1 Samuel 3:1-10

Light withheld.

The facts given are—

1 . A lack of the manifest revelations of the Divine will to which Israel had been accustomed.

2 . A consciousness of this want on the part of the few pious in Israel.

3 . The continued service of Samuel in the ordinary routine of the sanctuary.

4 . The resumption of the manifest revelation by the call of Samuel to receive it.

5 . Samuel experiences difficulty in recognising the call of God.

6 . Eli renders to him the assistance by which he becomes recipient of the Divine communication. The statement concerning Samuel's continued service in the sanctuary is evidently to prepare the way for the new prophet's summons to important duties. The historian's mind rests primarily on a dreary period during which a valued privilege was not enjoyed.

I. A PROGRESSION OF LIGHT IS NEEDED IN THE CHURCH OF GOD . The ancient Jewish Church was very dependent for its growth in knowledge, in direction for present duty, and in advancing joy in life, upon well ascertained communications from God. The fragmentary history from patriarchal times onwards acquaints us with many specific instances in which "open vision," as distinguished from individual enlightenment for private uses, was vouchsafed. It is probable that much other light was given than we have record of, as truly as that the apostles received more from Christ than is explicitly contained in the Gospels. The clear light of God was necessary in successive years to enable Israel to do the work required in paving the way for Messiah. Therefore men looked for "vision" through some chosen instrument, and felt that the normal course of Providence was interrupted when, through long and weary years, none was granted. Substantially the light has now been given to the modern Church. No one is to "add to or take away from the words of the book" which God has given for the instruction and guidance of his people. But relatively, to the perception of the Church and of the individual, there is still a progression in what is made known to us. All the truth was in Christ before it gradually came forth "in divers manners to the fathers;" and all the truth requisite for salvation is in the word of God. But as occasional manifestations in ancient times brought successive beams of light from the original Source to supply the need of men, so now out of the word of God much light has to break forth for the instruction, guidance, and comfort of the Church. There is all the difference imaginable between adding to the sum of truth by traditions of men or superior "light of reason," and having the things of Christ revealed to us by the Spirit. Our growth in knowledge is consequent on clearer "visions" from God's word.

II. SPIRITUAL RECEPTIVITY IS A CONDITION OF RECEIVING FURTHER LIGHT FROM GOD . The absence of "open visions" in the days of Eli is implicitly accounted for by the circumstance that the official persons through whom the communications usually came were not in a state of mind to be so honoured by God. There seems to be a beautiful adaptation between the fitness of the instrument and the fulness of the truth conveyed. Isaiah's intense spirituality of mind made him a fit instrument for conveying to men the more advanced truth revealed to him. The tone of the Apostle John's nature qualified him for the special quality and degree of truth characteristic of his writings. There seem to be high regulative laws by which God sends forth his light to the spiritual man corresponding to those in the lower sphere of intellect and moral perception. The application of this principle is seen in the history of the Church and of the individual. When the leaders of the Church have been intent on earthly things, no advance has been made in the understanding of the Scriptures. As protoplastic life must pre-exist in order to the assimilation of protoplasm, so a certain spiritual light and love must dwell in man in order to the absorption into self of light from God's word. No wonder if irreligious men cannot know the mysteries of the kingdom. The highest spiritual truth is not intellectually, but "spiritually discerned." Christ may have many things to say to us, but we, through deficient receptivity, "cannot bear them now." Hence the wisdom of God is often foolishness to men, or the darkness is real because the eye that should see is dim.

III. It is a GREAT CALAMITY FOR ANY PEOPLE TO BE DEPRIVED OF THE LIGHT which ordinarily comes from God for human use. The historian indicates the sad loss from which the people were suffering in this withholding of "open vision." All light is good, only good. It is the chief means of life. It means cheer, safety, development. To be without it in any measure is, in that degree, to be practically blind, and to suffer all the evils of blindness. We mourn over those who cannot see the sweet, beautiful light of day. Agony enters us when we gaze on men devoid of the light of reason. The wisest grope as in perpetual fear when the pillar of fire and Divine silence show not the way to take. Worst of all when the Church has no guidance suited to its need. There have been periods when the written word has been almost lost to the mass of Christians. There are souls dark, sad, hopeless because no "vision" points to the Refuge from sin and the rest to come. If one could speak out the secret miseries of some who, dazed by exclusive gaze on the light of reason, feel that life is hopeless, the world would scarcely credit the story.

