances of religion because they are insufficient of themselves "to guide our feet into the way of peace." And yet upon those who have been thus early brought to the temple, we may enforce the necessity of that attainment by which only they can "know the Lord."

The divine calling was as illustriously exemplified in this child, though almost faultless in his piety, as it was in the rescue of the most abandoned sinners.

A rich experience of the loving-kindness and tender mercies of the Lord does not require a back-ground of profanity to make the picture lively and attractive. "Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things he hath done for you."

A larder's Earnings.

No. I.

R. EDITOR,-I intend to look out very carefully from the little watchbox

every now and then of the doings of the enemy. You will have need to grind your sword anew and lay about you right and left, for I perceive that the Roman regiment is creeping up to our defences under cover of a band of Evangelicals upon whom you must, however reluctantly, open your batteries again with red-hot shot. Mind it must be red-hot, or those gentry will not feel it. I do not propose to be more than a mere watchman, anxious to warn others and set the more practised swordsmen and gunners at their work; and hence you will excuse my making many notes or comments upon the facts which I present to your readers; only I should like to observe that your heaviest censures and sharpest condemnations are none too severe, and I hope you will never soften them to please any man. The cancer lies deep; cut Sir, with your keenest lancet: it is at your peril that you spare the knife. I have heard of one very Evangelical divine, who says, that nothing on earth ever makes him feel so like a devil as the mention of your name. This shows that you have power to annoy the old enemy; and I hope you may use it with greater vigour than ever. The devil will never be cast out of the Establishment by honeyed words, in fact I doubt if he will ever go out at all so long as stick or stone of the State Church remains. The fretting leprosy is in the walls of that old house of corruption, and it needs to be treated according to the regulation laid down in Leviticus xiv. 45: "And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place."

The war with this daughter of Babylon must know no truce or abatement. Spare no arrows, but pray the Lord to guide them, and let them be dipped in zeal for your Lord. No peace with Anglicanism, and no rest till its errors are utterly destroyed. Here is fuel for the fire of your holy indignation. You will hear from me again.

Yours with anxious heart,

A WARDER.

The Rev. James Davies, M.A., Rector of Abbenhall, Gloucestershire, has favoured the world with his views upon the case of Miss Constance Kent in a pamphlet, entitled, "The Case of Constance Kent viewed in the Light of the Holy Catholic Church." The subjoined extracts will show how impudent the Romish party in the Anglican Establishment has of late grown. Speaking of the unhappy girl's confession, he says:

"Such is the present result of a case which has been brought to that result by a system, of which I feel bound to speak---the monastic system. One part of it consists in a regular, orderly, but voluntary confession-in this instance it was remarkably so. She had however, I doubt not, all the advantages of official confession to a priest, and of unofficial confession to the Mother-Superior and the sisters, if she chose. Still the sacramental confession is the most positive, the most assuring, for it is a special means of grace, and a special pledge of assurance, And surely the Church's means and pledges are more to be depended upon than the loose and unofficial words of even the holiest and purest; these comfort much, but those bind fast.

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"The office of priest has been in abeyance for years I fear in the English Church; it is being revived now, but not universally. The bishop in giving holy orders to priests, says, Receive the HOLY GHOST for the office and work of a priest in the Church of God now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven, and whose sins thou

dost retain they are retained.'. These words must have a strong meaning, or no meaning at all. They cannot mean that man can forgive sins, but they must mean that man, through the priest's office, is an instrument and channel in the remission of sins; and if we slight God's ways and channels, which he himself has set in his Church, we cannot look elsewhere for pardon and peace, and all the blessing and comfort of systematic and sacramental absolution.

"In cases such as this, of notorious and great atrocity, there must be a degree of high pressure applied, and men and women must band together in brotherhoods and sisterhoods to meet them. Only such as can live the very high life can stoop low enough to go down to the very abyss of sin and misery, and rescue a soul here and there from perdition by the most loving sympathy. Such only can draw them, and win them by giving themselves up wholly to such a service and mission of love. Such only can make an inroad and an onslaught upon the debased state of our densely crowded cities. Such only can penetrate the lanes, alleys, courts, and slums of vice which are a disgrace to our Christian country. The two extremes must come together for any good effect. The very high and holy, and the very low and unholy. Very good sort of parochial clergymen, very good Christian men and women may be of great use, and are so in parochial and domestic life, but for desperate cases like Constance Kent's, for home missions in large towns, in our seaports, and in our factories, there must be single men and women without domestic ties, or any earthly tie but that of plucking souls, like burning brands, out of the fire. We need men and women who will be fools for CHRIST's sake, who appear to the world beside themselves, and who by a chivalrous devotion appear mad to the world. Such brotherhoods and sisterhoods must flourish and abound ere the Church of England will effect any amount of conversion which can fairly be called national.

