504
Patriarchs and Prophets
drink. The lessons of temperance, self-denial, and self-control are to
be taught to children even from babyhood.
The angel’s prohibition included “every unclean thing.” The dis-
tinction between articles of food as clean and unclean was not a merely
ceremonial and arbitrary regulation, but was based upon sanitary prin-
ciples. To the observance of this distinction may be traced, in a great
degree, the marvelous vitality which for thousands of years has dis-
tinguished the Jewish people. The principles of temperance must be
carried further than the mere use of spirituous liquors. The use of stim-
ulating and indigestible food is often equally injurious to health, and in
many cases sows the seeds of drunkenness. True temperance teaches
us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful and to use judiciously
that which is healthful. There are few who realize as they should how
much their habits of diet have to do with their health, their character,
their usefulness in this world, and their eternal destiny. The appetite
should ever be in subjection to the moral and intellectual powers. The
body should be servant to the mind, and not the mind to the body.
The divine promise to Manoah was in due time fulfilled in the
birth of a son, to whom the name of Samson was given. As the boy
grew up it became evident that he possessed extraordinary physical
strength. This was not, however, as Samson and his parents well
knew, dependent upon his well-knit sinews, but upon his condition
as a Nazarite, of which his unshorn hair was a symbol. Had Samson
obeyed the divine commands as faithfully as his parents had done, his
would have been a nobler and happier destiny. But association with
idolaters corrupted him. The town of Zorah being near the country
of the Philistines, Samson came to mingle with them on friendly
terms. Thus in his youth intimacies sprang up, the influence of which
darkened his whole life. A young woman dwelling in the Philistine
town of Timnath engaged Samson’s affections, and he determined to
make her his wife. To his God-fearing parents, who endeavored to
dissuade him from his purpose, his only answer was, “She pleaseth
me well.” The parents at last yielded to his wishes, and the marriage
took place.
[563]
Just as he was entering upon manhood, the time when he must
execute his divine mission—the time above all others when he should
have been true to God—Samson connected himself with the enemies of
Israel. He did not ask whether he could better glorify God when united