Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-08-27

hlsb lew nOdlsf you would have wished
You had been invited there ami could SIT at
the feast 'Oh, the grandeur Of Belshazlaris
Ieast," you would have said; but Won
look in at the close of the banIuet
aad your bloOl curdles with horror
Inc king OF TeTors has the e a gha,tlier
banquet: human blood is the wine aud diving
groans ars the music. Sin has maue ITSELF a
hlng IN the ca. tn. 1t has crowned itself. 1t
has sprea1 a banquet 1t invites all the
wOrid to come TO iii 1t has hung in its ban
quoting hall the spolls of all kin Edoms AMI
the banners OF all nations. It has strewn
from its wealth the tables and floors and
arches And yet how often is that banquet
broken up and how horrible is its end Ever
and anon there is handwriting on t1e vail,
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
shazzar, 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 celebrating
1t makes me feel well. / can talk better,
think better, feel better. l cannot see why
people have such prejudice against it." A
lew years pass on and no wakes up and finds
b msef in the clutches of an evil habit which
he tries to break, bat cannot; and he cries
out; "Oh Lord God, help mer Itseems as
though God would not hear his prayer. and
IN an agony of body and soul he cries out.
at biteth like a serpent and it stingeth like
an adder" How bright it was at the start!
How black it was at the lastl
Here is man who begins to read French
novels "They are so charming, - he sayse 81
Will go out and see for myself whether all
these things are So" He opens the gate of a
sinful life. He goes in. A sinful sprite meets
him with her wand She waves her wand,
and it is all enchantment Why, it seems as
If the angels of God hal poured out phials
of perfume in the at nosphere. As he walks
on he finds the hills becoming more rIli-
ant VITA foliage, and the ravineS more
resonant with the falling water, On, what
charming Landscape he sooSl But that
sinful sprite with her wand meets him
again; and now she revelsCs the wand
and all the enchantment is gone The cup
is full of poison. The fruit turns to ashes
All tl'o leaves of the bower are forked
tongues ot hlssing serpent' The flowing
founiaiaH fall back in dead reel stenchful
with corruption The Turing Songs lie ,ome
curses and screams of demOniac LAUGHTER
Lost spiri'S gather about him and feel for
his heart, and beckon him on with: Hail,
brother! Hail, blasted spirit, hailr' 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 tho
jar of that shutting door he he us these
of the Chaliean SLANT Sin may open
bright as the morning it closes dark as thu
night
Z. learn further from this subject that
death sometimes breaks in upon ban 1uet
Why did he not go down t. the prisons in
Babylon! There were people there that
would like to have died. l suppose there
We're men and women in torture in that city
who woull have welcomed death. But he
comes to the palace, and just at the time
when the mirth is dashing to tho tiptop
pitch, death breaks in at the ban 1uet. We
have often seen the same thing illustrated
Here is a young man just come from col
lege. He is kind. He is loving. H. is en-
thusiastic He is !oIuent By one spring
he may bounl to heights iowa d which many
men have been strug gling for wears. A pro-
fesSion opens before him. He is estab shed
in the law. His friends cheer him Eminent
men encourage him After awhile you may
see him standing in the American Senate, or
moving a popua ar assemblage by his 60.
quence, as trees are moved in a whirlwird.
Some night he retircs early. A fever is on
him. Del.r UNI, like reckless chariOteer,
seizes the re MS of his intellect. Father and
mother stand by and see the I'll e5 of life
going out to the great ocean. The banquet
is coming to an end The lighs of thou 1ht
and mirth and elo1uene are being extin.
gui he'd he garlands are snatched from
the brow The vision is gone.
We saw the same thing on a larger scah
illustrate at the last war in tn country
Our VIII le nation had been sitting at ia.
tional tauquet- North South, East and
West What grain was there but we grew
it on our hills3 What invention was there
but our rivers must turn the new wneel and
rattle the strange shuttle! What warm fur,
but our traders must bring the n from
the Arctic? What fish but that our
nets must sweep them for the markets
What music but it must sing in our
haltsl What eloluence but it must
speak in cur SenateS2 Ho! to the nationql
banquet reaching from m0untai1 to m I'M
tain and from sea to seal To prepare that
banquet the sheepfolds and the ayiaries OF
the country sent their best treasures The
orchards piled up on the table their swe to i
fruits. The presses burst olt with now wires
TIE sit at t. at table came the yeomanry OF
New Hampshire, and the lumbermen of
Maine, and the tanned Carolinian from the
rice swamps and the harvesters of Wis onsin,
and the West IN emigrant from the pines OF
Oregon; and we were all brothres-brothers
at a banquet Suddenly the feast ended
What meant those mounds thrown up at
Chickahominy, Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettysburg,
South Mountain' What meant those golden
grain fields turned into q pastuling ground
for cavalry horses What meant the corn
fields quilted with The wheels of the heavy
supply trains Why those rivers OF tears,
those lakes Of bloodl God was angry. Jus.
tice must come Il handwriting on the wall.
| The nation had been weighed and found
wanting. Darkne5sl Darkness! Woe to
the North! Woe to the SOUTH Woe to the
East! Woe to the Westl Death at the ban.
quetI
4. have also to learn from the subject
that tho destruction of the vicious and Of
those VINO despise God will be worry sudden
The wave of mirth had dashed to the highest
point whom that Assyrian army broke
through 1t was unexpected. Suddenly, al
most always, comes the doom of those who
despi3e God aud defy thu laws Of men. How
was it at the Deluge. Do you suppose it came
through long northwestern storm so that
| people for days before were sure it was COM
lngs No: suppose the morning was bright
that calm1ess brooded on the waters: that
beauty sat enthronel ON the hills, when sud.
denly the heavens burst and the mountains
sank like anchors into the sea, that dashed
clear over the Andes and the Hinalayas.
The Red Sea was divided The Egyptians
tried to cross it. There could be no dan ger
The lsraelites had Just gone through. whore
they had gone, why not the Egyptians2 Oh,
| it was such a beautiful walking place. A
| pavement Of tin yed shells and pearls and Oh
either side great wall of water, solid
! There can DO no danger. Forward, great
host of the Egyptians Clap the cymbals
and blow the trumpets of victory After
them We will cath them yet and they shall
be destroyed. Dut the walls of sol difed
water begin to trembls. They rock They
fall. The rushing watersl The Shrek Of
drowning menl The swimming of the war
horses in va Ii for the shore! The strewing
of the great host on the bottom of the sea, or
pit he'd by the angry wave on the b>a Ii "a
battered, bruised and loathsome wreck! Sud-
| denly destruction came. One half hour b.
TO e they could not have believed it.
am Just setting forth ia t which you
have noticed a,well a3I. Auanias comes to
the apo tle. The apostle says: "Did you
sell the lanl for so muchp says: Eyes y
1t was lie. Dead! As quick as thatl