Meanwhile Deborah and Barak, following up their advantage, pursued the routed foe to Harosheth of the Gentiles, leaving none to tell the story of their defeat. The power of Jabin was utterly overthrown; while the redeemed. people of the Lord, exulting in their deliverance, prostrated themselves in thanksgiving before his altars, and consecrated their lives anew to his service.

The song or triumphal ode sung by Deborah and Barak on the occasion of this signal victory, and which was undoubtedly composed by Deborah, is one of the finest specimens of

sacred poetry to be found in the Bible. It is full of noble thoughts and sublime imagery, of vivid impersonation and splendid metaphor.

The picture of the mother of Sisera looking through the lattice for the arrival of her son, congratulating herself on his undoubted success, and exulting in a fancied division of the spoils, has never been exceeded in beauty in the whole range of literature, sacred or profane.

For more than forty years Deborah ruled Israel as a judge, and for more than half that period the land had rest and peace under her wise and equitable sway. In all that is loftiest and purest in the female character, this noble matron stands preeminent among the women of her time, while not one instance of inhumanity or injustice sullies the stainless record of her public life.

At the close of a long career filled with usefulness and blessing, the vanishes from sight, like the moon when she leaves behind her departing chariot a long train of silver clouds, and goes in her serene loveliness to give light and beauty to other lands.

The Mother of the Prophet Samuel.

URING the high-priesthood of Eli, who for forty years governed Israel as priest and judge, Elkanah,

a man of Ephraim, lived at Ramath

with his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Hannah was childless, a circumstance which, in the estimation of a woman of Israel, was a great calamity, as she could not be the mother

of the Messiah. In addition to this, she was compelled to endure the taunts and reproaches of the more fortunate Peninnah, whose jealousy of Elkanah's affection for Hannah led her to treat her favored rival with insolence and unkindness.

This was repeated year after year as the family went up to Shiloh, where the ark then was, to worship and offer sacrifice to the Lord; so that the life of Hannah was rendered miserable by the causeless provocation. Still she did not return railing for railing, but in the bitterness of her soul carried her complaint to the Lord, and sought redress from the Most High.

While at Shiloh on one of these annual visits, believing herself alone with God, unseen by mortal eye, unbeard by mortal ear, she poured out her sorrows into the bosom of infinite Love with a fervor which showed that the deep fountains of feeling were broken up within her. The high-priest of Shiloh, the aged Eli, who was seated near her place of retirement, perceiving the disorder of her spirits and the unusual excitement of her manner, formed a hasty and harsh judgment concern

ing her. He believed her to be under the influence of intoxication, and charged her with the supposed crime in no measured language. Nothing but the fearful corruption which then prevailed in Israel could have led Eli to a supposition so injurious; but such was the state. of morals about him, and in his own family, that he was too ready to suspect the worst of any one of the numerous worshippers at Shiloh.

Hannah was already oppressed with grief and anxiety, and this reproach, coming as it did from the highest dignitary of the church, might well have seemed to her too grievous to be borne.

"Am I a dog," she might indignantly have exclaimed, "that my lord should imagine me guilty of so gross, so shameful a misdemeanor? Was not my burden sufficiently heavy before, without the additional weight of this unmerited censure ?"

But there was neither surprise nor indignation in the reply of Hannah. Her gentleness and humility were proof even against this trial; and with a patient sweetness which to a generous heart must have sent a pang of self