AMMON.

I TOLD you that there were other enemies against whom Israel fought besides Moab and Midian; and other judges and deliverers to help them to conquer these enemies, besides Ehud, and Deborah, and Barak, and Gideon. I will tell you, to-day, of another brave soldier, who was also a judge in Israel, -his name was Jephthah.

The Israelites had again fallen into sin-the sin of idolatry. They had learned to worship the false

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gods of the heathen nations around them, "and served Baalim, and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Syria, and Zidon, and Moab, and Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and forsook the Lord, and served not him." (Judges x. 6.) And so God was made angry, and he gave them up into the hands of the Ammonites and the Philistines, and they oppressed them for eighteen years. See once more, dear children, what distress sin always brings. Remember, misery must follow the transgression of God's commands, and the forsaking of his way. And now, the Israelites did as they had done before; they cried unto the Lord, saying, "We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God,

and also served Baalim." But they had often before cried to God in distress; and then, as soon as the trouble was over, they had fallen into sin again. So, this time, God did not at once help them. He reminded them of his own past mercy, and of their ingratitude, and then he said, "Ye have forsaken me, and served other gods; wherefore, I will deliver you no more; go, and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation." Then they really did repent, and in the right way; for they not only said they were sorry, but they showed they were so by what they did-" they put away the strange gods, and served the Lord." And God was so merciful

that he turned to them again, and comforted and helped them.

But the Ammonites were still warring against Israel. These people lived near the land of Gilead, east of the river Jordan. The Israelites had fought against them before they entered Canaan, and had killed Sihon their king. But they were still unsubdued; and now they came and encamped at Mizpeh, in the land of Gilead. Jephthah was the man raised up by God to fight against them. He was himself a Gileadite, but he had been obliged for many years to live away from his home, because of the unkindness of his brethren. But now they needed his help (for he was a very brave man), and so they asked him to return to

them; and Jephthah was willing to forget their past unkindness, and to come back, and fight for them and for his country.

Jephthah was a man of courage, and of faith too, but he did not always act like a man of wisdom; and before he went to this battle against Ammon, he did a very rash and unwise thing. I dare say you have already read or heard of Jephthah's rash vow. What was

it? A vow means a solemn resolution or promise. Jephthah's vow was made to God himself. He said, "If thou wilt, without fail, deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the