"We have much to protest against, and much to imitate in Rome. There is a saintliness to be found there, amid much corruption, which is to be found in no other Church upon earth; and if we imagine she is an apostate Church, or a mass of corruption-not a mixture of good and bad-of use and abuse, like ourselves and every other militant Church upon earth, we give way to a prejudice, not only unworthy of men of thought and fair judgment, but of men of Christian charity.

"The whole treatment of the case is, I fear, thought to be more after the manner of the Romish than of the English Church. I hope, therefore, to point out the difference as well as the likeness between the two Churches. Both ought to be Protestant. Neither are infallible, both erring. We rightly protest against the errors of Rome. But it would be a very partial Protestantism if we did not also protest against our own errors at home. I am sure nothing but reformation in each will bring about union in both. Each, however, must look at home rather than abroad. Reformation is a constant habit, not a violent act. We have been reforming these last forty years, and we must keep going on in the way of temperate reform, not in violent acts of revolution.

"No one can justify the acts of violence in Henry VIII.'s time. Uses and abuses were ruthlessly confounded together, and swept away. Wholesale spoliation took the place of judicious selection and judicious abolition. Holy monks and nuns shared the same fate as profligate men and women, and dissolution instead of reformation was visited upon the most wise and sacred foundations. "Such institutions are being revived, and Constance Kent has found a home in one, whose influence can penetrate her prison walls, and be still her guide, her strength, and comfort. Together with the Home and Refuge comes, of course, the single state. In every Church, as in the Greek, both the single and the married state should exist in due proportion; and if Providence were fairly followed, and the direction in which its finger pointed duly heeded, we should have more single and fewer married priests. Each can do what the other can not do. Thus a system of supply and defect, of correction and compensation, of help and sympathy, would be healthfully carried out through all the members of CHRIST's mystical body."

Here is another pretty piece of unmitigated Popery. May the Lord deliver us from the Pope of Rome, the rector of Abbenhall, and all such enemies of souls.

"Without question we have learnt, and must still learn, much from Rome, both as to the priesthood, the brotherhood, and the sisterhood. In such institutions we have made a beginning; rather, I should say, a revival; but we are yet in the infancy of such things. And we must yet learn, but in a true Catholic way. We must be learners, and also discerners. We must hold our own, while we borrow from others. Never-oh, never, let us forget we have Catholic ground to stand upon, as well as our sister Church. We have, as well as they, the apostolical succession. We have the tradition which has been handed down to us, the one faith, the one regenerating baptism, the ancient liturgies, creeds, and the whole sacramental system. All this forms the dogmatic interpretation of Holy Writ. This, I affirm, we have, and must hold the deposit committed to our trust. But, alas! we have it only in principle and profession. Practically hundreds and thousands, nominally in our Church, betray that trust. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is their creed; and Scripture too, God's infallible Word, is interpreted by man's private judgment. Weak, erring, capricious opinion usurps the authority of the fixed dogmas, sacraments, and ordinances, which have always, everywhere, and by all the faithful, been held sacred. Such alone can be the anchor of any soul, especially such a soul as Constance Kent's. We see the consequences of such teaching by the tossing to and fro of unstable souls, and by the various winds of doctrine which agitate, but can never regulate unbalanced minds."

There seems to be a wide spread system of monkery in the Anglican camp, if our last quotation means what it seems to bear upon the surface: let it be read with attention and thought over; perhaps, however, the last few sentences are too ridiculous to excite any feeling but that of amusement, at the novel idea of hidden life in Christ amidst boatings and cricketings, &c. :

"And now, in conclusion, I address myself to such as are banded together in a holy order of brotherhood-a brotherhood bearing the name of the Holy Trinity, and formed, I believe, in large measure from undergraduates of our universities and sixth forms of public schools and colleges.

"To you I wish now especially to speak with warm sympathy, fatherly affection, and sincere but not severe truth. Many of you, I know, are in training for the single, devoted, and higher life, Aim, then, to be priests, Catholic priests, without priestliness. Enlarge your minds, now you have the best, perhaps the only opportunity, with classical learning, ancient lore, and general information: cultivate the society of others in different situations, and from collision of mind with mind, learn the lesson of large sympathy and universal humanity. Don't be caught by the fringes and frontals of religion, by gold, or silver, or ivory crosses. Before you look at the cross without, feel it within, and bear it with right good will. If you are called Romanist, Papist, Jesuit, through frequenting early communions and daily services, answer not again; or, if you can't receive an injury like a stone wall, take your 'revenge' by returning a good word for an evil one-good-will for ill-will. Remember ill-will was Constance Kent's initiative in her sad case. Ponder that case, as a preparation for dealing with such dread cases ten years hence, as priests; but speak little of it now. At present yours must be the silent, hidden life in CHRIST amidst cricketings, boatings, and other manly and healthy sports. Don't be in a hurry for martyrdom. When you are priests, then martyrs you must be. But shun notoriety now, good or bad, for both are dangerously flattering."

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