The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-09-14

being Unsettled and wagering in his ideas.
What did the minister preach about to this
man WAC was james !. Of England and
James VI. or Scotiands He took for his text,
James l.. u: He that wavereth is like u
wave OF tie sea driven with the wind and
tossed" Hugh Latimer onended the kng
by u sermon he preached, and the King said:
'hugh Latimer, come and apologize" Il
will, said HGgh Latimer. So tho day was
sppoiusaAs nnJ Tho Kings chapel was
full OF Lords AMI Dukes, and tho
Hugh Latimer was to apologize. lie Logan
his scr:non by saying: "huSu LatiIner, be-
think thee: lnou art i'll the presence OF thine
earthly King, who can destroy thy body!
But uethink thee, Hugh Latimer, lat thou
art i'll the presence Ut the King OF Heaven
aud earth, who can destroy both body and
soul III hell lire. Oh. King, cursed be thy
crlmes!"
is u great difference between the opening OF
the banquet Of sin and its close. Young man,
ii you had looked i'll upon tho banquet in the
first few hours, you would have wished
the feast 'Oh, the grandeur of Belshazzar's
FEAST" you would have said; but you
look in ut the close Of the banquet
and your blood curdles with horror.
The King Of Terrors has there q ghastlier
banquet: human blood is the wine and dying
groans are the music. Sin has made itself a
King in the eaIth 1t has crowned itself. 1t
has spreai q 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 strewn
from Its wealth the tables and floors and
arches. And yet how often is that banquet
broken up and how horrible is it's end! Ever
ana anon there is a 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, nj that night is Bel
shnzzar, the King of the C%haldeans, slain.
here is a young man who says: ~ can
not see why they make such a fuss about the
Intoxicating cup: Why, it is celebrating.
1t makes me feel well. l can talk better.
think better, feel better. 1 cannot see why
people have such a prejudice against it" 4
few years pass on and he wakes up and finds
himself in the clutches of ON evil babi which
ne tries to break, but canuot; and he cries
out: oh Lord God, help mel" Itseems as
though God would not hear his PRAYER. and
IN IN agony OF body and soul he cries out:
Ut blteth like q serpent and it stingeth like
an adder" How bright it was.at the start!
How black it was at the lastl .
Here is q man who begins to road French
novels. They are 50 ch~araaing," he says: II
these things are So" He opens the gate of a
sinful life. He goes in. Asinful sprite meets
MIN with her wand. She waves her wand,
a. and th it is all enehantment; Why, it seems as
OF perfume in the atmosphere. AS he walks
on he finds the hills becoming more radi-
ant with foliage, and the ravines more
resonant with the falling water. Oh, what
sinful sprite with her wand meets him
AGAIN.: and now she reverses the wand
and all the enchantmert is gone. The cup
rs 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 ina dead pool stenchfui
with corruption. The laring songs become
curses and screams of demonia: laughter.
Lost spirits gather about him and feel fo1
his heart, and beckon him on with: Hail,
brother! Hail, blasted spirit, hail" 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 he rs these
words: This night is B .lsha 1yar, the King
of the Chaldeans, slain.' Sin may open
night.
!. 1 learn further from this subjec. that
death sometimes breaks in upon Il banquet.
Why did he not go down t. the prisons in
Eaby!on! There were people there that
would llke:to nave died. suppose there
We're men and women in torture in that city
who would have welcomed death. But he
comes to the palace, and Just ut the time
when the mirth is dashing to the tiptop
pitch, death breaks in at the banquet. We
have often seen tina same thing illustrated.
Here is young man just cone from co.,
lege.. He is kind. He is loving. He is en-
l:thusinstic. He is eloquent By one spring
he may bound to heights toward which many
fession opens before him. He is established
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 popular assemblage by his e.o-
Some night he retires early. "A fever is Oh
him. Delirium, like a reckless charioteer,
seizes the leins of his intellect. Father and
mother stand by and see the tides of life
IA pOlNp ONT fn tho Drpaf nnonn Tho lonornf
is coming to an end. The lights Of thought
and mlrth and %elo1uenle are being extin-
gui<hed. The garlands are snatched from
the brow. The vision is gone.
We saw the same thing on a larger scale
illustrated at the last war in this country.
Our whole nation had been sitting at q no
ittional kanquet-North, South, East and
+, West. What grain was there hut we grew
1t on our hills! What invention was there
but our rivers must turn the new wheel and
rattle the strange shuttle! What warm furs
put our traders must bring them from
What music but it must sing in our
halls! What eloquence but it must
speak'in our Senatesl Ho! to 1.-THE national
banquet, reaching from mountain to noun
tain and from SEQ to sea! To prepare that
banquet the sheepfolds and the aviaries. Of
the country sent their best treasures. The
orchards piled up on the table their sweetest
fruits. The presses burst oat with new wines.
= aAInC epot cdole came Cne yeOmanry OF
New Hampshire, and the lumbermen Of
Maine, ,and the tanned Carolinian from the
rice swamps, and the harvesters OF Wisconsin,
and the estelp emigranJ from the pines OF
Oregon; and we were al. lbrothres-brothers
at. 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 pasturing ground
for cavalry horses! What meant the corn
fields quilted with the wheels of the heavy
supply trainl Why those rivers of tears,
those lakes of bloodl God was angry. Jus.
tice must come. A handwriting on the WALL
The nation had been weighed and found