Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-03-08
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "a Snowy Day"

Have you ever heard of him? His name
was Benaiah. He was man CT stout muscle
and of great avoirdupoiS. His father was
hero, and he inherited proves. 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
cubits 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 mytext.
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 it, 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 Athenian with
nothing but club. The Macedonian hurled
the iavelin, but the Athenan successfully
lodged it, and the Macedonian lifted the
spear, but the Athenian with the club broke
If. 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 tbs
Macedonian, fallen among his useless
weapons. if Alexander had not commanded,
''Stop! Stop"
But Benaiah of the text e 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. Inc
fact is the land was infested with lions, and
few people dared meet one of these grizzly
beasts. much less corner or attack 1t. AS
good Providence would have it, one morning
q footstep of a lion was tracked in the snow.
1t had been out on its devourlng errand
through the darkness, but at last 1t Is found
bv 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 Benalan, the nero
| of the text, arms himself with such weapons
rs those early days afforded, gunpowdet
having been invented in a far subsequent
| century by tho 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 aud the slaughter OF the
| lion as he followed the track through the
snow 1t may have been iavelin; it may
have been only knife. But what Benaiah
lacks in weapons he will make up in strength
of arm and skill of stroke. Bat 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 OIL
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 lion looks
up at him. What a 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 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 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 vestlge Of human life,
springs for the man, while Benaiah springs
for the beast. But the quick stroke of tho
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 pit in
snowy day." Why put that in the Bible9
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
for opd nal What q 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 moment of combat, the snow that i'm
peded his movement the pit that environed
him in small space and the lion, with open
jaws and uplifted paw. And yet 1 hear the
shout of Benaiah's victory. Oh, men and
women of three troubles, you say, II could
stand one, and 1 think I 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 cid age
is coming on. Three troubles-a lion, pit
and snowy day. There Is a good woman
with failing health and dissipated husband
and a wayward boy-three troubles. There
is young man, salary cut down, bad
cough, frowning future-three troubles:
There is a maiden with difficult school
lessons she cannot get, face that is not
as aCLrdCClV6 as SOluo VI u0I SCuOOihioIOo,
prospect that through hard times she must
quit school before she graduates three trou-
bIes. There is an author, his manuscript re-
jected his power OF origination in decadence
q numbness in forefnger and thumb, which
threatens paralysis-three troubles. There
is a reporter of fine taste sent to report q
pugilism instead of an oratorio, the copy
he hands in rejected because the paper
Is full, mother to support on small
income-three troubles. l could march
right off these seats and across this platform
1; thew would come at my call, 800 people
with three troubles. This is the opportunity
to play the hero or the heroine, not on &
small stage, with few hundred people t.
clap their approval, but with all the galleries
of heaven filled with sympathetic and ap
plauding spectators, for we are surrounded
by great cloud Of witnesses" My brother
my sister, my father, my mother, what
chance you have While you are IN Tn
struggle, if you only have the grace o
Christ to listen, a voice parts tn
heavens. saying, "My grace is sufficien
for thee, ;" "Whom the Lord loveth He chast
eneth ," "You shall be more than conquerors.
And that reminds me of letter on my tabl
written by some one whom suppose TO De a
this moment present, saying, "My dear, dea
doctor. you will please pardon the writer TO
asking that at some time when you feel Tx
it you kindly preach from the thirtietl
Psalm, fifth verse, weeping may endure TO
a night, but Joy cometh in the morning. ant
much oblige downtown business man."
So to all downtown business men and t.
all uptown business men say: nyou hav
on hand goods that you cannot sell ant
debtors who will not or cannot pay, and yo'
are also suffering from uncertainty as t
what the imbecile American Congress will d
about the tariff, you have three troubles, AM