Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-08-19

art in the presence OF thine earthly king WHO
can destroy thy body! But bcthink thee,
OF the King OF heaven and earth, who can de-
stroy both body and soul In hcllflre. 0, king,
cursed be thy crimesi"
Second-Anothcr lesson that comes to us;
There Is great difference between the
opening of the banquet Of sin and its 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. 20, the grandeur
OF Belshazzar's feast" you would have said
but you look in at the close Of the banquet
and your blood curdles with horror The
king Of terrors has there ghastler ban
quot; human blood Is the wine and dying
groans are the music. Sin has made Itself
1t has spread banquet. 1t invites all the
world to come to It. 1t has hung in its
banqueting hall the spells of all Kingdoms
and the banners Of all nations. 1t has
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 hand writing 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 Belshazzar the king Of the Chaldear Z
slain
SINS OPENING AND ENDING.
|
not see why they make such a fuss about
the intoxicating cup. Why, 1t is exhilar-
ating. 1t makes me feel well. / can talk
better, think better feel better. l cannot
see why people have such prejudice
wakes up and finds himself in the clutches
Of an evil habit which he tries to break and
cannot; and he cries out: 80 Lord God,
help mel' 1t seems as though God would
not hear his prayer, and in an agony of
| bpIy ba pria mt Hiya
serpent and stingeth like an adder" How
bright 1t was at the start! how black 1t was
| at the last
Here is a man who begins to rea l French
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 sprte meets
him with her wand and ii is all enchantment.
| Why it seems as II the angels of God had
pSnFsd out Psdhs of perfume h in the the
hills becoming more radiant with foliage,
| and the rayines more resonant with the
| falling water. o. what u charming land
scape he sees! But that sinful spritc with
reverses the wand and all the enchant-
ment is gone. The cup is full of poison.
| The fruit returns to ashes. All the leaves
| Of the bower are forked tongues Of Kissing
serpents. The flowing fountains fall back In
dead pool, stenchful with corruption. 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. brother! Hail, blasted spirit,
hailH' 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 Chaldcans slain" Sin may open bright as
the morning; 1t closes dark as the night
DEATH AT THE BANQUET.
hfrl nj nr frnr tnrt
that death sometimes breaks in upon ban
quet Why did he not go down to the prisons
in Babylon? There arc people there that
would like to have died / suppose there
were men and women in torture in that city
who would have welcomed 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 oft
en- seen the same thing illustrated. Here is
young man just come from college He is
kind. lie 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 established in the law
His friends cheer him. Eminent men en-
courage him. After awhile you may see him
standing in the American senate, or moving a
popular assemblage by his eloqucncc as trees
are moved in a whrlwind. Some night he
retires early. A fever is on him. Delirium
like a reckless chariotcer seiZes the reins Of
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 eloquence
are being extinguished. The garlands are
snatched from the brow. The vision is gone.
Death at the banquet.
We saw the same thing on larger scale il
| 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 inventions 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 mark
| cts! What music but it must sing in our
halls! What eoquence but 1t must speak in
our senatess HO! to the national banquet
reaching from mountain to mountain, and
| from sea to sea!
THE NATIONS JOY ENDS IN WOE.
To prepare that banquet the sheep folds and
the aviaries of the country sent their best
| treasures. The orchards piled up on the ia
| bles their sweetest fruits. The presses burst
| out with new wines. To sit at that table came
| the yeomanry of New Hampshire and the lum-
| bermen of Maine, and the tanned Caroinian
from the rice-swamps, and tire harvesters of
Wisconsin, and the western emigrant from the
pines of Oregon, and were all brothers-broth-
ers at banquet. Suddenly the feast ended.
| What meant those mounds thrown up at
| Chickahominy, Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettysburg,
South Mountaint What meant those golden
| grain fields turned into a pasturing ground for
cavalry horsess What meant the orn-felds
| quilted with the wheel of the heavy supply
| train! What meant those rivers of tears,
those lakes OF bloodt God was angry. JUS
tice must come. A handwriting on the
found wanting. Darkness Darkness! Woe to
| the north! Woe 10 the south! Woe TO the
east! Woe to the west! Death at the ban
quet!
FOURTH have also to learn from the sub
| ject that the destruction of the vicious and Of
those who despise God will be very sudden.
The wave Of mlrth had dashed to the highest
| point when that Assyrian army broke through
! 1t was unexpected. Suddenly, almost always,
comes the doom of those who despisc God
and defy the laws of men. How was it at the
| deluges Do You suppose 1t came through a
! long northern storm, so that people for days
| before were sure it was comingl No; sup
| pose the morning was bright; that calmness
| brooded on the waters; that beauty sat en-
| throned 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 Hmalayas.
| GODS AWFUL SUDDEN JUDGMENTS.
The Red sea was divided. The Egyptians
| 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 walking place! pave
ment Of tinged shells and pearls, and on either
c.1e TWO great walls OF water, SOLD. lnere
can be no danger. Forward, great host Of
Egyptians! Clap the cymbals and blow the
trumpets OF victory! After tbem We will
| catch them yet and they shall be destroyed.
But the walls of the solidifed water began to
tremble. They rock They fall. The rushing
waters! The shrek Of drowning men! The
swimming Of the war horses in vain for the
shore! The strewing Of the great host on the
bottom of the sea, or pitched by the angry
waves 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.
The destroying angel went through Egypt.
Do you suppose that any Of the people knew
he was coInlngi Did they hear the flap OF his
great wingsi No! No! Suddenly, uncx'
pectedly, he came.
| PREPARING FOR THE LORDS FEAST.
Are there any here who are unprepared
for the eternal world! Are there any here
who have been living without God and
without 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 wiz cease to breathe, the heart will stop.
The time will come when you shall go no more
| tn, tha IN tha 70 bo hon