Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-08-18
1.-THE MIDNIGHT REVEL"
SERMON BY DIR. DE WITT TALMAGE.

On Sunday, the 8th inst, this eloquent
minister preached to vast multitude at
Monona, Wisconsin. The subject of the
sermon was. ''The Midnight Revel," and
the text was Daniel ", 80: "In that night
was Belshazzar the King of the Chaldeans
Slain"
Not having the space for the whole, we
publish the latter half as follows:-
II. Another lesson that comes to us:
There is a great difference between the open
ing of the banquet of sin and its close.
Young man, if 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. 30, the grandeur of
Belshazzsr's feast" you would have said;
but you look in at the close of the banquet,
and your blood curdles with horror. The
King of Terrors has there a ghastlier ban
quet; human blood is the wine and dying
groans are the music. Sin has made itself
king in the earth. 1t has crowned itself.
1t has spread banquet. 1t invites all the
world to come to it, 1t has hung in its ban
quoting hall the spoils of all Kingdoms and
the banners of all nations. 1t has gathered
from all music 1t has strewn from its
wealth the tables and floors and arches.
And yet how often is that banquet broken
I'D, and how horrible is its end Ever and
anon there is handwriting on the wall. A
king falls. A great culprit is arrested.
The knees of wickedness knock together.
Gods Judgment, like an armed host, breaks
in upon the banquet, and that night is Bel
shazsar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain.
Here is a young man who says: II can
not see why they make such fuss about
the intoxicating cup. Why, it is exhilara-
ting. 1t makes me feel well. | can talk
better, think better, feel better. cannot
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
cannot, and he cries out: go Lord God, help
mev' 1t seems as though God would not
hear his prayer, and in an agony of body
and soul he cries out: cit biteth like a SER
pent and it stingeth like an adder" How
bright it was at the start! how black it was
at the last!
Here is man who begins to read French
novels. "They are SO charming" he says;
81 will 90 out and see for myself whether
all these things are So" He opens the gate
of sinful life He goes in. A sinful
spirite meets him with her wand. She
waves her wand and it is all enchantment.
Why it seems as if the angels Of God have
poured out phials Of perfume in the atmOs-
phere. AS he walks on he finds the hills be-
coming more radiant with foliage, and the
ravines more resonant with falling water.
o, what charming landscape he sees! But
that sinful sprite with her wand meets him
again; but now she reverses the wand and
all the enchantment is gone. The cup is
full of poison. The fruit turns to ashes.
Allsthe leaves of the bower are forked tom
cues kissing serpents. The flowing foun-
tains fall back in dead pool, stenchful with
corruption. The Turing songs become
curses and screams of demoniac laughter.
Lost spirits gather about him, and feel for
his heart, and beckon him on with: "Hail,
brother! Hail, blasted spirit, hair' He
tries to get out. He comes to the front door
where he entered and tries to push it back,
but the door turns against him; and in the
jar of that shutting door he hears these
words: "This night is Belshazzar the King
of the Chaldeans slain." Sin may open
bright as the morning; it closes dark as the
night.
III. learn further from this subject that
Why did he not 90 down to the prisons in
Babylon? There were people there that
would like to have died. l suppose there
were men and women in torture in that city
who would have welcomed death. But he
comes to the palace, and just at the time
when the mirth is dashing to the tip-top
pitch Death breaks in at the banquet. We
have often seen the same thing illustrated.
Here is young man just come from college.
He is kind. HeiS loving. He is enthusias-
tic. He is eloquent By one spring he
may bound to heights toward which many
men have been struggling for years. A pro-
fession opens before him. He is establish
ed in the law. His friends cheer him. EN-
inent men encourage him. After awhile
you may see him standing in the American
Senate or moving popular assemblage by
his eloquence as trees are moved in whirl-
wind. Some night he retires early. A fe-
YER is on him. Delirium like reckless
charioteer seizes the reins of his intellect.
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
snauched from the brow. The vision is
gone. Death at the banquet!
We saw the same thing on larger scale
illustrated at the last war in this country.
Our whole nation had been sitting at ma
tional banquet-North, South, East and
West. What grain was there but we grew
it on ou1 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 itmust sing in our halls? What elo.
quence but it must speak in our Senates
Ho! to the national banquet reaching from
mountain to mountain and from sea to sea
To prepare that banquet the sheepfolds and
the aviaries of the country sent their best
treasures. The orchards piled upon the ia
i BILE their sweetest fruits The nrpssaa hl1rsi