informed of eastern customs somewhat strangely. Then, as now, in the East, it would have been the height of rudeness and indecorum for any one to present himself before a superior or equal, especially if he had any request to make, without some present, more or less, according to his degree, not by any means as a fee or bribe, but in testimony of his homage, his respect, or his compliments. Of the numerous examples of this custom which have occurred in our reading, or have come under our own notice in the East, the one which has most impressed itself upon our mind, is that which Plutarch records of the Persian king Artaxerxes Mnemon. On one occasion a

poor husbandman, seeing every one give the king a present of some sort or other, as he passed by them, but having nothing at hand that seemed proper to be given, ran to a stream that was near, and filling both his hands with water, came and offered it to the king, who was so gratified with the inventive spontaneity of this act of homage, that he ordered to be given to the man a thousand darics, and a cup of massive gold. This same king of kings' always received with satisfaction. the smallest and most trifling gifts which evinced the zeal and attention of the offerers; and in a country where we have ourselves bought six of the finest possible pomegranates for a penny, he evinced the utmost pleasure on receiving from a man named Romises the finest pomegranate his garden yielded. A present equally small would have enabled Saul to pay his respects to Samuel; but it was as impossible for him to appear empty-handed, as it would be for us to enter a gentleman's parlour with covered heads. He lamented that, owing to the length of the way they had been led, there was not a morsel left of the bread they had taken with them, clearly intimating, that one of the small cakes or loaves into which eastern bread is made, would in his view have been a suitable offering. The servant informed him, however, that he had sixpence1 in his pocket, which could be applied to this purpose. Here is another difference from our ideas. With us, to offer a small sum of money to a superior or a public man, or even to an

1 A quarter of a shekel-rather more than sixpence.

equal, would be a gross affront. Even we might take a small matter—an orange, a flower, or a little book-with satisfaction and acknowledgment; but money--that must not be named. All this is different in the East, where a small coin is not less acceptable as a mark of respectful attention, than its value in any other shape. Travellers in the East might spare the solicitude they often evince to provide or select suitable presents for the persons to whom they have, to show respect. Money is quite as acceptable as anything that money could buy. It is often more acceptable; and it is not uncommon for a stranger to be desired to retain his present, and give the value of it in money. This was the general practice of no less a personage than Futteh Ali Shah-not many years ago king of Persiawho, when the customary presents were offered to him, would often, in his later years, ask, 'What may these things be worth?' and on being told, would answer, 'Keep them, and give me the money.' Had there been any feeling in the mind of Saul, that aught else would have been better than money as a present to the man of God, it would have been easy for him to spend his sixpence in the town for the purchase of something more suitable as an offering; but that this did not occur to him, shows that money had then, nominally as well as really, that universal fitness for all such purposes which it still possesses in the East, and which indeed it possesses really, but not nominally, in the West also.

Thirtieth Week-Sixth Day.

THE SEER.-I SAMUEL IX. 9.

THE further progress of the narration of Saul's visit to Samuel brings before us a very curious piece of information, which is introduced in the way of a parenthesis: 'Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet, was beforetime called a Seer.' Some have argued from this,

that the book was written at a later period than is commonly ascribed to it, since it refers to a custom of language existing in the time of Samuel, but extinct in the time of the writer. Others allege that these words might have been written by Samuel himself towards the close of his life, when he might with propriety notice that in his younger days, and quite down to the anointing of Saul, when there was no open vision,' and afterwards when there was scarcely any that had it but himself, he used to be called 'the Seer;' but that in his latter days, when there were many that had the vision of prophecy, and schools of the prophets had been established, it was more common to call them 'prophets.' In this explanation it seems, however, to be overlooked, that the name Seer continued in use long after the death of Saul, and that with a pointed discrimination. Thus, down to the time of Solomon, we have Gad and Iddo the seers, while their contemporary Nathan is always called a prophet, never a seer. We therefore think there is more probability in the opinion that this verse is an explanation inserted by a later hand. There are many such explanations of archaic customs and names to be found in the early books of Scripture, and their introduction is usually ascribed to Ezra; and we would not willingly regard even these incidental illustrations, interwoven with the sacred text, as the work of any hand less than inspired, as Ezra's was. The distinction between seer and prophet is intelligible enough. The seer was one who 'beheld things invisible to mortal sight,' visions of God; and it is expressly said of Iddo, the last to whom the name of seer is given, that he saw visions of God against Jeroboam,' 2 Chron. ix. 29. Elisha, though never called a seer, was no less so, when he beheld the chariots and horses of fire, that his servant saw not until his eyes were opened. Nor less a seer was Ezekiel, so eminent for his frequent and elaborate visions. In later times, however, the utterances of the prophets, and the visions on which these utterances were founded, embraced a wider scope into the future; and the predictive character of their disclosures becoming proportionally more prominent and signal, they came to be universally desig

