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STORY OF SAMSON.

thousand men attested that God had not forgotten his chastened people! And that Samson, fainting and ready to die with thirst after this prodigious exertion of his strength, might know to whom his deliverance was to be ascribed, water miraculously bursting from a rock, in the midst of the deserted camp, restored him to his wonted strength!

Gaza, in the south of Philistia, was the scene of his next exploit. Attracted again by female beauty, Samson was passing the night in Gaza, but whilst the citizens were exulting that they now had the great scourge of their country imprisoned within their walls, he arose at midnight and departed, with the ponderous gates of the city upon his shoulders!

The Philistines now perceived that every attempt to subdue the invincible Samson by physical means availed them nothing. Their only hope remained in discovering the manner in which he might be successfully assailed, a secret impenetrable to them, but known as they believed to himself.

Another attachment to a fascinating woman afforded the fatal opportunity. Samson, though gifted by the supreme Governor of Israel with extraordinary abilities for the relief of his country, was not authorised to expect His cooperation, whilst he despised the maxims of common prudence. Experience should ever teach us to avoid the evils which have crossed our careless way. He had already suffered by the infidelity of a woman attached to him by no religious, or even national affections—yet he becomes the slave of another of similar character! The Philistines, ever watchful to circumvent him, understanding that he often visited Delilah in the valley of Sorek, sent some of their chief noblemen to offer her eleven hundred pieces of silver, if she would induce him to tell wherein his prodigious strength lay concealed. Several times he amused her with deceptive tales, which as often, on the trial, disappointed their attempts to take him. At length, wearied out by her blandishments and importunity, he confessed that he was a Nazarite from his birth, and would become weak as another man if the hair of his head should be cut off!

STORY OF SAMSON.

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Tempted by the alluring silver in her view, she summoned once more the malicious lords, assuring them, that Samson would not again escape, and most anxious to possess their hated foe, another effort was readily made. They came down to the valley with the price of her treachery in their hands, and the glory of Samson was shorn whilst he slumbered on the lap of Delilah! The fruitless struggles of Samson to extricate himself from his captors, convinced them that now indeed his secret was discovered, and his more than giant strength had departed -yet not satisfied, they cruelly put out his eyes, confined his limbs with chains of brass, and put him to labour in a prison!

Sad and sorrowful were now the days of the humbled hero! In the solitude of a prison he might reflect on the advantages he had lost, and repent of the folly which had thrown them away. His prayers and penitence prevailed to their restoration, his hair again grew, his strength returned, and hope began to revive! The loss of his sight might well preclude every prospect of doing any thing for his oppressed country: but the talent which was entrusted to him for her sake, was again directed to her relief.

At the celebration of a great festival to the Philistine idols, the now contemned Israelite was brought out and presented to the multitude as an object peculiarly obnoxious to their insults, whilst they offered sacrifices to the gods who had put him into their hands. Men and women were assembled on the joyous occasion, and thousands in the house, and on the roof of Dagon's temple, beheld, while poor Samson was goaded to make sport for his unfeeling gaolers. Affecting to submit to his helpless lot, he only asked that his hands might be directed to the pillars, that he might rest a while his shackled limbs." Now," cried he, "remember me, and strengthen me, O Lord God! but this once, that I may be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. Let me die with the Philistines!" The aspiration was heard, the columns moved beneath his mighty grasp, the roof tumbled in, and Samson and his adversaries fell together beneath the tremendous crash!

Catherine. Did the law of Moses allow of suicide?

Mother. No legislator can make a law which militates

against the law of nature. No man can give away what is not his property. Life is a-tenure, to be held during the pleasure of the Giver, and to be surrendered at His summons. Samson must not be considered as throwing away his own life: he was born and qualified for the public service, and in their behalf exposed himself. If this last act of his life had not been sanctioned by divine authority, his prayer would not have been answered. The Power which had performed such wonders by his hand, could in the same miraculous manner have saved his life amidst the ruins of Dagon's temple, if his services had been longer required.

