Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-02-13
REV. DR.. TALMAGB.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject. "sinhinr to the Level of Brutes."

Colonel Rawlinson, the oriental travssser
says that the exhumed bricks. not only OF
Babylon, but of hundred towns in an area
\ or one hundred miles in length and thirty in
breadth, are inscribed with the name of
Nebuchafnezzar He was great warrior
ana at the glance of his sword nations pros
| trated themselves. He was a great king
ana butt city reservoir ninety miles in cir
| cumterence and one hundred and twenty
ieet deep, and constructed hanging garden
four hundred feet square ami seventy-five
feet high, some say to please Amuhia, his
wife, who had been born among the hills
| ana others say to get pleasure ground free
from the mosquitoes, which afiiict the levels.
think from his character the latter
reason may have impelled him as much as
! the former. When he conquered King Zad-
! ekiab so as to have no more trouble With
MIN, he put his eyes out-a most barbarous
way OF lncapacitating an enemy. But Babylon
was great place, the houses surrounded nv
! gardens and the housetops were connected
with each other by bridges, and one day
Nepuchadnezzar walked out on those sus-
/ pension bridges and showed, perhaps to a
royal visitor, the vastncss of his realm as
the sun klniles the domes with gisteninzs
almost lnsutferable aud the great sire sts
thunder up their pomp into the ear of the
monarch, and armed towers stand around
adorned with spoils of conquered empires.
Net uchadnezZar waves his hand above the
| great Babylon that | have but for the
mouse oil the kingdom by the might OF nv
/ power ana Tor the honor OF my maiestyT'
In other words What great man I am.
Babylon was not anything until l adorned
4 II. 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. am more than man."
| Butln an instant all that splendor is gone
| from his vision, for a voice falls from
heaven saying, 80 King Nebuchadnezzar.
10 thee 1t is spoken: the kingdom is departed
! from thee, and they shall drive thes from
\ men and y dwelling snail be with the beasts
OF the fields; they shall make thee to eat
/ grass as oxen, and seven times shall mass
over thee, until thou know that the Most
High ruieth i'll the kingdom OF men and
giveth it to whomsosver He will"
One hour from the time he had made the
Coast he is on his way to the fields maniac
and rushing into the forests he becomes as
one OF the beasts, and is after awhile Gov
! cred 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.
Inc 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
VINO 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 watts, 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 a city on a
summer afternoon, while waiting for nv
engagement in the evening sauuterei forth
into what seemed to be park in front of a
large public building, the use of which knew
not. met gentleman, with whom fell into
delightful conversation, and he seemed intel
hgent on all subjects. After awhile 1 said
Let us sit down on this bench and rest
awhile and enjoy the scene of verdure and
fountains" No" said he. "You sit down,
but cannot l am made of glass, and if |
should sit down | would break to pieces"
Then 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 tours. He once
prided himself on being more than a
man, and now he turns out less than man.
The courtiers look out of the windows upon
him as he moves among the royal herds ami
cry, "A beastn Seven years pass when sud-
denly his reason returns and he comes back
to Babylon humble worshiper Of the Col
OF heaven.
What must have been the excitement in
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 Tor seven years without
being interlered with by any shears. What
a scrubbing down must have taken place i'll
the imperial baths. What transformation
. n hot ha ,y,O
herding with camels AMI goats and swine
may be made fit to associate with princes
What change from sly to throne roomi
While walking from his Babylonian palace
Gown to the pasture field and from the pas
ture field back to the palace the first thing
that impresses me is what an homogeneous
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
ment! And yet the scene is as common as
| the daylight
+ When / see man of regal nature, made
to rule in realms of thought, capabls of all
moral elevation, bestowing his faculties, at
/ tempting out OF low sensualities to satisfy
/ his immortal energies, coming down off Of
his throne Of power into brutalties, sacrific-
ing his higher nature to his lower nature,
/ anu sbODpluBt COlutUS uOWn anu
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
/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 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 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 aud
midnight schottische and debauche1
novelties. l say, There is one who might
have been a queen unto God forever, yet
eating straw like an OK"
/ look over the pasture fields of folly and
sin and find many grovellng who ought to
be erect. Oh, men and women, go back to
your thronesl A young man ran away from
home and broke his widowed mothers heart.
Fourteen years passed, and he returned and
/
was sitting. She looked up and immedi-
ately recognized him and said: "Oh, Robert,
Robert Come inn Mop said he Moth
er, | shall never come in till | heir you say
you forgive me.n Her answer was: Robert,
1 have forgiven you long ago. There is
nothing to forgive now except that you
stayed away so long"
Ny bearers, forgiveness has been ready
for you good while. With more than a
mothers tenderness God will take you back.
They are waiting for you up in the palace.
Nebuchadnezzar was the son of Nabopolas.
sar, who ruled before him, and you are the
child of King!
The next thought that passes into my
mind from the contemplation of this moi
dent is that conviction is not conversion
w no IS this monarch that makes the boast
iaoOcf Babylon? The very man who, uude.
the reveietion of dreams that Daniel made
from heaven, deeply humbled himself. while
he confessed that God is God of Gods an
a Lord OF Lords, yet behold that that hum
bling and arousing which he before felt did
not result in a radical change
there IS no mistake more fire quent than of
supposlng conviction a synonym for con-
version. Conviction is merely sight OF
sin; conversion is view Of pardon. Con-
victicn is merely arm; conversion is CONT
ldence. Conviction is dissatisfaction with
depravlty; conversion is a turning away
from 1t. Conviction is sword wound; con-
version is the healing Conviction is the
fever OF thirst; conversion is the shaking OF
that thirst. Conviction is the pain: CONVEX
sion is the medicine that cures it Then
SANDS have experienced the former and never
experienced the latter
lhere are mnltitudes who think that as
soon as man lis serious he is fit tor profes.