Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-08-23

diving gTOans are the music. Sin has
made itself king in the earth. 1t has
spread banquet. 1t invites all the
world to come to it. 1t has hung in its
banqueting hall the spoils of all king
doms and the banners of all nations 1t
has gathered from all music. 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 its end. Ever and 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, and that night is
Belzhazzar, king of the Chaldeans, slain
Here is a young man who says: Il can
not see why they make such fuss about
the intoxicating cup. Why, it is exhil-
arating. 1t makes me feel well. | can
talk better, think better, feel better |
cannot see why people have such
prejudice against it. y 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 can not, and he cries
out: 20 Lord God, help met 1t seems
as though God would not hear his pray
ers, and in agony of body and soul he
cries out 1T biteth like serpent and
it stingeth like an adder How bright
it was mt the start, how black it was at
the last! Here is man who begins to
read French novels. ''They are so
charming" he SAYS. Il will go out and
see for myself whether all these things
are so" He opens the gate of sinful
life. He goes in. A sinful spirit meets
him with her wand. She waves her
hand and all is enchantment. Why, it
seems as if the angels of God had poured
out phials of perfume in the atmosphere.
As he walks on he finds the hills becom-
ing more radiant with foliage, and the
ravines more resonant with the falling
water. Oh, what charming landscape
he sees! But that sinful spirit with her
wand meets him again; but now she re-
verses the wand and all the enchantment
is gone. The cup is 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 in dead pool, stenchful with COR
ruption. The Turing songs become curses
and screams of demOniac laughter. Lost
| spirits gather about him and feel for his
! heart, and beckOn him on with: 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 the
| jar of that shutting door he hears these
words: This night is Belshazzar, the
king of the Chaldeans. slain" Sin may
open bright us the morning; it closes
dark as the night
III. | learn from this subject that
Death sometimes breaks in upon a
banquet. Why did he not 90 down into
the slums of Babylon? There were peo-
| pie there that would have liked to die.
| | suppose there We're men and women in
| torture 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 illus
trated Here is IA young man just from
college. He is kind. He is loving
He is enthusiastic. he is eloquent.
lsBy one spring he may bOand to nights
toward which many men have been
struggling for years. A profession
opens before him. He is established in
the law. His friends cheer him. Emil
nent men encourage him. After a
while you may see him standing in the
American Senate or moving popular
assemOlage BY his eloquence as trees
! are moved in whirlwind. Some night
he retires early. A fever is on him.
| Delirium like a reckless charioteer seizes
the reins of his intellect. Father and
mother stand by and see the tides of
| life going out TO the great ocean. The
! banquet is coming TO an end. The
/ lights of thought, and mirth, and elo-
quence are being eXtinguished. The
garlands are snatched from the brow.
The visions are gone. Death at the
! banquet We saw the same thing on
a larger scale illustrated at the last war
| in this country Our whole nation had
! been sitting at a national banquet
| North, South, East and West What
grain was there but we grew it on our
/ hills? What invention was there but
/ our rivers must turn the new wheel and
rattle the strange shuttle? What warm
/ furs but our traders must bring them
/ from the Arctic? What fish but our
nets must sweep them for the markets?
/ What music but It must sing in our
/ halls? What eloquence but it must
/ speak in our Senate? Ho! to the ma
lional banquet reaching from mountain
to mountain and from sea to seal To
/ prepare that banquet the sheep folds
and the avaries OF the country sent
+ their best treasures. The orchards piled
+ up on the table their sweetest fruits
/ The presses burst out with new wines.
7 To ~ NJ 4bot 70 blo 90 ma tho x-oo,,a,,,,.