The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-10-04


and ecclesiastical combat.
Hope In a Few.
7 learn from this subject also that q
small part of the army Of God will
have to do all the hard fighting. Gid
cons army was originally composed OF
$4,000 men, but they went off until
there were only 10000 left, and that
was subtracted from until there were
only 800. 1t is the same in all ages of
the Christian church. A few men have
to do the hard fighting. Take mem
bership of 1000, and you generally find
that so people do the work. Take a
membership of 500 and you generally
find that ten people do the work. There
are scores of churches where two or
three people do the work.
We mourn that there is so much use
less lumber in the mountains OF Leban-
on. think of the 10, 900, 600 member
shin of the Christian church today II
5, 900, 900 of the names were Off the
books the church would be stronger.
You know that the more towards and
drones there are in any army the weaker
it is. would rather have the 800 picked
men of Gideon than the 32, 900 unsifted
host. How many Christians there are
standing in the way of all progress /
think it is the duty Of the church of God
to ride over them, and the quicker it
does it the quicker it does its duty.
Do not worry, o Christian, II you
have to do more than your share of the
| lol hnttar thanh tln1 that
he has called you to be one of the picked
men rather than to belong to the host
| of stragglers. Would not you rather be
one of the 800 that fight than the s2, "
900 that run? l suppose those cowardly
| Gideonites who went off congratulated
themselves. They said: eve got rid of
all that fighting, did not weY How
lucky we have been That battle costs
us nothing at all. But they got none
of the spoils of the victory, After the
battle the 800 men went down and took
the wealth of the Midianitea, and ont
of the cups and platters of their enemies
they feasted And the time will come.
my dear brethren. when tho hosts of
darkness will be routed, and Christ will
say to his troops: "Well done, my brave
men. Go up and take the spoils. Be
more than conquerors forever" And in
that day all deserters will be shot.
Again, learn from this subject that
Gods way is different from mans, but
is always the best way. If we had the
planning of that battle, we would have
taken those 80, 900 men that originally
belonged to the army, and we would
have drilled them and marched them
up and down by the day and week and
month, and we would have had them
equipped with swords or spears, accord
ing to the way of arming in those times,
and then we would have marched them
down in solid column upon the foe.
| But that is not the way. God depletes
the army and takes away all their
weapons, and gives them a lamp and a
| pitcher, and trumpet, and tells them
to go down and drive out the INDIAN
ties. / suppose some wiseacres were
there who said "That is not military
tactics. The idea of 800 men unarmed
conquering such a great host Of INDIAN
ites!' 1t was the best way What
sword, spear or cannon ever accomplish
ed such victory as the %np, pitcher
and trunpet?
Gods way is different from mans
way, but it is always best. Take, for
instance, the composition Of the Bible.
If we had had the writing of the Bible,
we would have said: LET one man
write it. If you have 20 or 80 men to
write a poem, or make a statute, or
write history, or make an argument,
there will be flaws and contradictions. :"
But God says, "Let not one man do it,
but 40 men shall do it." And they did,
differing enough to show there had been
no collision between them, but not
contradicting each other ON any impor-
tant point, while they all wrote from
their own standpoint and temperament,
so that the matter of fact man has his
Moses, the romantic nature his Ezekiel,
the epigrammatic his Solomon, the war
rior his Joshua, the sailor his Jonah,
the loving his John, the logician his
Paul Instead of this Bible, which now
/ can lift in my hand-instead of the
Bible the child can carry to Sunday
school, instead of the little Bible the
sailor can put in his jacket when he
goes to sea-if it had been left to men
to write it would have been thousand
volumes. Judging from the amount of
ecclesiastical controversy which has
arisen. Gods way is different from
man S, but it is best, infinitely best
No Cross, No Crown.
So it is in regard to the Christian s
life. If we had had the planning Of a
Christians life, we would have said
"Let him have so years of sunshine, q
fine house to live in. Let his surround,
ings all be agreeable. Let him have
sound health. Let no chill shivel
through his limbs, no pain ache his
brow or trouble shadow his soul "
enjoy the prosperity of others so much
would let every man have as much
money as he wants and roses for his
children's cheeks and fountains OF
gladness CHANGING in their large round
eyes. But that is not Gods way. II
seems as if man must be cut and hit and
pounded just i'll proportion as he is use
full. His child falls from a third story
window and has its life dashed ont. His
most confident investment tumbles him