The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-05-25
TRUST IN THEIR OWN STRENGTH THE
GREAT SIN OF THE RACE.

A Sermon by Rev. I. H. Archibald Of Corn
wall, Preached May 16, 1874, at West Corn
wall.
"The king spake and said, Is not this great
babylon. that have built for the house Of the
kingdom by the might Of my power and Tor the
honor OF my n!aJesty?'" Daniel 4th-soh.
The great emotions and sins of humanity
have been the same in all ages, and under
every degree of religious light and knowl-
edge. The feelings of pride and exaltaton
expressed more than twenty-four centuries
ago by Nebuchadnezzar, in view of his own
external success and agrandizemcnt, are
but specimens If the way in which the
men of the world have spoken and acted in
regard to the outward prosperity which
has attended them. Ages before, and ages
afterward, the same passions have been
felt and expressed. 1t was the same spirit
which animated Pharoah, when in the
hight of his power, while Egypt was alike
in government, in literature, in art and in
wealth the mistress of the world, he cried,
Who is the Lord, that | should obey his
voice? ~ / he psalmist describes the wick
ed, moved by the sameinfuence, when they
say, 9 Our tongues are our own; who is
Lord over us. 1t was in kindred temper of
mind that Herod, clad in royal apparel,
Z" sat upon his throne and made an Grafton
unto the people," while the obsequious
multitude cried, " 1t is the voice of a god
and not of a mani" and ''the angel of the
Lord smote him because he gave not God
the glory, and he was eaten by worms and
gave up the ghost" In the same
spirit an eminent French statesman is
said to have declared, God is always on
the side of the heaviest battalons"
These examples, culled from remote
ages and widely scattered people, may
serve to show us how widely diffused, and
how extensively operative, is this principle
Men trust in themselves, rely upon the
strength of their own unaided right arm,
and expect success as the fruit of their own
cndeavors. There is indeed a noble and
worthy selfr-eliance, which revealed truthso
far from condemning and disparaging.
commends and encourages but it is q reii-
ance which seeks help in God, and finds
shelter under the shadow of his wings, and
is at the farthest possible remove from that
Wanting boastfulness of spirit which at
firms that its own right arm hath gotten it
the victory.
call prosperous reign. AT home he
had enriched and adorned his kingdom.
Babylon, Its capital, whose foundations
were coeval with the tower of Babel, and
which the opulence and power of Semi
ramis had enriched and beautificd, he had
yet more enlarged and adorned. In the
luxury of vice, as in the pomp of power, it
exceeded all the cities of the earth. His
imperial magnificence had been lavished,
without stint, upon it. The record of its
wealth is SO vast, its beauty so gorgeous,i its
wickedness SO astounding that, to our in
credulous ears, they almost seem to be fabu-
lous, rather than historic. 1t was so vast
that when it was taken by Cyrus, in the
night, the inhabitants of the opposite quar-
ter of the city did not hear of the event
until three hours after sunrise. Alexander
had to employ ten thousand men during
two months to remove the accumulated
ruins rrecipitated by the order of Xexres,
nearly two hundred years before" From
its fallen towers have arisen, not only the
present cities in its vicinity but others,
which, like itself, have long since gone
down to dust. Since the days of Alexan-
der four capitals at least have been built
out of It's remains Selucia by the Greeks.
Ctesiphon by the Parthans, AL MADAM by
the Persians and Kappa by the Caliphs,
with towns and carayansaries without mum.
Der" The new palace built by Nebuchad-
nezzar, was of enormous size and of regal
magnificence. Its outer wall embraced
six miles. Its decorations and its luXuries
will probably forever remain unparalleled.
Its hanging gardens, which he constructed
10 delight Queen Amyts rose by terraces
to the hight of 300 feet and the soil at
this elevation was of sufficient depth to
pourish the largest trees. Such was the
work of Nebuchadnezzar over which he ex-
claimed, s. Is not this great Babylon that
have built for the house of my kingdom,
by the might of my power, and for the
honor of my majesty"
''Such was the elation and vanity of the
king over his own achievements. Besides,
it should be remembered, that all this home
magniiicence had not been purchased by
the neglect of the foreign interests of his
kingdom. lie had not only conquered Ju-
dea, but he had also subdued the Egyptians
whom he drove out of Syria, and over
thrown the ancient, famous, and opulent
city of Tyre. Thus his rule must have ex-
tended from the Mediterranean eastward
beyond the Euphrates, into the far interior
of Asia, and southwark and westward into
Africa. If any man might be proud of his
achievements and greatness he was the
man. And yet his pride was his culmnat-
ing sin, the immediate occasion of his over
throw aud his ruin.
His history is beacon-light hung out
for all men IN all time, and IL invites us TO
consider the trust which men repose in
themselves. Cd In its manifestations. (ID
In its guilt. We are then to view this trust
of men In themselves. ID In its manifesto
lions. This trust exhibits itself. Cd In
the confidence which they have in their
own reason, when opposed to Divine reve-
lation.
Far be 1t from us to disparage reason.
The gift of God to man, IN its appropriate
sphere, and under its proper limitations its
value to the individual and to the race is
past all computation. To man In the affairs
of the life that now is,it is the grand direct
or and counsellor. 1t lays the foundation
of all knowledge, investigates the laws
and the facts of all science nay more, il
is the one Indispensable gift which makes
all science possible. Without it all other
intellectual gifts become at once and utter.
valueess Imagination would be but an un-
pruned and useless luxuriance of fancy.
memory but an undigested and cumber,
GUS gather ing Of isolated facts and incl
IAs.t