The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-29
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON
Copyright, Davis W. Clark.) S<@k<Nss=a@<@sHsN

[ The process reduced thirty-two regiments to three companies. This paltry band had a ridiculous armament-each pitcher, a torch and horns But under Gideon 6 artful manipulation these strange weap- ons were uncovered. The faring torch suddenly uncovered, the inexplicable sound of the crashing pottery, the trum- pet blast, and the utterance of those awe-inspiring names of Jehovah and his captain. Gideon-it Is enough! Three companies threw one hundred and twen- ty regiments into completest panic. Each Midianite becomes his fellows foe. The remnants of that proud army, broken and wrecked. are hotly pursued Israers deliverance is complete. With bowed heads the confession is devoutly made that the arm of "the Lord hath done it."
 The Teachers Lantern.
 The junkshops and stables of back street in Cork could not hold Theobald Mathew when Providence wished to make an apostle of temperance out of him. The Lords best workmen often come from most unlikely and unfriendly environ ments. Gideon was the least member of the family of Israel, and he was found in the vat of a wine-press.
 The ideal reformer begins by reforming
 
 wood out of his own dearest idol. ''The road to the hearts of the congregation is over the ruins of the minister's own Baal."
 The real church is still little flock. " Its movements are much impeded by the members who are with it, but not Of it.. The next General Conference should give us some legislation which would enable the Church to rid herself more readily of non-attending, non-contributing non entities. The conviction deepens that we would be more efficient if we were not so numerous.
 Providences permitted Gideon to hear what an enemy thought of him. It put a new heart in him. Would the modern ministry be equally encouraged if 1t could overhear the talk of the worlds camp?
 qideon's conscious inadeQuacy made him lean hard upon an Almighty Arm. The minister who can go into the pulpit without a tremor ought not to go at all. The transcendent importance of deliver ing a message from the Lord, whether as preacher or layman, ought to fill the soul with awe.
 How gentle Jehovah was with his tim orous servant! He neither broke nor quenched him, but gave him sign after sign.
 The end crowns the work. The instru- ments may be contemptible. I heard an artist bring some lovely music out of sleighbells and tumblers yesterday. Who was that violnist who held an audience entranced with one string of his violin when the others snapped? Tt matters very little how insignificant we are con- sidered, if we only succeed"
 The pessimists must needs be excused from the moral contests of the day. Gideon had to let 22,oOO of them go. It is the optimist-the cheerful. confident soul-thar inspires his fellows to victory.
 Little things are often indices of char acter. The easy-going. seif-leving souls. who unbuckle their belts and put them selves into comfortable positions to re- fresh themselves, will never reach the scene of action. Those dauntless spirits, eager for the fray. who scoop up painful as they ford the stream, belong to the imro ortal three hundred.
 After the fray the Ephramites showed a ridiculously jealous spirit by asking why they were not invited in at the be- ginning. After the exploits done, cow ards are valiant" Gideon displayed again his tact and inventive genius. He turns away their wrath with soft an- swers. Scott aptly remarks: 'In those things which pertain to the truth, author ity and glory Sof God. Christians should be unmoved as the sturdy oak: but in little concerns of their own interest or reputation. they shoul1 resemble the pli ant willow that yields to every gust
 Gideon's name is deep cut on that tow ering obelisk to the heroes of faith, the eleventh chapter of Hebrews But Cid con is not faultless character. The i'm