St. Landry democrat., 1886-08-28
Weighed in the balance and found want

Weighed in the balance and found want
ing.
Meanwhile the Assyrians, who for two
years had been laying siege to that city,
took advantage of that carousal and came
in. hear the feet of the conquerors on
the palace stairs. Massacre rushes in
with thousand cleaning knives. Death
bursts upon the scene; and shut the door
Of that banqueting hall, for do not want
to look. There is nothing there but torn
banners and broken wreaths. and the
slush of upset tank ards, and the blood OF
murdered women, and the kicked and
tumbled carcass of dead king. For
In that night was Belshazzar slain.
!. l learn from this, that when God
writes anything on the wall a man had
better read it as it is. Daniel did not mis-
interpret or modify the handwriting on the
wall. 1t is all foolishness to expect a
minister of the gospel to preach always
things that the people like or the people
choose What shall l preach to you to-
day? Shall tell you of the dignity of
humanahature? Shall l tell you of the
wonders thatyour race have accomplished?
''Oh, no." you say, "tell me the message
that came from God" l will. If there is
any handwriting on the wall it is this les
son: "Repent. accept of Christ and be
saved" I might talk of a great many
other things, but that is the message, 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 generation of vipers? Ye
whited sepulchers! How can We escape
the damnation of help" Paul the Apostle
preached before man who was not ready
to hear him preach. What subject did he
take? Did he say: "Oh, you are good
man, a very fine man. very noble man?'
No; he preached of Righteousness to
manawho was unrighteous; of temperance
to a man who was the victim
of bad appetites; of the judg-
ment to come to man who was unfit for
it. So we must always declare the mes
sage that happens to come to US. Daniel
must read it as it is. A minister preached
before James I. of England, who was
James vi. of Scotland. What subject did
he take? The King was noted all over
the world for being unsettled and waver-
ing in his ideas. What did the minister
preach about to his man who was James l.
of England and James vi. of Scotland?
He took for his text:
He that wavereth is like wave of the sea
driven with the wind and tossed.-Jam es,
l., 6.
2. Another lesson that comes to us:
There is great difference between the
opening of the banquet of sin and it's close.
Young man, if you had looked in upon the
banquet in the first few hours you would
have wished you had been invited there
and could sit at the feast. 80, the grand
eur Of Belshazzar's FEAST" you would have
said; but you look in at the close of the
bape"et and your blood curdles with hor-
xor. The King Of Terrors has there a
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. It has spread a banquet.
1t invites all the world to come to it. 1t
has hung in its banqueting hall the spoils
of all kingdoms and the banners of all ma
tions. 1t has gathered from all music. 1t
has strewn from its wealth the table and
floors and arches. And yet how often is
that banquet broken up, and how horrible
is its end! Ever and anon there is hand
writing on the wall. A king falls. A
great culprit is arrested. The knees of
wickedness knocked together. Gods judg-
ment, like an armed host, breaks in upon
the banquet, and that night is Belshazz ar,
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 exhil-
arating. 1t makes me feel well. / can |
talk better, think better, feel better. lean
not see why people have such a prejudice
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 he can not; and he cries out: "Oh, |
Lord God, help mew 1t seems as though |
God would not hear his PRAYER, and in an |
agony of body and soul he cries out:
1t biteth like serpent and stingeth like an |
adder.
How bright it was at the start how
black it was DIT the last!
9. learn further from 6his subject that |
death sometimes breaks in upon BAN
quet. Why did he not go 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 enthusiastic.
He is eloquent. By one spring he may
bound to heights toward which many
men have been struggling for years. A
profession opens before him. He is es-
tablished in the law. His friends cheer