And, after that, God often made His will known to Samuel, and blessed him, and all Israel knew that Samuel was God's own prophet. Think of the great honor and blessing of having God so often speaking to him! But we have that blessing too. God is nearer to a little Christian child than He was to Samuel; for the Holy Spirit speaks in a Christian child's heart, and tells him to be good and dutiful, and to think of God, and say his prayers with all his heart. And that is better than even being a prophet like Samuel. Only we must take great care to attend to that voice; or it will leave off, and then we shall get worse and worse, like those bad sons of poor old Eli. QUESTIONS. 1. Who was Samuel? 2. Where was he brought up? 3. What did his mother bring him every year? 4. Who was the High Priest? 5. What did Samuel hear? 6. Who did he think was calling? 7. What did he do? 8. What did Eli say? 9. How often did this happen? 10. Was Samuel cross at being called so often? 11. Who was honoring him? 12. What did Eli perceive at last? 13. What did he tell Samuel to answer? 14. What did he hear again? 15. How did he answer? 16. What did the voice tell him? 17. Whose voice speaks to us? 18. How does the Holy Spirit speak to us? 19. What must we take care to do? THIRD READING. "The Ark of God is taken.--_Samuel 4:17._ GOD helped the Israelites again and again, but they would not leave off their wickedness, and at last He punished them still more. There came up a nation to make war upon them, fiercer than any before, called the Philistines. Then the Israelites fancied that if they took the Ark of the Covenant out into the battle with them they would get the victory, as they had done when Joshua conquered the land. But God had never bidden them take the Ark. He had commanded that it should stay in its place at Shiloh. They did not heed this, but took it out into the camp, and all the people shouted for joy when it was brought, with the two priests, Hophni and Phinehas, Eli's sons, to take care of it. When the Philistines heard the shout, they said that the gods of Israel were come, and that they must fight all the more bravely. And they did. God would not help His people because of their self-will, so He let them be beaten by the Philistines, and Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and the holy Ark of God was taken by these heathens. And when poor old Eli, the High Priest, heard the sad news, he was so much shocked, that he fell down backwards and broke his neck and died. God still shewed His power, for when the Philistines put the Ark into the temple of one of their false gods the idol fell down and was broken; and wherever it was taken the people fell sick, till at last they sent it back to the Israelites: but it never came back to Shiloh. It was hidden in a lonely house in the woods; and the Philistines were strong and the Israelites were very weak and miserable, because they had been so very disobedient.