IV. The LACK OF RECEPTIVITY BY WHICH this calamity is experienced is often THE RESULT OF A DEGENERATE , CORRUPT STATE OF MIND SELF - INDUCED AND LOVED . The spiritual unfitness of people and leaders in Eli's day to receive more and frequent "visions" was the creation of their own wicked wills. The calamity of being left for a while was the fruit of their doings. Sin is a blinding power, as also a creator of positive aversion. The natural effect of religious declension is to render men indifferent to the value of God's truth for its own sake and for its elevating influence; incapable of appreciating and even discerning it in its purity; prone to set a wrong interpretation upon it when in any degree it is given; and even, in many instances, disposed go refer that which professes to be from God to any other than the true source. It is a fair question how much of the professed rejection of Christianity on reasonable grounds is really traceable to the pure exercise of the reason under the guidance of an undefiled love of truth. Is not zeal to be free from such holy restraints as Christ imposes often an important element in the case? The finer and most convincing evidences of the truth of Christianity lie in the spiritual beauty and glory of the Christ, and this is a factor which mere intellectual processes cannot assess. How is it that the unholy always welcome objections to Christianity? It is ever true, "sin lieth at the door." "Ye will not come unto me." "Out of the heart are the issues of life."

V. The CAUSE OF THE DEGENERACY which issues in a calamitous loss of spiritual light LIES IN A NEGLECT OF SUCH LIGHT AS IS ALREADY GIVEN . The inaptitude of Eli to receive "visions," and of the people to profit by them, was the fruit of a religious decay brought on by inattention to the instructions given by Moses, and a heedless performance of acts of worship. Thus calamity came of abuse or neglect of existing privileges. The principle holds good over a wide sphere. Unfaithfulness in some Churches of Asia led to the dire calamity of a removal of the "candlestick." Apostles sometimes turned from cities that failed to use the opportunities they afforded them. Those who, seeing the "Eternal Power and Godhead "in the "things that are made," glorified not God, had their "foolish heart darkened." An exclusive fondness for one side of intellectual nature, to the habitual neglect of the secret and subtle moral elements in conscience, often results in the folly and wickedness of finding not even a trace of God in the universe. Of many it may still be true, "Hadst thou known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace I but now they are hid from thine eyes.'"

VI. The CORRUPTION OF AN AGE and consequent WITHHOLDMENT OF DIVINE LIGHT is NO PERMANENT BAR TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRUTH . Israel's degeneracy brought its chastisement; yet God had a holy servant in reserve both to remove the impeding corruption and to continue the declarations of God's will. Waters held back by a barrier retain and multiply their force, and in course of time will first sweep away the opposition and then flow peacefully on. God's purposes are an eternal force pressing on into the future. In ancient times a measure of truth was given to the world to make ready a fit time and condition for the Christ to come; and this was done, if not by one unwilling instrument, yet by another when that was swept away. Likewise the Church is to get more truth from the Bible for the "perfecting of the saints;" and in spite of dark seasons it will rise to a clearer vision of the truth in Christ by the providential removal of obstructions and the introduction of a more holy and teachable order of men. Man lives and toils, and opposes and dies. God ever lives in full resistless energy.

Practical considerations : —

1 . It is a question how far errors and theological conflicts are to be associated with a defective spirituality arising from either over-absorption in purely philosophical pursuits, external Church order, or political and party arrangements.

2 . To what extent is it possible to remedy the absence of Divine truth in much of the literature of modern times.

3 . By what means the Church and the individual may secure more of that holy, teachable spirit by which alone a fuller vision of truth shall be enjoyed.

4 . How far the conduct of controversies of the day respecting Divine truth is defective by not sufficiently taking into account the spiritual condition of men opposed to religion, and whether there is a proper dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit to give eyes to the blind.

