The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-03-23
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
TEE BROOKnYY DlvINES SUN
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "A Snowy Day."
TEXT: sHe went down and slew lion in a
pit In snowy day. Chronicles 1., %.

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-
Eides that Of the text. An Egyptian flTe
cubits In stature, or about seven feet nine
Inches high, was moving around in braSSa-
doeio and fourishing a great spear, careless
as to whom he killed, and Benaiah OF mytext.
with nothing but walking stick, came upon
him, snatohed the spear from the Egyptian,
and with one thrust Of its sharp edge pue 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 1t, in which
Horatius the Macedonian and DIoNppus the
Athenian fought in the presence OF Ale1ans
der. the Macedonian armed with shield aud
sword and ;avel!n and the Athenian with
nothing but club. The Macedonian hurled
the javelin, but the Athenian successfully
dodEed It, and the Macedonian kfted the
spear, but the Athenisn with the club proke
It, and the Macedonian drew the sword, but
the Athenisn tripped him up before he could
etrse with It, and then the Athenian with his
ctub would have beaten the life out OF the
Macedonian, fallen among his useless
weapons, II Alexander had not commanded,
"Stop! stopr'
But Benaiah Of the text is about to do
10 nethtng that will eclipse even that. There
is trouble In all the neighborhood. LAMBS
s.e carried of In the night, and children ven
Curing only little way from their father!
house are found mangled and dead. The
fact IS the land was infested with lions, and
e,w people dared meet one Of these grizzly
beasss, much less corner or attack it. AS a
good Providence would have it, one morning
footseep OF lion was tracked In the snow:
It hal been out on Its devouring erra0d
through the darkness, but at last 1t Is found
b. the impression Of the four paws on the
white surface Of the ground which way the
" ID b asst came and which way it had gone
Pealaus undertaking, but Benaiaa, the hero
o, the text, arms himself with such weapons
a. those early days afforded, gunro%de:
having been invented in q far subsequent
century by the German monk Berthoidus
Schwau. Therefore without gun or any
kind Of firearms, Benaiah Of the text no
do1tt depended on the sharp steel edge for
his own defense aud the slaughter Of the
Hon as he followed the track through the
SNOW. It may have been a iavelin; 1t may
have been only knife. But what Benaiah
lacks in weapons he Will make upin strength
0; arm and skill Of stroEe. But where Is
the lion. We must not get off his track
in the snow. The land has many
rainfall being very scarce ct certain seasons,
and hence these cisterns, or reservoirs, are
digced hers and there and yoEder. Lions
have an instinct which seems to tell them
VIII they are pursued. and this dread mon
:er OF which sreak retreats into one OF
thes, c;sterns which harp"ned to be free OF
wste- and IS there parting from the long run
AMI licking its jaws after repa5t OF human
flesh aud after quafing the red vintage Oh
human blood.
Benaiah is all alert and comes cautiously
81 toward the hiding place Of this terror OF
tie fields. Coming to the verge Of the pit, he
looks down at the lion, and the. hon looks
u2 at him. What a moment it was when
thei1 eyes clashed! But while modern Du
Chsillu, Gordon Cumming or Sir Samuel
Baker or David Livingstone would have
Just brought the gun to the shoulder, and
held tho eye against the barrel, an1
hlazed awsy into the depths, and finished
tae beast, Beoajah, with .,9 only: the the old Sa
gets on level with the beast,
and 50 he jumps into the pit, and the lion,
with shining teeth CT rage and claws lifteat 10
tear to shreds the last yes.ige Of human life,
springs for the nan, while Benaiah springs
foc the beast. 'sut tae quick stroke OF the
steel edge flashed again and again and again
until the snow was no longer white and the
right foot Of triumphant Benaiah is halt
covered with the tawny name Of the slain
horror OF Palestine.
Now you sec how emphatic and tragic
and tremendous are the words Of my text,
i'He went down and slew lion in pit in q
snowy day." Why put that in the Bible?
. Why put 1t 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 ne! What q cheer in
this subject for all those Of you who are in
conjunction Of hostile circumstances. Three
things were against Benaish Of my text
In the moment Of combat, the Snow that TN
peded bis movement. the pit that environed
him In small space, and the Hon. with open
shout Of Bensiah's victory. Oh, men and
women Of three troubles. you Say, "i could
stand one, and think could stand two,
but three are are least one too many"
There is a man in business parple1ity end
who has sickness in his family, and old age
Is coming on. Three troubles-a lion, pit
and snowy day. There Is a good woman
with failing health and dissipated husband
and waywsrd boy-three troubles. There
IS young man, salary cut down, bad
cough, frowning future-three troubles.
There is maiden with difficult school
lessons ehe cannot get, face that Is not
as attractive as some Of her sohoolmates', a
prospect that through hard times she must
Quit school before she graduates-three trou-
5ies. There is an author, his manuscript re-
lected. his power Of originationi in decadenee.
anumbness In soreanger and thumb, which
ehrestens parslysis-three troubles. There
d q reporter Of Ane taste sent to report a
pugilisn instead Of an oratorio, the copy
be hatds In rejected because the paper
b full, mother to support on small
income-three troubles. could march
hight OF these seats and across this platform,
$SanSS Of no0-lip
with three troubles. This is the opportunity
70 play the hero or the heroine, not on q
small stage, with few hundred people to
clap their approval. but with all the galleries
Of heaven filed with sympathetic and ap-
plaudtng spectators, for ne are surrounded
By great cloud OF Witnesses" My brother,
my sister, my father, my mother, what a
ehsnce you have! While you are in the
struggle, 1. you only have the grace OF
Christ to listen, q voice parts the
heavens. saving, my grace is sufficient
for thee, ""Whom the Lord loveta He chast-
sneth, ""You shall be more than conquerors. s"
And that reminds me OF a letter on my table
written by some one whom supposeto be st
shis moment present, saying, "My dear, dear
6octcr,ryou Will please pardon the writer fox
esktnk thst at some tine when you feel like
1t you kindly preach from the thiEieth
Psalm, 9Th verse, Weeping may endure for
night, but Joy cometa IN rne morning, ano
much oblIge downtown business mar"
So to all downtown business men and to
III uptown business men say: Hyou have
on hand goods that you cannot sell and
debtors who will not or cannot pay, and you
are also suffering from uncertainty ss to
what the imbecile American Congress will do
abcct the tariff, you have three troubles, and
enough to bring you within the range Of the
consolation Of my text, where you fnd the
triumph Of Bensish over lion, and pit
aud a snowy day. II you have only one
tcouhle cannot sperd any time with you
TO-DAY. You must nave at least three,
and then remember how many have tri-
nmphed over such a triad Of misfortune.
Rsul lad thrse troubles: Sanhedrin de-
noancins hinn-tbat was one gess trouble:
physical infrmity, which be called "s thorn
5n fha flesh" and althensA Kakaoy ne. Ehst