Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-02-18
A AKINGEATING GRASS
REV. DR.. TALldAeE ON THE DEsEcRA-
TON OF SACRED THINGS.


Two Styles OF Character TO illustrate
Gods word-One Is Like a Lighthouse,
and tho other Is Like Black Buoy-A
Weird Scene.
WASHINGTON, Feb 14.-Dr. Talmage in
lis sermon uses a weird and strange scene
bf ancient times to illustrate the behavior
Of modern people who desecrate sacred
shings and for their arrogance get bad
tumble. His subject was "a King Eating
Grass" and the text Daniel iv, 80, "The
sarne hour was the thing fulfilled upon
Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from
mon 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"
Better shade your eyes lest they be put
out with the splendor Of Babylon, as some
morning you walk out with Nebuchadnez-
zar on the suspension bridges which hang
from the house tops and he shows you the
vastncss of his realm, as the sun kindles
the domes with glistenings almost insuffer-
able, and the great streets thunder up their
armed towers stand around, adorned with
the spoils of conquered empires. Nebu-
chadnezzar waves his hand above the stu
pendous scene and exclaims, SIS 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 a voice falls from
heaven, saying: 80, King Nebuchadnez-
Ear to thee it is spoken, The kingdom is
departed from thee, and they shall drive
thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be
with the beasts of the field. They shall
make the to eat grass as oxen, and seven
years shall pass over thee, until thou know
chat the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
Of men and giveth it to whomsoever he
will" One hour from the time that he
made tho boast he is on the way to the
fields, a maniac, and rushing into the for
ests he becomes one 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 a great variety in the
Scriptural landscape. In several discourses
we have looked at mountains of excellence,
but now VIC look down into great, dark
chasm of wiclledness as we come to speak
Of Nebuchadnezzar. God in his Word sets
before US the beauty Of self denial, of So
briefly, of devotion, of courage, and then,
lest we should not thoroughly understand
him, he introduced Daniel and Paul 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 under
stand him introduces Nebuchadnezzar as
the impersonation of these forms of de-
pravity. The former style of'character is q
lighthouse, showing us q way into safe
harbor, and the latter style Of character is
black buoy, swinging on the rocks, to
show where vessels wreck themselves.
Thanks unto God for both the buoy and
the lighthousel The host of Nebuchadnez-
zar is laundering at the gates of Jerusa-
lem. The crown of that sacred city is
struck into the dust by the hand of Baby
lonish insolence. The vessels of the tenn
pie, which had never been desecrated by
profane touch, were ruthlessly seized for
sacrilege and transportation. Oh, what o
sad hour when those Jews, at the COM
mand 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 announcing the hour for morn
ing sacrifice and saw the smoke of the al
tars ascending around the holy hill of
Zioni For well they knew that in a far dis
tant land they would never hear that trum-
pet call nor behold the majestic ascent of
the sacrifice. Behold those captives on the
road from Jerusalem to Babylon Worn
about are armed men urging them on
with hoot and shout and blasphemy.
| Aged men tottered 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 themselves to sleep when
the night had fallen. 1t seemed as if at ev-
cry step O heart broke. But at a turn Of
the road Babylon suddenly springs upon
the view of the captives, with it's gardens
and palaces. A shout goes up from the ar
my 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 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 un-
tuned harps, were not as graceful as the
trees which at the foot of Mount Moriah
seemed to weep at the departed glGy of
Judah, and all the fragrance that descend
ed from the hanging gardens upon that
great city was not so sweet as one breath
of the acacia and frankincense that the
high priest kindled in the sanctuary at
Jerusalem.
Pride and Ruin.
| On certain night little while after
these captives had been brought to his city
Nebuchadnezzar is scared with q night vi
sion. A bad mans pillow is apt to be
stuffed with deeds and forebodings which
keep talking in the night He will find
that the eagles, down in his pillow will
stick him like porcupine quilts. The
ghosts of old transgressions 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
I'll the wise men of the land into his pres
ence, demanding that by their necroman-
Gy they explain his dream. They, OF
course, fail. Then their wrathful king is
sues an edict with as little sense as mercy,
ordering the staying of all the learned mer
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, do you not see that pride
and ruin ride in the same saddleP See Neb-
uchadnezzar on the proudest throne of all
the earth and then see him Craze with the
sheep and the cattle Pride is command
er, well plumed and caparisoned, but it
leads forth dark and frowning host.
The arrows from the Almighty's quiver
are ant to strike. man when on the wing:
A q q ~G