CIRCUITS
[p. 476] CIRCUITS
Psalm 19: 4-6; Romans 15:19; 1 Samuel 7:15-17
I read these scriptures because they contain the word “circuit”. I wish to show from them how the testimony of God proceeds, how it occasions felicitation, not dolefulness, as the greatest of servants said, “always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). It is a feature of christianity that those who have part in it should rejoice, even in tribulation, “also boast in tribulations” (Romans 5:3). Psalm 19 serves to bring out how the creation itself was intended to reflect this holy, felicitous state of things. You will all remember how that in the book of Job Jehovah undertook to finish the service rendered to Job, and how He began with matters relating to the founding of the earth, heavy work, of course, but Jehovah said to Job that it was a happy occasion. It was marked by a happy state of things. In laying foundations, of course, builders know how heavy the work is, how difficult, too, how irritating ofttimes; for soil, the earth, sometimes, and more often than not, hardly yields itself to such operations. The foundations of some of the buildings in this great city go very deep, so that we may well say, “the height and the depth”, for the reason that the earth is not solid. Sometimes we find rock, but not always, and builders have to circumvent the difficulties, and they are not always joyous, but painful, calling for patience. I have no doubt that Paul’s work on the foundations at Corinth was similar. The soil was not too good. He does not refer to sonship as the foundation laid there, he refers to Jesus Christ, meaning the kind of Man that was here, in all weathers, amid all difficulties and trials and tears. The Lord knew what it was to shed tears, Paul knew what it was to shed tears. So did Timothy. So that Jesus Christ laid as foundation was such as would overcome difficulties, and sorrows would be turned into joy in the laying of such a foundation [p. 477] because it was simply a question of presenting Christ to the Corinthians in such a way, in such power, that He was received into their souls. So the apostle says that his foundational work was not in human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that our “faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God”. It was arduous work and trying work, but nevertheless the foundation was laid, and many a happy hymn was sung in the course of the operations. Many a good meeting they had indeed in Corinth, for Paul knew how to raise a tune in the greatest sorrow, as did Silas, in the prison at Philippi. We may be sure the music was good for at midnight they sang praises to God in prayer. They felt the need of divine help, but the help went beyond the need and enabled them to sing. The shaky, uncertain foundations of the prison were loosened, but alongside of that a sure foundation was laid at least in one man and that was the jailor.
So Jehovah intimated to Job that they had a good time in laying the foundations of the earth. He said, Were you there? It is well to have questions like that put to us. Where were you, He said to Job, then? You did not participate in any of that joy. I suppose He could have said to Job, You have not sung a note for a long time; since Satan came to Me and moved Me against you you have been in great misery; you have not been joining in in the work of God in your songs. But He says to him in effect, At the laying of the foundations of the earth we had good times. “The morning stars sang together”, it is said. Beautiful harmony! They sang together, not one by one. “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). Had he had a bright morning in his soul for years, for months? The book would indicate that misery had been his portion, for he had been shutting God out. That is how the matter stands in adversity, dear brethren. We shut God out, whereas adversity should be the door for Him to come in. Job’s wife did not help him. A wife may be a great help to her husband in times of distress if she is pious, if she is joyful, if she is spiritual. One man, called Manoah, said, We have seen an angel of the Lord, we are going to die. Well, that was a doleful note. His wife had no such note as that. She said, If the Lord were going to kill us He would not have accepted a burnt-offering from us. Job’s wife said to him, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). What awful advice that was to give her husband! A poor, wretched man as he was then, suffering beyond words. “Curse God and die”. She is hardly ever mentioned after. She disappears in gloom, telling her husband to curse God. Could she give him any worse advice? She could not! Did he take it? He did not, thank God! Had he taken it, he would hardly have heard of the foundations of the world, as first-hand knowledge. The very hands that laid the foundations of the earth were there and Jehovah says to him, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). He said in effect, Job, you have never had such a time as this, but He wished that he should have it, and that is why I read this first scripture.
