Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1892-02-13
BLINDED ARROGANCE LEADS TO STUN
BLING

Learn also from my subject that
pride is the precursor of overthrow.
Pride is a commander well plumed
and caparisoned. but it leads forth o
dark and frowning host. Pride
goeth before destruction, and q
naughty spirit before a fall" The
arrows from the Almightys quivel
are apt to strike man when on the
wing. Goliath shakes his great spear
i'll defiance. but the smooth stones
from the brook make him staggei
and fall like an OK under butchers
bludgeon. He who is down cannot
fall. Vessels scudding under bare
poles do not feel the force of the
storm.
What arc those three sletls that
have just gone into the yard of q
miserable hotel in Warsaw, Poland
on the cold night of December the
tenth. 1922 Who are they. who
from these slels have entered. and
the servant is trying to build foi
them fire with some green wood
Napoleon. with six attendants. on re
treat from Moscow. The fire amid
the green wood has gone out and the
emperor is walking the floor to keep
from freezing.
Then bounding into his sled. the
thermometer twenty six degrees be
low zero. he disappears in the dark
ness. He who little before had an
army under his command. together
with troops offered by other nations,
in all 1, 1877. 900 men, now retreating
through that December night with
three sleds. and those of his army
not dead under the snow. reduced
for food To handful of rye dough,
seasoned with gunpowder for lack of
salt, and mouthful of horsefiesh
From what a height to what de.,th
NebuchadnezZar in the palace: Ne
buchadnezzar forsaken in the fields
Again learn from the misfortune
of the king of Babylon what ter
rible thing is the loss of reason.
There is no calamity that can possibly
befall us in this world so great as the
arrangement of intellect to have
the body of man and yet to fall
even below the instinct of brute. In
this world of sad sights the saddest IL
the idiots stare In this world Of
awful sounds the most awful is the
maniac's laugh. A vessel on the
rocks, when hundreds go down never
to rise. and other hundreds drag their
mangled and shivering bodies up
the wintry beach. is nothing com
pared to the laundering of intellects
full of vast hopes and attainments
and capacities. Christ's heart went
out to those who were epileptic. fall
ing into the fire. or maniats cutting
themselves among the tombs.
We are accustomed To be more
grateful for physical health than for
the proper working of our mind.
We are apt to take it for granted
that the intellect which has served
us SO well will always be faithful
We forget that an engine with such
tremendous power. when the wheels
have such vastneSs of circle and such
swiftness of motion and the least i'm
pediment might pat it out of gear,
could only be kept in proper balance
by divine hand No human power
could engineer this train of immor
tai faculties
How strange it is that our memo
ry. on whose shoulders all the sue
cesses and misfortunes and occur
rences of lifetime are placed. should
not oftener break down. and that the
scales of judgment, which have been
weighing SO much and so long should
not lose their adjustment. and that
fancy. which holds dangerous
wand. should not sometimes mali
ciously wave it. bringing into the
heart forebodings and hallucinations
the most appalling. Is it not strange
that the expectations of this intellect
should not be dashed to pieces on its
disappointmentsl
Though so delicately attuncd. this
instrument of untold harmonies plays
on. though fear shocks it, and vexa
tons rack it. and sorrow and joy and
loss and gain in quick succession beat
out of it their dirge or draw from it
their anthem. At morning and at
night, when in your prayer you re-
nearse the objects OF your thanks
giving. next to your salvation by
Jesus Christ. praise the Lord for the
preservation of your reason
THE DEGRADATION BY ANoDYNEs.
How many fine intellects are being
destroyed by anodynes and anRsthet
les, which were given by providence
for occasional Use in alienation of
pain or insomnia, be by being EN-
ployed continuously after awhile cap
ture and destroy Chloral, cocaine.
bromide of potassium, opium and
whole shelves of seductive etceteras
that help turn Nebuchadnezzars into
imbecility or madness. Do not trifle
with opiates that benumb the brain
If you cannot live without the per
petual and enslaving use of them.
you had better die Better die sane
man than live a fool. What right
have you to kill your brain and put
in wild jangle your nervous system
But rum is the cause of more insanity
than anything else. There is moth
ing like rum to put a man, like Nebu
chadnezzar, down on all fours.
Again, learn how quickly turns the
wheel of fortune. from how high up
to how far down went Nebuchadnez
zar Those now in places of position
and power, even though they should
live, will in a few years be disre
garded, while some, who this day
arc obscure and poverty stricken,
will ride up on the shoulders of the
people to take their turn at admira
ton and the spoils of office Oh,
how quickly the wheel turns! Ballot
boxes are the steps on which men