Pike County Democrat, Volume 25, Number 42, Petersburg, Pike County, 1 March 1895 — Page 6

TALMAGE'S SEBMGS. ■ __ Practical Lessons of the Story ot s Benaiah and the Lion. -ClMWr for Sorely-Troubled ChriitUn*— The Seal'd of tbe Spirit the Weepon with Whleh the Enemy " Will be Conquered. Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage delivered the following sermon in the Academy of music, New York city, on the subject: “A Snowy Day,” taking' for his text: He went down and slew a lion in a pU in a -snowy day.—I Chronicles, xi., ~ Have you ever heard of him? His name was; Benaiah. He was a 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, and the strongest bone in his body was backbone. He is known for other wonders beside that of the text. An Egyptian five cubits in stature, op about seven feet nine inches high, was moving around in braggadocio and flourishing a great spear, careless as to whom he killed, and Benaiah of my text, with nothing bnt a walking-stick, came upon him, snatched the spear from him, 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 if the smarter boy on the same bench had not helped us out with it, in which Iloratius, the 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 a club. The Macedonian hurled the javelin, but the Athenian successfully dodged it, and the Macedonian lifted the spear, but the Athenian with club broke it, and the Macedonian, drew the sword, but the Athenian tripped him up before he «ould strike with it, and then the Athenian with his club would have beaten the life outfof the Macedonian, fallen among his useless weapons, if Alexander had not commanded: “Stop! .Stop!” But Benaiulr* of the text is 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 venturing only a little way from their father’s house are found mangled and dead. The fact is, the land was in

tested with lions, and lew people dared' meet ope of these grizzlj* beasts, much less corner or attack it. As a good providence would have it, one morning a footstep of a lion was tracked in the snow. It had been out on its devouring errand through the darkness, but at last it is found by the impression of the four paws on the white ground, which way the wild beast came, and which way it had gone. Perilous undertaking; but Benaiali, the hero of the text, arms himself with such weapons as those early days afforded, gunpowder having been invented in a far subsequent century by the German monlt, llertholdus Schwartz. 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 the track through the snow’. It may have been a javelin, it may have been only a knife; but w hat Benaiali lacks in weapon he w’ill 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 lienee thes^cisterns or reservoirs are digged here and there and yonder. Lionahmve an instinct which seems to tell them, when they are pursued, and this drjjBdSnonster of which I speak retresfls intto one of these cisterns whiqh happened to be free of water, and ikthere/panting from the long Tun, a^nl uctring its jaws alter a repast of huniap^fiesli, and after quaffing the red village of human blood., Bepp.iah is all alert, and comes oputiously 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 a modern Du Chaillu, Gordon Gumming or Sir Samuel Baker, or David Livingstone, would have just bi’ought the gun to the shoulder, and hold the eye against the barrel, and blamed away into the depths, and finished the beast, Benaiah, with only the old-time wreapon, cau do nothing untii he gets on a level with the beast, and so he jumps into

the pifc, au<l the lion, with shining teeth of rage, and claws lifted to tear to shreds the lftst vestige of human life, springs for the man, while Benaiali springs for the beast. BuV the quidk 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 half covered with the tawny mane of -the slain horror of Palestine. ■Now' /ou see how emphatic, and tragic, and tremendous are the words of my text: “He went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy- day.” Why put that in the Bible? Why put it twice in the Bible, once in the book of ;Samuel, and here im the book of Chronicles? Oh, the practical lessons are so many for you and for me. What .a cheer in this subject for all those of you who are beset by hostile circumstances. Three things were against Benaiah of my text in the moment of combat, the snow that impeded his movement, the pit that environed him in a small space, and the lion, with open jaws and uplifted paws. And jet I hear the shout of Benaiah’s victory. Oh, men and women of three troubles. You say: “I could stand one, -and I think 1 can stand two; but three is at least one too many. * There is a man in business perplexity, and, who has sickness in his family, and old age coming on. Three troubles—a lion, a pit and snowy days. There is a good woman with failing .health, and a dissipated husband, and

