The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-01-28

about the Intoxicating cup. Why, 1t 10
exhilarating! 1. makes me ~feel well.
can talk better, think better, feel bet
ter. I can not sc why people have
such prejudice against it." 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 mel" 1t seems as though God would
not hear his prayer; and in an agony OF
body and soul he cries out, ut biteth
like serpent, and it stingeth like an
adder" How bright it was at the start!
How black it was at the lastl
Here is man who begins to read cor
rupt novels. "They are 80 charming"
says he; 81 will 90 out and see for my
self whether all these things are So"
He opens the gate OF sinful life. He
goes in. A sinful spritc meets him with
her wand. She waves her wand, and it
is all enchantment. Why, it seems as
II 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 sprite, with her
wand, meets him again; but 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 fountains fall back in n dead
pool, stenchful with corruption. The
Turing songs become curses and streams
of demoniac laughter. Lost spirits
gather about him and feel for his heart,
and beckon him on with "Hail, brother!
Hail, blasted spirit, hailr' lie tries to
get out. He comes to the front door
where he entered and tries TO push 1t
back, but the door turns against him;
and in the jar Of that shutting door he
hears these words, "This night is Bel
shazzar, the King Of the Chaldeans,
slain" Sin may open bright as the
morning. 1t ends dark as the night.
learn further from this subject that
death sometimes breaks in upon ban
I quet Why did he not 60 down to the
prisons in Babylon? There were peo-
pie there that would like 10 have died.
/ suppose there were men and women
in t rturc 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 tiptop pitch
death breaks in at the banquet We
/ have often seen the same thing illus
trated. Here is young man just come
from college. He is kind. He is loving.
He is enthusiastic. lie is eloquent. BY
one spring he may bound.to heights to
ward which many men have been strug-
Cling for years. A profession opens
before him. He is established in the
law. His friends cheer him. Eminent
men encourage him. After awhile you
may see him standing in the United
States Senate, or moving n popular as.
semblage by his eloquence, as trees are
moved in q whirlwind. Some night he
retires early. A fever is on him De
lirium, like a reckless charioteer, seizes
the reins of his intellect. Father and
mother stand by and see the tides OF
his life going out 10 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 vision is gone. Death at the ban
quet
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-Northt
South, East and West. What grain was
there, but we grew IL 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 trad RS must bring them from ehe
Arctic. What fish, but our nets must
sweep them for the markets. What
music but II mast sing in our halls.
What eloqucnce, but II must speak in
our Senates. IIo! 10 She national ban
auet, reaching from mountain TO noun.
tain, and from sea 20 seal To prepare
that banquet the sheepfolds and the
aviaries of the countries sent their best
treasures. The orchards piled up on
The table their sweetest fruits. The
presses burs. out with new wines. To
sit at that table came the yeo'
manry of New Hampshire, and the
lumbermen of Maine, and the Carolinian
from the rice fields, and the Western
emigrant from the pines OF Oregon, and
we were all brothers brothers at ban
1uet. Suddenly the feast ended. What
meant those mounds thrown up at
Chickamauga, Shiloh, Atlanta, Gettys
burg, South Mountain? What meant
those golden grain fields, turned into {
pasturing ground for cavalry horses
What meant the corn fields gal lied will
the wheels of the heavy supply train
Why those rivers OF tears-those lake.
OF blood? God was angry Justice mus
come. A handwriting on the walll Th'
nation had boon weighed and founc
wanting. Darkness! Darkness! Woe u
the North Woo to the SOUTH Woe II
the Eastl Woe TO tho Vest Death al
the banquet!
have also 10 learn from the subjec
that the destruction Of the vicious, ant
Of those who despise God, will be very
udden. The wave Of mirth had dashe,
10 the highest point when the Assyriar
army broke through. II, was unex
pected. Suddenly, almost always, Gomez
the doom Of those who despise God, an,
defy the laws Of men. How was II a
The deluQe? Do Won suppose Il cams