I0 8 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



genius in contrast with man's personal insignificance. 

 The idol which the Babylonish monarch saw in his 

 dream was in harmony with the huge monoliths, 

 temples, and human-headed bulls which formed the 

 architectural ornaments of his capital. Its colossal size 

 admirably represented the material power and extent 

 of his kingdom. Mere bulk and physical massiveness 

 were the characteristics of the great empires of an- 

 tiquity. But God's thoughts are not as man's thoughts. 

 In nature He accomplishes His mightiest operations 

 by the most insignificant agencies. The limestone 

 rocks which constitute so large a portion of the earth's 

 crust are formed, not of the bones of huge animals, 

 but of minute shells. Large islands are created by 

 the labours of tiny coral polyps. And as in nature, 

 so in grace. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain 

 of mustard-seed, which is the least of all the seeds 

 that be in the earth. God chooses the weak things 

 to confound the mighty, and things that are not to 

 bring to nought things that are, that no flesh may 

 glory in His presence. What was Palestine but a very 

 little country among the mighty continents of the earth? 

 And what was Israel but an insignificant people in 

 comparison with the great nations of antiquity? And 

 was not Bethlehem where Jesus was born one of the 

 least of the cities of the land, and the house of 

 Joseph among the poorest and most obscure families 

 in it? The barley cake of Israel overthrew the tent 

 of the Midianites, and the small stone of God's king- 

 dom upset the mighty idols of the world's empire. 



