Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-12
SIMPSONS LOCKS
He Was a Giant, Yet Was Cap
tured BY a Maiden.
Many Persons Stray From the Paths
OF Virtue by Coaxing-Dr. Tai
IMAGES Sunday Dis
course.

ID. D., gave out the hymn:
80 let our lips and lives express
The holy gospel we profess;
So let our works and virtues shine
To prove the doctrine all Irvine
This subject of DR.. Talmage's sermon
was: Tho shorn locks OF Sampson"
He took for his text Judges xvi, s:
'Entice him, and see wherein his great
strength lieth, and by what means We
may prevail against him, that we may
bind him TO aflict him; and w viii
give thee every one Of us LOO pounds
OF silver" The sermon was as follows:
One thousand pounds, or about $1,000
of our money, were thus offered for the
capture OF a giant. 1t would take a
skillful photographer to picture Samson
as he really was. The most facile words
are not supple enough TO describe him,
he was a giant and a child; the conquerer
and the defeated; able to snap a lions
Jaw, and yet captured by the sigh Of a
maiden. He was ruler and slave; a
commingling OF virtue and vice, the sub
lime and the ridiculous; sharp enough
TO make a good riddle, and yet weak
enough to be caught in the most super
fetal stratageln; honest enough 10 settle
his debt. and yet o~utrageously robbing
somebody else TO get the material 70 pay
it; q miracle and a scoflng; a browning
glory and a burning shame. There he
st.cdS. looming up above other men, a
mountain Of flesh: his arms punched
with muscle that can lift the gate OF o
city: taking an attitude defiant Of
armed men and wild beasts. His hair
had never been cut, and it rolled down
in seven great plaits over his shoulders.
adding TO his f~erceness and terror. The
Philistines want 10 conquer him, and
therefore they must End out where the
secret of his strength lies.
There is a woman living in the valley
OF Sorek by the name OF Delilah. They
appoint her the agent in the case. The
Philistines are secreted in the same
bui!1.aE, and then Delilah goes To work
and Sosxcs Samson 70 tell what is the
secret of his strength. well" he says,
''if you should take seven green withes,
such as they fasten wild beasts with,
and put them around me, / should be
perfectly powerless." So she binds him
with seven green withes. Then she
claps her hands and says, They come
the Philistines!" and he walks out as
though there were no impeachment. 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 nave never been used
and tie me with them I should be just
like other men," She ties him with
the ropes, claps her hands and shouts,
''They come-the Philistinesl' He
walks out as easy as he did before--not
. single obstruction. She coaxes him
again, and he says, Now, il you should
take these seven long plaits Of hair,
and by this house loom weave them into
q web, ! could not get away" So the
house loom is rolled up, and the shuttle
flies backward and forward, and the
long plai.s Of hair are woven into q
web. Then she claps her hands and
says, ''Thcy come-the Philistines.'
He walks u as easily as he did be-
fore, dragging a part OF the loom with
him. But after awhile she persuades
him to tell the truth. He says: I'll
you should take a razor, or shears, and
cut of this long hair, / should be pow.
erless, and in the hands c. 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
skillful way Of manipulating the head,
TO this very day they will put n man,
wide awake, sound asleep. I hear the
blades of the shears grinding against
each other, and see the long locks fall
ing of. The shears, or razor, acco24
plishes what green withes and new ropes
and house loom could not do. Suddenly
she claps her hands and says: '.The
Philistines be upon thee, Samson!" Ht
rouses up with a struggle, but hi:
strength is all gone! He is in the hands
Of his enemies! ] hear the groan of the
giant as they take his eyes out, and ther
4 see him staggering on in his blindness
feeling his way as he goes on toward
GAIA. The prison door Is opened and tho
giant Is thrust in. He sits down and
put his hand on the mill crank. which,
with exhausting horizontal motion, goes
day liter day, week after week, month
after month-work, work, work. The
CONSERVATION Of the world in captivity
his locks shon, his eyes punctured
grinding corn III GAIA. In \ previou.
sermon on this character / learned som
lessons, but another class of lessons arr
before US now.
Learn. first how very strong people
are sometimes coaxed into great imbe
c~ilities. Samson had no right to reveal
the secret Of his strength. Delilah'i
first attempt to find ont Is a failure
He v Screen withes will bind me,
but 1t was a failure. Then no says, "a
new rope will hold me- but that alss
was . failure. Then he says. '.Weavt
nv locks into . web and that will bins
me-" yet that also was q failure. Blu
1t last you see how she coaxed it out o.
him. Unimportant actions In life tina
involve no moral principle mag without
Injury be subjected to ardent per
suasions. but as soon as you have com
70 tho line that separates right from
wrong, no inducement or bl~andishmen'
ought to make you step over it. Sup
8 Q man has been brought up in
Christian household and taught sscredl,
70 observe the Sabbath. Sunday comes
now don't be bigoted; we win ride fortl
art0ng tbe works of God; the whole
earth Is his temple; we will not 60 int
any designations; como, now, ! have thu
oorrlnRe 0n9aRod and we shall be bacl