The Penn's Grove record., 1895-10-04
REV. DE-. TRLuEGE.
The Brooklyn Divine's Sunday
Sermon.
Subject "Gideon's Battle With tht
Midianites."

TEXT. "An1 the three companions blew
the trumpets, and brake the pitchers. and
held the lamps in their LEFT hands and the
trlmpets in their right hands 10 blow withal
And they stood every man in his place
round about the camp, and all the host RAJ
and cried and led."-Judges vii, 90, 81.
That Is the strangest battle ever fought.
God had told Gideon to go down and thrash
the Midianttes, but his army is too large. fol
the glory must he giS m to God and not tc
man. And so proclamation is made that all
those OF the troops who arc cowardlv and
want to go home may go, and $4,000 oil
them scampered away. leaving only 10 .G0C
men. But God says the army is toe
large yet, and so he orders these TO- 00
remaining to march down through q
stream and command Gideon TO notice in
what manner these men drink of the water
as they pass through it. If they get down
on all tours and drink, then they are to be
pronounced lazy and incompetent for the
campaign, hut if, in passing through the
stre1m, they scoop up the water in the pain
Of thetr hand and drink and pass Ontheyare
to he the men selected for the battle.
Well, the 10, 900 men marched down in the
stream, and the most Of them come down on
all fours and plunge their mouths like horse
or an OK into the water and drink, but there
are 800 men who, instead of stopping, just
dip the palm Of their hands In the water and
lappeth.' Those 800 brisk, rapid, en-.
thusiastic 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 a lamp inside the pitcher, and
then at a given signal they are to blow the
trumpets, and throw down the pitchers, and
hold up the lamps. So it was done.
1t is night. l see a great host of Midianite
sound asleep in the valley Of Jezreel. Gid.
con comes up with his 300 picked men, and
when everything 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 Midianites, waking out
of a sound sleep, take the crash of the
erockery and the glare Of the lamps for the
coming on OF an overwhelming foe, and they
run and cut Themselves to pieces and horrl'
bly, perish.
The lessons of this subject are very spir
tied and impressive. This seemingly value
less lump Of quartz has the pure gold in it.
The smallest dewdrop on the meadow at
night has a star sleeping in its bosom, int
the most insignificant passage of Scripture
has in il a shining truth. Gods mint coins
no small change.
l learn in the first place from this subject
the laWfutuess OF Christian strategem. You
know very we'll that the greatest victories
ever gained by Washington or Napoleon
were gained through the fact that they came
when and in a way they were not expected
sometimes falling back to draw out the foe,
sometimes breaking out from ambush, some
times crossing a river IN 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
/ = - ---aasn-l - --ss&,pII-aI In Ahp
church., when we are about to make a Chris
tian assault, we send word to the opposing
force when we expect to come, how many
troops We have, and how many rounds OF
shot, and whether we will come with artil-
lery, infantry or cavalry, and OF course
we are defeated. There are thousands OF
men who might be surprised into the king
dom of God. We need more tact and ingen
uity in Christian work.. 1t is in spiritual
affairs as in military, that success depends
in attacking that part Of the castle which is
not armed and intrenched.
For instance, here is a man all armed or
the doctrine Of election. All his troops Of
argument and prejudice are at that particu-
lar gate. You may batter away at that side
of the castle for fifty years, and you will not
take it, but just wheel your troopsto the side
gate Of the hearts affections, and in five
minutes you capture him. L never knew
IL Ilhll 10 bt EuNNi NhlOu5h % a.
gumet. You cannot hook men into the
kingdom of God by the horns Of n dilemma.
There is no grace in syllogisms. Here is II
man armed on the subject of perseverance,
of the saints. He does not believe in it.
Attack him at that point, and he will perse-
we're to the very last in not be-
lieving it. Here is a man armed
on the subject of baptism. He believes
in sprinkling or immersion. All your dis
,,-,i,n rf ecclesiastical hulFDnnfhU will NOT
change him. l remember when | was a boy
that with other boys l went into the river on
a summer day to battle, and we used to dash
water on each other, but never got any re-
suIt except that our eyes were blinded, and
all this splashiug of water between Baptists
and P~edObaptists never results in anything
but the blurrlng of the spiritual eyesight. In
other words. you can never capture a mans
soul at the point at which he is especially
intrenched. But there is in every mans
heart a bolt that can be easily showed. A
little child four years old may touch that
bolt, and il will spring back, and the dooI
will swing open, and Christ will come In.
Think that the finest of all the fine arts Ii
the art of doing good, and yet this art is the
least cultured. We have in the kingdom OF
God to-day enough troops to conquer the
whole earth for Christ if we only had skilliaI
m-annuYering. would rather nave the SUI
and pitc hers of Christian strategem
tSan I'M So6 drawn swords of literary and
aocIesiostioal combat.
7 learn from this subject also that a small
mart of the army of God will have to do all
the hard fighting. Gideon's army was origin
.aIiv romn9sed Of SO, 600 men, but they went
az until there were only 10, O0O left, and that
was enhsfranted from until there were only
gn0 II lie the same in all ages Of the Chris
tian church. A few men have to do the hard
a Sbttng Take a membership oil 1000, and
v6n GENERALLY lnd that fifty people do the
yyort Take n membership OF SEQ, and you
generally find that ten people do the work.
There are scores OF churches where two or
,bree nenple do the work.
We mourn that there is so much useless
lumber in the mountains of Lebanon. ]
think Of the TO- 900, 900 membership OF the
Christian church to-day if 5000, 900 of the
names we're off the books the church would
ha stronger. You know that the more
sovards and drOnes there are in any army
he eaker it is. | would rather have the
SN0 Wicked men OF Gideon than the 80, 900
|u]nsifted host, The many Christians there are
sanding inthe way Of all progressl Think
it is the duty of the church of God to ride
over them, and the quicker 1t does It the
|0uieker it does Its duty.
Do not worry, o Christian, II you nave 10
do more than your share OF the work. o
had better thank God that He has called you
to be one Of the picked men rather than to
belong to the host OF stragglers. Moulu nor
YOU rather be one Of the 800 that hsht nan