5 . To what extent, in personal seasons of darkness, the cause lies in our personal indulgence in secret or open sin.

Lowly instruments.

The transition from the employment of Eli, as the messenger of God to the people, to Samuel, brings into view important truths concerning the instrumentality by which God effects his purposes concerning man.

I. God always has IN RESERVE AND TRAINING SUITABLE INSTRUMENTS for promoting the ends to be sought in connection with Christ's kingdom. Judged from the outward aspect of things, all around appeared dark and hopeless. There was no one able to cope with the difficulties of the position. A similar condition of things has been found in certain countries during the history of the Christian Church. Some desponding minds would find a correspondence in the prevailing unbelief and daring atheism of modern times. There are also conditions of the individual spiritual life when decay has apparently gone on to utter hopelessness. Missionaries have now and then felt almost the horror of despair in view of nameless barbarities. But two or three saw a little beneath the surface. Hannah was sure of coming deliverance. Elkanah in some degree shared her confidence, and Eli surmised a purpose of the Lord in the presence of the holy child of the sanctuary. And, answering to these better spirits of a corrupt age, there are always a few—"a remnant"—who know and are comforted in the assurance that God has instruments in reserve. As in the case of Samuel, they are chosen, in training, and biding their time. There are instances of this general truth—

1 . In the preparation of the earth for man. From remote times there were already chosen, and qualified, and retained in other forms till fit season, the agencies by which, in spite of catastrophes of fire and convulsion and deluge, the beautiful earth would come forth in material realisation of the thought and purpose of God.

2 . In the infant Christian Church. The end of Christ's earthly life seemed most disastrous to his kingdom. The corruption and craft of the wicked were dominant, and the removal of the Saviour seemed to human judgment to be the climax of disaster. Yet God had chosen, was training and holding in reserve, the men by whom the evils of the age were to be overcome, and truth and righteousness and love asserted as never before.

3 . In definite periods of the Church's history. The scholastic subtleties of the middle ages on the one side, the deplorable decay of morals and the prostitution of Church ordinances to gain on the other, caused the earth to mourn. Nevertheless, in the seraphic devotion of here and there a devout monk, in the inquiring spirit of Erasmus, the clear intelligence of Melancthon, and the courage and firm grip of truth by Luther, God had his chosen instruments for producing a wonderful advance in all that pertains to freedom, purity, and Christian knowledge.

4 . In the midst of the evils indicated by modern antagonism to Christianity. Doubtless the principles advocated, logically wrought out, as they are sure to be when the mass embrace them, contain the seeds of immorality, anarchy, and decay of noblest sentiments; and often there is an eagerness in adopting them which may well cause some to tremble. But God is alive, not dead. He has his agencies, fitted, and, so to speak, under restraint. They will be found to consist in the practical futility of all endeavour to get substitutes for a holy religion; the hopeless miseries into which individuals will be plunged; the horror created by the very violence of vice; the natural, never-to-be-quenched instinct which compels man to "cry out for the living God;" the calling forth of wise men of saintly life who are masters in secular knowledge; the silent force of Christian lives in health, sickness, and sorrow; and the aroused prayerfulness of the Church. Men like Samuel are in existence—

5 . In the conflict of the individual Christian life. The dire evils of latent sin, weak resolutions, from stains of early years, seem to be a "body of sin and death from which there is no escape. But God has in reserve the truth, the afflictions, the tenderness, the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, by which all these shall pass away, and a restored life shall result.

II. The CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE INSTRUMENTS in working out God's will are, SO FAR AS PERSONS ARE CONCERNED , WELL ASCERTAINED . There is great advantage in having the child life of Samuel sketched in contrast with the habits and principles of those no longer worthy to be the instruments for doing the highest work in the world. The qualities in Samuel that fitted him for his work were purity of life, deep love for God and his sanctuary, personal consecration to any service in which it might please God to employ him, and the humility that disdains not even menial work if God would thus have it. These qualities are really embraced in the one supreme quality— conformity of will to the Divine will. In this respect all human instruments are alike when thoroughly effective. In so far as it is our "meat and drink" to do the Father's will, our nature becomes a fit channel for the Divine energy to work through for spiritual ends. The failure of moral agents lies in the condition of the will. The power of Christian life in prayer, in work, in silent influence, is in proportion as the consecration takes the form of, "Not my will, but thine be done."

