The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-15
A KING FEASTING ON GRASS.
TALMAGE breaches ON THE Desc
GRAFTON OF SACRED THINGS.

erence to the Fate of Ncbuchad-
nezzar-First He Pictures the
SplendOrs Of BabyIOn-Then he
Looks Down Into the Great, Dark
Chasm of Nfckedness-Pride ant
Ruin Ride in the same SaddIe-Dc-
ranEemcnt of Intellect Greatest
of CaIamitieS-Jse Made of Bad Men
by God.
Washington. Feb. 1L-Dr. Talmage
in this sermon uses a weird and strange
scene of ancient times to illustrate the be-
havior of modern people who desecrate
sacred things, and for their arrogance get
a bad tumble. His subject was: "A King
Eating Grass" and the text, Daniel A: 30:
The same hour was the thing fulfilled
upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven
from men, and did eat grass as oxen. and
his body was wet with the dew of heaven,
ill his hairs We're grown ike eagles
feathers, and his nails ike birds claws"
Better shade your eyes lest they be put
out with the splendor of Babylon, as some
morning you walk out with Nebuchadnez-
Ear on the suspension bridges which hang
from the housetops and he shows yolt the
vastness of his realm. As the sun kindles
the domes with glisterngs almost insult
their pomp into the air of the monarch,
and armed towers stand around, adorned
with the spois of conquered empires, Neb-
uchadnezzar waves his hand above the
stupendous scene and exclaims Is not
this great Babylon, that ! have built for
the house of the kingdom by the might Of
my power. and for the honor of my ma
jesty?" But IN an instant all that SPLEEN
dor is gone from his vision, for a voice
falls from the heaven. saying. 90 King
ACKNOWLEDGMENT, to thee It is spoken: The
kingdom is departed from thee: and they
shall drive thee from men, and thy dwell
ing shall be with the beasts of the field
they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen
ana seven years shall pass over thee. I'M
tii thou know that the Most High rulcth
IN the Kingdom of men, and giveth II TO
Whomsoever he will" one hour from the
time that he made the boast he is on the
way to the fields, maniac. and rushing
into the forests, he becomes one of tho
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 a great variety in the
bcflptural landscape. In several discourses
we have looked at mountains of excel
lence, but now we look down into great,
dark chasm of wickedness as we come to
speak of Nebuchadnezzar. God in his
Word sets before us the beauty of self
-
and then, lest we should not thoroughly
understand him, he introduced Daniel and
PAU, and Deborah as illustrations of
thOSe virtues. God also speaks to us in
his Word as to the hatefulness of pride,
of folly, of impiety, and lest we should not
thoroughly understand him. introduces
Nebuchadnezzar as the impersonation of
these forms of depravity. The former style
OF character is lighthouse showing US
way into a safe harbor, and the latter
style of character as black buoy. swing
ing on the rocks, to show where vessels
wreck themselves. Thanks unto God for
both the buoy and the lighthousel The
host OF NebuchadnezZar 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 desc
Grated by profane touch, were ruthlessly
seized for sacrilege' and transportation.
On. what a sad hour when those Jews, at
the command of the invading army. are
obliged 20 leave the home of their nativity.
How their hearts must have been wrung
with anguish when, on the day they de-
parted, they heard the trumpets from the
top of the temple announcing the hour
for morning sacrifice and saw the smoke
of the affairs ascending around the holy
hill of Zion, for well they knew that in a
far distant land they would never hear
that trumpet call, nor behold the majestic
ascent of the sacrifice. Behold those cap
tives on the road from Jerusalem to Ba-
byloni Worn and weary, they dare not
halt, for roundabout are armed men urg-
ing them on with boot, and shout, and
blasphemy Aged men tottered along on
lay their bones In the sleeping-place of
their fathers, and children wondered at the
length of the way and sobbed themselves
to sleep when the night had fallen. It
seemed as if at every step heart broke.
But at turn of the road Babylon sud
denly springs upon the view of the cap
tives. with its gardens and palaces. A
shout goes up from the army as they be-
hold their native city, but not one huzza
is heard from the captives. These exiles
saw no splendor there, for it was not
home. The Euphrates did not have the
water-gleam 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 descended from the
hanging gardens upon that great city was
not so sweet as one breath of the acacia
and frankincense that the high priest kim
died 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 pillow is apt
TO be stuffed with deeds and forebodings
which keep talking in the night. He will
lind that the eagles down in his pillow
will stick him like porcupine quilts The
ghosts of old transgrossions are sure 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 into his pres
GnEH, demanding Audl by tNtlI nttIbiudilCN
they explain his dream. They of course,
fan Then their wrathfui king issues an
edict with as little sense as mercy order
ing 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
captVes.
My friends, do you not see that pride
and ruin ride in the same saddle? See
ACKNOWLEDGMENT on the proudcst throne
of all the earth, and then see him Craze
with the sheep and the cattle! Pride is
commander. well plumed and caparisoned,
but IL leads forth a dark and frowning
host. The arrows from the Almighty's
culver are apt to strike a man when on
the wing. Goliath shakes his great spear
in defiance. but the smooth stones from
the brook make him stagger and fail like
an OK under butchers bludgeon He
who is down cannot fan. Vessels scud-
ding under bare poles do not feel the force
of the storm, while those with all sails set
capsize at the sudden descent of the tenn
pest
Remember that we can be as proud OF
our humility as of anything else. Antis-
themes walked the streets of Athens with
a ragged cloak to demonstrate his humi-
fly, but Socrates declared he could see the
hypocrisy through the holes In his coax.