THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1854)

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns! he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

II

Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

III

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

IV

Flashed all their sabers bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabering the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

V

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

VI

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Editor: In spiritual warfare, there is a marriage of the physical and the spiritual. We see in the demoniac of Gaderra that the man was naked and physically powerful and dangerous (Luke 8). We see also that a herd of swine drowned at the end of the story.

Paul, as a result of preaching the Gospel and standing against Satanic oppression, had many physical sorrows to deal with. They were directly the result of spiritual warfare and doing his work for Christ:

1 Corinthians 15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

2 Corinthians 11:22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

I was called by the wife of a man in the church one day. She had come home on day, hit the automatic door opener of the garage, and drove in, and pushed the close button. Just at that moment she saw a man hiding behind a large snow sled leaning against the wall of the garage. She rushed into the house and locked the door behind her. After she phoned, my wife and I rushed to the home, and I had my wife stay inside the house with the lady while I went outside with her husband's shot gun loaded with buck shot.

The man had fled the garage, so I searched the woods for him. If I had seen him, I would have tried to take him and call the police. Otherwise, well, I must admit that I am glad I never caught him. He would have had to consume some hot buck shot, and I would probably have had a time of it trying to explain.

I called the sheriff before I left home, and he told me if I went to help, just don't take a gun. Can you believe what idiots we have in some law offices. This was Michigan. In Texas or Arizona the sheriff would have told me to be sure to take a gun. Just make sure the man in on the lady's property. I told this wimpy Michigan sheriff that I was indeed going to take a gun, and if he did not want the beggar killed, he better get to the house before me. The sheriff never showed- ever.

The point is, I was the pastor of this lady and her husband. He was at work. I was the nearest person for her to call, so I went. I am no hero. I did not catch the guy, but I suspect he either saw me trying to track him, or he may have heard from the neighbors that "that damned Baptist preacher was walking around the woods with a shot gun yesterday...."

My little charge of my light brigade ended with me going home without a wound, and not going to jail for shooting a possible burglar or rapist. But, they never saw the bum again. It was all in the line of duty. My job as a pastor was first and foremost to be a Bible teacher, but when a sheep cries for help out of fear of being raped, delivering the wolf a three point sermon on sexual purity will hardly be in order. Only a load of buck shot will serve the man's urgent need and protect the sheep.

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