and alleys,
into the hedges and highways, and try to bring the people in, but the
Lord gave His blessing. If a man has the courage to go right to his
neighbor and speak to him about his soul, God is sure to smile upon
the effort. The person who is spoken to may wake up cross, but that is
not always a bad sign. He may write a letter next day and apologize.
At any rate it is better to wake him up in this way than that he
should continue to slumber on to death and ruin.

You notice when God was about to deliver Israel out of the hand of the
Midianites, how he taught this lesson to Gideon. Gideon had gathered
around him an army of thirty-two thousand men. He may probably have
counted them, and when he knew that the Midianites had an army of a
hundred and thirty-five thousand he said to himself: "My army is too
small; I am afraid I shall not succeed." But the Lord's thoughts were
different. He said to Gideon: "You have too many men." So He told him
that all those among the thirty-two thousand who were fearful and
afraid might go back to their own homes, to their wives and their
mothers; let them step to the rear. No sooner had Gideon given this
command than twenty-two thousand men wheeled out of line. It may be
Gideon thought the Lord had made a mistake as he saw his army melt
away. If two-thirds of a great audience were to rise and go out you
would think they were all going.

The Lord said: "Gideon, you have too many men yet. Take your men down
to the brook and try them once more. All those who take the water up
in their hands and drink as they pass by can stay; those who stoop
down to drink can go back." Again he gave the word, and nine thousand
seven hundred wheeled out of line and went to the rear, so that Gideon
was left with three hundred men. But this handful of men whose hearts
beat true to the God of heaven, and who were ready to go forward in
His name, were worth more than all the others who were all the time
sowing seeds of discontent and predicting defeat. Nothing will
discourage an army like that. Nothing is more discouraging in a Church
than to have a number of the people all the time expecting disaster
and saying: "We do not think this effort will amount to anything; it
is not according to our ideas."

It would be a good thing for the Church of God if all the fearful and
faithless ones were to step to the rear, and let those who are full of
faith and courage take their empty pitchers and go forward against