The free press., 1895-03-07

| may devour." Now. you have never seen
| real lion unless you have seen
| him in India or Africa, just after capture.
| Long caging breaks his spirit, and the con-
| slant presence of human beings tames him.
| But you ought to see him spring against the
iron bars in the geological gardens OF
| Calcutta and hear him roar for the prey 1t
makes ones blood curdle, and you shrink
| back although you know there is no peril.
| Plenty OF lions in olden time Six hundred
| of them were slaughtered on one occasion in
| the presence of Pompey in the Roman
amphitheater. Lions came out and de-
stroyed the camels which carried the bag
| gage of Xerxes' army. In Bible times there
were so many lions that they are fire.
quently alluded to in the Scriptures.
Joel, the prophet, describes the "cheek
teeth" of great lion, and Isaiah mentions
among the attractions of heaven that mo
lion shall be there" and Amos speaks of
shepherd taking a lambs ear out OF the mouth
of lion, and Solomon describes the righteous
as ''bold as a lion" and Daniel was a great
lion tanner, and David and Jeremiah and st.
John often speak of this creature.
But most am I impressed by what I have
quoted from the Apostle Peter when he calls
the devil q lion. That means strength.
That means bloodthirstiness. That means
cruelty. That means destruction. Some OF
you have felt the strength of his paw, and
the sharpness of his TOOTH and the horror OF
his rage. Yes, he is a savage devil. He
roared at everything good when Lord
Clayerhouse assailed the Covenanters,
and Bartholomew against the Hugue
nots one August night when the bell tolled
for the butchery to begin, and the CHASTITY
Joke in the street was, "Blood letting is good
in August" and SO, 900 assassin knives were
plunged into the victims. and this monster
has had under his paw many of the grandest
souls of all time, and fattened withthe spoils
of centuries he comes for you.
But [ am glad to say to all of you who have
got the worst in such a struggle that there is
a lion on our side if you want him, Revela-
ton ", 5, "The lion of Judah's tribe" A
Lamb to us, but lion to meet that other lion,
aud you can easily guess who will beat i'll
that fight, and who will be beaten. When
two opposing lions meet in a jungle in India,
YOU cannot tell which will overcome
aud which will be overcome. They
glare at each other for a moment, and
then with full strength of muscle they
dash against each other like two thunder
bolts of colliding stormclouds, and with jaws
like the crush of avalanches, and with a re-
sounding voice that makes the HimalayaS
tremble, and with pull and tear and clutch
and trample and shaking of the head from
side to side until it is too much for human
endurance to witness, and, though one lion
NAV be left dead. the one which has con-
quered crawls away lacerated and
gashed and lame and eyeess to bleed to
death in au adjoining Jungle But if you
and | feel enough our weakness i'll this bat
tie of temptation and ask for the divine help
against that old lion of hell. described in St.
Peter will go to the stronger lion described in
Revelation and it will be no uncertain grap-
Pile, but under one omnipotent stroke the de-
vouring monster that would sIay our soul
shall go reeling back into pit 10000 times
deeper than that in which Bcnaiah slew the
lion on a snowy day.
A word to all who are in a snowy day. Oh,
fatl, md hn hny- InGl oh
that is the weather that cuts through body
and soul. But drive back the lion of
bereavement with the thought which David
Rae, of Edinburgh, got from the Scotch
gravedigger who was always planting white
clover and the sweetest flowers on the
children's graves in the cemetery, and when
asked why he did 50 replied "Surely, sir,
l Gamma make over fine the bed coverin o (
a little innocent sleeper that's waitin
there till it's Gods time to waken if.
and cover it with the white robe, and watt i,
away to glory. When sic grandeur is waitip
it wonder, it's fit it should be decked 90.
here. think the Saviour that counts it
dust sac precious will like to see the whit
clover sheet spread over it. Do ye moo thinl
so, too, sir?" Cheer up. all, disconsolatcs.
The best work for God and humanity ha
been done on the snowy day. At gloomy
Marine Terrace, island of Jersey, the exile.
NlctOr hugo, wrought lne lhlSHtle7
achievements of his pen. Ezekiel, banishe'
and bercft and an invalid at Corn
hill, on the banks of Chebar, had hi
momentous vision of the cherubim an
wheels within wheels. BY the dim light Of
dungeon window at Bedford, John Banyan
sketches the "Delectable Mountains" Mil
ton writes the greatest poem of all tim,
without eyes. Michael Angelo carved :;
statue out of snow, and all Florence gazed il
raptures at its exquisiteness, and many o
Gods servants have out of the cold cut thei'
Immortality. Prosecutions were the dar
background that made more impressive th'
courage and conservation of SavonarolG
who, when threatened with denial of buriai
said "Throw me into the Arno if you choose
tine resurrection day will find me, and that Is
enough. Benaiah on cold damp, cutting
snowy day gained leonine triumph. Hard
ship and trouble have again and again eX
alt6d and inspired and gloriled their sub,
jects.
The bush itself has mounted higher
And flourished unconsumed in fire.
Well, we have had many snowy days withi'.
the past month and added to the chill of tn
weather was the chilling dismay at til
nonarrival of the ocean steamer Gascognc
Overdue for eight days, many had given he
up as lost, and the most hopeful wer
very anxious. The cyclones, whose play
is shipwrecks. had been reported being in
widest romp all up and down the At
lantic. The ocean a few days before ha]
swallowed the Elbe. and with unap-