Connecticut western news., 1895-02-28

tDC StIuSSAt, II Nou Ohiy AhC S1aSo of Christ to listen, voice parts the heavens, saying, My grace is sufficient for thee, v .'Whom the Lord loveth he ohasteneth, 'You shall be more than conauerors. - And that reminds me of letter on my table written by some one whom I suppose to be at this mo- ment present, saying, My dear, dear doctor. you will please pardon the writ CT for asking that at some time when you feel like it you kindly preach from the thirtieth psalm, fifth verse, Weep ing may endure for night, but joy cometh ill the morning. and much oblige down town business man."
 So to all down town business men and to all up town business men l say: If you have on hand goods that you cannot sell and debtors who will not or cannot pay, and you are also suffering from uncer- tainty as to what the imbecile American congress will do about the tariff, you have three troubles, and enough to bring you within tho range of the consolation of my text, where you find the triumph of Benaiah over lion, and pit, and Q snowy day. If you have only one trou- ble, cannot spend any time with you today. You must have at least three, and then remember how many have tri- umphed over such triad of misfortune. Paul had three troubles: Sanhedrin de- nouncing him-that was one great trou- ble; physical infirmity, which he called "a thorn in the flesh, - and although we know not what the thorn was, wo do know from the figure he used that 1t must have been something that stuck him that was the second trouble; approaching martyr lom-that made the three trou- bles. Yet hear what he says, ''If had only one misfortune, could stand that, but three are two too many" No l misinterpret. He says: .Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Poor, yet making many rich Having nothing, yet possess ing all things" Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ''
 David had three troubles, bad boy, a temptation to dissoluteness and de- thronement. What does he say? "God is our refuge and strength, very pres ent help in time of trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea. j."
 John Wesley had three trou bles-def- amation by mobs, domestic infelicity, fatigue from more sermons preached and more miles travelled than almost any man of his time. What does he say? "The best of all is, God is with us. '' And when his poet brother, Charles Wesley. said to him, Brother John, if the Lord were to give me wings. I'd fly Johns reply was, Brother Charles, if the Lord told mo to fly, I'd do it and leave him to find the wings. v
 Depression of a Snow Day.
 George Whitefeld had three troubles rejection from the pulpits of England because he was too dramatic that was one trouble; strabislnus, or the crossing of his eyes, that subjected him to the car feature of all the small wits of the day; vermin and dead animals thrown at him while he preached on the commons that made three troubles. Nevertheless his sermons were so buoyant that a lit- tie child, dying soon after hearing him preach, said in the intervals of pain, Let me go to MT. Whitefield's God. !" Oh, am so glad that Benaiah of my text was not the only one who triumph ed over a lion in pit on a snowy day !!
 Notice ill my text a victory over bad weather. It was a snowy day, when ones vitality is at a low ebb and the spirits are naturally depressed and one does not feel like undertaking a great enterprise, when Benaiah rubs his hands together to warm them by extra friction, or thrashes his arms around him to re- vive circulation of the blood, and then goes at the lion, which was all the more fierce and ravenous because of tho sharp weather. Inspiration here admits at mospheric hindrance The snowy day at Valley Forge we'll nigh put an end to the struggle for American independence. The snowy day demolished Napoleon s army on the way from Moscow.
 The inclemency of January and Feb ruary weather has some years bankrupt ed thousands of merchants Long suc- cession of stormy Sabbaths has crippled innurnerable churches. Lighthouses yelled by the snow on many coast have failed to warn off from the rocks the doomed frigate. Tens of thousands of Christians of nervous temperament by the depression of a snowy day almost despair of reaching heaven. Yet in that style of weather Benaiah of the text achieved his most celebrated victory, and let us by the grace of God become victor over influences atmospheric. If we are happy only when the wind blows from the clear northwest, and the ther- molneter is above freezing point, and the sky is all inverted blus cup of sun- shine poured all over us, it is religion 90 per cent off. Thank God there are Christians who, though their whole life through sickness has been a snowy day, have killed every lion of despond. ency that dared to put it's cruuel paw against their suffering pillow. It wal snowy day when tho Pilgrim Fathers set foot not on a bank of flowers, but on the cold New England rock, anG from ship that might have been more appropriately called after a December | hurricane than after ''Mayf1ower' i they took possession of this great conti nent And amid more chilly worldly cir cumstances many good man or goof woman has taken possession of whole | continent of spiritual satisfaction, val
 leys of peace and rivers of gladness ana mountains of joy. Christ landed in ou, world not ill the month of May, but il the stormy month of December, to show us that wo might have Christ in win
 ter weather and on a snowy day.
 i A Fearful Blast.
 Notice everything down in the pi
 that snowy day depended upon Benaiah' l weapon. There was as much strength il
 one muscle of that lion as in all tn
 muscles of both arms of Benaiah. It i
 the strongest of beasts and has beer
 known to carry off an OK. Its tongue i
 so rough that it acts as rasp tearin, off the flesh in licks. The two grea | =. AI- l.