Connecticut western news., 1890-09-03
RELIGION IN POLITICS.
DR. TALMAGE'S PRACTICAL SERMON
 FOR PRACTICAL MEN.

| WDon tne bIilOC bO4 1S SuTTOuHucu oy
 Corruption Is the Time for the Chris
 tian to Work Hardest-DanieIs Expe-
 rience.
 WACO, Tex, Aug. 31.-Dr. Talmage
 today delivered the following discourse
 on the text, "Then the kMg command
 ed, and they brought Daniel and cast
 him into the den of lions. Daniel
 vi, 16.
 Darius was king of Babylon, and the
 young man Daniel was so much a fa-
 vorite with him that he made him
 prime minister, or secretary of state. But no man could gain such a high po- | sition without exciting the envy and | jealousy of the people. There were demagogues in Babylon who were so appreciative of their own abilities that they were affronted at the elevation of
 this young man. Old Babylon was afraid of young Babylon. The taller the cedar the more apt it is to be riven
 of the lightning.
 These demagogues asked the king to
 make a decree that anybody that made I petition to any one except the king | within thirty days should be put to | death. King Darius, not suspecting any foul play, makes that decree. The
 want, because they know that no one
 can keep Daniel from sending petitions before God for thirty days.
 So far from being afraid, Daniel goes on with his applications three times day, and is found on his housetop mak- l ing prayer. He is caught in the act
 He is condemned to be devoured by l the lions. Rough executioners of the law seize him and hasten him to the cavern. hear the growl of the wild beasts, and see them paving the dust, and as they put their mouths to the ground the solid earth quakes with their believing. I see their eyes roll, and 1 almost hear the fiery eyeballs snap in the darkness. These monsters approach Daniel. They have an. ap- petite keen with hunger. With one stroke of their paw or one snatch of their teeth they may leave him dead at the bottom of the cavern. But what a strange welcome Daniel receives from these hungry monsters They |fawn around him, they lick his hand, they bury his feet in their long names That night he has calm sleep, with his head pillowed on the warm necks of the tanned lions.
 SAVED BY GOD.
 But not so we'll does Darius the king sleep. He loves Daniel, and hates this stratagem by which he has been con- demned. All night long the king walks the floor. He cannot sleep. At the least sound he starts and his flesh creeps with horror. He is impatient for the dawning of the morning. At the first streak of the daylight Darius hastens forth to see the fate of Daniel. The heavy palace doors open and clang shut long before the people of the city waken. Darius goes to the den of i- ons; he looks in. All is silent. His heart stops. He feels that the very worst has happened; but gathering all his strength he shouts through the rifts of the rock. 70 Daniell is the God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee?" There comes rolling up from the deep darkness a voice which says: 70 king live forever My God has sent his angel to shut the lions mouths that they have not hurt me-" Then Daniel is brought out from the den. The demagogues are hurled into ! it, and no sooner have they struck the bottom of the den than their flesh was ! rent, and their bones cracked, and their blood spurted through the rifts of the rock, and as the lions make the rocks tremble with their roar they announce to all ages that while God will defend his people the way of the ungodly shall perish.
 THE CRIME OF SUCCESS. Learn first from this subject that the | greatest crime that you can commit in
 the eyes of many is the crime of suc- cess. What had Daniel done that he
 should be flung to the ions2 He got to be prime minister. They could not | forgive him for that; and behold in
 nature as seen in all ages of the world
 So long as you are pinched in poverty,
 so long as you are running the gantlet
 between landlord and tax gatherer, so long as you find it hard work to edu-
 cate your children, there are people
 who will say: 'Poor man, am sorry
 for him. He ought to succeed, poor manl"
 But after awhile the tide turns in your favor. That was profitable in-
 vestment you made You bought at just the right time. Fortune becomes good humored and smiles upon you. Now you are being in some department
 successful, your success chills some one.
 Those men who used to sympathize
 with you stcnd along the street, and
 they scowl at .rou from under the rim
 of their hats You have more money
 or more influence than they have, and
 you ought to be scowled at from under
 the rim of their hats. You catch
 word or two as you passed by them.
 "Stuck up, says one. "Got it dishon-
 estly," says another "Wil burst soon,"
 says a third. Every stone in your new
 house is laid on their hearts. Your
 horses hoofs went over their nerves.
 Every item of your success has been
 to them an item of discontinue and
 despair. Just as soon as in any respect
 you rise above your fellows, if you are
 more virtuous, if you are more wise, if
 you are more influential, you cast a
 shadow on the prospect of others The
 road to honor and success is within
 rsA..h of the enemy's guns. Jealousy
 says, Stay down, or I'll knock you | T,
 snowflake to the snowbird. "Why