The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-05-06
Ev wTIJTAM n EILIS.

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r==5===5TJ, virtues have their cores
icy ponding defects; ana TINS 10
MA& the familiar story OF a
W= strong man who forgot ma
there were bounds peyon1L
which he could not win
propriety go. There are limits ~ -
rights and authority of even KIhsS, a.
a certain European. ruler was taush' q
few months ago. No man can D -
Dopular or SO powerful that ne caiL
disregard the restraints ana u I;ro
which he inherits. The story % I rn
Uzziah is good reading for an p luI.e,,I
officials. for all the rich end pow el LUZ Luz
and for all who think themselves eA
ceptional and entitled to speclal pr Az
ilege, as well as for us who are VI 'iie
common people. od DC If
Success turned UzZiah,s heau s<9 &c
is turning the heads OF lesser pelS S'i,nr5
every day. He forgot What MaH NV as
we'll as to the One who was dpoVo
him, In truth, much of Uzzlan SUI SUI,
cess was inherited: and ne a4so "ee
heir to an example that snoul9 eottoer
made him humble. For ms 60,
King Amaziah. had been a great rulei'
who had ended a glorious career py d
great fall. due to pride. The poastl VI
ness of the oriental monarchs OF cL"9
davs seems to have known no IlIii1'
have seen the inscriptions at BdpyIol
and Asshur, the old capital OF Aesy &c
and thew are incredibly boasIIul'
rTbara eeeroed to be no sense of the
seemliness of modesty among rulers
one reads the records in vain sI Lol
even the equivalent of 'Iread SoItly'
and carry a big stick. Inc pIs So So
was never out of hand. but theIe was
no thought of the improprlety Oh Nallo
gloriousness. We nave at ie Of
forward a bit in our STANDARDS VI
ethics-though perhaps to say 50 10
boastfulness; for ''you can't be humple
and know il"
The inheritance of Conguefor'
Manv lesser things are better known
than Anaziah, the father of the ruler
about whom we study in the present
lesson l first took off my hat to MN
at Petra, the wonderful rock city OF
Arabia. at the foot of Mt. Hor; a spot
so inaccessible that only few score
or a few hundred, at most, of living
white men have seen it. Even with the
use of the Mecca railway for the
greater part of the distance. 1t TOOK
me ten days to get to it from Jerusa-
lem, and back again. This marvellous
ruin, or a city cut from the living
rock, is probably the most impregna-
BILE in all history. inaccessible noun
tains begirt it on every side, and the
one practicable entrance is gorge
three Or four hundred feet deep, and
sometimes less than fifty feet WIDE
Yet Amaiath took this city of Petra:
or Sela, as it is called in the Book OF
Kings. Nobody who has looked upon
Petra can have other than a profound
respect for the army that could con-
Quer it. Judah was no trlf11ng tribe
of pastoral people in the days OF
which We are now studying. Indeed
We read that Amaziah's army of MS
own people numbered more than three
hundred thousand men. Let the boys
and girls who are studying this lesson
get some idea of the magnitude of the
kingdom of Judah at this time,
stretching as it did, clear down to
Egypt.
Better than anywhere else in the
world, one may see the heather "high
places" about which we read in the
Old Testament at Petra. l do not
hesitate to confess to their dignity,
solemnity and majesty 1t is under
standable that they should make an
impression upon the mind of the con-
uueror of Sela. And thus it was that
Amaziah fell; he borrowed the idol
atry of Edom. The eagernesS for the
latest foreign styles which may be
seen today on the fashionable prone
remote villages of Asia, was his I'M
doing. His pride and his idolatry were
punished by seeing his capital sacked
by the king of Israel, whom he had
boastingly challenged to battle.
A Young Mans Chance.
1t is no new fashion for young men
TO rise up to the measure of great re-
sponsiblIities put early upon them
The modern danger is that young peo-
pie are kept too long from the reali-
ties of life. 1t is scarcely fair to a
young man to keep him under tuition
until he has gone long past his ma