When her child was old enough to be left without a mother’s watchful care she took him to the Tabernacle and gave him to Eli, to be brought up as a child of the sanctuary. “I have lent him to the Lord,” she said, “and as long as he lives he shall be lent unto the Lord.” Not for a few days or weeks did she give him up, but she gave him wholly and with a sacrifice that only a mother could understand, she consented that the little feet for whose pattering she had longed should be heard no more in her cottage, that the prattle for whose music her lonely heart had waited a lifetime should sound no more in her ears, but that she should live on till the end alone, glad to know that he was all the Lord’s, and was giving back to God the blessing which he had brought to her. This is love and this is the difference between the love of earth and the love of heaven. Earthly love loves for the pleasure it can find in loving. Heavenly love loves for the blessing it can give to the loved one. Hannah knew that her sacrifice was best for Samuel, and that in giving him to God she was getting more for him than a mother’s selfish fondness could ever have bestowed. And yet there was still the sweet thought behind it all that he was hers. She was not losing him but lending him, and God counted her sacrifice a real service, and some day would restore the loan with infinite and eternal additions. When Hannah had triumphed over her own heart, and her boy was safely under the care and instruction of Eli, to be used to the utmost in the Lord’s service, she sung her song of thanksgiving for the birth of her son. Her hymn is in the highest order of prophetic poetry. Its resemblance to that of the Virgin Mary has been noticed by Bible students, and is specially remarkable as containing the first designation of the Messiah under that name. Though written in the days of scant literary attainment, the song of Hannah is an exquisite piece of composition. It is full of keen insight and superb power. Besides what was written by Moses, men wrote but little poetry in that early time. The hymns of Miriam, Deborah and Hannah have rare beauty. It was the daughters rather than the sons who prophesied in song.