III. The EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INSTRUMENTS used lies essentially in THE POWER WHICH WORKS THROUGH THEM . The excellent qualities of Samuel no doubt exercised a power appropriate to their own nature; but the real work he did was more than the mere natural influence of what he was. It was God who worked, not only within him to will and to do, but also with and by him. Everywhere in Scripture stress is laid on the unseen energy of God acting on the visible and invisible elements of things, and at last bringing all into subjection. The reality of the Divine power in the human instrument is often conspicuous. The child Samuel did not secure of himself the submission of the people or the deference of Eli. God wrought on their spirits and made them willing to take him as prophet. Saul was the stronger map, but God used David to slay Goliath. God, in the case of apostles, had chosen the "weak things of the world to confound the mighty." His grace was sufficient for them. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit."

General lessons : —

1 . There is the most perfect ground for confidence that agencies will be found for doing any work really essential to the salvation of men.

2 . It is important for all so to live and labour that they may be available for any service requisite in seasons of trial.

3 . The fitness of each Christian for doing greatest possible good in the world rests with his own diligent self culture and entireness of consecration.

4 . It is essentially necessary that in all effort God be recognised as the Author of all good.

Call to higher service.

The service of God is very wide and varied. Every true heart may find some employment therein. "They serve who wait," as also those who simply exhibit a holy life. The weary Christian invalid conveys many an impressive lesson to the strong and vigorous. The patient endurance of adversity may do more good than the enjoyment of prosperity. In making distinctions in the value of service rendered, we are not always in a position to pass perfect judgment. In one respect a lowly Christian may be "greater than John the Baptist." In reference to public functions there are gradations, and in this respect Samuel was called to a higher form of service.

I. There ARE CALLS TO A SERVICE RELATIVELY HIGHER . In the estimation of Hannah and Eli, the early occupation of Samuel in the tabernacle was the initiatory stage of a life work. Except so far as a pure, simple life in contrast with vileness can teach, Samuel's service was confined to attendance on the venerable high priest. The position for which he was finally called was more conspicuous, of wider influence, and involving the display of superior qualities. The narrative relating the call to this higher service is a record in spirit of what has often transpired in the course of history, and is being realised every day. Abraham, Moses, and David served God, each in his own restricted sphere, when they obeyed the Divine call. As Christ once summoned fishermen to leave their occupation to be fishers of men, so now others hear his voice urging them to leave the ship, the desk, the farm, to do his will in preaching the gospel. To the attentive ear of the devout there are frequent calls to rise to more arduous positions in the Church, or to enter on some line of private Christian endeavour that shall more truly bless mankind. Let devout men not forget that the Divine call to higher work is not confined to public functionaries. All kinds of workers are engaged on the spiritual temple.

II. There is A SPECIAL FITNESS REQUIRED FOR HIGHER SERVICE . Obviously, only a Samuel trained by a devout mother, accustomed to the hallowed associations of the sanctuary, was suited for the work that had henceforth to be done. The chief elements that qualify for entrance on higher service are—

1 . Deep piety ; for as piety is a requisite to all useful spiritual work, so deep piety is required for the more trying forms of usefulness.

2 . Fidelity in lower forms. He that is faithful in that which is least becomes fitted for superior responsibilities. "Come up higher" is the voice which crowns earthly toil.

3 . Natural aptitude for new emergencies. God never puts a man in a position for which natural powers when sanctified are unsuited. The wondrous adaptations in the material world find their analogies in the spiritual.

4 . Readiness to endure what is unknown. God's servants have to enter an untraversed ground, and their qualification for a call to this must embrace a spirit that says, "Here am I." "Speak, Lord." "What wouldst thou have me to do?" The representation given of Samuel, and of others in the Bible, shows that they were endowed with these qualifications. This, also, may be a test by which good men may now judge of themselves. No one ought to think of departing from any useful sphere of labour without severe scrutiny as to capabilities for heavier duties.

