The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-02-27
A SNOWY DAY.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage breaches
an Interesting Sermon
On the Staying of the Lion by BenaIah-
Comforting Lessons Derived from the
Story of Brave Man-The Weapons
Required to Conquer the Many
Troubles of Earthly Life.

ocIhOni ucliFCICu w luABO ouuAOAOO
in the New York Academy of Music,
was "a Snowy Day." the text selected
being /. Chronicles xi, 22s "He went
down and slew lion in a pit in
snowy day."
Have you ever heard of him? His
name was Benaiah. He was 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 backbone. He
is known for other wonders beside
that of the, text An Egyptian five
cubits in stature, or about seven feet
nine inches high, was moving around
in braggadocia and flourishing 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 if the
smarter boy on the same bench had not
helped us out with it, in which Hora-
titus, the Macedonian, and DioXippus,
the Athenian, fought in the presence
of Alexander; the Macedonian armed
with shield and sword and javelin, and
the Athe7ian with. nothing but club,
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 AtheniaH tripped him up before
he could strike with it, 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!
| Stop" But Benaiah of the text is about
to do something that will eclipse even
that There is trouble in all the neigh
borhood. 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 meet one of these
J grizzly beasts, much less corner or at
tack it.
AS good providence would have it,
one morning footstep of a lion was
tracked in the snow. 1t had been on
its devouring errand through the dark
ness, but ut last it is found by the inn
preston of the four paws on the white
surface of the ground, which way the
wild beast came, and which way it haC
gone. Perilous undertaking; but Bena
iah the hero of the text, arms him
self with such weapons a. those early
days afforded, gunpowder having beer
invented in far subsequent century
by the German mona, Berthodu
Schwartz Therefore, without gun o
any kind of firearms, Benaiah of tn,
text no doubt depended on the shar]
steel edge for his own defense and tn
slaughter of the lion as he followed
the track through the snow. 1t ma.
have been a javelin, it may have beel
only knife; but what Benaiah lack
in weapons he will make up in strength
of arm and skill of stroke. But wher
is the lion? We must not get off hi
track in the snow.
The land has many cisterns, or pits
for catching rain, the rainfall bein
very scarce at certain seasons, IN
hence these cisterns, or reservoirs, ar
digged here, and there and yondel
Lions have an instinct which seems t
tell them when they are pursued an
this dread monster of which spea
retreats into one of these cistern,
which happened to be free of water
and is there painting from the long ru
and licking it's jaws after repast {
human flesh, and after ouaffing th
vintage of human blood.
Benaiah is all alert, and comes caut
ously on toward the hiding place {
this terror of the fields. Coming to tn
verge of the pit, he looks down at til
lion, and the lion looks up at hin
What moment it was when their eye
clashed! But while modern d
Chaillu, Gordon Cumming. or Sir San
uel Baker, or David Livingstone woul
have just brought the gun to I'll
shoulder, and held the eye against I'll
barrel, and blazed away into tt
depths, and finished the beast, BenaiaI
with only the old-time weapon, can
nothing until he gets on level wit
the beast, and so he jumps into the pi
and the lion, with shining teeth (,
rage, and claws lifted to tear to shret
the last vestige of human life sprinI
for the man, while Benaiah springs fl
the beast. But the quick stroke of Il
steel edge flashed again, and agai
and again, until the snow was no Ion
er white, and the right foot of trump
ant Benaiah is half covered with &
tawny name of the slain horror of Pi
estine.
Now you see how emphatic and traR
and tremendous are the words Of Il
text: "He went down and slew a Ii
in pit in snowy day." Why put th
: in the Bible? Why put it twice in t
Bible, once in the book of Samuel, a
: here in the book Of Chronicles? o, t
practical lessons are SO many for y
and for me. What cheer is this 81
iect for all those of you who are in cC
junction Of hostile circumstanc
Three things were against Benaiah
my text in the moment of combat,
snow that impeded his movement,
pit that environed him in small spi
and the lion, with open jaws and |
lifted paw. And yet I hear the she
= of Benaiah's victory. o, men and '
Il. men of three troubles. You says
- could stand one, and think ! col
stand two: but three are at least {