It is a psalm of the heavens, not of the earth, but I read it because it has a note of joy in it. It indicates really what christianity is, how it was inaugurated. And God intends what is inaugural to be finished. The finish is to be in accord with it. We are living in very, very distressing times, but God would speak to us about joyous times. The Lord Jesus in the parable says, “there is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner” (Luke 15:10). How many have repented since Pentecost! Has heaven ever been without a joy of that kind? But it is not simply one sinner that repents once, but he continues to do so, and every time he repents he affords joy in heaven. So that there is no dolefulness up there, and how much more so, dear brethren, as we think of the Lord Jesus sitting up there, the Father’s delight,
“received up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). Not received up to glory, although that is true too, but He was received up in it. In fact, He was met in the tomb by the Father’s glory. The Father raised Him out of the tomb by His glory. The Lord was enveloped in glory as He came out of the tomb, and that was continued. He was received up in glory, the same glory, others added to it. All the features of glory of which heaven is capable enveloped or surrounded the entrance of the Saviour into heaven, the Lord Jesus. And heaven has not altered its mind about Him, there are no doleful days or hours there. And so, dear brethren, one would seek to show how this psalm points to the inaugural day of christianity. The Holy Spirit came down, as we say, as the day of Pentecost was running its course. It is a remarkable thing that there is no limit to the day of Pentecost in the types. It is as long as you can sustain it. God will not tell you to stop the joy. The Holy Spirit has brought in joy, “joy in the Holy Spirit”, “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking”, however good the meat, however good the drink, it is not that, but “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”, a constitutional joy (Romans 14:17). Heaven is always sharing it, and it would have us to share with it in that joy. And so this psalm is very striking in that way. It speaks of a tabernacle for the sun. Now one has often thought that the things that testify to God are not simply passive witnesses. The testimony really lies in how God calls attention to the thing that witnesses. Even Jesus Himself God called attention to. Heaven opens and calls attention to Him. Well, you say, He did not need that. Quite so. In Himself He was a witness; He was a glorious, living Person, but yet His ministry began with heaven calling attention to Him. Heaven’s attention, heaven’s remarks will convey the impression that is to remain with us. It is how heaven speaks of a thing or a person. “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight” (Luke 3:22). You say, You did not [p. 480] quote it all. Yes, I did. It does not say, “hear him” there. It does on the Mount of Transfiguration, but at the Jordan it is just the Person. “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”; it is to fix our eyes on a Person Who delights heaven, as if to say that He is sufficient to delight you, to cause joy in your heart. Not what He says, but what He is now. He is the beloved Son. Presently it is what He says as well.
The account of the sun here in Psalm 19 is an account that no astronomer would ever attempt to give. He would never think of giving it. You will never find it in any book on astronomy, not that I have read any exhaustively, but you will never find the tabernacle alluded to. Genesis 1 does not allude to it. But then you must allow God to have His way. If He has made the sun and the other heavenly bodies you must allow Him to say things about them as He sees them. He is saying to us, I am seeing more in the sun than you can see, or the astronomer can see. I see My Son in that sun, and I want you to understand I have abundantly provided for Him in heaven. I have made a tabernacle for Him up there. One would like to understand the special place the Lord Jesus has in heaven. What has God provided for Him? He says, “for I go to prepare you a place” (John 14:2). Everyone of us will have a place. But what kind of a place has He? When we see the accommodation, as I may say, the living surroundings, the accommodation accorded to the glorious Son of God in heaven, then we shall understand how He is honoured, how He is glorified. “In them hath he set a tent for the sun”. God is speaking about the Son by His Spirit here through David, and He is saying that the Lord Jesus has gone up into heaven and He is honoured up there. He is received up in glory. What kind of apartments, to use a figure, what kind of attendants? How is He being received? Think of the angels, how they stand about! Think of the Father’s glories beaming all around on the Object, the