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.”
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.
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.
