Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-01-03
THE BATTLE OF LIFE
How the End of the Struggle May
Be Brightenei.
Lesson Which May BE Learned from
Boosting of Benhadad, the King
OF Syria-Humanity En-
cOuraged.

copyright, 1901. by Louis Klopsch, n. VI
Washington. Dec. %.
While this discourse of DIR. Talmage
rebukes arrogance, it encourages hui
manity and shows how the evening of
life may be frightened. The text is
Kings, 2O:11: LET not him that girdeth
on his harness boast himself as he
that putteth it off,"
Harness is the obsolete word for ar
NOR. Il means harness for the man,
not harness for the beast; harness for
battle, not, harness for the plow. The
ancient armor consisted of helmet for
the heads brea stplate and shield for the
heart, greayes for the feet. The text
makes a comparison between a man
enlisting for some war and veteran
returning, the one putting. on the ar
NOR and the other putting it off.
Benhadad, the king of Syria, thought
he could easily overcome the king of
Israel. Indeed, the Syrian was SO sure
of the victory that he spread an ante
bellum banquet. With 80 kings he was
celebrating what they were going to do.
There were in all 33 kings a the ca
rousal, and their condition is described
in the Bible Hot as convivial or slim
uiated eXaltation, but drunk. Their
gilded and hammered pavilions were sur
rounded by high-me tiled horses, neigh
:. ing and champing, and hitched to char
lots such as kings rode in. Benhadad
sends officers to the king of Israel de-
manding the surrender of the city, say
ing: "Thou shalt deliver me thy silver
and thy gold and thy wives and thy
children and afterward 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
q council of war and word is sent back
to Benhadad that his unreasonable de-
mand will be resisted. Then Benhadad
sends another message to the king of
Israel, message full of arrogance and
bravado, practically saying: ''We will
destroy you utterly. will grind Sa-
maria into the dust, but there will not
be dust enough to make a handful for
each one of my troops" Then the king
of Israel replied to Benhadad, prac-
tically saying: "Let me see you do
what you say. You royal braggart, you
might better have postponed your ban
guet until after the battle instead of
spreading it before the battle. You
huzza too soon. Let OF him that grid
eth on his harness boast himself as he
that putteth it off, :"
An avalanche of courage and right
eousness, the Israelitish army came
down on Benhaoad and his host. It
was hand to hand fight, each Israelite
hewing~ down a Syrian. Benhadad, on
horseback, gets away with some of the
cavalry, but is only saved for a worse
defeat, in which 100000 Syrian infan-
try were slaughtered in one day. Now
we see the sarcasm and the epigram-
matte power of the mess ge of my text
sent by the king of Israel to Benhadad:
Let not him that girdeth on his har-
ness boast himself as he that putteth
it off"
All up and down history we see such
too early boasting. Soult, the marshal
of France, was so certain that he
would conquer that he'll a procla-
nation printed announcing himself
king of Portugal and had grand feast
prepared for four o'clock that after
noon, but before that hour he fled in
ignominious defeat, and Wellington of
the conquering host sat down at four
o'clock at the very banquet the mar
shall 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 large amount of paper on
which to write the story of his many
Wet cries, but disease and famine seized
upon his troopers and he retreated in
dismay SO Benhadad'ss behavior has
been copied in all ages of the world.
1t viii be my object, among other les
sons, to show that he who puts off
Che armor, having finished the battle,
is more to be congratulated than he
who begins.
First, I find encourage cement in this
subject for the aged who have got
through the work and struggle of
earthly life. my venerable friends, if
you had at 25 years of age full appre-
citation of what you would have to go
: through in the thirties and the forties
and the fifties of your. lifetime you
would have been appalled,. Fortunate
ly the bereavements, the temptations,
the prosecutions, the shardships, were
curtained from your sight. With more
or less fortitude you passed through
the crisis of pain and sadness and dis
appointment and fatigue and still live
to recount the Divine help that sus-
tanned you. At 20 or 80 years of your
age at the tap of the drumsyou put on
the harness. Now, at 60 or 20 or so.
you are peacefully putting it off. You
would not want to try the battle of
life over again. Sosmany of just your
temperament and with as good start.
ing and as fine parentage and seem
ingly with rs much equipoise of charac-
ter as you had have made complete
shipwreck that you would not want