Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-12-13
REPORTED FOR TIE sT,R.
THE REV. MR. sLIcE2's SERMON.


livered his first sermon, since his election,
in the Hall of Representatives before a
very large congregation, several members
of Congress and Senators being present
! The services of the morning commenced
with reading a portion OF Scripture, b ing
the first chapter Of st. Paul to the
! Hebrews: at the conclusion Of which, q
| hymn was sung from that known as the
Methodist Collection. This later part OF
the service was followed by very i'm
pressive prayer, in which the reverend
Chaplain alluded to the havoc made by
death since they had last met in that
Hall for the purpose OF worship, and con-
Guided by offering up prayer for the
President, the Congress, and the contin-
uance Of the Union; that the latter might
be as enduring as the sun in the heavens
The remaining portion Of the hymn, that
has been already mentioned, was thcl
sung. The reverend gentleman theu
began his sermon, taking as his text the
3-ith and 35th verses of the second cnan-
ter Of the Prophet Daniel.
The decree of the Chaldean monarcI,
put in jeopardy the lives Of all the wise
men Of Babylon, Daniel and his friends
included But, ere the execution of tl.a:
| decree, Daniel asked for time, and having
secured a respite for himscifand the Other
wise men of the realm, called together his
companions, and they ali united TO ap-
proac!i God III prayer. Let me say. j
would be well that all men should take to
the same resource III the time of trouble,
God revealed to Daniel the particulars oI
the kings dream, and not only the dream
itself but its Interpretation. Daniel
then asked to be brought into the kim 5
presence, and having been introduced, he
expressed himself ready to tell the kim
his dream and the Interpretation thereof,
adding, at the same time, that it was no
from any superiority of intelligence, OF
superiority of piety, that God had made
! to him the revelation. He, then, in or
der, described TO the king the vision that
he had seen in the night watches, and
presented in detail to the king The signifi.
cation of the great image whose head was
of gold, chest and arms Of silver. and feet
of iron and clay. In asking your attc1-
ton to this subject, ] propose to show,
! briefly, III the first place, the Specification
Of the image, and then ask your attention
to the kingdom, represented by the Little
stone, which was seen IN the dream, as
taken out Of the mountain without hands.
but which possessed so great a power of
expansion, and was destined TO fill the
world. The head of the image, accord
ing to Daniel, represented the Chaldear
empire, which was called the head, be-
cause of its great intelligence, and it was
a head OF gold, because Of its immense
wealth. Those conversant with thei1
Bibles, will recollect that Babylon, on
account Of its immense treasures. was
called 'the golden city" The breast OF
chest, and arms of silver, represented the
kingdom Of the Medes and PerSians. OF
the Medo-PerSian kingdom, founded by
Cyrus and Darius in alliance. and which
is there represented by two arms meeting
together on the chest. The third king.
dom represented was that of Greece
founded by Alexander, which maintained
control over great portion of the then
discovered globe. The feet and toes o
the image, partly of iron and partly OF
clay, having the strength Of the former
and the weakness of the latter, represent.
ed the Roman empire. This was ulti
mately divided into ten kingdoms, repre-
sented by the ten toes of the feet of tn,
image. The Roman empire was distract
ed by faction, by civil broilS, and by The
conflicts of ambitious men-so that while
1t possessed the strength of iron, it had
also The weakness of clay. There being
no affinity between the parts, it be
came an easy prey to those who sought
its overthrow and destruction. i'm the
days of this last kingdom that o
Rome-the God of heaven set up bis
own kingdom. This is represented as {;
little stone, taken out of the mountain
without hands, having no human origin
relying not on human aid for success, bu
which was dlyinely originated and divine
ly supported.
| come now to consider this kingdom
which is thus represented by a little
stone, and will remark, in the first place
Its insignificant origin, the smallnes!
ofits original appearance. This is illus
tratcd by Christ himself, who was the
son Of an humble virgin, his reputeC
father ship carpenter, and he himself ;
carpenter as he is called in the Gospel
for he wrought with his father until h'
was thirty years Of age His brit
place was a stable, his cradle manger
and his original disciples fishermen ant
tent-makers. His retlnue consisted of :
few shouting children that cried hosann'
in the temple, together with some simpl
men and women. His first beatitudt
was blessed are the poor in spiri
for theirs is the kingdom of hea
ven," and his last % blessed are thos'
who are prosecuted for Righteousness
sake" You see the prophecy ILLUSTRATED
by Christ himself, in the humility ant
humble nature of his origin, and in hi
progress through life, he could turn tt
those who asked him his dwelling plac
and say " the foxes have holes, and tn
birds of the air have nest, but the Son Q
Man hath not where to lay his head.
!; He was despised and rejected of men
man of sorrows, and acquainted wit