The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-01-08
TSLMA9E' ; SERMON.
Shows How the Evening Of Life Nay
be Brishts1e6,


nanity snd shows how the evening Ct
life may be frightened. The text is !
Kings *, II, LIST not him that gird-
eth on his harness boat himself as he
that pusteth it Of"
Harness is the Obsolete word for az,
NOR. It means harness fer the msr,
not harness for tie neast; harness Tc-
battle. not harness for she pow. The
ancient armor consisted oE helmet for
the head, bceastplate and shield for
the heart, gZesvea for ths feet. The
text makes s comparison between 8
man en!isting for some War and vet
eran returning, the one putting On The
armor srd sAe ether putting it cf.
Senhadao, the king Of Syria, thought
he could easily overcome the king CT
Israel. Indeed, the Syrian was SO sure
Of the victory shst Re spread an ante
bellum banquet. With thirsy-two Kings
he was celebrating what they were 60
ing to DO. There were in all thirsy-
three kings at the caroussl, and their
condition is described in lhe Bible, not
IS con7ival OF stimulated exaltsticn,
but drunk. Theil gilded and oan1ereo
psviliors were surrounded By high
mettied herses, ncighinS and clsnping
and hitche6 to chariots such as kings
rode in. Bsnhscsd sends officers o7er
to the king of Israel demanding the
surrender Of the city, saying, Thou
shalt oeli7eTme thy silver and thy geld
and thy wives snd thy children" AID
afterRard seocs other efi,ers, saying
that the pslscs Of She King will be
searched and everything !6enhada6
wants he will take without asking.
Then the king Of Israel called council
Of var, and word is sert back to Beg
haded that his unreasonable demand
will be resisted. Then Benha2ad SENDS
another neEssge 20 the kirg Of Israel,
. message full OF arrogance and brsva
do, practically ss!iag: We will de
stroy you utterly. | will grind Ssmsria
into the dust, bat there Will net be dust
enough to make bsr6!ul for each c2e
of my t,oop5," Then the king Of lsrsel
repiled to Benhsdad, prscAcallg ssy-
ing: ''Lst me see You Go what sou
say. You roysl bIasgsrs, ycu might
better have postponed your bk2qaet un-
I'll after the bsttie instead Of sp-esolng
it before the battle. You huzzs toe
soor. Let not him that g'r6sth on his
harness boast himself IS he that put
teth it of"
An avalanche Of courage aud right
eousness, the Israetie,sh army came
down On Benhadsd and hiS host, i
was hand to hand fight, each Israel
its hewing down Syrian. Bsnhsdec,
On horseback, gets away with some o.
the cavalry, but is only saved for s
worse defeat, in which 100, 600 Syrian
infantry were slaughtered IN one dsy.
Now We see the sarcasm AID the cpl
granmstic power Of the message Of
my text sent by the king Of lsr-el TO
Banhadsd, Let not him that girdesh
on his harness bosst himself as ne that
putteth it Of. .
All up and down history We see such
too early boasting. Soult, the marshal
Of France, vas SO ce1tsio that he
would conquer that ne aaj proclana'
ton printed announcing himself king
Of Portugal and had grand feast pre-
pared for 4 o'clock thst afternoon, h1t
before that hour he { d in igncminious
defeat, and Wellington Of the conquer
ing host sat doWn at 4 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 Psut Jo-
vius, the historian, 60 gsther together
large amount Of psper On which to
write the story of ms many victories,
but disease sna famine seizsd upon
his troopers, and he Tetrsetsd in ois-
may. So BenlaGad's behavior mas
been copied in ali ages Of the world.
Il will be ny object, among cther les-
sons, to show that he eho pIzs of the
armor, having dcishsd tie battle, is
more to be congratulated tt&n ne @ho
begins.
First, ind encouragement in this
subject tor the aged who have got
through the work and struggle Of earth
y lite. Ms venerable friends. # yoa
had at twenty-five years Of sge full ap'
precision Of what you would have to
90 through IN the thirtles and the for
tles and the ffsies Of your lifetime you
Would have been appalled,. Fortunate
y the bereavsuenrs, the temptations,
the prosecutions, the hardships, were
curtained from Jour sight. With more
Or less fortitude you passed through
the crisis Of pain and ssd0ess srd oisap
pointment and fatigue and still live to
recount the divine nelp inst sustained
you. At twenty or thirty years OF your
age st the tap Of the drum you put Oh
the harness. Now, st sixty or seventy
or eighty, you are pescefuily putting it
Of. You would not want to try tie
battle Of live over sgsjr. So many 81
Just your temperament and with IS
good starting and as 6ae psreatsge
and seemingly with as much tQ1ipoise
Of ci aracter as yeu had have Dsde
complete ahipHreck that ycu would
not want agsin to run the risks.
Though you can look back ana see
many mistakes, the next tine you
might make verse mistakes. Instead
Of being depressed over tie fact that
you are being ,anted oHs or omitted
II the gless undertakings Of tho church
and the word, reioioe tia: you have
right to hang go your helne: and
sheathe your sEoZd sid .rae yoar hs7:cs
from the gs1ntlets sno your :eet from
the boots OF mail.
There s-e oiG farmers Thc caDoos DC
one more days work. Whst har7es.s
they raised IL 1870! They koaW the
sotatioa Of crops as veil IS they knew