Bradford County telegraph. (Starke, Fla.) 1888-current, 1895-10-11
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
rHE NOTED DlvINRs SUNDAY
pfsCOURsE.
sub,ect. "Gideon's Battle With the
Hlidianitesn

fha trumpets. and brake the pitchers, and
held fhs lamps in their left hands and the
trurnpets In their right hands to blow vithal.
And they stood every man In his place
round about the camp. and all the host ran
and cried and ned."-Judges VII, 20, 81.
That Is the strangest battle ever fought.
God had told Gideon to 90 down and thrash
the Midianites. but his army Is too large. for
the glory must be given to God and not to
man. And 50 proclamation Is made that all
those OF the troops who ara cowardly and
vsnt 70 20 home may 20. and 1900 OF
them scsmpered away, leaving only 10000
men. But God says the army IL too
large vet, and so he orders these 10000
remaining to march down through
stream and command Gideon to notice IN
what manner these men drink OF the water
as they pass through It. II they get down
on all feurs AMI drink, then they are to be
pronounced lazy and incompetent for the
campaign, but II, in passing through the
stream, they scoop mp the water In the palm
Of their hand and drink and pass on they are
TO I've the men selected for the battle.
Well. the 10, 900 men marched down in the
stream. aud the most Of them come down on
all tours and plunge their mouths Ike a horse
or an OK into the water and drink, but there
are 800 men who, instead OF STOPPING. Just
din the palm OF their hands in the water and
bring II TO their bps, "lapping Il as dog
lappeth." Those 800 brisk, rapid, en-
tbusiastic men are chosen for the
campaign. They are each to take trumpet
IN the right hand. and pitcher In the left
hand, and lamp inside the pitcher. and
then at given signal they ara to blow the
trumpets. and throw down the pitchers, and
hold mp the lamps. SO it was done.
II Is night. I see great host Of MidiaDttes
sound asleep in the valley Of JezreeL Gid
con comes ND with his 400 picked men. and
when everything is ready the signal Is given
and they blow the trumpets. and they throw
down the pitchers, and hold mp the lamps.
and the great host OF Mldianites, waking out
OF n sound sleeps take the crash of the
crockery and the glare Of the lamps for the
coming on Of an overwhelming foe. and they
run and cut themselves to piecaS and horri-
bly, perish.
The lessons OF this subject are very sDir-
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, and
the most Insignificant passage OF Scripture
has in il q shining truth. Gods mint coins
no small change.
Ilearn in the first place from this subjec
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 a way they were not expected
sometimes falling back to draw out the foe,
s0metimes breaking out from ambush. some
times 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 IL in military
affairs. Now think 1t Is high time we had
this art sancti1ei and spiritualizsd. In the
church, when we are about to make Chris
tan assault, we send word to the opposing
force when w9 expect to come. how many
troops wa 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
nnen who might be SURPRISED into the king
dom Of God. We need more tact and ingen-
uity In Christian work. II Is in spiritual
affairs rs in military, that success depends
n 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 aud prejudice are at that particu-
lar gate. You may batter away at that side
of the castle for fifty wears. 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. never knew
. man to be saved through q brilliant ar
Rumet. You cannot hook men into the
Kingdom OF God by the horns OF dilemma.
There Is no grace In syllogisms. Here is a
Of the saints. He does not believe in II.
Attack him at that point. and he will psrse-
we're to the very last in not be-
lisving II. Here Is a man armed
On the subject Of baptism. He believes
In sprinkling or immersion. All your dis
eussion Of ecclesiastical hydropathy will not
change him. remember when 1 was a boy
that with other boys went into the river on
q summer day to battle, and we used TO dash
water on each other, but never got any re-
suit except that our eyes we're blinded, and
all this 5plashing Of water between Bsptists
and Pedobaptists never results In anything
but the blurring Of the spiritual eyesight. In
other words. you can never capture q mans
soul at the point at which he is especially
intrenched.- But there Is in every mans
heart bolt that can be easily showed.
little child four years old may touch that
bolt. and Il will spriug back. and the dooI
will swing open. and Christ viii come in.
Think that the finest o; all the fine arts Is
the art OF doing good. and yet this art is the
least cultured. We have in the kingdom OF
God to-day enough troops 20 conquer the
whole esrth for Christ II we only had skillful
manoeuvering. Iwould rather have the SOC
lamps and pitchers OF Christian strategem
than 10o, 900 drawn swords OF literary and
ecclesiastical combat.
Ilesrn from this subject also that a small
: part Of the army Of God will have to do al
the hard Fighting. GideoD's army was origin.
; ally composed Of 1000 men. but they wen
, on until there were only II, 900 left, and thai
was substractad from until there were ONLY
, 500. 1t Is the same In all ages OF the Chris
tan church A few men have to do the hare
fighting. Take q membership OF 1000, RnC
you generally ind that fifty people do thu
work Take membership OF SEQ, and you
generally nnd that ten people do the work
There are scores OF churches where two o
three people do the work
We mourn that there Is so much useles
lumber In the mountains OF Lebanon.
think Of the 10000, 900 membership OF tn,
Christian church to-day IL $1,000 OF tn,
names were OF the books the church woulC
bs stronger. You know that the NOR
towards and drones there are in any arm,
the weaker II Is. would rather have tn
300 picked men OF Gideon than the 81, 00t
unsifted host. The many Christians there ar
standing in tbs way OF all progress. Ithiul
1t Ii the duty OF the church OF God to rid
over them, and the quicker it doss 1t tn
quicker 1t does Its duty.
40 not Worry, " CortSOan, III you nave
90 more than your snare OF the work. You
had better thank God that He has called yO
to DO one OF the picked men rather than t
belong to the host OF stragglers. Would nc
YOU rather bs one of the 800 that fight tina
the 2, GOO that run? 1 suppose those COW
eruly Gideonites who went of eongratT
lated themselves. They said: I've got n
OF all that fighting, did not we? Ho
lucky We have beenl That battle cos
Us nothing At all" But they got non
OF the spoils Of the victory. After the bait
the SO0 men went down aud took the weaIt
OF the htdianites, and ont OF the cups Al
biarers OF their enemies they Toasted. An
me time will cnna NV daar hrnfhrpI