The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-05-18
|uuyN THE OUTLAW BECAME A
KING.
The International Sunday School Les
-on For May 23 rs David King
over Judah and Israei."-II Sam.
s.I-1: j:l-5.
(By william Il. Ellis

- 'S''Hp
great name emerges 4 the pres
eut study. 1t is not the name of
p,,id the outlaw. whom we now find
\ coming to the throne for which his
many vicissitudeS had prepared him,
! h1t the name of that ancient city
which is in our own day figuring in
craasingly i'm the news dispatches.
Perhaps it has never occurred to
the reader hat there ever was a time
when Jerusalem definitely assembled to
its primacy among historic cities. We
vaguely think of it as being like it's
earlier king. the mysterious Melchiz-
cdek. a timeless name. Certainly Je-
rrsalem. which is our spelling of the
old name borne by the city before
oyer the ISraeliteS entered Canaan,
was a mighty fortress centuries before
written history bgan to dal with it.
with the possible exception of
Coustantinople. is there any other
CIV on earth which has anything like
the romantic and historic and religi-
Gus associations of the city of David.
which is still q sacred shrine for the
three great monotheistic faiths
Judaism. Christianity and MOhamme-
danisrn? Joshua and his hosts a
been unable to wrest the city from
the Jebusites. The Judges had never
conquered it. and Saul had passed it
h.. Perched on a great rock, sur
rounded or three sides by ravineS, the
city was so im%pregnable that the
Iebusites boosted that the blind and
lame could defend it. Certainly the
Ihilistines and the Amalekites and
the Israelites had oil dashed against
II in vain.
Invaded Through The Water Courses.
one day. a few years ago. when
visiting Jerusalem L was walking
through the ravineS that still sur
round il. and / saw that the British
~eXcavators, whose carefully guarded
diggins were the talk of the coun.
try-side, had excavated clear down
through the overlay of the crowded
centuries, to a deep aqueduct cat IL
the solid rock. This, my archaeO
logical friends told me, was a Jebu
site creation, n it probably wa
visible in the time of David.
We only know hat when Davi'
at length came to his kingship owe
tho united nation, n had TO choos
8 Neutral capital which. could not b
credited either to Judah or Israel, h
conquered Jerusalem, making en-
trance through the s"ubterranean wa
ter courses. No man knows fully tn
number and nature of those mystel
ious conditions and caverns which,, i
a perfect network, underlie the SO
cred roclA When once they are eS
ploded thlre will probably be revea.
tons to astOund the world.
All the boasts Of the Jubusite
were set at naught when David ar
his host conquered the city, whic
to- this day is associated with h
name. At the present time the Pc
session Of Jerusalem is a factor
International diplomacy. More pc
sons are interested in this world Cal
1tal than are interested in WaShin!
Ton. or London, or Berlin, or Pari
or Petrograd or Picking. 1t is a ca
ital Of human hearts. It's create
TrtmaCy is due to the awful fact tn
a was in Jerusalem hat David
treater Son erected His univers
throne, which was a cross.
The Ways And Wiles of An Outla
Before ever he won to J~erusalel
however. David had undergone
Dark and discouraged period in /
ME. Driven out from the Israelit
hy the Unsuitable jealousy of Saul.
bad at last taken refuge in the CT
OF Gath. where he ecam a vas:
q King Achish. The driving Q
ot David from the nation that nee
ed him SO sorely, recalls an equ
btunder in our own time on the ps
OF the Christian Church. There
no denying that tens of thousands
strong men. especially among t
luty. ave been crowded u of t
church by a diversity of caus
mere is no value in lying the ia
at the door of any man or men,.
any particular ecclesiastical sySte
me immediate truth is that
church ought to move to secure
return to her membership and to
service. for their own sakes. and
hers. Of these strong men Who h.
become leaders in the world;
VINO no longer turn to the Church
ltUowship. inspiration and comic
me movement in Ireland for the
TURN of her emigrants is wise {
timely. but it is neither so oppOrt,
nor so necessary as a kindred "Ba
lo-the-Church' movement.
Like David. many who nave b
lsrCpI ont of tho Church haCaiISe