The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-10-11
GODS WAY BEST.
Rev. Dr. Talmage Endeavors to Elk
plain Why.
The Battle OF Gideon'n Little Army @lth
the MIdianIte Hosts, Near Mount
0Ilboa, Used by way OF
Illustration.


The following Discourse by Rev. T.
Dewitt Taimage Is given out for pub
/ LEGATION this week. It Is based on the
text:
And the three companies klsa The trumpets
and brake the ritcheEs, and held the lamps in
saelr Tefe hands. and the trumpets In theiE
Fight hands to blow withaL And they stood
every man I'm HIS place round about the camp
and al the host ran, and cried, and fed
Judges VII. eo-R1.
That is the strangest battle ever
fought. God had told Gideon TO 90
down and thrash the Midianites, bat
his army Is too Target for che glory
must be given 70 tod, and not to man.
And 30 proclamation is made that all
those of the troops who hfe cowardly,
and want to 60 home, may go; and
Twenty-Five thousand of them scamp
cred away, leaving only ten thousand
men. But God says the army is too
large yet, and so He orders these ten
thousand remaining to march down
through a stream, and commands Gid
con to notice in what manner these
men drink Of the water as they pass
through It. IL they get down on all
fours and drink, then they are pro-
nounced lazy and Incompetent for
the campaign; but IL, in passing
through the stream, they scoop
up the water in the palm of
their hand and drink, and pass on,
they are to be the men selected for the
battle. Well. the ten thousand men
marched down in the stream, the most
OF them come down on Rll-fOurs, and
plunge their mouths, like horse or
an OK, into the water and drink; but
there are three hundred men who, in
stead of stopping, just dip the palm
of their hands in the water and bring
IL to their lips, Tapping it as a dog
lappeth." Those three hundred brisk,
rapid, enthusiastic men are chosen for
the campaign. They are each to take
a trumpet in the right hand and a
pitcher In the left hand, and lamp
inside the pitcher. and then at given
signal they are to blow the trumpets
and throw down the pitchers. and hold
up the lamps. So it was done.
It is night. see a great host of
Midianites, sound asleep in the valley
of JeZreel. Gideon comes up with his
three hundred men, and when every
thing is ready, the signal is given, and
they blow the trumpets, and they
throw down the pitchers, and hold up
the lamps. and the great host of
sleep. take the crash of the croekery
and the glare of the lamps for the
coming on of an overwhelming foe;
and they run, and cut themselves to
pieces, and horribly perish.
The lessons of this subject are very
spirited and impressive. This seem.
ingly vagueless lump Of quartz has
the pure gold in it. The smallest dew
drop on the meadow has a star sleep
ing in its bosom. and the most insig-
ni1icant passage of Scripture has in it
n shining truth. Gods mint coins no
small change.
learn in the first place, from this
subject, the lawfulness of Christian
stratagem. You know very well that
tie greatest victories ever gained by
Washington or Napoleon were gained
through the fact that they came when
and in way they were not expected
sometimes falling back TO draw out
the foe, sometimes breaking from am
bush, sometimes crossing a river on
unheard-of RATS; all the time keeping
the opposing forces in wonderment as
to what would be done next.
You all know what strategy is in
military affairs. Now / think it is
high time we had this art sanctified
and spiritualized. In the church, when
81, -
sault, we send word to the opposing
force when we expect to come. how
many troops we have, and how many
rounds OF shot, and VIII ether we will
come with artillery, infantry or cav
airy, and of course we are defeated.
There are thousands of men who might
be surprised into the kingdom of God.
We need more tact and ingenuity in
Christian work. It is in spiritual af
fairs as in military, that success de-
ponds in attacking that part of the
cattle which is not armed and in
trenched.
For instance, here is a man all armed
on the doctrine of election; all his
troops of argument and prejudice are
at that particular gate. You may
fifty years and you will not take it;
but just wheel your troops to the side
gate of the hearts affections, and
in FIVE minutes you capture him. 1
never knew man to be saved
through a brilliant argument. You
can not hook men into the
kingdom of God by the horns
Of a dilemma. There is no grace
in syllogisms- Here is a man armed
on the subject of perseverance of the
saints; he does not believe in it. At
tack him at that point, and he will
perSevere to the very last in not be-
lieving 1t. Here is n man armed on
the subject Of baptism; he believes in
sprinlSling or immersion All your
discussion of ecclesiastical hydro
patty will not change him I remem-
Der, when / was a boy, that with
other boys / went into the river on
n summer day to battle, and we
used TO dash water on each other,
but never got any result except that
our eyes were blinded; and all this
splashing of water between Baptists
and Pedo-Baptists never results in
anything but the blurring of the
spiritual eyesight. In other words,
you can never capture a mans soul at
the point at which no is especially in
trenched. But there is in every mans
heart bolt that can be easily showed.
A little child four years old may touch
that bolt, and it will spring back, and
the door viii swing open, and Christ
will come in.
think that the finest of all the fine