There was much excitement in Wildwaste relative to the occurrences
of that night. Various rumours spread, with more or less of truth
in them, concerning Gaspar Gritton, and the strange way in which he
had been discovered lying in a lifeless state in a mysterious vault
full of treasure. As Lottie was reinstated in her place, and Cora was
convalescent, the services of Mrs. Holdich were no longer required; the
steward’s wife—after changing her infected garments—returned to her
home, where she was besieged by curious inquirers. Rebekah smiled at the
strange exaggerations which had spread around, like widening circles
on a lake into which a pebble has been thrown. It was true, she said,
that Lottie had performed an important service, had been the means of
preserving her master’s life, for which she would be liberally rewarded;
but as regarded the vault and its mysterious contents, Rebekah maintained
a placid silence. She had a note from Isa to convey to the Castle, in
which Arthur and Lina Madden were now residing as the baronet’s guests.
The result of that note was, that Holdich appeared that afternoon at
Wildwaste Lodge, equipped for a journey to London, part of his equipment
being a pair of loaded revolvers. Crowds of workmen and their families
thronged before the Lodge, curiously watching the door through which were
borne iron boxes, very heavy in proportion to their size, and believed to
contain treasures of plate and bullion sufficient to buy up the village.
With emotions of intense relief and deep thankfulness Isa watched from
the window the departure of the cart for the station, with the sturdy
steward seated on one of the boxes within it, keeping faithful watch over
his dangerous charge. It was not only because in that lawless part of the
country the Lodge would scarcely have been a safe residence when known to
contain a treasure, that Isa rejoiced in its departure; it was because
she looked on that ill-gotten gold much as our ancestors looked upon the
barrels of gunpowder buried in a vault beneath Parliament-house by an
insidious and cruel foe. It had been placed there not to enrich, but to
destroy; not as a blessing, but a curse;—_an enemy hath done this_. From
the days of Achan unto our own, there is a woe for him who heapeth up
riches unrighteously won.
No one from the Lodge appeared at the steward’s cottage on that evening,
and he himself was absent on his mission to London; but Edith Lestrange
and her guests came from the Castle to attend Mr. Eardley’s closing
lecture on the “Triumph over Midian.”
LECTURE VII.—FAITH CROWNED.
The men of Ephraim, as was mentioned at our last meeting, had encountered
some of the fugitives of Midian, had slain two of their princes, and
brought their heads to Gideon. But the Ephraimites, men of a warlike
tribe, were angry at having been appointed but a secondary part; they
were indignant at the chief honour, as well as the chief danger, of the
struggle having been assigned to Gideon’s three hundred heroes.
“Why hast thou served us thus,” they fiercely exclaimed to the leader,
“that thou calledst us not when thou wentest to fight the Midianites?”
They came full of jealous resentment; and instead of rejoicing in the
triumph, chafed at not having sooner been permitted to share it.
_Only by pride cometh contention; with the lowly is wisdom._ Gideon,
humble in the midst of his marvellous success, experienced the power of
the soft answer to turn away wrath. He said unto the indignant warriors,
_What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the
grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God hath delivered
into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I
able to do in comparison of you? Then, adds the sacred narrative, their
anger was abated towards him._
[Illustration: GIDEON AND THE EPHRAIMITES.]
But it was not with the proud sons of Ephraim, but with his own band,
the chosen of God, that Gideon completed his victory by following up the
pursuit beyond Jordan. They held a commission from the Most High, and
exchanging their trumpets and torches for weapons of war, _faint, yet
pursuing_, they pressed on. Weary and hungry were the brave warriors of
Gideon; they lacked refreshment to renew their failing strength, but that
refreshment was cruelly withheld, first by the men of Succoth, and then
by those of Penuel, from whom Gideon had craved the much-needed supplies.
These inhabitants of Succoth and Penuel, sons of Israel unworthy of the
name, afterwards received the punishment due for their indifference to a
holy cause—their base inhospitable neglect of those bearing the burden
and heat of the conflict.
And can we find none even in a Christian land whose conduct closely
resembles that of the men of Succoth and Penuel? The missionaries of the
Cross are engaged in a long and arduous struggle to carry the banner of
their Lord into the strongholds of heathen error. They are a small and,
as regards numbers, a feeble band; they need support and sympathy from
those who dwell at ease in their peaceful homes. For them their heavenly
Leader deigns to ask the aid of their brethren. In the words of Gideon
we seem to hear the Lord’s _Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto
the people that follow me, for they be faint_. And how is that appeal
received by the greater number of those who call themselves Christians?
Some, indeed, rejoice to bring out their offerings; they deem it an
honour to be permitted to give from their stores and refresh the fainting
powers of those who are foremost in fighting the good fight of faith. To
these how sweet the Saviour’s promise to His disciples: _Whosoever shall
give you a cup of water to drink in My name, because ye belong to Christ,
verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward_.
