The Penn's Grove record., 1891-02-06

l mighJ talk of q great many other tnings
but hat is the message, and SO i declare it
preached. He said to those who did wrong
and who were offensive in His sight, "Yt
generation of yipersl We whited ~sepulchers.
how can We escape the damnation of hell p
Paul the apostle preached before q man who
was not ready to hear him preach. What
subject did he take2 Did he say, "Ohl you
are a good man, a very fine man, a very no
BILE manf' No; he preached OF righteous
ness to q man who was ~unrighteous; OF tenn
~perance to a man who was the victim Of bad
appetites; of the Judgment to come to a man
who was unfit for II. So we must always
declare the message that happens to come to
US. Daniel must readit as It Is A minister
preached before James 1. of England, who
was James VI. OF Scotland. What subject
lid he take? The king was noted all over the
world for his being unsettled and wavering
n his ideas. What did the minister preach
about to this man who was James !. of Eng
land aud James VI. of Scotlandf He took
for his text James l., 6: HE that wayereth
IS like a wave of the sea, driven with the
wind and tossed"
Hugh Latimer offened the king by q SER
mon he preached, and the king said, ''Hugh
Latimer, come and apologize" II will, !"
said Hugh Latimer. So the day was APP
pointed, and the kings chapel was full Of
lords and dukes, and the mighty men and
women Of the country, for Hugh Latimer
was to apologize. He began his sermon by
saying: "Hugh Latimer, bethink theel
Thou art In the presence OF thine earthly
king, who can destroy thy body. But be.
think thee, Hugh Latimer, that thou art in
presence OF the King of heaven and earth,
who can destroy both body and soul in hell
are.n Then he preached with appalling
di~rectness at the kings crimes.
Another lesson that comes to us. There Is
q great difference between the opening OF the
banquet of sin and its close. Young man, IL
you had looked in upon the banquet in the
first few hours, you would hav wished you
had been invited there, and could sit at the
feast. "Oh! the grandeur of Belshazzar's
feastln you would have said; but you look in
at the close of the banquet, and your blood
eurdles with horror. The King OF Terrors
has there a ghastlier banquet; human blood
is the wine, and dying groans are the music.
Sin has made itself a king in the earth. 1t
has crowned itself. 1t has spread q banquet.
It invites all the world to CONT to it. 1t has
hung in its banqueting hall the spoils OF all
| kingdoms and the banners of all nations. IL
| has gathered from all music. 1t has strewn,
from its wealth, the tables and the floors and
broken up, and how horrible Is its endi
Ever and anon there is a handwriting on the
| wall. A king falls. A great culprit is ar
rested. The knees Of wickedness knocked to-
yether. Gods Judgment, like an armed host,
breaks In upon the banquet, and that night
$ Belshazzar, the king OF the Chaldeans,
,lain.
Here Is a young man who says: II cannot
ZEE why they make such q fuss about the In.
,oxicating cup. Why, 1t is exhilaratingi. It
makes me feel well. / can ak better, think
better, feel better. I~cannot sse why people
ave such q prejudice against it." A few
years pass on, and he wakes up and finds
| himself In the clutches OF an ev1 habit
which he tries to break, but cannot; and he
,ries out: "Oh, Lord God, help mer' It
seems as though God would not near ms
.ries out: 1T biteth like q serpent, and it
,tingeth like an adder" How bright 1t was
1T the starti How black it was al the last'
Here is a man who begins to read corr upt
novels. "They are so charming" says he.
II will 90 out and see for myself whether all
these things are So" He opens tne gate o.
i sinful life. He goes in. A sinful sprite
meets him with her wand. She waves her
wand, and it is all e~nchantment. Why, 1t
seems as il the angels Of God had poured out
| ohials of perfume in the atmosphere. As he
walks on he finds the hills becoming more
.adlant with foliage and the ravines more
resonant with the falling water. Oil what
, charming landscape he seesi But that
sinful sprite with her wand meets him again;
ont now she reverses the wand, and all the
snchantmsnt is gone. The cup is full of
poison. The fruit turns to ashes.
An the leaves Of the bower are forked
tongues of Kissing serpsnts. Thu lowing
| iountains fall back In a dead pool, stenchful
with corruption. The Turing songs become
aughter. Lost spirits gather about him and
eel for bis heart, aud beckon him on with
Hail, brotheri Hail, blasted spirit, hailr He
ries to get out. He comes to the front door
where be entered, and tries to push 1t back,
,ut the door turns against him, and in the
lar Of that shutting door he hears the words,
This night Is Belshazzar, the king of Chal-
leans, slain" Sin may open bright as the
morning. 1t ends dark as the nighti
Ilearn further from this subject that Death
sometimes breaks in upon a banquet. Why
lid he not go down to the prisons in Babylonf
There were people there hat would like to
nave died. I suppose there were men and
women in torture in that city who would
nave welcomed Death. But he comes to the
palace; and just at the time when the mirth
Ia at the banquet. We have often seen the
anne thing Illustrated. Here is a young man
inst come from college. He is kind. He is
owing, He Is enthusiastic. He is eloquent.
By one spring he may bound to heights
1oward which many men have been strug-
cling for years. A profession opens before
lin. He Is established In the law. His
friends cheer him. Eminent men encourage
1i.n.
After a while you may see him standing
n the United States senate, or moving a
popular assemblage by his e~loquence, as
trees are moved in o whirlwind. Some night
ne retires early. A fever Is on him. Delirium,
ike a reckless chsriotssr, seizes the rsins of
ais intellect. Father and mother stand by
and see the tides Of his life going out to the
great ocean. The banquet Is coming to an
md, The lights Of thought and mirth and
~sIoauencs are being ~extinguished. The gar
Isnds are snatched from the brow. The
vision is gone. Death at the banquet
We saw the same thing on Q larger scale
Illustrated at the last war in this country.
Our whole nation had been sitting at a ma
tional banquet-north' south, east and west.
What grain was there but we grew it on our
hills. What invention wa 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 Arc
tic. What fish but our nets must sweep
them for the markets. What music but it
must sing in our halls. What eloquence but
/ must speak in our senates. Hoi to the ma
tioual banquet. reaching from mountain to
mountain, aud from sea to seal To prepare
that banquet the ~sheepfolds and the aviaries
OF the country sent their best treasures. The
orchards piled up on the table their sweetest
fruits. The presses burst out with new wines.
10 sit at that table came the yeomanry OF
New Hampshire, and the lumberman of
Maine, and the Carolinian from the rice
fie!ds. and the western emigrant from the
pines of Oregon. and we were all brothers
brothers at a banquet. Suddenly the feast
4nded.
Whatn meant those mounds thrown up al
Chicssmauga, Shiloh. Atlanta, Gettysburg,
South Mountain? What meant those golden
5rain fields turned into a pasturing ground
Tor cavalry horsssi What meant the corn
fields quilted with the whsels OF the he
wanting. Darkncssi Darknsssi Woe to
the north Woe to the soulful Woe to the
eastI Woe to the westl Death at the ban,
queti
/ have also to learn from the subject that
the destruction OF the vicious, and of those
who despise God, will be very sudden. The
wave Of mirth had dashed to the highest
point when that Assyrian army broke
through. 1t was unexpected. Suddenly,
almost always, comes the doom OF those
who despiss God and defy the laws OF men.
How was it at tine delugef Do you suppose
1t came through a long northeast storm, so
that people for days before were sure 10 was
coningf No; ] suppose the morning was
bright, that cRlmnsss brooied on the waters;
that beauty sat enthroned on the hills, when