The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-06-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Lesson of the Staying Of the Phil
istines by Shamgar.
In the War for God Against Sin Men
should Use the Best Weapons-Great
Things Accomplished by the
Humblest Observation-Disclosures.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage took for tn
subject of a recent sermon in the Acad
envy of Music, New York city, "Sham
gar's Ox-goad." basing it upon thu
text:
After him was Shamgar, which slew OF tn
Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad
Judges Iii, 81.
One day while Shamgar, the farmer
was blowing with yoke of oxen, hi
command of whoa-haw-gee wa
changed to the shout of battle. Phil
fstines, 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 go down
under the stroke of the Philistlnes. He
had an ox-goad-a weapon used to
urge on the lazy team; weapon about
eight feet long, with sharp iron at
one end to puncture the beast. and
wide iron chisel or shovel at the other
end with which to scrape the clumps OF
soil from the plow share Yet, with
the iron prong at one end of the OK
poad, and the iron scraper at the
other, it was not such weapon
as one would desire to use in bat
tie with armed Philistines. But God
helped the farmer, and leaving the
oxen to look after themselves, he
charged upon the invaders of his home
stead. Some of the commentaries, to
make it easier for Shamgar, suggest
that perhaps he led 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
mightier than six hundred Philistines
with the Lord against them. The
battle opened. Shamgar, with mus
Gle strengthened by open air, and plow-
mans, 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
abiding with the iron prong at one
end of it, and now thrusting with the
iron scraper at the other, and now
bringing down the whole weight OF
the instrument upon the heads of
the enemy. The Philistines are in
panic, and the supernatural forces
come in, and blow that would not
under other circumstances have pros
trated 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 at |
,ne end and an iron shovel at the |
other. The fame of this achievement |
oy this farmer with an awkward
weapon of war; spread abroad, and Ii
,nized him, until he was hoisted into
he highest place of power, and be-
tame the third of the mighty judges
If Israel. So you see that Cincinnatus
vas not the only man lifted from pillow
% throne.
For what reason was this unprece-
Tented and unparalleled victory of a
armer's ox-goad put into this Bible,
where there was no spare room for the
and the trivial?
1t was, first Of all. to teach you, and
o teach me, and to teach all past ages
ince then, and to teach all ages to
ONE, that in the war for God, and
gainst sin, we ought to put to the
'est use the weapon we happen to have
n hand. Why did not Shamgar wait
ntil he could get war charger, with
eek arched and back caparisoned, and
ostrils shifting the battle afar off, or
ntil he could get war equipment, or
Guild drill regiment, and wheeling
hem into line, command them forward
D the charge? To wait for that would
ave been defeat and humiliation. So
e takes the best weapon he could lay
old of, and that is an ox-goad.
We are called into the battle for
ne right, and against wrong, and
ANY of us have not just the kind OF
eapon we would prefer. 1t may not
> a sword of argument. 1t may not
E the spear of sharp, thrusting wit.
may not be the battering ram of de-
unciation. But there is something
e can do, and some forces we can
ield Do not wait for what you
ave not, but use what you have.
erhaps you have not eloquence. but {
1u have a smile. Well smile of en-
has changed the behavio
tens OF thousands of wanderers, and {
Fought them back to God, and en-
lroned them in Heaven. You can set {
, EXAMPLE. and a good example has
we'd more souls than you could count
a year. if you counted all the time.
on can not give ten thousand dollars,
1T you can give as much as the
idow of the Gospel. whose two /