supreme Object of His [p. 481] affections! Think of the arrangements made, so to say, for Him! “In them has He set a tent for the sun”. Well, who is that sun? It is the Son. And we read in Matthew that the father, the king, the great king, made a marriage for his son. He made a marriage for him. Think of the preparations! The idea of Christ’s marriage is heavenly. The bride is not mentioned here. It is the Bridegroom. He comes out of His chamber. Think of that! Not now a tent, but a chamber. He comes out of it and He makes the circuit. That is to say, the idea is that love returns to the starting point. That is the idea of the circuit. So He comes out of His chamber as a Bridegroom and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. Now that is, dear brethren, what I want to impress on us first of all, this supreme thought of felicitation, of joy in the inauguration of christianity. And the idea is, in the Spirit’s presence here, that it should be maintained. Matthew 22 contemplates that it runs right through the dispensation. It is maintained by the Spirit. So that the Lord beams as He moves as the strong Man to run a race. There is no idea of fatigue. There is no idea of any cause of sorrow. The matter is so great and glorious, so unending in its results, that it is enough to keep the joy going. It is a question really of divine Persons. But the Lord Jesus in all these centuries has been making these circuits, not to judge as in Samuel’s case as I shall show, not to execute judgment, but to cause joy in what is called the Glad Tidings, for that is the meaning of the gospel. What seasons there have been through the centuries in this constant circuiting in what is typified here, or symbolized, I should say, in this description of this glorious Person coming out of His chamber as a strong man to run a race, rejoicing as a bridegroom! The joy of His heart is in it. In the middle of the night, in the middle of this dispensation, in the darkness, there was a cry, “Behold, the bridegroom”. Not simply Christ, not the Saviour, it is, “Behold, the bridegroom”. Are we able to see Him? “Go ye forth to meet Him” (Matthew 25:6). That is the [p. 482] finish. It is the movement of the Bridegroom causing joy in every heart that loves Christ. And so the psalmist says, “His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof”. It is the heat. It is heat but not in the sense in which they have it down in the tropics now. The sun is sometimes said to be an enemy down there when it is right overhead. For the last few days we felt the heat here in these parts, causing discomfort, but that is not the idea here. Heat here is not to cause discomfort. It is for comfort. As we get elsewhere, the south wind blows and your clothes begin to be warm. How often we have experienced that! The south wind is from sunny quarters. It is a symbol of the warmth of Christ, companionship with Christ. “Did not our heart burn within us?” (Luke 24:32), said two people, one to the other. Did not our heart burn within us? Not with pain. No. It was the consciousness of something that was favourable. Love was there. The love of recovery. The Lord was seeking to recover those two, and He succeeded in it and He would cause their heart to burn. There is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
And now going on to Romans which is the great gospel epistle, we have the reflection of this verse, the continuance of this in the apostle Paul, the evangelist, the greatest, I suppose, although he is not exactly called one; but he is, I suppose, the greatest of the evangelists. In fact, in any sense he was not a whit behind the greatest apostles. And certainly in preaching the gospel, it is the preaching of Paul. The Lord would not allow any to supersede Paul, that “By me the preaching might be fully known” (2 Timothy 4:17). It was the kind of preaching. His heart burned in affection for Christ. He heard the voice of the Bridegroom and he was seeking the bride for the Bridegroom. He was full of the affections of Christ. That was the idea. So that he says, “in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God; so that I, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to [p. 483] Illyricum, have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ”. A very wide idea, a very, very wide idea, from Jerusalem to Illyricum. It was not a straight line. That is the point. Not that straight lines are not right in their place, but the universe, as far as we can see, is not on the principle of straight lines. The universe that we can see is circular. And the sun indicates that; the circuit of the sun. And so it is, dear brethren, that we belong to a circle. The word circle is a very good one, as indicating links of affection. It is carried through, and whilst the heavens seem to be circular, and the earth is a globe, it is carried through, so that we have the word “ends”. The ends of the earth, and