with God's merciful purposes to mankind, saw in her son the man of the future, tho defender of the faith, the restorer of pure worship, the consecrated spirit which hns spiritual right to do priestly work, and it was rest to her soul to express this faith not by words which might be contradicted, but by a solemn act full of instruction te> the child, and a permanent record of what she knew would be. So is it ever. The eye of faith sees in the infant Church of God the promise of a•• glorious Church." Simeon saw in a babe the "Salvation " of God. A few poor men saw in the " Man of sorrows" the coming "King of glory." The true beli<:ver now sees in the occa- sional triumphs of the gospel the earnest of a world's subjugation to Christ. II. FAITH HOLDS MORE THAN CAN DE PUT INTO WORDS. There was no one to whom Hannah could unfold in words all that was grasped by her faith. To her the presence of this holy child in tho house of God, serving him in the minor details of daily routine, was virtually the realisation of the prophet's office, and the enhancement of Messiah's glory. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for." The essential reality of the remote is already in the heart. The future is as though it were present. Prevision and accomplishment become subjectively one. This holy mysticism of the highest spiritual life is foolishness to the unspiritual, but is a profound and blessed fact in the experience of the true children of God. God's word given is as good as fulfilled, and the soul finds more in the consciousness of this truth than can ever be indicated in language. There is always a vast reserve of religious feeling that can never find expression. Life is more than the forms of life. The "ephod" and "little robe," and the annual visits to the child, were outward signs-symbolical forms-of a something which was too great for utterance. They were the shadows of a great reality too sacred, too rich, too varied in its issues to be set forth in ordin- ary terms. So likewise our faith holds a Christ more glorious and precious than any terms can utter. He is "formed in the heart." He is the'' unspeakable gift." Eye '.lath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived what is grasped by the Christian's faith as an ever-present treasure. Human speech, in prose or song, falls below the soul's sense of blessedness in Christ. III. FAITH IS VENTURESOME IN ADOPTING FORMS OF EXPRESSING ITSELF. Holding converse with realities which lie beyond the ordinary mind, it deviates from routine, and carves out new and rare modes of indicating its existence. Hannah could not rest content with telling Elkanah, Eli, and Samuel, in casual conversation and fleet- ing words, what she knew this ministering child was to be in days to come, and what she knew of the coming kingdom. Jacob made a coat of many colours to gratify a questionable feeling of partiality. Jochebed made a covering of bulrushes to save a precious life, possibly with a trust in a wise Providence, But Hannah had a faith in God, in the revival of religion, in the Messiah's glory, which not only sought vent for itself, but dared to create new and, to the eye of man, questionable forms of expressi0n. Persistently, year by year, as the sacred ephod required readjust- ment to varying stature, did the faith reassert itself in every stitch and every trial of approval. Innovation it might be, but it was true to faith, and faith loves reality, and seeks congruity between itself and its outward forms. The apostle wTiting to the Hebrews on the triumphs of faith recognises its heroism, its S'ltperi.ority to con- ventional forms, its intense energy in asserting itself (Heh. xi.). There are modem instances of the same holy daring. Symbolism may, like other things, sometimes be the reso1t of weak minds and superstitious tendencies, yet it may be a legitimate outgrowth of strong faith. The stately sanctuary; the hushed feeling in listening to the word of God; the surrender of fortune to the propagation of the gospel; the adoption of righteous usages against the current of opinion and custom, are only some of the symbols of fl faith that longs and dares to indicate its presence. As feelings grow in power when exercised, so faith nourishes itself by fit permanent expressions, especially when in some bold and truthful deed. Practical considerations :-1. How far the faith of these times is a reality as dis- tinguished from fl formal consent to what is commonly believed. 2. \Vhether the Church of Christ sufficiently lays hold of the fruition of all future toil in the acquired results of present toil. 3 To what extent the individuality of a powerful religious life proves itself by deerls of daring devotion. 4. The distinction to be drawn between a safe or unsafe s_yrnbolism in stated forms of worship, and the naturnl THE FmST DOOK OF SAMUEL. [en. II. 11-28.
~pontanc>ons. sy~1bolism of an_ cnerg~tic personal_ f~ith. 5. The possibility of a rnastc1ul faith m degenerate ~1m_es, nghtfully deviatmg from established prnotioee, and bemg used by God as prehmmary to great reformations.