The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-02-19

Then their wrathful king issues ar
edict with as little sense as mercy, or
dering the Staying of all the learned
men Of the country. But Daniel the
prophet comes i'll with the Interpretation
just in time to save the wise men and
the Jewish captives.
Pride and Ruin.
My friends, do you not see that pride
and ruin riue in the same saddle? See
Northumberland OH the proudest throne
of all the earth, and then see him Craze
with the sheep and the cattle! Pride is
commander, well plumed and caparison-
ed but it leads forth dark and frown-
ing host. The arrows from the AL
mighty's culver are apt to strike man
when on the wing. Goliath shakes his
/ great spear i'll defiance, but the smooth
stones from the brock make him stag
ger and fall like an OK under butch
er's bludeeon. He who is down cannot
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. An
tisthenes walked the streets of Athens
with ragged cloak to demonstrate his
humility, 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 We're as phil
osophic 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, 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
terrible thing is the loss of reason!
THERE'S 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 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 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 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 impeachment might put it out
of gear, can only be kept i'll 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
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 fCreECdings and
Authorizations the most appalling! Is il
not strange that this mind, which hopes
so much i'll its 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 less and gain
in quick succession beat out of it their
dirge or toss from it their anthem. AT
and at night, when in your
prayer you rehearse the causes of your
next to the salvation by
Jesus Christ, praise the Lord for the
of your reason.
He Served a Purpose.
See also in this story of Nebuchadnez-
Ear the use that God makes of bad men.
The actions of the wicked are used as
for the punishment of wick
edness in others or as the illustration of
some principle in the divine govern
ment. Northumberland subserved both
purposes. Even so l will go 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
was limited in its destructive
power and how God glorifed himself
IN the overthrow and disgrace of his en-
envy. Babylon is full of abomination,
and wicked Cyrus destroys it. Persia
fills the cup of its iniquity, and vile AL {
puts an end to it. Macedon
must be chastised, and bloody Emilius
Ices it. The Bastille is to be destroyed,
and corrupt Napoleon accomplishes it.
Even so selfish and wicked men are Of
EN- made to accomplish great and glori-
Jus purposes. Joseph's brethren were
guilty of speculative peridy and mean
less when they sold him into slavery {
or about 81, yet how they must have
1een overwhelmed with the truth that !
God never forsakes the righteous when
hey saw he had become the prime min ;
ster of Egypt Pharaoh Expresses the
sraelites with the most diabolic tyran-
~; yet stand still and see the salvation j