Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-09-10
CALLED FROM EXILE TO A
THRONE.
The International Sunday School Les.
son for Sept. 10 is, David Made
King Over Israel and Judah" II
Samuel 2:5.
By William T. Ellis.

BY William T. Ellis.
The reason there are not more ro-
mances of human achievement to stir
the heart of humanity is that most
men who undertake to achieve great
lives either become satisfied too soon
or else discouraged too soon. Only
the rare spirit can run the gauntlet
of fortunes hard testings. We some
times talk about the great lives lived
in obscurity, the men and women who
never accomplish fine deeds, who fail
ed to "get there" after all, though,
we are conscious that there is lack
| piness; for the final proof of ability
is arrival. David would have been an
unsung and forgotten exile-one Of
the innumerable, unknown victims of
the despotism of oriental monarchs-
had he not finally, in spite of all, won
to his goal.
| There is a heresy with which many
weaklings and failures console them
selves, to the effect that only the
coarse and the base are competent to
win in life's struggle. This is grave
and fundamental error. We're it true
the implication would be that Gods
program cannot stand the test of eX-
lperience, and that all his promises Of
prosperity for the righteous are void.
| Surely 1t is the Lords desire that the
| just shall reign in the earth. BY the
kingship Of the heavenly. the kingdom
of heaven is to come. The realization
Of all noble ambitions is in line with
the purposes of God; and every time
one of his friends settles down in
pious complacency to a second rate
| life, Gods designs are thwarted. The
Lord would see Davids sitting on the
thrones of all the Sauls on earth. No
man need fear having too high an
ambition if his purposes are worthy;
1t is not quantity of ambition but
quality, that sometimes makes it
wrong. God does not want his friend
to wait until they get to heaven for
their crowns.
Fear not to build thine eyrie in the
heights
Where golden splendors lay;
And trust thyself unto thine inmost
soul,
In simple faith Away;
| And God will make divinely real
| The highest forms Of thine Ideal.
| Anne Preston.
| A Life as Plan.
| 1t was a sudden and complete
change which came into the life of
David From being hunted exile, a
man with a price upon his head, he
suddenly found himself, upon the
news Of Saul's death, as successor to
II INF Nv
Samuel as Israel's future king; ne
knew also that the hearts of his own
tribe of Judah, at least, inclined unto
him. In an unexpected access of great
fortune character reveals itself. Many
a young man has lost his head in
these circumstances But not David.
| He regarded his life as plan of God.
He had learned the great lesson that
it is better to find out the Lords will
| than to rely upon ones own scheming.
HE that believeth shall not make
haste" So the first step taken by the
prospective king was to inquire of
Jehovah what he should do.
| There Is a great deal of foolish talk
about the modesty of genius; yet
| there never was a great man ignorant
of his own powers. Else how could
he use them? The genius knows his
skill long before the world discovers
| it. David knew himself to be one of
king caliber. He had measured him
self with Saul, and had demonstrated
his own superiority. His experience in
the wilderness had convinced him, as
well as others, that he was competent
to rule In the confidence Of this Wis
| ion and faith he could await Gods
hour for his clock of destiny to strike.
| He had entered into the patience of
the Lord
The Magninity of the Mighty.
David's ability to wait was no more
sign of his inherent greatness than
was his magnanimity. A small man
simply cannot be magnanimous. The
spirit Of petty vindittiveness, Of
brooding over fancied or real Sights
and wrongs, is a hallmark Of little
ness Of character. The first act of the
new king, after he had moved to He
bron, and had been anointed king by
the men Of Judah was to show his
appreciation for the bravery of the
men of Jabesh-Gilead who had res
cued from the Philistines the bodies
of Saul and his sons. The eulogy Of
David was a sort of Victoria cross to
be proudly borne.
In thus ilonoring Saul's friends, and
| in his summary punishment of the
slayers of Saul's son, Ishbosheth (who
succeeded to the sovereignty of the
northern kingdom for time) and in
his public mourning for Abner, the
crafty general over the forces of Saul
and his son, David proved the mould
IN which he was cast. A public man
must have large capacity for forgive
ness. There can be no room in his
| life for private vengeance and spite
1t is noticeable that the smaller and
more provincial and ignorant COM
munity, the greater the number of pet
ty quarrels and jealousies and neigh
borhood feuds. Magnanimity is a mark
Of the mighty.
| The School That Graduates KINGS.
| A peculiar quality of the western
continent is its genius for producing
self-made men. Two empires have
been established in North America
within little more than a hundred
years; and, greater yet, two nations
np INN oil