Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. They either foretold the future, or rebuked
kings as messengers of omnipotence, or taught the people great truths,
or uttered inspired melodies, or interpreted dreams, or in some way
revealed the ways and will of God. Among them were patriarchs, kings,
and priests, and sages uninvested with official functions. Some lived in
cities and others in villages, and others again in the wilderness and
desert places; some reigned in the palaces of pride, and others in the
huts of poverty,--yet all alike exercised a tremendous moral power. They
were the national poets and historians of Judaea, preachers of
patriotism as well as of religion and morals, exercising political as
well as spiritual power. Those who stand out pre-eminently in the
sacred writings were gifted with the power of revealing the future
destinies of nations, and above all other things the peculiarities of
the Messianic reign.

Samuel was not called to declare those profound truths which relate to
the appearance and reign of Christ as the Saviour of mankind, nor the
fate of idolatrous nations, nor even the future vicissitudes connected
with the Hebrew nation, but to found a school of religious teachers, to
revive the worship of Jehovah, guide the conduct of princes, and direct
the general affairs of the nation as commanded by God. He was the first
and most favored of the great prophets, and exercised an influence as a
prophet never equalled by any who succeeded him. He was a great prophet,
since for forty years he ruled Israel by direct divine illumination,--a
holy man who communed with God, great in speech and great in action. He
did not rise to the lofty eloquence of Isaiah, nor foresee the fate of
nations like Daniel and Ezekiel; but he was consulted and obeyed as a
man who knew the divine will, gifted beyond any other man of his age in
spiritual insight, and trusted implicitly for his wisdom and sanctity.
These were the excellences which made him one of the most extraordinary