At sight of Samuel pleading his cause before them—an old man, bowed down with age and infirmity, who had devoted himself to their service his whole life long and now had been set aside, the people were seized with remorse. They answered him with one voice that they had no charge whatever to bring against him.

Then said Samuel: ‘The Lord God, then, is this day witness, and your king, his anointed, is witness between us. You have found nothing against me?’

And they answered: ‘Be God our witness.’

Then said Samuel: ‘If in the years that are gone I have kept faith with you as you yourselves have testified, hearken to me now, for it may be that I shall not come before you again.’

And he recalled to them the mercies which had been shown to Israel since they had first become a nation. Nevertheless, again and again they had proved faithless and had forsaken the Lord and humbled and defiled themselves in worship of the false gods of the nations around them. They had sunk into sloth and apathy. Enemies had risen against them, triumphed over them in battle, and oppressed them.

Yet when they had repented and returned again to the Lord, had he not taken pity on their sorrows, heard their prayers, and raised up for them leaders valiant of heart, subtle of mind, and skilled in war?

Had they forgotten Moses who had been sent to save Israel in days of old? Far-sighted, wise and fearless, had he not defied the might and tyranny of Egypt, shattered the pride of Pharaoh, and redeemed Israel from thraldom? How many valiant captains had God raised up for them in the time of need? Joshua, who after their long wanderings in the wilderness had led Israel into Canaan and divided it among them. Ehud, who had destroyed King Eglon of the Moabites. Barak, who had so utterly defeated the hosts of King Jabin, with his nine hundred chariots of iron, that Sisera the commander of his armies had been compelled to flee on foot and, wearied-out, meet in sleep his shameful end at the hand of a woman, armed only with a tent mallet and a nail. Gideon, too, who with but three hundred men had discomfited the hosts of Midian and of Amalek.

‘Yea,’ he said, ‘and even Samuel himself who stands before you now—hath he not fought for Israel? Nevertheless, when but a little while gone you were seized with terror of Nahash, King of Ammon, did you, remembering these things, put your trust in God? Nay, you murmured among yourselves, and in thanklessness and folly forgot that Jehovah was your Saviour, and demanded that a king should reign over you. And you refused to listen to my warnings. “A king! A king shall reign over us!” This was your cry.

‘Behold, then, here is the king whom you have chosen, the king of your desire, the Lord’s anointed! Serve him faithfully. But be not puffed up with pride. If you fear and honour the Lord he will never forsake you, nor will he reject your king. But if you refuse him and rebel against him, then shall his hand be lifted in wrath against you, even as he punished your fathers before you. He will abandon you. How shall he be the shield and defender of those who deny and defy him? How shall the light of his countenance shine upon those who choose the dark? Stand now, and see, for the Lord God in his heavens shall even this day reveal a wonder before your eyes.

‘Are not the wheat-fields of Canaan ripe for harvest? Comes ever in Israel storm or rain at this season? Lo, I myself will call upon Jehovah, and the thunder of his voice shall rend the firmament, and there shall be rain and lightnings. And you shall tremble with fear of such a marvel, and your hearts shall melt within you, knowing your wickedness and the wrong you have done in demanding a king.’

At these words a great silence fell upon the host. On one side of the bare open plain where they were encamped far mountains lifted rugged slopes faintly coloured in the haze of heat. On the other, beyond fantastic hillocks and through thickets of acacia, tamarisk, willow and the white-flowering juniper, flowed