Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1895-10-17

| Christ II we only mad sklllIul maneuver'
ing. I would rather have the three
hundred lamps and pitchers Of Chris
| tian stratagem than one hundred thou
sand drawn swords Of literary and &C.
clesiastical combat
Ilearn from this subject, also, that a
small part Of the army Of God will have
| to do all the hard fighting Gideon's
army was originally composed Of thir-
ty-two thousand mon, but they went
| of until there were only ten thousand
left, and that was substracted from un-
til there was only three hundred. It Is
the same in all ages of the Christian
church; few men have to do the hard
fighting. Take membership Of thou
sand and you generally find that fifty
people do the work. Take member
ship Of five hundred and you generally
find that ten people do the work.
There are scores Of churches where two
or three people do the work.
We mourn that there is SO much use
less lumber in the mountains OF Leb-
anon. I think, of the ten million mem
bership Of the Christian church to-day,
II 1--WE millions OF the names were of
the books the church would be strong
err You know that the more towards
and drones there are in any army the
weaker it il. / would rather have the
three hundred picked men Of Gideon
than the twenty-five thousand unsifted
host. How many Christians there are
standing in the way Of all progress!
/ think it is the duty Of the church Of
God to ride over them, and the quicker
it does it, the quicker it does its duty.
Do not worry, oh Christian, II you
have to do more than your share of the
work. You 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. Would not you
rather be one Of the three hundred
that fight than the twenty-five thou
sand that run? l suppose those
cowardly Gideonites who went Oft con-
graduated themselves. They said,
"We got rid Of all that fighting, did
not we? How lucky we have been;
that battle costs us nothing at all.
But they got none Of the spoils Of the
victory. After the battle the three
hundred men went down and took the
wealth Of the Midianites. and out Of
the cups and platters of their enemies
they feasted. And the time will come,
my dear brethren, when the hosts OF
darkness will be routed, and Christ
will say to his troops, "Well done, my
brave men, go up and take the spoilsl
Be more than conquerors foreverr' and
in that day all deserters will be shotl
Again, learn from this subject that
Gods way is different from mans, but
is always the best way. II we had the
planning of that battle, we would have
taken those thirty-two thousand men
that originally belonged to the army,
and we would have drilled them, and
marched them up and down by the day,
and week, and month, and we would
have had them equipped with swords
and spears, according to the way of
arming in those times; and then we
would have marched them down in
solid column upon the foe. But that is
not the way. God. depletes the army,
and takes away all their weapons, and
gives them lamp, and pitcher, and
a trumpet, and tells them to go down
and drive out the Midianites. i suppose
some wiseacres were there who said:
"That is not military tactics. The idea
of three hundred men. unarmed, con-
quering such a great host Of Midi
anites!" 1t was the best way. What
sword, spear, or cannon ever accom-.
plished such victory as the lamp.
pitcher and trumpet?
Gods way is different from mans
way, but it is always best. Take, for
instance, the composition OF the Bible.
If we had had the writing Of the Bible,
we would have said: "Let one man
write it. fyou have twenty or thirty
men to write poem, or make stat
ute, or write history, or make an
argument, there will be flaws and con
Predictions. But God says, ssLet not
one man do it, but forty men shall do
it." And they did, differing enough to
show there had been no collision be.
tween them, but not contradicting
each other on any important point,
while they all wrote from their own
standpoint and temperament; 30 that
the matter-of-fact man has his Moses;
the romantic nature his Ezekiel; the
epigrammatic his Solomon; the warrior
his Joshua; the sailor his Jonah; the
loving his John; the logician his Paul.
Instead Of this Bible, which now can |
lift in my hand-instead OF the Bible
the child can carry TO Sunday-school--
instead OF the little Bible the sailor can
put in his jacket when he goes to sea--
II it had been left to men to write, 1t |
would have been thousand volumes,
Judging from the amount OF ecclesias-
sical controversy which has arisen.
Gods way is different from mans, but
It is best, infinitely best
So it is in regard to the Christians
life. If we had had the planning OF |
Christians life we would have said:
'Let him have eighty years Of sun
shine, q fine house to live in; let his
surroundings all be agreeable; let him
have sound health; let no chill SILVER
through his limbs, no pain ache his
brow, or trouble shadow his SOUL" |
enjoy the prosperity of others so much.