The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1922-05-11
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared especially for The Republi-
can by DR.. U. S. Wright.

ii Chron. 30:t-27.
Read Chapters 29-31; ii Kings 1920.
God is gracious and merciful, and will
not turn his face from you, if We
return unto him.-H ChrOn. 800.
THE NEW RULE
Uzziah,s reign of splendor melted
into the drab of lothian and the
black of Ahaz. Frankly, the last was
a flunky who had reverted to the ape
for he copied everything idolatrous
that he could find. Even Moloch was
not too hideous and the brazen,
blistering arms held his own child
until death took it out of its misery.
Urged on by Israel and Syria to join
the coalition against Assyria he flung
himself in wild panic into the arms
Of the rapacious world-empire, met
the King in Damascus and found .
new idolatry to inject into Judah and
the whole people were securely chain
ed by treaty to the foreign throne.
1t was to such a heritage that Heze-
kiah came. He found a lost indie
pendence, a lost religion and
a lost spirit among the people
over whom he was to rule. With
such father and such home as the
harem must have been one could eX-
pect little from the son. But there
are two lines of heredity and his mo-
Their was the daughter of Zachariah,
staunch lover of Jehovah, whose
heightened shadow fell athwart the
face of youth so that Jehovah kissed
it under its cover. Such is the OPP.
portun;ty that God gets in every holy
mother and such is her power to bless
that the unexpected happens and
real man comes to the world There
was in al probability another force
at work. Isaiah had the freedom of
the place. Certainly, he would be a
friend of Abb and she would urge the
prophet 10 become the teacher of her
Icy. f2rseeing as he was, he would
accept the task for the sake of the
nation he loved and would do his best
to inject into the growing mind his
own passion. How well the task was
done the later history records And
in this newer day the teacher of youth
holds the key to future empire and he
who puts God into the life of child
cOlors all the years to be. To have
the chance in either church or state
school is honor and opportunity en-
ough to engage the best thought of
our finest souls.
THE NEW DAY
Many Interpreters put the account
in Kings before the lesson text given !
by the Chronicler and it would offer
a sufficient basis for the religious re-
vival pictured there. Yet so devout
a man as Hezekiah must have taken
some steps toward the restoration of
Jehovah to his rightful place as soon
as he had the opportunity. However,
the story is part of his reign and
thrills with interest. Samaria went
down before the Assyrian and was
forever lost. Judah Wa sa vassal that
in the days when Babylon was in re-
volt and Egypt eager to expand was
sought by both and Hezekiah went }
far as to omit tribute. But the
swift advance along the Philistian
plains left no recourse but the buying
off the invader by stripping every
thing of gold and giving of his own
family for hostages. The cities out
side Jerusalem had been overrun and
the King was shut up like a bird in
cage. Yet Sennacharib feared to
leave so strong a fortress in his rear
and broke his treaty by new demand
for its surrender. Here Isa;ah APP
pears once more in opposition to the
submission to moral perfidy and he
was the Cardinal MERCER of his day
who fired the king and people with
moral passion thru the teaching that
Jehovah would punish such treachery
and protect His people 1t was Bel.
GUM again strong in the sense OF
right that refused to grant the re-
quest of brute force tat for policy's
sake flung treaty to the winds as
scrap of paper. Wonderfully was the
trust indicated for losing $4,000
ren by pestilence the assailant went
back to his own territory and Jerusa
lem rejoiced with music as the 46th
Psalm. More slowly did moral forces
work m 1914 but none the less surely
Tor Belgium's sacrifice made the
Marine possible and made the end in
evitable. To war with God is to win.
To fight for right upon any field is to
conquer. Small wonder that Hezekiah
could do almost what he willed re-
ligiously when the lesson was driven
home in such fashion.
THE NEW WORK
The king would bring into the life
of the people the same passion for
bOu IldJ was III MS own. IOSlLl0n,
whatever it be, is meant for bringing
in the Kingdom and the more power
one possesses the greater the respon-
sibility. Zion had been the shrine of
Jehovah but Hezekiah found it the
dump for the refuse of every faith
under heaven. Setting his face to-
ward the reformation of the life of the
land he began by making the house of
God attractive. A rundown church
building with no program for the bet
tering of life has small chance against
the glitter of the movie palace or the
attractiveness of the amusement park.
Clean up before come up was the
shrewd ordering of King and Prophet
Cleaned, renovated, reconsecrated, the
Temple once more could become a
pride for believers. Then its wor-
ship was filled with music and its
courts with praise so that it was no
longer sending impure blood thru all
the arteries of the nations life.
Whether the reform is that of man
or a community or nation If must