The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-03
International
Sunday School Lesson
nv w ETTTC
For December is ''Uzziah's Pride
and Punishment IL Chron. IS.
BY w. T. ELLIS.

For December is ''Uzziah's Pride
and Punishment. III ChrOn. IS.
The Spotted King.
AS 1 sit at my desk to write the
story of a great king. who made his
mark in the world. but who is best re-
membered for his leprosy, there rise
unbidden before my mind the figures
( of other men of our own day whom L
know who are, like Uzziah, spotted
men; so that their leprosy rises up like
a hideous mantle, to blot out all re-
membrance of their soodnesses and
I greatresSeS.
/ Most communities have these men.
4 Often they are leading citizens" But
when the strong men of the neignbor-
/ hood mention their names it is usual
ly to speak first of their spottedness.
The bad that is in them obscureS the
good. even as drop of ink may pol
Lutte glass of crystal water A law
Of life which King Uzziah illustrates,
is that, as Shakespeare says,
''The evil that men do lives after them !;
The good is oft inferred with their bones"
The one spot of leprosy, showing
red on Uzziah's forehead, so fills the
observers eye that the beauties of his
character are not seen. Like him,
many n man with good deeds to his
credit will be remembered after he is
gone, only for his spottedness.
There is another timely warning in
this story. Uzziah sinned after he
had reached middle age and had won
| a noble record. We commonly think
that youth is the time of danger; yet
our own observation shows that moral
collapse often comes to men of estab-
lished reputation when they have
reached full maturity. Two score or
more years of blameless living does
not insure against disaster to charac-
ter. With Uzziah's great ancestor we
may we'll pray to be delivered from
presumptuOus sins" Written large
over this lesson is the injunction, Let
him that standeth take heed lest he
fall
Some Marks of Great Man.
In boyhood, when but sixteen years
old, Uzziah came to the throne of
Israel. (The story in Kings gives his
name as Azariah. a mistake easily
made in the Hebrew.) His father had
been assassinated. after turning again
to heather practices, and the young
king found himself at the parting of
the ways. Royal stuff was in him,
however, and his course through Ions
years may be written down as a model
for every public official.
He sought sodly counsel Finding
a prophet, Zechariah mot the author
of the book, who had a clear vision
of God, Uzzian made him a special
confidant and adviser. He led tire
people along the old paths of right
eousness. When he might have been
pampering his vanity among foolish
courtiers, the young king diligently
sought out the highest truth. I
thought of UZziah yesterday morning
when, in a famous New York church.
I saw hundreds of strong men of
business sitting at the feet of a mod
ern interpreter of the mind of God,
To go to church is Sa city; for, after
all, there is no wisdom of such uni
versal ana immediate application as
the will of the Lord.
No mollycoddle was Uzziall. DO
not for an instant imagine that he
was the sort of spineless saint who
pines to sit and sing his soul away
to everlasting bliss. Not a bit of it.
This ruler who first of all sought to
know the will of Jehovah, was a
fearless, two-fisted fighter, as brave
in battle as he was devout in medi-
tation. A sort of Richard the Lion
Hearted was he. going out to seek
battles in tn good cause "EIe went
forth and warred against the Phflis-
tines" and did not wait until they
came to him. One of Gods rnilitants
was he, whose sword was to the fore
in every holy war.
Preparedness In the Long Ago.
Many a class of men and OF boys
will study this lesson for its light on
national preparedness. Uzziah was a
great general in that he created a
huge volunteer army, and equipped
every man. He not only prepared for
all the hosts spears and swords and
bows and arrows and shields and he'll
NETS, but he also called the ski1fIl
men of Jerusalem to invent new en-
gines for military purposes of attack
and siege. Like Cromwell, he
trusted in God and kept his powder
dry He did not believe in giving
the heather and the goddess monop
oily of sa ga city and prudence The
sacred trust of national responsibility
needed to be looked to.
On all sides, the foes of the Jews
felt Uzziah's strong hand. He smote
the Philistines on the west, destroy
ing their fortresses and the walls of
their great cities. He was u king
and a builder" for he erected his
own strongholds in the enemy's coun-
try, to keep them in check. In the
wilderness, too, and on the fertile,
wind-swept uplards east of the Jor-
dan-the words bring back to me the
memory of how bitingly the win Is
sweep across that tablelandi-UZziah
erected towers Of protection for his
people. Score it to his credit that he
was builder and a constructionist.
For five thousand years past, right
down to the present day, any ruler
in this part of the world who wanted
trouble could have it at the hands of
the Arabs, those enemies of all men.
Uzziah did not shrink even from at
lacking the Arabians to the East and
South. Even the hostile Menuim,
who center about the present town of
Ma'an, on the Mecca railway, gentry
with whom I personally have had
unpleasant experiences, as have other
visitors to Petra, were subdued by this
valiant king.
An Expansionist Patriot.
Late news from the worlds war
comes to mind as We read how W.
ziah's victories extended down toward
the Suez canal, where the Turks and
the Germans are again conducting an
expedition. For his victorious sway
ran "even to the entrance of Egypt"
Trace on the map the expansion of
Judah under Uzziah, and you will find
that he occupied the spots which are
today the scenes of romantic activity
and conflict in the worlds war.
Some readers will recall that a
British warship went up the Gulf of
Akaha a year ago. and blew I'D the