2 Chronicles 34:1

Two Saints Of God

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign.... In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father. 2 Chronicles 34:1; 2 Chronicles 34:3.

Today I want to tell you about two kings. One of them lived about six hundred years before Christ, the other about twelve hundred years after. One of them ruled a little Eastern kingdom, the other a great European country, But although they were separated by eighteen hundred years, although one was a Hebrew and the other a Frenchman, they had many points in common.

Both had good wise mothers. Both began to reign when they were children. Both gave themselves early to God's service. Both lived upright and true lives. Both ruled wisely and well.

Now of course you want to know who these kings were. So I shall tell you.

The first one was called Josiah. You may read all about him in the 2 Kings 22-23 and 2 Chronicles 24-35. He was king of Judah for thirty-one years and he began to reign when he was only eight years of age. Just think of being a king at eight years! Wouldn't it have been a tremendous responsibility?

Now Josiah had a bad father. He forsook the God of Israel and worshipped the idols of the heathen. He was so bad that at last his own servants rose up and slew him. But if the little king had a bad father he had one tremendous advantage he had a good mother. How do we know that? Well, there are two reasons.

One is that she was called Jedidah. And Jedidah just means “beloved of the Lord.” It was the name that the prophet Nathan gave to Solomon when he was a tiny baby. Now in those days a name meant much more than it does today. It was not given without reason. And so when we learn that Josiah's mother was called “the beloved of the Lord” we may be pretty sure that she was a very good woman indeed.

And the other reason is that Jedidah had such a good son. Josiah might have been a bad boy. His father was a bad man, and the chances were pretty equal that he should turn out badly too. But he didn't: he did the very opposite; and I believe it was largely owing to the love, and the care, and the training, and the influence of his mother. For, boys and girls, more than any other person in the world, your mother has the making or the marring of you, and if you have a good mother, then go down on your knees and thank God with all your heart for her.

But we must return to Josiah. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and the next thing we are told about him is that in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, when he was about fifteen or sixteen, he began to seek after the God of David. The seed his mother had been sowing quietly all these years had begun to bear fruit, and of his own accord he sought after God.

But Josiah did not stop short at seeking after God. He felt that God had something for him to do. His grandfather had built altars to heathen gods and made carved images, and his father and all the people had worshipped them and abandoned the true God. Josiah set himself to destroy everything that belonged to this heathen worship. And that was a very brave and daring thing to do. He broke down the altars, crushed the images to powder, and overthrew the temples. But he did more than destroy, he built up too. The Temple of God had fallen into a sad state of neglect and he gave orders that it should be repaired.

Now while the workmen were busy with their repairs a wonderful discovery was made. In some corner or cupboard where it had long lain, covered with dust and cobwebs, Hilkiah, the high priest, found a book containing the laws of God. It was the book that we know as Deuteronomy. Hilkiah gave it to Shaphan the scribe, and Shaphan carried it to the king.

And when the king read the book he was exceedingly sad. For he saw how it was foretold in that book that if the Israelites forsook the true God for the gods of the heathen and followed after wrong paths, then their enemies would come and carry them away captive into a strange land. And he was ashamed and sorry too that the nation had done so many wrong things and forgotten God.

So he gathered the people together into the house of God and he read aloud to them from the book that had been found. Then he took a solemn vow that he would keep the commandments of God with all his heart and with all his soul. And he made the people promise that they would keep them too.

Josiah died in battle fighting against the king of Egypt and all Judah made a great mourning for him. For he was the best king that ever reigned in Judah and his people loved him dearly.

The other king I want to tell you about is Louis IX of France.

Louis was born at Poissy on St. Mark's Day in the year 1214 just a hundred years before the battle of Bannockburn. He was baptized in the church at Poissy and there the cross was traced on his brow. In after years he spoke of that church as the place where he had received his greatest honor. When he said that, his friends thought he must be making a mistake, and that he meant the great cathedral at Rheims where the crown was placed on his head. But Louis considered that his greatest honor was, not the crown, but the cross that was laid on his brow at Poissy.

The little prince had a bright sunny nature and he was beloved by everyone, friends and servants alike.

From his childhood he was pitiful and tender to the poor and the sick, and he was always ready to do a kindness to anyone.

Louis was only twelve years of age when his father died, and as his elder brother had died previously he was now king of France. Until he was twenty-one his mother acted as regent and she ruled wisely and well. For Queen Blanche was a splendid woman. A writer of her day said that she had the courage of a man in the heart of a woman.

But besides governing well the queen brought up her son wisely. She never forgot that he was called to rule over a great kingdom and it was her aim that he should become worthy of his kingship. He was trained in all the arts and the learning that go towards the making of a good king. No spoiling was allowed in the royal palace and the rod was not spared. But above all the queen taught her son to believe in God and to love and fear Him in his youth. In after years King Louis remembered how his mother had once said that she would rather see him dead than guilty of a single mortal sin.

And Louis proved worthy of the training. He grew up brave and chivalrous, wise and good. He was a lover of peace and justice, a defender of the oppressed, a friend of all that were poor and in distress.

It would take long to tell of all Louis' kind and good deeds. He built hospitals for the sick in several towns, and at Paris he founded an asylum for the blind which still exists. Every day one hundred and twenty poor people were fed in the palace and often the king served them with his own hands. He gave away much money to the needy. When his counsellors objected he replied that he would rather spend his surplus money in that way than in luxury and vainglory. In those days leprosy was a common disease in France. It had been brought back by the Crusaders from the Holy Land Now the lepers were kept apart in isolated houses, but Louis was not afraid to approach them, and with his own hands he fed them and attended to them.

If you want to learn of Louis' valor you must read of the brave deeds he did in Egypt during the Seventh Crusade. The Crusade was a failure, but Louis distinguished himself by his courage and his consideration for others.

Louis died in Tunis in 1270 on his way to the Eighth Crusade. When he was dying he sent for his eldest son and gave him wise counsels about the governing of the people. He told him always to be tender and compassionate to the poor, not to tax the people unduly, to deal justly and rightly with rich and poor alike, and to see that the magistrates and judges governed well Above all, he counseled him to make himself beloved of his people.

So died Louis the Good, afterwards called Saint Louis. And all the country mourned him, for all loved him from the richest noble to the humblest serf.

Why have I told you these stories? It is because I want you to know how good and noble a man may become, to realize that it is never too early to begin to serve God. King Josiah began at sixteen, and I think King Louis began at twelve, when he received his knighthood on the day before he was crowned. All alone and all night he watched his armor in the Cathedral at Rheims and he lifted his heart in prayer that God would accept his service and make him a worthy knight.

And, boys and girls, you can never begin better than by serving God in your youth. Many of the great saints of the world began to serve Him early. Do you know that you have a glorious privilege the privilege of giving your fresh young lives, all unspoiled, to God? Grown-up people can't do that. Many of them can give only a few poor tattered remnants, and God is willing to accept even that. But you have the joy and privilege of giving all, and that gift is a sacrifice very precious in the sight of the King of kings.