the ends of the heavens, because they are finite, they are not infinite. But still there it is, the circuit of the sun. It makes its circuit every day, that is, as the eye sees it. And so it is that love is circular. Love will ever come back to where it has found satisfaction. We are told the Lord Jesus went out to Bethany and spent the night. The suggestion is, He had the night on hand. He did not have anything else on hand. If I have not got anything else on hand I want to go where love is, where there is a known love. The residence of love, beloved, let me tell you today, is the assembly. The assembly is the residence of love. Divine Persons dwell in it. And so the Lord indicates that when He had a night on hand, He went out to Bethany and spent it there. Elsewhere we are told He went at the night time, not on one night particularly, but by night He went out to the mount of Olives. Was love there? Yes. He met the Father there. You might say it was the Father’s trysting place. What seasons the Lord had with His Father on the Mount of Olives! Others went to their own abodes; He went to the mount of Olives. On one occasion He had a night to spare, as we might say, and He went to Bethany and spent it there. Did He have a good time? Undoubtedly. He spent it there. And so we may be sure that if the Lord comes to this city and has a good time with the [p. 484] brethren, He will come back. Not that I would restrict Him to that. He may come back to rebuke us. But if it is a love question, He knows where love is. If we want the Lord, then cultivate love. The assembly is the home of love and the Lord finds His way there. Normally He finds His way there. It is a circuit. We read of the winds in Ecclesiastes. They go to the north, they go to the south, they turn around at the points of the compass, but it says they return to their circuits. That is what they do. What God has done in the creation is symbolical and everything falls into its place. And so we take Paul. He knew the love of Christ. He says, “For the love of the Christ constrains us” (2 Corinthians 5:14). No one else says that that I know of. The love of the Christ constrains us. And so he took this long journey from Jerusalem in a circuit to Illyricum. He was under the constraint of the love of Christ. The Corinthians became refractory but he says, “if even in abundantly loving you I should be less loved” (2 Corinthians 12:15). That is, your lack of love is not hindering my love. In all this circuit inclusive of Corinth he was constrained by the love of Christ. A visit from Paul, therefore, would not be doleful. He said you have made me glad, and I want to make you glad. It is a poor minister who cannot make the saints glad, even by his very presence among them. “The disciples rejoiced therefore, having seen the Lord” (John 20:20). How glad the lovers of Christ would be to see Paul! Take Acts 20; it is a love chapter from beginning to end, reciprocal affections between Paul and the saints. Wherever he went, it was just as the sun coming out of his chamber, reflecting the affections of the Bridegroom, reflecting the affections of Jesus for the saints. I am saying all this, dear brethren, because we all love to serve the Lord, and if we serve the Lord or attempt to do it and do not make the saints glad, we hardly have the credentials. No one should serve without credentials and the power to make the saints glad is the best credentials any minister can have. Paul spoke of it.
[p. 485] If he did not make the Corinthians glad, who could make them glad? And if they did not make him glad, who could make him glad? He had a wonderful time there for eighteen months, and found himself with links with all the dear brethren who resided in Corinth. His epistles are full of affection. There were those who did not care for his return, but those who loved the Lord would look for Paul’s return. How glad they would be to see him! I cannot, of course, quote the scriptures in which the apostle expresses his affection to the saints, but they will be known to most of us and one would urge that they be looked into. There is plenty of occasion for joy, the present occasion is one of joy, and above all the Lord’s supper is a great occasion for joy. Even in the ministry there should be occasions of joy in the presentation of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact we have the expression, “by the love of the Spirit” (Romans 15:30). The Spirit Himself is full of affection for the saints.
Well now, my point is to show that Paul in this circuit from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum reflects the circuit the sun made, typical of Christ as the Bridegroom. That is to say, the dispensation has to be filled out with bridegroom affections as it were. Every minister in some little degree at least should be able to reflect some of these affections, causing the hearts of the saints to be gladdened.
