body, as these living men were saved from the breaking-up ship. We may be saved by one thing, by the rich grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, received to-day if never before. Oh, sitting calmly in this land-locked bay, soon to be pushed out to the swelling seas which wait for us outside, and on which we must embark; before you go out take not simply my teaching into your heart, but take into your deepest soul the sanctifying faith and fear of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And God will give you, as He gave Paul, all them that sail in the same boat with you. "Thou shalt be saved and thy house." Believe it. Salvation is on one side of it, scrimp and bare and "almost," but on the other side it is sure and certain and " altogether." "They escaped all safe to land." Heaven shall be ours. The larger life, the fuller freedom, the endless possessions and riches that are there, are ours, if only here and now we trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear men and women, let us be warned; let us be warned in time. To-day there is hope, to-day there is room and time to turn. The hour after this may be too late. Now, while I speak, let us make sure of it, that we are not disobedient to the heavenly vision—that we take into our heart and into our life the Lord Jesus Christ.

O God, make this an hour of decision for Christ and for eternity! Amen.

Henderson & Spalding, General Printers, Marylebone Lane, London, W.

GIDEON'S THREE HUNDRED.

A Sermon

PREACHED AT REGENT SQUARE CHURCH,

REV. JOHN MCNEILL.

By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place."-JUDGES Vii. 7.

A STRIKING story. Especially might it be a useful story for all preachers to-day, who find themselves in some little tide of popularity. It is a sifting story; it is a winnowing story. The Master comes in among us to-night, and His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor; for the Lord, according to this narrative, and certainly as we find in the record of His earthly experiences when He was here in the flesh, really cares nothing for numbers. It is nothing to our Lord and Master to count heads if He does not count hearts and minds and wills along with the heads. All that is vividly illustrated in this narrative. Therefore I have read it; and, taking the text that I have quoted as the hinge round which it turns, we shall look at it a little more closely to see this and various other points of doctrine and experience practically illustrated.

Gideon had blown the trumpet at God's command, had raised the standard, and there flocked to his side, as you remember, some thirty-two thousand men. I can well imagine that Gideon's heart was lifted up, and he was in a state of high Vol. II.-No. 18.

confidence, if not strong exultation: for Israel, you remember, for a good while now, had been crushed under the oppression of Midian. They dared hardly meet together. This man, when he was called by the Lord to the work of delivering his people from this bitter bondage, was threshing his little quantity of grain in a secret place, because the terror of his country's enemies was so great upon him. The Lord spoke to him. The Lord took hold of him. He strengthened Gideon's heart. He set Gideon upon his feet in every way, and He made him to blow the trumpet; and, as I have said, and quicker perhaps than I am taking to tell it, thirty-two thousand men from defeated, subjugated Israel rallied round about him, just as if they had been weary for this day, and weary for that sound that called them to Gideon's standard. I see Gideon lifted up, not in himself, I believe, but lifted up in God, profoundly thankful, saying to himself, very likely, "Well, who would have thought it? I really thought that my countrymen were at such a low ebb that they never would have rallied. Why, what a difficulty the Lord God of Israel had with me! He had to give me sign upon sign, and wonder upon wonder, before my own heart could be encouraged, and my own soul be made to believe that God at last had arisen for the sighing of the needy. And that thirtytwo thousand of my countrymen should listen to the call, and should rally round the old flag of Israel, is to me a lesson which I trust I shall not forget, never to be as despondent and despairing again." Just then, when you can imagine Gideon in the midst of his exultation, the Lord came to him and virtually said, "Gideon, it is a grand company, but there is just one fault with it: it is too large. Gideon, the people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves,

and say, Mine own hand hath saved me." Ah! that is an old trick, and it is not done yet. "Now therefore," says the Lord, "proclaim in the ears of the host, and say, Whoever is full of fear, and afraid, let him return, and depart early from Mount Gilead." "And there returned of the people twenty-two thousand men ❞—in a twinkling that seemingly solid, compact host of men melted away. The thirty-two thousand became ten thousand in a very little while. The point is this. We need the same treatment yet. I said a little while ago in anticipation-let me come back upon it, and repeat it a little more firmly now-that the Lord cares nothing for heads if He does not count hearts. Especially in these days, when we are so fond of tabulating, so fond of reckoning up our figures on this side, and are so dismayed when some adverse critic counts up his totals on the other side. Now, after a story like this, which is so savage upon Church returns and Church statistics, you may do as you like; but I stand here to say that, after this story, I, for one, am neither going to be uplifted by the greatness of figures, nor depressed by their paucity. They may mean strength, they may mean no such thing. Let us put our dependence on the Lord God Almighty. Let us beware of numbering the people. It has never been very successfully done. There is a danger attaching to it. The year has just closed in your church, and you show me the totals of this year as compared with last year. So many members last year: one hundred more this year. money last year: £100 more this year. So many Sabbath-school teachers last year: a considerable increase this year. Now, look here. After such a story as this, take figures away. I do not want to see them. They may encourage me falsely. Again, I say, I am neither going to be lifted up, nor going to be cast down. Figures may be

So much

useful. They have their place, I do believe; but they need to be very carefully handled, and very carefully watched. It is a sore story this on Church statistics, especially when the numbers swell, and we are apt to indulge in a great chorus of praise because of numerical success. Thirty-two thousand men were just about to go forth to battle, and the Lord virtually said, "Gideon, Gideon, the Midianites will go through that band of yours like the evening wolves through a flock of sheep." And the Lord began a process somewhat severe I will say more than severe. There is a savageness in that story. I will not reduce it to a word less than that. May we all feel it! How the Lord Almighty had to reduce thirty-two thousand stalwart men to three hundred in order to bring the band up to its effective strength ! The Captain of our salvation has strange ways with Him, has He not? Sometimes past finding out.

Now, these men utterly deceived Gideon, and we have to learn that lesson-that we may utterly deceive each other. Are our hearts right, my brothers, especially those of us who ate bread and drank wine and consecrated ourselves to-day in these pews as part of the sacramental host of God's elect? When you came into contact with Him at His own Table, did He really get you, body, soul, spirit, heart, strength, mind? Yes or no? When we count you upon our totals, does the Lord also count one, or are you to Him a mere fraction-a nothing? At present, for present conflicts, for present purposes, you are simply not in it. You sit there, as Gideon's army stood yonder, seeming to be all right. How we sang that hymn:

"Arabia's desert ranger

To Him shall bow the knee."

How we sing all our hymns! What a splendid roll there is