Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-04-13
sERMoN 40 YoUNG Mes.

at st. Matthew's EpiscopaD Church. He took
his text from the 9Th chapter of Daniel, SOth
verse-reading:
slain"
The Rev. gentleman then went on to remark,
that perhaps there is trait IN the Divine char
acter more remarkable than His long suffering
than His mercy; for i: is illimitable. it would
seem that His paternal heart struggles against
destroying single soul for whom the Lord Je-
sus has suffered. How amazing it is, when we
think of IT, that he did not destroy our first pa
rents The Bible contains many instances, in
the Old and New TeStaments such as Pharaoh,
Herod and others, of His long forbearance The
history of BelShaZZar is one full of instruction
He was regardless of all the lessons conveyed to
him by the history of his predecessors, and the
Lord sent Cyrus against him. In that night
when he was holding fete in his palace he was
slain. When the sparkling goblet had partially
done its work, he began to resort TO blaSphemey
to insult the captive Jews. He knew full we'll
that an army was encarnped around the walls of
his city; lie knew the power of God Then
was the time when he and his courtiers should
have been active and vigilent-but instead, they
were sunk in drunken stuPor. All at once the
sound of invasion was Observation-Disclosures sees
the mysterious hand writing shining in super
natural light on the wall. The Soothsayers
were called in-but they could not interpret it.
Then Daniel was brought in and called upon to
interpret those words: "MENE, MEME, TEREL,
UPHARSIN;' which he did, telling Belhazzar that
God had numbered his kingdom and finished il;
that he (Belshazzarl had been weighed in the bal
ances and found wanting; that his kingdom was
henceforth to be divided and given to the Modes
and Persians. That very night Cyrus effected
an entrance into the city.
It has been announced that the remarks of
this evening would be addressed chiefly 10
young men. Young men may, perhaps, think
1t harsh in me to draw parallel between their
cases and that of Belshazzar: but true apprc-
henSiOn of our real character in the sight of
God is necessary to our Improvement If you
are not the children of Light you must be the
children of Darkness. The King of Babylon
bowed down in the worship of material IDOLS
To you this seems very gross and foolish: but
in the sight of God it was nOtso heinous as your
idol worship We have not to go back to Pa
gan Persia or India to find idOatry: it is here
in our midst, in all its essential characteristics.
It matters not that We do not worship stocks
s.''d stoEes, la your uoaIry as wei las IN that OF
Belshnzzar, the Lord is dethroned. The words
of the commandment are:
"ThOu shalt have no other gods before me-"
If, by this command, you are rcbuked, you
are an idoloter. Do you, OH young men, think
lightly of the guilt of such state. The Lord
is indeed jealous God Look within your
hearts and see if his law is consecrated there
See in word, if God is not rejected and the
Prince of the Power of the Air, installed in
your hearts instead. How can you expect that
when you reject and despise Him, that He viii
ever look upon you with forbenrance. de.
clare to you with solemnity, that if You hope
for salvation in such state, you are laboring
under hopeless delusion. You are warned
again and again in Holy Writ, that if you will
walk away after other gods, that you shall sure
lly be DESTROYED. There is no reason that your
fate should not be like that OF Korah, Datham
and Abiram. Look into your hearts and see if
Won are not affected with the same earthly
Spirit Do the considerations ofyour obligations
and duties to God enter into your purposes OF
lifep The sins af Balsh0NEgr were perhaps far
moro gross than yours. Yet there is not the same
line of difference in their enormity If you
have any apparent advantage over him. 1T is
not due TO your reverence for God. Many of
you are restrained by not having the same temp
tationS and also by sense of pride-but yet
your and his sins of idolatry are essentially the
same. Your both idolaters, it matters not
how the idoatrY may be evinced. But | say
| his sin, his idolatry was not so heinouS in the
same advantages. His knowledge of God wns
limited when compared with yours. You have
| listened TO His sweet and Affect onate Invita-
ions all your lives They are constantly adj
dressed to you. Your obligations to love
and serve Him are vastly greater than were
those of the King of Babylon, and your
guilt will be more fragrant for not doing So
He used the sacred vessels brought from the
Jewish temple, for his impious feasting and rev.
elry-yOu have desecrnted those vessels in which
the Lord has consecrated by giving you being;
in.which are placed the Thoughts and affections
of your minds and hearts. These you hnve
desecratcd. Belshazzar felt secure in his palooe
from the reach OF harm. He knew that he was
surrounded by the walls of Babylon, which were
81 feet thick and $50 feet high, and 10 miles
| around That sense ST security lullGd him into
a fatal indifference to the danger wi. Ia was at
hand Cyrus at that time was turniag the Eu-
pirates from its course and making ready to
march his army through the underwood walls.
So may some fatal danger be near at hand for
you. You are tempted by the insidious snares
of dissipation-of wine, ofpainted beauty. Far
better and less fatal would it be- for YOU to kiss
the envenoned froth from the serpent's Cangs.
than to be thus led captive. InRdrlity, too,
with all its conSumate skill and helish malice,
tenlpts you. The influence OF evil companion
ship, is ever threatening you But the dangers
by which Young men are surrounded, are too
numerous for me to specify them here. Your
lives are like the bridge in the vision of Mirza--
full of secret trap doors through which you are
liable to fall. You are like men treading near
n volcano. OH that God would open your eyes
to the danger by which you are surrounded A
more terrible foe than Cyrus, Is making inroads