Blessed be Thou for all the joy
My soul has felt to-day ! Oh, let its memory stay with me,
And never pass away !
I was alone, for those I loved
Were far away from me; The sun shone on the withered grass,
The wind blew fresh and free.
* Life and Letters of F. J. A. Ilort, i. 35.
I SAMUEL HI. lo 265
Was it the smile of early spring
That made my bosom glow ? 'Twas sweet; but neither sun nor wind
Could cheer my spirit so.
Was it some feeling of delight
All vague and undefined? No ; 'twas a rapture deep and strong,
Expanding in the mind.
Was it a sanguine view of life,
And all its transient bliss, A hope of bright prosperity?
Oh, no ! it was not this.
It was a glimpse of truth divine
Unto my spirit given, Illumined by a ray of light
That shone direct from heaven.
I felt there was a God on high, ■
By whom all things were made; I saw His wisdom and His power
In all His works displayed.
But most throughout the moral world,
I saw His glory shine; I saw His wisdom infinite,
His mercy all divine.
Deep secrets of His providence
In darkness long concealed, Unto the vision of my soul
Were graciously revealed.
But while I wondered and adored
His majesty divine, I did not tremble at His power:
I felt that God was mine.
I knew that my Eedeemer lived;
I did not fear to die; Full sure that I should rise again
To immortality.
266 THE CALL OF SAMUEL
I longed to view that bliss divine, Which eye hath never seen ;
Like Moses, I would see His face Without the veil between.^
X
/^
IV.
The Purpose of the Call.
Its purpose is twofold. It is to call us from the world (in its evil sense), and to God. It is a detachment from the one and au attachment to the other.
1. Detachment. — When the rich young man was bidden to sell all that he had and give to the poor, the involved sacrifice was obvious. But though less obvious, the sacrifice need not be less real in the case of those whose undoubted vocation is to accept the responsibility of a great inheritance. To be called to assume early in life the serious attitude towards property which most men acquire only after years ; to be daily accustomed to riches, and yet to be detached from them in heart ; to forgo luxuries which are in our power ; to maintain the warfare with temptation, when temptation is fortified and aided by one of its most invincible allies — this is, indeed, to live a life of sacrifice. Or again, to be called to public life, and amid its manifold distractions remain free from party bias or personal ambition, pm'e in purpose, high in aim, setting the affections upon things above, not on things on the earth — this, too, is a life of sacrifice, not less intense than when we long for fame and are called to obscurity, or for action and are called to passivity of pain. And it is the same at what- ever career we look. We may drift into life aimlessly or selfishly, without much disturbing our ease ; but no sooner do we view it as a Divine vocation than we are at once involved in sacrifice ; for we are at necessary issue with the evil in ourselves and in the world. ; " If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."
^ He was a wise father who firmly severed the rope by which one son was precipitated into the abyss for ever, in order that he
^ Anne Bronte.
I SAMUEL III. lo 267
might secure the other the half of his happiness. And if one-half of man's being can never fulfil its end in this life, it is but wise to give to it the eternal farewell resolutely and decisively, if the unexpected prospect present itself of enabling the other, which is, after all, the nobler half, to rise out of the caverned gloom into the light of day. Yet it is a desolate sensation and a sharp one — that act of drawing the knife across the strands of the cord, and saying, quietly, " For ever." Not a pleasant one when the sullen plunge of that which was once so cherished is heard below in the dark waters of a sea which never gives up her dead. . . . The other half is destined to ascend like the brother saved by the sacrifice of the other son.^
^ Another man heard Berry preach his first sermon in "Wolver- hampton. From that day his place in the church was seldom empty morning or evening. He walked ten miles, in all weathers, every Sunday. He was a publican, holding a seven days' licence, and one day he came to his pastor and made himself known, and said : " Mr. Berry, I hear you preach every Sunday morning and then I go home and my house is open for the sale of drink from half-past twelve to half-past two. Your preaching has convinced me that this is not right. What must I do ? " " Give it up," said Berry. He did so, and for seven years his house was never open on a Sunday. At the end of that time he came again to Berry and told him that he had scruples about continuing in his business at all. "Then come out of it," said Berry, and, although the house had been occupied by his father and himself for forty-five years, he rose to the sacrifice, and gave it up under the influence of the preaching of the man he had learnt to love and trust.^ y