Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-11
One Who Might be a Queen
Eating Straw Like an Ok.
CONVICTION A SWORD WOUND.
Conversion is the Medicine that Cures Con-
viction's Pains.
HaIt Where You Are or All Goes for Moth
Ing-Why Do You Not With All
Your Mind Complete the Work
of Conviction and Be
Converted?
snecial 70 the Gnzette

beginning of the service The inestimable
value of Christianity as an elevating and
ennobling influence on the nature of man,
formed the subject of Dr.. Talmage's SER
mon this morning, The brilliant and orig
inal preacher chose as his text the humil-
iation of the Babylonish king, who being
destitute of religion sank 10 the level of the
brute. Daniel ", 2S, stAil this came upon
the king. Nebuchadnezzar
Col Rawlinson, the Oriental traveller
SAYS that the exhumed bricks, not only of
Babylon, but of a hundred towns in an area
Of one hundred miles in length and thirty in
breadth, are inscribed with the name of
Nebuchadnezzar. He was 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
circumference and 100 feet deep, and con-
structed a hanging garden 4G0 feet square
and seveuty-five feet high, some say 10
please Amuhia, his wife, who had been
born among the hills, and others say to get
q pleasure ground free from the mosquitoes,
which afiiict the levels. l think, from his
character, the latter reason may have i'm
PEELED him as much as the former. When
he conquered King Zedeklah, 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 a great place. the
houses surrounded by gardens and the
housetops were connected with each other
by bridges, and one day Northumberland
walked out on those suspension bridges
and showed, perhaps to royal visitor, the
yaStuess Of his realm as the sun kindles the
dOmes with gIistenings almost insufferable.
and the great streets thunder up their
pomp into the ear OF the monarch, and
armed towers stand around adorned with
spells Of conquered empires. Nebuehad-
uezzar waves his hand above the stupen-
dOus scene and eXclaims: ''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 majeStyl'' In
other words: What a great man I am.
Babylon was not anything until l adorned
It, See those waterworKs: see those gar
deus: see those forts. ! did all this. I
shall never be forgotten. Why, my
name is on every brick in all those walls
Just look at me. / am more than man"
But, in an instant, all that splendor is gone
from his vision for a voice falls from the
heavens, saying, so, King Nebuchadnezzar,
TO thee it is spoken; the kingdom is de-
parted from thee, and they shall drive thee
from men and thy dwelling shall De with
the beasts of the field; they shall make thee
20 eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall
pass over thee, until thou know that theAost
High ruleth in the kingdom of men and
giveth 10 TO whomSoever he Will" One
hour from the time he made the boast, he is
on his way to the fields maniac, and rush
ing into the forests he becomes as one of
the beasts, and is after awhile covered with
eagles feathers for protection from the
cold, and his nails grow to look like birds
claws in 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 call lycanthropy, by
which a man imagines himself beast and
prefers to go out and mingle with bruteS
He who had been eating pomegranates and
apricots of of plates of gold inlaid with
amethyst and diamond, and drinking the
richest wines from the royal watts, now
browsing on grass, and struck by the horn
of the OK as he contends for better tIlft of
the pasturage, and instead of an orchestra
on benches Of ivory playing the national
airs. now listens to the moan and below
and grunt of the beasts. This is net hard
for me TO believe, for the forms of dementia
are mnumerable A few years ago, arriv-
Ing in q city on Il summer afternoon, while
waiting for my engagement in the evening,
I sauntercd forth into what seemed to be a
park in front of large public building, the
use Of which l knew not. I met gentle
man with whom 1 fell into delightful con-
versation, and he seemed intelligent on all
subjects
After awhile 1 said: ssLet US sit down on
this bench and rest awhile and enjoy the
hE5ut VI NGLAuAG anu 4OuuNulAAS 4NO.
said he; ''you sit down. but l cannot. ] am
made of glass, and if l should sit down
would break 10 pieces" Then I saw that
he WAS insane and belonged to the large
building Just behind Us. After such an in
terVieW as that, can easily believe this ac-
count OF my text Here is Nebuchadnezzar
on ali fOurs. He once prided himself Of be-
ing more than 4 MN, 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 beCStl" Seven
years pass, when suddenly his reason re-
turns, and he comes back to Babylon a
humble worshipper of the God of heaven.
What must have been the excitement in the
royal court as this restored maniac emperor
walks into the palace. What a time they |
had IN cutting his nails and his hair, which |
had grown for seven years without being |
interfered with by any shears. What |
5crubbing down must have taken place in |
the imperial baths. What a transforms |
ton necessary in order that he who had |
been herding with camels and goats and |
swine may be made tit TO associate with |
princes. What 4 change from sly to throne |
room
While walking from this Babylonian pal |
ace down 10 the pasture-field, and from the |
pasture-held back to the palace, the first /
hing that impresSes me is what an incou- |
yrgous thing it is for u king to be eating |
grass. It is good for cattle, but not fit for |
nan. And then for one to prefer it to a |
royal table toward whose bounty the or
,hards, and paddocks, and streams, and |
vineyards in all the earth might contribute |
what an amaZement! And yet the scene
S as common as the daylight.
When I see a man of regal nature, made
o rule in realms of thought, capable of all |
moral elevation, besotting his faculties. at
empting out Of low sensualities to satisfy
lis immortal energies, coming down OF of
lis throne II power into brutalities, sacri-
icing his higher nature to his lower nature,
stopping and STOPPING, coming down and
coming down, until all his influences for
rood IS gone. I cry out, There is i king
satinC grass like an OK ~ And there are
ems of thousands of such NebuchadnezZars.
so there are queens who dedicate them
selves 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
Ter charm OF smile and manner, capable of
Oothing so much sorrow, and reforming so
much waywardness. and welding so much
Elevated power; yet at the call of worldli-
less. coming out OF the throne room of good
where God would have her reign,
omiug down over the ivory stairs of moral
,ower, coming down and coming down
ntil she has no more soul than the dead
lird transfixed in her millinery or the chin
hilla that was slain TO afford her warmth,
2 the kid that furnished her the glove, and
hiding her only delight in batteries of
rainless men, and midnight schottische |
nd debauched novelties. say There is
ne who might have been queen unto God
drawer. r-nf a1ffr1er straw ~ /