son undertaking to preach the Gospel, or
John L. Sullivan trying to be elected as a professor in Princeton
Theological Seminary. Samson as a hero of the faith! Surely this is
"Saul among the prophets." We will be interested in studying the life
of this young man who had the build and the mood of an athlete.

He had in his youth the strength and promise of a mighty man. He
caught a young lion and seizing it by its jaws ripped it apart as an
ordinary man would have rent a kid. He caught up the jaw-bone of an
ass and slew heaps and heaps of his enemies in personal combat. He
carried off the gates of a city and hid them on the top of a hill as if
he had been celebrating Hallowe'en. He would have been the making of
any football team. If he had furnished the forward thrust of a flying
wedge it would have gone through any line that might have stood in its
way.

It would not be easy to draw a hard and fast line here between the
prose and the poetry of these narratives. Something of history and a
great deal of folk-lore undoubtedly are blended in these stirring
tales. There are many passages in the earlier portions of the Bible
which have more value for the history of ideas than for the history of
actual occurrence. They are full of truth though they may not always
conform to sober fact. They are parables rather than records.

But we may be sure that this interesting young giant had something more
than mere physical prowess. He had in him some of the elements of
genuine leadership else he would not have been regarded as a judge and
a leader in Israel, raised up for a great work. The people would never
have woven these stories about his name nor enrolled him among the
moral heroes of their race had he not possessed some of the elements of
real strength. He had in him the sense of power--it is a quality which
all men covet and all women adore.

He had a keen sense of the joy of living. We are glad that the element
of humour was not left out of the Bible. It would not have been so
human, so complete, so unmistakably "the Book of Books" had this been
lacking. I am sure that the Almighty has a sense of humour. He must
have or He never would have created pelicans and monkeys. "He that
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh," we read--and He must have laughed
when He made these curious creatures. He was willing to give this
fun-loving Samson a place on the roster of the Army of the Lord.

Samson stands out on the