| a wayward hoy—three troubles! There is a young Qian, salary cut down, bad i cough, frowning fut ure—three trembles! There is a, maiden with a diffi* ' cult school lesson she can not get. a | face that :is not as 11 it tractive as some | of her schoolmates, a prospect that through hard times she must quit school before she graduates—three troubles! There is an author, his man- ! uscript rejected, his power of originaj tion in decadence,, a numbness in forefinger and thumb which ! threatens paralysis — three tron- | bles! There is a reporter of I fine taste sent to report a pugilism inj stead of an oratorio, t he copy he hands in is rejected because the paper is full, a mother to support on small income— three troubles! I could march right off these seats and across the platform, if they would come at my call, five hundred people with three troubles. This is the opportunity to play the hero or the heroine, not on a small stage with a few hundred people to clap their approval, but with all the galleries of Heaven filled with sympathetic and applauding spectators, for we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.” My brother, my sister, my father, my mother, what a chance .you have! While you are in the struggle, if you only have the grace of Christ to listen, a voice parts the heavens, saying: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “Whom the Lord loveth, he ehasteneth.” “You shall be more than conquerors.” And that reminds me of a letter on my table written by some one whom I suppose to be at thife moment present, saying: “My dear, dear doctor. You will please pardon the writer Bfor asking that at some time when you feel like it you kindly preach from the thirtieth psalm, fifth verse: ‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the m >rning,’ and much oblige a downtown business man.” So, to all

downtown business men, and to all uptown business men, I say,- if you have on hand any goods that you can not sell, and debtors who will not, or can not, pay, and you are also suffering from uncertainty as to what the imbecile American congress will do about the tariff, you have three troubles, and enough to bring you within the range of the consolation of my text, where you find the triumph of Benaiah over a lion, and a pit, and a snowy day. If you hare only one trouble, I can not spend any time with you to-day. You must have at least three, and then remember how many have triumphed over such a trial of misfortune. Paul had three troubles: Sanbedria denouncing him—that was one great trouble; physical infirmity, which he called “a thorn in the flesh, ’ and although we know* not what the thorn was, we do know from the figure he used that it must have been something that stuck him— that was the second trouble;.approaching martyrdom—that made the three troubles. Yet, hear what he says: “If I had only one misfortune, I tsould stand that: but three are two many?” No; I misinterpret. He says: “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing all things.” “Thanks be unto God, who giveth u£^the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” David had three troubles. A bad boy, a temptation to dissoluteness, and dethronement. What does He say? “God is our refuge and strength; a very present 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.” John Wesley, had. three troubles: Defamation by mobs; domestic ipfelicity; fatigue from more sermons preached and more miles traveled 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,” John’s reply 'was: “Brother Charles, if the Lord told me to fly, I’d do it, and leave Him to find the wings.” George Whitefield had three troubles: Rejection from the pulpits of England because he w^s too dramatic —that was one trouble; strabismus, or the crossing of his eyes that subjected him to the caricature 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 vcere so buoyant that a little child dying soon after hearing him preach said

iu uic uici iaio ui paiu. uci uic gu to Mr. Whitefield’s God.” Oh, I am so glad that Benaiah of my text was not the only one who triumphed over a lion Jh a pit on a snowy day. . Notice in my text a victory over bad weather. It was a snowy day, when one's 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 threshes his arms around him to revive the circulation of the blood, and then goes at the lion, which, was all the more fierce and ravenous because of the sharp weather. Inspiration here admits atmospheric hindrance. * The snowy day at Valley Forge well 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 February weather has some years bankrupted thousands of merchants. Long succession of stormy Sabbaths has crippled innumerable churches. Light houses veiled by the snow on many a 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 thermometer j is above freezing point, and the sky is an inverted blue eup of sunshine poured all over, it is a religion ninety- [ five per cent. off. Tnank God there

are Christians, who, though their whole life through sickness has been a snowy day, have killed every lion of despondency that dared to pot its cruel paw against their suffering pillow. It was a snowy day when the pilgrim fathers set foot, not on a bank of flowers, bat on the cold New England rock, and from a ship that might have been more appropriately called after a December hurricane than a “Mayflower,” they took possession of this great continent. And amid more chilly worldly circumstances many a good man or a good woman has taken possession of a whole continent of spiritual satisfaction, valleys of peace, and rivers of gladness, and moan tains of joy. Christ landed In onr world not in the month of May, bat in the stormy month of December, to show us that we might have Christ in winter weather, and on a snowy day. Notice everything down in the pit I that snowy day depended upon Ben- ; aiah's weapon. There was as much ! strength in one muscle of that lion as | in all the muscles of both arias of Beni aiah. It is the strongest of beasts, and has been known to carry off an ox. I Its tongue is so rough that it acts as a rasp tearing off the flesh it licks. The I two great canines at each side of the ! month make escape impossible for } anything it has once seized. Yet Benj aiah puts his hdel on the neck of the “king of all beasts.” Was it a dagger? Was it a javelin? Was it a knife? I am not tell, but everything depended on it. But for that, Benaiah’s body under one craunch of the monster would have been left limp and tumbled in the snow. < And when you and I go into the fight with temptation, if we have not the right kind of weapon, instead of oar slaying the lion, the lion will slay us. The sword of the spirit! Nothing in earth or hell can stand before * that. Victory with that or no victory at all. By that I mean prayer to God, confidence in His rescuing power, sav

