The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-03-25
BENTON, LOUISIANA, THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1897.

poAShpAAc QulllS he ghosts OF OlC
transgresslons are apt to wander about
in the darkness and beckon and hiss.
Yet when the morning came he found
That the vision had entirely fled from
him. Dreams drop no anchors, and
therefore are apt to sail away before
we can fasten them. Nebuchadnezzar
calls all the wise men of the land iEtC
his presence, demanding that by their
necromancy they explain his dream.
They, of course, fail. Then their
wrathful king issues an elict with as
little sense as mercy, ordering the
Staying Of all the learned men of the
country. But Daniel the prophet
comes in with the Interpretation just
in time to save the wise men and the
Jewish captives.
My friends, doyou not see that pride
and ruin ride in the same saddle? See
NeEuchadneZzar on the proudest
throne of all the earth, and then see
him Craze with the sheep and the
cattle! Pride is commander, well
plumed and caparisoned, but it leads
forth dark and frowning host. The
arrows from the Almighty's quiver are
apt to strike a man when on the wing.
Goliath shakes his great spear in de-
hance, but the smooth stones from the
brook made him stagger and fall like
an OK under butchers bludgeon. He
who is down can not fall. Vessels
scudding under bare poles do not feel
the force of the storm, while those
with all sails set capsize at the sudden
descent of the tempest.
Remember that we can be as proud
of our humility as of anything else.
Antisthenes walked the streets of
Athens with ragged cloak to demon
strate his humility, but Socrates de-
clared he could see the hypocrisy
through the holes in his cloak We
would all see ourselves smaller than
we are if we were as philosophic as
Severus, the emperor of Rome, who
said at the close of his life: 81 have
been everything, and everything is
nothing.' And when the urn that was
to contain his ashes was at his COM
mand brought to him, he said: Lit =
tie 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 be-
low the instinct of a 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 hun
dreds go down never to rise and other
hundreds drag their mangled and
shlvering bodies upon the winters
beach, is nothing comprred to the
foundering of intellects full of vast
hopes and attainments and capacities.
Christ's heart went ont toward those
who were epileptic, falling into
the tire, 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 well
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 balance by Divine hand. No
human hand could engineer the train
OF immortal faculties. How strange it
is that our memory, on whose shoul-
ders all the misfortunes and successes
and occurrences of lifetime are
placed, should not oftener bread down,
and that the scales of Judgment,
which have been weighing so much
and so long, should not lose their ad.
justment, and that fancy, which holds
a dangerous wand, should not some
times maliciOusly wave it, bringing
into the heart forebodings and hallu-
cinations the most appalling! Is it
not strange that this mind, which
hopes SO much in it's mighty leaps for
the attainment of its objects, should
not be dashed to pieces on it's disap-
pointments? Though SO delicately
tuned, this instrument of untold har-
money plays on, though fear shakes it
and vexations racks it and sorrow and
JOY and loss and gain in quick success
sion 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 thanks
giving, next to the salvation of Jesus
Christ, praise the Lord for the pres
ervation of your reason.
See also in this story of Nebuchad-
nezzar the use that God makes of bad
men. The actions of the wicked are
used as instruments for the punish
ment of wickedncss in others or as the
illustration of some principle in the
Divine government. Nebuchadnezzar
subserved both purposes. Even SO l
will 90 back with you to the history
of every reprobate that the world has
ever seen, and l will show you how,
to great extent, his wickedness was
limited in it's destructive power,
and how God glorified Himself
in the overthrow and disgrace of
His enemy. Babylon is full of abom-
ination, and wicked Cyrus destroys it.
Persia fills the cup of it's iniauitv, and