parts of the country, and were to receive the tenth part of the fruit and corn which was produced.

Joshua ruled the Israelites with wisdom and justice; and, during his time, they lived in prosperity, and served the Lord. And when he was old, and knew that he was about to die, he called them all together, and reminded them of the great things which God had done for them; and he exhorted them to fear the Lord, and to serve him in sincerity and in truth, and never to suffer themselves to worship any other God than Him. And the people answered, and said, "God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the people through whom we passed; and the Lord drove out

from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore we will serve the Lord, for He is our God."

God directed Joshua and the Israelites to go and fight against the people of Jericho and the other wicked inhabitants of the land of Canaan, for he wished to keep alive the knowledge of himself in the earth, and to set forth to the people of those times his mighty power and his hatred of sin. But we must not think that it is our duty to go and fight against those who commit wickedness. Jesus Christ came to teach us gentleness and love; he told us to bless and curse not, and he said, " Happy are the peacemakers." If, therefore, we see any persons forgetting their duty to their Maker and to their neighbour, and doing that which is forbidden, we must not think that it is our duty to punish them. God will punish them, when he sees fit, if they

deserve it; and what we ought to do is, either to leave them to themselves, or to try to convince them that they do wrong, and bring them to a better state of mind. We ought, above all things, to set them a good example, and to take care that our own words and actions are such as will be approved by God, when he shall judge us at the last.

THE FEATS OF SAMSON.

(Judges xiv. xv. xvi.)

ANOTHER of the mighty men who overcame the enemies of the Israelites, was Samson. He was so strong, that, one day, when a young lion came roaring out against him, he tore it in pieces, as easily as if it had been a kid, though he had neither sword nor club in his hand. He often fought against the Philistines, and slew a great number of them, and burnt their corn, and their vineyards, and

their olives. This made them so angry, that they assembled an army, and went up into the country of Judah, that they might take Samson and be revenged upon him.

Then the men of Judah were afraid, and they delivered Samson up, bound with two new cords. When the Philistines saw him, they shouted against him, to mock him, for they thought that they had him now in their power, and that they could do what they pleased with him. But God gave Samson strength, and the cords which were on his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands were loosed. And he found there the jaw-bone of an ass; and he took it, and slew a thousand men with it.

At another time, when Samson went into the city of Gaza, his enemies laid wait for him, and thought that they should now surely take him. But he went out at midnight, and took the gates

of the city, and the two posts, and putting them on his shoulders, he carried them away to the top of a hill at a great distance.

Thus was Samson the terror of the Philistines; but he had some great faults, for he kept company with idolaters and with bad women; and to punish him for this, God suffered him to lose his strength. Delilah, a woman whom he loved, persuaded him to tell her in what his strength lay. He told her that he had never had his hair cut since he was born; and that, if it were cut, he should become as weak as any other man. Then Delilah made him sleep upon her knees; and she called a man who cut off his hair. And when she awoke him, and he went out against the Philistines as before, he found that his strength was gone, and that he could not overcome them, as he had done formerly. They took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where they bound him with fetters of

.