nated as 'prophets,'-that is, in the primary sense, foretellers of things to come.

As Saul and his attendant went up the hill to the town, they met some maidens coming out to draw water, the wells in Palestine being usually outside the towns. Of them they inquired, Is the seer here?' In reply to this a long recital was given; so unusually long for maidens to give to a simple question from a stranger, as to have suggested to some Rabbinical commentators, that the damsel who acted as spokes-, woman was charmed by the personal graces of the tall traveller, and sought by this means to detain him and engage his attention. Her communication is interesting to us, whatever Saul may have thought of it. The purport of it was, that Samuel had come that day to the city, for there was to be 'a sacrifice of the people to-day in the high place;' and if they made haste, they might come up with him before he got thither and sat down to eat with the people; for if not, they would scarcely be able to see him, and speak with him of their private matters for some time, if at all that day. The people would not, it was added, sit down to meat until Samuel came to bless the sacrifice.' That a feast was to be made of the sacrifice, implies that this was some holy festival occasion, upon which peaceofferings were sacrificed, and afterwards eaten by the people. With regard to the fact of sacrifice being offered in this manner under the sanction of the prophet, we shall add nothing here to what we have lately had occasion to state on that point; and as to the sacrificing in high places, we are content to observe, intending to look into this matter more fully hereafter, that the practice has here the sanction of Samuel's example. blessing of the sacrifice must mean the asking of a blessing upon the food before the meal,—an old and universal practice among the Israelites, which we, as a nation, have but imperfectly adopted. This was done at every common meal, and much more at a solemn festival like this. The present, however, is the first recorded example of the custom. The Jewish commentators give us what they apprehend to have been the 'blessing' used on such occasions as this: 'Blessed be Thou,

The

O Lord our God, the King of the world, who hath sanctified us by his commandments, and commanded us to eat the sacrifice.'

With this information Saul hastened on, and on his way met Samuel himself. The prophet, though virtually the ruler of Israel, and about to preside at a high festival, was undistinguished-such were the simple manners of these ancient times -by his dress, or by the presence of attendants or disciples, from an ordinary townsman; and as such, Saul addressed him, and inquired the way to the seer's house. Now, Samuel had previously received a divine intimation, which enabled him at once to recognise in the stranger the man whom the Lord had chosen to meet the demands of the people for a king, and to deliver them from the hand of their enemies. Having received this intimation, and being now conciliated by the noble carriage and ingenuous aspect of the man, the generous-hearted prophet threw himself with cordiality and kindness into his interests, subject always to his higher duty to the supreme interests of the Hebrew commonwealth; and thus did he continue to feel, until, and even after, the career of Saul had developed the qualities which rendered him unfit to reign.

In answer to Saul's question, Samuel answered, 'I am the seer,' and proceeded to invite him to come to the feast, and to remain with him until the morrow; and to reconcile him to the delay, he assured Saul that the lost asses had been found; and now said the prophet, 'On whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house?' Little interest as Saul had taken in the matter, he could not misunderstand this. But he replied as one who, having no doubt that some person of high standing and character would be appointed king, did not suspect that Samuel could be in earnest in thus speaking to a man so obscure as himself.

Without any further explanation, Samuel conducted him to the feast. There, in the presence of the chief men of the town, he assigned to this travel-worn but noble-looking stranger the place of honour, which we know was the right-hand corner, and directed the cook to set before him the most distinguished