mg' grace, Almighty deliverance. I do not care what you -call'it; l\call it “Sword of Spirit.” And If the lftms of all the jungles of petition should at once sjfring upon yopr, soul, by that weapon of heavenly petal you can thrust them back, and/cut them dpwn, and stab them through, and leave them powerless at your feet. Your good olution wielded against the po’ which assault you is a toy pistol aga: an Armstrong gun; is a penknife out against the brandished sabers Ileintzelman's cavalry charge. G< to the fight against sin on your own strength, and the result will be the hot breath of the lion in your blanched face, and his front paws, one on each lung. Alas! for the man not fully armed, down in the pit, on a %nowy day, and before him a lion. All my hearers and readers have a big fight of some sort on hand, but the biggest and the wrathiest lion which you have to fight is what the Bible calls “The roaring lion, who walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Now, you have never seen a real lion unless you have seen him in India or Africa, just after capture. Long caging breaks his spirit, and the constant [ presence of human beings tames him. But you ought to see him spring against the iron bars in the zoological gardens of Calcutta, and hear him roar for the prey. It makes one’s blood curdle, and you shrink back, although you know there is no peril. Plentyxjf Ions in olden time. Six hundred of them were slaughtered on one occasion in the presence of Pompey in the Roman amphitheater. Lions came out and destroyed the camels which carried the baggage of Xerxes’ army. In Bible times there were so many lions that they are frequently alluded to in the Scriptures. Joel, the prophet, describes the “cheek teeth” of a great lion; and Isaiah mentions among the attractions of Heaven that “no lion shall be there;” and Amos speaks of a shepherd taking a lamb’s ear out of the mouth of a lion; and Solomon describes the righteous as a lion;” and Daniel was a great lion tamer; and David, and Jeremiah, and St. John often speak of this creature. Well, it will be better than that when some of you are seen entering the harbor of Heaven. You have had a rough voyage—no mistake about that. Snowy day after snowy day. Again and again the machinery of health and courage broke down, and the waves of temptation have swept clear over the hurricane • deck, so that you were often competed to say; “All Thy waves and Thy billows have gone over me,” and you were down in the trough of that sea, and manv despaired of your safe arrival. But the great pilot, not one who must come off from some other craft, but the one who walked storm-swept Galilee, and now walks the wintry Atlan

tic, comes on board, and heads you for the haven, when no sooner have you passed the narrows of death than you find all the banks lined with immortals celebrating your arrival, and while some break off palm branches from the banks and wave them, those standing on one side will chant: *'‘There shall be no more sea:” and those standing on the other side will chant: “These are they which come out of great tribulation, and had their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.” Off of the stormy sea in to the smooth harbor. Out of leonine struggle in the pit, to guidance by the Lamb, who shall lead you t o living fountains of water. Out of the sno wy day of earthly severities into the gardens of everlasting flora, and into orchards of eternal fruitage, the fall of their white blossoms the only snow' in Heaven. v „ —Repentance is not all pain. There is a see ret sweetness which accompanieth those tears of remorse, those meltings and relentings of *a soul returning unto God, and lamenting its former unkindness.—Seougal. —What dost thou here—here in this short life, here in this earnest world, here where you have one chance, and but one, forever#— Robertson.

i- A M. TRAIN WRECKED <5. B. Webb, of Blmlnflwp. InstMtly Killed—Several PitMenc*™ and Train me* Injured—* It* Cars Horned—Engine Left tb* Track Near Greenville, Ala., and Ur»ce*d the Cars Down the Hauk. Greenville, Aim., Feb. 24.—Mardi Gras special No. 1 of the Louisville A N&shvile railroad was derailed 3 miles sonth of this place on the Mobile A Montgomery division, at 9:27 o’clock Saturday morning. C. R. Webb, a barber of Firming* ham, Ala., was instantly k lied by jumping and falling under the train. Several were more or less s sriously injured, as follows: Mrs. G. P. Armstrong, of Bu ffalo, N Y.; arm broken at shoulder. Mrs. ;W. H. Schoolcraft, of Montgomery; hand and forehead cut. Mrs. S. J. Wisdom, of Montgomery; face severely cut. J. R. Thompson, of Montgomery; contusion of knee cap. Among the injured are C. R., ohnson, of Toledo, O., and W. H, Murphy, of New Castle, Ind. Four others, including the porter, were slightly hurt. The train consisted of a combination baggage, mail and express ct:r, three day coaches, three sleepers and private car No. 60 of the Monon r ailroad. The engine left the track ilrst and d.r*gged down the embankment the tender, baggage car and th-ee day coaches and the three sleeper s. The Monon private car broke its cnuplings and kept the track.

