Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-03-13
REV. DR. TALMAGE
EHB BROOKLYN DIvINE'8 SUN
DAY SERMON.
SUBJEcr:-"A Snowy Day."

Text: "He went down and slew lion In
rit in snowy day."-I Chronicles XII, %.
Have you ever heard Of him? His nam
was Benaiah. lie was man OF stout muscle
and of great avoirdupois. His father was a
hero, and he inherited prowess. He was
athletic, and there was iron in his blood,
aud 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 bracsa-
docio md flourlshing great spear, careless
as to whom he killed, and Benaiah of my text,
with nothing but a walking stick, came upon
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 1t, in which
Horatius the Macedonian and Dloxippus 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 javelin, but the Athenian successfully
d odgel 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 1t, and then the Athentan with his
club would have beaten the life out OF the
Macedonian, fallen among his useless
| 'Stop! Stop!'
But Benaiah Of the text Is about to do
30 nething that will eclipse even that. There
Is trouble in all the neighborhood. Lambs
a: carried off In the night, and children ven-
turing only little way from their fathers
| house are found mangled and dead. The
fact is tho land was infested with lions, and
f,w psople dared meet one Of these grizzly
beasts. much less corner or attack It. As a
good Providence would have II, one morning
- H. A. I-~1 L. = AlA
| It hal been out on Its devouring errand
| through the darkness, but at last 1t 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 1t had gone.
Perilous undertaking, but Benaiah, the hero
as those early days afforded, gunpowde,
having been invented in a far subsequent
! century by the German monk Bertholdus
| Schwarz. Therefore without gun or any
| kind of firearms, Benaiah Of the text nc
doubt depended on the sharp steel edge fol
his own defense aud the slaughter OF the
lion as he followed the track through the
| snow. 1t may have been a javelin, IL may
have been only a knife. But what BenaieH
| lacks in weapons he will make Up in strength
OF arm and skill Of stroke. But where i
the lion. We must not get Off his track
in the snow. The land has many
elsterns, or pits. for catching rain, the
| rainfall being very scarce at certain seasons
and hence these cisterns, or reservoirs, are
digsed here and there and yonder. Lion:
have an instinct which seems to tell then
| when they are pursued. and this dread mon
| eter OF which speak retreats into one o.
| these cisterns which happened to be free o.
water and Is there painting from the long rur
| and licking its jaws after repast OF human
flesh and after Quahlng the red vintage o.
human blood.
Benaiah Is all alert and comes cautiously
| on toward tho hiding place OF this terror oi
the fields. Coming to the verge Of the pit, h
looks down at the lion, and the lion look
their eyes cashed! But while modern DI
Chaillu, Gordon Cumming or Sir Samue
Baker or David Livingstone would hav,
Just brought the gun to the shoulder, ant
held the eye against the barrel; an
the beast, Benaiah, with only the OLE
time weapon, can do nothing until h:
gets on level with the beast
and so he jumps into the pit, and the lion
with shining teeth OF rage and claws lifted t.
tear to shreds the last vestiss OF human life
springs for the man, while Benaiah spring
for the beast. But the quick stroke Of th
steel edge flashed again and again and agatl
until the snow was no longer white and tn
right foot Of triumphant Benaiah Is hal
covered with the tawny name OF the slail
horror OF Palestine.
Now you see how emphatic and tragi
and tremendous are tho words Of my text
"He went down and slew lion in pit in
snowy day." Why put that In tho Bible
Why put It twice in the Bible, once In tn
book Of Samuel and here in the book o
Chronicles? Oh, the practical lessons are 8
many for you and for me! What cheer Il
this subject for all those OF you who are II
conjunction Of hostile circumstances. .-Thre
things were against Benaiah Of my tex
IN the moment OF combat, the snow that i'm
peded his movement. the pit that environe
II In or1 HA Wit n nT,a1
jaws and uplifted paw. And yet hear tn
shout Of Benaiah's victory. Oh, men an
women Of three troubles, you say, II coui
stand one, and think could stand two
but three are are least one too many"
There is a man in business perpleIity ant
who has sickness In his family, and old ag
IA coming on. Three troubles-a lion, pi
and snowy day. There is good womal
with failing health and dfssipated husoan
and wayward boy-three troubles. Their
il young man, salary cut down, pa
cough, frowning future-three troubles
There ia n maiden with difficult sohoo
lessons she cannot get, a face that 10 no
as attractive as some Of her sohoolmates',
prospect that through hard times she mus
quit school before she graduatee-thrce trou
bles. There Is an author, his manuscripts re
jected, his power Of origination IN decadence
, q numbness in forefnger and thumb, who
threatens paralysis-three troubles. Their
II q reporter of fne taste sent to report
pugilism instead Of an oratorio, the COP
he hands in rejected because the pape
income-three troubles. could marc
right or these seats and across this platform
II they would come at my call, 800 peopl
with three troubles. This IL the opportunit
, to play tho hero or the heroine, not on
small stage, with few hundred people t
: Of heaven filled with sympathetic and al
plauding spectators, for we arc "surrounde
by great cloud OF witnesses" My brother
my siste-, my father, my mother, what
shanOe You hsUe wv While hsvs y0a sbs are sraos sn
heavens. @ 70 SAYING. :sMs grace race IS sufflcier
| 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 be G
this moment present, saying, "My dear, dea
: doctor, you will please pardon the writer fo
, asking that at some time when you feel lik
It you kindly preach from the thirtiet
a night, but Joy cometh In the morning, an
much oblfge downtown business man."
So to all downtown business men and
all uptown business men say, 1fyou hav
on hand goods that you cannot sell an
4 debtors who will not or cannot pay. and 20
3 arc also suffering from uncertainty as
what the imbecile American Congress will
about the tariff, you have three troubles, an
3 enough to bring you within the range of th
consolation Of my text, where you find tn
triumph of Benaiah over a lion, and p
: and q snowy day. II you have only on
, trouble cannot spend any time with yo
to-day. You must have at least three
and then remember how many have tr
umPhed over such triad OF misfortune
Paul had three troubles: 6anhedrin DC
AoIncing him-th was one great trouble
physical infirmity, which he called ga thor
. In the flesh, and although we know not whf
the thorn was, we do know from the fiSul
i he used that it must have been somethin
that stuck him-that was the second trouble
approaching martyrdom-that made the thrt
troubles. Yet hear what he SAYS, III ha
4; only one misfortune, could stand that, b'
three are two too many?" No. misinterpre
He says: "Sorrow,ul, yet always rejoicin!
Poor, yet making many rich. Having notl
Ing, vet possessing all things" "Thanks I
unto God, who giveth MS the victory throus
our Lord Jesus Christ"
| D,,-;d bad fh-ea troubles n bad bOv.