Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-10-05
A STRANGE BATTLE.
OR. TAIMAGE ON eipEoN's ARMY
AND GODS WAY.

OR. TAlMAGE ON 6iDEON'S ARMY
AND GODS WAY.
The Lawfulnc>s OF Christian Strategem.
Useless Lumber In the Mountains Of Lcb-
anon Gideon's Depleted Army and the
Great Lesson Of Ills Wonderful Victory.
NEW YORK, sept. 29-In his sermon
for today Rev. DR. Talmagc discusses a
subject which is ~ special interest to sun
day school teachers and scholars at the
present time, being Gidcon's battle with
the Midianiics near Mount Gilhoa. The
text chosen was Judges vii. 20 81: And
the three coninanies blew the trumpets, and
brake the pitchers. and held the lamps in
their left hands and the trumpcts In their
right hands Ia blow withal. And they
stood every man In his place round about
the camp, and all the host ran and cried
and fed
That Is the strongest battle ever fought
God had told Gideon Ia go down and thrash
the Midianitcs. but his army Is too large;
for the glory must he given TO God and
not tn mar. And - proclamation Is made
that all those Of the troops who are cow
artlly and want To 90 home may 60, and
$4,000 Of them scampercd away, leaving
only 10. OO0 men, But God says the army
Is too large yet, and 81 he orders these 10,
600 remaining To march down through a
strpam and commands Gideon to notice In
what manner these men drink Of the wa
ter as they pass through il. II they get
down ON all fuurs and drink. then they are
to be pronounced lazy and incompetent for
the campaign. hut II, in passing through
the stream. they scoop up the water In the
palm Of their hand and drink and pass on,
they are to hc the men selected for the hat
tie.
Well. the Ia. 600 men marched down In
the stream. and the most Of them come
down on all fours and plunge their
mouths, like "A horse CT an OK, into the
water and drink. but there are 800 men
who, instead 81 STOPPING. just dip the palm
of their hands In the water and bring IL "a
their lips, tapping IL as n dog lappcth. y
Those 800 brisk. rapid. enthusiastic men
arc chosen for The campaign. They are
each To take "a trumpet in the right hand
and pitcher In the left hand and lamp
inside the pitcher, and then nj n given sig
nal they are To blow the trumpcts and
throw down the pitchers and hold up the
lamps. 80 IL was done.
The Rout Of the Midianites.
II Is night. I see great host of Midi
antics sound asleep in the valley Of Jcz-
reel. Gideon comes up with his 800 picked
men. and when everything is ready the
signal Is given, and they blow the trum-
pets, 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 cut
themselves 20 pieces and horribly 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 n star sleeping In It's bosom, and
the most insignificant passage Of Scripture
has In IL n 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 n way they
were not xpected-sometimcs falling back
20 draw out the foe, sometimes breaking
out from ambush. sometimes crossing a
keeping the opposing forces I'm wondcrment
rs to what would be done next
You all know what strategy Is I'm mill
tary affairs. Now think IL Is high time
we had this art sanctiiicd and spiritualized.
In the church. when we are about 10 make
Christian assault. we send word 20 the
opposing force when we expect to come,
how many troops we have and how many
~ hNs NIL ttlt.. lt.r. x.-tlt
with artillery. infantry or cavalry. and OF
course we ARE defeated. There are thou.
sands Of men who might be surprised into
the kingdom Of Sod We need more tact
and ingenuity IN Christian work. II is in
spiritual affairs ~ in military. that sue
cess depends in attacking that part Of the
castle which is not armed and intrenched.
The Power Of Christian strategem.
For instance here Is man all armed
on the doctrine Of election. all his troops
OF argument and prejudice are ut that par
ticular gate. You may batter away Mt that
side Of the castle for 80 years, and you will
not take il, 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 n bril-
liant argument. 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 be-
lieve In IL. Attack him at that point, and
he will pcrscverc TO the very last In not be-
heying It, Here Is n man armed on the
subject Of baptism. He believes in sprin-
king or immersion. All your discussion
Ecclesiastical hydropathy will not change
him. / remember when was n boy that
with other boys went into the river ON
n summer day to hathc, and we used to
dash water on each other, but never got
any result except that our eyes were blind
ed. and all this splashing of water between
Baptists and Pedobaptists never results
In anything but the blurring Of the spir-
ttual cycsight. In other words, you can
never capture mans soul at the point at
which he Is especially intrcnched. But
there Is In every mans heart bolt that
can be easily showed. a little child 4
years old may touch that bolt. and IL will
spring back. and the door will swing open,
and Christ will come In.
think that the finest Of all the fine arts
Is the art OF doing good, and yet this art Is
the least cultured. We have In the king
dom Of God to-day enough troops To con-
quer the whole earth for Christ II we only
had skillful mancuVcring. Iwould rather
have the 300 lamps and pitchers Of Chris
tian stratagem than 100, 900 drawn swords
Of literary and ecclesiastical combat.
! learn from this subject, also, that u
small part Of the army Of God will have
90 do all the hard fighting. Gidcon's army
was originally composed 81 ~, 900 men,
but they went of until there were only
10000 left. and that was subtracted from
until there We're only 800. 1t Is the same
In all ages of the Christian church: few
men have to do the hard fighting Take a
membership of 1000. and you generally
find that 30 people do tho work Take a
membership II 600, and you generally find
that ten people do the work There are
scores Of churches where two or three poo
pie do the work
Useless cowards and Drones.
We mourn that there Is 81 much useless
lumber In the mountains ~ Lebanon.
think. OF the 10, 900, OOU membership Of the
Christian church today. II 3, 600, 600 OF the
names were oil the books the church
woul6 be- STRONGER. You know that the
more towards and druncs there arc in my
army the weaker It s. ! would rather
have the 300 picked J. n ~ Gideon than
the 81, 900 unsiftcd host How many
Christians there are standing In the way
Of all progress think IL Is the duty ~
the church ~ Col 10 ride over them, and
the quicker it ds-,s IL the quicker IL does
its duty.
Do not worry O Christian, II you have
90 do more than your share 81 the work.