The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-31
Fourth Quarter. Lesson '. 9 Sam xv
 1-12. November 1, 1903.
i'd and Absalcm.

David and Absalcm. Absalom was of imperial presence and 1oubly-royal descent Purple became his ytyle of beauty. A diadem seemed indis pensable to eonfine his phenomenal locks That personal comeliness, for which his grandfather's house was justly famed al came together in him as in a common center. He was the nations ornament the peoples pride.
 Added to this charm of person and fas- cination of exalted birth, there was a manner of ingratiating to the last degree Absalom was a good mixer,"' full of the arts and blandishments of the ideal pol itician of modern date. He affected poml of State, but at the same time allowed no one to make obeisance to him, prompt ly embracing every man as his fellow and equal. He had an eye to geography in the distribution of courtesies, so that in every tribe and quarter there should be some whom he had hypnotized by his high art.
 Absaiom feigned an intense personal in terest in the case of every applicant tc the royal court of appeals. He forestalleo the appellate court. He uttered inunen' does concerning his fathers negligence My father has hobby for building anC conquest He leaves himself no time fol the administration of justice. He fails te
  I would see that your wrongs were right ed But I am powerless."
 So silly Israel was duped by transpar- ent arts. He walked into the net spread in his very eye. Absalom. veritable chiei that he was, appropriated to himself the popular love and loyalty that belonged by divine right to his father. He kept at this artful business with consummate pertinacity for four years. At length he A-u. kH-.k | af atty he had been sowing was ready tc be reaped.
 David is pleased at the signs of re- /. ligious fervor in his wayward son. The fathers heart, ingenious and devout . beats fast as he hears the proposition oi /. the young prince to go to holy Hebron \ and pay the VOW he had made to God 1 in the days of his exile. He will not put & a straw in his way. On the contrary, he :. dismisses him with his ;benediction. N The last touch of strategy on the part \ of Absalom Is to associate with himself N 200 of the chiefs of Church and State in H his pilgrimage to the shrine of the patri- N archs. He will add, whether they intend \ it or not, the prestige of their names tc
 his cause. Compromised already. the
 probability is strong they will cast in 4 their fortunes with the revolt.
 l By means of a cordon of trumpeters # Rlkillfully posted, ADSaIOm s coronation IS
 telegraphed in a single day throughout ev' & Ary tribe of the nation. It Is q coup-de- 4 main. a master-stroke of policy. Multi N tudes flock to the standard of the idolized VI rebel. The conspiracy has undoubted ele- < ments of strength. But its greatest ac- & ouisition is in the person of Ahithopel F David's prime minister and confidential < counselor-a cunning and experienced 2 prince of statecraft.
 The flight of David, minutely described
 bv some eyewitness. makes one of the
 most significant and pathetic scenes ot Hebrew history. Barefooted and with
 covered head. he goes down into Kedron N and over Olivet, toward the wilderness weeping as Ne goes. His household and s his loyal six hundred attend him. INC < more striking picture of a great man un- x der diversity was ever drawn The black treason of a son seems all ' the more odious in contrast to the self.
 oblivious loyalty of the Gentle prince
 Ittai. When David generously urges him
 not to join his fortunes to a failing cause 5 he pledges his fealty with an oath.
 Again, the lofty faith of the unhappy < king is shown in his declining to imperi
 the ark by making 1t his talisman. His X grievous christening Is already bearing its
 peaceable fruit. Completer submission 4 never found expression, except on the lips
 of David's greater Son: Here am |: Tel
 him do as seemeth good unto him." He
 shows still more clearly that he recognizes
 his present disgrace as a judicial visita.
 tion of Providence in the patient endur.
 ance of the epithets, stones and dust cast
 at him by Shimei.