The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-06-12

from hearing John Wesley preach,
but from seeing him kiss little child
on the pulpit stairs.
Again, my subject springs upon US
the thought that in calculating the
prospects ofreliglous attempt we must
take omnipotence and omniscience
and omnipresence, and all the other
attributes of God into the calculation.
Whom do you see on that plowed field
Of my text? One hearer says, Il see
Shamgar." Another hearer says, Il
see 600 Philistines. My hearer, you
have missed the chief parsonage on
that battlefield of plowed ground. l
also see Shamgar and 500 Philistines,
but more than all, and mightier than
all, and more overwhelming than all
[ see God. Shamgar, with his unaid-
ed arm, however muscular, and with
that humble instrument made for ag-
ricultural purposes and never con-
structed for combat could not have
wrought such victory. 1t was omnip-
otence above, and beneath, and back
of and at the point of the oxgoad. Be-
fore that battle was over the plowman
realized this, and all the 900 Philis-
tines realized it, and all who visited
the battlefield afterward appreciated
it. | 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 of how God
blessed awkard and humble instru-
mentalities. Many an evangelist has
come into town given up to world
illness. The pastor say to the evange-
list: We are glad you have come,
but it is a hard field, and we feel SCR
ry for you. The members of our
churches play progressive euchre. and
go to the theater, and bet at the horse
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 placeo plat
form or pulpit. He never graduated
at college, and there are before him 20
graduates Of the best universities. He
never took one lesson in elocution, and
there are before him 20 trained ora
tors. Many of the ladies present are
graduates Of the highest female semi
naries, and one slip in grammar Or
one mispronunciation will result in
suppressed giggle Amid the general
chill that perTades the house the un-
pretending evangelist opens his Bible
and takes for his text, Lord, that my
eyes may be opened" Opera glasses
in the gallery curiously scrutinize the
speaker. He tells in plain way the
story of the blind man, tells two or
three touching anecdotes, and the gen
eral chill gives way before strange
warmth.
A classical hearer who took the first
honor at Yale and who is "a prince of
proprieties finds his spectacles becom-
ing dim with a moisture suggestive of
tears. A worldly mother who has
been bringing up her sons and daught-
ers in utter godlessness puts her hand
kerchief to her eyes and begins to
weep. Highly educated men who came
to criticise and pick to pieces and find
fault bow on their gold headed canes.
What is that sound from under the
gallery 1t is sob and sobs are catch
Ing, and all along the wall and all up
and down the audience, there is deep
emotion, so that when at the close OF
the service anxious souls are invited to
especial seats, or the inquiry room,
they come up by scores and kneel and
repent and rise up pardoned; the whole
town is shaken, and places of evil
amusement are sparsely attended and
rum holes lose their patrons, and the
churches are thronged, and the whole
community is cleansed and elevated
and rejoiced. What power did the
evangelist bring to bear to capture
that town for righteousness: Not one
brilliant epigram did he utter. Not
one graceful gesture did he make. Not
one rhetorical climax did he pile up.
But there was something about him
that people had not taken in the estl-
mate when they prophesied the failure
of that work. They had not taken into
the calculation the omnipotence OF the
Holy Ghost. 1t was not the flash OF a
Damascus blade. It was God, before
and behind, and all around the oxgoad.
When people say that crime will tri-
umph, and the world will never be
converted because of the seeming IN
sufficiency of the means employed,
they count the 600 armed Philistines
on one side. and Shamgar, the farmer,
awkardly equipped, on the other side;
not realizing that the chariots of God
are 20, 900, and that all heaven, cheru-
bic, seraphic, archangelic, deifc, is
on what otherwise would be the weak
side. Napoleon, the author of the say
ing. "God is on the side of the heaviest
artillery" lived to find out his mistake,
for at Waterloo, the 160 guns of the
English overcame the $50 guns of the
French. God is on the side of the
right, and one man in the right will
eventually be found stronger than 600
men in the wrong. In all estimates OF
any kind of Christian work, do not
make the mistake every day made of
leaving out the head of the universe.
Again, my subject springs upon us
the thought that in Gods service it is
best to use weapons that are partlcu-
larly suited to US Shamgar had, like
many of US, been brought up on a
farm. He knew nothing about jave-
Inns and bucklers and helmets and
breastplates and greaves of brass and
catapults and ballistp and iron scythes
fastened to the axies of chariots. But
he was familiar with the fail of the
thrashing floor and knew how to
pound with that, and the ak of the
woods and knew how to hew with
that, and the oxgoad of the plowman
and knew how to thrust with that, and
YOU and l will do best to use those
means that we can best handle, those
weapons with which we can make the
most execution. Some in Gods ser
vice will do best with the pen, some
with the voice. some by eXtemporane-