Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-06-07
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME IN THE
NV YORK PREACHER.
subject, 'shamgar's Oxgoad."

blowing with Il yoke Of oxen. his command
af whoa haw ge. vas changed 10 the shout
Of battle Phili>tin-s. always ready Co make
trouble, march up with sword and spear
Shamgar, the pl0wman, had no sword and
would no, probably have known how u
WELD IL If he had possessed one. But fight
he must or 20 down under the stroke Of the
Philisline~ H. had an oNgOad-a weapon
used To urge GA the lazy team; "A weapon
about eight feet long. with sharp iron az
one end 20 Iuncture the beast and d wide
iron chisel or shovel al the other end with
which L. scrape the ciumps Of soil from the
plowsharr. Yet with the iron prong al one
end Of the oNgoai and the iron scraper Al
the other it was not such weapon a. one
would desire to use in battle with armed
philstines But God helped the farmer, and
leaving the oxen to look after themselves ne
charged upon the invaders Of his homestead.
some of the commentaries. 10 make il easier
for Shamgar. suggest that perhaps be led
regiment Of farmers into the combat, his
oxgoad only one of many oNgoads. But the
Lord does not neei any Of you 10 help IN
making the Scriptures and Shamrar. with
the ord on his side was mighter than COO
PhiiStines with the Lord against them. The
battle opened. Shamgar, with muscle
strengthened 10y open air and plowmun's and
reapers aud thrasher's toll. uses the only
/ weapon at hand and he swings the oNgoad
/ ur and down aud this way aud that, now
| Stahhing with the iron prong AT one end Of 1t
| 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 Philstines are in a panic
| and the supernatural forces come in and a
| blow that would not under other circum-
! stances have Frustrated or slain left its
! victim lifeess until when ShamgHr
| walked over the Held he counted 100 dead.
J DOn 4. Had lAal
| dead-all the work done by an oXgoad with
| iron prong at one end and III iron shovel at
| the other The fame Of this achievement 10y
! this farmer with an awkward weapon of war
spread abroad aud lionized him. until he
was hoisled into the highest place Of power
and became the third of the mighty judges of
| Israel. So You see that Cinclnnatus was not
the only man lifted from pillow 10 throne.
For what reason was this unprecedented
and unparalleled victory Of farmers OK
goad put into this Bible where there was no
spare room for the unimportanl and the
trivial?
It 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 war charger, with neck
arched and back comparisoned and noStrils
smiling the battle alRr of, 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 annihilation.
So he takes the best weapon he could lay
hold of. and that is AN oXgoad. We are
called into the battle for the right and
against wrong. and many of Us have not Just
the kind Of weapon we would prefer. 1t may
not be "a sword OF argument. II may not be
the spear OF sharp, thrusting wit. II may
not be the hatterlng ram Of denunciation.
But there is something We can doand some
forces We can WELD Do not wait for what
You have not, but use what you have
Perhaps you have not rluquence. hut yOu
have smile. Well. smile OF encourage
ment has changed the behavior OF tens OF
thousands of wanderers and brought then
back to God and enthroned them in heaven
You cannot make a persuasive appeal bu
you can set an example, and good eXampl,
has saved more souls than You could conn
in year if you counted ali the time You
cannot give 10000 hut yOucan give Us muct
as the widow OF the gospel. whose two mites
the smallest coins of the Hebrews wert
bestowed in Sucha spirit rs to make her NOR,
famous than all the contributions tina
ever endowed all the hospitals and uni
versities OF all ChristendOm, Of all time
You have very limited vocabulary. but yol
can say yes or no, and firm yes" .
an emphatic no has traversed the cen
turtes. and will traverse all eternity, witt
good influence. You may not have tn,
courage to confront large assemblage, hu
you can tell u Sunday--chool class Of two
a boy and giri-how 10 find Christ. an,
one of them may become William Carey, I,
start influences that will re ieem Inlia an,
the other Florence Nightingale. who viii
illumine battleields covered with the dvin!
and the dead.
That was Il tough case in a town of Eng
land where a Young lady. applying for
Sabbath-school class, was told by the super
intendent she would have to pick up one GU
of the street. The worst of the class brough
from the street was one Bob. He was tittc
out with respectable clothing by the superin
tendent But after two or three Sahhotha ~