The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-03-01
A SNOWY DAY.
DR.. Talmage Draws Useful Lessons
from the Weather.
We should Not Let the Storms of Trouble
Overwhelm ISL How the Righteous
May Subdue the Lions That
Rise Up Before Them.


mon at Brooklyn. the text selected be-
ing /. Chronicles ii:22: He went down
and slew lion in a pit in a snowy day. y
Following is the sermon:
Have you ever heard of him? His
name was Benaiah. He was a man of
stout muscle and of great avoirdupois.
His father was hero, and he inherited
prowess. He was athletic and there
was iron in his blood, and the strong
est bone in his body was back bone.
He is known for other wonders besides
that of the text. An Egyptian five
cubits in stature, or about seven feet
nine inches high, was moving around
in braggadocia and fiourishing a
great spear, careless as to whom
he killed, and Benaiah, of my
text. with nothing but a 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. But the 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 venturing only a little
way from their fathers house are
found mangled and dead. The fact is,
the land was infested with lions. and
few people dared to meet one of these
grizzly beasts. much less corner or at
tack it. As good Providence would
have it, one morning a foOtstep of
lion was tracked in the snow. 1t has
been out on its devouring errand
through the darkness, but at last it 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 under
taking; but Benaiah, the hero of
the text, arms himself with such weap-
Ons as those early days afforded, gun
powder having been invented in far
subsequent century by the German
monk, Bertholdus Schwartz. There
fore, without gun or any kind of fire.
arms, 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. 1t may have been
"a javelin, it may have been only a
knife; but what Benaiah lacks in
weapon 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 els
terms or reservoirs are digged here, and
there. and yonder. Lions have an in
stinct which seems to tell them when
they are pursued, and this dread mon
ster of which l speak retreats into
one of these cisterns which happened
to be free of water.
Ben2iah is all alert and comes eau
tiously on toward the hiding place of
this terror of the field. Coming to the
verge of the pit, he looks down at the
lion, and the lion looks up at him.
What moment it was when their eyes
clashed, But while a modern Du Chail-
lu, Gordon Cumming. or Sir Samuel
Baker, or David Livingstone would
have Just brought the gun to the
shoulder. and held the eye against the
barrel and blazed away into the depths,
and finished the beast, Benaiah, with
only the old-time weapon, can do moth
ing 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 to 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 long
er white. and the right foot of triumph
ant Benaiah is half covered with the
tawny name of the slain horror of Pal
sestine.
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 a snowy day." Why
put that in the Bible? Why put it
twice in the Bible, once in the book of
Samuel, and here in the book of Chron-
icles? Oh, the practical lessons are so
many for you and for me. What
cheer in this subject for all those OF
you who are in conjunction of hostile
circumstances. Three things were
against Benaiah of my text in the mo-
ment of combat, the snow that i'm
peded his movement, the pit that en-
viroaed him in a small space, and the
lion. with open jaws and uplifted paw.
And vet hear the shout of Benaiah's
victory. Oh, men and women of three
troubles. You say: Il could stand one,
and / think l could stand two; but
three are at least one too many.
There is a man in business perplex-
ity. and who has sickness in his family,
and old age is coming on. Three
troubles: A lion, a pit and snowy day.
There is a good woman with failing
ing health. and a dissipated husband,
and a hayward boy-three troubles!
There is a maiden with difficult school
lessons she cannot get, a face that is
not as attractive as some of her school
mates, prospect that through hard
times she must quit school before she
graduates-three troubles! There is
an author, his manuscript rejected, his
power of origination in decadence, a
numbness in forefnger and thumb,
which threatens paralysis-three trou-
bles! There is a reporter of fine taste
sent to report a pugilism instead of an
oratorio, the copy he hands in re-
jected because the paper is full, a
mother to support on small income
three troublesi could march right off
these seats, and across this platform,
If they would come at my call, 500 peo-
pie with three troubles. This is the
opportunity to play the hero or the
heroine. not on small stage with a
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