Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1930-09-06
BY WI. z. GILRoy. d. ID.

B1 WI. r. GilkOf, ID. ID
Editor OF The Ccrgregationalist
Text: 2 Kings %: /, 2, 8; 23:l-3,
2l-25
IN those days was Hezekiah sick
unto death. And the prophet Isa.ai
the son OF hmoz came to him. "a
said unto him. Thus saith the Lord,
Set thine house in order; for thou
shalt die. and not live.
Then he turned his face to the
wall. and prayed unto the Lord,
saying.
And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah,
What shall be the sign that the
Lord will deal me. and tina. I shall
20 I'D into the house OF the Lord
the third day?
And the king sent and they
gathered unto him all the elders OF
Judah and Jerusalem.
And the king went up into the
house OF the Lord. and all the men
Of judah and all the inhabitants
Of Jerusalem with him. and the
priests. and the prophets. and al
the people. both small and great.
and he read in their ears all the
words CT the book OF the covenant
which was found In the house OF
the Lcrd.
And the king stccd by a pillar,
and made q covenant before the
Lord, 70 walk after the Lord. and
to keep his commandments and his
testimonies and his statutes with
The world has always needed re-
form. and reform has never come
about without reformers. Things
do not just merely happen III the
world Of progress. but they are
brought about BY vision and courage
and devotion.
Heredity reveals seine surprises
1t may be that sometimes 1t en-
dows an individual with a prepon-
derance OF the evil qualities Of
those who have gone before him
whereas at other times II al
most all the good that was III az
evil ancestry and showers these
good qualities upon the individual
A Sinister Background
Here we have a young lad COM
ing TO the throne Of judah who was
the son of anon ana The grandson
CT Manasseh. both Of whom had
Eeen evil kings. They had been
careless regarding religion. and the
idolatry that was always threaten
ing the life Of Israel had encroached
upon the community. Apparently
there were still faithful souls In
Israel, but they had not been able
to stem the tide OF evil influences.
Then came a remarkable event,
Apparently in cleaning the temple
Itself an evidence OF its neglect, a
book was found which was to be
the inspiring document of a reli-
gious revolution in Israel. This book
Of the law would be q parchment
containing portions Of the law OF
Israel. and the parchment probably
contained what we now know as
the Book OF Deuteronomy. The
young king was deeply impressed
when ne was told about this book
and he arranged to have Ii read
so that the people might hear IL.
It is a dramatic and striking pic
ture that we have OF the king
standing by a pillar in the temple
making a public covenant with the
Lord TO walk after his WAYS and
keep his commandments and testi-
monies, while from the newly-dis-
covered book is read the covenant
which the king seeks to place upor
all the people. IL was. Of course
net an age when even parchment
could be passed around from hand
TO hand. The method OF imparting
religious truth was largely this
method Of the spoken word.
The New Impulse
The discovery of the law. and the
coming TO the throne Of a righteous
king Immediately brought about
Transforming zeal. No truly religious
experience can come into the life Of
a man. be he king or commoner
without creating in him the
impulse TO make the world arounc
him a better place in which to live
The more pronounced Is his leader
ship and the larger and more
definite is his responsibility. ths
more vitality. II he becomes religious
at all. religion affects his daily
| purposes and acts.
This young king. OF course. mus
have been very largely in the hand.
of good counselors. but even q
young king could have been very
willful and could have baked the
purposes OF his counselors II he hac
chosen TO do so.
The record shows how quickly
things can be changed when there
is really the purpose to change
them and people 60 about making
the chance in the right way. The
fact Of the matter Is that great