Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-08-21

Clap the cymoals! Blow the trumpets!
Let the night go by with song and
dance and ovation; and let that Baby
lonish tongue be palsied that will not
say: 30 King Belshazzar. live for
ever!"
All, my friends! it was not any com
mon banquet to which these great peo-
pie came. All parts OF the earth had
sent their richest vlands To that table.
Brackets and chandeliers flashed their
light upon tankards of bun nislIed gold.
Fruits, ripe and luscious, in baskets Of
silver entwined with leaves, plucked
from royal Conservatives. Vases in
laid with emerald ana ridged with ex-
quisite tracories, filled with nuts that
were threshed from forests Of distant
lands. Wine brought from the royal
watts. foaming in the d~ecanters and bub-
bling in the chalices. Tufts of cassia
and frankincense waiting their sweet
ness from wall and table. Gorgeous
banners unfolding in breezes that came
through the opened window, bewitched
with the perfume of hanging gardens.
Fountains rising up from enclosures Of
ivory in jets Of crystal, to fall in
Gathering rain of diamonds and
pearls. Statues of mighty men
looking down from inches in
the wall upon wi and shields
brought from subdued empires. Idols
Of wonderful work standing on pedes-
tails OF precious stones. Embroideries
STOPPING about the windows aud wrap
ping pillars of cedar, and drifting on
floor inlaid with ivory and agate. Mu-
sic. mingling the thrum OF harps, and
the clash of cymbals, and the blast of
trumpets in Que
WAVE OF TRANSPORT
that went ripping along the wall and
breathing among the garlands, and
pouring down the corridors, and thrill
ling the souls Of a thousand banquet
ers. The signal is given, and the lords
and ladies, the mighty men and women
of the land, come around the table.
Pour out the wine, Let fo.m and bub-
bic kiss the rim! Hoist every one his
cup and drink to the sentiment: 80
King Belshazzar, live %forevcr!' Be
starred headband and carcanet of royal
CLEAN to the uplifted chalices, AS
again and again and again they are
emptied. Away with care from the
palace! Tear royal dignity to tatters!
Pour out more winet Give us more
light, wilder music, sweeter perfume!
Lord shouts to lord, captain ogles to
captain. Goblets clash, decanters rat
tie. There come III the obscene song
and the drunken hiccough, and the
slavering lip and the OUTLAW of idiotic
laughter, bursting from the lips of
princes, flushed, reeling, bloodshot;
while mingling with it all / hear:
.'Huzza, huzza, for great Belshaz-
zari"
What is that on the plastering of the
wall? Is it a spiritp Is it a phantom?
Is it Godp The music stops. The
goblets fall from the nerveless grasp.
There is q thrill. There is a start.
There is a thousand-voiced
SHREK OF HORROR.
Let Daniel be brought in to read that
writing. He comes in. He reads it:
Weighed III the balances, and art
found wanting" Meanwhile the As
syrians who for two years had been
laying in a siege to that city.
took advantage of that carousal
and came in. | hear the feet of
the %conquerors on tie palace stairs.
Massacre PUSHES in with a thousand
cleaning knives, Death bursts upon
! thn mama. n,,l uht,t fb, l~,y &C
that panqueting hall, for | do not want
to look. There is nothing there but
torn banners, and broken wreaths. and
the rush of upset tankards, and the
blood of murdered women, and the
kicked and tumbled carcass of the dead
king. For ''in that night was Bel
shazzar slain"
| learn from this, that when God
writes anything on the wall a man had
better read it as il is. Daniel did not
! misinterpret or modify the handwrit-
ing on the wall. 1t is all foolishness
to expect II minister of the Gospel to
preach always things that the people
like or the people choose. What shall
preach to you to-day? Shall tell you
of the dignity of human nature? Will
| tell you of the wonders that our race
has accomplished .Oh, MOI you
say, 'tell me the message that came
from God" / will. If there is any
handwriting on the wall it is this les
son: Repent, accept of Christ and be
saved" Knight talk OF a great many
other things but that is the message,
and so | declare il. Jesus never
flattered those to whom he preached.
He said to those who did wrong and
who were offensive in his sirht: Eye
generation of yipers! ye whited sepul-
chres! how can We escape the damna-
ton Of help" Paul the Apostle
preached before a man who was not
ready to hear him preach. What sub
ject did he takep Did he say: 80,
you are a good man. n very fine man,
a very noble man." No; he preached
of
RIGHTEOUSNESS,
to a ham who WIS unrighteous; Of tenn
perance, 20 a oian who was the victim
of bad appeliteS; of the Judgment to
come, to q man vino was unfit for it.
SO VIC must always declare the mes
sage that happens to come TO Us.
Daniel must read it as it IS. A minis
ter preached before James l.. of Eng