The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-15

mighty throne which will make him in-
 dependent of his surroundings few
 years ago the Irish historian, Justin Me-
 Carthy, wrote powerful novel entitled
 If I Were King" The plot Is laid in
 the court of the French king. He i'm
 agines a young knight in place of ca
 rousal becoming embroiled in quarrel
 During the, fight he exclaimed. 'lf l were
 king then I would right all wrongs and
 see that no injustice took place. These
 words were spoken in the presence of
 King Louis himself "All right said the
 king "I will let thee be king for one
 week But at the end of that week thou
 must die" So some men long for posi-
 tion They think that position will get
 them anything. They seem to care not
 whether the hangmans moose dangles at
 the end of their days of earthly power if,
 for time at least, in spite of all the aw-
 full cost which they shall pay, they can
 only say: q am king, I am king!' So
 was 1t In the land of Shnar, while the
 walls of Babel were being built. So 1t Is
 in our time Comparing this account of
 the building of Babel with our own meth cd of life, 1t is clear, as Parker said,
 that ism the beginning of time men have been doing pretty much the same thing all the world over" Yes, men in the past have believed that by the ma , terial things of life they could defy God. And men at the present day are believing the same thing.
 The Same Today As Then.
 This incident teaches that, with flash of the divine eye, God can demolish our towers of Babel on which we have spent so many years of hard labor. There is an old legend that many years ago one or the kings of Greece discovered gold mine in his Kingdom and summoned all his subjects to dig the treasures Tor hin' Farmers left their blows and herdsmen left their sheep and horticulturists ther gardens and trees. The sowing ana tne req hing of the Kingdom came to stand still. for the king must have his goid | Time passed on, and famine was threat ening the kingdom. The wives or the 1 husbandmen waited on the queen ana 1 protested because the king had called | their husbands and brothers rom tneii ] farms So the queen made a great leas' | for the king She called the goidsmiths 1 of the royal capital to her aid, and they | fashioned loaves of bread and buncnes | of fruit and fish and meats and vegeta- l hIes out of gold So wonderful were the l designs that the king was lost Tn aoifi l ration as course after course came lnts l the banquet hall made up of solid goio l But after while the king grew weary ana said: "I am hungry. Bring me some | thing to eat. Ndy, diS"SiN - 1 queen; ''how can I bring thee anythint l to eat but gold when thou hast driven al 1 thy subjects from the farms and the or | chards and the gardens iR order to ge l gold for thee?" So the >ncient ktnt 1 learned his lesson as many gold seekers | will vet learn theirs. God allows mef l large liberty. He tells them great truths | but if they do not believe them He per 1 rnits them to go and learn by experience !, what error is. The Greek king may ge i his gold. the Babel builders may ra1s' | their tower, but both learn that they nave | made a gigantic blunder Human nature | has needs that they have overlooked, am | after long toll they have to admit, hn' I King Saul, 'I have played the fooi an' ! erred exceedingly"
 ] But there is another fact l want yo' l to bear well in mind about these men o l Shinar They were men of great con l ceptions They did not belong 10 rae' | of pygmies They were giants Tn prai' | and in their conception of work And thi tower of Babel demonstrates the tremen dous fact-that men of boldness and dar ing are not always wise. A great scnem' compels the admiration of the world. Mei are dazzled by it; it fatters human p1ius ". ! We have seen in the business "oriu si gantic combinations of late years. Mel | have planned for large things ine' have combined capital, have bought ul rival concerns. have formed huge trusts they have schemed to absorb 70 them 1 selves the worlds wealth, and the wori' | mas stood amazed at the boldness or tnei schemes. But let us have care Not