Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-09-08

menI Every Day.
OMAHA. Neb., Sept. 1.-Great in.
terest was manifested here today,
the Rev. I. De Witt Talmage, ID. d.,
preaching 10 an immense congrega.
ton. His text was: Thou art
weighed in the balances, and art
found wanting."-Daniel ", q. The
preacher said:
Babylon was the paradise of archi.
lecture, and driven out from thence
the grandest buildings of modern
times are only the evidence of her fall.
The site having been selected for the
city, W. million men were employed
in the rearing of her walls and the
building of her works. II was a city
sixty miles in circumference. There
was a trench all around the city,
from which the material for the build.
ing Of tie city had been digged.
There were twenty-five gates on each
side the city; between every two gates
a tower of defense s~pringing INTO the
skies; from each gate on the one side,
a street running straight through
TO the corresponding street on the
other side, So that there were fifty
streets fifteen miles long. Through the
city ran a branch Of the River EuphrI-
ties This river sometimes oyerlluwcd
It's banks, and 10 keep it from the ruin
OF the city n lake was constructed
into which the surplus water ur the
RIVER would run during the time Of
ireShots, and the water was kept i'm
tins Artificial lake until time Of
drought. and then thls water would
stream down over the city. At either
end 81 the bridge spanning Tins En-
pirates there was "a ralacc-the u
palace mile and a half around. the
other palace seven md Il half mile,
around
The wife of Ncblchadnczzar had
been born and brou lit upiu the coun-
try, and m Il MOUNTAINOUS region. and
she could not bear this Hat district of
Babylon Snd so. 20 please his wife.
NebuclIadueZ2ar lIilt ia the midst Of
the city a mountl four hundred feet
nigh. This molltain was built out
INTO terraces supported on arches. On
the top of these arches a layer of fat
stones, on the top Of that a layer Of
reeds and bitumen, on the top of that
two layers of bricks closely cemented.
on the top OF that a heavy sheet of
lead, and on the top OF that the soil
~placed-the soil so deep that a Leba-
non cedar had room to anchor its
roots. There were pumps worked by
mighty machinery fetching up the
water from the kpphrates To this hang.
ing garden Is it was called, so that
there were fountains spouting into the
sky.
Standing below and looking up il
must have seemed as if the clouds
were in blossom, or as though the sky
leaned on the shoulder Of a cedar. All
this Nebuchadnezzar did to please his
wife. Well, she ought to have been
pleased. ! suppose she was pleased.
II that would not please her nothing
would. There was in that city also
the temple of Belus, with towers-one
tower the eighth of a mile high, in
which there was an observatory where
astronomers talked 10 the stars. There
was in that temple an image, Ylst one
image, which would cost what would
be our hfty-two million dollars.
1T WAS A GREAT CITY.
o what a cityl The earth never saw
anything like il, never will see any.
thing like it, And yet | have 10 tell
you that II is going TO be destroyed.
The king and his princes are at a
feast. They are all intoxicated. Pour
out the rich wine into the chalices.
Drink TO the health of the king. Drink
TO the glory Of Babylon. Drink toa
great future,
A thousand lords reel intoxicated.
The king, seated upon a chair, with
vacant look. rs intoxicated mel will
with vacant look stared at the wall.
But soon that vacant look takes on in
tenslty, and It Is an aiirlghted look;
and all the princes begin TO look and
wonder what is the matter, and they
look at the same point on the wall.
And then there drops a darkness into
the room and puts out the blaze o. the
golden plate. and out of the sleeve Of
the darkness there comes a tinger-a
finger Of fiery terror circling around
and cIrcling around as though it
would write; and then il comes up
and with sharp tip of flame 1t inscribes
on the plastering Of the wall the doom
OF the KING: Weighed in the balan.
ces, and found wanting" The bang
of heavy fists against the gates Of the
palace are followed by the breakingin
Of the doors. A thousand CLEAN
ing knives strike into a thousand
quivering hearts. Now Death is king,
and he is seated on a throne Of
corpses. In that hall there is a bal.
ance lifted. God swung il. On one
side of the balance r put Belshazzar's
opportunities, on the other side Of the
balance are put Belshazzar's sins. The
sins come down. His opportunities go
up. Weighed in the balances-found
wanting.
FALSE WEIGHTS.
There has been a great deal OF cheat
ing in our country with false weights
and measures and balances, and the
government, to change that state Of
things, appointed commissioners
whose business IL was 10 stamp
weights and measures and balances,
and a great deaf Of the wrong has been
corrected. But still, after all, there is
no such thing as a perfect balance on
earth. The chain may brake, or some
Of the metal may be- clipped, or in
some way the equipose may be a little
disturbed.
You cannot always depend upon
earthly balances. A pound is not al
ways a pound, and you may pay for
one thing and get another; but IN tho