BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 153

Neither is there any rock like our God.

Talk no more so exceeding proudly;

Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth:

For the Lord is a God of knowledge,

And by Him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty men are broken,

And they that stumbled are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread;
And they that were hungry ceased:

So that the barren hath born seven;

And she that hath many children is waxed feeble,
The Lord killeth, and maketh alive:

He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up,
The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich:

He bringeth low, and lifteth up.

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,

And lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill,

To set them among princes.

While Samuel was yet a little child he began his life of
Israel service at the Altar of God. With the sacrifices suit-
able for the occasion, “ three bullocks, an ephah of flour, and
a bottle of wine,” she starts forth with her little child for the
sanctuary in Shiloh.

Who shall tell the thoughts, the prayers, the great
mother-hopes and fears that rose and fell in her sad yet joyful
heart, as she wandered through Sharon’s plains to Shiloh!

In language most graphic and beautiful, Felicia Hermans,
one of the sweetest poets of our age, pictures that strange
journey.

The rose was in rich bloom on Sharon’s plain,
When a young mother, with her Firstborn, thence
Went up to Zion; for the boy was vow'd
Unto the temple service. By the hand
She led him, and her silent soul, the while,

Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye

Met her sweet serious glance, rejoic’d to think
That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers,

To bring before her God.