The free press., 1892-02-25
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
rHE RRooKLN DIvINE'S SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject: -.Sinatna, Ito at1iea Level of
Brutes."

Colonel Rawlinson, the oriental traveller
says that the exhumed bricks not only o
Babylon, but of hundred towns in an are;
Of one hundred miles in length and thirty il
breadth, are inscribed with the name o
Nebuchadnezzar He was a great warrior
and at the glance of his sword nations pros
trated themselves. He was a great king
and built a city reservoir ninety miles in cir
| cumference and one hundred and twenty
| feet Deep and constructed a hanging garder
four hundred feet square and seventy-lvt
| feet high, some say to please Amuhia, hi
wife, who had been born among the hills
| and others say to get pleasure ground fret
from the mosquitoes, which afflict the levels
| l think from his character the latter
| reason may have impelled him as much as
the former. When he conquered King Zed
| ekiah, so as to have no more trouble with
him, he put his eyes out--a most barbarous
way of incapacitating an enemy But Babylon
| was great place, the houses surrounded by
gardens and the housetops were connected
with each other by bridges, and one day
Nebuchadnezzar walked out on those sus-
pension bridges and showed, perhaps to a
royal visitor, the vastness of his reafm as
| the sun kndles the domes with gHstenings
almost insufferable and the great streets
| thunder up their pomp into the ear of the
monarch, and armed towers stand around
adorned with spoils of conquered empires.
| NebuchadnezZar waves his hand above the
stupendouS scene and exclaims as not this
| great Babylon that l have built for the
house of the kingdom by the might of my
power and for the honor of my ma ajes6yY'
In other words: "What great man | am
| Babylon was not anything until | adorned
| it. See those water works; see those gar
| dens; see those forts. / did all this. 1 shall
never be forgotten. Why, my name is on
every brick in all those walls. Just look at
me. l am more than a man."
But in an instant all that splendor is gone
from his vision, for voice falls from
heaven, saying, so King Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken: the kingdom is departed
from thee, and they shall drive thee from
men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts
of the fields; they shall make thee to eat
grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass
over thee, until thou know that the Most
High ruleth in the kingdom of men and
| giveth it to whomsoever He will.'
One hour from the time he had made the
boast he is on his way to the fields a maniac,
and rushing into the forests ne becomes as
one of the beasts, and is after awhile COW
| cred with eagles feathers for protection
from the cold, and his nails grow to look like
birds claws i'll order that he may dig the
earth for roots and climb the trees for nuts.
The mental disaster that seized him was
what the Greeks called lycanthropy, by
which man imagines himself beast and
prefers to go out and mingle with brutes. He
who had been eating pomegranates and april
| cots off of plates of gold inlaid with
amethyst and diamond and drinking the
richest wines from the royal vats, now brow
sing on grass, and struck by the horn of the
OK as he contends for a better tuft of the
pasturage, and instead of an orchestra on
benches of ivory playing the national airs,
now listening to the moan and below and
grunt of the beasts. This is not hard for me
to believe, for the forms of dementia are in-
Vulnerable.
A few years ago, arriving in city on a
summer afternoon, while waiting for my
engagement in the evening sauntered forth
Into what seemed to be a park in front of a
large public building, the use of which l knew
not. met gentleman, with whom l fell into
delightful conversation, and he seemed intel
ligent on all subjects. After awhile l said,
''Let us sit down on this bench and rest
awhile and enjoy the scene of verdure and
fountains" mo" said he. "You sit down,
but l cannot l am made of glass, and if l
should sit down L would break to pieces"
Then l saw that he was insane and belonged
to the large building just behind us.
After such an interview as that can easily
believe this account Of my text. Here is
Nebuchadnezzar on all fours. He once
prided himself on being more than a
man, and now he turns out less than a man.
The courtierS look out of the windows upon
him as he moves among the royal herds and
cry, "a beastW Seven years pass when sud-
denly his reason returns and he comes back
to Babylon humble worshiper of the God
of heaven.
What must have been the excitement in
in the royal court as this restored maniac
emperor walks into the palace What time
they had in cutting his nails and his hair,
which had grown for seven years without
being interfered with by any shears. What
q scrubbing down must have taken place in
the imperial baths. What transformation
necessary in order that he who had been
herding with camels and goats and swine
may be made fit to associate with princes.
What a change from sty to throne rooml
While walking from his Babylonian palace
down to the pasture field, and from the pas
ture field back to the palace, the first thing
that impresses me is what an incongruous
thing it is for king to be eating grass. 1t
is good for cattle, but not fit for man. And
then for one to prefer it to royal table to-
ward whose bounty the orchards and pad
docks and streams and vineyards In all the
earth might contribute-what an amaze
menti And yet the scene is as common as
the daylight.
When | see a man of regal nature, made
to rule in realms of thought, capable of all
moral elevation, bestowing his faculties, at
tempting out of low sensualities to satisfy
his immortal energies, coming down off of
ing his higher nature to his lower nature
STOPPING and STOPPING, coming down and
coming down until all his influence for good
is gone, cry out, "There is king eating
grass like an OK"
And there are tens of thousands of such
Nebuchadnezzars. So there are queens who
dedicate themselves to the same humiliation.
What power for good God gave that woman.
Magnetism of personal presence. Influence
more than imperial BY her intelligence, by
her tenderness, by her charm of smile and
manner, capable Of soothing SO much sor-
row, and reforming SO much waywardness,
and welding SO much elevated power; yet
at the call of worldliness, coming out Of the
throne room of good influence where God
would have her reign, coming down over
| the ivory stairs of mortal power, coming
down and coming down until she has no
more soul than the dead bird transfixed in
her millinery or the chinchilla that was
slain to afford her warmth, or the kid that
furnished her the glove, and finding her only
delight in batteries of brainless men and
midnight schottische and debauched
novelettes- say, ''There is one who might
have been a queen unto God forever, yet
eating straw like an OK"
1 look over the pasture fields of folly and
sin and find many groveing who ought tc