The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-06-26
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
SUNDAYS SERMON IN THE NEW
YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC.
Subject: sShamgar's Oxgoad."

goad. Judges ILL.,, 81.
One day while Shamgar, the farmer, was
plowing with yoke OF oxen, his command
~ whoa haw gee was changed to the shout
OF battle. 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 il he had possessed one. But fight
he must or go down under the stroke of the
Philstines. He had an oxgoad-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
plowshare. Yet with the iron prong at one
end of the oXgoad and the iron scraper at
the other it was not such 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 1t easier
for Shamgar, suggest that perhaps he led a
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, and Shamgar, with
the Lord on his side. was mightier than 600
Philistines with the Lord against them. The
battle opened. Shamgar, with muscle
strengthened by open air and plowmans and
reaper's and thrasher's toll, uses the only
up and down and this way and that. now
stabbing 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 a
blow that would not under other circum-
stances have prostrated or slain left its
victim lifeless, until, when ShamGar
walked over the field he counted 100 dead.
200 dead, 800 dead 400 dead, 500 dead, 600
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 Cincinnatus was not
the only man lifted from plow to throne.
For what reason was this unprecedented
and unparalleled victory Of q farmers OK
goad put into this Bible, where there was no
spare room for the unimportant 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 10
have ON hand. Why did not Shamgar wait
until he could get war charger, with neck
arched and back comparisoned and nostrils
shifting the battle afar off, or until he could
get war equipment or could drill 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 sword Of argument. It may not be
the spear of sharp, thrusting wit. 1t may
not be the batterlng ram Of fdenunciation.
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 eloquence. but you
have a smile. Well, smile OF encourage
ment has changed the behavior Of tens Of
thousands OF wanderers and brought them
back to God and enthroned them in heaven.
You cannot make persuasive appeal, but
you can set an example, and good example
has saved more souls than you could count
in year If you counted all the time. You
cannot give S10, 900, but you can give as much
as the widow of the gospel whose two mites,
the smallest coins Of the Hebrews, were
famous 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 "no" has traversed the CEN
turies, and will traverse all eternity, with
good influence. You may not have the
courage to confront large assemblage, but
you can tell Sunday-school class Of two
h1,, onl rvtr Il 20 Apl HhrfC Nd
one Of them may become William Carey, to
start influences that will redeem India, and
the other Florence Nightingale, who will
lllumine battlefeldS covered with the dying
and the dead.
Again, my subject springs upon US the
thought that in calculating the prospects of
religious attempt we must take omnipotence
and omniscience and omnipresence and all
the other attributes Of God into the calcula-
tion. Whom do you see on that plowed field
Of myte1t? One hearer says, ~ see Sham
gar" Another nearer says. ~ see 600 Phil
tstines." My hearer, you have missed the
chief parsonage on that battlefield Of plowed
ground. also see Shamgar and 600 Philis-
tines; but, more than all and mightier than
all and more overwhelming than all, see
God. Shamgar with his unaided arm, how
ever muscular, and with that humble instru-
ment made for agricultural purposes and
never constructed for combat, could not have
wrought such victory. 1t was omnipo-
tence above and beneath and back Of and
at the point of the oxgoad. Before that
battle was over the plowman realized this.
and all the 600 Philistines realized it, and all
who visited the battlefield afterward appre-
ciated 1t. want in heaven to hear the
story, for it can never be fully told on earth
perhaps some day may be set apart for the
rehearsal, while all heaven listens-the story
ofhcw God blessed awkward and humble in
strumentalities. Many an evangelist has
come into town given up to worldliness.
The pastors say to the evangelist: 1--WE are
glad you have come, but it Is hard field,
and we feel sorry for you. The mem
euchre and go to the theatre and bet
at the morse races, and gayety and
fashion have taken possession Of the
town. We have advertised your meetings,
but are not very hopeful. God bless you"
This evangelist takes his place on platform
or pulpit. He never graduated at college,
and there are before him twenty graduates
OF the best universities. He never took one
lesson in elocution, and there are before him
twenty trained orators. Many OF the ladies
present are graduates OF the highest female
seminaries, and one slip in grammar or one
mispronunciation will result in suppressed
giggle. Amid the general chill that pre-
vades the house the unpretending evangelist
opens bis Bible and takes for his text. Lord,
that my eyes may be opened" Opera glasses
in the gallery curiously scrutipize the
speaker. He tells In a plain way the story Of
he blind man, tells two or three touching
anecdotes, and the general chill gives way
before strange warmth.
A classical hearer VINO took the first honor
at Yale and who is prince of proprieties
ands his spectacles becoming dim with a
moisture suggestive OF tears. A worldly
mother, who had been bringing up her sons