The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-03
sHAMeAR A MIGHTY SLAYER.
FE KILLS COO PHILIsTINEs SINGLE
HANDED.

an OA OoAu MS OhAF " ebpons nut
the Lord Was on His Side-HIS
Victory Lifted Him Into the High
est Place of POwer-Rev. TaImnEe
Points Out the Lessons Taught by
the story.
New York. June Ain his sermon to-day
Rev. DR.. Talmage discusses one Of the
most heroic and picturesque characters
n ancient Jewish history "a man who
ike many others who achieved high dis
hnction. came from the sturdy rural class
1.-The agriculturists. The subject OF the
sermon was: "Shamgar's Ox-goad." the
text being; After him was Shamgar.
which slew of the Philistines six hundred
men with an ox-goad." Judges. 3:3l.
One day while Shamgar. the farmer. was
blowing with a yoke Of oxen, his command
of whoa-haw-gee was changed TO the
shout of battle. The Philistines always
ready to make trouble. march up with
sword and spear. shamgar. the plowman.
had no sword. and would not probably
have known how to WELD it If he had
possessed one. But fight he must. or so
down under the stroke of the Philistines.
He had an ox-goad, a weapon used to urge
on the lazy team: weapon about eight
feet long, with a sharp iron at one end
10 puncture the beast and a wide iron
chsel, or shovel, at the other end with
which TO scrape the clumps of soil from
the plowshare Yet. with the iron prong
at one end of the ox-goad, and the iron
acraper at the other, it was not such "A
weapon as one would desire TO use in
battle with armed Philistines. But God
helped the farmer. and leaving the oxen
TO look after themselves. he charged upon
the invaders of his homestead Some of
the commentaries, to make II easier for
Shamgar, suggest that perhaps he led a
regiment of farmers into the combat his
oX-goad only one of many oX-goads. But
the Lord does not need any of you to
help in making the Scriptures, and Sham
gar, with the Lord on his side was
mighter than six hundred Philistines with
the Lord against them. The battle open
ed. Shamgar with muscle strengthened
by open air. and plowman's, and reaper's
and thresher's toll, uses the only weapon
at hand, and he swings the ox-goad up
and down, and this way and that; now
stabbing with the iron prong at one end
of 1t, and now thrusting with the iron
scraper al the other. and now bringing
down the whole weight of the instrument
upon the heads of the enemy The PILLS
tines are in panic, and the supernatural
forces come in, and a blow that would not
under other circumstances have Frustrated
or slain, left its victim lifeless; until when
Shamgar walked over the field, he counted
one hundred dead, two hundred dead. three
hundred dead, four hundred dead, five
hundred dead, six hundred dead-all the
work done by an oX-goad with iron prong
al one end and an iron shovel at the other
The fame of this achievement by this
Enaau ~aHnH 4.
spread abroad, and lionized him, until he
was holsted into the highest place of pow
er, and became the third of the mighty
judges of Israel So you see that Cincin-
natus was not the only man lifted from
pillow TO throne
For what reason was this unprecedent-
ed and unparalleled victory of farmers
ox-goad put into this Bible, where there
was no spare room for the unimportant
and the trivial?
1t was, first of ALL to teach you, and to
teach me. and to teach all past ages since
then, and to teach all ages to come, that
in the war for God and against sin, we
ought to put to the best use the weapon
we happen to have on hand. Why did
not Shamgar wait until he could get a
war charger, with neck arched and back
caparisoned, and nostrils shifting the bat
tie afar off, or until he could get war
equipment, or could drill a regiment, and
wheeling them into line, command them
forward to the charge? To wait for
that would have been defeat and ami
hilation. So he takes the best weapon
he could lay hold of, and that is an OK
goad. We are called into the battle for
the right and against the wrong, and
many of us have not Just the kind of
weapon we would prefer. 1t may not be
sword of argument. 1t may not be
the spear of sharp, thrusting wit. 1t
may not be the battering-ram of denun-
citation. But there is something we can
do, and some forces we can WELD. Do not
wait for what you have not, but use what
you have. Perhaps you have not elo-
quence, but you have a smile Well a
smile of announcement has changed the
behaviour of tens of thousands of wan
derers, and brought them back to God,
and enthroned them in heaven. You can
not make persuasive appeal, but you can
set an example, and a good example has
saved more souls than you could count
in a year, If you counted all the time.
You cannot give ten thousand dollars,
but you can give as much as the widow
of the gospel, whose two mites, the small
est coins of the Hebrews, were bestowed
in such a spirit as to make her more
famous than all the contributions that
ever endowed all the hospitals and univer-
isties of all Christendom, of all time.
Tou have very limited vocabulary, but
you can say yes or no" and firm
yes" or an emphatic no" has ira
versed the centuries, and will traverse
all eternity, with good influence You
may not have the courage to confront
a large assemblage, but you can tell a
Sunday schools class of two-a boy and
a girl-how to find Christ and one of
them may become a William Carey, TO
start influences that will redeem India,
and the other Florence Nightingale who
will illumine battlehelds covered with the
dying and the dead.
That was a tough case in a town of
England where a young lady, applying for
a Sabbath school class. was told by the
superintendent she would have to pick up
one out of the street. The worst of the
class brought from the street was one
Bob. He was fitted out with respectable
clothing by the superintendent But after
two or three Sabbaths he disappeared lie
was found with his clothes in tatters, for
he had been fighting. The second time
Bob was well-clad for school, After com
ing once or twice, he again disappeared,
and was found in rags, consequent upon
fighting. The teacher was disposed to give
him up, but the superintendent said: Let
us try him again." and the third suit of
clothes was provided him. Thereafter he
came until he was converted and Joined
the church, and started for the gospel