The history of the Judges affords a striking verification of the predictions of Moses and of Joshua respecting the beneficial effects which would flow to the people of their charge, from an adherence to the true religion, and the calamities which would inevitably follow their apostacy. When they obeyed the injunctions of the law, they were happy; but when they mingled the polytheism of the heathens, with their own divine institutions, they were torn by civil discord, and subjugated by foreign violence.

RUTH.

Mother. During the administration of the judges, a period of more than three centuries, we have seen the İsraelites become exceedingly degenerate, and suffering severely for their sins. Insulted, subjugated, at war with their neighbours, and sometimes even among themselves; agriculture would be neglected, and famine necessarily ensue. This cruel addition to their miseries is not expressly mentioned in the records which we have been reviewing, but it is indicated by the distress of that people in the days of Gideon, when the ravages of the Midianites were so wide and incessant, that no sustenance remained for either man or beast, and the wretched inhabitants were obliged to secrete the scanty gleaning of their fields in the caves of the mountains. To the time of Gi

deon then, we may very reasonably refer the famine which occasioned the introduction of the illustrious Ruth into the commonwealth of Israel, and the beautiful episode of that part of her life.

Catherine. The rural scenes and simple manners described in the book of Ruth, are delightful, and she herself is sweetly interesting-yet I do not know why you should call her illustrious.

Mother, Her own amiable character entitles her to praise; but her remarkable fortune has made her illustrious in history. An alien, accidentally incorporated into the nation of Israel, she became the grandmother of the celebrated king David-and remotely, though in a direct line, the ancestor of the Benefactor of mankind, the divine Messiah.

I will give you a brief outline of her story.

A famine, “in the days when the judges ruled," had driven a man named Elimelech, with his family—a wife, and two sons - from his residence in Bethlehem-Judah, to seek a temporary relief in the country of Moab. Here, Elimelech soon after died, and his sons, Mahlon and Chilion, connected themselves with the Moabites by marrying Orpah and Ruth. In a few years this tie was severed by the death of both the young men, and poor Naomi, now widowed and childless, desired only to return to her native country! Ten years had elapsed since she came from Canaan, and peace and plenty had again blessed the land. She therefore left the scenes of her sorrow, and, accompa nied by Orpah and Ruth, began her journey back toBethlehem. When they had gone a reasonable distance, Naomi turned to her daughters-in-law, and bade them farewell, desiring that they would now return to their friends. United to her by a sentiment of tenderness for the companions they had lost, and veneration for her own virtues, they both declared their resolution not to be separated from her! To abandon their country and kindred for her, seemed, to the generous Naomi, too great a sacrifice, but the affectionate attachment of her daughters penetrated her heart. Weeping and embracing them, she acknowledged all the kindness she had received at their hands, and lamented, for their sake, that the hand of the

Lord had afflicted her; "but go, return," she said, “each to her mother's house, and the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me!"

Orpah yielded to the persuasions of her mother, and returned into Moab, but the resolution of Ruth was unalterable. "Intreat me not to leave thee,” said she, “for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."

A determination so solemn was not to be shaken by the faint remonstrances of Naomi. Her desolate condition demanded the consolations of friendship, nor could she refuse an offered proselyte to the covenant of Israel. Together, therefore, they proceeded towards Judea.

It was now the bountiful season when the hills and the valleys of Canaan were teeming with plenty; clustering vines and waving grain, just ready for the sickle, presented to the returning exile, a smiling landscape, the reverse of the impoverished fields which she had left, and overwhelmed her soul with a sense of the reverse in her own circumstances. "Call me not Naomi," cried she, when her former friends, crowding around, accosted her in the terms of gratulation. "Is this Naomi who is returned to us?"— "Call me not Naomi,* but call me Mara,† for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me; I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty!"

The widow of Elimelech was not only bereaved of her husband and her sons, but a long residence in a foreign land had dissipated her property; so that she who was once able to open her hand liberally, was now obliged to depend on others for support! Her blooming daughter, the sole staff of her declining years, cheerfully embraced the opportunity, which the bounteous season of harvest and the common customs of the country afforded to the indigent, of gleaning after the reapers. Not knowing whither she went, she was providentially led into the fields of Boaz, a son of that Rahab who concealed the spies

*Naomi signifies agreeable.

+ Mara signifies bitter.