The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-03-25
A KING EATING GRASS,
Rev. DR.. Talmege Discourses on
Nebuchadnezzars Sin.
The Humiliation of a Proud Monarch and
the Lessons to be Learned There
from-God's Uses OF
Wicked Men.

The following discourse by Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage, on IA King Eating
Grass" was based on the text:
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon
| Nebuchadnezzar; and he was driven away
from men. and did eat grass as oxen, and his
| body was wet with the dew Of Heaven till his
| hairs were grown like eagles feathers and his
nails like birds claws.-Daniel iv., 80
Better shade your eyes lest they be
put out with the splendOr Of Babylon,
as some morning you walk out with
| Nebuchadnezzar on the suspension
bridges which hang from the house
tops, and he shows you the vastness
of his realm. AS the sun kindles the
domes with glisterings almost insult
ferable, and the great streets thunder
up their pomp into the ear of the
monarch, and armed towers stand
around, adorned with the spoils of
conquered empires, Nebuchadnezzar
waves his hand above the stupendous
| scene and eXclaims: rs 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 majesty?" But in an instant
all that splendor is gone from his
vision, for voice falls from Heaven,
saying: "Oh, King Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is
departed from thee; and they shall
drive tl.ee from men, and thy dwelling
shall be with the beasts of the field;
they shall make thee to eat grass as
oxen, and seven years 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 made the
boast he is on the way to the fields, a
maniac, and, rushing into the forests,
he becomes cne of the beasts, covered
with eagles feathers for protection
| from the cold, and his nails growing
| to birds claws in order that he might
dig the earth for roots and climb the
trees for nuts.
You see there is great variety in
the Scriptural landscape. In several
discourses we have looked at noun
tains of excellence, but now we look
| down into great, dark chasm of
| wlckedness as we come to speak of
| Nebuchadnezzar. God in His word
sets before us the beauty of self-de-
nial, of sobriety, of devotion, of cour-
age, and then, lest we should not
thoroughly understand Him, He in
troduced Daniel and Paul, and De-
| borah, as illustrations of those virtues.
to the hatefulness of pride, of folly, of
impietv, and lest we should not thor
oughly understand Him, introduced
Observation-Disclosures as the impersonation
OF these forms of depravity. The
former style of character is light
house, showing US way into
a safe harbor, and the latter
style of character is a black
buoy swinging on the rocks, to
Thanks unto God for both the buoy
and the lighthouse! The host of Neb-
uchadnezzar is laundering at the gates
OF Jerusalem. The crown of that sacred
city is struck into the dust by the hand
of Babylonish insolence. The vessels
Of the temple, which had never been
desecrated by profane touch, We're
ruthlessly seized for sacrilege and
transportation. Oh, what sad hour
when those Jews, at the command of
the invading army, are obliged to
leave the home of their nativity! How
their hearts must have been wrung
with anguish when, on the day they
departed, they heard the trumpets
from the top of the temple announc-
ing the hour for morning sacrifice,
and saw the smoke of the al
tars ascending around the holy hill
of Zion, for they all knew that
in far distant land they would never
hear that trumpet call, nor behold the
ma ajestic ascent of the sacrifice. Be
hold those captives on the road from
Jerusalem to Babylon! Worn and
weary, they dare not halt, for round
about are armed men urging them on
with hoot, and shout, and blasphemy.
Aged men totter along on their slaves,
weeping that they could not lay their
bones in the sleeping place of their
fathers, and children wondered at the
length Of the way and sobbed them
selves to sleep when the night had
fallen. 1t seemed as if at every step a
heart broke. But at turn in the
road Babylon suddenly springs upon
the view Of the captives, with it's gar
dens and palaces. Ashout goes up from
the army as they behold their native
city, but not one huzza is heard from
the captives. These exiles saw no
splendor there, for it was not at home.
The Euphrates did not have the water
glsam of the brook Kedron or the pool
of Sloan. The willows of Babylon,
on which they hung their untuned
harps, were not as graceful as the trees
which at the foot of Mount Moriah
seemed to weep at the departed glory
of Judah, and all the fragrance that
descends from the hanging gardens
upon that great city was not so sweet
as one breath of the acacia and frank
inscense that the high priest kindled
in the sanctuary at Jerusalem.
On a certain night, little while
after these captives had been brought
to his city, Nebuchadnezzar is scared
with night vision. A bad mans pill
low is apt to be stuffed with deeds and
forebodings which keep talking in the