The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-09-05
BY wILLIAM T. ELLIS.

There are worse rates tnan DelnB
dead. Some men know the terrors Of
an existence emptied of honor and joy
and self respect. King Saul living was
a sadder spectacle than King saul
dead, even though his death was
ignoble A king without kingiiness,
man without manliness, an anointed
servant of God without godliness-few
more tragic figures than he walk
through the pages of bic ----- When
first we met him he stood. fair and
noble, a head taller than his fellows;
now, as we leave him, we f1nd him
living in shameful death the contor-
tions of fear still showing in his limbs
and the head by which he was taller
than other men carried off to adorn a
heather idols temple.
There are various kinds and degrees
of moral failure; Saul represents the
worst a man who has lost his grip on
Cod In some respects he resembles
Judas, in that he had relinquished his
religious faith. and become WilfuI
devotee of his own selfish enGS until
at last his terrorS and torments are
ended, for this life, by the cowardly
crime of a suicide. Attention is CEN
tered in the Sunday schools this week
upon Saul PROSTATE in death upon the
battlefield: far more significant is his
grovelling in terror before the Witch
of Endor. He was slain in spirit be-
fore he slew himself in body, His
alternate spasms of kingliness and
robustness, SIIellBln anu MCcAhhC0Sf
magnanimity and consuming Jealousy,
are interesting evidences of the erect
upon a character of the loss OF us
religion. The greatest of all tragedies
is the loss of faith. The worst, and
most expensive, of all that can be said
of IsraeTs first king is that the Spirit
of God had abandoned him.
The Artesian Wei at Sea.
To put the teaching of this biogra-
ply into a paragraph, it is that a
child of God should guard his spirit
ual sensitiveness above his life. There
is nothing else so vital as to keep at
tuned to God. Even as Saul observed
the outward state of royalty even after
he had been rejected from the throne
by Jehovah, so it is possible for one
10 maintain the appearance and form
of goodness while not possessing the
power thereof. This may for a time
deceive the world; but what matters
the worlds opinion when ones spirit
ual life is at stake? "a conscience
void of offense toward Cod is better
than all the reputation that can be
heaped up. The deeper, hidden springs
of life are what count.
A few years ago, on one of the long
piers that stretch out into the ocean
at Atlantic City, I saw an artesian well
being sunk. Down, down, down be-
meath the rolling pillows, beneath the
surging tides, beneath the sandy bot
tom of the ocean, the shaft had gone
until il had found the sweet springs of
water underlying the sea. 1t was a
surprise to know that pure, fresh
water so much as existed there; even
as the world wonders at the vital veri-
ties of spirituality. The incident pic
tured life; some persons, like Saul,
elect to live only on the rough. un-
stable and storm visited surface Of life,
where there is naught to satisfy the
souls thirst; others, like the driver of
the artesian well, and like David, go
down to the deep sources of spiritual
power, sustaining their spirits by de-
hcious draughts from Gods refreshing
springs. Out of the years that made
Saul a wreck and a suicide, David won
a kingly character and produced i'm
mortal psalms.
In the Final Fight.
The final fight of the giant Saul
now defeated in spirit before he
buckled on his manufactured on
IsraeTs greatest battle ground, the
Plain of Esdraelon. The opposing foe
was IsraeTs historic enemy, the Phil
istines (from whom, by a strange
irony. the Palestine of today gets It's
name). David had been driven, by
the kings persecution. in to the
manship on Sauls part TO let his
greatest warrior go, because of a per-
sonal spite. In addition to this loss
suffered by the king was the greater
one of self control and confidence, and,
greatest OF all. the loss of the cooper
alton of Jehovah; one who has ever
fought in partnership with God can
not hope to win without him.
The last stand was made on the
slope of Mount Gilboa. The Israelites
self was sorely wounded and his
three sons, Jonathan, Ablnadab and
Malchishua, were slain. The remain
ing son Ishbosheth. apparently was
not in the battle and survived for two
troubled years. then to be treacher-
ously murdered. Instead of meeting
death like a soldier, the wounded king
was Reconstruction lest he should be
slain by the enemy, and his body
abused; so he entreated his armor-
bearer to thrust him through. The lat |
ter refused, and Saul took his own
sword, and fell upon it. The armor- |
bearer then followed his example.
The death of the king completed the |
rout of his army, and the Philistines |
had only to come and loot the camp. |
They cut off Saul's head, stripped his |
armor for temple offering, and hung
his body to the wall of Bethshan, thus |
INJECTING the ignominies which the !
king had hoped to escape. While the |
Philistines were, in a sense, the agent |
of Saul's death. he really died, we are |
told, because of his trespass against |
Jehovah, and because he had kept not |
Llib NOAd VI JCAlONdh. NUS we near
echoing above the clamor of battle, |
the words of the prophet Samuel. BE |
hold. to obey is better than sacrifice; !
and to hearken than the fat of rams |
A Glimpse of Gratitude.
No times are wholly evil; and It is |
pernfcious to represent them as being |
so. Indiscriminateness is the sin of |
the muckraker. Even in this dark day
for Isreal there were men who afford |
a shining example for all ages Early
in his career the better Saul had res
cued Jabesh- Gilead from an oppres- |
sor; these men never forgot. Their |
lineage was not particularly illus |
frious; but they knew the royal grace |
81 gratitude. So when they heard |
how the Philistines had displayed |
Sauls body on a city wall, together |
with the bodies of his sons, for the pub