SAMUEL CALLED BY THE LORD.

A CERTAIN woman named Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, a man living in Ramathaim-zophim, was childless. In Israel it was considered a disgrace to a married woman to have no children, for the people supposed that the Lord was angry and punished her thus for her sins. Therefore Hannah prayed fervently, and made a vow that if the Lord would give her a child she would dedicate him for ever to the service of heaven.

God listened to Hannah's prayers and she had a son, to whom she gave the name of Samuel, and when he was a year old, she took the child to Eli the high priest, to be brought up in the worship and service of the Lord. And when Samuel was still a child he ministered before the Lord, and every year his mother made a little coat and brought it to him when she and her husband came to offer their yearly sacrifice.

One night as Samuel lay down to sleep, the Lord called him by name, and thinking it was Eli, he ran to him. But Eli said, "I did not call thee my son; lie down again to sleep." A second and a third time God called Samuel, and the boy went to Eli, and said; "Here am I; for thou didst call me." And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child, and he said to him, "Go, lie down and if he again call thee, say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.'

Again the voice of God came to Samuel and made an awful revelation to the child, the effect of which was that a terrible vengeance was hanging over the house of Eli because of the sins of his sons. This revelation was soon fulfilled; Eli's sons were slain, and he on hearing of their deaths, fell backward and died. The sons were punished for their great wickedness, and the father because he had not corrected them.

THE FALL OF DAGON.

WHILE Samuel was still young there was a war between the people of Israel and the Philistines, and the Israelites were beaten and numbers of them slain. Then they collected a great army, and placing the ark of the cov enant in the midst of it, went forth again to battle, in the confident expectation that thus defended and strengthened, they would defeat their enemies. But they were deceived; God had turned his face away from them, and the Philistines were again triumphant. After the battle, thirty thousand Hebrews lay dead upon the earth, and the ark of God was captured by the heathens.

Great was the joy of the Philistines; they carried the ark in triumph to the temple of their great idol Dagon, and placed it by the side of that monstrous image, and made a feast in honour of their senseless and miscalled deity. The next morning when they opened the temple they found the great image of Dagon lying flat on its face before the ark; wondering greatly at the cause, the Philistines placed Dagon again upon its pedestal. But the idol of these foolish men was not suffered to stand erect near the sacred ark of God; on the second morning the image had fallen again, and the head and hands were broken off by the shock. Nor was this all diseases broke out among the Philistines and great numbers died, and they moved the ark from place to place, and wherever they rested it the people perished by thousands, so that at length they were glad to send it back to Israel. Placing it upon a cart, to which were yoked two young bullocks, they drove it away, and the animals, heaven-guided, arrived in Israel with their sacred burden. Great was the joy of the people, for they thought they should be restored to the favour of their offended God.