Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1889-10-04

His Text Is from Judges XII, ., and His
nsseourse Is One of the Most Powerful
- ~ear - Fun Report of His Re
BRooKLYN, Sept 20.-a~
the appropriate passages Of Scrip5alS 9''''i,is
Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning the ReSs
T. De Witt Talmage. D. D., 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's sermon was;
1.-THE Shorn Locks of Samson He took for
his text Judges xvi, 5: "Entice him, and see
wherein his great strength lieth, and by what
means we may prevail against him, that we
may bind him to afiiict him; and we viii
I give thee every one Of us eleven hundred
pieces Of silver" The sermon was as follows;
REWARD OFFERED.
One thousand pounds, or about five thou
sand dollars Of our money, were thus offered
/ for the capture Of a giant It 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 conqueror and the
defeated able to snap lions jaw and yet
captured by the sigh of a maiden He was
ruler aud slave; acommingling Of virtue and
] vice, the sublime and the ridiculous; sharp
enough to make-a good riddle, and yet weak
enough to be caught in the most superficial
stratagem; honest enough to settle his debt,
and yet outrageously robbing somebody else
/ to get the material to pay it; miracle and
a soothing; a GROWING glory aud a burning
| shame. There he stands, looming up above
other men, a mountain Of flesh, his arms
punched with muscle that can lift the gate Of
a 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 fierce
ness and terror. The Philistines want to
I conquer him, and therefore they must find
out where the secret of his strength lies.
/ There is a woman living in the valley of
1 Sorek by the name Of Delilah. They appoint
her the agent in the case The Philistines
are secreted in the same building, and then
/ Delilah goes to work and coaxes Samson to
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 per-
/ fectly powerless." So she binds him with
the seven green withes. Then sheclabs her
/ 4
and he walks out as though there We're no inn
pediment She coaxes him again and says,
''Now tell me the secret of this great strength .
and herepiies, ''If you should take some ropes
that have never been used, and tie me with
them, should be just like other men" She
ties him with the ropes, claps her hands and
shouts, tThey conle-the Phaistinesn He
walks out as easy as he did before-not a sin
gle obstruction.
She coaxcs him again, and he says; "Now,
if YOU should take these seven long plaits of
hair, and by this house loom weave them into
a web, l could not get away" So the house
loom is rolled up, and tao shuttle flies back
ward and forward, and the long plaits of
hair are woven into web. Then SIX claps
her hands and says: "They comel the Philis-
tinesln He walks out as easily as he did be-
fore, dragging part of the loom with him
But after. a while she persuades him to tell
the truth. He says: ''If you should take a
razor. or shears, and cut off this long hair
should be powerless and in the hands Of my
enemies Samson sleeps, and that she may
not wake him up during the process Of shear
ing, help Is called in. You know that the
BARRIERS Of the east have such a skillful way
Of manipulating the head, to this very day,
they win put q man, wide awake, sound
asleep I hear the bladesof the shears grind
ing against each other, and l see the long
locks falling OF. The shears, or razor, ac
complishes what green withes and new ropes
and house loom could not do.
Suddenly she claps her hands, and says,
THE Philistines be upon thee, SamsOnw He
rouses up with a struggle, but his strength is
all gonel He is in the hands of his enemies!
hear the groan Of the giant as they take
IL, 100 ,,,,t ,,I fIa., 7 hin, cfo
ON in his blindness, feeling his way as he goes
on toward GAIA. The prison door is opened
and the giant is thrust in. He sits down and
puts his hands on the mill crank, which, with
exhausting horizontal motion, goes day after
day, week after week, month after month
work, work, work. The CONSERVATION of the
world in captivity, his locks shOrn, his eyes
punctured, grinding corn in GAIA. In pre-
/ Vious sermon on this character / learned some
lessons, but another class of lessons are be-
fore US now.
THE STRONG NOT ALWAYS WISE.
Learn first how very strong people are
sometimes coaxed into great imbecilities
Samson had no right to reveal the secret Of
his strength. Dellah's first attempt to find
| out is a failure. Re says, Screen withes will
bind me- but it was a failure. Then he says,
"A new rope will hold me- but that also was
/ a failure. Then he says, Weave my locks
| into a web and that will bind me- yet that
| also was Il failure But at last you see how
she coaxed it out of him. Unimportant &c
/ tions in life that involve no moral principle
/ may without injury be subjected to ardent
/ persuasions, but as soon as you have come to
/ the line that separates right from wrong, no
/ inducement or blaudishment ought to make
1 you step over it.
! Suppose a man has been brought up in a
/ Christian household and taught sacredly to
| observe the Sabbath. Sunday comes; you
/ want fresh air Temptation says, Sunday
1 is Just like other days; now don't be bigoted
we viii ride forth among the works of God.
the whole earth is his temple; We will not so
/ into any designations; come, now, have the
/ carriage engaged and we shall be back soon
/ enough to go to church in the evening; don't
: yield to Puritanic notions; you will be no
I worse for a ride in the country; the blossoms
/ are out and they say everything is looking
J gIeriousn "Well, will go to please you is
! the response. And out taey go over the street,
/ conscience drowned in the chatter Of the swift
/ hoofs and the rush Of the resounding wheels.
1 That tempted man may have had moral char
acter enough to break the green withes Of ten
/ thousand Philistine allurements, but he has
been overcome by coaxius.
Two young men passing down Chs street
come opposite a drinking saloon, with a red
/ lantern hung out from tie door to Light men
to perdition. LET us so i'm says one. No.
l won't says the other, u never go 10 such
places. 'Now, you don't say you are as
weak as thati Why, have been going there
for two years and it hasn't hurt me. Come,
come now, be man. If you can't stand any
thing stronger, take a little sherry. You
need to see the world as it is l dom believe
in intemporance any more than you. lean
stop drinking just when l want to. You
shall 60 Now, come rigat along. PERSIA
sion has conquered Samson yiads 20 The
coaxing. and there is carnival in he'll thai
night among the Philistines, and they shout;
"Hal hal we've got him"
Those who have the kindest and most sym
pathetic natures are the most in danger.
Your very disposition to please others will be
the very trap they set II you were-cold and