Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-10-09

DRooKLYN, September 29.-After ex.
ID pounding the appropriate passages of
Scripture in the Brooklyn Tabernacle
this morning, the Rev T. De Witt Tai.
mage, DID,, gave out the hymn:
SO let our lips and lives express
The holy gospel we profess;
SO let our works and virtues shine
To prove the doctrine all divine.
The subject of DR.. Talmage'ss sermon
was: "The shorn locks of Samson" He
took for his text Judge xvi, 8: "Ent1ce
him and see wherein his great strength
lieth, and by what means we may prevail
against him, that we may bind him to af
flict; ard we will give thee every one Of us
eleven hundred pieces of silver" The SER
mon was as follows:
One Thousand pounds, or about five thou
sand dollars of our money, were thus offer
ed for the capture of giant. 1t would take
skilful photographer to picture Samson as
he really was. The most facile words are
not supple enough to describe him. He was
giant and a child; the cOnqueror and the
defeated; able to snap hons jaw, and yet
captured by the sigh of maiden. He was
ruler and slave; commingling of virtue
and vice; the sublime and the ridiculous;
sharp enough to make good riddle, and
yet weak enough to be caught in the most
superficial stratagem; honest enough to set
tie his debt, and yet outrageously robbing
somebody else to get the material to pay
it; miracle and a scofing; a crowning glory
and a burning shame. There he stands,
looming up above other men, mountain of
flesh: his arms punched with muscle that
can lifS the gate of a city; taking an atti-
tude defiant of armed men and wild beasts.
His hair had never been cut, and it rolled
down in seven great plaits over his should
ers, adding to his 6erceness and terror.
The Philistines want to conquer him, and
therefore they must find out where the
secret of his strength lies.
There is a woman living in the valley of
Sorek by the name of Delilah. They ap-
point her the agent in the case The Phil
istines are secreted in the same building,
and then Delilah goes to work and coaxes
strength. "Well," he says, 'if you should
take seven green withes, snch as they fast.
en- wild beasts with, and put them around
me, I should be perfectly powerless." So
she binds him with the seven green withes.
Then she claps her hands, and says. "They
come-the Phillstines!' and he walks out
as though there were no impediment. She
coaxes him again, and says, Now tell me
the secret of this great strength" and he
replies, "If you should take some ropes
that have never been used, and tie me with
them, l should be just like other men,"
She ties him with the ropes claps her hands
and shouts, ''They come-the Philistines!'
He walks out as easy as be did before-not
single obstruction She coaxes him again,
and he says, ''Now, you should take these
seven loug plaits of hair, and by this house
loom weave them into web, / could not
get away" So the house loom is rolled up,
and the shuttle flies backward and forward
and the long plaits of hair are woven into
web. Then she claps her hands, and says,
sThey come! the Philistines!'
| He walks out as easily as he did before,
dragging a part of the loom with him. But
after awhile she persuades him to tell the
truth. He says: '1f you should take a
razor, or shears, and cut off this long hair,
I should be powerless, and the hands of my
enemies" Samson sleeps, and, that she
may not wake him up during the process
of shearing, help is called in. You know
that the BARRIERS of the East have such q
skilful way of manipulating the head, to
this very day they will put man, wide
awake, sound asleep. hear the blades OF
the shears grinding against each other, and
l see the long locks falling off. The shears,
or razor, accomplishes what green withes
and new ropes and house loom could not
do. Suddenly she claps her hands and says
ssThe Philistines be upon thee, Samsonl''
He rouses up with a struggle, but his
strength is all gone, He is in the hands OF
his enemies! l hear the groan Of the giant
as they take his eyes cut, and then see him
staggering on in his blindness, feeling his
way as he goes on toward GAIA. The pri
son door is opened and the giant is thrust
in. He sits down and puts his hands or
the mill crank. which, with exhausting
horizontal motion, goes day after day, weel
after week, month after month-work
work, work. The CONSERVATION of thu
world in captivity, his locks shorn, his eye
punctured, grinding corn in GAIA. In ;
previous sermon on this character / learned
! some lessons, but another class of lesson
} are before us now.
Learn first how very strong people ar
sometimes coaxed into gaeat imbecilities
Samson had no right to reveal the secret 0
his strength. Delilah's first attempt t,
find out is a failure. He says: 'sGreel
witbes will bind me-" but it was failure
Then he says, "a new rope will hold me,