Gideon's victory over midian.
Judg. vii. 19 — 22. So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had hut newly set the toatch : and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that ivere in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ra7i, and cried, and fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every mans sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host.
WE are so familiar with scripture history, that we cease to be struck with the most astonishing events. Great events in profane history are handed down from generation to generation, and are made subjects of universal admiration : but those which are related in the Bible are passed over with little notice. How can we account for this ? Is it that, in the one, the feats of men are seen, and in the other the feats of God? and that we are gratified with contemplating whatever advances the glory of man, but have no disposition to magnify and adore our God? We fear that this is the true solution of the diflftculty. But, if we feel not as we ought, we cannot be insensible to the display of God's power and goodness in the passage we have now read. Indeed the whole his- tory of Gideon is so curious and instructive, that, instead of confining ourselves to the particular action specified in the text, it will be desirable,
I. To notice the circumstances which led to this vic- tory- Here we must notice,
1. His call to his work —
[He was by nature qualified for the office of a deliverer, being " a mighty man of valour." Yet that circumstance would not have justified so hopeless an attempt as that which he engaged in, if he had not been called to it by God himself. But God (under the appearance of an angel) called him to it,