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SAMSON IN CAPTIVITY.

Samson's wrath was much increased by this cruel act. He took an opportunity which offered of discomfiting, with much slaughter, a considerable number of men belonging to that nation, and then withdrew to a strong rock, called Etam, in the tribe of Judah.

To this rock Samson was pursued by a large body of Philistines, and their presence so alarmed the Judaites, that they bound him with two new ropes, in order to give him over into the hands of his enemies. He was thus led to their camp, but, as the Philistines raised a triumphant shout against him, "the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him," and he burst his strong bands asunder as easily as if they had been tow burned with fire, and seizing the jawbone of an ass, which lay at hand, he routed their host, and slew many of their number. Those only lived who fled.

The next exploit of Samson was at Gaza. Blinded by that passion which "hath cast down many wounded; yea, hath slain many strong men," he exposed himself to the vengeance of the uncircumcised. He visited a harlot in that city, and, his arrival becoming known, the gates were closed to prevent his escape, and a strong guard was placed there to surprise and kill him in the morning. Samson, however, anticipated their plan, and rising at midnight, he went boldly to the gate, forced it from its place, and carried it off entire, posts, bars, and all, to the top of a hill near Hebron.

Samson, therefore, was invincible against the hosts of the Philistines; but he was conquered by treachery. Having formed a shameful alliance with a woman in the vale of Sorek, named Delilah, the Philistines bribed her to discover the secret wherein his great strength lay. Thrice he deceived her, but at length, overcome by her intreaties, he revealed the secret. He told her that he was a Nazarite from his birth, and that if he left that state by cutting off his hair, which had never yet been shorn or shaven, his strength would depart from him. Delilah saw that he had now told her the truth, and, while yet he was asleep on her knees, a man whom she had sent for, shaved off the luxuriant tresses of his hair, and his strength departed from him. The Philistines now took and bound him; they put out both his eyes, and then took him down to Gaza, and employed him to grind in the prison house.

Such is the scene which the artist has represented, and it gives an opportunity of exhibiting the instrument of Samson's punishment-the mill of Scripture. This machine, notwithstanding its

importance to an agricultural people like the Hebrews, has never, it is believed, been truly represented. That which is usually adopted is the hand kern of Wales, but this is very unlike the reality. The mills of oriental countries and of classical antiquity are identical. Examples of the former are found in Chinese and Hindoo paintings, and of the latter on altars sacred to Ceres. The annexed engraving, which coincides with these representations, has been taken from a modern oriental instrument. That at the close exhibits Roman mill-stones found at Sandy Hill, Bedfordshire, and now in the United Service Museum.

Scripture does not inform us how long Samson endured this captivity; but it relates, what is more pleasing, that while in his "prison house" he repented, and that, by this repentance, his condition of Nazariteship was in some degree renewed: it pleased God, with the growth of his hair to renew his strength.

The Philistines soon experienced the fatal effects of the renewal of the strength of Samson. Celebrating a feast to Dagon their god, who they supposed had delivered their enemy into their hands, they called for him to make them sport, as they viewed him from the roof of their temple. For some time he was thus exposed to their mockeries and insults; but, at length, the blind hero desired the lad who led and held him by the hand to let him rest himself against the pillars which sustained the chief weight of the building. Thus placed, Samson breathed a prayer, and grasping the pillars with his mighty arms, he cried, "Let me die with the Philistines;" the pillars gave way; the roof fell in; and those who were above and below were destroyed.

The reader may learn from this narrative the fatal effects of sinful pleasure. It stripped the mighty Samson of his strength! How careful, then, and how watchful should we be against its syren charms! our eyes should ever be looking upward for grace to withstand temptation.

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