The free press., 1895-03-07
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THIS EMINENT DIvINEs SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subjects ga Snowy Day."

Text: "He went down and slew lion in a
pit In a snowy day. Il Chronicles XII, Y.
Have you ever heard of him? His name
was Benaiah. He was q man OF stout muscle
and of great avordupois His father was a
hero, and he inherited prowess. He was
athletic, and there was iron in his blood,
and the strongest bone in his body was back
bone. He is known for other wonders be-
sides that of the text. An Egyptian five
eubits in stature, or about seven feet nine
inches high, was moving around in bragga-
docio and fourishing great spear, careless
as to whom he killed and Benaiah of my text.
with nothing but walking stick, came upon
him, snatched the spear from the Egyptian,
and with one thrust Of its sharp edge put an
end to the blatant bully, which makes US
think of the story in our Greek lesson, too
hard for us il the smarter boy on the same
bench had not helped us out with 1t, in which
Horatius the Macedonian and Dioxippus the
Athenian fought in the presence OF AleXan-
der, the Macedonian armed with shield and
sword and javelin and the kthenian with
nothing but club. The Macedonian hurled
the iayelin, but the Athenian successfully
lodged it, and the Macedonian lifted the
spear, but the Athenian with the club broke
It. and the Macedonian drew the sword. but
the Athenian tripped him up before he could
strike with 1t, and then the Athenian with his
club would have beaten the life out OF the
Macedonian. fallen among his useless
weapons, if Alexander had not commanded,
"Stop! Stopr'
But Benaiah Of the text is about to do
something that will eclipse even that. There
is trouble in all the neighborhood. Lambs
are carried off in the night, and children ven
turing only little way from their fathers
house are found mangled and dead. The
fact is the land was infested with lions, and
few people dared meet one Of these grizzly
beasts. much less corner or attack it. AS a
good Providence would have it, one morning
q footstep of lion was tracked in the snow:
It had been out on its devouring errand
through the darkness, but at last 1t is found
by the impression Of the four paws on the
white surface Of the ground which way the
wild beast came and which way it had gone
Perilous undertaking. but Benaiah, the hero
of the text, arms himself with such weapons
as those early days afforded, gunpowder
having been invented in a far subsequent
century by the German monk Bertholdus
Schwarz. Therefore without gun or any
kind of firearms, Benaiah of the text no
doubt depended on the sharp steel edge for
his own defense and the slaughter of the
lion as he followed the track through the
snow It may have been a iavelin; it may
have been only a knife. But what Benaiah
lacks in weapons he will make up in strength
OF arm and skill of stroke. But where is
the lion. We must not get off his track
in the snow. The land has many
cisterns, or pits. for catching rain, the
rainfall being very scarce at certain seasons,
and hence these cisterns, or reservoirs, are
digged here and there and yonder. Lions
have an instinct which seems to tell them
when they are pursued and this dread mon
ster of which I speak retreats into one OF
these cisterns which happened to be free of
water and is there painting from the long run
and licking its jaws after repast of human
flesh and after quaffing the red vintage OF
human blood.
Benaiah is all alert and comes cautiously
on toward the hiding place of this terror of
the fields. Coming to the verge of the pit, he
looks down at the lion, and the lioS looks
up at him. What moment it was when
their eyes clashed! But while modern Du
Chaillu, Gordon Cumming or Sir Samuel
Baker or David Livingstone would have
just brought the gun to the shoulder and
held the eye against tho barrel, and
blazed away into the depths, and finished
the beast, Benaiah, with only the old
time weapon can do nothing until he
gets on level with the beast,
and SO he jumps into the pit, and the lion,
with shining teeth of rage and claws lifted tc
tear to shreds the last vestige of human life.
springs for the man, while Benaiah springs
for the beast. But the quick stroke of the
steel edge flashed again and again and again
until the snow was no longer white and the
right foot of triumphant Benaiah is hall
covered with the tawny name of the slain
horror of Palestine.
Now you see how emphatic and tragic
and tremendous are the words of my text,
"He went down and slew lion in a pit in
snowy day." Why put that in the Bible?
Why put 1t twice in the Bible. once in the
book of Samuel and here in the book OF
Chronicles? Oh. the practical lessons are so
many : you and for me! What cheer in
this subject for all those of you who are in
conjunction Of hostile7circumstances Three
things were against Benaiah of my text
in the moment of combat, the snow that i'm
peded his movement. the pit that environed
bim in a small space & the lion. with open
Jaws and uplifted paw. Aud yet [ hear the
bhout of Benaiah's victory. Oh, men and
women of three troubles, you say, 81 could
stand one, and l think | could stand two,
but three are are least one too many"
There is man in business perplexity aud
who has sickness in his family, and old age
Is coming on. Three troubles-a lion, pit
and snowy day There is a good woman
with failing health and disspated husband
and wayward boy--three troubles. There
Is a young man, salary cut down. bad
cough, frowning future-three troubles.
There is a maiden with difficult school