The Monitor-register., 1897-02-19
sudden descent of the femnesf.

to contain his ashes was at his COM
mand brought to him he said, Little
urn, thou shalt contain one for whom
the world was too little. "
Do you not also learn from the mis-
fortune of this king of Babylon what a
terrible thing is the loss of reason?
There is no calamity that can possibly
befall us in this world so great as de-
rangement Of intellect; to have the
body of man and yet TO fall even below
the instinct of brute. In this world of
horrible sights, the most horrible is the
idiots stare. In this world of horrible
sounds, the most horrible is the maniac s
laugh. A vessel driven on the rocks,
when hundreds go down never to rise
and other hundreds drag their mangled
and shivering bodies upon the winters
beach, is nothing compared to the foun-
dering of intellects full of vast hopes
and attainments and capacities.
Christ's heart went out toward those
who were epileptic, falling into the fire,
or maniacs cutting themselves among
the tombs We are accustomed to be
more grateful 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 we'll
will always be faithful. We forget that
an engine of such tremendous power,
! where the wheels have such vastness of
circle and such swiftness of motion, and
the least impediment might put it out
of gear, can only be kept in proper bal
ance by divine hand. No human hand
could engineer the train of immortal
faculties. How strange it is that our
, memory, ON whose shoulders all the
misfortunes and successes and occur
rences of a lifetime are placed, should
not oftener break down, and that the
scales Of Judgment, which have been
weighing so much and SO long, should
not lose their adjustment, and that fancy,
which holds dangerous wand, should
not sometimes maliciously wave it,
bringing into the heart forebodings and
hallucinations the most appallingl Is it
not strange that this mind, which hopes
SO much in it's mighty leaps for the at
tainment of its objects, should not be
dashed to pieces on its disappointments?
Though so delicately tuned, this instru-
ment of untold harmony plays on,
though fear shakes it and vexations rack
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
prayer you rehearse the causes of your
thanksgiving, next to the salvation by
Jesus Christ, praise the Lord for the
preservation of your reason.
He Served q Purpose.
See also in this story of Nebuchadnez-
zar the use that God makes of bad men.
The actions of the wicked are used as
instruments for the punishment Of wick
edness in others or as the illustration Of
some principle in the divine govern
ment Nebuchadnezzar subseryed both
you to the history of every reprobate
that the world has ever seen, and will
show you how to a great extent his
wickedness was limited in its destructive
power and how God glorified himself
in the overthrow and disgrace Of his en-
emy Babylon is full of abomination,
and wicked Cyrus destroys it. Persia
fills the cup of its iniquity, and vile AL
exander 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 Of
ten made to accomplish great and glori-
ous purposes Joseph's brethren were
guilty of superlative perfdy and mean
ness 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 min
lister of Egypt! Pharaoh oppresses the
Israelites with the most diabolic tyran-
ny; yet stand still and see the salvation
Of God. The plaques descend, the To-
Gusts, and the hail, and the destroying
angel, showing that there is God who
will defend the cause of his people, and
finally, after the Israelites have passed
through the parted sea, behold, in the
wreck of the drowned army, that Gods
enemies are chaff in whirlwind! In
some financial panic the righteous suf-
fered with the wicked. Houses and
stores and shops in night foundered
on the rock of bankruptcy, and healthy
credit without warning 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 pro-
tested notes after them. Those who be-
fore found 1t hard to spend their money
were left without money to spend. La
borers went home for want of work, to
see hunger 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 joined in the long fu-
neral procession, marching to the grave
of dead fortunes and 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 a
potter's vessel, and God wrote with let
ters of fire, amid the ruin and destruc-
tion of regulations and estates that were
thought impregnable, the old fashioned
truth, which centuries ago he wrote in
his Bible, ''The way of the wicked he
turneth upside down. AS the stars of
heaven are reflected from the waters Of
the earth, even SO Gods great and mag
nifcent purposes are reflected back from
the boiling sea of human passion and
turmoil. As the voice of a sweet song
uttered among the mountains may be
uttered back from the cayernous home
of wild beast and rocks split and thun-
der 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
put into yoke, where they were COM
PEELED to help draw ahead Gods great
projects of mercy.
Again, let us learn the lesson that
men can be guilty of polluting the sacred
vessels of the temple and carrying them
away to Babylon. The sacred vessels in
the temple at Jerusalem were the cups
and plates of gold and silver with which
the rites and ceremonies were celebrat-
ed The laying Of hesthen hands upon
them and the carrying Sem off as spoils
were an unbounded offense to the Lord
of the temple. Yet Nebuchadnezzar
committed this very sacrilege. Though
that wicked king is gone, the sins he III