Down the embankment the cars, which were now little more ti jua splinters and wreckage, caught lire and all that went down were ©: isnmed, with the exception of two of t be three sleepers. The passengers crawled out from the debris, many bleeding from cuts and scratches. Had the man who w is kil led kept in the car he would doubtless have* been alive, but, being near the door, at the first sign of trouble he da shed out and down the embankment, fio be fol.owed by the train. Mrs. G. P. Armstrong, of Buffalo, was left at the Elbert house here in care of surgeons. Late last night she was resting easily and the surgeons announce that she will recover. Mrs. S. J. Wisdom will probably recover. Mrs. W. H. Schoolcraft will also probably recover. All who cared to resume their journey were sent south on a speci al train. The injured were taken to Montgomery for medical attention. The two sleepers, which were derailed but did not burn, were only slightly damaged. None of their passengers were disturbed beyond a shaking up. All of the baggage,' except seven or eight pieces, was burned, as vras all of the United States mail and the major part of the express. BURNED IN THEIR BED. Horrible Discovery by Church-Goers Near the Village of Middle Haddam. Hadoam, Conn., Feb. 25.—People bn the way to church yesterday morning made a horrible discovery about a mile back of the village of Middle Haddarn, at what is known as Hog’s hill. For some thirty years Thomas Cavanaugh, an industrious farmer, has lived in a little story-and-a-half farm hou se there with his Nvife. The house is down in a valley, completely hidden from the view of the neighbors. . The churchgoers yesterday morning were surprised to see that the house was a mass of ruins, with only here and there a bit of smoke arising from a dying ember. A search of the ruins was begun, and the searchers soon came upop a man’s body, badly burned and barely recognizable. Near by was found a pelvis bone, which was all that remained of the woman’s bady. From the location it was concluded that the couple, who were about 60 years of age, were asleep at the time the fire started and were burned in their bed. .. ’ MINISTER GRAY’S SUCCESSOR. Matt W. Ransom, of North Caroli na, Nominated and Confirmed. Washington. Feb. 25.—The president sent to the senate the nomination

Ex-Senator Matt W. Ranmm. , of Matt W. Ransom, of North Carolina, to be United States minister to Mexico, and the nomination was promptly confirmed. CONTRACT RENEWED For the Keeping of Unde Sant's Convicts In the Ohio Penitentiary. Washington, Feb. 24.—Mr. Julius Whiting, manager of the Ohio state prison, who has been in the city for several days, left Washington for Columbus Friday evening. Mr. Whiting said that he had just conduc ed a contract with the officials here for the care of the United States prisoners for the ensuing year in the penitentiary at Columbus. The Ohio prison .has been the chiet place of confinement -for a good while off Uncle Sam's convicts, receiving between 300 and 400 each year. Influenza Epidemic. London, Feb. 24.—A mild type of influenza has spread over England. Many candidates for the county council ip the election, which takes place March S, have been stricken with the malady and are competed to abandon their campaign and remain in bed. The public offices have become short of hands and the service is crippled. Messrs. Irving and Teele are still kept away from their theaters by influenza, and Lord Rosebery is reported by bulletin to have passed a restless night, though his influenza is abated Mr. Balfour is alaoa victim.

