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"Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, 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. And he said unto Jether his first-born, Up, and slay them. But the youth

drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks." (vv. 18–21.)

"Then 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. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you.” (vv. 22, 23.)

The Lord Jesus would not be made king by the people. (John vi. 15.) He came in His Father's name (they would not receive Him thus), and He would not be received in His own name. It is a very different thing being received in our own names, from our being received in the name of the Lord. Gideon retires; he will not take the place of rule that belongs only to the Lord. He knows that if the people's minds are fixed upon Gideon, nothing but weakness and dishonour can result; but that if the Lord be acknowledged and leaned on, there will be strength and blessing. Do we not find this principle running all through the New Testament?

Paul hides himself. Though having had such revelations from the Lord, though possessing such a compass of knowledge, yet the moment he sees the spirit coming in of setting up Paul, he says, "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the

Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase;" so again, "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas," &c. (1 Cor. iii.) Had he put himself forward, Christ would not have been seen. And this principle, true of Gideon, true of Paul, is true of every saint acting in faith.

One special mark of growth in grace is evidenced in our magnifying the name of the Lord Jesus, even though it be in the vilifying of our own names before the saints and before the world, in our taking all blame to ourselves, and our giving all praise to the Lord. "He that glorieth, let him glory in

the Lord."

Had the history of Gideon closed here, what a beautiful picture would it have presented.

There is none perfect but the Lord. He is the true Gideon, the true Sampson, the true David. At the close of the chapter, we see declension after revival-speedy declension, and that proceeding from Gideon himself.

"And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)"

He wanted some monument to signalize his victory. These earrings were the spoils of triumph confessedly from the Lord.

"And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; besides ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside chains that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house." (vv. 24–27.)

Man seeks something whereby to perpetuate present blessing. This has ever been one way of his perverseness. 'What security have you that it will last?' he asks, and faith answers, 'None whatever, but the presence of the Holy Ghost.' If we attempt to secure it by other means, like Gideon, we make an ephod. We seek to perpetuate blessing, to secure it to others, and, in a very short time, keep up the form (having lost the power), and worship that instead of God, just as Gideon's ephod had divine honours paid to it. What is it to have a set of principles (however scriptural) without the power of the Spirit? The only thing to give perpetuity of blessing is the presence of the Holy Ghost. God has wrought in the way of revival, and men whose hearts bounded with love to God and to their fellow-men, have said, 'Oh, we will perpetuate the blessing,' and nothing but evil has come of it. We cannot secure the truth of God by arrangements of our own. Such arrangements may spring from a feeling of piety, but they evidence a want of dependence upon God. There was the energy of the Spirit working in Gideon, but he it was who prepared the way for Israel's re-apostacy.

The restoration lasted not longer than there was individual energy of faith.

"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. And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. . . . And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites."

"And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god. And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every

side: neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel." (vv. 28-35.)

Of what use was the ephod now? It had entirely failed of effecting that which, doubtless, Gideon designed it should effect. And have not the well-designed efforts of men of God, who have sought to provide for the pure truth, repeatedly ended in the same way? The great thing we have to look to is, not the holding in prominence of this or that particular doctrine, but the ungrieved presence of the Holy Ghost. Let us remember that He is the Holy Spirit, repressive ever of the flesh. If I have set up something, that something becomes an object to me, instead of the Lord. His glory must be the prominent thing. How speedy was the departure of the Church from God at the first, even in Paul's days, "all sought their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.' (Phil. ii. 21.)

2 CORINTHIANS VI. 14-18.

AMONGST the numerous hindrances to thorough consecration of heart to Christ, which I earnestly desire for myself and my reader, "the unequal yoke" will be found to occupy a very prominent place indeed. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what partnership hath righteousness with unrighteousness [or rather lawlessness]? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be

ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. vi. 14-18.)

Under the Mosaic economy, we learn the same moral principle. "Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together." (Deut. xxii. 9-11; Lev. xix. 19.)

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These Scriptures will suffice to set forth the moral evil of an unequal yoke. It may with full confidence be asserted that no one can be an unshackled follower of Christ who is in any way "unequally yoked." He may be a saved person -he may be a true child of God-a sincere believer, but he cannot be a thorough disciple; and not only so, but there is a positive hindrance to the full manifestation of that which he may really be notwithstanding his unequal yoke. "Come out . . . and I will receive you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." That is to say, "Get your neck out of the unequal yoke, and I will receive you, and there shall be the full public practical manifestation of your relationship with the Lord Almighty." The idea here is evidently different from that set forth in James: "Of His own will begat He us by the word of truth." And also in Peter: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." And again in 1 John : Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God." So also in John's gospel: "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of

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