Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-02-18

I
while those with all sails set capsize at the
sudden descent Of the tempest.
Remember that SEe can be as proud Of
our humility as Of anything else. Ants
.henes walked the streets of Athens with
= ragged cloak to demonstrate his humili-
", but Socrates declared he could see the
! hypocrisy through the holes in his cloak.
We would all see ourselves smaller than
we are if we were rs philosophic as Sever
US, the emperor of Rome who said at tine
close of his life, "I have been everything,
and everything is nothing" And when
The urn that was to contain his ashes was
at his command brought to him he said,
Little urn, thou shalt contain one for
whom the world was too little"
10 you not also learn from the misfor-
Ne of this king of Babylon what terri
y thing is the loss of reasonS There is no
.4lamity that can possibly befall rs in this
world so great as arrangement of intellect
to have the body of man and yet TO fall
tven below the instinct of n brute. In this
world of horrible sights the most horrible
Is the IDIOTS stare. In this world of horri-
BILE sounds the most horrible is the mani
nc's laugh. A vessel driven on the rocks,
when hundreds go down never to rise and
other hundreds drag their mangled and
shiyering bodies upon the winters beach,
is nothing compared to the laundering of
intellects full of vast hopes and attain
ments and capacities. Christ's heart went
out toward those who were epileptic, fall
! ing into the fire, or maniacs, cutting them
selves among the tombs.
| IU,, 10 1Nn o4of,,
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 win always be faithful
We forget that an engine of such tremen-
dous power, where the wheels have such
vastness Of circle and sNch swiftness of
motion and the least impediment might
put it out of gear, can only be kept in
proper balance by divine hand. No hui
man hand could engineer the train of i'm
mortal faculties. How strange it is that
our memory, ON whose shoulders all the
Imisfortunes and successes and occurrences
of lifetime are placed, should not oftener
break down, and that the scales Of judg
ment, which have been weighing so much
land so long, should not lose their adjust
lment, and that fancy, which holds dan
gerous wand, should not sometimes mali
ciously wave it, bringing into the heart
forebodings and hallucinations the most
appalling Is it not strange that this mind,
which hopes so much in its mighty leaps
for the attainment of its objects, should
not be dashed to pieces ON its disappoint-
mentsf Though so delicately tuned, this
instrument of untold harmony plays on,
ufrh hal md 1yn pl-
it, and sorrow and joy and loss and gain
In quick succession beat out of it their
dirge or toss from it their anthem. At
morning and at night, when in your pray
er you rehearse the causes Of your thanks
giving, next to the salvation by Jesus
Christ, praise the Lord for the preserva-
tion of your reason.
See also in this story of Nebuchadnezzar
the use that God makes of bad men. The
actions of the wicked are used as instru-
ments for the punishment of wickedness
in others or as the illustration of some
principle in the divine government. Nebu-
chadnezzar subserved both purposes. Even
SO will go back with you to the history
of every reprobate that the world has ever
seen, and I will show you how to q great
extent his wickedness was limited in its
destructive power and how God glorifed
himself in the overthrow and disgrace of
his enemy. Babylon is full of abomina-
ton, and wicked Cyrus destroys it. Persia
fills the cup of its iniquity, and vile Alex
ander puts an end to it. Macedon must be
chastised, and bloody Emilius does it.
The Bastille is to be destroyed, and corrupt
Napoleon accomplishes it. Even SO selfish
and wicked men are often made to accom-
plish great and glorious purposes. Joseph s
brethren were guilty of superlative pertidy
and meanness when they sold him into
slavery for about 81, yet how they must
have been overwhelmed with the truth
that God never forsakes the righteous
when they saw he had become the prime
minister of Egypt Pharaoh oppresses the
Israelites with the most diabolic tyranny,
yet stand still and see the salvation of
God. The plaques descend, the locusts, and
the hail, and the destroying angel, show
ing that there is a God who will defend
the cause of his people, and finally, after
the Israelites have passed through the part
ed sea- behold, in the wreck of the drown
ed army that God 8 enemies are chaff in a
whirlwind In some financial panic the
righteous suffered with the wicked.
Houses and stores and shops in night
foundered ON the rock of bankruptcy, and
healthy credit, without warming, dropped
dead in the street, and money ran up the
long ladder of 25 per cent, to laugh down
upon those who could not climb after it.
Dealers with pockets full Of securities
stood shouting in the deaf ears Of banks.
Men rushed down the streets, with protest
ed notes after them. Those who before
found it hard to spend their money were
left without money to spend Laborers
went home for want of work, to see hun
ger in their chair at the table and, upon
the hearth. Winter blew his breath of frost
through fingers of icicles, and sheriffs,
with attachments, dug among the cinders
of fallen storehouses, and whole cities join
ed in the long funeral procession, march
ing to the grave of dead fortunes and a
fallen commerce! Verify, the righteous
suffered with the wicked, but generally
the wicked had the worst of it. Splendid
estates that had come together through
schemes of wickedness were dashed to
pieces like q potter's vessel, and God wrote
with letters of fire, amid the ruin and de-
struction of regulations and estates that
were thought impregnable, the old fash
ioned truth, which centuries ago he wrote
IN his Bible, 1.-THE way of the wicked he
turneth upside down" As the stars OF
heaven are reflected from the waters of
the earth, even SO God great and magnif-
icent purposes are reflected back from the
boiling seq Of human passion and turmoil.
AS the voice of sweet song uttered among
the mountains may be uttered back from
the cavernous home of wild beasts and
rocks split and thunder Scared SO the
great harmonies of Gods providence are
rung back from the darkest caverns OF
this sin struck earth. Sennacherib and
Abimelech and Herod and Judas and
Nero and Nebuchadnezzar, though they
struggled like beasts unbroken to the load,
were DUO into YOKE. where they Mers
n1r~