We may now ask, what will Christians say to God’s raising up Samson? Did he deliver the Jews out of their their bondage? But I have wasted too much time on such a contemptible madman and fool; yet I excuse myself in this respect by the desire of showing, that, to call Samson a servant of the Ruler of the Universe, is too contemptible even for ridicule. A few remarks on the fate of the ark of the Lord, will conclude this chapter. The foregoing account is recorded in 1 Samuel, chapter iv. After the dreadful daughter of the Israelites, and the capture of the ark, the Philistines were afflicted with a complaint that threatened them with destruction; and after consulting among themselves as to the cause of their sickness, they concluded that the capture and detention of the ark was to them more than a counterbalance for the victory gained over the Jews. They therefore agreed, one and all, to send it back to its owners. Before sending it back, we may suppose something like the following conversation took place:—We have defeated the Jews, and slain thousands of them; and although their God was in the camp of Israel, he could not save them from the edge of the sword. But, after all, we are afflicted with a dreadful disorder, which, if it continues, will exterminate our nation. Our complaint is of that nature, that we shall drop to pieces in the streets and upon the highways. Our wives, instead of baking bread, must be continually making poultices, to prevent our being considered as walking pestilences: the ark must be returned. Instead of a God for a prisoner, why, we have the Devil in the box. We must get rid of it; it must be sent back to the Jews. Home it was carried; and when it had arrived at Beth-shemesh, in the time of harvest, the reapers, overjoyed to witness the safe return of the ark, laid down their sickles and ran to look into it. The Jehovah of Israel destroyed the honest-hearted reapers, to the number of fifty thousand threescore and ten, for their impudence.