The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-06-07
THE DEADLY OXGOAD
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ON sHAMGAR'S
EFFECTIVE WEAPON.

How an Unparalleled Victory Was Won
by the Use of a simple Farm Impie-
ment-The Essential Elements Of Vic
tory-Need of Gods Help.
New YORK, June An his sermon
today Rev. Dr. Talmage discusses one
of the most heroic and picturesque char
acters in ancient Jewish history, a man
who, like many others who achieved
high distinction, came from the sturdy
rural classes-the agriculturists The
subject of the sermon was "Shamgar's
Oxgoad," the text being, after him
was Shamgar, which slew Of the Philis-
tines 600 men with an oxgoad" Judges
iii, 8D.
One 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 But fight he must
or go down under the stroke of the Phil
istines. He had an oxgoad--a weapon
used to urge Oh the lazy team; weap
on about eight feet long, with a sharp
iron at one end to puncture the beast
and q. 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 9th
er 1t 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 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 q 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 Phil
istines with the Lord against them The
battle opened. Shamgar, with muscle
strengthened by open air and plowman's
and reaper's and thrasher's toll, uses the
only weapon at hand, and he swings the
oxgoad 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
,,,o o,I ~
supernatural forces come in and blow
that would not under other circum-
stances have Frustrated 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 highe.t place Of power
and became the third of the mighty
judges Of Israel So you see that Gin
cinnatus was not the only man lifted
from pillow to throne.
For what reason was this unprece-
dented and unparalleled victory of a
farmers oxgoad put into this Bible,
where there was no spare room for the
unimportant and tho trivial?
The Choice of Weapons.
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 weap-
on we happen to have on hand Why
did not Shamgar wait until he could
get war charger, with neck arched and
back caparisoned and nostrils shifting
the battle afar off, or until he could get
war equipment or could drill q 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 are called into the
battle for the right and against wrong
and many of us have not just the kline
Of weapon we would prefer. 1t may moi
be a sword Of argument 1t may not b
the spear of sharp, thrusting wit. L
may not be the battering ram Of de
nunciation.
But there is something we can do ant
some forces we can WELD. Do not wal
for what you have not, but use wha
you have. Perhaps you have not elo
quence, but you have smile. Well, =,
smile of encouragement has changed tn,
behavior of tens of thousands of wan
derers and brought them back to Coz
and enthroned them in heaven Yol
cannot make a persuasive appeal, bu
you can set an example, and a good ex
ample has saved more souls than yol
could count in year if you counted al
the time. You cannot give $40, 900, blu
you can give as much as the widow O
the gospel, whose two mites, the small
est coins of the Hebrews, were bestowe,
in such spirit as to make her more ia
nous than all the contributions tina
ever endowed all the hospitals and uni
versities of all Christendom, of all time
You have very limited vocabulary, bu
you can say Eyes" or mo-, and fir
Eyes" or an emphatic mo- has trav
ersed the centuries, and will travers
all eternity, with good influence. Yo
may not have the courage to confront
large assemblage, but you can tell
Sunday school class of two-a boy an
a girl-how to find Christ, and one c
them may become William Carey,
start influences that will redeem India
and the other Florence Nightingale
who will illumine battlefelds covere
with the dying and the dead.
That was tough case in town {
England where young lady, applyin
for Sabbath school class, was told b
the superintendent she would have
pick up one out of the street. The wors
of the class brought from the street We
one Bob He was fitted ont with r.
spectacle clothing by the superintent
emit. But after two or three Sabbath
he disappeared. He was found with hi
clothes in tatters, for he had been fight
ing The second time Bob was well ella
e.. o.