_On that night could not the king sleep._ THE POWER OF A SLEEPLESS NIGHT A trifling circumstance to record. Ah! how important are little things: the unnoticed things are the life-blood of the world. In a great palace we think of the marble and the stone, the cedar and the iron, but who thinks of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is nothing done for him._ MERIT OVERLOOKED Modest merit is overlooked, while the aspiring, the ambitious, and the time-serving rise to honour and riches. Nor is ingratitude confined to courts. (_T. McCrie, D. D._) INGRATITUDE TO GOD But if gratitude to man for his comparatively little kin... [ Continue Reading ]
_What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?_ PRIDE ASSOCIATED WITH FOLLY 1. In Haman honouring Mordecai we have a remarkable verification of the fable of the dog and the shadow. He gaped after the shadow and lost the substance. Folly generally rides after pride. Haman grew... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate _ HUMILITY A proud, ambitious man would have said to himself, “No more of the king’s gate for me! I shall direct my steps now to the king’s palace, and hold myself ready for honour, office, emolument, which surely must now be at hand. ” Mordecai seems t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Before whom thou hast begun to fall._ DESCENT EASY The ascent to honour and greatness is steep, and those who aspire after them must climb it slowly, and with difficulty; but the descent is easy, and so precipitous, that when they lose their footing they fall in minutes what they rose in years. ... [ Continue Reading ]