Verse 19.—So Gideon, and the three hundred men that were with him, which was one of the three companies his army was divided into, came unto the out-side of the camp, in the beginning of the middle watch, (the second watch). In early times the Jews divided their nights into three watches; Gideon choose the middle—had he come the first, all might not have been in bed—had he come the last, some might have been rising; but he took this time, a little after midnight in the dead of the night, when the whole army was fast asleep—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! The noise, and the blaze of light were very surprising to the host of Midian, just awaking out of their sleep, perhaps—an awful emblem of the surprise a soul experiences, when it leaves the body without a hope, and without a God!—a greater emblem of that period, when the midnight cry shall be made—when the arch-angels trumpet shall wake the dead!—shake the vast creation when the blaze of a burning world, and the sword of vindictive justice shall be seen.—“The host of Midian ran, and cried, and fled.”—Such shall the terror be in that dread moment. See this finely represented by the excellent Admiral Kempenfelt, who was drowned in the Royal George, and who composed some excellent verses on the Last Day. I will only mention these two verses, as suitable to this subject, and will be acceptable to the believer, while it is a terror to those Midianites who will experience the horrors of that day.— Hark! ’tis the trump of God Sounds thro’ the worlds abroad— Time is no more! Horrors invest the skies! Graves burst and myriads rise! Nature, in agonies, Yields up her store. Chang’d in a moment’s space! See the affrighted race Shrink and despair! Now they attempt to flee— Curse immortality? And view their misery Dreadfully near! But while the Midianites fled, the Israelites stood every man in his place;—so it will be at the final consummation of all things. Clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, we shall stand in our lot, and see a burning world, and the misery of the damned. But while Jesus descends as our salvation we shall glorify, and for ever admire him.—This will surely be thy experience and thy privilege, O believer, as sure as ever the Holy Spirit has brought you, in time, to believe on him, to seek him, rejoice in him, and live to his praise.