III. The FITNESS FOR HIGHER SERVICE IS , IN SOME INSTANCES , UNCONSCIOUSLY ACQUIRED . Growth is not felt while in process, and only when attention is called to it is the fact recognised. Samuel became month by month more pious and true; his aptitudes enlarged, and his courage rose with every discharge of inconvenient duty. He became spiritually wealthy without being aware of it—sure evidence of vital godliness. The disposition sometimes found to complain of one's lot, to hanker after some more showy occupation in God's service, and to watch and plan for personal advancement, is not a good sign. The humble deeds of opening the door, lighting the lamps of the house of God, when done out of pure love for the Lord of the sanctuary, are means of raising the tone of the entire life. To do the smallest deed for Christ is blessed, and years of such fond service is an education, the results of which are only brought out to view when a perhaps sudden demand is made for some difficult duty. By his bitter repentance, and the all-absorbing love for Christ consequent on full restoration, Peter little knew that he was becoming the man to lead the Church on to great triumphs.

IV. The MEANS OF CALLING TO HIGHER SERVICE ARE WONDERFULLY SUITED TO THE CIRCUMSTANCE . The miraculous manifestation of the Divine Being was in harmony with the method by which, as Samuel knew from history of the past, God conveyed his will to men. No terror would arise in his spirit, for he was accustomed to reverence the house of God, and to feel that God was nigh. A pure, loving heart does not dread God. The more childlike the piety, the more welcome the thought and presence of the eternal Friend. If Samuel was to become a prophet, and the emergency required that a prophet should speak at that juncture; and if, for authentication, Eli must be used, it is difficult to conceive how these ends could be more naturally secured than by the manner in which the call was made. The objections men raise to what they call the anthropomorphism of such a portion of Scripture as this are utterly baseless. Does not God reveal himself in the material world by the visible things which are the outward expressions of his mind? Does it make any real difference to him whether he form them by a slow or by a more swift process? Was the first expression, in an act of creation, slow? Who, then, shall say that in expressing his moral purposes for men he must not and cannot adopt an ontward visible form, by which the mind to be taught shall be surely arrested? Given a revelation to be made, will men prescribe a priori and infallibly how God is to act in making it. If so, do they not draw on their human views, and create a God of their own? And what is this but anthropomorphism of deepest dye? All God's acts are perfect. The call of his servants is by means suited to time, purpose, and condition. Abraham and others after him each heard the Divine voice differently, but naturally, so far as special conditions determine events. There are "diversities of operations," but "one Spirit." So now it may be by "still small voice," or by suggestion of the wise, or by pressure of circumstances, that his servants receive the assurance that God would have them enter on enlarged responsibilities.

V. It is POSSIBLE THAT A CALL MAY NOT BE CLEARLY DISTINGUISHED AT FIRST . It was not wonderful that Samuel mistook the voice of God for the voice of man. It was Divine tenderness gradually to prepare his mind, through the suggestion of Eli, for a great event. God accommodates his voice of majesty to mortal ears. A spirit like Samuel's, satisfied with the honour of doing anything in the house of God, would scarcely suppose that the greatest of honours was at hand. We are not sure that calls to higher service are in any case immediately clear. Scripture tells of the fact in many instances without reference to the mental history of the individuals. Abraham's strong faith implies special difficulties, and possibly conflicts. Isaiah could scarcely believe that God would use him. Though the disciples knew that Jesus of Nazareth called them to be his servants, doubts subsequently came over them, for they "trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel." Good men become so habituated to lines of action, ruling of impulses, and guidance of common events, that at first they cannot recognise a superior will in new openings, new gentle longings, and pressure from without. It is by the use of ordinary faculties and means that the call to duty is ascertained. Samuel inquired of Eli, and followed the suggestions of the experienced. The great lines of duty are close to all who will take the trouble to know them. Wise men, passing events, openness of spirit, willingness to be led, these are the means by which every perplexed Samuel will be sure to solve his doubts. To know the possibility that God has some unknown duty to indicate, to be saying in heart, when attention is aroused, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth"—this is often the first step to a new career of usefulness.