But there remained ten thousand. These men by their staying said, "It ought to be done. What ought to be done can be done. What can be done _we_ can do. What we can do we _will_ do." Here is another man standing looking at that vast host across the valley. He is thinking that it is a desperate case, but he thinks of G.o.d"s call through Gideon. Just then he notices that his neighbor on the left has taken to his heels, and on his right also. That shakes him for a moment. His heels say, "You go too." His heart said, "No, stay." He obeyed his heart. He said, "I"ll stay if I stay alone."
That was the stuff in these remaining ten thousand. They stood a double test in remaining, the desperate situation seen in the presence of such an enormous army, and the desertion of their fellows. They had _courage_; not only willingness but courage. Courage is a heart quality. Courage is the heart fighting. It faces fearful odds and keeps right straight ahead regardless.
A prize was offered once for the best definition of "pluck." The definition that won the prize said, "Pluck is fighting with the scabbard after the sword is broken." What a picture in a single sentence! The man is fighting with might and main in the thick of the enemy, up and down, parry and thrust, and just about holding his own, when suddenly, without a moment"s warning, the blade snaps close up to the hilt. The game"s up now surely. This accident decides the day. _Maybe_--for _some_ men. But not for this fellow. He simply sets his jaws a bit firmer as, quick as lightning, he grabs the scabbard by his side and fights with it.
Such a man can"t be whipped. He doesn"t know when he is whipped. And the man who doesn"t know when he is whipped, never _is_ whipped. No man can be whipped without his own consent. I said courage is a heart quality. These ten thousand were not chicken-hearted nor downhearted. They were lion-hearted, stout-hearted. They had hearts of oak.
It was a keen stroke of generalship on Gideon"s part that sent the timid, discouraged ones back home. Nothing is more demoralizing than the presence of such people. And there was no discipline much finer for those who remained than to feel their fellows leaving them. It"s hard to be left by those who have been in touch. It is hard to stand alone.
There is no harder test of character than that. And too there is no finer thing to make character. Think how the fiber of those ten thousand toughened and strengthened as they _stood_ there, with men on every side hurrying away. This was the second test. But the men who can stand testing are growing fewer. Thirty-two thousand men were willing. Only a third of them are both willing and courageous. These men are more than volunteers.
They have seen the foe. Their fiber has stood the test, and toughened in the test. They are _courageous_ volunteers.
Hot Hearts.
But there is a third test. G.o.d comes to Gideon and says, "You have too many men yet, Gideon." And Gideon"s eyes bulge out a bit. Too many! Yes, this is to be a quality fight. No common fighting here. G.o.d works best with the men who come nearest to having His own thought of things. Numbers don"t count. You can"t count men for service. You must weigh them, and feel the firmness of their fiber.
There is a little running brook down the valley. Gideon gives an order to his men to advance a bit. And he watches them. Most of them as they come to the water stretch out leisurely on the ground and putting their mouths to the water take a good long drink, and another, and again. They seem to say by their action, "Well, there"s some tough work ahead, but we must take care of ourselves. A man must look out for number one. We must not get unduly stirred up over the thing. We"re not fighting yet."
But one fellow comes along with a quick, nervous step, and his eye still on the enemy. He is all on tenter-hooks. His eye flashes fire. He reaches down with a quick movement and gathers up some water in his hand, up to his mouth, and hurries on. Then a second fellow, and a third, and more.
Gideon is watching. As each of these comes along he calls him off to one side. When the whole number of men have pa.s.sed the brook there are just three hundred of the hot-hearted, intense-spirited fellows.
G.o.d said, "Gideon, keep these men; send the others back." These thousands sent back were st.u.r.dy men. They would make good fighters in many a campaign, but they would not do for this higher kind of campaigning planned for that day. The little band remaining had stood a third test, they were willing, and courageous, _and enthusiastic_.
Enthusiasm is the heart _burning_. These fellows had spring and snap to them. Yet it was a _tempered_ spring and snap, the sort that would last.
By their action at the brook they said, "If there"s fighting to be done, let"s do it quickly; let"s go at the enemy with a vim and a rush. Oh! let us at them."
