Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-08-18

the lumbermen of Maine, and the tanned
Carolinian from the rice-swamps, and the
harvesters of Wisconsin,, and the western
emigrant from the pines of Oregon, and we
were all brothers--brothers at banquet
Suddenly the feast ended. What meant
those mounds thrown up at Chickahominy,
Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettysburg, South Noun
tain? What meant those golden grain
fields turned into pasturing ground fol
cavalry horses? What meant the corn-
fields quilted with the wheels of the heavy
supply train? Why those rivers of tears,
those lakes of blood? God was angry.
Justice must come. A handwriting on the
| WALL The nation has been weighed and
found wanting. Darkness! Darkness! Woe
to the North! Woe to the South! Woe to
the East! Woe to the West! Death at the
banquet!
Nv. / have also to learn from the subject
that the destruction of the vicious and of
those who despise God will be very sudden.
The wave of mirth had dashed to the high
est point when that Assyrian army broke
through. 1t was unexpected. Suddenly,
almost always, comes the doom of those
who despise God and defy the laws of men.
How was it at the Deluge? Doyou suppose
it came through a long Northeast storm, so
that people for days before were sure it was
coming? No; I suppose the morning was
bright; that calmness brooded on the wa
ters; that beauty sat enthroned on the hills;
| when suddenly the heavens burst, and the
mountains sank like anchors into the sea,
that dashed clear over the Andes and the
Himalayas.
The Red Sea was divided. The Egyp-
| tians tried to cross it. There could be no
danger. The Israelites had just gone
through; where they had gone why not the
Egyptians? o, it was such beautiful walk
| ing-place! a pavement of tinged shells and
pearls, and on either side two great walls of
| water, solid. There can be no danger.
Forward. great host of the Egyptians! Clap
the eymbals and blow the trumpets of VIC
toryl After them! We will catch them yet
and they shall be destroyed. But the walls
of solidified water begin to tremble. They
rock. They fall. The rushing waters!
The shrek of drowning men! The swim
ming of the warehouses in vain for the
shore! The strewing of the great host on
cry wave on the beach-a battered, bruised
and loathsome wreck! Suddenly destruction
came. One half hour before they could not
have believed it. Destroyed and without
remedy.
Lam just setting forth fact which you
have noticed as well as 1. Ananias comes
to the apostle. The apostle says: ''Did
you sell the land for so much?" He says,
''Yes." 1t was a lie. Dead! AS quick as
that! Sapphira, his wife, comesin. "Did you
sell the land for so much?" eyes" It was
lie, and quick as that she was dead! Gods
judgments are upon these who despise and
defy him. They come suddenly.
The destroying angel went through
Egypt Do you suppose that any of the
people knew that he was coming? Did
they hear the flap of his great wing? No!
No! Suddenly, unexpectedly, he came.
Skilled sportsmen do not like to shoot a
bird standing on a sprig near by. If they
are skilled they pride themselves on taking
it ON the wing, and they wait till it starts.
Death is an old sportsman, and he loves to
take men flying under the very sun. He
loves to take them on the wing.
Are there any here who are unprepared
for the eternal world? Are there any here
who have been living without God and with
out hope? Let me say to you that you had
better accept of the Lord Jesus Christ, lest
suddenly your last chance be gone. The
lungs will cease to baeathe, the heart will
stop. The time will come when you shall
go no more to the Office, or to the stole, or
and Judgment, and eternity. Oh, fee to
God this hour? If there be one in this pres
ence who has wandered far away from
Christ, though he may not have heard the
call of the Gospel for many year, invite
him now to come and be saved. Flee from
thy sin! Flee to the stronghold of the
Gospel
To-day invite you to grander banquet
than any have mentioned. My Lord, the
King, is the banqueter. Angels are the cup
bearers. All the redeemed are the guests.
The halls of eternal love, frescoed with light,
and paved with joy, and curtained with un-
fading beauty, are the banquetting place.
The harmonies of eternity are the music
The chalices of heaven are the plate, and
am one of the servants coming out with both
hands filled with invitations, scattering
them everywhere; and of that, for your
selves, you might break the seal of the in
vitation and read the words written in red
ink of blood by the tremulous hand of dy-
ing Christ; "Come now, for all things are
ready"
After this day has rolled by and the night
has come may you have rosy sleep, guarded
by Him who never slumbers May you
awake in the morning strong and well. But,
oh, art thou despiser of God? Is the COM
ing night the last night on earth? Shouldest
thou be awakened in the night by some
thing, thou knowest not what, and there be
shadows floating in the room, and hand
writing on the wall, and you feel that your
last hour is come, and there be a fainting at
the heart, and tremor in the limb, and a
catching of the breath-then thy doom
would be but an echo of the words of my
text: ''In that night was Belshazzar, the
Iii 1f CLol1 lo.r
NEWSPAPER BoRRowERs.-Do you ever
think, as day after day you borrow your
neighbor's newspaper, how the man who
published the paper would live if everybody
did as you do? Just imagine yourself in
the publisher place, and see how you would
like some fellow to come to your house ev-
cry afternoon regularly day after day from
one years end to that of next, and borrow
a loaf of bread and take it away and cut it
without making you any return. True you
don't eat the newspaper you borrow, but
printer by borrowing your neighbours news
paper and reading it, because you deprive
the printer of the opportunity of selling a
paper. You say this is small mntter; you
are right, it is small matter in your case,
but suppose everybody was as mean as you
are, who would take the papers then, and
where would you find one to borrow Does
it ever occur to you that your neighbor
who with long suffering charity and for
bearance continues to supply you with
literary food through summers heat and
winters cold for many weary, weary year,
thinks you are the meanest and most de-
spisable wretch on the face of the EARTH and
wishes you were transported to the North
Pole or sunk to the bottom of the deep,
deep sea? The fact is, you belong to the
innumerable army of borrowers who make
their living by borrowing instead of work.
ing, and inasmuch as they are not amenable
to the law and can't be punished for filch-
ing away their neighbor's property in this
manner, are more to be dreaded than thieves.
-Erchange.
MoRTALALTY AMONG DEMOCRATIC
STATEsMEN.-Thed death of Mr.. Tilden sug-
gests the fact that the democratic party has
lost no less than four of it's former candi-
dates for the presidency within a compare