The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-02-07
DR.TALnAdE's sERnON
The Eminent Dlvlne's Sunday
Discourse.
Subjects tho Folly Of BoastlnE-uistory
Fuu or Instances Showing How Arro-
gance Was Rebuksd-Bottor Undorrats
Than Overrnta Ourselves.

Than Overrnta Ourselves.
WASHINGTON, d. C.-While this dis.
course of DIR. Taimage rehukes arrogance
10 encourages humanity and shows how
the evening OF life may be frightened.
The text is i Kings XXX, IL, Let not him
that girdeth on his harness boast himself
as he that putteth IL on"
Harness Is the obsolete word for armor.
II 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
between a man enlisting for some war and
veteran returning, the one putting on
the armor aud the other putting 1t Oh.
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 - described
in the Bible, not as conviVial or stlmu-
lated exaltation, but drunk. Their gilded
and hammered pavilions were surrounded
| by high mettled horses, neighing and
| champing and hitched TO chariots 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 a council Of war, and word is sent
back TO Benhadad that his unreasonable
demand will be resisted. Then Benhadad
sends another message to the King of Is
Tael, a message full Of arrogance and bra
vado practically saying: I'VE will destroy
you utterly. ] will grind Samaria 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 Benha-
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
spreading it before the battle. You huzza
too soon. Let not him that girdeth on
his harness boast himself as he that put
teth it of
An avalanche of courage and righteous
ness, the Israelitish army came down on
Benhadad and his host. 1t was a 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 10000
Syrian infantry were slaughtered in one
day Now we see the sarcasm and the
epigrammatic power of the message of my
text sent by the King of Israel to Benha-
dad, "Let not him that grdeth on his
harness 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 con-
quer that he had a proclamation printed
announcing himself King of Portugal and
had a grand feast prepared for o'clock
shat afternoon, but before that hour he
fed in ignominious defeat, and Yelling
ton, of the conqueTing host, sat down at
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 a 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 Geen copied in all ages of the
world. 1t will be my object, among other
lessons, to show that he who puts off the
armor, having finished the battle, is more
to be congratulated than he who begins.
First, 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 fifties of your
lifetime you would have been appalled,
Fortunately the bereavements, the tempta'
tions, the prosecutions, the hardships
were curtained from your sight. With
more or less fortitude you passed through
the crises of pain and sadness and disap'
pointment and fatigue and still live to re
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 a right to hang VI
your helmet and sheathe your sword and
free your hands from the gauntlets anc
your feet from the boots of mail.
There are old farmers who cannot d.
one more days work. What harvesti
ton of crops as well as they knew the 70
tation of the seasons. Under what bills
terings suns they swung the scythe anC
the cradle! Through what deep snow
they drew the logs or cut their way to tn,
foddering Of the cattle! What droughts
what freshets, what insectile invasions
they remember! To clothe and feed anC
educate the household they went through
tolls and self sacrifices that the work
| knew but little about. Rest, aged man
Let the boys do the shoveling and thrash
ing and cutting and sweating. You hav,
put the harness of, and do not try to pu
} il on again.
There are old mechanics that can NJ
more shove the plane or pound with tn,
hammer or bore With the bit or run VI
the ladder to the scafolding. Master me
, chanics they were or subordinstes win
wrought faithfully in the work of hous
or barn or .ship. building. You have