The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-08-26

in upon the banquet, and that night is Bel
shazzar, the King OF the Chaldeans, slain.
Here is young man who says; ~ can
not see why they make such fuss about the
1t makes me feel well. | can talk better, |
think better, feel better. cannot see why
people have such q prejudice against it. A
few years pass on and no wakes up and finds |
himself in the clutches OF an evil habit which |
he tries to break, but cannot; and he cries |
though God would not hear his prayer, and
at biteth like a serpent and it stingeth like
an adder" How bright it was at the start
How black it was at the last
Here is a man who begins to read French
novels "They are SO charming" he says; ~
will go out and soc for myself whether all
these things are So" He opens, the gate OF
sinful life He goes in, A sinful sprite meets
him with her wand She waves her wand,
aud it is all enchantment, Why, it seems as
IL the angels of God had poured out phials
of perfume in the atmosphere. As he walks
ON he finds the hills becoming more radi-
ant with foliage, and tho ravines more
resonant with the falling water. Oh, what
a charming landscape he seesl But that
sinful sprite with her wand meets him
again; aud now she reverses 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
foun' aims fall back in dead pool stenchful
with corruption. The Turing songs become
curses and screams Of demonia; laughter
Lost spirits gather about him and feel for
his heart, and beckon him on with: Hail,
brother 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 BAlsha4ar, the King
of the Chaldeans slain!' Sin may open
bright as the morning; it closes dark as the
night
&. learn further from this subject that
death sometimes breaks in upon banquet.
Why did he not go down to the prisons in
Babylon. There were 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 tho tiptop
pitch, death breaks in at the banquet We
have often seen the same thing illustrated.
lcge. He is kind He is loving. He is en-
thusiastic. He is eloquent. BY one spring
he may bound to heights toward which many
men have been struggling for years A pro-
fession opens before him. He is established
in the law. His friends cheer him. Eminent
lneu encourage nlil AIter aWnlle you may
see him standing in the American Senate, OF
moving popular assemblage by his 60
quence, as trees are moved in whirlwiLd.
Some night he retires early A fever is on
him. Delirlum 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 banguet
is coming to an end The lights of thought
and mirth and eloluence are being extin.
gui.hed The garlands are snatched from
the brow. The vision is gone.
We saw the same thing on a larger seal
illustrated at the last war in tn S country.
Our whole nation had been sitting at a ra'
tional tanquet-North, South, East and
West What grain was thera but we grew
it on our hillsl What invention was there
but our rivers must turn the new wheel and
rattle the strange shuttle? What warm fur
but our traders must bring then from
the Arctic! What fish but that our
nets must sweep them for the markets
What music but it must sing in Our
halls! What elo1uence but it must
speak in cur Senates! Ho to ,the nationa.
banquet, reaching from mountain to M un-
tain and from sea 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 swe test
fruits The presses burst ont with new wires.
TIE sit at that table came the yeomanry OF
/ New Hampshire, and the lumbermen of
Maine and the tanned Carolinian from the
rice swamps and the harvesters of Wis onsin
and the Western emigrant from the pines OF
Oregon; and we were all Observation-Disclosures
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 a pasturing ground
for cavalry horses? What meant the corn
fields gulliel with the wheels of the heavy
supply train. Why those rivers of tears
those lakes of blood: God was angry. Jus
tice must come 4 handwriting on the wall
The nation had been weighed aud found
wanting. DarkneSsl Darkness Woe to
the Northl Woe to the South. Woe to the
East! Woe to the West! Death at the ban.
| quetl
4. have also to learn from the subject
that tho destruction of the vicious and of
those who despise God will be very sudden.
| The wave of mirth had dashed to the highest
point whom that Assyrian army broke
through 1t was unexpected. Suddenly, al
| most always, comes the doom of those who
| despise God aud defy the laws of men. How
was it at the Deluge. Do you suppose it came
through long northwestern storm, so that
| people for days before were sure it was CON-
ing! No: suppose the morning was bright;
that calmness brooded on the waters; that
| beauty sat enthrone1 on the hills, when sud
denly the heavens burst and the mountains
sank like anchors into tho sea, that dashed
clear over the Andes and the Himalayas.
The Red Sea was divided. The Egyptians
tried to cross it. There could be no dan ger.
The lsraelites had Just gone through: whore
they had gone, why not the Egyptians' Oh,
! it was such a beautiful walking placel A
pavement of tin red shells and pearls, and on
either side great wall Of water, solid.
There can be no danger. Forward, great
host Of the Egyptians! Clap the cymbals
Il. -, 1fw a.
them! We will catch them yet and they shall
be destroyed. But the walls of solidifed
water begin to tremble. They rock. They
fall. The rushing watersl The shrek of
drowning mem The swimming of the war
horses in va IL for the shorel The strewing
of the great host on the bottom of the sea, OF
pitched by the angry wave on the b5ach-a
battered, bruised and loathsome wreck! Sud-
denly destruction came. One half hour D.
fore they could not have believed it.
am just setting forth ia t which you
have noticed as WELT as ]. Ananias comes to
the apostle. The apostle says: "Did you
sell the land for so muchr says: Eyes u
1t was lie. Dead! As quick as that!
Sapphira his wife, comes in. ''iii1 you sell
the lanl for so muchN "Yesr Itwas lie,
and quick as that sine was dead Gods judg-
ments are upon those 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 TIL, flap
of his great wings! No! No, Suddenly,
unexpectedly, he came.
Skilled sportsmen do not like to shoot a
bird standing on sprig near by. Il they
are skilled, they pride them elves 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 tine eternal world. Are there any here
who have been living without God AMI with.
out hope. Let me say to YOU that you had bet
ter accept Of the Lord Jesus Christ les. sud
denly your last chance be gone. The lungs
will cease to breathe, the heart will stop.
The time will come when you shall go nc
more to the office, or to the store, or to the
shop. Nothing will lie left but death, and
Judgment, and eternity. Oh flee to God this
hour! If there be one in this presence who
has wandered far away from Christ, though
he may not have heard the cal of the gos. el
for many year, l invite him now to come
and be saved. Flee from thy sin! Flee to
the stronghold of the gosrel