DISCIPLINE AND OTHER SERMONS




SERMON I.--DISCIPLINE



(Preached at the Volunteer Camp, Wimbledon, July 14, 1867.)

NUMBERS xxiv. 9.

He couched, he lay down as a lion; and as a great lion. Who dare
rouse him up?

These were the words of the Eastern sage, as he looked down from the
mountain height upon the camp of Israel, abiding among the groves of
the lowland, according to their tribes, in order, discipline, and
unity. Before a people so organized, he saw well, none of the
nations round could stand. Israel would burst through them, with the
strength of the wild bull crashing through the forest. He would
couch as a lion, and as a great lion. Who dare rouse him up?

But such a people, the wise Balaam saw, would not be mere conquerors,
like those savage hordes, or plundering armies, which have so often
swept over the earth before and since, leaving no trace behind save
blood and ashes. Israel would be not only a conqueror, but a
colonist and a civilizer. And as the sage looked down on that well-
ordered camp, he seems to have forgotten for a moment that every man