PRIDE ABASED by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 13, 1900

PRIDE ABASED.

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.

The great king walked in his palace, And his heart was filled with pride, A scepter gleamed in his fingers, As in boastful tones he cried:

“Is not this mighty Babylon, Gleaming in beauty bright, Which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, Have built in my royal might?

“I built the glittering palaces, And I built the towers fine, And whose are the hanging gardens And the massive walls but mine? Is not this mighty Babylon, Built by a royal god? Ah, I am the greatest monarch That ever the earth hath trod.”

Then he heard a voice from the heavens, And he smote on his royal brow: “O mighty Nebuchadnezzar! To thee it is spoken now: Alas, for thy boasted power, For the power alone is mine! Thy kingdom is taken from thee, And the heart of a beast is thine.

“Thou shalt eat, like the stupid oxen, The grass of the field to-day, And thy hairs shall grow like the feathers Of the wandering birds of prey; And the dew of the humid heavens Shall fall on thy lordly head, Till seven times pass o’er thee,” The voice from the heavens said;

“Till thou know that the Most High ruleth O’er the mightiest nations, still, And giveth the earthly kingdoms To whomsoever he will.”

Then the heart of the mighty monarch Seemed bound with an icy band, And his brain was seared by the fingers Of a terrible, unseen Hand.

And he shuddered, and gasped, and trembled, And tore from his head the crown, And cast, in a frenzied horror, His royal scepter down.

And quick, in the selfsame hour, He fled from his palace grand, Pursued by a horrible power That he could not understand.

With the stupid beasts he wandered Till seven long years were past; And the heart of the haughty monarch Was stripped of its pride at last.