The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-10-25
REV. DIR. TALMAGR
TuE NOTED DVINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE
Subject "0ideon's Battle with the
Mldianites.~

tumpots IN their right hands % blow wlthal.
And they stood every man tn his place
round about the camp. and all the host ran
and cried and fed. judges viz. 90, ~.
That Is the sirangest battle ever fought
God had told Gideon TO 20 down and thrash
the Midlanites. but his army Is too large. for
the glory must be given 20 God and not %
man. And so proclamation is made that OIL
those Of tho troops who ara eowardly aud
want 70 80 home may 90, and 1900 ot
them scampered away, leaving only 10000
men. But God says the army f. too
large yet. and so he orders those 10000
remaining 20 march down through n
stream and command Gideon 10 notice IN
what manner these men drink Of the water
as they pass through IT, II they got down
on all fours and drink, then they are 70 DO
pronounced lazy and incompetent for the
campaign, but If, in passing through the
stream, they scoop mp the water in the palm
of their hand and drink and pass on tbeyaro
20 be the men selected for the battle.
Well, the 10.0 600 men marched down In the
stream. and the most OF them come down on
an fours and plunge theirmouths like horse
or an OK into the water and drink, but there
ar3 800 men who. instead Of STOPPING. just
dip the palm OF their hands in the water and
bring It 10 their iiDs, "lapping il as a dog
lappeth" Those 800 brisk. rapid, en-
thuslastic men are chosen for the
campaign. They are each to take trumpet
in the right hand. and pitcher In the leit
hand, and n lamp inside the pitcher. aud
then at q given signal they are to blow the
trumpets. and throw down the pitcher, and
hold up the lamps. go It was done.
II is night. I see a great host Of Midianites
sound asleep in the valley Of JezreeL Gid
con comes M 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 sound sleep, take the crash OF the
crockery and the glare of the lamps for the
coming on Of an overwhelming foe. and they
run and Ont thems elves to pieces and horr.-
4bly perish.
The lessons Of this subject are very spir-
tied and impressive. This seemingly value-
less lump 81 quartz has the pure gold in Il.
The smallest deWdrop on the meadow at
night has q star sleeping in its BOSOM and
the most insignificant passage OF Scripture
has in il a shining truth. Gods mint coins
no small change.
learn In the first place from this subject
the lawfulness 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 p way they we're not expected
sometimes falling back 10 draw out the foe,
sometimes breaking out from ambush. some
times crossing q 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 I think It is high time we had
this art sancHhed and spiritualized. In the
church, when we are about to make Chris
tian assault, we send word to the opposing
force when we expect to come, how many
troops we have, and how many rounds oil
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 O
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 1t, but Just wheel your troops to the side
gate of the hearts affections. and in flv,
minutes you capture him. / never knew
q man to be saved through a brilliant ar
! gumet. You cannot hook men into the
kingdom OF God by the horns OF a dilemma
There is no grace in syllogisms. Here is
man armed on the subject Of perseverance
of the saints. He does not believe in ii
Attack him at that point, and he will perse'
we're to the very last in not be
| llevlng it. Here is a man arme,
on the subject of baptism. He believe
in sprinkling or immersion. ALI your dis
cussion of ecclesiastical hydropathy will no
change him. remember when 1 was bo
that with other boys went into the river o.
a summer day to battle, and we used to das
water on each other, but never got any re
suit except that our eyes were blinded, an
all this splashing of water between Baptist
and Pedobaptists never results in anythin
but the blurrlng OF the spiritual eyesight. i
other words. you can never capture a man
soul at the point at which he is especial
intrenched. But there is in every man
heart bolt that can be easily showed.
little child four years old may touch tina
bolt, and it will spring back. and the doc
will swing open. and Christ will come in.
think that the finest Of all the fine arts
the art of doing good. and yet this art is tn
least cultured. We have in the kingdom 0
God to-day enough troops to conquer tn
whole earth for Christ il we only had sHllfu
manPuvering would rather have the 80
lamps and pitchers OF Christian strateger
than 1U1,UOO drawn swords OF literary an
ecclesiastical combat
/ learn from this subject also that sma
part of the army Of God will have to do a
the hard fighting. Gideon's army was Origin
ally composed of $4,000 men. but they wei
off until there were only 10000 left, and Thu
was substractad from until there were on
300. 1t is the same in all ages OF the Chri
tian church. A few men have to do the han
lighting. Take a membership of 1000, ar
you generally find that fifty people do Il
work. Take a membership OF SEQ, and yc
generally find that ten people do the wor
There are scores of churches where two
three people do the work.
We mourn that there is so much usele
lumber in the mountains Of Lebanon
think of the 10000 600 membership OF Il
Christian church to-day If 5000, 600 Of til
names were off the books the church Woul
be stronger. You know that the mo-
towards and drones there are in any arm
the weaker it is l would rather nave Il