Preface The pastor of the Seventh-day Baptist church of Plainfield, New Jersey, ventures to submit to the public, and especially to the churches of which he has been pastor, a small volume of sermons. These discourses were not written for publication, and it seems best not to revise them as they are placed in this permanent form. The volume is simply the reproduction of sermons as they were preached, some of which have been printed in the Seventh-day Baptist Pulpit and in the Sabbath Recorder. The author does not assume that his work is of more value than that of other men, or that he more than oṭirdr pastors more than other pastors is an exponent of Seventh-day Baptist doctrine Believing that a book of this kind would be of value, and finding the field entirely unoccupied, this volume is offered to your charitable consideration, in the hope that others may be induced to do similar and greater service. PLAINFIELD, N. J., August 1, 1904. G. B. S. Pulpit Gleanings I "Also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day."-1 Chron. 11 : 22 A NYONE who undertakes to lead an upright Christian life is facing a lion. If he is in business, society, politics or any public place, in the opening years of the twentieth century, he has gone down into a pit. If he proposes to be loyal there to God's holy Sabbath, then it is a snowy day. "Also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day." The text is a brief report of one of three valiant deeds done by one Benaiah, the son of Jehoida, for which he was given a place of honor in the standing army of King David. As soon as David was made king over all Israel, he began at once to organize the army and nation. He went up and took the citadel of Jebus, and there began the modern Jerusalem. He offered the place of honor and command to the one who should first climb the fortress and smite the enemy, and this gallant deed was done by Joab, who, from that hour to the end of David's life, was the commander-in-chief of the armies of Israel. These were the days when individual strength and bravery counted for more than now. Gunpowder was not known, horses could not easily be secured and could not be used in the mountain country of Judea. Sometimes a mere handful of men on the top of a rock or in some narrow valley would defy a whole army, just as Horatius defended the bridge at Rome. For these acts of strength and bravery men were promoted to the command of armies; by such daring deeds they became kings. In the chapter from which the text is taken there are about thirty-five names of the brave men who were the leaders of David's army. The first three are called "mighty men" and their deeds are told. Then there are three who are above the thirty "valiant men," but who are said not to have attained to the first three. One of this second three was Benaiah, the son of Jehoida, who was placed in command of the king's bodyguard of Cherethites and Pelethites, who afterward |