Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-06-07

-
been her reward. You may not be able
10 load an Armstrong gun; you may not
be able to hurl a HOtchkiss shell; you
may not be able to shoulder glittering
musket; but use anything you can Lay
your hands on. Try blacksmith's ham
mer or a merchants yardstick or ma
son s trowel or a carpenters plane or
housewives broom OF a farmers OK
goad. One Of the surprises OF heayen
will be what grand results came from
how simple means Matthias Joyce, the
vile man, became a great apostle OF
righteousness, not from hearing John
Wesley preach, but from seeing him kiss
little child on the pulpit stairs.
The Help Of God.
Again, my subject springs upon us
the thought that in calculating the pros
poets Of religious attempt we must take
omnipotence and omniscience and om-
nipresence and all the other attributes
of God into the calculation. Whom do
you see on that plowed field Of my text?
One hearer says, II see Shamgar. An
other hearer says, II see 500 Philis-
tines. " My hearer, you have missed the
chief parsonage ON that battlefield Of
plowed ground. also see Shamgar and
800 Philistines; but. more than u and
mightier than all and more oyerwhelm-
ing than all, / see God. Shamgar with
his unaided arm, however muscular,
and with that humble instrument 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 900 Philistines realized
it, and all who visited the battlefield
afterward appreciated it. l want in
heaven to hear the story, for 1t can new
er 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 awkward and humble
instrumentalities. Many an evangelist
has come into town given up to world
illness. The pastors say to the evangel-
ist: "We are glad you have come, but
it is a hard field, and we feel sorry for
Won. 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 meet
ings. 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 20 graduates of the best universe
ties. He never took one lesson in elocu-
ton. and there are before him 20 trained
orators. Many of the ladies present are
graduates Of the highest female semi
naries, and one slip in grammar or one
INSTRUMENTATION will result in sup
pressed giggle. Amid the general chill
that pervades the house the unpretend-
ing evangelist opens his Bible and takes
for his text, Lord, that my eyes may
be opened" Opera glasses in the gal
lerv curiously scrutinize the speaker.
He tells in a plain way the story OF the
blind man, tells two or three touching
anecdotes, and the general chill give
way before a strange warmth.
A classical hearer who took the frs
| honor at Yale and who is prince o.
proprieties finds his spectacles becoming
? dim with moisture suggestive OF tears
A worldly mother who has been bring
ing ND her sons and daughters IN ute
I godlessness puts her handkerchief to he
; ewes and begins to weep. Highly edu
, Gated men who came to criticise anC
! nick TO pieces and find fault bow ol
their gold headed canes. What is tina
: sound from under the gallery? 1t is
sob. and sobs are catching, and all alont
the wall and all up and down the audi
, ence there is deep emotion, so tina
I when at the close Of the service anxious
= souls are invited TO especial seats or th'
9 INQUIRY room, they come up by score
? and kneel and repent and rise up par
t doned; the whole town is shaken an'
I places of evil amusement are sparsel.
I attended and rum holes lose their pa
o irons. and the churches are thronged
:. and the whole community is cleanse'
and elevated and rejoiced. What powe
I did the evangelist bring to bear to cap
. ture that town for righteousness No
/ one brilliant epigram did he utter. No
+ one graceful gesture did he make NO
one rhetorical climax did he pile up
But there was something about hin
I that people had not taken in the esti
/ mate when they prophesied the failur
J. of that work. They had not taken int
a the calculation the omnipotence OF tn
@ Holy Ghost. 1t was not the fash OF
l. Damascus blade. It was God, befor
d and behind and all around the o1goad
II When people say that crime will TIL
It fumph and the world will never be con
: yerted because of the seeming insuffl
II cheney of the means employed, the
II ,ount the 500 armed Philistines ON ON
If side and Shamgar, the farmer, awE
# wardly equipped. on the other side, nc
/ realizing that the chariots Of God ar
ii 70, UOO ana Indt III HcdNVhi NhOAuDA>
l. seraphic, archangelic, deitc, is ON wha
n otherwise would be the weak side. Ma
i poleon, the author Of the saying, Go
!. Is on the side Of the heaviest artillery,
II lived 10 find out his mistake, for at Wa
N terloo the 100 guns of the English over
= came the $50 guns Of the French. Go
20 is ON the side Of the right, and one ma
N in the right will eventually be foun
a stronger than 500 men in the wrong. L
all estimates of any kind Of Christia
ID work do not make the mistake ever
Of day made Of leaving out the head Of q
10 universe.
4, Humble Weapons
9, Again, my subject springs upon
"a the thought that in Gods service 1t
best 70 use weapons that are particula
OF ly suited to us Shamgar had, like MAJ
V of us, been brought up on farm.
y knew nothing about jaVelins and bu
70 klers and helmets and breastplates Al
81 greaves Of brass and catapults and bs
as liste and iron scythes fastened to :
9 axles Of chariots But he was famili
d with the fail Of the thrashing floor a