The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-30
eiDEON'S BAND AT GILBoA.
TALMAGE breaches on THE IA
NOUS VICTORY.

Only 800 Men ont OF an Army CT
$4,000 Chosen 10 Accomplish Gods
WiII-FIiEht of the Midianites At
the Crash of the Pitchers and fhc
Glare of the Lamps Held AIOft by
the Band.
New York. Sept. 29.-In his sermon for
to-day, Rev. DIR. Talmage discusses a sub
ject which is Of special interest to Sunday
school teachers and scholars at the pres
ent time. being Gideons battle with the
AIidianites. near Mount Gilboa- The text
chosen was Judges Z: %. p: And the
three companies blew their trumpets. and
brake the pitchers. and held the lamps in
their left hands. and the trumpets in their
right hands 10 blow withaL And they
stood every man in his place round about
the camp. and all the host ran, and cried,
and fled"
That is the strangest battle ever fought
God had told Gideon TO go down and thrash
the AHdianites. but his army is too large;
for the glory must be given TO God, and
not to man. And so proclamation is made
that all those of the troops who are cow
ardly and want TO go home, may 90; and
twenty-five thousand of them scampered
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 COM
mands Gideon to notice in what manner
these men drink of the water as they pass
through 1t. II they get down on all-fours
and drink, then they are to be pronounced
lazy and Incompetent for the campaign,
but if, in passing through the stream,
they scoop up the water in the palm of the
hand and drirsk, and pass on, they are to
be the men selected for the battle. Well,
the ten thousand men marched down in
tn stream, and the most of them come
down on all-fours. and plunge their mouths
like a horse or an OK, into the water ana
drink; but there are three hundred men
who. instead of STOPPING, just dip the
palm of their hands in the water and
bring 1t to their lips, tapping it as dog
lappeth." Those three hundred brisk,
rapid, enthusiastic men are chosen FOR
the campaign They are each to take
trumpet IN the right mana and ptcher
in the left hand, and 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
II is night 1 see a great host of INDIAN
ties, sound asleep in the velley of Jezreei.
Gideon comes uD with his three hundred
picked men. and when everything is ready,
tile signal Is given, and they blow the
trumpets, and they throw down the pitch-
ers, and hold up the lamps, ana the great
host of Midianites, waking out of a sound
sleep, take the crash of the crOckery ana
the glare of the lamps for the coming on
of an Overwhelming foe: and they run,
perish.
The lessons of this subject are very spir-
tied and impressive. This seemingly value
less lump of quartz has the pure gold in IL.
The smallest dew-drop on the meadow at
night has star sleeping in its bosom, ana
the most Insignificant passage Of Scrip
ture has in it a shining truth. Gods mint
coins no small change.
] learn in the first place, from this sub
Ject the lawfulness Of Christian strata
gem. You know very well that the great
est 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 fall
ing back to draw out the foe, sometimes
breaking out from ambush, 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 mill
tary affairs. Now / think il is high time
we had this art sanctihed and spiritual
lied. In the church, when we are about
to make Christian assault. we send word
10 the opposing force when we expect to
come, how many troops We have, ana
how many rounds of shot, and whether
we Will come with artillery infantry or
cavalry, and of course we are defeated
There are thousands of men who might
be surprised into the kingdom of GOD
Christian work 1t is I'm 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
on the doctrine of election: all his troops
of argument and prejudice are at that
particular gate. Yau may batter away at
that side Of the castle for fifty years ana
you will not take it: but just wheel your
troops to the side gate of the hearts af-
fections. and in five minutes YOU capture
him. l never knew a man to be saved
through brilliant argument. You cannot
nook 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. Attack him at thai
point, and he will persevere to the very
last in not believing it. Here is a man
armed on the subject of baptism: he he
neVes IN sprlnkling or immersion. All your
discussion of ecclesiastical hydropathv
VIII not change him. l remember, when
I was a boy, that with other boys went
INTO the river on a summer day to battle
and We used TO dash water on each other
Dut never got any result except that our
eyes were blinded and all this spfashing
OF water between Baptists and Pedo-bap-
tlsts never results i'm anything hut the
PUTT DinnIring Of the spiritual eyesight. In
othef words you can never capture a
mans soul at the point at which he is
especially entrenehed. But there is in
every mans heart a bolt that can he
four years old NAV nt to9cb e tbdi
bolt, and it will spring back, ana the door
: N.
think that the finest of all the fine
arts Is the art of doing good. and vet this
art is the least cultured We have in the
Kingdom OF God to-day enough troons 10
conquer the whole earth for Christ III we
only mad skillful manoeuvering / wonld
rather have the three hundred lamns and
pltchers OF Christian stratagem than one
hundred thousand drawn swords of lit
erary and ecclesiastical combat
1 learn from this subject also that a
small part of the army of God win have
TO do all the hard fighting. Gideon,s
army was originally composed of thirtv
rwo thousand men, but they went off
until there We're only ten thousand left
and that was subtracted from until there
We're only three hundred. Ii is the same
IN all ages of the Christian church: a few
men nave to do the hard fighting Take
a membership of a thousand and Won gen
orally find that fifty people do the work
rake membership of five hundred. and
you generally find that ten people do The
WorA Ihere are scores of churches
where two or three people do the work
We mourn that there is so much useless
lumber IN the mountains of Lebanon
think, OF the ten million membership Of
the Christian church today if five mil
mons 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 il is
would rather have the three h1ndro5