G.o.d Still Sifting.
Yet, mark you, their enthusiasm was _seasoned_. It grew _under fire_, or practically so, in the presence of the danger. There is always an abundance of the green article of enthusiasm, but it"s not worth much for steady ditch-work. There is a sort of wood enthusiasm, apple-wood. You know how apple-wood burns in a fire. It catches quickly, throws out a good many sparks, makes a loud crackling noise, but doesn"t last long.
There is another sort, a soft-coal enthusiasm. It"s better than wood. But it needs a lot of attention continually to keep a steady fire. Then there"s the hard-coal enthusiasm that will burn steadily and faithfully by the hour. Yet no kind, mark you, will run long without fresh fuel. We need in our service more of the seasoned enthusiasm.
It has been said of General Grant that one great reason for his success as a soldier was in his coolness. While the fighting and firing were hottest he sat on his horse quietly, coolly watching, listening, and giving his orders. And much of his power has been attributed to that quality. Well, if coolness is a qualification for success in Christian service there seems to be a large number of persons splendidly qualified. They are cool all the time; cool as icebergs at the North Pole; cool from the topmost layer of hair to the bottommost cuticle--about certain things.
We want coolness of head such as General Grant had and hotness of heart such as he had, too. The ideal combination is a cool head and a hot heart.
The head should resemble a refrigerator, and the heart a flaming furnace.
There is one bother, however, among many people. Either the coolness of the head works down too much and affects the heart, and that is bad, or, else the heat of the heart gets up into the head, and a hot head is always bad.
Yet there is a sure key to preserving the poise between the two. It is in the quiet time daily with Jesus, over the Book, with the knee bent, and the ear keen, and the spirit quiet. In that time there comes, and comes ever more, the calmness for the brain, and the fresh fuel for the heart, and new steadiness for the will that holds all under its strong hand.
Many difficulties will yield only to fire. When you cannot reason your way through a problem, or a difficulty, or into a man"s heart, _burn_ your way through. Nothing can withstand fire. It is very remarkable that the symbol used most for G.o.d in the Bible is fire. A man never amounts to anything until he catches fire.
The proportions are worth noticing here. Thirty-two thousand were _volunteers_. A third of that number are _courageous_ volunteers. About a thirty-third of these, less than a hundredth of the original, are _hot-hearted, courageous_ volunteers.
This is Gideon"s Band; three hundred young men fresh from the farm, who were _willing_, and _courageous_, and _hot-hearted_, all heart qualities.
They stood every test. They had faced a foe that humanly they had no chance to overcome, and because of G.o.d"s call they were not only willing, and stout-hearted, but intense in their desire to get at the fighting.
Then under Gideon"s leadership they were well fed, and organized; they proved individually faithful in the thick of the fight, and they pushed persistently on even when bodily tired out. And the nation knew a great victory over its enemies, and a time of prosperity for years after.
G.o.d is still sifting men for service. He will use gladly every man who is willing to be used. When a man stands the first test well, there comes a second. That, stood well, means others. These are our promotion tests. He lets those who stand all testings into the thickest of the fight and up to the highest heights of victory.
Master, help us to endure every test as seeing Him who is invisible.
Footnotes
[1] 1 John i:1.
[2] 2 Corinthians iii:18.
[3] Frances Ridley Havergal.
[4] Exodus xxi:2-6, Leviticus xxv:39-43; Deuteronomy xv:12-18.
[5] Psalm xi:6-8; Hebrews x:5-7.
[6] Isaiah 1:4-6.
[7] John v:19, 30; vi:38, 57; vii:16-17, 28; viii:28, 29.
[8] John Sullivan Dwight.
[9] Mark i:41; Matthew ix:36; Mark vi:34 (with Matthew xiv:14); Matthew xx:34; xv:32; Mark v:19; Luke vii:13; x:33; xv:20
[10] Daniel xii:3.
[11] James v:19.
[12] Proverbs xi:30.
[13] Luke v:10.
[14] Acts xvii:6.
[15] 1 Thessalonians iv:11; 2 Corinthians v. 9, Romans xv:20.
[16] Attention is directed to a strong helpful address on "Money," by Rev.