Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-02-12

wall. IL Is all robustness to expect min
lister of the Gospel to preach always Of
things that the people like, or the people
choose. Young men. what shall preach
to you tonight? Shall tell you of the
dignity of human nature? Shall tell you
of the wonders that our race has accom-
plished? ''Oh. no." you say, ten me
the message that came from God" l will.
II there is any handwriting on the wall it
is this lesson: Accept Of Christ and be
saved" l might talk Of great many,
other things; but that is the message, and
SO declare it. Jesus never tlattered
lnose 10 whom ne preached lie said to,
those who did wrong, and who were often
sive in his sight. 'Ye generation Of vipersi
ye whited sepulchres. How can ye escape
the damnation of hell" Paul the apostle
preached before man who was not ready
to hear him preach. What subject did no
take? Did he say: ''Oh! you are very
good man, a very fine man. a very noble
man?' No; he preached of righteousness
to u man who was unrighteous; Of temper
ance to man who was the victim Of bad
! appetites; Of the judgement to come to q
man who was unfit for it. So we must al
ways declare the message that happens t.
| come TO us. Daniel must read it as it is.
Another lesson that comes to US; there is
| q great difference between the opening OF
| the banquet of sin and it's close. Young
man, If you had looked in upon tho BAN
quet in the first few hours, you would
have wished you had been invited there,
and could sit at the feast. "Oh! tho
grandeur Of Belshazzars feast!" you would
| have said; bI: look in at the close Of the
banquet, and your blood curdles with horror.
The King Of Terrors has there ghastlier
banquet; human blood is the wine, and
dying groans are the music. Sin has made
itself king in the earth. 1t has crowned
itself. 1t has spread banquet. ltinvites
all the world to come to it. 1t has hung
in its banquetng- hall the spoils of all king
doms, and the banners of all nations. It
has gathered from all music. 1t has
strewn, from its wealth. the tables and the
floors. and the arches. And yet how often
is that banquet broken up; and how horri-
Bile is its end! Ever and anon there is o
handwriting on the wall. A king falls.
A great culprit is arrested. The knees Of
wickcdncss knock together. Gods
Judgment, like an armed host, breaks in
upon tho banquet; and that night Is
Belshazzar, the king Of the Chaldeans, |
slain.
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 few persons thcre|
that would like to have died. l suppose
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 ut the
|. banquet.
We saw the same thing, on larger
scale, illustrated at the last war in this
country, Our whole nation had been sit
ting at national banquet-north, south,
; east and west. What grain was there, but
we grew it on our hills. What invention
was there, but our rivers must turn the
new wheel and rattle tho strange shuttle
What warm furs, but our traders must
bring them from the Arctic What fish,
but our nets must sweep them for the
. markets. What music but it must sing in
our halls. What eloquence, but it must
; speak in our senates. Ho! to the national
. banquet, reaching from mountain to noun
Il 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 tho table their sweet
y est fruits. The presses burst out with
new wines. To sit ut that table came tht
!. yeomanry Of New Hampshire, and the lum
y bermen of Maine, and the Carolinian from
IS tho rice fields, and the western emigran
- from the pines Of Oregon, and we were al
brothers-brothers at a banquet. Student,
70 the feast ended. What meant those mounds
d thrown up at Chickamauga, Shiloh, At
~ lanta, Gettysburg, South Mountain? Wha
y meant those golden grain fields, turnet
l. into pasturng ground for cavalry horses
d What meant the corn fields quilted wit
40 tho wheels OF the heavy supply train? VIII
40 those rivers Of tears-those lakes of blood
40 40 God was angry! Justice must come!
" handwriting on tho wall! The nation ha
~ been weighed and found wanting. Darl
x ness! Darkness! Woe to the north! We
40 to the south! Woe to the easti Woe
~ the west! Death at the banquet!
Are there any here who are unprepare
10 for the eternal world? Arc there an
= hero who have been living without God
~ ard without hope? Let me say to 70
o. that you had better accept Of tho Loz
sp Jesus Christ, lest suddenly your last chant
US be gone. The lungs will cease to breathe
ne tho heart will stop. The time will con
D. when W u shall 60 no more to the Office, or
VI tho store. or to the shop. Nothing " III
nv nifty. Oh! foe to God this hour! II thel
NJ be one in this presence who has wandere
far away from Christ though he may n
s.s have heard the call Of the Gospel for mar
o year, invite him now to come and
y, saved. Flee from thy sin! Flee to q
Ac' stronghold Of tho Gospel! Now Is the q
' an- cepted time: now is the day Of salvatio
rs. Goodnight, my young friends! M
-, ny you have rosy sleep, guarded by him VI
40! iUs never slumbers! May you awake In q
sln morning strong and well! But, oh! q
o s, thou despiser Of God? Is this thy ID
~: night on earth? Shouldcst thou be ava
out ened in tho night by something, tn
acr knowcst not what, and there be shado1
W floating in the room. and handwriting
. e1s the wall, and you feel that your last no
tne is come, and there be faint