=— ■,.1 '— Gmafami tar File*. Her* Is an interesting idea for the housewife who Is troubled with the aggravating flies flourish mg' in their furnace-heated rooms long after cold weather is supposed to have destroyed them. The suggestion comes from abroad that the fragrant geranium— the old-fashioned rose geranium beloved by our grandmother—keeps flies away. A moderate-sized geranium of this variety is said to be so disagreeable to flies that thev avoid its neighborhood, and two or three of those plants in a room will drive them put altogether.—N. Y. Ledger. DROUGHT PROOP F1KLO CORN. Here is something new. Despite 110 days without a drop of rain, Salzer’s new Yellow Dent com yielded on a large acreage over sixty-eight bushels per acre, while the department of agriculture reports the average yield on corn but a trifle over twenty bushels per acre in the United States. Now think of the possibilities of this com in a good com season! It will double this yield then or 136 bus. IP TOtr WILL CUT THIS OUT AXD SEND IT with 14c postage to the John A. Salzer Seed company, LaCrosse, Wis., you will get free a pack of this Drouth Pboop Cobh and their mammoth catalogue, [k] A Friend—“If you love her. old fellow, why don’t you marry her?’*' Bachelor Doctor—“Marry her! Why. she is one of my best patients.’’—Life. FREE! To Christian Endoovorora—Pocket Gold# mod Map of Boston, UM Convention City? The Passenger Department of the Big Four Route have issued a very convenient and attractive Pocket Guide to the City of Boston which will be sent free of charge to all members of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor who will send three two-cent stamps to cover mailing chartres to the undersigned. ThisfPocket Guide should be in the hands of every member of the Society who contemplates attending the 14th Annual Convention, as it shows the location of all Depots, Hotels, Churches, Institutions, Places of Amusement, Prominent Buildings. Street Car Lines, Etc., Etc. Write soon as the edition is limited. E. O. McCormick, Passenger Traffic Manager, Big Four Route, Cincinnati, O. • Give some people the power to move mountains, and how quick they would s|>oil the country for everybody ‘else.—Ram's Horn. - State of Ohio. Citt of Toledo, l _ LccasCocstt. ) ** Frank J. Cheney makes oath that be is the senior partnerofthefirmofF. J.Chenet & CO., doing business in the City of Toledo County ana State aforesaid and that said firm will pay the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every case of Catarrh that cannot becured by the use of Hall's Catarrh Cure. Frank J. Cheney. Sworn to before me and subscribed in my presence, tins6thday of December, A. D. lbdu I i A. W. Gleason, l“Ai( i Notary Public. Hall’s Catarrh Cure is taken internally and acts directly on the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. Send fortestimonials, fret;. F. J. Cheney & Co, Toledo, O. resold by Druggists, 75c. Hall's Family Pills, 25c. First Tramp—“Wot’s the matter with sleeping in the coal-yard to-night!'* Second Tramj>—“You’se a fine one ter fuller. They ain’t bin no soft coal dere fer a week.” »'

1 Makes Pure Blood And thus Hood’s Sarsaparilla Gives Perfect Health. 411 had been bothered with pimples oat my face and body for five years. I bad tried many different remedies to set rid of v

them bat the medkine did not do me any good. 1 read about Hood’s Sarsaparilla and bought a bottle. Since then I bare taken fire bottle* and am glad to say that the pimples are all gone. Hood's Sarsaparilla baa purified my blood and built up my system, I gladly recommend Hood's

Mr. A. K Chart Sursapanna. i led rmw, cmL very thankful for the benefit X received from Hood's Sarsaparilla. In conclusion I would say that Sarsaparilla Hood's Pills should be in every household._ Once used they will ^38^ always be preferred " A. E. Coast, Box 1306, Fresno, California,, - Cures Hood’S Pills are purely vegetable, care- . fully prepared from the best ingredients. 25c. Desnoyers Shoe Co. ■ • . A . .

FINE SHOES. MADE IN ST. LOUIS. every pair Guaranteed. • ASK YOUR DEALER FDR THEM. ■

If IPs a Sprain, Strain, or Bruise St. Jacobs Oil Will Cure It

All

_5. over the house you deed Pearline. And more than ever in house-cleaning. Just look over the list of things that you might use—soaps d powders and fluids and what

not. Some of them don’t pretend to help you as much as Pearline; some will injure paint, or surfaces, or fabrics; some are only meant to wash or clean certain things. But With Pearline, you will save time and labor in cleaning anything that pure water won t hurt Not only can it do no harm, but it saves useless and harmful rubbing, ,4fia

** We think Piso’s CURE for CONSUMPTION is the only medicine for coughs.1 Jennie Psnckard, Springfield, 111., October i, 1894. ptsorscuRE FOR CONSUMPTION .CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. BEST COUGH SYRUP.... TASTES GOOD. USE IN TIME. SOLO BY DRUGGISTS. *3 CENTS.

Coughs and Colds, Sore Throat, Bronchitis, Weak Longs, General Debility and all forms of Emaciation are speedily cured by Scott’s Emulsion Consumptives always find great relief by taking it, and consumption is often cured. No other nourishment restores strength so quickly and effectively. Weak Babies and Thin Children ore made strong and robust by Scott’s Emulsion when other forms of food seem to do them no good whatever. < The only genuine Scott's Emulsion is put up in salmoncolored wrapper. Refuse cheap substitutes! Send for fampklet on Scotts Emulsion. FREE. Soott * Bowne, N. Y. All Druggists. SO cents and SI,