The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-08-12

gilt Tor years. A profession opens be-
for INN. He is established in the law
Il friends cheer him. Eminent men
encourage him. After awhile you NAV
see i'm Standing in the American Sen
ate or movi z a popular assemblage by
MS elOquence as trees are moved in a
whiriwid Some night he retires early.
A fever is .. him. Delirium like a reck-
less CHAIR. teer seizes the reins of his in
tellect. Father and mother stand by
and see the tides of life going out to the
great ocean. The banquet is coming to
an end. The lights of thought and mirth
and eloquence are being extinguished.
The garlands are snatched from the
brow The vision is gone. Death at the
banquet!
We saw the same thing on a larger
scale illustrated at the last war in this
country. Our whole nation had been
sitting at a national banquet North,
South, East and West. What grain was
there lut we grew it on our hills? What
invention was there but our rivers must
turn the new wheel and rattle the
strange shuttle? What warm furs but
our traders must bring them from the
Arctic! What fish but our nets must
sweep them for the markets? What
music but it must sing in our halls?
WHIT eIoquence but it mu- t speak in our
Sella:es? Ho! to the national banquet
reaching from mountain to mountain
and from sea to sea! To prepare. that
banquet the Sheepfolds and the avi,rie-
OF the country sent their best treasures
The orchards piled up on the table their
sweetest fruits. The presses burst out
with new wines To sit at that table
came the yeomanry of New Hampshire
and the lumbermen of Maine, and the
tanned Carulinian from the rice-swampS,
and the harveS, erS of Wisconsin, and
the Western emigrant from the pines of
oregon, and we were all brothers
brothers at banquet Suddenly the
feast ended. What meant those mounds
thrown up at Chickahoininy. Shiloh.
Atlanta Gettysburg, South Mountain?
What meant those golden grain fields
turned into pasturing ground for cav
airy horses? What meant the corn
feds quilted with the wheels OF the
heavy suppl. train? Why those rivers
angry. Justice must come. A hand
writing on the WALL The nation has
been weighed and und wanting Dark
ness! Darkness! Woe to the North!
Woe TO the South! Woe to the East
Woe to the West! Death at the ban
auett
~. have also to Learn from the sub
3ect that the destruction OF the vicious
and of those who de-pise God will be
very sudden. The wave of III nth had
dashed to the highest point when that
mighty army broke through. 1t was
Unexpected. Suddenly. almost alw.ys,
comes tie doom of those who desp.se
God and def: the laws of men. How
was it at the Deluge? Do you suppose
it ca:i.. through long northeast storm,
SO dat ineoIle tor days efore W. re sure
il was coming? Nc. l ppo.e the
morning WAS bri. hit; that calmness
brooded on the waters that beauty sat
enthroned on the hills; when suddenly
the heavens burst, and the mountains
l. t,,x
dashed clear over the Andes and the
Himalayas.
The Red Sea was divided. The
Egyptians tried to cross it. There
could be no danger. Tie I>raoi te- tad
just gone through: where they had
gone why not the Egyptian O, ii
was such a beautiful walki. & lace.
pavement of tinged shells and pearls,
and on either side two great walls OF
Forward. great host of the Egyptians!
Clap the cymbals and blow the trumpets
of victory! After them! We will catch
them yet and they shall be destroyed.
But the walls of Solidified water begin
to tremble. They rock. They fall. The
rushing waters The shrek OF drowning
men! The swimming of the warehouses
the great host on the bottom of the sea.
or pitched by the angry wave on the
beach, battered, bruised and loath-
some wreck Suddenly destruction
came. One half hour before they could
not have believed 1t. Destroyed and
without remedy!
1 am just setting forth a fact which
you have noticed az we'll as I. Ananias
comes to the apostle. Theapostle says:
Did you Sill the land for so much4"
He says: Yes" 1t WAS lie. Dead!
AS quick as that! Sapphire, his wife.
comes in. Ibid you sell the land for
SO much?" Yes" It was q lie and
quick as that she was dead! Gods
judgments are upon those who despise
and defy Him. They come suddenly.
The destroying angel went through
Egypt Do you suppose that any OF the
people knew that he was coming? Did
they hear the flap of his great wing?
No! No! Suddenly, unexpectedly. he
came.
Skilled sportsmen do not like to shoot
bird standing on sprig near by. II
they are skilled they pride themselves
on taking 1t on the wing and they wait
till it starts. Death is an old sports
man and he loves to take men flying
under the very sun-On tn. wing.
Are there any here who are unpre-
pared for the eternal world? Are there
any here who have been living without
God and rilhout hooper Let me say
to you that you had better accept Of the
the Lord JESUS Christ. lest suddenly
your last chance be gone. The lungs
will cease to breathe; the heart will
stop. The time will come when you
shall go no more to the office, or to the
store, or to the shop. Nothing will be
left but Death. and Judgment, and
| Eternity. Oh, flee to 60 this hour! If
t. ere be one in This presence who has
| wander ed far away from Christ, though
| he may not have heard the call of the
| Gospel for many a year, l invite him
| now to come and be saved. Flee from
thy sin. Flee to the stronghold OF the
| GOSPEL.
| To-day invite you 20 a grander ban-
| queL than any l have / eiitioued My
| Lord. The KING. S The banquetei. Angels
| are the cup bearers. All The red, enc /
are the guests. The hall. Of eternal
love. frescoed with light. nd paved with
Il a 1, IL