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

REV. DR.. TALMAGE SHOWS HOW A
KING WAS INUNDATED.

Enforce a Useful Lesson-The Desecra-
tion of Sacred Things-Use of the Sab
bath.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14.-Dr. Talmage
In this sermon uses a weird and strange
bcene of ancient times to illustrate the
behavior of modern people who desecrate
sacred things, and for their arrogance
get bad tumble. His subject was "a
King Eating Grass and the text
Daniel iv, 33, 1.-THE same hour was the
thing fulfilled upon ACKNOWLEDGMENT,
and he was driven from men, 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
NebuChadneZZar on the suspension
bridges which hang from the house tops
and he shows you the vastness of his
realm. AS the sun kindles the domes
with glisterings almost insufferable and
the great streets thunder up their pomp
into the ear of the monarch, and armed
towers stand around, adorned with the
spOils OF conquered empires, Nebuchad-
nezzar waves his hand above the stu
pendous 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
majesty" But in an instant all that
splendOr is gone from his vision, for
voice falls from the heaven, saying: 80
King Nebuchadnezzar, 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
thee to eat grass as oxen and seven
years shall pass over thee, until thou
know that the Most High ruleth in the
kingdom of men and giveth it to whom
soever he will" One hour from the
time that he made the boast he is on the
way to the fields a maniac, and, rush
ing into the forests, 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
On the Road to Babylon.
You see there is a great variety in the
Scriptural landscape. In several dis
courses we have looked at mountains of |
excellence, but now we look down into
a great, dark chasm of wickedness as we
come to speak of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. God
in his Word sets before us the beauty of
self denial, of sobriety, of devotion, of
courage, and then, lest we should not
thoroughly understand him, he intro
duced Daniel and Paul and Deborah as
illustrations of those virtues. God also
speaks to us in his Word as to the hate
fulness of pride, Of folly, of impiety
and lest we should not thoroughly I'M
derstand him, introduces Nebuchadnez-
gar as the impersonatiOn of these forms
of depravity. The former style of char
acter is lighthouse, showing us a way
into a 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 lighthouse!
The host of ACKNOWLEDGMENT is thunder
ing at the gates Of Jerusalem. The
crown Of that sacred city is struck into
the dust by the hand of Babylonish in
science. The vessels of the temple,
which had never been desecrated by pro-
fame touch, were ruthlessly seized for
sacrilege and transportation. Oh, what
a sad hour when those Jews, at the
command Of the invading army are
obliged to leave the home of their ma
tivity? How their hearts must have
been wrung with anguish when, on the
day they departed, they heard the trum-
pets from the top Of the temple an
nouncing the hour for morning sacrifice
and saw the smoke of the affairs ascend
ing 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 captives on
the road from Jerusalem to Babylon!
Worn and weary, they dare not halt,
for roundabout are armed men urging
them on with boot and shout and bias
phemy.
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 them
selves to sleep when the night had fall
en-. 1t seemed as if at every step a heart
broke. But at turn of the road Baby
lon suddenly springs upon the view OF
the captives, with its gardens and pal
aces. A shout goes up from the army as
they behold their native city, but not
not one huzza is heard from the cap
lives. These exiles saw no splendor
there, for it was not home The Eu-
pirates did not have the water CLEAN 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 hang
ing gardens upon that great city was
not so sweet as one breath Of the acacia
and frankincense that the high priest
Iindled in the sanctuary at Jerusalem.
On a certain night, little while after
I,-,,, ~ N,h foI