The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-08-25

interpret or modify the handwriting on the
wall. 1t is all foolishness to expect
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! Shall l tell you OF the
wonders that your race have accomplished!
"Oh, no." you say, "tell me the message
that came from God" will. II 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 it. Jesus never flattered those
to whom he preached. He said to those
who did wrong and who were offensive in
his sight: "Ye generation Of .vipers? Ye
whited sepulchers! How can ye escape
the damnation Of hell!" Paul the Apostle
preached before man who was not ready
to hear him preach. What subject did he
takef Did he say: "Oh, you are good
man, very fine man. very noble man"'
No; he preached Of Righteousness to a
man who was unrighteous; Of temperance
to q man who was the victim
Of bad appetites;, Of the judg.
ment to come to man who was unit for
it. So we must always declare the mes
sage that happens to come to us. Daniel
must read 1t as it is. A minister preached
before James l. Of England, who was
James vi. Of Scotland. What subject did
he takes The King was noted all over
the world for being unsettled and waver-
ing in his ideas. What did the minister
preach about to his man who was james |.
of England and James vi. Of Scotland!
He took for his text:
He that wavereth Is like wave Of the sea
driven with the wind and tossed james.
i,6
Hugh Latimer offended the King by a
sermon he preached, and the King said:
"Hugh Latimer, come and apologize"
81 will" said Hugh Latimer.
So the day was appointed, and the.
Kings chapel was full of lords and dukes,
and the mighty men and women of the
country, for Hugh latimer was to apollo.
gize. He began his sermon by saying:
"Hugh Latimer, bethink thee! Thou art
in the presence OF thine earthly King, who
can destroy the body! But bethink thee,
Hugh Latimer that thou art in the pres.
ence Of the King of Heaven and earth,
who can destroy both body and soul in
hell fire. o, King, cursed be thy crimesw
9. Another lesson that comes to us:
There is great difference between the
opening Of the banquet of sin and its close.
Young man, il you had looked in upon the
banquet in the first few hours you would
have wished you had been invited there
and could sit at the feast. 80, the grand.
eur Of Belshazzar's feast" you would have
said; but you look in at the close Of the
banquet and your blood curdles with hor.
ror. The King of Terrors has there a
ghastlier banquet; human blood Is the
wine and dying groans are the music. Sin
has made itself king in the earth. Ithas
crowned itself. 1t has spread a banquet.
1t invites all the world to come to it. 1t
has hung in its banqueting hall the spoils
of all kingdoms and the banners Of all ma.
tions. 1t has gathered from all music. 1t
has strewn from its wealth the table and
floors and arches. And yet how often is
that banquet broken up, and how horrible
is its end! Ever and anon there is hand.
writing on the wall. A king falls. A
great culprit is arrested. The knees Of
wickedness knocked together. Gods judg.
ment, like an armed host, breaks in upon
the banquet, and that night is Belshazz ar,
the King Of the Chaldeans, slain.
Here is young man who says: 81 can
not see why they make such fuss about
the intoxicating cup. Why, it is exhil-
arating. 1t makes me feel we'll. can
talk better, think better, feel better lean
not see why people have such prejudice
against IT," A few years pass on and he
wakes up and finds himself IN the clutches
of an evil habit which he tries to break,
but he can not; and he cries out: "Oh,
Lord God, help mew 1t seems as though
God would not hear his prayer, and in an
agony of body and soul he cries out:
1t biteth like serpent and sringeth like an
adder.
How bright it was at the start! how
black it was at the last!
Here is a man who begins to read
French novels. "They are so charming"
|
whether all these things are So" He
opens the gate of a sinful life. He goes
in. sinful sprits meets him with her
wand. She waves her wand and it is
all enchantment. Why it seems as il the
angels of God had poured out phials OF
perfume in the atmosphere. As he walks
on he finds the hills becom ing MOI radiant
with the falling water. q. what charm.
ing landscape he sees! But that sinful
sprite with her wand meets him again
but now she reverses the wand, and all the
enchanment is gone. The cup is full of poi.
son. The fruit turns to ashes. All the
leaves of the bower are torked tongues OF
kissing serpents. The flowing fountains
fall back in a dead pool, sten chful with
corruption. The Turing songs become
curses and screams of demoniac laughter
Lost spirits gather about him, and feel fol
his heart, and beckon him on with: "Hai
brother! Hail, blasted spirit! HailW HI
tries to get out. He comes to tho from
door, where he entered; and tries to pusl
it back, but the door turns against hin,
and in the jar of that shutting door h
hears these words:
This night is Belshazzar, tne King of tn
Chaldeans, slain.
Sin may open bright as the morning;
closes dark as the night.
3. learn further from this subject tina
death sometimes breaks in upon a ban
quet. Why did he not 60 down to tn
prisons in Babylon? There were peopl
; there that would like to have died.. sup
, pose there were men and women in tor
,ure in that city who would have wei
coined death. But he comes to the palace
/ and just at the time when the mirth i