St. Tammany farmer., 1903-04-25

hair" had torn away the gigantic pill
lars that supported the vast arena
where the celebration was taking place
and had wroughtjthe destruction of all
the lords of the Philistines, this news
must have revealed to them that God
was a forgiving God, and that with re-
pentance came renewed strength and
opportunity for new victories.
TT NHOLY associations and revealing
~ the secrets of God to his unrigh
eous companion were great sins and
cost Samson his strength, his sight,
and plunged him into the degradation
and shame of convict laborer, but
it would have been a greater sin for
Samson to have lost all faith in God
and to have ended his days in the Phil
istine prison. While he was grinding
for the Philistines he was sitting un-
der the tutelage of God, and learning
his bitter lesson. Each hair as it grew
in length was a strand in the faith
which was laying hold of God anew.
And while the taunting shouts of his
enemies are ringing in his ears, the
opportunity comes to strike another
blow, and Scripture declares that "the
dead which he slew at his death were
more than they which he slew in his
life" And so out of miserable defeat
and degradation was born new and
more glorious victory. Unholy asso-
Citations and indulgence in sin rob the
soul of its strength and place it at the
mercy of its enemy, Satan. 1t locks
1t in the dungeon of affliction and sets
it to grinding for the enemy. It makes
it the object of the reproach and ridi-
cule of the world, while the world ex-
alts it's own virtues and holds them
up as its gods of superior power.
This is bad enough; the sin is black,
the weakness is disgusting, the fall is
far. the aff1iction is great, the rejoic-
ing of the enemy is loud and boisterous,
but condition far worse, more sin
full and more terrible is reached when
the soul, band oning faith in God, and
persisting in its sin, is content, in
weak subsection, to sit in the prison
house of afliction and grind the enc
my's grist. Then no glorious victory
comes to brighten the last page of life's
book But if the soul sits with shorn
Samson and in repentance renews it's
Nazarite VOW of loyalty and faithful
ness to God, new power will come and
new victories follow, and, as the fash
ing gold of the sunlight, bursting
through the black cloud after the aw-
full tempest is past, illuminates the
heavens and uses the dark background
of the angry-looking clouds to
heighfen its splendor. so that soul
will shine with a triumphant beauty
which will silence the worlds taunt
and bring swift destruction to the
proud lords of the modern Philistines.
THUS Samson comes with his warn
L ing. and his message of hope for
the Christian of to-day. Let us search
out the modern shorn Samsons. How
may we distinguish them? By their
shorn locks. It was not hard to dis
cover the change in Samson. It is not
hard to identity the shorn Samsons of
to-day, if we know where to look for
them and, are able to discernEthei dis
figured countenances. First of all,
Samson was abiding in a strange land,
amidst worldly associates. He was as
good as shorn when he went into
Philistia to dwell and took as his bosom
companion that woman Delilah. The
Christian who dwells in the land OF
worldly pleasure and sinful indul-
gences is the shorn Samson. Like the
Samson of old he is intoxicated with
the pleasure and JOY of the moment.
His conscience is deadened with the
sleep of Indifference as he rests in the
lap of ease and luxurious indulgence,
and while thus reposing the seven locks
of his strength are clipped close to
his head, God never intended that
Christians should be weaklings. His
ever to his followers is: "Be
strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might" Samsons, with Divine1y
given strength to slay evil on every
hand; Samsons, with the fearlessness
of a righteous purpose that will lead
them right into the heart of the enc
my's country and enable them to car
ry off.the gates of the city and place
them on the summit Of the adjacent
hill which holds the commanding po-
sition against the city. But such sol
diers of Jesus Christ are not numer-
Gus.
The reason the church to-day is so
weak and impotent in the face of evil;
the reason it is so sharply criticised
for its lack of power; the reason it is
not finding ''the Gospel of Christ is the
power of God unto salvation" is be-
cause it is filled with shorn Samsons,
and before the church will ever be able
to win new and larger victories for
God it must either cast out its shorn
Samsons or awaken them to realiza-
ton of their condition and set them
to grinding in the prison house of af-
fiction until repentance brings new
of the strength and power OF
the Lord.
knew and men who
- were with her knew that Samson
was shorn, that he was weakling in
their hands. How they despised him
in the shame of his departed glory!
But Samson twist not that the Lord
was departed from him." When the
warning cry, aroused him from his
slumber, he was confident in himself,
and ready to meet his enemies. He
aid: 81 will go out, as at other times
before" And he did, and we know his
defeat, his torture, his shame. The
world to-day knows better than the
church does that it is filled with shorn
SamSOnS