The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-09-09
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Rural Sermon on the Babylon
ian Midnight ReveL
The Handwriting on the Wall Interpretet
Under Modern Light-Death an In.
truder at the Feast; DEATH
Also at Our Feasts. H

Also at Our Feasts. p
& Rev. 7. De Witt Talmage addressed san
Immense throng on a recent Sabbath at
Monona, rural suburb of Madison, Wis,
taking for his subject the Babylonian
midnightrevel. The text was: -
In that night was Belshazzar the King of
the Chaldeans slain.-Daniel ", 80. 4ss
DR.. Talmage said: Feasting has been
known in all ages. 1t was one oftte most
exciting times in English shistory when
Queen Elizabeth visited Lord Leicester at
Kenilworth Castle. The moment of her
arrival was considered so important that
all the clocks of the castle were stopped,
so that the hands Nigh point to that one
moment as being the most signifcantsof
all. She was greeted at the gate with
floating islands, and torches, and the
thunder of cannon, and fireworks that set
the night ablaze, and a great burst of
music that lifted the whole scene into per-
feet enchantfnent. Then she was intro
duced into dining hall the Injuries of
which astonished the world; four hundred
servants waiting upon the guests; the en-
tertainment cost 5000 each day. Lord
Leicester made that great supper in Ken
ilworth Castle.
But my text takes US to a more exciting
banquet. Night was about to come down
upon Babylon. The shadows of her 256
towers began to lengthen. The Euphrates
rolled on touched by the fiery splendors of
the setting sun, and gates Of brass. burn
ished and glittering, opened and shut like
doors of fame. The hanging gardens of
Babylon, wet with heavy dew, began
to pour from starlit flowers and dripping
leaf fragrance for many miles around.
The streets and squares were lighted for
dance and frolic and promenade. The
theaters and galleries of art invited the
wealth and pomp and grandeur of the city
to rare entertainments. Scenes of riot
and wassal were mingled in every street,
and goddess mirth and outrageous excess
and splendid wickedness came to the
Kings palace to do their mightiest deeds
of darkness. A royal feast o-night at
the Kings palace! Rushing up to
the gates are ( chariots upholstered
with precious cloths from Ocean and
drawn by fire-eyed horses from Togarmah
that rear and neigh in the grasp of tn q
characters; while thousand lords dis
mount, and women dressed in all the
splendor of Syrian emerald, and the color
blending of agate, and the chasteness of
coral, and the somber glory of Tyrian pur-
pie, and princely embroideries brought
from afar by camels across the desert and
by ships of Tarshish across the sea. Open
wide the gates and let the guests come in
The chamberlains and the cup bearers are
all ready. Hark to the rustic of the silks
and to the carol of the music! See the
blaze of the jewels! Lift the banners |!
Fill the cups! Clap the cymhals! Blow
the trumpets! Let the night go by with
song and dance and ovation; and let that
Babylonish tongue he palsied that win
not say: "Oh, King Belshazzar, live for
ever"
All, my friends! 1t was not any COM
mon banquet to which these great people
came. All parts of the earth had, sent
their richest viands to that table. Brack-
cts and chandeliers flashed their Zig bit up
on tankards of burn ished gold. Fruits,
ripe and luscious, in baskets of silver en-
twined with leaves, plucked from royal
Conservatives. Vases inlaid with emer-
aid and ridged with exquisite traceries.
filed with nuts that were threshed from
forests Of distant lands. Wine brought
from the royal watts, foaming in the decan-
tiers and bubbling in the chalices. Tufts
of cassia and frankincense waiting their
sweetness from wall and table. Gorgeous
banners unfolding in the breeze that came
through the opened windows, bewitched
with the perfume of hanging gardens.
Fountains rising up. from Enclosures of
Ivory. in jets of crystal, to fall in clatter.
ing rain Of diamonds and pearls. Stat
ues OF mighty men looking down from
inches in the wall upon crowns and
shields brought from the subd6ed em-
pires. Idols of wonderful work standing
on pedestals OF precious stones. Embroid-
cries dropping about the windows and
wrapping pillars of cedar, and drifting on
floor inlaid with ivory and agate. Music.
mingling the thrum of harps, and the
clash Of cymbals, and the blast of trum.
pets in one wave Of transport that went
ripping along the wall and breaking
among the garlands, and pouring down
the corridors and thrilling the souls of a
thousand banqueters. The signal is given,
and the lords and ladies, the mighty men
and Modien Of the land, rome around the
table. Pour out the wine! 81 Let foam. a IA
bubhde kiss the rim! Hoist everylone his
cup anddrink to the sentiment: #sO, King
Belshszsar. live 3 forevsrp' Bestarred
headband and carcanet Of royal beauty
gleam TO the uplifted chaIices,, as again
and ngsiR and again they IRE emp
tied. Away with - care : from
the palace. Tear royal dignity
to tatters. Pour outmore wine! Give MS
more Light, wilder music, sweater per.
funnel . lord shouts olord, captain oeles
TO captains, Goblets clash, decanters rat
tie. There come in the obscene song and
thed drunken hiecongh and, the slayering lin
and the guffaw Of idiotics laughter, burst.
ing from the lips of princes, flushed, reel
ing, bloodshot; while mingling with it all
hear: "Huzza, huzza, for great Belshaz-
xarw
What is that on the plastering OF the
WALTZ Is it spirit. Is it phantom? Is
1t God? The music stops. The eoblets
fall from the nerveless grasp. There is a
thrill. There is start. There ia a
thousand-voiced shrek of horror. Let
Daniel be brought in to read that writing.
He comes in. He reads it,. -. : 80
: