The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-08-13
What Kings Cannot Do.

What Kings Cannot Do.
Two tremendous truths for this time
are expressed by the old story of King
David. They are so important and so
pertinent that, even if they had not,
been David's jadmonition to the CEN
turtles gone, they have today a peculiar
value to the present situation in the
world that almost warrants the price
the king paid to learn them.
For they are words that our drift
ing and imperilled times sorely need
They underlie all the superficial and
artificial activities of statesmen and
soldiers. They represent the basic sta
bilities.
Personal honor and domestic sane
tities-theSe are the eternal truths that
weave to and fro, like a red cord, thru
all the fabric of the absorbing story of
the later days of the life of the great
est king of Israel. The narrative itself
fills many readable chapters of the
Second Book of Samuel: for sheer in
trinsic interest it surpasses most of the
best-selling novels. 1t is better to lead
a person to read this moving drama
of ancient history than to provide any
comments upon the facts
When King Collapsed.
Strong men have weak hours The
shining spirit of King David, IsraeIs
hero minstrel king, fell into the black
mire of foul and unspeakable sin.
True, the doctrine of the divine right
of kings" which puts the bearer of a
scepter above the laws that rule ordi-
nary mortals, was a real factor in the
fall of David.
ton rejects this idea of the superman's
special rights and privileges. We are
thru with the old notions of royalty's
inherent prerogatives. This is de-
mocracy's day-at least. our lips say
so. Really tho, the belief of a host of
''eTnancinafPd' and tlihPral''
''originaP' men and women, that they
are somehow personally exempt from
obedience to the moral law, is moth
ing more nor less than the persistence
of the divine right" theory. Instead
of being progress this is retrogression.
To all who disdain the eternal verities
today the message that was sent to
King David applies: Gods immutable
law is level-beamed for high and low.
Nobody ever gets beyond the necessity
of obeying the. Ten Commandments
Perilous is theNhour for any person
who thinks that he can trifle with the
moral code.
Great David went to pieces on the
rock of personal passion. He was
idling at home in luxury when he
should have been at the battle front;
he had INDUCED himself in neglect of
one duty, and of this weakening of the
moral fibre there followed the greater
moral collapse. KingIy souls are they
highest possibilities and self-control.
What the Centuries Say.
Travel, if II be wide and open-eyed,
and close TO the life of all the peoples
it touches. teaches one to have respect
for certain sanctities. The stay-at-
home person may delude himself into
believing that the moral code is of only
local application, and that, after all,
it may be only an old fashioned notion
n 10 <,f
know the world, and who have never
seen life.
Gradually it comes to a man who
knows the continents and the races
that there are some things which the
ages and the experience of all peoples,
barbarian and civilized, have written
down as sacred. Something like an
accord of Judgment by all centuries
and all peoples appears upon certain
! themes. There are human sanctities
that are universal and eternal. David
violated two of these.
Libertines and light-minded plAs
ure-seekers may not know it, but the
marriage relation is one of the in
Yiolable sanctities. Amid primitive
communities, as in China and the Mos
lem world, adultery has always been
punishable with death. One of the
lessons of the human race early
learned was that of the Indispensable
itY of the chastity of womanhood. In
Arabia it is the first duty of the vic
TINS next of kin to slay the violator
of the law. Ancient Hebrews and
heather, as well as the most modern
philosopher, alike exercrate the deed
of David in his invasion of the home of
Uriah.
When loose-living men and women
today disregard the holiness of the
home relationship they are really
worse than the heather. No portent
Loo Ta1
ominous than the growing laxity of
the public attitude toward the mar
riage vows and towards the divine law
of chastity. The political ferment of
the nations, and the rise of social and
economic radicalism. are not more
serious than this contempt toward the
laws that make marriage sacred.
Bigger Than the King
There is no need to rehearse the
details of the tragic tale of David and
Bathsheba. David stabbed Uriah's
honor before ever he caused him to
die in the battle. How sins and
crimes are linked together! King Da-
Yid,t hsiman of God, became first an
adulterer and then a murderer. Every
Yid, this man of God, became first an
oriental retainer-it insists upon bring
ing its family and kindred in its train
Uriah proved more of a man than
King David. His sturdy devotion to
duty, and his refusal to enjoy the
pleasures of home while his fellow SOL
diers were in the field against the
country's enemy, mark him as a
patriot of highest order. His conduct
shamed the seif-ipdulgence of the
king. We have only this fleeing
glimpse of Uriah, who never knew the
wrong that had been done him by the
ruler he reYered and loved, but we
honor him as a true man and a
patriot. He has no chance TO avenge
himself against the royal despoiler Of
his home: but God avenged him
nightly. in vindication of the word,
vengeance is mine; I will repay,
saith the Lord" Some day. assuredly.
we shall find Uriah come to honor in
the realm of eternal compensations.
The second SanctIty.
If womanhood and wifehood is the
first of the universal and ageless social