The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-01-15
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE
Subject: the Folly of BoastinE-History
Full OF Instances Showing How AFRO
gance Was Rebuked-Better Underrate
Than Overrate Ourselves.

| Subject: the Folly of BoastinE-History
Full OF Instances Showing How AFRO
gance Was Rebuked-Better Underrate
Than overrate Ourselves.
WASHINGTON, D. C.-While this dis
course nf DR.. Talmage rebukes arrogance
| it encourages humanity and shows how
| the evening of life may be frightened.
! The text is Kings Xxx, II, LET not him
that girdeth on his harness boast himself
as he that putteth it off,"
Harness is the obsolete word for armor.
| It means harness for the man, not harness
| for the beast; harness for battle, not har-
ness for the plow. The ancient armor
/, consisted of helmet for the head, breast
plate and shield for the heart, greaves for
the feet. The text makes a comparison
! veteran returning, the one putting on
the armor and the other putting it of.
Benhadad, the King Of Syria, thought
he could easily overcome the King OF Is.
rael. Indeed, the Syrian was SO sure OF
| the victory that he spread an ante.bellum
banquet. With thirty-two kings he was
celebrating what they were going to do.
There were in all thirty.three kings at the
carousal, and their condition is described
in the Bible, not as convivial or stimu.
lated exaltation, but drunk. Their gllded
by high mettled horses, neighing and
champing and hitched to ehariots such as
kings rode in. Benhadad sends officers
over to- the King'of Israel demanding the
surrender Of the. city, saying, 'Thou shalt
deliver to me thy silver and thy gold and
thy wives and thy children" and after.
ward sends other officers, saying that the
palace of the king will be searched and
everything Benhadad wants he Will take
without asking: Then the King Of. Israel
called council of war, and word Is sent
demand will be resisted. Then Benhadad
! sends another message to the King of Is
rael, message full Of arrogance and bra
vado, practically saying: eve will destroy
| you utterly. I will grind Sanaria into the
dust, but there will not be dust enough to
make handful for each one of my troops"
Then the King of Israel replied to Benba.
dad, practically saying: Let me see you
do what you say. You royal braggart, you
might better have postponed your ban.
quiet until after the battle instead OF
too soon. Let not him that girdeth on
his harness boast himself as he that put
teth it off,"
An avalanche of courage and righteous
ness, the Israelitish army came down on
Benhadad and his host. It was hand to
hand fight, each Israelite hewing down .
Syrian. Benhadad, on horseback, gets
away with some of the cavalry, but is only
saved for worse defeat, in which 100000
Syrian infantry were slaughtered in one
day. Now we see the sarcasm and the
text sent by the King of Israel to Benha-
dad, "Let not him that girdeth on his
It off,"
All up and down history we see such
too early boasting. Soult, the Marshal Of
France, was so certain that he would con.
quer that he had a proclamation printed
announcing himself King of Portugal, and
had a grand feast prepared for 4 o'clock
that afternoon, but before that hour he
fed in ignominious defeat, and yelling.
o'clock at the very banquet the Marshal OF
France had ordered for himself Charles
V. invaded France and was so sure of
conquest that he requested Paul Jovius,
the historian, to gather together q large
amount of paper on which to write the
story of his many victories, but disease
and famine seized upon his troopers, and
he retreated in dismay. So Benhadad's
behavior has been copied in all ages OF the
world. 1t viii be my object, among other
lessons, to show that he who puts OF the
drLnor, ndVLuR unlsueu VIC oaStieS 10 AioAS
to be congratulated than he who begins.
First, I find encouragement in this sub
ject for the aged who have got through
the work and struggle of earthly life. My
venerable friends. if you had at twenty.
five years of age full appreciation OF what
you would have to 60 through in the thir-
ties and the forties and the ifties Of your
lifetime you would have been appalled,.
Fortunately the bereavements, the tempta-
tions, the prosecutions. the hardships,
were curtained from your sight. With
the crises of pain and sadness and disap-
pointment and fatigue and still live to -:e-
count the divine help that sustained you.
At twenty or thirty years of age at the
tap of the drum you put on the harness.
Now, at sixty or seventy or eighty you
are peacefully putting it off. You would
not want to try the battle of life over
again. Though you can look back and see
many mistakes, the next time you might
make worse mistakes. Instead OF being
depressed over the fact that you are being
counted out or omitted in the great under
takings of the church and the world, re.
joice that you have right to hang up
your helmet and sheathe your sword and
free your hands from the gauntlets and
your feet from the boots of mail.
There are old farmers who cannot do
one more days work. What harvests
they the raised in 1870! They knew the rota.
ton of crops as well as they knew the ro-
tation of the seasons. Under what bis.
terings' suns they swung the scythe and
the cradle! Through what deep snows
they drew the logs or cut their way to the
foddering of the cattle! What. droughts,
they remember! To clothe and feed and
educate the household they went through
tolls and self sacrifices that the world
knew but little about. Rest, aged man!
Let the boys do the shoveling and thrash
ing and cutting and sweating. You have
put the harness off, and do not try to put
it OH again.
There are old mechanics that car no
more shove the plane or pound with the
hammer or bore with the bit or run up
the ladder to the scaffolding. Master me,
wrought faithfully in the work of house
or barn or ship building. You have
right to quit. You have finished your
task. Be thankful that your work is done.
Then there are aged physicians. What
tragedies of pain and accident they have
Witnessed How much suffering they have
assuaged! How many brave battles, they
have fought with lancet and cataclysm!
How many fevers they cooled! How
many broken bones they set! How many
anxious days they passed when they knew
that human lives depended upon their
skill and fidelity! They drove back death
from many'a cradle.
Again, + learn from Benhadad's beha-
yior the unwisdom of boasting of what
one is going to do. Two messages had he
sent to the King of Israel, both messages
full of insolence and braggadocio. With
brimming beaker in hand he is talking
with the royal group about what he will do