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.
Samuel said unto all Israel. The venerable judge, in resigning his magisterial authority, challenged the most minute inquiry into every act of his administration. He called upon any one who had ever brought a cause for decision before him, to state whether he felt that injustice had been done him, or any abuse had been committed of the public interests confided to his care. Standing in an open assembly, he took God to witness that his hands were pure, and that uprightness and integrity had graded the whole course of his official life. History does scarcely anywhere present a more striking example of the moral sublime. Grotius compares Samuel to Aristides.