Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-02-12
KINGS EATING GRASS.
DR.. TALMACE'S EARNEST APP
PEAL TO HIS HEARERS.
Lesson of the Life OF Nebuchadnezxar-
The Greatest sorrow OF Earth,
tho Loss of Rsason-P Pow
err OF Christianity.

Brooklyn, N. ", Feb Z, 1892. With a
mighty acclaim the long. metro Doxology
rose at the beginning OF tho service. The
inestimable value of Christianity as an
clevating and ennobling influence on the
nature OF man, formed the subject OF DR.
Talmage's sermon this morning. TIE
brilliant and original preacher chose as
his text the humiliation of the Babylonish
king who being destitute OF religion sank
TO the level OF the brute. Daniel 1923,
'All this came upon the King Nebuchad-
nezzar."
Colonel Rawl nson, the Oriental trlv-
eller. says that the exhumed bricks not
only Of Babylon but of hundred towns
in an area of one hundred miles in length
and thirty in breadth. are inscribed with
the name of Nebuchadnezzar. He was a
great warrior and at the glance OF his
sword nations FRUSTRATED themselves. He
was great king and built city res ervoir
ninety miles in circumference and one hun
dred and twenty feet deep, and constructed
n hanging garden four hundred feet square
and seventy-hve feet high, some say
to please Amuhia, his wife. who had
been born among the hills, and others
say to get pleasure ground free
from the mosquitoes, which affict the
levels. | think, from his character, the
latter reason may have impelled him as
much as the former. When he conquered
| King Zedekiah. so as to have no more
trouble with him, he put his eyes out-a
most barbarous way OF incapacitatlng
an enemy. But Babylon was great
| Id l.
and the housetops were connected with
each other by bridges, and one day
NebuchadnezzI walked out on those
suspension bridges and showed, perhaps
10 a royal visitor, the vastuess of his
realm as the sun kinlles the domos with
! giisterings almost insuferable, and the
great streets thunder up their pomp into
the ear of the monarch aud armed towers
stand around adorned with spoils OF con-
quered empires. Nebuchadnezzar waves
his hand above the stupendous scene and
exclaims lis not this great Babylon that
! have built for the house of the kingdom
| by the might Of my power and for the
/ honor of my majestyl In other words:
"What n great IN an l am. Babylon was
not anything until adorned it See those
waterworis; see those gardens ses those
| forts. did all this. | shall never be for
/ gotten. Way, my name is on every brick
! III all those walls. Just look at me. / am
more than a man" But, in an instant, all
| that splendor is gone from his Wis
| ion, for a voice falls from the
heavens, saying, 20, King Nebuciad-
nezzar, TO thee il is spoken; the
kingdom is departed from thee, and they
! shall drive thee from men and thy dwell
| ing shall be with the beasts of the field;
they shall make thee 10 eat grass as oxen,
and seven times shall pass over thee until
thou know that III Most High ruleth in the
| kingdom Of men and giveth it to whomso-
ever he will" One hour from tae time he
made the boast, he is on his way 10 tho
fields maniac and rushing into the for
ests he becomes as one or the beasts, and
is after awhile covered with eagles feath-
ers 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.
While walking from this Babylonian
palace down to the pasture field, and from
the pasture field back to the palace, the
first thing that impresses me is what an
incongruous thing it is for king to DO
eating grass. 1t is good for cattle but
not fl for man. And then for ono 10 pre-
I
the orchards, ana paddocks, and streams,
and vineyards in all the earth might con-
tribute-what an amazementl And yet
the scene is as common as the daylight.
When | see q man Of regal nature made
to rule IN realms of thought, capable Of all
moral elevation, besotting his faculties,
attempting out Of low sensualities 10 salts
fy his immortal energies, coming down Off
his throne Of power into 6rutalities, sacri-
fcing as higher nature TO his lower ma
turo, coping and STOPPING, coming down
and coming down until all his influence
for good is gone, cry out, 'There is a
king eating grass like an oXv' And there
are tens OF thousands OF such NeDuchad-
nezzars. So there are queens VINO dedi-
cate themselves 10 the same humiliation.
What power for good God gave that wo-
man. Magnetism OF personal presence.
Influence more than imperial BY her in
fluence by her tenderness, by her charm
OF smile and manner, capable of oothing
so much sorrow, and reforming so much
way wardness, and welding so much Gle
waited power; yet at the call OF worldliness,
coming out OF the throne Of good influence,
where God would have her reign, coming
down over the ivo.y stairs of moral power,
coming down and coming down until she
has no more soul than the dead bird trans
fixed in hor millinery or the chinchila 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 de-
bauched novelettes. i say "Taere is one
who might have been queen unto God
forever, yet eating straw like an OK" /
look over the pasture-felds of folly and
sin, and find many grovelling who ought
TO be erect.
The next thought that presses into my
mind from the contemplation of this Incl
dent is that conviction is not conversion.
Who is this monarch that makes the
boast about Babylonl The very man
who, under the revelation OF dreams that
Daniel made from heaven. deeply hum
bed himself, while he confessed that
God is a God of Gods and a Lord of
Lords, yet, behold that that humbling and
arousing which no before felt did not
result in radical change. There is no