The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-05-21
International
SundaySehoolLesson
BY WIIIIAM y. EIlUIs
For May 23 is 'Israels First King
Samuel 9:15, 1924.
seeking Asses, Found I1ingdem.

| 1 Samuel s:15. 1924.
seeking Asses, Found kingdom.
"once upon a time" there was a
young man in his late twenties or early
thirties, who in physique stood head
and shoulders above all his fellows.
He was a Lincoln sort of youth, .coun-
trified, awkward, embarrassed by con-
tact with the great, and dreaming no
dream except that he should spend his
life in rural pursuits. with a round OF
petty cares. He was a modest chap,
of stout heart and no particular ambi-
| ton. His family were not in any Blue
Book OF social register. In the course
of his days work, he. with a servant
eomrade, had to go off on a hunt for
some straye6 asses.
While searching for the missing
donkeys, he found a kingdom! His
chief concern, in his simplicity, had
been because he had no suitable gift
for the seer who might direct him te
| the straying herd. Little did this
country4nan, Saul, imagine that the
Seer Samuel, had for him a cruise of
SACRED ell TO anoint him as the first
king of Israel.
| Around the next corner we turn
there may await us destiny-or Cod
| Unexpeetedness is said to be the first
quality of humor; certainly it is joke
that God delights to play upon the
| world. He seems fond of peFpetrating
surprises. There is more than appears
| in the word of Holy Writ that His
mercies are fresh every morning and
new evey evening" Life is a eontinu-
Gus surprise party for the person who
has committed his way unto the Lord.
- II Il, 1t l.
eye has seen or ear has heard, or than
has entered into the heart of man.
| One thing is sure about the Lord S
dealings with His children: He is GER
tain to do for them more than they can
| ask or think. While theirN anticipa-
tons may not rise above the days
tasks, He has for them vast prizes of
character and service and life. That
| truth is the first skimniing of the
cream of .the Saul story. Unexpected
kingdoms are bestowed while we dill
gently seek straying stock There is
zest for daily living in the lesson.
OF another sort, and of equal per-
tinency 10 our own time. is the mes
sage that God usually calls His great
ones from lowIy circumstances.
Whence came the men who are really
| potent in our turbulent world TO-DAY ?
How many of them were born to the
purple or professionally trained for
/
credited all ruling classes" 1t needed
only the publication of the petty and
inane and grotesque letters of the kali
ser. the czar and the ezarina to can
the common conviction that old world
aristocracy has not been maintained
by any inherent greatness or nobility
of its own.
Like the arbutus. the Ioveliest lives
are growing closest to the earth. In
humble circumstances the highest
qualities seem to thrive best. Tenlor-
rows Sauls are but farmers bows To-
day..
| Following the Fashion.
Dramatic and romantic and beauti-
full as is the story of the young Ben
! 1aminite who went in search of strav-
ing donkeys and found a crown in
stead the background is less than
lovely.
Israel had slumped from the clear
consciousness of it's own national des-
tiny. 1t had ceased to see the privi-
lege and power of being a peculiar
people. 1t wanted to follow the fash
ION Of the NATIONS, and have king at
its head. That was the stubborn con-
| tention of the elders when Samuel
demonstrated with them, and showed
them what it meant to withdraw the
kingship of Israel from Jehovah Him
self: they said they wanted to have a
King. like all the nations" Samuel
set forth what a king would do to
them; and as one reads his catalogue
or kingiy exactions and expressions it
| seems clear Whence Kipling got his
poem, Suffer not the old king" New
ertheless, Israel would rather be FASH
lonable than right; nations and men