In all relating to Samuel, Elkanah was completely secondary. Even in the bullocks, flower, and wine, provided for the offering, it was Hannah who brought and offered them; Hannah who addressed Eli; Hannah who chaunted the song of thanksgiving to her God; and Hannah who devoted her child. The husband and father had no more to do with it, than the simple acts of acquiescence and approval, which he would not have so unhesitatingly bestowed, had he not possessed the most perfect confidence in the judgment and actions of his wife.

That no severe restrictions as to the time, form, or words of prayer, existed in the time of Hannah, is proved by her seeking the Temple to pray when it was not the appointed time of service, when there was no one there but the high priest and herself; by her speaking in her heart the words which sorrow and entreaty dictated, without any regard whatever to instituted forms, which, though indispensable for public service and national interests, will not give all that is needed to individuals. Eli marked the lips of Hannah move, but he heard no voice, for she spake in her heart, and as her heart dictated. And in her song of thanksgiving, though she prayed aloud, still it was from the heart alone.

That forms of prayer were not needed in the time of Hannah, as they are now, we acknowledge; and also with all our heart and soul do we reverence their institution, and acknowledge their full value, both nationally and individually. Many, and many a one, from incapacity to frame words of prayer, would be fearfully and painfully bereft, did they not possess the invaluable treasure of words of prayer, framed by good and learned men

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expressly for their use, and hallowed by long years. We are no advocate for the abolishment of established forms; for fully and heartfully we feel their sanctity and value. We would only beseech our young sisters to accustom themselves sometimes in their private hours, to pray and to praise from the heart, not always to depend on printed words; not, indeed, to neglect the latter, but to hallow and add to them, by individual petitions from individual hearts. Self-knowledge must be their first step to such secret prayers; for by self-knowledge alone can they discover their natural sins, their greatest temptations, their most secret weaknesses, their favorite faults. Selfknowledge alone can teach them where they are most likely to fail, and where to be unduly elevated; and display broadly and unsoftened, the true motives of their every action. Self-knowledge alone can teach them their true position with regard to eternity and God, and for all these things it is, that every individual needs individual prayer, wholly and utterly distinct from established forms; not, as we said above, to take the latter's place, but so to be added to them, as to give them life and breath.

The history of Hannah is all-sufficient for us to be convinced, that such individual and heartfelt prayers are not only legal, according to the laws, but acceptable to the Lord. No restrictions of man can alter or interfere with that which is divine; and, therefore, nothing which may be told concerning the inefficacy of individual prayer, unless guided by certain rules, forms, and words, can do away with the consolation and example afforded us by the history of our sweet and gentle ancestress, alike in the manner of her prayer and its reply, and in

her unhesitating, unquestioning, and all-confiding

FAITH.

We are thus particular, because we would at once remove the foul stigma flung by scoffers on our blessed faith, that her female children have no power to pray, and are, consequently, soulless nonentities before their God; and bring forward, from the word of God itself, the unanswerable assurance, that woman's prayers are heard, and are acceptable to Him, needing nothing more than childlike faith in His power to hear and answer, and a loving heart to dictate the imploring words. It is idle for us to say that we cannot pray, for we know not how appropriately to address the Supreme, His awful attributes appal us, and prevent all connected words. Such may be the sentiments of those who keep the Eternal far from them; but not of Israel, His firstborn, first-beloved, whose very sins have no power to separate him from his God, if he will but repent and believe. "What nation hath God so near them as Israel, in all we call upon Him for?" were the precious words of Moses, confirmed by the whole after-records of the Bible.- Hagiography, Psalms, Proverbs, Prophets, all and every one teem with the same consoling truth, proclaim our God as LOVE, the hearer and answerer of prayer, its gracious receiver, whenever it comes from the heart, and is offered up in faith. "Call upon me, and I will deliver thee," is the blessed assurance repeated again and again, in different modes of expression, in every part of the Bible. It is folly, it is guilt, to keep away from prayer, under the misleading plea, that God is a being too pre-eminently holy to be approached. Did we but really love Him as He commands, with

heart, and soul, and might; did we but trust in Him, as Abraham did, when "his faith was accounted righteousness;" we should find words enough wherewith to pray and praise. Love would bring us to Him, believing and rejoicing in that inexhaustible love which would in such infinite mercy bend down its reviving rays on us, and lift up the wearied spirit, till it found rest on the healing sympathy of its all-compassionating God.

It was thus that Hannah came to Him, loving Him, trusting Him, yet more than she loved and confided in her husband, the nearest and dearest tie on earth. She did not think herself too unworthy to approach and beseech Him, because she knew that the Law which she obeyed, and the whole history of her people, teemed with his invitations so to do, and His promises to answer. She came to Him, because she knew He loved her, and would have compassion; and because she so loved Him, that it was far easier to pour into His gracious ears her silent sorrows than breathe them unto man. She came to Him, because she not only loved, but believed with such a pure and child-like faith, that when the high priest bade her "Go in peace, and God grant thee thy petition," she returned to her own home so calmly, so trustingly, that she did eat, and her countenance was no more sad:"-words that convince us how fully she must have believed when she prayed, and not only then, but through her lifetime, for faith is of no instantaneous growth. It is a plant so foreign to this cold, sceptical, questioning world, that it must be nursed and tended into life; it must be a habit, not a feeling; it must attend our every prayer, our every spiritual aspiration, or when most needed, it will fail us, and plunge us into gloom.

But it may be asked, in what need we have such perfect and constant faith? Hannah's position will not bear upon us now, as we have neither high priest nor Temple, nor any visible manifestations of the Eternal's interference in human affairs. We have not, indeed; but we have still HIS WORD, the BIBLE, wherein so to learn His attributes, His promises, that during our captivity we need no more; for if we disbelieve that Word, no priest, no temple, no apparently visible reply, would give us the faith we need, and which Hannah proved.

We need faith to believe that God is love, and our souls immortal; that every precious promise in His word is addressed as emphatically to us individually as to us nationally; to feel that there is another and a brighter World, where "eye hath not seen, neither hath ear heard, what He hath prepared for those that love Him." Faith to know that we are individually objects of His love and care, as surely as that every blade of grass and invisible insect are alike the work of His hand, and the constant renewal of that power which at a word called forth creation. We need faith, to discern the workings of an eternal Love and infinite Goodness in the History of Man, Past and Present; to mark through the evil which is often alone visible, the furtherance of that Divine Will and Perfect Good, which runs as a silver thread through the darkest web, and links this world with heaven-man with God.

It is for all these things we need Faith: that faith which, instead of banishing Reason, welcomes and rejoices in her as her companion and handmaid. Faith may exist without reason; but let reason attempt to exclude faith