Well now, to go to the third scripture, the point is not to bring in joy, but the sobering effect of judgment. We are told that Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. Well, I say Amen to that. It was a sad day when he died. All Israel mourned after Samuel. They mourned a great servant, they mourned a man that said to them, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23). He loved the people of God, and he judged them all the days of his life. Well, you say, judgment does not cause joy. Well, if it does not cause joy, directly, it will [p. 486] indirectly, because it will bring about the removal of what hinders joy. Fleshly feelings and doings among us hinder spiritual joy and the care-meetings and the assembly discipline meetings help to remove what hinders the joy. And hence Samuel, we are told, judged Israel all the days of his life. He went from year to year from Bethel to Gilgal in a circuit, all those places. You will remember that when Samuel proposed to go to Jesse’s house it says that the people of Bethlehem were afraid, they were greatly afraid. No wonder! He represented the authority of God in judgment. It is not that he was like a circuit judge, putting men in prison and the like, sending them to the chair or the gallows. It was not just that. It is not physical, but more judgment for the maintenance of good conditions, good relations. We are told, “God ... has set a day in which he is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised him from among the dead” (Acts 17:31). Who is that Man? That is Jesus. What a time they will have, dear brethren, in the coming day when the judgment will be taken on by Jesus! All matters will be taken on by Him and He will remove causes of sorrow. What hinders the joy He will remove in judgment. And so Samuel went around to create better conditions, to see that good conditions were maintained. How much need there is for this! It requires eldership, it requires fatherhood, it requires experience to deal with conditions that hinder the joy. There is a great deal of that, dear brethren, heaviness in our meetings, and the cause of the heaviness has to be dealt with. Hence the necessity for a circuit. That is to say, the Lord comes round through the minister, and deals with conditions that hinder the joy. If the dispensation is to be maintained at the proper level conditions that hinder the joy must be dealt with. Paul said to the Corinthians, I do not want to come to you in heaviness, but I will have to, for certain among you have been practising certain [p. 487] things and have not repented. I will have to come in heaviness. I will have to come with the rod, but I do not wish to. I would rather come in love and have a joyous time with you.
This brings up the necessity for Samuel’s circuit ministry. The circuit is specified here. It was a yearly matter beginning with Bethel, then Gilgal, then Mizpah, then he returns to his own house, that is, the return. The circuit must have a return. So that Samuel, as you can understand, would leave Ramah with his family and would not be indifferent to the state of the house he left. He would see to it that his own house is looked after. For how can I take care of the assembly of God if I do not see to my own house? So that he would leave his house in happy conditions. He would go to Bethel, he would judge Israel there. That is, Samuel would sit in judgment there and say, What is the history of Bethel? What are the facts relative to Bethel? If we go to the prophets we find that Bethel had come under the power of idolatry, but not in Samuel’s day. Samuel precluded that. He carried judgment to Bethel. He must have inquired, What is the important feature in Bethel? Well, Jacob was in Bethel. It is the house of God, he says. Samuel would say to the merchants of Bethel, Do not forget that you are living in a place that suggests the house of God, and if it be so, then our behaviour must be in keeping with the house of God. As 1 Timothy 3:15 says, “In order that thou mayest know how one ought to conduct oneself in God’s house”. That is to say, you would bring to bear on them the facts relative to Bethel. Then he would come on to Gilgal. What is the history of Gilgal? Do you know the history of Gilgal, you young people here? Have your fathers told you about the twelve stones that were set up there? Have you made inquiry from your fathers about these twelve stones? Have you made inquiry? Well, some young people say, I never thought of it, I am out playing a ball game. Those suggestions [p. 488] come out of the pit of Satan. What else? The circumcision. Samuel would say, Brethren, what about the circumcision? Are all circumcised here? Some would say, No, my children are not circumcised. I do not think much of it. I do not think much of things being done like that. The children do not know what is happening. But the word as to circumcision was for the whole household, household-wise. You are saying differently. What you say is contrary to the word of God. If a brother there was obstreperous, Samuel would not tolerate that. There can be no peace, no happiness in Gilgal unless we enforce circumcision, and unless we see the twelve tribes of Israel were a unit. You can see how sobering and beneficial and healthy this would be, this journeying in a circuit of the great prophet Samuel. Then he would come to Mizpah. It means ‘ a watch tower ‘. Brethren, he would say, are you watching? The Lord Jesus says, “But what I say to you, I say to all, Watch” (Mark 13:37). “Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). If you do not, the enemy will come in on you unawares. “And it was on account of the false brethren brought in surreptitiously, who came in surreptitiously