The times of the Judges, in the history of Israel, offered special opportunities for exhibitions of faithfulness to God. From the very fact that "every man did that which was right in his own eyes," those who would please the Lord were brought out into all the greater prominence. The sphere of their usefulness, too, instead of being diminished, was rather enlarged, there being but too few to help the multitudes, who were "as sheep without a shepherd." So we find some of the most vigorous examples of faith in the book of Judges,- Gideon, Deborah, Othniel, Shamgar, Ehud, and, as we shall see, Samson, in a certain degree.

From the fact that his birth and manner of life were announced beforehand, and the work he was to do, it is evident that Samson was to be especially prominent as a deliverer of the people. Indeed, the superhuman strength with which he was endowed, and the invariable success he met with when fighting the enemy, would confirm the thought that he was specially favored with gifts to this end. This would mean that he had special responsibilities. . How he met them, we will see as we trace his life.

Samson was to be a Nazarite. As we know from the threefold vow in the book of Numbers, such a man was to abstain from wine and from death, and was to let his hair remain uncut. Wine, with all other products of the vine is a natural as well as scriptural symbol of festivity, exhilaration and joy. Spiritually, it means the joy of earth as contrasted with the joy of the Spirit,-the animation of artificial stimulus as contrasted with the steadfast strength supplied by the Spirit,-the celebration of a rest here rather than of the time when new wine shall be drunk in the Father's kingdom. From all such stimulus the Nazarite was to abstain. How easy to apply the lesson to ourselves ! how difficult to carry it out in our lives ! The long hair tells the same thing in another way,-weakness, dependence, subjection :the woman's place is to be taken. Such a place is humiliating to the natural man. " It is a shame for a man to wear long hair." But such must be the place of one truly separated unto God.

The defilement of death is to be guarded against most jealously, not even the nearest and dearest being allowed to cause an exception to be made. Here too it is easy to read the lesson :death comes by sin, it reigns in the world, and all about us is that which is tainted by this, even in our homes perhaps is what we can "see but dare not touch-intercourse with that which is death. We have been dwelling upon the negative side of the Nazarite's life. Naturally, this is what the law makes prominent. But negatives will never form the character. Subtract all that is bad from a person, and you only have a coldness which is "faultily faultless, splendidly null." So grace gives us the positive side of the true Nazarite. In place of the wine of carnal joy, we have the "joy of the Lord," "joy unspeakable and full of glory."-"Then were the disciples filled with joy and the Holy Ghost." What earthly joy can compare with this ? what earthly pleasure with "the river of Thy pleasures"? So too the badge of shame, the relinquishment of our strength of our wills is met by that which infinitely exceeds all human strength and dignity:" I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."–"My strength is made perfect in weakness." While in place of that which has the stamp of death upon it, we have life-eternal life in and with Him who is the Life. But for the enjoyment of these blessed substitutes, there must be a denial of self. This was the key-note of the Nazarite's life-self-denial; and this brings us back again to Samson.
We have seen what manner of man it was God's will for him to be-a Nazarite, we come now to see what manner of man he was. Prominently in it stands forth the fact that there was a lack of cohesion, of unity, in it. Brilliant deeds there were, but all was desultory. Let us enumerate those acts which are recorded :Slaying a lion ; killing thirty Philistines in order to get clothes to pay a bet; catching three hundred foxes, and with them setting fire to the corn of the enemy; killing a thousand with the jaw-bone of an ass; carrying away the gates of Gaza; overthrowing the temple of the Philistines. We look in vain here for any earnest purpose running through his life. Contrast his slaying a lion merely to deliver himself, and David's act to deliver his sheep. Some of his feats of strength seem almost ludicrous, and some are so closely linked with his own sins as to serve as signs pointing to them. We are compelled to say, What a useless life ! It serves for warning, but there is but little to imitate in it. Doubtless there were many points of excellence in him, or he could not have judged Israel twenty years; but the prominent facts are those we have mentioned. The question naturally arises, Why was a life of such promise-so rich in endowment-so apparently useless ? We believe the answer lies in the subject of this paper. There was a crisis-a turning-point in his life, when he should have turned the opposite way from the one he pursued. That crisis in his life is marked by one word-self-pleasing. "Get her for me, for she pleaseth me well." The law of the Nazarite has "self-denial " written all over it:the life of Samson has "self-pleasing " written all over it. The crisis of his life was when he chose a wife from the people he was to destroy. It may be objected that the Lord thus sought an occasion against the Philistines, and so permitted it. True, He permitted it; as He did in the case of Balaam, of the twelve spies, of the selling of Joseph into Egypt, above all in the betrayal of our Lord ; but this, instead of lessening responsibility, increases it- makes the sin greater, as in the case of Judas. God permitted Samson to please himself:because that was in his own hands, it was his responsibility. He got glory out of it, spite of Samson's self-will; but this does not affect the quality of his choice. He pleased himself, and his whole after-life had the taint of this about it. He dallies with Delilah in self-pleasing until she gets the secret of his strength from him; and even in his death he seems to be seeking for revenge merely, not to please God. One is surprised to see him keep his strength so long. It only shows us the long-suffering of God, who thus would recall His poor servant by showing that He was still with him. It was only when Samson showed he no longer prized this strength-when he imparted this secret to a stranger, that he lost it. Ah ! what awful lessons are here! Doubtless he had not the remotest intention of parting with his secret; but Delilah had his heart,-he tampers with the danger, and is awakened out of his sleep of self-pleasing to find that it has at last culminated. Darkness closes in upon him, never to be lifted in this world.

What is it to tell the secret of our strength ? Is it not to be at ease with the world,-to be enjoying the world as Samson was, and then to talk about the things of God-about our own secret of strength ? The enemy is on the look-out for this :there is a time when the last act of inconsistency is done, and all power is lost. "So-and-so is a great talker, but I find he likes the world about as well as any one." Our power is gone, and it is only in the mercy of God if it is ever in any degree recovered. But let us remember that Delilah's lap was only the last step in a course of self-pleasing which began when he took the woman of Timnath to wife because she pleased him. We have spoken of this as a crisis. Doubtless there are such in all our lives-distinct turning-points -times when we took a course which has characterized us ever since. That crisis may be in itself a small matter, just as, on the summit of the Alleghenies, a rock or small rise of ground determines the direction of a stream toward the Atlantic or the Gulf. For the young Christian especially is the admonition needed, Beware of taking the wrong turn in the crisis of your life. Beware of self-pleasing, instead of meeting the enemy. It was fitting that Samson's bones should lie among his people, as a constant reminder not to misuse God's gifts and opportunities. Perhaps older Christians may feel as though they have taken the wrong turn, and their life has been, as a result, blighted. For such, God has blessing in spite of their failure even, if there is true turning to Him. Having learned where our self-pleasing has brought us, we can then find that He can bring good out of evil-that He can bring Samson's riddle to pass, "Out of the eater came forth meat." Doubtless Jacob's closing days furnished such an exhibition of God's goodness ; and no matter where His people are, if they truly bow to Him, they will find their wilderness to blossom as the rose.