CHAPTER LXI.

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

"Lord Jesus, think on me,

Nor let me go astray;

Through darkness and perplexity
Point Thou the heavenly way."

ALL of you, my dear little children, know the story of the child Samuel, which comes in today's lessons; how Hannah, his mother, had no children, and she prayed to God, and He gave her a little son, who was called Samuel, and how she took him to Eli, the High Priest, to learn to serve God, and in the dead of night God spoke to the boy, and told him how He would punish Eli. All this, I say, you know, or can read in your Bibles, or your little Bible histories, but I want just to give you a little lesson on it.

The Collect prays in these words: O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully to hear us, and grant that we, to whom Thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may by Thy mighty aid be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We must say our prayers, you see; we must like to pray to God, and then we are sure of being safe. Safe from the devil, whom the Epistle tells us goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Now you know that if you were in a forest, where you were told that there was a great lion, ready to eat you up at any moment, you would always be on the watch, always looking out to see where the fierce beast was, and trying to avoid him. Well, just in the same way you must always be looking out to avoid sin; you must say your prayers and ask God to help you, and you must listen always for His loving voice telling you what to do.

And now we come back to the lesson of little Samuel. In the silence of the night God spoke to him, and he heard and listened to what He had to say: "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth,” he said. And so, dear children, you can listen to God's Word, and you can be watchful as Samuel was, and obedient and gentle in all things. And just as God was with Samuel all through his life, He will be with you, keeping the roaring lion far away from you.

And if you do fall into sin,-and you all of you must sometimes-do not forget that God is waiting to hear you say that you are sorry, and to forgive you. And the Holy Gospel to-day tells us that there is great joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Yes, my children, when you are sorry for your sins, there is joy in Heaven. Surely this thought ought to help and comfort us all, when we are fighting our hard battle against the roaring lion.

CHAPTER LXII.

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

"When the shore is won at last,
Who will count the billows past?"

THE first lessons now tell us about the after life of the Prophet Samuel, and of the Israelites rebelling against him, and wanting a king. This servant of God passed through a great many of those dangers and adversities, against which we have prayed so often in the Collects, and of which S. Paul tells us to-day in the Epistle. But he gives us a great hope to comfort us; he says that whatever our troubles are here, they are as nothing compared to what our joy will be when the battle of life is over, and we shall have won the promised land.

And the Collect puts into our mouths a prayer, which you and I ought to pray every day of our lives; it asks that we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Now I will tell you what this means: temporal means belonging to earth, and eternal means belonging to heaven. please God here on earth, we shall win the joys of heaven; and all that we have suffered here will have only made us more fit for the Beautiful City.

And if we try to

To think of Heaven then, of the things eternal, is to be your lesson to-day, dear children; and another lesson is to be kind and forgiving and gentle. You will read what Jesus says about this in the holy Gospel. You must not judge hardly of others, you must think of your own sins, and of all the wrong things you do; and then because you are loving and forgiving to your companions, God will forgive you your many sins against Him.