The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-02
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
What Church Folk Are Think
ing Abont and Doing
me international sunday School Les
son for May J is, "Uzziah, Hing of
udah. Humbled." Ill Chronicles 26.

10 the rights and authority of even
kings, as a certain European ruler was
taught a few months ago. No man can
De SO popular or SO powerful tina he
can disregard the restraints and tradi-
tons which he inherits. The story of
hlng Uzzlah is good leading for all
puollc officials, for all the rich and
powerful, and for all who think them
serves exceptional and entitled TO spe-
clal privilege. as Well as for US who
are the common people.
Success turned Uzziah's head. as it is
turning the heads Of lesser persons
every day. He forgot what was owing
TO those who had gone before him, as
Well as to the One n was above him.
In truth, much Of Uzziah's success was
inherited, and he also was heir TO an
example that should have made him
humble For his father, King ANA
zIah, had been a great ruler, who had
due to pride. The boastfulness of the
due to pride. TIE boastfulness of the
oriental monarches of those days
seems to have known no lint. l have
seen the inscriptions at Babylon and
sshur the old capital of Assyria.
and they are incredibly boastful. There
seemed to be no sense of the seemli-
ness Of modesty among rulers. One
reads the records in vain for wen
the equivalent of Tread softly. and
carry a big stick" The big stick was
- OoS " HAAAH - IN " SS ~
thought of the impropriety of vain
gloriousness. We have at least gone
forward a bit in our standards of
ethics-though perhaps to say so is
bOaStfulneSS. for you can't be humble
and know it."
The Inheritance of a Conqueror.
Many lesser kings are better known
than AmaZlah, the father of the ruler
about whom we study in the present
lesson. l first took off my hat to him
at Petra, the wonderful rock city of
arabia, at the foot Of Mt. Hor; a spot
so inaccessible that only a few score
or a few hundred, at most, living
white men have seen it. even with the
use Of the Mecca railway for the
greater part of the distance, it took me
ten days to get to it from Jerusalem,
and back again. This marvellous ruin
Of a city cnt from the living rock. is
probably the most i~mpregnable in all
history. inaccessible mountains be-
girt it on every side, and the one prac-
ticable entrance is a gorge three or
four hundred feet deep, and sometimes
less than fifty feet wide. Yet ANA
ziah took this city of Petra. or Sela. as
it is called in the book of Kings. No
body who has looked upon Petra can
have other than a profound respect
for the army that could conquer 1t.
Judah was no trifling tribe Of pastoral
people in the days of which we are
now studying. Inured. we read that
Amaziah's army of his 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
of Judah at this time, stretching as IL
did. clear down to Egypt
Better than anywhere else In the
world. one nay see the heather hlSh
places about which we read in the
Old Testament, at Petra. 1 DO not
l. - rfocr 10 fhaJr m
solemnity and majesty. 1t is under
s%tandable tina they should make an
impression upon the mind Of the on
queror of Sela. And thus 1t was that
Amaziah fell; he borrowed the idola-
try of Edom. The eagerness for the
latest foreign styles, which may be
seen today on the fashionable prone
nades Of the great cities, and in the
remote villages Of Asia, was his I'M
doing. His pride and his idolatry
were punished by seeing his capita
| sacked by the king Of Israel. whom he
had boastingly challenged to battle.
A Young Mans nance.
It is no new fashion for young men
to rise up to the measure OF great re-
sponsibilities put early upon them.
The modern danger is that youhs pei
pie are kept too Tong from the reali-
ties of life. It is scarcely fair To a
Young man to keep him under tuition
until he has gone long past his major
ity. Although only a lad OF sixteen
when called 20 the throne OF Judah'
Tzziah proved that he had the true
king stuff in him. Incidentally, II Il
| plain that his father had brought 70
the fore a group of great men to be
advisers and administrators. During
the hftv-two years Of his reign he
maintained what his father had won,
even renewing the war With the Naba-
teams of Edom, and terrifying the
boundary of the kingdom towards
Egypt. He did more; he enlarged the
territory and prosperity Of the land
/ which he had inherited. The country
! or business house or patent that Is
Dere1y "holding his own is in a rath-
ar serionS condition.. The boy who
IS not an Improvement upon his father
IS not altogether a success. II prog
ress is the law Of life. then each gen