(1) В¶ And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you. (2) And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
There is somewhat wonderfully affecting in the last address of departing persons, even in the commonest circumstances of life. But eminently more so in faithful ministers. Farewell discourses are generally very striking. Samuel had been called of God, from a very child, to minister unto the Lord's people; and now he was grown old among them. It is as if he had said, by this preface, I pray to be heard, before that I take my leave of you forever.