Connecticut western news., 1895-02-28
IT WAS A SNOWY DAY
YET BENAiA4 WENT DOWN AND SLEW
 A LION IN A PIT.
Rev. Dr. TAlmaEe Breaches Upon . Heroic Deed-Men Who Have Triumphed Over Triad of sIisfortunes-A Thrilling Story. Tho Everlasting Flora.

Triad of sIisfortunes-A Thrilling Story. Tho Everlasting Flora.
 NEW YORK. Feb. 24.-Continued win ter storms seem to have no effect in di- minishing the great audiences that gather every Sunday ip and around the Academy of Music. Today the crowds were as large as ever. and the spacious Academy was packed from pit to dome long before the services began. Dr. Tal- mage took for his subject "A Snowy Day." tho text selected being Chroni- oles xii, 22. He went down and slew lion in 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 strongest bone in his body was backbone. He is known for other wonders besides that of the text. An Egyptian cubits iu stature, or about feet inches high, was nov ing around in braggadocio and flourish ing great spear, careless as to whom
 
 nothing but walking stick, came upon him, snatched the spear from the Egyp- tian, 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 4,sson, too hard for us if the smarter boy on the same bench had not helped us out with 1t, in which Ho- ratius tho Macedonian and Dioxippus the Athenian fought in the presence of Alexander, the Macedonian armed with shield and sword and javelin and the Athenian with nothing but club. The Macedonian hurled the javelin, 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 it. and then the Athenian with his club would have beaten the life out of the Maceaonian. fallen among his useless weapons, if Alexander had not commanded, "Stopl Stop!"
 Tracked In tho Snow.
 But Renaiah 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 venturiug only Q little way from their fathers house arc 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. Az good Providence would have it, one morning footstep of lion was tracked in the snow. It had been out on it's devouring errand through the darkness, but at Inst 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 undertaking, but Benai ah, the hero of the text. arms himself with such weapons as those early days afforded. gunpowder having been in- vented in n 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 tho track through the snow. It may have been n javelin; it may have been only 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 monster of which I speak retreats into one of these cisterns which happened to he free of water and is there panting 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 eau tiously 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 lion looks up at him. What n moment it was when their eyes clashed! But while modern Du Chail- lu. Gordon Cumming or Sir Samuel Baker or David Livingstone would have just brought the gun to the shoul- der, 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 nothing until he gets on q level with the beast and so he jumps into the pit, and the lion. with shining teeth of rage and claws lifsed 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 tho snow was no longer white and the right foot of triumphant Benaiah is half covered with the tawny mane of the slain horror of Palestine.
 Three Troubles.
 Now you see how emphatic and tragic and tremendous are the words of my text, He went down and slew lion in pit i'll 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 Chronicles? Oh, the practical lessons are so many for you and for me! What cheer in this sub < ject for all those of you who are in con junction of hostile circumstances. Three things were against Benaiah of my text in the moment of combat, the snow that impeded his movement. the pit that en vironed him in small space and tht lion, with open jaws and uplifted paw. And yet hear the shout of Benaiah 7, victory. Oh, men and women of three troubles. you say, "I could stand one and think could stand two, but three are ut least one too many"
 There is man in business perplexit, and who has sickness in hisz family and old age is coming on. Three trou bles-a lion, pit and snowy day There is good woman with fallin, health and dissipated husband and wayward boy-three troubles Ther