Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-06-08
THE DEADLY OXG0AD
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ON SHAMGAR'S
EFFECTIVE WEAPON.

EFFECTIVE WEAPON.
How an Unparalleled Victory Was Won
by the Use of Simple Farm ImpIe-
mont-The Essential Elements OF Vic
tory-Need Of Gods Help.
New YORK, June 2--In his sermon
today Rev. DIR. Talmage discusses one
OF the NEST heroic and picturesque char
acters in ancient Jewish history, man
who. like many others who achieved
L.gh distinction, cGno from the sturdy
rural classes--the agriculturists. The
subject Of tho sermon was Shamgar Is
Oxgogd, the text being, After him
was Shamgar, which slew of the Phiiis-
tines 600 men with an oxgoad" Judges
iii. BY.
Oae day while Shamgar, the farmer,
was blowing with yoke of oxen, his
command Of whoa haw gee was changed
TO the shout OF battle. Philistines, al
ways 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 Bat fight he must
or go down under the stroke of the Phil
istines He had an oxgoad--a weapon
used to urge On the lazy team; weap
on about eight feet long, with a sharp
iron at one end to puncture the beast
and wide iron chiscl or shovel at the
xr-l.sah to no
ciumps OF soil from tho plowsharc. Yet
with the iron prong at enc end of the
oxgoad and the iron scraper at the 9TH
er it was not such weapon as one
would desire touse in battle with armed
Philistines But God helped the farmer.
and leaving the oxen to look after them
selves he charged upon the invaders of
his homestead
Some OF the commentaries, to make it
easier for Shamgar, suggest that per-
haps he led n regiment Of farmers into
the combat, his oxgoad only one of
many oxgoads. But the Lord does not
need any Of you to help in making the
Scriptures, aud Shamgar, with the Lord
on his side, was mightier than 600 Phil
istines with the Lord against them. The
battle opened. Shamgar, with muscle
strengthened by open air aud plowman S
and reaper and thrasher's toll, uses the
only weapon at hand, and lie swings the
oxgoad up and down, and this way and
that, now stab3ing with the iron prong
at one end of it and now thrusting with
the iron scrapcr at the other, and now
bringing down the whole weight of the
Instrument upon the heads of the enemy.
The Philistines arc III Il panic and the
supernatural forces come i'll and blow
that would not under other circum-
stances have Frustrated or slain left its
victim ifeless, until, when Shalngar
walked over the field he counted 100
dead, 200 dead 800 dead, 400 dead, 500
dead COO dead--all the work done by
an oxgoad with iron prong at one end
and an iron shovel at the other. The
fame of this achievement by this farmer
with an awkward weapon of war spread
abroad and lionized him, until he was
hoisted into the highest place of power
and became the third of the mighty
judges of Israel So you see that Gin
cinnatus was net the only man lifted
from plow TO throne.
For what reason was this unprece-
dentcd and unparalleled victory of a
farmers oxgoad put into this Bible,
where there was no spare room for the
unimportant and the trivial?
The Choice of Weapons.
1t was, first CT 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 weap-
on we happen to have on hand Why
did not Shamgar wait until he could
get war charger, with neck arched and
back caparisonod and nostrils shifting
the battle afGr off, Or until he could get
war equipment or could drill regi-
ment, and wheeling them into line
command them forward to the charge?
To wait for that would have been defeat
and humiliation So he takes the best
weapon he could lay hold Of, and that
is an oxgoad We arc called into the
battle for the right and against wrong,
and many Of US have not just the kind
of weapon VIC would prefer 1t may not
be Il sword of argument. 1t may not be
the spear Of sharp, thrusting wit. 1t
may not be the battering ram Of de-
nunciation.
But there is something we can do and
some forces we can WELD. DO not wait
for what you have not. but use what
yoa have. Perhaps you have not elo-
quence, but you have a smile. Web, a
smile OF encouragement has changed the
behavior of tens of thousands of wan
derers and brought them back to God
and entllroned them in heaven. You
cannot make persuasive appeal, but
you can set an example, and good OK
ample has saved more souls than you
could count in a year if you counted all
the time. You cannot give $40, 900, but
you can give as much as the widow of
the gospel, whose two mites, the small
est COINS Of the Hebrews, We're bestowed
i'll such a spirit as to make her more IA
nous than all the contributions that
ever endowed all the hospitals and uni
versities of all Christendom, Of all time.
You have very limited vocabulary, but
you can say yes or mo, and firm
yes" or an emphatic mo- has trav-
erscd the centuries, and will traverse
NIL eternity, with good influence. You
may not have the courage to confront a
large assemblage, but you can tell a
sunday school class of two-a boy and
giIl-how to find Christ, and enc of
them may become a William Carey, to
start influences that will redeem India,
and the other a Florence Nightingale,
who Will illumine battlelelds covered
with the dying and the dead.
That was a tough ease iii town of
England where IL young lady, applying
for Il Sabbath school class, was told by
the superintendent she would have to
pick up ono out of the street. The worst
of the class brought from the street was
une Bob He was fitted out with re-
spectacle clothing by the superintend-
AA&A $4,000 a-SAE-a~s.n-AA.s%ae