But shall not the multitudes who give no aid to the servants of God, who
share the guilt of Penuel and Succoth, fear to share their punishment
also? It is lack of faith that hardens the heart, that closes the hand;
for who could refuse to give—give largely, give to the utmost of his
power—if he really _believed_ that at the last day those who have turned
a deaf ear to the appeal of the weary, shall hear from the lips of the
Eternal Judge the terrible words, _Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of
the least of these, ye did it not to Me. Depart from Me, ye cursed!_
Faint, yet pursuing, Gideon and his band followed on the track of Zebah
and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. These, with about fifteen thousand
men who had escaped from the slaughter which followed the sounding of
the trumpets, had reached Karkor, and believed themselves there to be
secure from further attack. _Faint, but pursuing._ Thus, in his life-long
warfare against sin, presses on the Christian from grace to grace, till
God receives him to glory. He must not sheathe the sword of the Spirit
while one evil passion remains unsubdued; he must not relax his efforts
till the Almighty himself perfect the victory within him, and call him
to inherit the kingdom above. We may have much to discourage us, much to
try our courage and patience; it is not by one effort, however great,
that the yoke of Midian can be broken, that faith can finally triumph
over corruption within. _Let patience leave its perfect work_; however
long and arduous may be the pursuit, God can uphold, strengthen, and
bless us, as in His name and for His sake we struggle on, _faint, yet
pursuing_.
Complete success crowned the efforts of Gideon. He came up with the men
of Midian, discomfited all their host, and took captive their kings Zebah
and Zalmunna. As they were not of the doomed races of Canaan, the leader
of Israel would have spared these foes, had they not been stained with
the blood of his brethren, whom, by the Midianites’ own confession, they
had slain at Tabor. Gideon was by law the avenger of this blood. The
sacred record gives us a striking glimpse of the way in which justice
was satisfied in that remote age—the brief investigation, and the prompt
execution by the hand of the near of kin, according to the commandment of
Moses: _The murderer shall surely be put to death; the revenger of blood
himself shall slay the murderer; when he meeteth him, he shall slay him_
(Num. xxxv. 18, 19). Gideon inquired of Zebah and Zalmunna, “What manner
of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor?” evidently alluding to some
well-known act of violence. And the princes made answer, “As thou art,
so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.” And he said,
“They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the Lord liveth,
if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.”
Gideon then commanded his first-born to fulfil the stern duty of the
avenger of blood; but the youth shrank from the office. “Rise thou, and
fall upon us,” cried the bold sons of Midian to Gideon; “for as the man
is, so is his strength.” By the hand of their conqueror, therefore, Zebah
and Zalmunna met the fate which their crimes had deserved.
The victories of Gideon, his great services rendered to his country, had
won for him the enthusiastic admiration and gratitude of the people whom
he had freed from the enemy’s yoke. Nothing was deemed by his countrymen
too great a reward for the hero who had delivered them. Let him who had
saved Israel become the head of the nation, the first of a dynasty of
rulers. The men of Israel said unto Gideon, “Rule thou over us, both
thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also; for thou hast delivered us
from the hand of Midian.”
But Gideon’s had been the triumph of faith, not the proud struggle of
ambition. He desired no crown; he would mount no throne; the Lord God of
Hosts alone should be the King of Israel. “I will not rule over you,”
said Gideon; “neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule
over you.” It is to God alone that belongeth the power and the glory; it
was God who had smitten down Midian, and Gideon, great in humility as in
his faith, gave the honour to God. Rich was the blessing that followed,
as recorded in the page of Scripture, _Thus was Midian subdued before the
children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the
country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon._
We have seen in the history before us the tree of faith budding, bearing
fair blossoms, and then its fruits gradually ripening into perfection.
We now see, as it were, those precious fruits gathered and laid as an
offering upon the altar of the Lord. The Saviour _shall come to be
glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe_; the
harvest is His, His servants lay its treasures at His feet.
And what is the practical lesson, my brethren, left on our minds by
the record of the perils, the exploits, and the success of Gideon? Can
we trace in it any likeness to the experience of our own soul? Have we
received the angel’s visit, heard the promise, obeyed the command? Have
we thrown down the idolatrous shrine in the spirit breathed in the words
of the poet,—
“The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from its throne,
And worship only Thee.”
Have we trusted to God alone to strengthen us for the conflict with sin
by the grace of His Holy Spirit, and with His Word in our hands have we
invaded the enemy’s camp, and pursued him with earnest self-denying zeal?
Have we fought and conquered our Midianites by the power of living faith?
Or, to change the metaphor, has faith been with us as the blighted tree,
on which the sunshine falls in vain, which stands a bare form, a lifeless
thing, when spring clothes all around it with verdure? Has the Lord of
the vineyard said of it, _Lo, these three_, or ten, or twenty _years I
come seeking fruit, and finding none. Cut it down; why cumbereth it the
ground?_ Oh, my brethren, that faith which is shown not by deeds, that
faith which works not by love, is _not_ the faith which is firmly rooted
in the Rock of Ages. A cold assent of the reason is not faith, a lifeless
profession is not faith; that is faith which beareth good fruits—that
which, like the faith of Gideon, overcometh the enemy.
We have to pursue our Midianites to the Jordan, but not beyond Jordan.
At the fords of the “narrow stream of death” the last enemy will perish
for ever. Into the bright land beyond, Disappointment, Discontent cannot
enter; for there is the fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
Dissension is unknown where every look and thought are love; nor can
the shadow of Distrust fall in the realm of eternal light, for the
servants of Christ shall _see Him as He is_, and dwell with Him in bliss
everlasting.
[Illustration]