Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-09

things that the people ike or the
people choose. What shall | preach TO
you to-day? Shall l tell you Of the
dignity OF human nature? Snail tell you
of the wonders that our race has accom-
plishedp ION, no." you say, "tell me the
message that came from God" Twill. IL
there is any handwriting on the wall it is
this lesson: "Repent, accept OF Christ
and be saved" | might talk OF a great
many other things, but that is the mes
sage, 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: Eye gene
ration Of vipers! we whited sepuchres!
how can ye escape the damnatlon
OF hellY' Paul the Apostle preached
before a man who was not ready
to hear him preach. What subject did he
take! Did he say: so, you are good
man, very fine man, a very noble man."
No, he preached OF righteousness, to a
man who was unrighteOus, of temperance
to man who was the victim OF bad appe-
titles, of the judgment to come to man
who was unfit for it. SO we must always
declare the message that happens to come
to us. Daniel must read it as it is. A
minister preached before James |. OF Eng
land, who was James vi. OF Scot
land. What subject did he take? The
mug w as DOltu oil ONCl bHC WV w
for being unsettled and wavering in mis-
ideas. What did the minister preach
about to this man who was James |. OF
England and James VI. OF Scotland? He
took for his text James j., 6: HE that
wavereth is like wave OF the sea driven
with the wind and tossed" Hugh Lati-
mer offended the King by sermon he
preached, and the King said: Hugh Lati-
mer, 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 aud
women of the country. for Hugh Latimer
was to apologize. He began his sermon
by saying: "Hugh Latimer, bethink thee!
Thou art in the presence OF thine earthly
King who can destroy thy body, but be-
think thee, Hugh Latimer, that thou art
in the presence of the King of heaven and
earth, who can destroy both body and
soul in hellfre. o, King, cursed be thy
crimesW
II. Another lesson that comes to u.s.
There is a great difference between the
opening 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 in
vited there ana could sit at the feast. so,
the grandeur of BelshaZZar's FEAST" you
would have said; but you look in at the
close OF the banquet and your blood cur
dies with horror. The King Of TerrOrs
has there ghastlier banquet; 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 a banquet. Ii invites all the
world to come TO 1t. 1t has
hung in It's banquetIng 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. Aud
yet now often is that banquet broken up
and how horrible is it's end! Ever and
anon there is hand writing on the wall.
A king falls. A great culprit is arrested.
The knees of wickedness knock together.
Gods judgment, like an armed host,
night is Belshazzar the King of the
Chaldeans slain.
Here is young man who says: 81 can
not see why they make such "a fuss about
the intoxicating cup. Why, it Is eXnila-
rating. 1t makes me feel well. | can
talk better, think better, feel better. |
cannot see why people have such a preju-
dice 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 ne cries out: so
God would not hear his PRAYER, and in an
agony of body and soul he cries out; alt
blteJn like serpent and IT stingetb like an
adder" How bright 1T was at the start! !
how black it was at last
Here is a man who begins to read
French novels. They are so charming, :"
he says. IL will go out and see for my
self whether all these things are so.' He
opens the gate of a sinful life. He goes
a.. f,xI AZ
wand. She waves her wand and
it is all enchantment. Why. it
seems as if the angels of God had poured
out phials of perfume in the atmosphere
AS he walks on he finds the hills be coming
more radiant with foliage ana the ravines
more resonant with the falling water. .,
what a charming landscape he sees! But
that sinful sprite with her wand meets
him again; but now she reverses the
wand ana all the enchantment is gone.
The cup is full of poison. The fruit
turns to ashes. All the leaves of the
bower are forked tongues of kissing
serpents. The flowing fountains fall back
in dead pool, stenchful with corruption.
The Turing songs become curses and
screams OF demoniac laughter. Lost
spirits gather about MIN and teel for his
heart and beckon him on with Hail,
brother! Hail, blasted spirit, hall" He
tries TO get our. He comes to the front
door where he entered aud 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. 1t closes
dark as the night.
III. | learn further from this subject
that Death sometimes breaks in upon a
banquet Why did he not 40 down to the
prisons in Babylon? There were people
there that would like to have died. [ sup
pose there were men and women in tor
ture in that city who would have well
coined 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 a
young man just come from college. He
Is kind. He is loving. He is enthusiast
tic. He is eloquent. By one spring
be may bound to heights to-
ward which many men have been strug-
Cling for years. A profession opens be-
fore him. He is established in the law.
His friends cheer him. Eminent men en-
courage him. After a while you may see
him standing in the American Senate, or
moving a popular assemblage by his elO-
quence ae trees are moved in whirl-
wind. Some night he retIres early. A
fever is on him. Delirium, like "A reckless
characters, eizes the reius of his intellect.
Father and mother stand by and see the
tides OF lite 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