Milford chronicle., 1895-10-04

water and drink, but there are 300 neE
who, instead Of STOPPING just dip the palm
of their hands in the water and bring it &c
their lips, tapping it as a dog lGppoth.'
+ Those 800 brisk, rapid enthusiastic mon
o arc chosen for the campaign They arc
each to take a trumpet in the right hand
and pitcher in the left hand and lamp
inside the pitcher and then at given sig
nal they are to blow the trumpets and
throw down the pitchers and hold up the
lamps. So it was done.
The Rout Of the AIidianites.
It is night 1 see a great host Of Midi
antics sound asleep in the valley of .Icz-
reel Gideon comes up with his 300 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, wakingout of a sound sleep,
take the crash of the crockery and tho
glare of the lamps for the coming on of an
overwhelming foe and they run and cut
themselves to 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 a star sleeping i'm its BOSOM and
| has in it 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 over gained by Washington or
Napoleon were gained through the fact
that they came when and in a way they
were not Xpected-sometimes falling back
to draw out the foe, sometimes breaking
out from ambush, sometimes crossing n
river on unheard Of RATS; all the time
keeping the opposing forces in wonderinent
as to what would be done next
You all know what strategy is in mill
tary affairs. Now think it is high time
we had this art sanctihed and spiritualized
In the church, when we are about to make
n Christian assault, we send word to the
opposing force when we expect to come,
how many troops we have and how many
rounds Of shot, and whether we will come
with artillery, infantry or cavalry, and Of
course VIC are defeated There arc thou
sands Of men who might be surprised into
the kingdom of God We need more tact
and ingenuity in Christian work 1t is IN
spiritual affairs as in military, that sue
cess depends in attacking that part Of tho |
castle which is not armed and intrenched. |
The Power Of Christian strategem.
For instance, here is a man all armed /
on the doctrine of election, all his troops /
of argument and prejudice are at that par
ticular gate. You may batter away at that /
side Of the castle for 80 years, and you will /
not take it, but just wheel your troops to
the side gate of the heart affections, and I
in five minutes you capture him. 1 never
knew man to be saved through bril-
1fssr,N ]
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 docs not be-
lieve in it. Attack him at that point and
he will persevere to the very last in not be-
lieving it, Here is a man armed on the
subject of baptism He believes in sprin-
king or immersion. All your discussion
of ecclesiastical hydropathy viii not change
him l remember when ] was a boy that
with other boys l went into the river on
a summer day to battle, 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-
jtual eyesight. In other words you can
never capture a mans soul at the point ut
which he is especially intrenohed. But
there is in every mans heart bolt that
can be easily showed. A little child {
years old may touch that bolt, and it will
spring back, and the door will swing open,
and Christ will como 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 today enough troops to con
no fr
had skillful maneuvering. Iwould rather {
have the 300 lamps and pitchers of Chris
lian stratagem than 100, coo drawn swords {
Of literary and ecclesiastical combat.
l learn from this subject, also, that {
small part of the army of God will have {
10 do all the hard fighting. Gideon's army 1
was originally composed Of 49, 600 men, I
out they went off until there were only !
10, 600 left and that was subtractod from r
lntil there were only 300. It is the same !
N all ages Of the Christian church; a few
men have to do tho hard fighting Take a
Of 1000, and you generally
Ind that 80 people do the work. Take a
of 500, and you generally find b
hat ten people do tho work There ars t
cores Of churches where two or three poo Il
de do the work p
Useless towards and Drones. v
We mourn that there is so much useless y
lumber in the mountains Of Lebanon
hink, OF the 10, 600, 900 membership Of the =
christian church today, II 8, o0o, 600 Of tho Ell
ames were of the books the church o.
rould be stronger You know that the
lore towards and drones there arc in any 3
rmy the weaker it Is / would rather u
ave the 800 picked men of Gideon than d
BIO 80, 600 unsifted host. How many 81
christians there arc standing in the way
( all progressl tlink.it is the duty Of q
be church Of God to ride over them, and
he quicker it docs it tho quicker it docs u
IS duty. s.
Do not worry, o Christian, If you have q
) do more than your share Of the work q
on had bettor think God that he has Y