to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus”, Paul says (Galatians 2:4). We are to watch ourselves, judge ourselves unsparingly. Satan has his emissaries and they come in unawares unless we are watching. Samuel would enforce all these things. I do not know how many meetings he might have in each place, but he would challenge the brethren in each of those places as to the quality in the place and he would put out the truth that stands related to each place, and then he would go back home. Well, he would go to Ramah, happy indeed that he had been able to see the brethren and put things right among them, maintaining things suitable to the dispensation. Now, he says, I must return to my house. His wife, I may say, meets him at the door. Of course, his children had grown up, but I am speaking figuratively. How [p. 489] about the wife? Has she looked well after the household in the absence of her husband? If not, her husband would say, My dear, do you not remember the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs? You say, they were not written then, but that is not the point. They are written now. Let the wife look into it, how a wife should behave herself in the absence of her husband. How about the children? Are they properly clothed? Not in the fashions of this world, no. She gets her life from another world. Typically, the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 is the church, the assembly, the bride of Christ, and she is looking after His interests while He is away and when He comes back He finds things as they should be, and happy, He sits down in His house. It says of him there, “And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house, and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar to Jehovah”. You see, he carries on the judgment of Israel there. He cannot judge Israel there if his house and children are not right. Samuel, what have you to say about my house? Look to your own house. Alas, we have to take that to heart! But he judged Israel from his house. Anyone that came to Samuel at Ramah would be received. His office was to judge Israel at all times. He did not return to his house to relax, to have an easy time. That was not the idea. Although one can relax in his own house better than anywhere, do not forget that the judgment of Israel goes on in your own house too. Your own house must be judged. It must be judged as I was saying, but then the head of any other household of Israel may go there and get counsel from Samuel. “And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life”. A leading man of Israel would come to Samuel and Samuel would say, Well, my man, what is on your mind? Well, this and that has happened in my house and my business. I should like advice. I should like to know just what to do. Samuel would say, Well, I have anticipated your need, I have been praying for you. We have been speaking of that today. Peter fell down at [p. 490] the knees of Jesus. Every truly spiritual man understands the necessity for the knees of Jesus, the intercession of Jesus. He says, I will continue to pray for you. Does Jesus continue to pray for us? He does. He also will make intercession for us, “always living to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25). It is a continuous thing. How could we get on without it? So that Samuel would assure the man that he was prayed for. One of the greatest services we can render to the saints, brothers and sisters alike, is to pray night and day. Keep on. The sphere will widen as you go on. And like Samuel, you will not be sinning against the Lord. If we cease to pray for the saints, we sin against Jehovah. It is a very solemn thing because many of us do not think of it. You say a few words for yourself maybe, but do not forget you are sinning against the Lord if you do not pray for the saints. You say, you are putting me in Samuel’s place. Why not? What are these things mentioned for? We are to pray for one another. We are enjoined to pray for one another, and we are to pray without ceasing, and if we do not do it we are sinning against the Lord. You say that is a very severe word. Well, I will give you one that is more severe. “Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently” (Jeremiah 48:10). It is to dispel from our minds all looseness or idea that these things are optional. Things are imperative, things are not optional in the ways of the Lord. The Lord would bring us into the current of His own thoughts. The Holy Spirit is down here and makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray for the saints and make intercession for the saints. Let us then continue in it! But then, I was speaking about Samuel, and it says, “And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house, and there he judged Israel”. Well, it is the best word really in a way, “and there he built an altar to Jehovah”. In this house there was always a means of sacrifice and worship. So that Samuel’s house is a model for us and I would say that [p. 491] everyone that serves the Lord has to be exemplary both in himself and in his house. And that, I believe, is what the Spirit of God would leave with us, that Samuel judged Israel in his house. He had an altar in his house which he built to Jehovah to offer sacrifices every day, the morning and evening lamb, I suppose, was something like it. What a holy, sanctified place was the home of Samuel! How an Israelite would be encouraged and stimulated as he went to see the prophet and sought counsel of him; the prophet, doubtless, would ask him to come and have a word of prayer together, the best service perhaps that he could render. And that was how the circuit of Samuel went on, year after year, and it went on all the days of his life.